Zoe
03-18-2001, 02:38 AM
<font face="Verdana"><table><TR><TD><FONT SIZE="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Shade of Carn Dûm
Posts: 292</TD><TD></TD></TR></TABLE>
Earlier today I thought to myself: "wouldn't it be cool to make a scale model hobbit hole?" which lead me to trying to find information about hobbit architecture.
In the opening chapter to The Hobbit, we read:
<blockquote>Quote:<hr> It [Bag End] had a perfectly round door like a porthole, painted green, with a shiny yellow brass knob in the exact middle. The door opened on to a tube shaped like a tunnel: a very comfortable tunnel without smoke, with panelled walls, and floors tiled and carpeted, provided with polished chairs, and lots of pegs for hats and coats - the hobbit was fond of visitors. The tunnel wound on and on, going fairly but not quite straight into the side of the hill - The Hill, as all the people for many miles around called it - and many little round doors opened out of it, first on one side and then on another. No going upstairs for the hobbit: bedrooms, bathrooms, cellars, pantries (lots of these), wardrobes (he had whole rooms devoted to clothes), kitchens, dining rooms, all were on the same floor, and indeed, on the same passage. The best rooms were all on the left-hand side (going in), for these were the only ones to have windows, deep-set round windows looking over his garden, and meadows beyond, sloping down to the river.<hr></blockquote>
Question: does this imply that Bilbo had at least two bedrooms, bathrooms, cellars etc, or that sentence referring to hobbits in general?
Based on Tolkien's picture of The Hill (http://barrowdowns.com/Pictures.asp?ImageFile=hill1&ArtistIdentifier=tolk ien&Artist=J.R.R.%20Tolkien&Title=The%20Hill:%20Ho bbiton-across-the%20Water&Data=54here</a>, or p 105(line drawing)/p 106 (water colour) of J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator, possibly in your copy of The Hobbit (not in mine)) we see there are 5 windows looking out. Would there have been more on the other side of the hill ("The tunnel wound on and on") or would it be safe to say there were 5 rooms with windows? Which rooms would have windows? Bedrooms? Dining rooms? Kitchens?
The other 'major' picture of a hobbit hole is of course "The Hall at Bag-End" (http://barrowdowns.com/Pictures.asp?ImageFile=TOLK_bagend3&ArtistIdentifi er=tolkien&Artist=J.R.R.%20Tolkien&Title=Bag%20End &Data=132here</a> if you don't already have a copy). Based on that, I get the impression that a hobbit hole could look like:
http://www.divisible.f2s.com/BAGEND.GIF
(Okay, so that's a very rough sketch and looks more like a slightly squashed pumpkin than anything else, but never mind.)
Would hobbits have had that strange curve in the side rooms? Would they have done it completely differently? (That picture was just the impression I got - am I wrong?)
Finally, what rooms would a hobbit hole have, specifically, Bag End? The Hobbit mentions the ones listed above, but what about sitting rooms, studies and laundries? And what about bathroom fittings? Toilets? Is there any information anywhere?
Sorry for such a long post, I just have a lot of questions. <img src=smile.gif ALT=":)">
</p>
Posts: 292</TD><TD></TD></TR></TABLE>
Earlier today I thought to myself: "wouldn't it be cool to make a scale model hobbit hole?" which lead me to trying to find information about hobbit architecture.
In the opening chapter to The Hobbit, we read:
<blockquote>Quote:<hr> It [Bag End] had a perfectly round door like a porthole, painted green, with a shiny yellow brass knob in the exact middle. The door opened on to a tube shaped like a tunnel: a very comfortable tunnel without smoke, with panelled walls, and floors tiled and carpeted, provided with polished chairs, and lots of pegs for hats and coats - the hobbit was fond of visitors. The tunnel wound on and on, going fairly but not quite straight into the side of the hill - The Hill, as all the people for many miles around called it - and many little round doors opened out of it, first on one side and then on another. No going upstairs for the hobbit: bedrooms, bathrooms, cellars, pantries (lots of these), wardrobes (he had whole rooms devoted to clothes), kitchens, dining rooms, all were on the same floor, and indeed, on the same passage. The best rooms were all on the left-hand side (going in), for these were the only ones to have windows, deep-set round windows looking over his garden, and meadows beyond, sloping down to the river.<hr></blockquote>
Question: does this imply that Bilbo had at least two bedrooms, bathrooms, cellars etc, or that sentence referring to hobbits in general?
Based on Tolkien's picture of The Hill (http://barrowdowns.com/Pictures.asp?ImageFile=hill1&ArtistIdentifier=tolk ien&Artist=J.R.R.%20Tolkien&Title=The%20Hill:%20Ho bbiton-across-the%20Water&Data=54here</a>, or p 105(line drawing)/p 106 (water colour) of J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator, possibly in your copy of The Hobbit (not in mine)) we see there are 5 windows looking out. Would there have been more on the other side of the hill ("The tunnel wound on and on") or would it be safe to say there were 5 rooms with windows? Which rooms would have windows? Bedrooms? Dining rooms? Kitchens?
The other 'major' picture of a hobbit hole is of course "The Hall at Bag-End" (http://barrowdowns.com/Pictures.asp?ImageFile=TOLK_bagend3&ArtistIdentifi er=tolkien&Artist=J.R.R.%20Tolkien&Title=Bag%20End &Data=132here</a> if you don't already have a copy). Based on that, I get the impression that a hobbit hole could look like:
http://www.divisible.f2s.com/BAGEND.GIF
(Okay, so that's a very rough sketch and looks more like a slightly squashed pumpkin than anything else, but never mind.)
Would hobbits have had that strange curve in the side rooms? Would they have done it completely differently? (That picture was just the impression I got - am I wrong?)
Finally, what rooms would a hobbit hole have, specifically, Bag End? The Hobbit mentions the ones listed above, but what about sitting rooms, studies and laundries? And what about bathroom fittings? Toilets? Is there any information anywhere?
Sorry for such a long post, I just have a lot of questions. <img src=smile.gif ALT=":)">
</p>