What will you choose?
 

You wake up one morning with a splitting headache. Perhaps your socal engagements the evening before were a bit strenuous! But wait,...something definitely seems unusual. You are in a very strange place that you have never seen before. There is a door to your right and a door to your left, and you are in the middle. Oh, yes, a voice booms out and explains that you have fallen into an interdimensional portal. If you go to the right, you will return to your own universe, all the people and things you know and love. And if you go to the left, you will enter Middle-earth sometime in the middle of the Third Age.

Now this portal has some Rules. If you are a man(or woman), you have to stay a man or woman, ie. no side trips to Aman, no turning into a hobbit, or anything like that. The Master of the Portal, being a kindly sort, however, will allow you to bring along a few close family and/or friends to Middle-earth, since she (you heard me right!) knows you might be quite miserable without such. And this is for real--no going back, no bringing along your computer, etc.

So, do you go right or left? And why do you make that choice? Also, if you choose left, any ideas on where you might want to live? sharon, the 7th age hobbit

I would go to the left, no doubts. I've always wanted to live in a world similar to ME and I don't like where our world is coming to, cloning human babies, it's insane. Well anyway I just like the ide of living in a world with magic and elves and hobbits and all that. I wouldn't miss the computer and stuff like that, just think of all the beautiful things adn places in ME you cuold go to.
I really like the elves so I'd like to live in Lorien or maybe Rivendale but Gondor or Rohan seems like a nice place to live, the ppl there seemed nice.

I will go left, and take with me, Ara, Pip, Mori, Angie and my dad. There, I found that easy to choose.
I would go left because I am fed up with the materialism in this world, and I long to go to a place or time when that is not a problem, when bravery and friendship mean more that going down the hallway in the dark or going for a laugh with some mates, who when you get into trouble down the club, leave you and run away. (Oh no, you've started me off now!) Of course, not everyone is so shallow, but that is what our world is coming to - what with murder and abduction I don't feel safe here anymore.

I would choose those people
a) coz they stick by me when I'm in trouble
b) coz they know and share my passion for ME.
C) coz they know the kind of stuff that would be useful in ME.

I'm totally with you on this one Starbreeze, couldn't have put it better myself. I would most definatly go left. Ideally I would love to live in Rivendell or The Shire but as I am a woman, I'll go for Minas Tirith in Gondor. I'd take my absolute bestest friend Daisy Boffin, Angela Greenleaf and my dearest HEX (the imaginary elf who rolls in hay with hobbits - you know who you are...)

LEFT ALL THE WAY! Now, why would I pass up a chance like that? Well, I'd bring hmmm, my two BFF's and the three friends I've made over the internet: Allison, Michelle and Kat...hmm..I'd live in Buckland, so hopefully I'd be able to meet Merry and Pippin!!! They rock so much!!! I'd bring those ppl because well, they're my friends, and well, I'm sure we'd have a great time!! hehe

I started this thread so just thought you should know I'm definitely packing my bags to go left. There are tons of beautiful things in the world we live in, but just as Sam had a yen for elves, I've got a serious yen for both hobbits and elves. It would also be nice to live in a world where moral decisions seem more clear cut, and nature is respected. I'd pack along my husband and two children, plus my best friend and her daughter. (My youngest daughter who is 9 would be absolutely ecstatic if I announced the family was moving to Middle-earth.) Aroaraniel--It sounds like you and I might end up as neighbors. If humans can get into Buckland, that sounds like a good location. Not too far from the barrowdowns either if you can get across the Old Forest! If there's a problem with humans in Buckland, then I'd opt for Bree. Of course, at some point, I'd like to take a trip to Rivendel, too. sharon,the 7th age hobbit.

Thats a very hard question..to stay in our world or Tolkien's? Well, I know that dragons in Tolkien's world are evil..and if I was in Tolkien's world, I would prolly go around trying to make friends with dragons, or try to find them. If I went to Middle Earth, it would be very dangerious for me. Finding dragons is not safe at all, isn't it? Also there is something thats makes me not part with the computer. Sorry guys but I would rather stay in our own world, our own boring world. Video games is everything to me, and I can't part with video games.

Now if I can turn myself into a dragon or elf, that would be a different story. Otherwise I am staying at home.

Hehe i guess I'm the odd one out..

[ April 10, 2002: Message edited by: Brimstone Goldenwing ]

My, this is hard. I really don't know what I'd do. If I did stay in this world, it would be because I believe I am here for a purpose. As long as I am here, alive, I have that purpose to fulfill. And yet...I, too, yearn for the simpler world of the Shire. Although in many ways it is still a very dangerous world, it is far slower-paced. I would have more time to devote to what truly matters--my God and my family.

Child, this is an absolutely fascinating thread. I shall have to ponder this further...I hope to come back with more of an answer than this has been. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

hey brimstone you are not alone. I honestly wouldn't go unless I could be an elf and live in rivendell. That insn't to say that i wouldnn't want to go, but humans seem to get a bad rap in M.E. I would take (if i was an elf) my sis. Miriam, Halli, and well i can't think of anyone else that would fully understand that descision. But I do long for the simple life. hmmmm thats a tough one. I would have to think the matter out more clearly. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

I'm not going left, but I'm sending all the Barrowdowners left and then I'm going to watch and see what goes on. Could be quite interesting to see how everyone does! I do not mean to be cruel, well, maybe just a little! [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

I would definately take the LEFT!! I don´t belong in this world, I´m an Middle-Earthling! [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] Middle-Earth is so much more "me", so I would feel right as home there...

When I first read Child of the Seventh Age's post yesterday, I started to write my normal anarchial essay on why the modern world is an aberration and any return to a simpler more harmonious way of living would be an improvement. But to save you all the rhetoric, I shall simply say... I choose left, for anything is better in a world where the rape of Africa is institutionalised and sanctioned, multinational corporations write governmental policy for profit, and war is the answer to the conundrum of how to be re-elected. See...don't get me going. Left, definitely left. I'll even take the decrease in hygiene standards!

Good thread, Child. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

Hey, this is a very interesting question!
I'm quite sure that I'd go to ME because I often think I'd fit in there much better. It sounds naive, but when I was a child, my world was alright and I didn't know that the world wasn't as linear as I tgough it would be. When I got older, I realized what's going on around me, and I couldn't understand. I don't even mean wars, as they happen in ME as well. I mean all this capitalism, bureaucracy... OK, you can say that this is normal for a child growing up. But usually, you accept this after a while. I, however, still don't do this, and therefore I think I'd be off before you could count to three.
I'd take with me my parents, my brother and sister, my Granny, my best friend, my cat and another friend of mine who whould be a perfect hobbit, she wouldn't be noticed as human at all [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

It's good to see another who thinks the same [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

btw if I lived in Middle Earth, I can no longer go to the ol Barrow Downs sitey..er I rather stay [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

I'd probebly go left, to ME. That is a good question, and I guesse I wouldn't really know until I got there. I'd probebly try to go and live in Rivendell or Lothlorien.

Well, this is kind of an unfair question, then, isn't it? .... But (although this may well be something of a wet blanketpost.. just a warning) I'm not sure some of these posters have considered this very closely. ME in the Third Age is a disintegrating world; beautiful bits of culture and nature are disappearing, a great and more or less apocalypic change is clearly approaching, and there's a very serious war that you can't escape no matter where you are. Getting away from cloning?.. You'll still have to deal with Sharkey at the very least. And it seems unlikely that very many of us would be able to work against it in any way; in fact, we'd stand an excellent chance of being randomly skewered by Orcs, depending on where we chose to hang out. And what with all this going on, I myself would be unlikely to travel much. I don't want to get hurt unnecessarily. Taking all of this into consideration, would you still go?

.....I myself do not know what I would do. I would certainly be afraid, I would certainly experience SEVERE culture shock (particularly when I realized I can't speak one word of ANY language that anyone understands!!), and I would certainly miss things like, oh, running water, cd players, easy access to books (Can I bring any books? No? Not even Rilke? Please?). Also, I would have to give up everything I'm doing(what about my degree?) and I would have to leave everybody I know behind me as I'm sure none of them would want to come once I explain all of this.

On the other hand, to be in a place where the world actually feels REAL... wow. Maybe I wouldn't even need Rilke anymore. But it would be a hard, hard choice.

Sorry if I depressed anyone......


--Belin Ibaimendi

[ April 12, 2002: Message edited by: Belin ]

Hmm, this is a nasty conundrum, Child [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]. The only thing I can definitely see myself doing is standing between the doors, saying "But..but...but" as I try to tip the balance one way or the other. Middle Earth is a wonderful world and I would love to see it, but moving there permanently would be in a physical and mental sense a lot like taking a surprise one-way trip to the Middle Ages. Now I also love the Middle Ages, but for someone who's grown up in the 20th and 21st century, going there, or to ME, would be a huge and miserable strain. For all we'd like a simpler, non-corporatized world, you have to admit there are some features of this homogenizedworld that it would be VERY difficult to live without after a while; running water for example, refrigerators for another, flush toilets for a third (and if you've ever spent much time without any of these things, believe me, you miss them). Medicine would be another thing; there can't be too many of us who would be thrilled to go off without access to antibiotics or aspirin. And the language! No matter how much you've studied ME and loved it, going there would be like moving to a foreign country whose culture you love, times about a hundred. You might be able to fit in there, but it would take a huge toll on you physically, not being used to the conditions and having to speak their language all the time. You would be making enormous efforts to do stuff that the natives take for granted.

On the other hand...Hobbiton! Bree! Rivendell and Lothlorien! Heck, even Mordor in a weird way. Very, very hard to pass up the chance to see them. I'd have to agree with the previous posters who said that if they did go left, they'd want it to be as Elves. Though being a mortal woman, I'd have to settle for being brought up at Rivendell or something like that. If I could be guaranteed that...to quote Samuel Goldwyn, "I'll give you a definite maybe."

Before I go leaping to the left, I had to stop and ask myself "...not what Middle-Earth can do for me, but what can I do for Middle Earth?"

Can I ride a horse? (Badly.) Milk a cow? Weave clothing? Hunt for food? Build my own house? Work with iron? Wood? Clay? Can I do anything at all that would enable me to survive in that environment and contribute to that society? Or would I just be wondering around, with no language and no skills for living. I'd pretty much have to rely on the kindness of strangers. And honey, they don't get any stranger than Middle Earth!

But seriously, I believe that I'm here in this time for some purpose, even if I don't know what that purpose is. For whatever reason, the 20th and 21st centuries are what I have been given (or chose), and I should play with the hand I've been dealt.

And if I'm unhappy or stressed or worried sometimes; well, hey, so were plenty of other people in M-E. Adventures are fun to read about, not always so fun to deal with. And as in our own world, most people were not Elf Lords and kings in the making, but "just folk", who had to live as best they could, no matter what the times might be like.

While M-E might be a great place to visit, I'm never going to live there. So Birdie turns sadly to the right...

Are you sure I just can't take a little peak?

[ April 12, 2002: Message edited by: Birdland ]

I agree with the bird on most counts.
Maybe a vacation, a little escapism...it is impossible to want to live there.
Right here on our dimension we can get that escapism from the movies, got to stick around to see TTT and ROTK.. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

On the other hand, if I had nothing to live for here..then I would take to the left.
With me would be my wife and daughter.


...how is it that you milk a cow?

Know peace

[img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img] [img]smilies/confused.gif[/img]

Birdland-Shades of JFK!! That was a great and thoughtful post but I'm still going left. Look, I figure I've got to have some marketable skills: I'm a pretty good cook, housekeeper, gardener, raiser of animals, and teacher of young children. The skills connected with being a mother may actually be more transferable than some other more glamorous professions. I don't expect to be a great lady. I grew up in a working class area of Detroit; My dad was a factory worker so the Sam Gamgee model or the human variant thereof would work just fine. I never lost those roots despite my education. I pick up languages quickly when I have to-- in my graduate program in medieval history, I had to have Latin, Dutch, English, German, and French so one more certainly won't hurt. And the most glorious stretch of time I ever had was, many years ago, living in a farm in rural Ireland with a peat-burning stove, an outside loo, a pump for water, and no electricity. (I kid you not.) Our job was to take care of sick cows and get some very strange medicine into their mouth and down their stomachs. Now, if I can do that, I can survive Middle-earth!

The more serious question is whether I've been placed in this age for a reason and, therefore, shouldn't bail out of it. However, if and when such a mysterious portal comes crashing into my bedroom, I can only assume that someone upstairs may want me to consider a change of venue, or else why would the portal be there?

Ahem, ahem, despite the last poster who shall go unnamed, I have plenty of things to live for here, but, gosh, wouldn't it be sad to lay on your deathbed and know you had passed up such an extraordinary opportunity. I'm older than a lot of posters here so I know life is very short. Despite the hardships and uncertainty,I just couldn't resist! sharon, the 7th age hobbit

Milking a cow is kind of obvious and easily picked up. Pull down and squeeze, that's all you need to know.

Before you choose ME, perhaps you should consider, not only the impact it would have on you, but also the impact you would have on it. Having seen all the technology, medicine and advances of our civilisation, could you honestly say you would never be tempted to reproduce these things on ME to make your life a little more comfortable and like the world you had left. Such meddling could change ME forever, so that in the end, you'd have ruined the world you wanted to see.

Please don't leave me un-named... waaah !

Ahem..what I mean is I am not ready for a one way trip to fantasy land, being accustomed to this way of life and all.

I wouldn't ask you for your age, Child of the 7th Age ! But I will have you know that I am of nine and a score years and My wife Sharona and my little daughter is what I life for, cherishing every moment of this short precious life with them.

This is a good topic for discussion and if I have offended you earlier, it was unintentional.

Know Peace !
[img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

A woman's lot in Middle-Earth the way tolkien saw it is not an easy one, and what with this many of us going there I don't think we would get treated like royalty. Knowing the future until the end of third age would be an useful bit, except that our presence might change it. Our? I was assuming we all would go together. But maybe I would go alone. I would not bring my friends and family, ME is a dangerous place. One big trouble: I don't speak Westron! Would have to make do with my poor Elvish.
All in all, an adventure. I would seek the elves till I found them. A beggar beside their path, crooning the hymn of Elbereth in her harsh voice...

Well, that does put a whole new spin on things, doesn't it?...

(CRASH!)

"BIRDIE!"

"huh...wha...hey, where's my roof?"

"YOU ARE TO GO TO MIDDLE EARTH NOW, BIRDIE."

"What? Right now?"

"WELL, YES, I CAN GIVE YOU A FEW MINUTES, BUT NOW'S AS GOOD A TIME AS ANY."

"But where should I go? What will I do?"

"THE ONE WILL PROVIDE..."

Oh, yeah, as good as you 'provided' for me here? I haven't forgotten those times in Echo Park, ya know."

"GO!!!!!"

"OK, OK! Geez...What should I take?"

"JUST WEAR COMFORTABLE SHOES."

(Birdie goes flying through the portal, without a handkerchief.)

Heehee, that's funny...
I would go. I'd probably be killed, or starve in the woods, but i would go. If I didn't, I'd regret it for the rest of my life.

KingCarlton--Very sorry about un-naming you. My apologies. I get that way when I'm blowing off steam which I frequently do in these posts! Oh, by the way, I am definitely your senior. Let's put it this way. I'm about the same age as Frodo(the book one-- not the extra cute, young movie one)when he opted to go on to the West.

Birdland--I cracked up at your post. I'm still holding my sides laughing. Have to go to my daughter's piano recital and hope I don't remember your post and begin giggling again which could be quite embarassing.

sharon, the 7th age hobbit

Yikes! A hard question and choice. Now, first instinct would tell most, if not all, of us to choose ME. However, God (or Eru, if you want to get Tolkien-ish) placed us here on this Earth for a reason - to be a friend to someone, to teach lessons to others, to be a mother, daughter, sister (or father, son, brother), to be an in-law, a niece, and have other relationships that I just can't think of right now. If one was to go, that would mean losing or not fulfilling his/her purpose on this Earth and in this life, even if he/she hates the materialism, cloning, bad ethics and morale in the world. If he/she stays in this world, he/she might have a chance to change the things he/she hates about the world. If one chose ME, though, then the bad things of the world would simply get worse and worse, and he/she missed the chance to change them. I know that one wouldn't ever have to go back to Earth, and stay in Middle Earth until one dies. But the chance that slipped from you to change the world of your past when you entered Middle Earth will probably haunt you. I know that you'd regret it deeply if you didn't enter ME, but think of what purpose could you have there. You were not made for Middle Earth, you were made for this world and this life. Being in Middle Earth would be like being an extra, sudden addition to it, unexpected and un-needed. Of course most people here would WANT to go to ME...but are they needed there? I think not.

I would deeply regret missing the chance to never go to Middle Earth, to see the land of my dreams and fantasies, but deep down, behind all the regret, I would know that I made the right decision and feel glad, for I was made for this world and this life, not for Middle Earth, not to change the context of its history, and not to change its future.

I'd go..... I think. I don't know what I would bring but I wouldn't bring my family becuase they wouldn't be happy there. The only problem is what would they think happened to me? Still I would most likely go. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

As intriging as the idea of going to ME sounds intially, I'd have to pass. The Third Age appears to have been a time of as much turmoil as our own, albiet for different reasons. And I must say, I'm rather fond of modern sanitation! That and the fact that I'm not to sure how well a non-white person might fit in Tolkien's conception of Middle Earth...

I'd go left. Sometimes I just get so sick of this world I could puke :-X. I wouldn't mind that ME would be harder in some respects, cause it's the kind of place I've always dreamed about. I'd take my mom & dad, + my two older brothers & little sister (I'm a family person). I may take Elf-herself and Airetalathwen too, just cause they'd be mad if I left for ME and didn't take them [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]. We would probably settle in Bree someplace.

I would go left, I would take my wooden flute and a book then leave everything else here, It would be harder for me to go with friends

I would have to left. This world has been boring me for the past few years and a big change would be good. As for who I would bring with me, that would have to be my friend chris. As for what I would bring, it would be my favorite pipe. I am sure that I could get a hold of some of the halfings leaf. I would love to sit in a field in the shire and smoke under a big tree, and even go out for an adventure every now and then [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

Left. Anydaynow. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

Child of the 7th Age, you should just convince someone to make a film about you and you'll be 20 again before you kbnow it!

I thought this would be an easy one, but no.

I love a lot of the people in my life dearly. It would pain me to be parted from them...is this forever, by the way?...
Right takes me home, with all the good and bad. Left takes me to a new facinating place...with all the good and bad.

You know, for all the badness in ME, I would feel quite comfortable there, if I took my nearest and dearest. And no abuse - hurrah! And ooh, I could grow my herbs that I want to do. Oh, and camp amongst the trees, and ride across the country.

Right. If I take mum and dad, my closest friends, N, D, R & A. oh and imp and squizz and dearest jigs. My sister will come of her own desire, I think (I hope) so maybe we could split the family load that way...

Can i take my favorite peasant blouses?
I promise to leave my mobile behind [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]
ooh, but i'm taking humbugs....

*Shrieks*


No CDS!!!! Not the important issue here mind, it's more like - no howard shore or hans zimmer or danny elfman or john williams or michael nyman or james horner....! [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img]

damn.

*shrugs* never mind. sacrifices are sacrifices and hey - we have shire music and Elven song.

Well, I have to say that I will go left. And during the third age, you say??

Hmmm..... I'll have to make a special trip to the 'Pony to meet up with some certain hobbits and one certain Ranger.....

I don't know that I'd take anyone with me, except my Very best friend, Shawn(Yeah, *that* kind of friend...) Though, then all my choices would seem as Frodo's at Parth Galen. Maybe Gondor/Rohan would be a more fitting place to go for both of us... We wouldn't be missing much....

Well, actually, it'd be Rohan. I cannot live without riding horses. I'd practically live on one there. So?? I'm a girl you say?? I'll make that not matter.

Well, now you're gonna have me expecting something like this to happen... and it's gonna drive me nuts!

Oh well... it IS a good thought question...

I will see you in ME!

Hehe, sounds like the Matrix bluepill/redpill thing. I'd go left. I wanna see if elves really have pointed ears, and I just wanna see elves.

I was thinking just that...

I'd go left. I know that it would be a rare chance to have to have the choice between your own world and ME. The chance itself would be so rare, that I would honestly think that the choice was made for me, and for me alone.

I would take the left door because the two doors would seem like a destiny in disguise. If I had a choice to go to ME, I believe that it would be for a purpose, and I was chosen for it. I know I can live in ME. I have enough of this world in my experience. The fact that it's actually in the 3rd age, I know that I'm into something---not as an observer of the radical changes, but as a participant of those changes. I was given a choice. Therefore, I have a calling.

Child, you woke me up in this post. I hope I made sense, but it really really was a double expresso or me. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

btw...

Belin, if I'd bring a book with me, it would be Rilke--I only have his Book of Hours ( I will be book shopping on Rilke tomorrow---I hope)

And with regards to living on ME, I'd love to teach side by side with Child. (I'm an education major) It's a great thing to do.

I don't WHO to bring just yet... Elijah Wood, maybe. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]