Lothlorien- self sufficient community? - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Lobelia · 06-06-2004, 09:19 PM

I like this discussion! It's a thought I've had for a while, and wrote an article (fanzine) called "Who Washes The Dishes In Rivendell?". Elves all seem to be aristocrats, except in Mirkwood, where there are Elvish servants, guards, even peasants. It says in THE HOBBIT that they don't grow anything or make stuff, but they buy from Laketown and the south (that's where the wine comes from - from other Elvish communities? (Elvish vineyards and wineries would probably produce gourmet stuff. ) No wonder Thranduil is so keen to go to Erebor to pick up some treasure after Smaug is dead! It does, though, say that his people help in the re-building of Laketown and are very good at their work.

But Lothlorien? I think it is, more or less, self-sufficient. They're a small community and probably wouldn't need a whole lot. What Galadriel gives Sam is soil from her orchard, so they grow fruit. And if fruit, why not other stuff? We don't know what the rope is made from, but the Elves tell Sam they could have shown him how to make it if they'd known he was interested, so presumably there's nothing magical about the process, even if the finished product does strange things. If you can make rope, you can probably make cloth too. Hemp is a fine alternative to cotton. Lothlorien - and Rivendell too - strikes me as a sort of artists' colony. It's not so much what they make as how well they make it. They can make even bread and fruit taste wonderful, as Frodo, Pippin and Sam find when they meet Gildor and co.

06-06-2004, 09:19 PM	#24
Lobelia Wight Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Australia Posts: 150	I like this discussion! It's a thought I've had for a while, and wrote an article (fanzine) called "Who Washes The Dishes In Rivendell?". Elves all seem to be aristocrats, except in Mirkwood, where there are Elvish servants, guards, even peasants. It says in THE HOBBIT that they don't grow anything or make stuff, but they buy from Laketown and the south (that's where the wine comes from - from other Elvish communities? (Elvish vineyards and wineries would probably produce gourmet stuff. ) No wonder Thranduil is so keen to go to Erebor to pick up some treasure after Smaug is dead! It does, though, say that his people help in the re-building of Laketown and are very good at their work. But Lothlorien? I think it is, more or less, self-sufficient. They're a small community and probably wouldn't need a whole lot. What Galadriel gives Sam is soil from her orchard, so they grow fruit. And if fruit, why not other stuff? We don't know what the rope is made from, but the Elves tell Sam they could have shown him how to make it if they'd known he was interested, so presumably there's nothing magical about the process, even if the finished product does strange things. If you can make rope, you can probably make cloth too. Hemp is a fine alternative to cotton. Lothlorien - and Rivendell too - strikes me as a sort of artists' colony. It's not so much what they make as how well they make it. They can make even bread and fruit taste wonderful, as Frodo, Pippin and Sam find when they meet Gildor and co.