If you could have been born in Middle Earth...

[Ardent]

Originally Posted by blantyr

I'd be an elven singer from the Grey Havens, winter in the settlements by the sea, and wander the woods in the warmer months. I wouldn't be as good an archer or swordsman as most in the wandering companies, but the Shadow can be fought with song as well as blades, and songs should be sung also for song's sake.

My dad taught me to use the long bow but I never made much of it. Not being one for wandering far from home I think I'd be a Shire dweller (they too have bows, though they only appear in the Scouring of the Shire), but one who spends time with those who journey through or live on the borders of our land.

As to singing for the song's sake, I don't know if that is quite possible or, at any rate, not how I'd put it. Shire folk also love music (I play whistle and uilleann pipes), gathering to sing and make merry. Our music is neither as 'high' as the Elves nor dour as the Dwarves, or sinister as the Goblins, but akin to all because music is more than being entertained; we make our own music, our own magic, to tell ourselves who we are.

We make music because thus we rejoin the Great Song. How can I put it? Songs should be sung for the Song's sake (capital S), not for the sake of an individual song.

"It finds an echo in my soul—
How can I keep from singing?"
R.W.Lowry

[Guinevere]

Originally Posted by Ardent

"It finds an echo in my soul—
How can I keep from singing?"
R.W.Lowry

Isn't that a song by Enya?

I guess I would prefer to live in the Shire, too, or perhaps in Gondor, working in the houses of healing, like Ioreth.

[Ardent]

Originally Posted by Guinevere

Isn't that a song by Enya?

I guess I would prefer to live in the Shire, too, or perhaps in Gondor, working in the houses of healing, like Ioreth.

I first heard it in a black-and-white movie, either Laurel and Hardy or Marx Bro's, but Enya did cover it.

[Andsigil]

I would be a dwarf, preferably one who is skilled at both arms and the forge.

[Elyna of Rivendell]

I'd be an elf from Rivendell, bu I'd hang out in Gondor and Rohan or where ever everything was going on at the time! (and i also happen to be very close to where ever Aragorn was at the time...)

EDIT: I would also be a good archer.

[malickfan]

One of the Teleri born pre first age at Cunivien, I'd see middle earth in its infancy during the great journey, and accompany Olwe across the sea to Valinor, after nosing around for a few years, I'd steal a ship and escape back to Middle Earth before the kinslaying (that way I'm safe, and I would have nice unsploit memories of Valinor) then spend the next three ages as one of Cirrdan's following-I could fight with him up the slopes of Mount Doom, accompany him during the ovethrow of Angmar, sneak into meetings of the White Council, sail around Arda at leisure (exploring the other cotinents such as the Burnt Lands of the Sun, and Numenor prior to its destruction) then catch the last ship from the havens back to Valinor.

It would a action packed, very long life, and it could shed some light on Cirdan's backstory and the mysterious Grey Havens.

[Morthoron]

Hmmm...I don't think I'd care to be a mortal in the first 3 Ages of Middle-earth. What with war, pestilence, drought and bad dentistry, it would be as miserable a life as a medieval serf or villein - a short life and an unmerry one, even if Tolkien painted a somewhat rosy picture. There is nothing gallant about wasting away from dysentery or gangrene.

I suppose I would prefer to be an Elf, as they were too noble for bowel movements.