Unusual question?

[IxnaY AintsaY]

Originally Posted by Brego

Hi there! I have a question, it's pretty unusual. Sorry if this is the wrong forum.

I'd like an opinion from someone other than my brother. I've been asked to write a story/fanfic for my friend with Sam and Frodo in it and she wants the two hobbits to find a rabbit and rescue it, etc. However, another part of the plot is where Sam contemplates killing the rabbit for food. My question is, would book-Sam do this or even actually kill a rabbit (that he's gone to the trouble of rescuing)? I say no, my brother says yes.

What do you think?

Is it a talking rabbit? If so, I'd guess no. They tend to be on the gamey side.

[Brego]

Maybe, I don't know what she (my friend, that is) wants. I'll ask her. A talking rabbit is a nice idea, actually. In that case I guess it would be a bit cruel if Sam killed it, as it obviously would ask him not to. I have no idea what Sam's reaction to a talking rabbit would be, though.

[IxnaY AintsaY]

Originally Posted by Brego

Maybe, I don't know what she (my friend, that is) wants. I'll ask her. A talking rabbit is a nice idea, actually. In that case I guess it would be a bit cruel if Sam killed it, as it obviously would ask him not to. I have no idea what Sam's reaction to a talking rabbit would be, though.

Interesting question. If it were a six-foot, three-and-a-half inch, invisible, talking rabbit, I have no doubt Sam would hang out with him at the neighborhood bar drinking martinis. But this seems an absurd scenario, seeing as Sam is such a beer-lover.

Your more run-of-the-mill talking rabbits, or vorpal talking rabbits, I have no idea. The answer is probably in HOME, somewhere or another though.

[Faramir Jones]

As others have pointed out, Brego, the answer to your question is 'Yes', there being the example of Sam cooking the rabbits caught by Gollum for himself and Frodo.

There's also the issue of what the Shire was based on. Tolkien did so, as he said, on a village in the English Midlands c.1897, like the one in which he spent part of his childhood.

The inhabitants of such a village, like the hobbits based on them, were not vegetarian. However, Tolkien did qualify this a little in one of his letters, as William Cloud Hicklin said, saying that hobbits did not practise blood sports, and had a greater empathy with wild creatures than the villagers he based them on.

It seems reasonable to say that Sam, like any other hobbit, would have no problems with killing wild animals for food, or raising tame ones for the same purpose. But he would not kill any for sport. As denethorthefirst said, a hobbit would see no contradiction in this attitude.

It's interesting about Tolkien's attitude towards blood sports; because of what has happened since his death regarding hunting in Great Britain. The hunting of wild mammals with a dog was, with some qualifications, banned in Scotland in 2002, and then in England and Wales in 2004, the legislation in the latter part being enforced from 2005. Perhaps, considering his stated attitude in his Letters, he might have been sympathetic to such a ban.

[Brego]

That is interesting; on that note, are the letters something you can buy, or if not, where would you find them? I've heard a lot about them and they sound really interesting.

What does vorpal mean? Sorry, I've never heard that word before. But the rabbit will just be a general rabbit that can talk.

I can post a link to the story when it's done, if you like, so you can see the whole situation. It wont take long as I can type quick.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Brego

That is interesting; on that note, are the letters something you can buy, or if not, where would you find them? I've heard a lot about them and they sound really interesting.

The book is pretty easily found, starting here. Highly recommended for serious Tolkien readers.

[Mithalwen]

Originally Posted by Brego

That is interesting; on that note, are the letters something you can buy, or if not, where would you find them? I've heard a lot about them and they sound really interesting.

What does vorpal mean? Sorry, I've never heard that word before. But the rabbit will just be a general rabbit that can talk.

I can post a link to the story when it's done, if you like, so you can see the whole situation. It wont take long as I can type quick.

Vorpal is a word made up by Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking Glass for the poem Jabberwocky.

[IxnaY AintsaY]

Originally Posted by Brego

What does vorpal mean? Sorry, I've never heard that word before. But the rabbit will just be a general rabbit that can talk.

To add on to Mithalwen's answer...

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/KillerRabbit

[blantyr]

Originally Posted by IxnaY AintsaY

Is it a talking rabbit? If so, I'd guess no. They tend to be on the gamey side.

Only talking rabbits are gamey?

I heard one rumor that anything in Middle Earth that eats meat also talks. Not sure if the converse holds, that grass eaters don't talk.

Is it a vorpal bunny?

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by blantyr

I heard one rumor that anything in Middle Earth that eats meat also talks. Not sure if the converse holds, that grass eaters don't talk.

The fox that encounters the hobbits in the Shire "talks" in an inner monologue, and the wolves that corner Thorin and Co. apparently talk with the Orcs. The Eagles speak too, of course, but I don't think it can be said that every Middle-earth carnivore talks.
Actually, the Witch-king's steed is obviously a meat-eater, but it doesn't say anything.