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Visit The *EVEN NEWER* Barrow-Downs Photo Page |
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#1 |
Doubting Dwimmerlaik
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Heaven's basement
Posts: 2,466
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I see Middle-earth
Have you ever 'seen' a place from Middle Earth as you're walking/driving around? Now that the movies are out, we all have new images of ME available to replace those created in our heads when we first read the books (Note that PJ was pretty spot-on when it came to the scenery).
However, for me the old images still persist, and there are places around where I live that to me are Middle Earth. For example: There's a coke plant (the material used to make steel, not the beverage) nearby that I always see as Mordor. At night the place has an eerie, menacing look with orange fires and red lights playing atop towers of black. Ever present smoke smudges the view, and the bridges/ramps jutting out of buildings at odd angles make it look more like a growth of black crabgrass than something made by men. The place is surrounded by coal fields where (obviously) coal is stored. Machines pile it into small mountains, then remove it again as it is needed for processing. This makes the ground appear black, sharp and lifeless. Puddles of rain collected in depressions appear as sickly mirrors, as there's always some oil to add color. I always see this as Gorgoroth, especially as the air has a sharp sulfur smell, and on a good day can really get you coughing. The hills across the river, downwind and so receiving most of the pollution, are barren of color for most of the year. These 'Brown Hills' are mostly dirt and rock with some patches of scratchy weeds that never seem to turn green. As kids we used to play in the remains of an old deserted terra-cotta pipe mill near where we lived, and the concrete roads and structures served as Moria. Fire-blackened brick furnaces still remain, and we could see where the Dwarves made their livelihood and also marks of the Balrog's passage. The underground sewer that runs from the mill to the river (about 100 yards) gave an understanding to the meaning of "long dark road" as we made our way sans lights from one end to the other. A private owner now lives in Lothlorien, and not wanting to trespass I can only see what is visible from the street. It's rumored that the owner (or former owner) of this estate is a botanist, and she brought and planted trees from all over on the grounds, and now the exotic trees of many colors, textures, etc give the place a wooded, elvish feel. The trees are large and so block some of the sun, adding to the mystery. In winter snow adds to the effect, as the 'whiteness' makes me think more of Galadriel. A man-made hill of slag juts up above the treeline near a road I travel, and one day I would like to get a closer look at the top of Weathertop to see if there are any rocks there that are scored with a 'G' rune - you never know. Anyway, anyone else so afflicted? |
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#2 |
Auspicious Wraith
Join Date: May 2002
Location: The Netherlands
Posts: 4,859
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Nothing so interesting as that, I am afraid. Those are some interesting examples you post, especially Gorgoroth.
![]() I am reminded of the Shire a lot; British countryside will do that to you.
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Los Ingobernables de Harlond |
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#3 |
Energetic Essence
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It is a very interesting thought, but there isn't really anything around here (Canada) that reminds me of ME, except maybe the mountains here. They kind of remind me of Caradhras.
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I'm going to buy you a kitty, I'm going to let you fall in love with the kitty, and one cold, winter night, I'm going to steal into your house and punch you in the face! Fenris Wolf
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#4 |
Doubting Dwimmerlaik
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Heaven's basement
Posts: 2,466
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I really hope that it's not just me being a little too geeked out about ME. Note that I've left out places that as a teenager I'd named as ME locations just because they have one attribute in common.
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#5 |
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Wandering through Middle-Earth (Sadly in Alberta and not ME)
Posts: 612
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I am somewhat afflicted
For exampl when I see an extremely dark red sunrise It reminds me of Mordor and I call it a Mordorian sunrise. This view is however affected by the movies. But i also have the old forest nearby. Althought it is a very small old forest since Alberta doesn't have many deciferous trees. ![]()
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Back again |
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#6 |
Stormdancer of Doom
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There are beech groves nearby that sing to me of Lothlorien.
Pine ridges that remind me of Frodo's desire to check out the Pine Ridge in Rivendell. Drumlins (that's what New Englanders call rocky outcroppings on the tops of old hills) remind me of trolls caves in the Ettenmoors. Any beach reminds me of the Grey havens or of the older elf-havens to the south (Edhellond.) Streams remind me of the stream near Bag End that both Bilbo and Frodo crossed as they departed (with the little wooden bridge, there are a few of those around.) ...I could go on and on...
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...down to the water to see the elves dance and sing upon the midsummer's eve. Last edited by mark12_30; 02-23-2005 at 10:13 AM. |
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#7 | |
Animated Skeleton
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Erebor
Posts: 49
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My aunt has a cabin up near Imperial, PA that struck me as a good vision of Woodhall. Nice old trees with some good paths between them. Clearings that my family maintained. Racoon Creek is literally down a hill from the cabin.
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#8 |
Hauntress of the Havens
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: IN it, but not OF it
Posts: 2,538
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This is posted at the door of a room in my univ's Bio building (of sorts):
NUMENOR is a COMPUTER ROOM. It is NOT a tambayan*! *a place for hanging out in Filipino To think that will be my home in the univ...that's so cool! ![]() |
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#9 |
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: In hospitals, call rooms and (rarely) my apartment.
Posts: 1,538
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Well, I just read the thread about "walking to Rivendel" and I had an epiphany. There is this this great forest which I once went biking to with a friend. It was not the best idea as it had just rained and the trails were very muddy.... but while biking around I got this feeling of re-tracing Frodo's journey... specially as the mosquitoes drove my friend and I away. I think next summer I will go walking rather than biking... and who knows? I might just find Rivendel lost in there!
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#10 | ||
Doubting Dwimmerlaik
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Heaven's basement
Posts: 2,466
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Quote:
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"Well, there's this online forum where all we talk about is Tolkien..."
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There is naught that you can do, other than to resist, with hope or without it.
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#11 |
Dead Serious
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Weathertop is sweet, Alatar, but I must quibble with your Paths of the Dead. Tolkienish they look indeed, but they conjure up an image more of the Barrow Downs... (Not these ones, the ones by Tom Bombadil's house.
![]() Thanks for sharing. Clearly, you live in a mystical neighbourhood.
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I prefer history, true or feigned.
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#12 | ||
Doubting Dwimmerlaik
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Heaven's basement
Posts: 2,466
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Neighbor #1 to neighbor #2: "If he says, 'You shall not pass!' one more time to me..." Edit: Note that the "Weathertop" hill is situated just above a major road, as it should be.
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There is naught that you can do, other than to resist, with hope or without it.
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#13 |
Blossom of Dwimordene
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: The realm of forgotten words
Posts: 10,360
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http://nerwen20.deviantart.com/#/d3hi3sj
This one looks Shirish as well. Or maybe Breeish. Galadriel, I see you changed yor sig as well as your avvie. I had to look at your profile to make sure its you. ![]()
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You passed from under darkened dome, you enter now the secret land. - Take me to Finrod's fabled home!... ~ Finrod: The Rock Opera |
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#14 |
Blossom of Dwimordene
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: The realm of forgotten words
Posts: 10,360
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Not seeing ME, but hearing it...
Recently I discovered that the Rohirric tongue reminds me of Ukrainian. Probably because of the abundance of e and y sounds. But maybe that's just because that is how I see Ukranian as compared to Russian...
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You passed from under darkened dome, you enter now the secret land. - Take me to Finrod's fabled home!... ~ Finrod: The Rock Opera |
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#15 | |
A Voice That Gainsayeth
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: In that far land beyond the Sea
Posts: 7,431
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"Should the story say 'he ate bread,' the dramatic producer can only show 'a piece of bread' according to his taste or fancy, but the hearer of the story will think of bread in general and picture it in some form of his own." -On Fairy-Stories |
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#16 | |
Blossom of Dwimordene
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: The realm of forgotten words
Posts: 10,360
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You passed from under darkened dome, you enter now the secret land. - Take me to Finrod's fabled home!... ~ Finrod: The Rock Opera |
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#17 |
Wight
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Behind you . . . . BOO!
Posts: 222
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Sadly, I've nothing to contribute myself, as I don't get out much (and when I do, it's to urban areas - and not even especially Mordor-esque ones!) but Eonwe's picture of the Helcaraxe is marvelous.
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