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

[Frodo2968thewhite]

Let's see, I'd be one of two things.
I'd be the greatest Noldrim High-King that ever lived, I'd have Vilya, just like Gil-Galad, and would live in the Grey Havens or Lothlorien. My name would be Iorhael Ancalime I Taur, and I would make friends with Elrond, Celeborn, Cirdan, Galadriel, and all of the most honorable Elves in Arda.

Or I'd be a hobbit of the Shire, Fastolph H. Baggins II. I'd live at
# 10 Bywater Road
Hobbiton, WF.
I'd be friends with my Baggins relatives, the Tooks, Gamgees, Brandybucks, and Hornblowers. I'd smoke Old Toby and Longbottom Leaf, drink Old Winyard and Ale at the Green Dragon, and just be a Hobbit.
[img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[rutslegolas]

if i would have born in middle-earth

then i would have a become a high numeroean king like ar-pharazon ruling both the northern as well as the western knigdom

or i would be a high-elven king like gil-galad and destroy the forces of evil and then live a peaceful life in mirkwood or lothlorein

I think I would be a Gondorian Ranger. The history of that people is pretty interesting to me and the chance to be out in that countryside-although it would be dangerous would remind me of RL passions.

[lady evenstar]

i would be born in edoras but im an elf and i would make friends with eomer

[Lhundulinwen]

I would be a princess of Gondor or Lothlorien. (Hopefully Lothlorien!!) Or I would be Loved Harfoot of the Shire, (Concering Hobbits is playing in the background) and live a nice quiet life and marry one of Sam's sons. LOL. Then again, Rivendale is nice too. So, anywhere Gandalf and elves hang out, I'd be good. Aragorn would be nice to have around too. Just keep me away from Moria!! That place creeps me out!

[Hot, crispy nice hobbit]

If I were to be born in Middle-Earth... hmm, let me think!

I sure would like to be an Eagle, with the spirit of a Maia, of course! Flying is a HUGE advantage, and if anyone try to shoot me with arrows, I could simply fly over him or her and do my business above that person's head

[lore_master]

i'd be a man, either a nomad, under a cheiftain, or a wandering vagabond, under no ones leadership.

[Gil-Galad]

if i was born on ME, i would still be Gil-Galad but i wouldn't die, so I CAN KEEP YOU GREEDY ENGLISH PIG-DOGS AWAY FROM MY RING VILYA(no offence to any english people here) also i am the greatest king that ever lived, so there(in the second age)

[haltred]

I would be a hobbit live in Hobbiton be friends with all the locals and never have any andventures nor do anything unexpectd

[Sillabub]

That's easy!
GONDOR!!!!!! Because it ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (wraith: great defensive argument...)
I'd be gondorian. In other words, I'd be a human from gondor. Pure human. Not that weird complicated smallishly-percent-descended-from-elvish-guys-who-decided-to-be-men-and-went-off-and-did-stuff-for-a-long-time-and-called-themselves-human-but-weren't-and-never-washed-their-hair. And not those weird, hairy and stupid wild men. GONDORIAN!!!!!
Aaaaand I'd be friends with Boromir and Faramir and Pippin and random human #252 and that little white pebble in scene 45 in Minas Tirith and the fire that burned Denethor (Wraith: mee too! I hate Denethor! He's so mean to poor faramir!) and-
BOOM!
Ahem. Sorry.

And there's no such THING as Gondorian rangers! At least, not the kind you're probably thinking of. Those guys are Numenorean (Aragorn needs to wash his hair more often!) and such.

[Morsul the Dark]

now now dont be hasty..it is a great honor to be from gondooooooorrr but iiii think that i would much rather be an ent. Because ents are big and strong and wiiiiiise. plus they get to destroy isengaaaaaaard.

i would beriend the hobbits in their hobbit holes
and the elves
but most of all Fangorn himself

[Mahal]

I to would want to be a high Numenorean king, before the fall anyway. They are certainly impressive.

[Phervasaion]

hmm... I would do one of two things, depemding what timeframe i was in.

1. If in the third age, I would be a Ranger of the North, wonder the wilderness, protect the people and fight along side Aragorn at the Black Gate

2. If in the first age, i would most likely wish to be a numenorean and live my life in peace for a couple of hundred years.

I would, no doubt in my mind, be a hobbit. I am small, love to eat bread and cheese, sing and dance, and do all the hobbity things hobbits do. I would be friends with Merry and Pippin. They're like me in many ways. I'd live in the Shire. So green and lucious. Green pretty.

I would be and elf living in the Grey Havens

[Kitanna]

I'm would be a hobbit, no doubt in my mind. So I guess I'd live in the Shire. But I do love horses so if I were a human I'd defiantly live in Edoras and chill with the Mearas.

[Isowen]

I would love to be born in Middle-Earth. I would have to be and elf and live in LothLorien, as I would like to meet Galadriel and Celeborn. It would be great to be there when the fellowship passed through there too! I wouldn't mind living in Minas Tirith if i were a man (female in my case) as it has a great view! But I would take the occasional visit to Edoras to visit Eomer, Eowyn and Brego! Mirkwood would be ok, in hope that the necromancer remains banned from those parts whilst I was living there!

[Galadriel55]

I'd be one of the Dunedain rangers. And I'll live somewhere around Rivendell for the most part, but I'll travel a lot.

[Dúgorin]

I'd live in Ithilien or Dol Amroth, I'd be a Dúnadan with Elf ancestry and be friends with Faramir, Aragorn, Imrahil & the Rangers

[Galadriel]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

I'd be one of the Dunedain rangers. And I'll live somewhere around Rivendell for the most part, but I'll travel a lot.

Haha! Smelly business I'm pretty sure I've already posted on this thread, but now I just want to live as noblewoman in Valinor. Don't ask me why.

[MCRmyGirl4eva]

I would be an Elf in Mirkwood, and I would be a castle guard. I would be friends with Thranduil and Legolas, as well as friends with just about everybody in the king's halls who wasn't a complete a--.

[Mithalwen]

You would be Itaril and I claim my five pounds?

[Selmo]

What would I be in Middle-Earth?

Let me think;
I'm rather short and a little tubby, I had brown curly hair (it's gray now), I like to wear bright colours, I enjoy good simple food, five meals a day (when I can get them), I love dark, strong ale and the (very) occasional pipe of tobacco.

I wonder what I could be.

Is there a vacancy for an Ale Quality Inspector in The Shire?

.

[Glorthelion]

Me, I would be a great commander of Gondor's armies. Something along the lines of Boromir.

[Meneltarmacil]

Originally Posted by Selmo

What would I be in Middle-Earth?

Let me think;
I'm rather short and a little tubby, I had brown curly hair (it's gray now), I like to wear bright colours, I enjoy good simple food, five meals a day (when I can get them), I love dark, strong ale and the (very) occasional pipe of tobacco.

I wonder what I could be.

Is there a vacancy for an Ale Quality Inspector in The Shire?

.

There was, but I believe a certain Peregrine Took already filled it.

[Alcidas]

I would be an elf and live in Rivendell (because those elf girls are HOT...)

[Mumriken]

^stupid.........

I'd be an pipeweed smoking elf. I'd live in a lighthouse by the western sea. At the top of my lighthouse I'd have a small gallery where I'd draw sleep and live my ever lasting life out. Of course from time to time I'd travel east to visit the hobbits and Tom Bombadil...and maybe even the ents!!!!!

[Alcidas]

^
Daft

Whoever heard of a pipeweed smoking elf?

[Ninde Lossehelin]

A hobbit of the shire.... Good peaceful and food loving

[skip spence]

Perhaps the city of Umbar, some time during the latter parts of Gondorian rule?

I bet that would be an exiting city, a melting pot of different cultures and peoples; a place where goods and services from all around Middle Earth would be readily available for a price; a place where there's a little something for everybody, be they into history, art, partying, war or adventuring; a place where there's nice sunny weather, beaches, good food and drink, good women, and a bit edgy too, certainly not a quiet and safe old folks retreat.

[Mumriken]

Perhaps the city of Umbar, some time during the latter parts of Gondorian rule?

I bet that would be an exiting city, a melting pot of different cultures and peoples; a place where goods and services from all around Middle Earth would be readily available for a price; a place where there's a little something for everybody, be they into history, art, partying, war or adventuring; a place where there's nice sunny weather, beaches, good food and drink, good women, and a bit edgy too, certainly not a quiet and safe old folks retreat.

I'm quite sure Tolkien would have hated multi-cultarism.

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Mumriken

I'm quite sure Tolkien would have hated multi-cultarism.

You are probably right. He didn't like cults, and several cults would have been reprehensible to him.

[jallanite]

Despite Mumriken’s opinion, Tolkien’s attitude towards what would today be called multiculturalism seems to me to be supportive.

Read letter 53 in which Tolkien supports multiculturalim as opposed to what he calls “Americo-cosmopolitanism”. Tolkien also writes:

Col. Knox says ⅛ of the world’s population speaks ‘English’, and that is the biggest language group. If true, damn shame – say I.

In his lecture English and Welsh Tolkien summarizes what he calls “this legal oppression of the Welsh language″ which he deplores. Tolkien notes:

Governments – or far-seeing civil servants from Thomas Cromwell onwards – understand the matter of language well enough, for their purposes. Uniformity is naturally neater; it is also very much more manageable. A hundred-per-cent Englishman is easier for an English government to handle. It does not matter what he was, or what his fathers were. Such an Englishman is any man who speaks English natively, and has lost any effective tradition of a different and more independent past. For though cultural and other traditions may accompany a difference of language, they are chiefly maintained and preserved by language. Language is the prime differentiator of peoples –not of races–, whatever that much-misused word may mean in the long-blended history of western Europe.

The full paper is available at http://demo.ort.org.il/clickit2/file.../948358249.pdf .

[crescendo.]

After giving this some thought I would probably be an elf and live in Ithilian. Seeing as the elven colonies were beginning to fall after the destruction of the ring and by the time Galadriel left the leaves of the beautiful Lorien began to fall, I would start in Ithilian to mingle the remaining Elves among men. But if it's before the war, I'd be an elf in Lorien. A handmaiden to Galadriel.

[Nogrod]

I will have to echo Skip here... Umbar, or maybe Dol Amroth. They bring to my imagination places like ancient Alexandria or Rome even. Minas Tirith might be an option but it feels too rigid and "nationalistic" (yes, a bad term but I hope you get what I mean), and clearly too far from the Sea.

Bilbo said you should be careful with the road you take as it might take you anywhere - but with sea it is even a more awesome idea. One has to live by the sea to feel the world is open.

[Bêthberry]

I'll stick my head out and say I'd rather not be born in Middle-earth.

Much as I enjoy the books, I'm rather firmly wedded to modern medicine, control over reproduction, voting rights and equality, universal education, despite all the problems,difficulties, and wretched issues we have today. My grandmother bore ten children and lived Rosie Cotton's life. It's no idyl.

I suppose that makes me an Entwife.

[Inziladun]

I think I'd rather have enjoyed being one of the Rohirrim.
I like their land, and they seem to have an uncomplicated sort of life. Somehow, they seem almost hobbit-like compared to other Men we see, like the Gondorians.
Nice weather, horses, blonde maidens...what's not to like?

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Nogrod

I will have to echo Skip here... Umbar, or maybe Dol Amroth. They bring to my imagination places like ancient Alexandria or Rome even. Minas Tirith might be an option but it feels too rigid and "nationalistic" (yes, a bad term but I hope you get what I mean), and clearly too far from the Sea.

In the good name of Ulmo, if Minas Tirith is "clearly too far from Sea" for you, I shudder what you would say about Rivendell...

Though I concur with the idea of the Sea. I always considered Hithlum to be a pretty nice place, but the best thing related to it is Cirith Ninniach - and here comes the Sea. Then again, it was generally rather a bleak place otherwise - most of all, no people. I think I could otherwise do without the Sea, and just stay in some place like Rivendell/Lórien (even Rhosgobel)... maybe the White Towers would be actually good, if one can see the Sea from there, but still be quite close to the calm and safe hills and valleys of the Shire (I would not like to live in the Shire itself, too "civilized" for me, but in some deep forest on the edge of the Shire, happily - to stalk Hobbits, sort of behave like the Elves who pass through; therefore the White Towers sounds like a good place). Shores of Lake Rhun (especially if there really is this forest by its north-eastern edge) also sound nice.

I think the problem with the Sea in Middle-Earth is that generally all the locations by the Sea are somewhat lacking in other aspects. Like, there usually isn't anything else except for the Sea. For example, Grey Havens would fulfil some good criteria for me (Elves, Sea), but it sounds like a grey and depressing place otherwise, so... With places like Umbar I would have the issue that, if I ever decided to leave our world and move to Middle-Earth, I would do so for the reason of getting away from our overcrowded, commerce-inflated cities, and going to Umbar of all places certainly wouldn't help it. No, if I moved to Middle-Earth, it would be away from civilization: no Gondor, no Númenor, no early Arnor, no big cities, especially not human ones.

[skip spence]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

I'll stick my head out and say I'd rather not be born in Middle-earth.

Much as I enjoy the books, I'm rather firmly wedded to modern medicine, control over reproduction, voting rights and equality, universal education, despite all the problems,difficulties, and wretched issues we have today. My grandmother bore ten children and lived Rosie Cotton's life. It's no idyl.

You are right of course, Bb. Went to a friend's house the other day and we decided to make mojitos since we had rum, lime and mint-leaves. And the wonders of modern society! The crushed ice and soda water you could get straight from the fridge-door with just a push of a button!

For those yearning for the Elvish lifestyle, I think even Tolkien are quite clear that Men are not really made for that kind of contentment, serenity and harmony with nature. We are restless and the grass is always greener on the other side. Sitting on a lawn in Lorien, reciting poetry and meditating on the beauty of the Mallorn trees would be very nice for a while but sooner or later there would be an itch.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by skip spence

For those yearning for the Elvish lifestyle, I think even Tolkien are quite clear that Men are not really made for that kind of contentment, serenity and harmony with nature. We are restless and the grass is always greener on the other side. Sitting on a lawn in Lorien, reciting poetry and meditating on the beauty of the Mallorn trees would be very nice for a while but sooner or later there would be an itch.

That's indeed what is rather explicite in there. So possibly, yes - I think that's the point, however: Middle-Earth is "made" for us for rest, renewal, the peace so that one can later return to the buzz of elsewhere. In the in-world perspective, even the spirits of Men leave and nobody knows where, not even the Elves do. The Men are just "guests". So in fact, you are probably right in your idea that if you had to live in Middle-Earth, some place akin to our world (like the Gondorian Umbar, Minas Tirith or the places teeming with life) might be more up to human taste.

But still - I think even places more "lost" can be nice, like Lórien, if you could find nice enough company there (which is questionable, you would probably need more humans and not only Elves around, their thinking might prove to be too alien in the end after all). But the point of the strength of Men is creating new things, enrichening the world, even though they live in it only shortly - that is what has been amazing the Elves since the dawn of times. So, theoretically, even in a place like Rivendell, I think, a human could find himself feeling comfortable, under the condition that the local population would not hold it against him that he is creating new things, and therefore, of course, changing things - as we know, change is the thing the Elves do not seem to be very happy with. That is, I think, a bit of the problem with the Undying Lands, too, the reason why mortals can't really live there - a human cannot sit on the grass for a thousand years and be just happy. Eventually, you will feel like you want to do something. Though, if I think about it, the Elves certainly did not sit there idly all the time either - thinking of Fëanor as the most remarkable example... though, truth be told, the Noldor were in a way also the most "human-like" (also in the bad way), and they did not stay in the end... they had to go through all the suffering in Middle-Earth before they were able to appreciate the return and the peace and the rest again.

Interesting thought, anyway.