All things are subject to change, and as our LOTR roleplay begins to

transition to a new RP in the Realm of Arallyn, so will the build at Bag End, Bilbo’s titular home. It will revert back to the residence of its foundation RP character Mr. Beedle, local honey merchant, within the new ‘halfling’ shire, complete with a few familiar mementos from ‘The Hobbit’.

We leave Thorin and Co. on a bit of cliffhanger just before their dangerous journey into the Misty Mountains. One can’t say goodbye to the wonderful world the sim owners created for ‘The Hobbit’ and LOTR without a bit of melancholy in seeing the story go unfinished, but applaud them for attempting something unique in SL; the telling of a beloved literary classic that remained faithful to its storyline and characters. The expansive playsets were the best LOTR builds I had seen in SL and the superb roleplay by participants and their character development a fitting testament to the skills of those who knew the material.

Few of us can appreciate the immense expense of this enterprise, or the additional burden of meeting the expectations of a demanding storyline. So let me be among those to welcome the chance to explore a new fantasy RP with familiar races, offering few boundaries to RP in lands easier for its owners to maintain…if only to continue the fantastical journey with the friends we have made.

Now that the LOTR RP is ending, I have been cleaning out my digital closet of video, images and dialog bits I had time to prepare in the 2 month hiatus since our last RP in Rivendell, and share them below in appreciation of the fine work all did in bringing ‘The Hobbit’ to (Second) life.

DOWNTOWN TO GOBLIN TOWN

After Rivendell, Thorin & Company make their way through the treacherous Misty Mountains during a violent thunderstorm, where Bilbo nearly falls to his death. Taking shelter in a cave ends when the stone floor cracks open, spilling Dwarves and Bilbo into peril at the hands of a waiting goblin horde. Only Bilbo manages to evade capture as his companions are herded towards a showdown with the Goblin King. Bilbo finds himself alone until a rogue goblin spots him and attacks. The video below was created to capture their fateful encounter into the unknown.

DOWN DOWN TO GOLLUM TOWN

Bilbo’s meeting with Gollum is perhaps one of the most signature moments in ‘The Hobbit”, as finding the ring of power is at the heart of Tolkien's works. The next video captured that moment.

What follows next is Bilbo and Gollum’s signature scene. Since it was only a scene for two, it made sense to script it ahead, since the Gollum role had not yet been cemented. The movie script served as a basis for character dialog, as it often did in our RP, but I would supplement text from the book for Bilbo’s observations and responses wherever appropriate. These scenes also provided improvisational opportunities to accommodate the builds or players available, or to enhance the telling, such as adding a few new riddles into the mix, that other players following in group chat might chance to guess.

RIDDLES IN THE DARK

Few would have survived the fall to the cave floor below. The Goblin had landed on the remains of another unfortunate victim, and broken his back. Bilbo had landed atop the Goblin, breaking his fall. He was regaining consciousness slowly, sitting atop the heap of fallen bodies, dazed, with everything hurting.

Bilbo: “Where am I?” he wondered aloud. “I can’t see a thing!” as no light escaped or entered that place. “The ground feels unusually warm and squishy.” He said, before realizing it was not the ground but the goblin he sat atop, before quickly crawling a safe distance away.

The goblin had not followed, paralyzed beyond mobility except for the frantic searching of its sinister eyes. From the painful gurgling noises it was making, From the echo of it, Bilbo could tell he must be in a large underground cavern.

Bilbo: “My sword!” was his first thought, recalling his fight with the goblin. But it was not in its sheath, nor near by, having been lost in the fall. “I must find it!” remembering its glow... “It might shed some light on my situation.”

Not that he was afraid of the dark. Hobbits are used to living in burrowed tunnels and have a good sense of direction underground. They can move very quietly, even in the dark, as the bottoms of their feet are much more sensitive than ours for feeling out what is beneath them. Bilbo’s only real fear was the goblins would find him before he could find a way out.

Bilbo: “If there is a way in, there must be another way out!” He hoped, slowly crawling across the cold damp cave to look for one. That’s when he but his hand on something smooth, round and hollow. “A ring by the feel of it.” which he picked up to examine in the dim light. But seeing few details, he put in his vest pocket and continued the search for his sword.

After bumping into rock walls on his way, he saw a light blue glow in the distance beneath the mist moving across the cave floor.

“That must be it!” Bilbo exclaimed, quickly moving to the spot, finding his sword and holding up its glowing blue blade like a torch. “Not so bright that goblins are very near, nor so pale they aren’t far enough away.” He said, “But certainly bright enough to see things clearer close by!”

He could now see that his search had lead him around the back of the large rock where he and the goblin had landed, and would have returned, if not stopped cold by a sound like a snake, hissing and slithering towards the goblin lying on the other side of the rock making gurgling sounds. He stay hidden from sight to listen, quietly sheathing the light of his glowing sword.

Gollum: “Yesss. Yes! Yes. Gollum. Yes! Gollum! Gollum! Nasty goblinses are better than old bones, precious. Better than nothing. Aah, too many boneses, precious! Not enough flesh. Shut up! Cut its skin off! Start with its head.“

As the sound of the voice started to echo into the distance Bilbo inched his way around the rock to see a strange creature dragging the goblin away by its feet. Pulling the sword from its sheath once more to light his way, he followed a safe distance behind in hopes of finding his way out.

Bilbo: Soon he came to the edge of a pool of water and stopped. The creature and the goblin were nowhere in sight. “Now where could they have gone?” he wondered, fearing he had lost his chance to find a way out. Then he heard the snake like voice again across the water, as if in a song.

Gollum: “The cold hard lands, they bites our hands, they gnaws our feet, for rocks and stones are like old bones all bare of meat, cold as death, without no breath it’s good to eat.“

The water was too cold and icy to the touch for

Bilbo to cross. But not far beyond, on a small island in the middle of the lake, the creature Gollum looked up from the goblin he was about to devour to see a flickering blue light rippling across the water. Curious, he slipped back into the water and paddled to the shore, surprising Bilbo.

Gollum: “Bless us and splash us, precious. That’s a meaty mouthful.“

Gollum: “Gollum! Gollum!“

Bilbo: Jumping back startled upon seeing a set of pale eyes emerge at the edge of the pool Bilbo shouted. “Back. Stay back. I’m warning you, don’t come any closer. Stop right there!” he said, dropping his sword at the creature’s throat as it asked questions to itself.

Gollum: “It’s got an Elfish blade, but it’s not an Elfes. Not an Elfes, no. What is it, precious? What is it?“

Bilbo: “I am Mr. Bilbo Baggins if you must know.”

Gollum: “Bagginses. What is a Bagginses, precious?“

Bilbo: "I’m a…hobbit from the Shire."

Gollum: “Oh! We like goblinses, batses and fishes, but we hasn’t tried Hobbitses before! Is it soft? Is it juicy?“

Bilbo: "Now! Now, keep…keep your distance!” Bilbo said, waving his sword at Gollum. “I’ll use this, if I have too. I don’t…I don’t want any trouble, you understand? I have become separated from my friends…just help me find my way out and no harm will come to you and I’ll be on my way!”

Gollum: “Why? Is it lost?“

Bilbo: "Yes. Yes, and I want to get unlost, as soon as possible."

Gollum: “Oh, we knows! We knows safe path for hobbitses. Safe path in the dark. Shut up!“

Bilbo: "I didn’t say anything."

Gollum: “I wasn’t talking to you!“

Gollum: “Oh yes, we…we was, precious, we was.“

Bilbo: "Look, I…I don’t know what your game is, but I…"

Gollum: “Games?! Oh, we love games, doesn’t we, precious? Does it like games? Does it, does it, does it like to play?“

Bilbo: “Maybe” Bilbo said watching the strange creature literally jump for joy as if it had been a very long time since he had anyone to play a game with.

Gollum: “What has roots as nobody sees, is taller than trees, up, up, up it goes, and yet never grows?“

Bilbo: "A mountain, I suppose."

Gollum: “Yes! Yes! Ooh, let’s have another one, huh? Yes. Go, do it again. Do it, do it again, ask us.“

Gollum: “No! No more riddles. Finish him off, finish him now! Gollum, Gollum!“

Bilbo: Did not wish to do a game of riddles either, but watching the creature turn vicious and angry, quickly thought the better of it, “No! No, no, no. I want…I want to play. I do. I want to play. I can see…you are very good at this. Uh…so why don’t we have a game of riddles? Yes, just…just…just you and me."

Gollum: “Yes. Just…just…just us.“

Bilbo: "Yes! Yes! And…and if I win, you will show me the way out. Yes?"

Gollum: “Yes. Yes!“

Gollum: “And if it loses, what then? Well, if it loses, precious, then we eats it! If Baggins loses, we eats it whole.“

Bilbo: “Fair enough.” Bilbo said, after a moment weighing the consequences and realizing if riddles where his best chance for not being eaten and finding a way out, riddles it shall be.

Gollum: “The Baggins first.“

Bilbo: Did not wish to go first, but was not in a position to disagree, and grasping his sword tighter. “All right!” he said wracking his brain to think of a riddle that could save him from being eaten by those sharp teeth, but it did bring a riddle to mind.

“Thirty white horses on a red hill.

First they champ,

then they stamp,

then they stand still.”

Gollum: Teeth?

Gollum: Teeth!

Gollum: Yes, my precious! But we…we only have nine.

Gollum: Our turn...

“Voiceless it cries,

wingless it flutters,

toothless bites,

mouthless mutters."

Bilbo: “ Just a minute.” Bilbo said, taken aback at how quickly the creature had answered his last riddle and feeling lost to answer his.

Gollum: “Ooh! We knows, we knows!“

Gollum: “Shut up!“

Bilbo: He contemplated a bad ending if he guessed wrong. Even if he had a sword, the creature knew the cavern better than he, and could wait until he weakened from hunger, or spring upon him in the dark like the wind. That’s it! guessed Bilbo “It’s wind! Of course it is!”

Gollum: “Very clever, hobbitses. Very clever!“

Bilbo: “My turn!” Bilbo yelped asking his next riddle quickly to gain time until he could think of a really hard one.

”A…a box without hinges, key or…or lid,

yet golden treasure inside is hid.”

Bilbo: “Well?” He asked thinking it a dreadfully easy chestnut, though he had not asked it in the usual words. But it proved a real poser for the creature.

Gollum: “It’s nasty.“

Bilbo: “Give up?” He asked again when the creature whispered and spluttered, but still did not answer.

Gollum: “Give us a chance, precious! Give us a chance!“

Gollum: “Eggses! Eggses! Wet, crunchy little eggses, yes. Grandmother taught us to suck them, yes!“

Gollum: “We have one for you…“

“All things it devours;

birds, beasts, trees, flowers.

Gnaws iron, bites steel,

Grinds hard stones to meal.

Slays king, ruins town,

And beats high mountain down.”

Gollum: …Answer us.”

Bilbo: “Give me a moment, please. I gave you a good long while.”

Poor Bilbo was in the dark thinking of all the horrible creatures he had ever heard told of in tales, but not one of them had done all these things.

Bilbo: “I don’t know this one.” he muttered under his breath.

He had a feeling that the answer was quite different and that he ought to know it, but he could not think of it. Then he began to get frightened he could not solve it, and that is bad for thinking.

Gollum: “Is it tasty? Is it scrumptious? Is it crunchable!“

Bilbo: “Let me think!" Bilbo blurted out anxiously.

Gollum: “It’s stuck. Bagginses is stuck. Time’s up.“

Bilbo: His tongue seemed to stick in his mouth; he wanted to shout out: “Give me more time! Give me time!” But all that came out as sudden squeal was…

"Time! Time!” which saved Bilbo by pure luck. For that of course was the answer, given the look of disgruntled affirmation on Gollum's face. Greatly relieved Bilbo responded quickly, “Now I have one for you.” he said after thinking of something Gollum would never have seen in his cave, like teeth, or time…

((The following riddle was not in the Movie or Book, for those following in Group to guess the answer.))

“I'm in plain sight, but yet unseen, lest light revealed by foe,

I do not fast, nor do I feast, yet always shrink and grow,

Smaller than those nearby, so around them I must go,

I delight in cold of night, but in the day I'm rare to show.”

Bilbo: “Well?”, he asks after giving him a long chance. “What is your answer?” watching as the creature whispered and sputtered.

Gollum had been underground a long long time, and was forgetting this sort of thing. But just as Bilbo was beginning to hope that the wretch would not be able to answer, Gollum brought up memories of ages and ages and ages before, when he lived with his grandmother in a hole in a bank by a river underneath the sun and…

“MOON!” Gollum cried out. “Sss, sss, that is the answer my preciouss!”

Now it was Gollum’s turn again, but the ordinary above ground everyday sort of riddles were tiring for him. Also they reminded him of days when he had been less lonely and sneaky and nasty, and that put him out of temper. What is more they made him hungry; so this time he tried something a bit more difficult and more unpleasant:

((The following riddle was only in the Book, for those following in Group to guess the answer.))

Gollum: “It cannot be seen, cannot be felt;

Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.

It lies behind stars and under hills,

and empty holes it fills.

It comes first and follows after,

Ends life, kills laughter.”

Bilbo: Unfortunately for Gollum Bilbo had heard that sort of thing before; and the answer was all round him any way. “The Dark!” he said without even scratching his head or putting on his thinking cap, delighting in how frustrated and disappointed the creature looked.

Gollum: “Last question. Last chance.“

Bilbo: “Okay. Uh…”

Bilbo paused wishing he had not answered the last riddle so quickly, to gain time to ask a really hard riddle. After clearing his throat once or twice and looking this way and that, no riddle came.

Gollum: “Ask us. Ask us!“

Bilbo: “Yes. Yes, alright.” he said struggling to ask a difficult riddle gripping his little sword tighter; pinching himself and even fidgeting nervously with his other hand in his pocket where the ring he found lay forgotten, “What have I got in my pocket?” he asked to himself, but loud enough that Gollum heard it as a riddle, and became frightfully upset.

Gollum: “ Well, that’s no fair. It’s…it’s no fair! It’s against the rules!“

Gollum: “You ask us another one.“

Bilbo: “No. No, no, no.” He said, realizing his fortuitous response and sticking to it. “You said, 'ask me a question'. Well that is my question... What have I got in my pocket?”

Gollum: “Three guesses, precious. He must give us three!“

Bilbo: “ Three guesses, very well, guess away.” He agreed, taking his hand out of his pocket to hold up three fingers.

Gollum: Handses!

Bilbo: “Wrong. Guess again.” Fortunately having pulled his hand from his pocket just in time.

Gollum: “Uuh! Fish bones, goblin’s teeth, wet shells, bat’s wings! Oooh! Aaah!“

Gollum: “Knife!“

Gollum: “No, shut up!“

Bilbo: “Wrong, again. Last guess.“ Bilbo said trying not to sound bold and cheerful on the eve of winning the game, as he was not at all sure how the game was going to end, whether Gollum guessed right or not.

Gollum: “String! Or nothing.“

Bilbo: “Two guesses at once. Wrong both times.” sighed Bilbo very much relieved.

Bilbo knew of course, that the riddle-game was sacred and of immense antiquity, and even wicked creatures were afraid to cheat when they played at it. But he felt he could not trust this slimy thing to keep any promise at a pinch. Any excuse would do for him to slide out of it. And after all, that last question had not been a genuine riddle according to the ancient laws, but accepted none the less. So just to be safe, Bilbo puts his back against the nearest rock wall, and puts his sword between he and the creature.

Bilbo: “So. Come then. I won the game, you promised to show me the way out.”

Gollum: “Did we say so, precious? Did we say so?“

Gollum: “What has it got in its pocketses?“

Bilbo: “ That’s no concern of yours. You lost. A promise is a promise.”

Gollum: “Lost. Lost? Lost? He says frantically as he goes to put the ring on, but finds the ring is missing from its place on his loincloth.“

Gollum: “Where is it? Where is it?" He cries, looking around himself.“

Gollum: “No! Aaah! Where is it? Nooo! Lost, lost! Curse us and splash us, my precious is lost!“

Bilbo: “ What have you lost?” Bilbo asked realizing that Gollum was referring to the ring, which he then begins fingering in his pocket as the creature becomes more agitated, tearfully looking at Bilbo.

Gollum: “Mustn’t ask us! Not its business! Nooo! Gollum! Gollum!" He laments crying for a moment, then looking at his reflection in the water.

Gollum: “What has it got in its nasty little pocketses?" He asks, his eyes now turning cold as steel, realizing that Bilbo has got his ring, and he turns to look at him.

Bilbo held his sword higher towards the vile creature convinced it knew he had the ring, and meant to murder him, when a painful death wail was heard from the middle of the lake. As the blue glow faded from the sword, Bilbo knew the Goblin had finally died, and so would he, if he didn’t run for his life!

Gollum: “ He stole it. He stole it! Aaah! He stole it!“ He screams, chasing after Bilbo as he made a run for it.

As Bilbo begins to run blindly back down the dark passage he had first come in by, he stays close to the wall, feeling it with his left hand and probing the air with his sword with his right. "What have I in my pockets that could be so important to this creature?’" he wonders, instinctively putting his left hand on the ring to secure it as he pants and stumbles along.

Gollum: Give it to us! Gollum shouts.

The hiss was now close behind him. Terrified, Bilbo tries to run faster, but suddenly trips his toes on a rock in the floor, falling on his back, and the ring flying out of his hand and into the air. Grasping for it as it falls, it instinctively slides onto his groping forefinger with a fate yet unknown, sending a cold chill through his body. In a moment Gollum was upon him. But before Bilbo could do anything more, Gollum simply passed by, taking no notice, cursing and wailing as he frantically looked in all directions for where Bilbo might have gone.

Gollum: "Thief! Baggins!" Gollum shouts leaping from rock to rock in pursuit of Bilbo. “Curse it! curse it! curse it!” hissed Gollum. “Curse the Baggins! It’s gone! What has it got in its pocketses? Oh we guess, we guess, my precious. He’s found it, yes he must have. My birthday-present!”

Gollum: "Wait, my precious. Wait! Gollum! Gollum!" He laments, suddenly sitting down and beggining to weep, a whistling and gurgling sound horrible to listen to. Bilbo halted and flattened himself against the tunnel- wall. After a while Gollum stopped weeping and began to talk, having an argument with himself:

“But it doesn’t know what the present can do, does it? It’ll just keep it in its pocketses. It doesn’t know the way out. It said so, yes; but it’s tricksy. It doesn’t say what it means. It knows. It knows a way in, it must know a way out, yes. It’s off to the back-door! The goblinses will catch it then. It can’t get out that way, precious.” One of the goblinses will take it from him and put it on, and then no one will see him. He’ll be there but not seen."

Bilbo: ''So that’s it!' Bilbo thought to himself, now realizing why the creature could not see him.

'The ring makes the wearer invisible!'

As Gollum continues his search, Bilbo follows silently unseen behind him towards the back door and the way out. Eventually Gollum stops near a crack in a rock wall, where he sees the dwarves on the other side as they run towards the back door as well, Gollum hides behind the crack in the rock blocking Bilbo’s way out as the dwarves exit the mountain. Despairing he might miss this chance to escape, Bilbo raises his sword to strike down the creature in his way, but pulls short seeing the pitiful creature mourning the loss of the only thing of value in his life, referring to as his 'birthday present'. Instead, Bilbo takes several steps back and runs, leaping over Gollum, narrowly missing the top of the passage, and landing into the crack in the rock, just managing to shove himself through, popping off all all his vest buttons in the process. As Gollum sees the brass buttons appear out of thin air and bounce about the floor, he knows Bilbo has escaped with his ring, along with the others, and begins to howl and curse...

Gollum: "It’s ours. It’s ours! Baggins! Thief! Curse it and crush it, we hates it forever!"

BONUS RIDDLE not in Movie or Book but something a writer like Tolkien might have appreciated...

We are little, airy creatures;

Each with different forms and features,

One in glass is barely seen,

others easily in between.

A third, less swift is found in tin,

A fourth in a box you find within,

And a fifth, if you shall pursue…

Will never get away from you!

BILBO'S BEST SCENE UNSEEN

Bilbo and the Dwarves all escape out the Back Door of the mountain and rendezvous, leading to my favorite piece of dialog in the Hobbit after Bilbo reappears and responds to Thorin trashing once more.

Gandalf asks the dwarves what happened to Bilbo...

Thorin: “I will tell you what happened, He saw his chance and took it. He’s thought of nothing but his soft bed and his warm hearth since he first stepped out of his door. We will not be seeing our hobbit again, he is long gone.”

Bilbo overhears and reappears to everyone’s surprise, fielding questions on how he got past the goblins, but does not speak of the ring (this was only in the movie version; in the book Bilbo credits the ring for not being seen).

Gandalf: "Well, why does it matter? He's back!"

Thorin: "It matters. I want to know - why did you come back?"

Bilbo: "Look, I know you doubt me, I know you always have. And you're right... I often think of Bag End. I miss my books, and my armchair, and my garden. See, that's where I belong, that's home. That's why I came back... 'cause you don't have one, a home. It was taken from you. But I will help you take it back if I can."

That bit of dialog was only in the movie, but I don’t think Bilbo’s quintessential character was ever summed up better, even in Tolkien’s book. Soon thereafter, Bilbo, Gandalf and the Dwarves are once again 'Out of the frying pan and into the fire' (Chapter VI of 'The Hobbit') when attacked by wargs, goblins and orcs. (Again, this was only in the movie version; in the book, the group is attacked first by wolves, goblins are on their way, with no mention of orcs. The Great Eagles arrive to investigate the unusual activity, not from Gandalf's magical message to a moth.)

All appears lost until the dwarves and Bilbo are rescued by the Great Eagles.

CHOOSING THE CARROCK OVER THE SHTICK

Kavarek always went beyond the obvious to create an immersive experience for role players and had planned a spectacular escape by Thorin & Company from the Goblin Mines on the back of NPC animated eagles, captured in this next video, that highlighted Bilbo's and the dwarves flight to safety.

The video seems the perfect Swan Song (if not Eagle) to end our LOTR flight of fancy on. Happy landings to all in your future endeavors!

- Bilbo Baggins (Beedle Beedit)