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The entertainment industry made me do it XD

anyway, I wanted to discuss my take on the whole "drug use controversy" in The Lord of The Rings.
So, a lot of people think that because the hobbits' favourite food is mushrooms and that they smoke [what they call] weed amongst some other things, that LotR is full of drug messages. Um, yes Tolkien's first wave of popularity was durng the 1960's, especially amongst hippies, and if you ask me, those things about the hobbits were probably adopted by the counterculture to be used as slang terms and symbols for drugs. Honestly, I think it's unlikely that Tolkien would have put drug messages in LotR; he was a pretty straight-laced guy, and was greatly irritated by the way of life led by the largest part of his fanbase, calling them "My deplorable cultus."

I don't mean to put uncalled for interpretations in, but I have noticed some things that are very, very interesting. The names of some of the female hobbits are particularly interesting. Poppy Bolger, poppies are what opium is derrived from. Belladonna Took, the belladonna plant is leathally toxic and narcotics can be extracted from its leaves. Lastly, Lobelia Sackville-Baggins, lobelia is the scientific name for a plant of the family nicotania (the tobbacco family). It's common name is "Indian Tobacco" and grows wild in many parts of the southern U.S. But here's the thing--Lobelia, when smoked, enduces hallucinations and euphoric effects. But get this, Tolkien himself said that pipeweed, if it were real, would be in the family Nicotania.

but that information was not enough for me. the smoking of pipeweed does go on throughout the course of LotR, but I wasn't getting a sense of anyone getting high or spaced out off of it.
but there is one moment in The Two Towers, when Merry and Pippin are reunited with Arag...excuse me for a moment...

ARGHRAAAAHHH!!!! MY COMPUTER IS GIVING ME SO MUCH BULL-SHIT TODAY IT'S NOT EVEN FUNNY!!!!!!

where was I? oh yes, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli. So, they all (except for Legolas) partake in group smoking, but if I recall, when Aragorn sits down, Pippin proclaims "Strider the Ranger has returned!" and aragorn responds "He was never gone." When I read this for the first time, I was just "What?? That made no sense whatsoever! Did I miss something?" So if there is any evidence of anyone getting high off of pipeweed, that is it, as far as I can remember.

So, take sides as you will!

about the drawing: I may go back to this in the future, since I feel it needs something, though i'm not sure what. Pippin's face looks kind of sleazy (sleezy?) and the rainbow psycodelia going on in pippin's head got kind of muddled when I added the normal colours for his hair and I tried to leach some of the colour out by dabbing with a rubbing alcohol soaked Q-tip. it helped a little, but it's still not as I would have wanted it to be. OMG! the future perfect tense lives!! I was having some turmoil when it came to deciding what to do with the trippy rainbow smoke...I think I would have preffered it if came out more like a tie-dye t-shirt as opposed to bands of colour...I also was unsure about what else to do with the smoke, mainly because I was debating on using a more psychodellic white design, perhaps a hippie-paisley, or should I use a more middle-earth like hallucination? what would a middle-earth hallucination look like was another burning question. in the end, I compromised, as you can see...some of the vine-like designs coming off the paisley part were my answer to a middle-earth hallucination...I tried my best what can I say?

"WHITE ROOM WITH BLACK CURTAINS" IS A SONG BY THE BAND CALLED "CREAM" AND DESPITE THE FACT THAT IT CAME OUT IN THE 60's IT IS NOT ABOUT DRUGS AND IS IN FACT ABOUT DEPRESSION. I LOVE THAT SONG AND IT WAS STUCK IN MY HEAD MOST OF THE TIME I WAS WORKING ON IT. HOORAH!!!!

[edit] new high res edition re-scan to be made available as a print!

Description
The entertainment industry made me do it XD

anyway, I wanted to discuss my take on the whole "drug use controversy" in The Lord of The Rings.
So, a lot of people think that because the hobbits' favourite food is mushrooms and that they smoke [what they call] weed amongst some other things, that LotR is full of drug messages. Um, yes Tolkien's first wave of popularity was durng the 1960's, especially amongst hippies, and if you ask me, those things about the hobbits were probably adopted by the counterculture to be used as slang terms and symbols for drugs. Honestly, I think it's unlikely that Tolkien would have put drug messages in LotR; he was a pretty straight-laced guy, and was greatly irritated by the way of life led by the largest part of his fanbase, calling them "My deplorable cultus."

I don't mean to put uncalled for interpretations in, but I have noticed some things that are very, very interesting. The names of some of the female hobbits are particularly interesting. Poppy Bolger, poppies are what opium is derrived from. Belladonna Took, the belladonna plant is leathally toxic and narcotics can be extracted from its leaves. Lastly, Lobelia Sackville-Baggins, lobelia is the scientific name for a plant of the family nicotania (the tobbacco family). It's common name is "Indian Tobacco" and grows wild in many parts of the southern U.S. But here's the thing--Lobelia, when smoked, enduces hallucinations and euphoric effects. But get this, Tolkien himself said that pipeweed, if it were real, would be in the family Nicotania.

but that information was not enough for me. the smoking of pipeweed does go on throughout the course of LotR, but I wasn't getting a sense of anyone getting high or spaced out off of it.
but there is one moment in The Two Towers, when Merry and Pippin are reunited with Arag...excuse me for a moment...

ARGHRAAAAHHH!!!! MY COMPUTER IS GIVING ME SO MUCH BULL-SHIT TODAY IT'S NOT EVEN FUNNY!!!!!!

where was I? oh yes, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli. So, they all (except for Legolas) partake in group smoking, but if I recall, when Aragorn sits down, Pippin proclaims "Strider the Ranger has returned!" and aragorn responds "He was never gone." When I read this for the first time, I was just "What?? That made no sense whatsoever! Did I miss something?" So if there is any evidence of anyone getting high off of pipeweed, that is it, as far as I can remember.

So, take sides as you will!

about the drawing: I may go back to this in the future, since I feel it needs something, though i'm not sure what. Pippin's face looks kind of sleazy (sleezy?) and the rainbow psycodelia going on in pippin's head got kind of muddled when I added the normal colours for his hair and I tried to leach some of the colour out by dabbing with a rubbing alcohol soaked Q-tip. it helped a little, but it's still not as I would have wanted it to be. OMG! the future perfect tense lives!! I was having some turmoil when it came to deciding what to do with the trippy rainbow smoke...I think I would have preffered it if came out more like a tie-dye t-shirt as opposed to bands of colour...I also was unsure about what else to do with the smoke, mainly because I was debating on using a more psychodellic white design, perhaps a hippie-paisley, or should I use a more middle-earth like hallucination? what would a middle-earth hallucination look like was another burning question. in the end, I compromised, as you can see...some of the vine-like designs coming off the paisley part were my answer to a middle-earth hallucination...I tried my best what can I say?

"WHITE ROOM WITH BLACK CURTAINS" IS A SONG BY THE BAND CALLED "CREAM" AND DESPITE THE FACT THAT IT CAME OUT IN THE 60's IT IS NOT ABOUT DRUGS AND IS IN FACT ABOUT DEPRESSION. I LOVE THAT SONG AND IT WAS STUCK IN MY HEAD MOST OF THE TIME I WAS WORKING ON IT. HOORAH!!!!

[edit] new high res edition re-scan to be made available as a print!