Lord of the memes

8251 readers

385 users here now

The Lord of the rings memes communitiy on Lemmy. Share memes about Lord of the rings and be respectful.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

TheBestPercy@midwest.social

Percy@lemmy.one

Zoidsberg@lemmy.ca

simple@lemmy.mywire.xyz

632

A Took and a Brandybuck (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 4 months ago by threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works to c/lotrmemes@midwest.social

40 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] BreadOven@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Where's this coming from?

[–] TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world 26 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

The books, Tolkien's letters, and a section of the appendices at the end of RoTK all explicitly say it's tobacco.

Speaking of Hobbits, Tolkien wrote:

they imbibed or inhaled, through pipes of clay or wood, the smoke of the burning leaves of a herb, which they called pipe-weed or leaf, a variety probably of Nicotiana [tobacco plant].

Tolkien was a big smoker. You rarely see pics of him without a pipe in his mouth.

Plus, given the Hobbit was released in 1937 in England, it's likely that Tolkien didn't even know what Cannabis was. He'd certainly be unaware of its future popularity/cultural relevance.

[–] Olhonestjim@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

Cannabis had at least some level of presence in Europe for centuries. Robert Hooke, a contemporary of and fierce rival to Isaac Newton experimented with it in 1689. Still though, I have no idea to what extent. You may well be right that Tolkien never heard of it.