amysrevenge
Well-Known Member
We talked about this for a while during the session, but I have a longer comment than I was able to fit in the Discord chat.
"And, of course, I make up a few songs. They sing them occasionally: just to please me, I think; for, of course, they aren't really good enough for Rivendell."
(OT: typing that out, with a colon and semi-colon in the same sentence. Wow!)
We talked about how the Elves would actually be delighted to sing his songs, and that part of the delight, independent of the objective quality of the songs, was in the uniqueness of their origin.
I have a real life analogue that helps me to understand this delight of the Elves, and how it isn't back-handedly insulting to Bilbo.
One of my hobbies in real life is painting models for tabletop wargames. I'm not exceptionally good at it: I'm basically an enthusiastic C+ quality painter. I have several friends who are dedicated A+ quality painters. These A+ friends genuinely delight in the progress of my models, and of others in the D through B+ world of painting. Our work obviously isn't as technically good as the A+ work, but that isn't the point. We are creating, improving on our own previous results, and proud of our models, and the A+ are proud right along side us in a non-condescending way.
I think the Elves will see Bilbo's songs in a similar light. It's not as good as theirs, but that's not the point.
"And, of course, I make up a few songs. They sing them occasionally: just to please me, I think; for, of course, they aren't really good enough for Rivendell."
(OT: typing that out, with a colon and semi-colon in the same sentence. Wow!)
We talked about how the Elves would actually be delighted to sing his songs, and that part of the delight, independent of the objective quality of the songs, was in the uniqueness of their origin.
I have a real life analogue that helps me to understand this delight of the Elves, and how it isn't back-handedly insulting to Bilbo.
One of my hobbies in real life is painting models for tabletop wargames. I'm not exceptionally good at it: I'm basically an enthusiastic C+ quality painter. I have several friends who are dedicated A+ quality painters. These A+ friends genuinely delight in the progress of my models, and of others in the D through B+ world of painting. Our work obviously isn't as technically good as the A+ work, but that isn't the point. We are creating, improving on our own previous results, and proud of our models, and the A+ are proud right along side us in a non-condescending way.
I think the Elves will see Bilbo's songs in a similar light. It's not as good as theirs, but that's not the point.