Toldain Talks

Because reading me sure beats working!

Name:

Toldain started as an Everquest character. I've played him in EQ2, WoW, Vanguard, LOTRO, and Zork Online. And then EVE Online, where I'm 3 million years old, rather than my usual 3000. Currently I'm mostly playing DDO. But I still have fabulous red hair. In RL, I am a software developer who has worked on networked games, but not MMORPGS.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Just When You Think it's Over the Top...

Ok, this really has nothing to do with MMO's, but I ran across this about people of the Loess Plateau in NW China:


Like millions of other Chinese, Li Zhanjun lives in a dwelling that is fireproof, noise proof, warm in winter, cool in summer and the epitome of an eco-friendly design. Moreover, it's cheap.

Li lives in a cave.

[...]

Some of the caves have been passed down for generations, with hard-packed earthen walls, electrical wiring, piped-in plumbing and other modern conveniences, including cable television.


In Tolkien, Bilbo/Frodo's house, Bag End, is quite specifically described as dug into a hillside and extremely comfortable and dry. Just like these Chinese caves.

This is reproduced in Baubleshire, where several of the hobbit residences and one inn are dug into a hillside. And in LOTRO, Bag End indeed goes into the hillside, though I'm not so sure about the one in the recent movies, as the window outside of which Sam is listening certainly seemed to be one in the back of the house, not the front.

Labels: , ,

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Chinese Hobbits!

Do they have names like Phro Dho Bao Gin Zu?

Also, I guess the equivalent Mordor would be around Hong Kong to Shanghai? (Gollum certainly got Shanghai'd when the Nazgul abducted him! Okay, maybe I'm stretching the term ;P) And that would put Laketown around Beijing and Rivendell somewhere along the Yellow River. I wonder if they have Chinese elves...

8:06 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home