Hippies or Hobbits?

Abstract

This commentary article brings up a common question in the Lord of the Rings fandom - is LoTR the Hippy Bible? Author Belladonna Took believes that the extreme Hippy is wrong for believing this. Took claims that the use of drugs, such as pot and acid, create the psychedelic experience that Hippies crave and that the world of LoTR takes no inspiration from that. Took also claims here that the concept of “taking trips” is expressly prohibited in LoTR by the danger of the palantirs and the Ring. The Hippy obsession with sex, too, Took finds lacking in any real backing within the LoTR, as it is a story written by a father for his children primarily. The Hippy is an outcast from society - escaping into the wilderness to get away from “the establishment”. LoTR, Took points out, is all about community and protecting the establishment (i.e. - the status quo). Finally, Hippies find themselves insisting on “doing their own thing”, and views themselves as an artist. LoTR does not concern itself with “doing your own thing”, rather what protagonists do in the book is do what they must, not what they’d rather do. As a moral and ethical book, Took questions why Hippies bother with it, though concludes that there are different grades of Hippies, and not all fall into the categories outlined in the article.