When you said, she was Swedish, I was surprised, because I remembered seeing a lot of the Moomins in Helsinki, so I looked her up on Wikipedia. And apparently both is kind of right. She was born in Helsinki and of Finnish nationality, but her native tongue was Swedish.

Please pin this!

The problem still remains, i.e. most people watching your short never look at the comments, i.e. they now think that Tove Jansson was Swedish.

There are many cultural Swedes who are citizens of Finland

either way, she made bilbo look like he's late for his stepson's birth in a nazarene manger or like he's got some real tough negotiations after lunch with a burning bush after which hes gotta get in touch with his special fx guy to see about splitting a sea or similar body of water in half , or somethin hahaha

"I'll make it indubitably simple, starting with first One Valinor, second Two Trees, ... Then Three Silmarils, ... No I think I'll start with just with Eru Iluvatar, "The One!" Or wait, ... Maybe just _One ring to Rule them All..._ Yeah that'll make a simple little story!"

Apparently Amazon was not convinced anyway 😂.

⁠@@SigynRegnugh… Pls don’t reminds me of rings of power… And there’s a part 2 😰!

And to this day, he is the only aspect of the book I'm not totally sure how Tolkien really wanted it to have looked. When I read the books, I picture him as a lanky, black thing with eel-like skin that crawls around on all four like how Spider-man crawls up walls, and has giant yellow-green eyes and facial features that are equal parts childish and decrepit old man-ish. Almost like a swamp monster version of the movie character, but not quite.

My thoughts exactly. I did not realise Gollum was even supposed to be humanoid at all until I read in Lotr that he was supposed to be related to Hobbits. I always pictured him more frog like.

Never said it was a successful attempt

And on top of that, her attempt at drawing Gollum looks like it could be related to the Groke.

Smaug looks awesome.

Bilbo looks adorable haha

@@LordBrittish I came here to say this. He has almost Roald Dahl-style children's book villain energy. I love it!

The obunga version of gollum

Yeah, even though it's far too large to be Gollum, it'd be an amazing creature to have in a story. It's definitely the thing that's always right behind you when you're alone and have spooked yourself out at 3 am

@@Emppu_T. The Bubba version of gollum

it looks more like a Barrow wight creature 🥹😅

It looks like the Minecraft Warden.

My thoughts exactly 😂

Yeah... If she was trying to do that, she failed.

Actually, they remind me of Hans Arnold and "Matulda och Megasen" ...

​@@dirgniflesuoh7950"uhhmmm achshually" 😂😂😂

Totally agreed. If that was the aim, she didn't meet the brief. But Tolkein? this is tenuous at best.

That was my thought, too!

Samesies!

Smaug is distinctly moomin style tho

That’s not how time works. You meant to say, ”Some of the Samurai Jack characters look like Tove Jansson designs.” Since she was decades ahead I mean.

@@Korligan1 You're right, but you know what I meant.

It reminds Morra from the Moomin world

At the time that Tolkien wrote The Hobbit, Gollum was just a mysterious creature who lived in a cave. Tolkien didn't come up with the idea that Gollum was a Hobbit until he wrote LOTR.

In fact, the re-writting of The Hobbit or the 2nd or 3rd edition was to link it up with the already published LOTR. "Riddles in the Dark" chapter was highly changed in the way Bilbo found the One Thing and the ill-tempered Gollum, as well as all chapters with the One Thing. The most important change after Gollum was when Bilbo lied to Gandalf to hide his "preciouss" from unwanted attention

Did you listen to the video?

Wait, Gollum used to be a Hobbit?

Yes! Me too!!

I dont know where Tove Jansson changed her style. All those illustration looks just like moomin.

Them, C.S. Lewis of course, and (my favorite) Mervyn Peake.❤

​@@littlecatthewolfhoundalso Edward Eager and Betty MacDonald.

Drop your phone a d pick up a book

No it isn’t It’s not a monstrosity and it’s not corrupted, it’s just a troll in the style of Scandinavian folklore

Gollum is scarier as a rotten fish-person, than a troll.

@@mareksicinski3726 Well. Is description alone tje only reason we know that thing is a hobbit? If not then no op is right that is still a hobbit and that the one ring can do that to him is horrific.

​@@Lampoluke I agree. The prospect of hobbits, incredibly mentally strong willed creatures that are so communal and loving being instantly corrupted by the ring is a lot more scary. It means that the corrupting power of the ring is just a matter of time for the most of creatures, with exception of the most powerful ones (the Valar, Bombadil, Eru, and probably not a lot more creatures can withstand it's power). Creating the Ring was clever and in the sense that it tricks more in the sense of being seemingly underwhelming, like a small irresistible vice.

I'd fuck it

I imagined him as a kind of lizard man

@@Danka42 That’s basically how they depict him in the old Hobbit cartoon by Rankin/Bass

It's weird though... I read The Hobbit when I was 8 years old (I don't know what edition it was, but it was a wide paperback with the illustration of Smaug lying on top of the pile of treasure, it was very beat up and falling apart and could very well have been printed before the 60s idk...) and when I read the chapter Riddles in the Dark, I imagined Gollum pretty much like how Jansson drew him in this book - like a big hulking black creature with 2 big yellow eyes. I don't know why, but something about how Tolkien described him made me think he was big and wide and towered over Bilbo. Then the LOTR movies came out when I was a teen, and when I watched them for the first time I was like "uhhh... that's not how Gollum is supposed to look like." It was just so jarring to see this skinny little thing that's smaller than the hobbits. It did not make sense to me. Like, if I read Riddles in the Dark now with the image of skinny Gollum in mind, the entire chapter doesn't feel as scary or harrowing. Bilbo's fear of Gollum doesn't feel justified somehow, i don't know 🤷‍♀️

That's a good point but you do realise that the LOTR movies hadn't even been imagined yet, so how could she draw characters based off the movies depiction of them?

Thank you, I'm an artist, and I don't like having to copy someone else's version or vision. I create what's in me - not copy someone.

You should check out Jazza. He's done several videos about drawing characters specifically based on their descriptions.

Jazza

@@faolan2174true. Still I mean his is more for entertainment value. Still today 99% of a books early illustrations is based on book descriptions. And in few cases additional info from the author but it’s not so coming. A bit more can be feedback from author on the illustrations after then are done / sketches. How it’s done you don’t even check the Jazza videos. 1. You read the book. 2. You start imaging the scene you know you are about to draw a bit when reading the book. 3. You sketch it out. 4. Done

i heard "sent between two of swedens most famous authors" and immidiately knew they were going to incorrectly assume Tove was swedish

As a finn it really hurt my ear but its kinda understandable tbh…

Her mother was Swedish and her father was also Swedish, her father comes from the Swedish part of Finland, aka. Fenno-Swedish. ”Jansson” is also a Swedish surname, his and her native language was also Swedish. So she was indeed Swedish.

@@alb3598 This is like saying the people who live in the german-speaking part of switzerland are german. Tove's nationality was finnish, despite her parents or language. The people who live in the Swedish part of Finland are still Finnish.

​@@alb3598Finland has two official languages, one of which is Swedish. Jansson was born in Helsinki and her father was a Swedish speaking Finn. That makes her Finnish.

Totally agree. Like the ring has transformed him into a subterranean giant that bites off the toes of little girls playing in the forest blueberries in Summertime.

​@@ezekielbrockmann114Blimey, that's one heck of an image you've dreamt up there!

@@ezekielbrockmann114 Yeah, damn. Thats a description and a half. The picture really reminds me of some of the swedish trolls depictions. Which kinda matches it too XD

The tree-like head is kinda dumb, but the feet dangling into the water really reminds me of the animated Hobbit, whose amphibian looking Gollum I regard as the definitive version.

@@ezekielbrockmann114lol I read that as “bites off the toes of little girls like they’re blueberries” 😂

Or that was just her art style.

As a Swede, I never liked moomin. Always found the illustration boring. I liked all of Astrids work tho. Especially The lionheart brothers. The theme song is so good, when I hear it, it cuts my heart reminding me of my childhood But I dont see Tove Jansson changing her illustration style with the hobbit. Looks just like moomin

@@vipr1142 never knew she was behind Lionheart Brothers. I remember watching the movie at school and Ronja Røverdatter in literature class. None of us really spoke swedish though, so we asked if we could have it dubbed, the teacher said no and we had to deal with it XD

well that Gollum certainly looks a lot like The Bleak (I think that was it's name)

Fun fact, I always found the moomin horrifying 😂

Astrid was also an editor in a publishing house, her view on what a good children book looks like has changed children literature not only in Sweden but in many other countries ❤

Oh yes, Astrid Lindgrens books are well known in Finland too, they were among my favourite stories as a kid!

Astrid was a fucking legend

Hahaha! 😂 Yessss! That’s where I have seen that head! No wonder it didn’t feel so scary to me! 😅 Thanks Sesame! It looks like a cranky elongated version of them!

😂😂😂

I'm glad someone else remembers those XD Yipyipyipyip - Radio!

Amazing to think that people actually used to write letters?!?! Blows my mind 🤦‍♂️

My first mental image of Gollum while reading the Hobbit was like Don Rosa's interpretation of Iku-turso: zestedesavoir.com/media/galleries/6078/64f09a09-fcf0-4d75-81a0-7595bffad8c4.jpg (Though obviously not kaiju sized).

Lots of confusion about her, which is understandable. You would think that including a world famous Swedish author in the statement "Sweden's most famous authors" would be correct but it isn't.

She is finnish-swedish. The minority group in Finland. Finns but with swedish mothertounge. Source: i am one.

Came here to say this as well

Trust me, nobody cares.

​@@BrassAmbassador And no one asked you

Damn developer nerfing content

I don't understand, she made him realize that that his vague description could be misleading to what he had into his mind.

@@lulu111_the_cool and now her work became outdated as a result

@@cybercrasherstv outdated and I imagen worth a lot. Writing a book is a lot of effort. So he could have forgotten to update his appearance to the newly updated version of HIS story. There are likely many iterations before a story is completed.

The original 60's edition is not impossible to get hold of, but expect to pay anywhere between 800 and 2000 dollars for it. A re-release of the same edition was printed in limited numbers in the 90's. I paid 150 dollars for my 90's edition a few years ago, but it's not uncommon to see these listed for upward of 1000 dollars as well. Don't know if anyone actually pays that much, but I rarely see listings for less.

Considering sketches can take as little as a minute, there's a possibility it wasn't as long as one might think, and for someone who does sketch a lot, this isn't that much, but I suppose when people do their craft long enough patience in it is just second nature.

Do most people in other parts of Finland know Swedish as well? Or is it very much only that minority group you are part of?

​@@mredd888i think it's one of the official languages of finland actually

@@mredd888 No, there are plenty of Finns who don’t speak Swedish. I once had an interview with an official who couldn’t speak either English or Swedish. Fortunately, I had a Finnish girlfriend who could speak Swedish, could translate for me.

He didn’t say anything about where she was from. He said she was one of Sweden’s most beloved authors, which is factually correct. She wrote in Swedish, and was obviously more popular in Sweden than Finland because of that.

​@@SnailHatan Simo Häyhä was one of USA's most beloved snipers

And these ”Swedish speaking areas of Finland” descend from Swedes. Jansson, her father’s surname is a Swedish surname. You’re also completely disregarding the fact that her mother was also Swedish from Stockholm. Why are you so desperate to lie that she is Finnish when she is Swedish?

@@alb3598 All areas of Finland descent from Sweden, swedish is our second national language, my Grandfathers father was swedish but still most of my blood comes from Karelia and Keski-suomi. Swedish surnames are extremely common in Finland I know hunderds of people who has swedish surname but is 100% finnish. Plus Tove was born and died in Helsinki which is the Capital of Finland. He lived big part of her life in the Turku archipelago which is still part of Finland. Any finnish person can back me up on this.

​@@alb3598she was Finnish.

​​​​​@@alb3598 Many Fenno-Swedes are actually descendants of Finns who linguistically assimilated to the Swedish speaking population during the 1600s and 1700s. Fenno-Swedes also speak their own form of Swedish, which is influenced by Finnish in tone and vocabulary. Everything about Fenno-Swedes makes them unique to Finland, which is why they're FENNO-Swedes and not just Swedes. And if you were to tell the many Fenno-Swedish people who were involved in Finnish nationalism in the 1800s that they were just Swedes, they would be insulted. The only exception to this is Åland and in fact, Åland was the only Swedish speaking region of Finland that wanted to join Sweden in any significant degree when Finland gained independence from Russia in 1917.

​@@alb3598Fenno-swedes of Finland are not Swedish, they are Finnish. I don't understand why you are arguing this. Yes her mother was Swedish but Tove was born and lived in Finland her whole life.

That was so interesting, thanks

Lindgren worked in a publishing house, in fact she was editor-in-chief (her position in documents was literature consultant, but it was to avoid different rumours). It was her idea to make such edition.

Just because someone is born in a specific country doesn’t make them ethnically that. Her father was a Finno-Swedish with a Swedish surname(Swedish descendants from back when Sweden owned Finland, still speaking and ethnically Swedish) and her mother who was a Swedish from Sweden.

@@alb3598 “Ethnicity” doesn’t matter. Citizenship, birthplace, and upbringing do. She was a Finnish citizen, born in Finland, brought up and educated in Finland, and speaking the Finnish dialect of Swedish. Those are the things that made her the person she was, not her ancestors. I don’t understand why you keep saying she was Swedish, but it’s time to stop.

@@alb3598 Alb how can you be so stupid and ignorant? You embarrass yourself.

@@alb3598This isn’t the US. We don’t claim our ancestors nationality over here, Tove Jansson was a Swedish Speaking Finish person. She lived in Finland and had a Finish passport.

Her mother is Swedish from Sweden and her father Fenno-Swedish(Swedes that live in the Swedish part of Finland). So saying that she is isn’t Swedish but that she is Finnish is a lie.

@@alb3598 I'm Finnish. So I know bit more about our culture than you. Some of my ancestors come from shores of Lake Ladoga but that doesn't make me Russian descent. Tove's mother is Swedish but doesn't make Tove Swedish. She never had dual citizen ship. And her father is finlandssvenskar. Last time his ancestors were considered Swedish were when Finland was under the Swedish rule.

That's not quite right. Bilbo finds the Ring while stumbling around in the dark, just as in the final version. When Bilbo wins the riddle contest (with the controversial "riddle" of "What have I got in my pocket?"), Gollum leads him out of the caves. In the final version, after losing the game Gollum realizes he's lost his Ring and Bilbo must have it, after which he attacks him. Bilbo escapes by putting on the Ring and becoming invisible.

We had a TV series in Finland based on The Lord of the Rings, it was called The Hobbits. In one scene when Gollum turns to the camera we can see in all his glory his err krhm balls. If anything, it was actually the scary Gollum and he was played by a chubby man who also played Aragorn :D Unfortunately, the full series can be found here on KZfaq.

You mean the hobbit?

She worked in a publishing house in Stockholm, it was her idea to make this edition.