"Frodo, someone at the door."
Old Bilbo Baggins shouts as he continue writing his book, only to be disturbed by the sound of two knocks at the door again. He sighed, still won't leave his seat and shouts again, "Frodo, the door!"
But, the answer he get is more knocks which move him from his chair as he mumble, "Sticklebacks, where is that boy? Frodo!"
He didn't know that it wasn't a knock at the door, but Minecraft players decorating his door, the garden in front of his house, and the entirety of the Shire as accurate as possible. I found this album of incredible blocky recreation of one of the iconic region in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, the Shire.
This old creation was made by 25 dedicated Minecraft players that took them almost a year to finish, and the result is epic. Here's the beautiful screenshots of some parts of the Shire, along with the descriptions from the original source:
The front door of Bag End at sunset. Bag End, the home of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, is one of the largest hobbit holes (also known as smials) in the Shire, and was one of the first projects we completed.
The Old Mill in Hobbiton, owned by Ted Sandyman.
Part II: Villages
Bywater Pool at sunset. When the Shire is finished, it will have twenty five villages, ranging from hamlets like Tookbank to the de facto capital of the Shire, Michel Delving.
Stock, a village in the Eastfarthing on the banks of the Brandywine. The large building in the centre is the Golden Perch inn, said by Pippin to serve the best beer in the Eastfarthing.
Greenfields, a village in the Northfarthing. It was here in 2747 of the Third Age that a force of hobbits, led by Bandobras "Bullroarer" Took, defeated an invading force of goblins from Mt. Gram.
The tree that Frodo, Sam and Pippin used to hide from the Nazgûl. Bracken grows on the left side of the picture, and the tree itself is shrouded in moss as it is growing in a damp patch of land.
Part V: Conclusion
The Bridge of Stonebows, where the Great East Road crosses the Brandywine and leaves the Shire. Roads go ever on...
Not sure whether these 25 people were bored or something, but their dedication is incomparable. As stated in the imgur album, the aim was to "recreate Tolkien's vision as faithfully as possible". One of their admins is a professional geologist, and they put that knowledge to create the terrain and geology accuracy down to the smallest detail possible, such as the different types of plants and rocks seen across the Shire.
And that is also, thanks to the help of a mod that let them have as many blocks as they needed, and the lighting that make the ambient look more beautiful. Once again, Minecraft showed that video game can be a place for creativity. Once again, modders' work helped a lot.
The project began in 15 November 2014, and was persumably completed in September 2015. 25 villages, at a 1:58 scale, adhering both geological and botanical realism, and ranged around 3500x2500 blocks in total, which you can imagine how massive it is from the map screenshot below.
The server, or the team that made this known as ArdaCraft, a server dedicated to recreate Middle-earth at the late Third Age. "So they didn't stop at the Shire?!" Nope, they have created Rivendell, The Blue Mountains, Barad Ethir, and the Grey Havens. Their newest recreation was Harlond, the Elf-haven and a harbour in the Elven lands of Lindon which you can see in the video here: ArdaCraft Cinematic: Harlond.
As unbelievable as it gets, it seems they will stop only when they finally recreated the entire Middle-earth as described in the books. I don't know every single massive Minecraft recreation projects ever created, but this the Shire alone is arguably the most detailed Minecraft map ever made. To see the whole Shire recreation, you can go to the album here: The Shire. or watch the video by ArdaCraft below.
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Images and video credit: ArdaCraft.
DISCLAIMER: All artworks in this post (except for the cited ones) are belongs to me and I don't allow you, your partner, your cassowary, or your waifu to use them without my consent. Think I'm a smug? Fine by me. Happened before. Hate it if it happen again.