Bored waiting for that promised Hobbit trailer that’s supposed to arrive online later today (Tuesday, Dec. 20)? Why not pass the time by walking from The Shire into Mordor?
What’s that, you say? One does not simply walk into Mordor? Oh, we know, Boromir. Still, as we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the release Peter Jackson’s The Fellowship of the Ring -- the epic first installment in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy – BadassDigest posted a pretty funny little LOTR Easter Egg involving Google Maps.
Apparently, if you type in walking directions from “The Shire” to “Mordor,” you will be treated to one of the most-parodied lines of dialogue from Jackson’s trilogy. You won’t be able to walk anywhere, just in case you were curious. Unless you really have places named “The Shire” or “Mordor” in your town. (In which case, hello New Zealanders!)
These hidden Internet inside jokes amaze me for this simple reason: Who discovered this? Who had the time to type such things into Google Maps to see what results they would get? And does Google know that this answer pops up, or are the clever programmers at the massive search engine slipping fast ones past their corporate superiors as a way to pass their own days waiting for the Hobbit trailer?
Either way, we all win. And we’re all waiting for the Hobbit trailer. Maybe Jackson can make good on that delivery so we can stop messing around with Google Maps and get back to our jobs?
