J.R.R. Tolkien’s Works & Worlds

In honor of the professor’s eleventy-fourth birthday, January 3, 2006.

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75 Responses to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Works & Worlds

  1. Ishmael (Mrs. Lucifer) says:

    Apparently C.S. Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia) and J.R. Tolkein were very good friends in England when both Narnia and Lord of the Rings were written. They often bounced ideas and concepts off each other while writing the two stories, which is why there is so much similarity between the two storylines. Apparently the two of them took tons of criticism from fellow lit scholars before their books were published, but had to rely on each other for support. There’s a lot of Christian symbolism in both books.

    There is a lot of hints of religion, between Eru and the Valar, Aragorn as Jesus.

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  2. Zallie says:

    So…

    Did you read the books first or see the movies?

    My dad started reading FotR to me when I was in fourth grade, although I read the Hobbit years before. It took us close to nine months, but we finally finished the entire trilogy. By that time, we’d heard that the movie was going to be made & I, being the little geek that was, was incredibly excited.

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  3. Duncan_Quagmire says:

    From what I’ve read, though Lewis & Tolkien were friends, they had very strong disagreements about the way in which fantasy should be written — so strong that Lewis almost never wote Narnia because of Tolkien’s disapproval of Lewis’ style of writing.

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  4. Ishmael (Mrs. Lucifer) says:

    I’ve read the Hobbit, the six LotR books, and the Silmarillian.

    I think I’ve seen all the movies, but I don’t remember them. I can’t believe they cut out Tom Bombadil!

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  5. Elentari says:

    I saw the movies first, then read the books. Unfortunately for me, the movies in their awesome special-effects-ness kinda overshadowed my impression of the books. I kept thinking, ‘ this isn’t as exciting as the movies’. Oh well.

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  6. Ebeth The Lurker says:

    OBSSESSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    me. yes. half of my science notes last year were in dwarvish runes (for no reason at all…i was really bored. it made my notes at least look interesting) yeah i do that a lot. notes are boring. but that’s off-topic. Anyway.

    weren’t lewis+tolkein in this one club at skool w/some other people? like a writing club…and then all the members died in the war except for them…

    yay for the sil! go ishmael!

    i ♥ pippin (movies) legolas (books) aragorn (books and movies) and the mouth of sauron (movies-extended edition) gotta love sauron’s dental coverage. Oh speaking of dentists did anybody else find it hilariously funny that christopher lee played saruman in Lotr with all those orcs with their disgusting teeth and then in charlie+the choklit factory he played a dentist? Or was that just me and my weird sense of humor? anyhoo…

    LISTS!!! HUZZAH!!!
    Movies
    ROTK
    TTT
    FOTR

    Books
    TTT
    ROTK
    FOTR

    yay well this has been a nice ranting post. all hail LOTR!!!!!!

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  7. dark lord of darkness says:

    whats fotr?

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  8. dark lord of darkness says:

    and whats rotk?

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  9. Emiliana The Person Who Is Still Procrastinating On Her Homework says:

    does this mean i have to read the silmarillian? Tom Bombadil was an unesssesary character, especially when you are making a movie

    FOTR=the fellowship of the ring

    TTT=the two towers

    ROTK=the return of the king

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  10. Ebeth The Lurker says:

    Fellowship of the Ring and Return of the King

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  11. Kricket says:

    never read any of the books and i have no idea why i am posting here if i haven’t read any of them…

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  12. Axa says:

    Ho! Tom Bombadil, Tom Bombadillo!
    By water wood and hill, by the reed and willow,
    By fire, sun and moon, harken now and hear us!
    Come, Tom Bombadil, for our need is near us!

    Gotta love him. Single most bizarre character I’ve ever read on. Anyway. I’ve heard that about C.S. Lewis and Tolkien as well, except it was that they both disliked some aspect of the other’s writing. Those Oxford professors.

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  13. Em Who Is Almost Done With Her Homework says:

    SAM IS THE BEST CHARACTER EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  14. Ebeth The Lurker says:

    pshaw. Aragorn and Legolas beat all. But the most totally supercool is Glorfindel, just because i feel sorry for him…*sob* they turned him into a girl!! why? Whyyyyyy!!! And a girl named ARWEN at that! And then they combined him with Aragorn’s girlfriend! aaaaaaaaaaaaahhh the paaaaaaiiinnn…

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  15. Axa says:

    Okay. You know who’s cool? Faramir. The man is barely in the movies. The took out the Houses of Healing, dagnabbit. But after him, definately Eomer, then Boromir, probabaly Gimili… And Estella, though she was never written on. I just read too much fanfiction.

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  16. Em Who Is Done With Her Homework says:

    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSAAMIISSSSTHHHHHEEEBBBBBBEEEEESSSSTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  17. Axa who disagrees says:

    NOOOOOOFARAMIRISTHEBESSSSSSSSSTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  18. Ishmael (Mrs. Lucifer) says:

    DEATH ROCKS. HE IS MAJORLY AWESOME. TECHNICALLY HE ISN’T IN LORD OF THE RINGS, BUT WHERE PEOPLE DIE THERE IS DEATH.

    AND HE TALKS IN ALL CAPITALS.

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  19. Not telling, so if I do, you won't know who it is. says:

    I couldn’t get through LOTR.

    I was reading it, turning page after page. It was a dismal day out. the sky was gray, and rain poured down in sheets. It was very wet rain, the kind you get wet in. It came down in big droplets, and showed no sign of stopping. Now, I usually like rain, but this was just annoying. So I was reading LOTR. I was turning the pages. They were very thick pages. Very big book. So I’m reading, and It’s okay, and then i come on this page, where he takes TWO PAGES TO DESCRIBE A SUNSET. He does it over and over again. TOO MUCH DETAIL. I just bored you to death with one paragraph. He goes on and on for two pages about one freakin sunset. It was BORING.

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  20. Ebeth The Lurker says:

    Faramir rocks. And Eomer. Boromir rocks slightly less but that’s ok. Who’s Estella?

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  21. Axa who disagrees says:

    Estella=Merry’s wife(as stated in the Appendices)

    Yeah, I always equated Boromir to Sirius, appearance wise, at least. Dunno why.

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  22. sleepynighttimedragon says:

    never read the books…. want to but haven’t yet… i keep telling myself, if Vaughn can do it, so can i, but i never bother…. oh the pain!!!

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  23. yesterday's_kinked_moose says:

    I saw the movies and then read FotR. I haven’t read the other two (or four, depending on how you look at it) yet, but I plan to very soon. I generally like to read the book(s) before watching the movie(s) for any story because then I can imagine the scenes and characters without having the movie images stuck in my head. I think prehaps leaving Tom Bombadil out was a good move. *recieves some pies (rhubarb mmm!) in the face* Don’t get me wrong, he is a very cool character. I mean, the ring has no effect on him. He’s his own master. However, what with the singing and everything, he might have come across as rather silly and goofy. He was, in a way, but he was also very serious. He was knew what he was talking about.

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  24. Phoenix says:

    In my school’s highschool yearbook a few years back they put a person I knew who was really short and had big, bushy red beard in the ‘hall of mirrors’ with Gimly son of Gloin. I sorta felt sorry for him but he thought it was really funny.
    I love Eowyn. Did anyone expect differantly? And I hate both Aragorn and Arwen. I was so mad that they left out Glorfindel! In the books Arwen did nae do anything at all, they merged her with revered Golrfindel! Waaaah!

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  25. Zallie says:

    I’ve got a soft spot for Glorfindel, too. & Faramir, Boromir and Gil-Galad as well.

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  26. Lucifer Inc. says:

    I do love Gandalf. He’s just so cool!

    Gandalf and Pippin are my two favorite characters.

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  27. Phoebe says:

    Yay for Faramir! He is so very rockin’! Him and Gollum and Pippin and GANDALF! Albert Dreary, too… hehehehhe….

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  28. Axa says:

    And Fatty, the SMART one.

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  29. yesterday's_kinked_moose says:

    Yeah! They left out Fatty Bolger! And Frodo’s new house! Why does everybody keep saying ‘nea’ for not?

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  30. MontogmeryGurl says:

    My favorite character has to be Sam. What’s his face, Sean Astin did a really good job in that role. I identified with him, and he was cool because he didn’t have a super perfect personality, and he wasn’t physically very impressive, and he wasn’t comic relief, and he wasn’t all that smart, he was just simple and he loved Frodo as a friend completely and….anyway, I just loved that character.

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  31. Em The Hot Pink Bunny says:

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOLKIEN!!!!!!

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  32. Ebeth The Lurker says:

    yay for tolkein!!!! you rock! not that you can read this anyway…

    everybody’s forgetting Beruthiel!!! Remember, the evil but beautiful sister of Galadriel, who imprisoned the Fellowship in Lothlorien?

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  33. sleepynighttimedragon says:

    I have read the Hobbit though… Biblo is so cool!!!

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  34. MontogmeryGurl says:

    The Hobbit is the only one I’ve read. Okay, that’s not true. I read FotR, and part of TTT.

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  35. Phoenix says:

    I only say ‘nae’. I say it because I am a new Terry Pratchett enthusiast and the first book I read was about the Nac Mac Feegle, or the Wee Free Men. They are faeries that talk with heavy scottish accents, like drinking and singing and stealing everything that isn’t nailed down (and being able to loose the nails does not count as nailed down). They said they left faerieland because the Queen was telling them to steel dishonorably but a few others (i.e. everyone else) hold that they were thrown out for being drunk at 9:00 in the morning. I love talking like them.

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  36. Queen Julietaini the Froody of Kiador (Queenie J) says:

    I LOVE THE WEE FREE MEN! THE BIG MAN IS MY IDOL!

    I’m all around. My favorite character is Pippin, because he’s so cool. And I think it would be better if Aragorn was like Pietri in The Frangarshion.
    FLASHBACK-
    Pietri’s in his late twenties. He’s the sultan of Hajjerbat, and when on the journey keeps yelling at everyone on the quest, argues because they make bad decisions, and is really difficult, even though he cares about the quest. Eventually they find out that this is because the quest involves meeting the Warden, the Warden captured his girlfriend (lack of better word) years before and he’s really angry and upset because of it. He also hates the Warden. When Pietri is on a ship in the Skralorn Ocean, a slave ship comes in view. He jumps off the ship and returns hours later, exhausted with the lost girlfriend (in slave shackles, dressed as a boy, almost dead, emaciated, and with short hair, and also they think she’s really ugly even after she cleans up), they instantly recognize her as a long-lost princess, but obviously Pietri can’t marry her because he’s the sultan and she’s the princess of the country he’s almost warring with. However, he takes care of her, because the slave thrashers have almost killed her. She fell off the boat, he heard, and he promptly dived in to get her. She forgives him for not going to look for her because if he had his country would have been wiped out. They take her on the quest because she’s a powerful sorceress, and at the end Pietri and De Basse (the girlfriend)
    -FLASHBACK
    The reason you haven’t heard of The Frangarshion is because I wrote it. Anyway, I think Tolkien could have written that well.

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  37. Queen Julietaini the Froody of Kiador (Queenie J) says:

    Sorry. At the end Pietri and De Basse get married. I like The Frangarshion very much and intend to show it to the world some day.

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  38. Phoenix says:

    Lovely! But one thing– if she was a powerful sorceress why could the slaver keep her?
    Can you write it and post it here?

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  39. randomrohanfreak says:

    Happy birthday, Tolkein!

    I ♥ ♥ ♥ Faramir. And Eowyn is cool. Only good female part in the whole dang books. And I love Glorfindel. And then movie Arwen the Mary Sue had to go steal his part. I bet he’s still sulking in a corner about that. Or not, because we’re talking about an elf lord here. Oh well. I also really love Treebeard and Quickbeam because Ents are just really really cool.

    Saw the movies first, then read LOTR, then read Hobbit. I like the books better.

    I love Terry Pratchett. And if something is nailed down, the Feegles will steal the nails as well.

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  40. Paul Baker says:

    Tom Bombadil was written before the hippy generation. That whole era gave a bad name to anytheing resembling an earth spirit. It would be really difficult to make him work on film nowadays.

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  41. Ebeth The Lurker says:

    hippies are actually pretty cool. Ignoring bits and pieces here and there about them…

    eowyn rocks. She definitely should have been in the fellowship instead of merry. Merry’s cool and all, but in the book i can’t really tell merry and pippin apart all that well. Except when they split up. No, but either that or there should’ve just been a fellowship of ten. But no. Oh well.

    I learned something amazing today-I was really bored in homeroom so i was wandering amongst the library’s sad little collection of books and *gasp* they actually have the unfinished tales! I stood and stared in shock.

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  42. Axa says:

    I went ot the midnight showing of RotK. This one guy was waving a replica of Anduril about and saying how the blade of Isildur had been reforged, and such.

    It was a real sword, which may have been why he was hiding it in a carpet. Yes, a carpet.

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  43. Em The Hot Pink Bunny says:

    Eowyn iss second best to sam.

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  44. Queen Julietaini the Froody of Kiador (Queenie J) says:

    Phoenix (#38) she was tortured and all sorts of nasty things happened to her that decreased her power. For a while.

    Sorry about that. It has its own properly poetic chapter. It isn’t a paragraph in the actual novel. I’ll think about putting The Frangarshion on the Museblog.

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  45. Sunstorm says:

    How many of you have seen the cartoon the Hobbit? It is pretty cheesy but I like the gollum in that movie. I also like Eowyn and the ents are cool! My favorite is Return of the King.

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  46. Queen Julietaini the Froody of Kiador (Queenie J) says:

    De Basse also got her power back through other people, who I won’t reveal yet because that would be giving away most of the book. Which needs all the help it can get.

    Pietri’s rather cool, though. He falls out of trees six times in the whole book, actually blasts a cavern to bits and saves the team’s rear end. He might actually be my favorite character. No wait, I shouldn’t have favorites.

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  47. Zallie says:

    Aaaah, I went to a midnight RotK, too. It was brilliant, because everyone was such a LotRgeek that they knew when to clap, laugh, etc. Yeah, I love watching movies when everyone’s as obsessed as you.

    I want to re-read the entire series now. :D

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  48. yesterday's_kinked_moose says:

    Terry Pratchett? Who’s that? What!? Don’t look at me like that! I can’t help it if I don’t who an author is! Well, actually I can. I’ll just search the name on Amazon. Sam is SO cool! (and froody!) He is very straight-forward and simple and yet, at the same time, very understanding and wise. And talk about loyalty!

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  49. Phoenix says:

    Terry Pratchett is an amazing author who is very funny. Most of his books take place on DiscWorld, a world shaped like, well, a disk. It has 4 continents and rests on the back of 4 elephants, which in turn rest on the back of a giant space-traveling turtle.

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  50. Lusifer Ink. says:

    The Great A’Tuin.

    Important places on the Discworld:

    Ankh Morpork
    Lancre
    Quirm
    Klatch
    Ramtop

    Important people in the Discworld books:

    Death, Mort and Ysabell, and Susan
    Rincewind, Ridcully, the Librarian, the Dean, and other assorted wizards
    The Coven, including Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, Margrat Garlick, and Agnes Nitt
    The Patrician
    Commander Sam Vimes, Captain Carrot Ironfoundersson, Sergeant Angua, Sergeant Detritus, Sergeant Colon, and Corporal Nobby

    Terry Pratchett: Amazing author. King of satire. Very funny. Enough said.

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  51. Zallie says:

    I’ve been meaning to read Terry Pratchett for aaaages, ever since I found out that he co-wrote a book with Neil Gaiman.

    I’ll get around to it one of these days.

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  52. Phoenix says:

    Zallie, go see if I got the riddle right.

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  53. Zallie says:

    Just did. :P

    (Haha, the board just told me to ‘slow down, cowboy’)

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  54. randomrohanfreak says:

    Can we do a Terry Pratchett thread or at least talk about him on Books & Movies?
    Ents never show up in fanfiction. It’s kind of sad. For that reason, the fanfic I’m working on at the moment has an Ent in it. ENTS!! YAAY!!
    Almost all really good epic fantasy is slightly ripped off from LOTR. It’s kind of sad, especially when I’m trying to write a really good epic fantasy that ISN’T like anybody else’s. Not easy. *sigh*

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  55. Zallie says:

    You should post your Ent!Fanfiction, rohanfreak. Does it have Quickbeam in it?

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  56. Lusifer Ink. says:

    Terry Pratchett thread all the way!

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  57. Queen Julietaini the Froody of Kiador (Queenie J) says:

    Quickbeam has a great name. Great Ent, too.

    Some of my best friends are hippies.

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  58. yesterday's_kinked_moose says:

    Fantasy is probably always a rip-off of LOTR because LOTR is so flamablamalishously intricate and complete that it covers all the bases of good fantasy and good stories in general. Other stories can’t beat it, so they all try to steal from it’s vast quantity of coolness.

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  59. Em The Hot Pink Bunny says:

    here is a list of female characters in lotr

    Rosie
    Goldberry
    Arwen
    Galadriel
    Eowyn
    random peoples in houses of healing.

    did i miss any?

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  60. Axa says:

    Well, there’s Diamond and Estella, but again, they weren’t actually in the book, so they don’t really count.

    I forgot Frodo’s mom’s name…dang.

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  61. Bellatrix Lestrange (aka Elendil) says:

    hallo

    Can anybody pleeeeeeeeaaaaaaaasssssssseeeeeeee talk about Tolkein’s languages and not just his books?

    My friend and I use Elvish to make up names for our stories

    Elvish rocks

    anyone know where I can go to learn it?

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  62. Phoenix says:

    Hmm. A Voldemort supporter who speaks Elvish.
    No need to say anything.

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  63. Em The Hot Pink Bunny says:

    i write in tengwar sometimes. when people hear this they’re like ohmigod thats so cool, but then they forget about it. i don’t really go for spoken languages. i figured out faux-gnommish for no reason, but its not worth knowing because its not the actual alphabet in the book, its really simple, and it has lots of spelling mistakes in it.

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  64. yesterday's_kinked_moose says:

    What about random female hobbits in the Shire? Does he mention any? Or what about the mothers in the geneologies? I don’t really know much Elvish, but I’m an eager student. Thanks SO much for the article, Muse!

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  65. Ebeth The Lurker says:

    pssht. Elvish. Come on people, dwarvish rocks!!!!!!!

    Plus it’s something i actually know… :lol:

    female hobbits…rosie cotton. I know there’s others but i can’t remember. i looks up! yes i does! soon! ish! possibly!

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  66. yesterday's_kinked_moose says:

    I want to visit Lorien… Really, the descriptions there were beautiful. I am ashamed to admit that I have this awful audio rendition of the FotR. It is absolutely pathetic.

    *All the hobbits sound like female children except Frodo, who sounds waaay to deep. Really, Frodo and Aragorn should have traded voices.

    *Elrond sounds like a fool on helium.

    *The singing (yes they included the poems) is off key and with inconsistent tune.

    *All the elves sound alike. (except Elrond) Legolas doesn’t even say anything until they reach Lorien, and then he sounds just like Haldir, as does Celeborn.

    *I’m sure there’s something else.

    In conclusion, it sucks.

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  67. Bellatrix Lestrange says:

    A KindOfRandom Note to Phoenix Post 62:
    HOW DARE YOU SAY THE DARK LORD’S NAME, MUGGLE?!?
    I SHALL HUNT YOU DOWN AND FEED YOUR GIZZARD TO MY LORD’S SNAKE!

    of topic, but oh well… i just had to say that.

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  68. Bellatrix Lestrange says:

    In the movies, I didn’t like Galadriel. She was too… wierd. I mean, she was supposed to be a beautiful, mysterious elf… Instead, we get a not-so-beautiful lady who talks in a monotone who turns into a an evil sorceress in the of her speech and stares at people. But I did like the part when she a) helped Frodo up from the ground and b) gave Frodo the light of Elendil

    ***New topic: Eragon, anyone?***

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  69. Ebeth The Lurker says:

    this is the tolkein thread actually…not books+movies people…

    did anybody read that really weird fake interview w/tolkein when he was in heaven? it was on the flip side (the back page of..D i think) in the dispatch if any of you ohioans get that…That was strange….

    Galadriel? The Evil Zombie Lady of Lorelindorian? YAAAY! Ok i hate how they did that as Galadriel in the movies, but the Evil Zombie Lady of Lorelindorian pwns all. ♥ Yay for evil zombie ladies!!!

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  70. yesterday's_kinked_moose says:

    Yeah, Galadriel was sort of messed up. And they made Loth Lorien a little too…I don’t know, just different. Does anybody play the RotK video game? Stabbing orks is fun!

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  71. yesterday's_kinked_moose says:

    I mean orcs.

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  72. Em says:

    eragon is a highly contraversial subject here in the museblog. let us talk about… *gasp* i have downloaded some tengwar fonts from that arwen place! only on of them works though. and some other froody fonts. and i can actually read about half of the letters! go me!

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  73. yesterday's_kinked_moose says:

    Hello? No one has been here for a long, looooooong time. Did you [Em] read The Return of the King condensed on the Arwen place?

    Denethor: Hi. My favorite son is dead and my life sucks.

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  74. OJ533 says:

    73- 14 days or 14 months which is longer

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  75. Robert Coontz (Administrator) says:

    Arwen (who runs the Web site) is a Muser, by the way.

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