We had a Tolkien thread last year, but there’s been a request for a new one. With his latest posthumous book The Children of Húrin just out, now seems like a good time. Go to it!
WARNING: Inevitable spoilers.
Patience, Please
This site is under reconstruction and will look strange for a while. We regret the inconvenience.
first post? (my precious…)
GAPAs? just so you know, most of teh thread description is one big link. i wonder where it leads? *click* okay, it leads to the past LOTR thread. you might wanna take out most of that link, though.
Oops. I forgot to close the link after the words “last year.” Fixed it now. Thanks for calling it to my attention.
you’re welcome. BTW, it would appear that there are very few people on teh blog this morning. am i the only morning person here? [besides the OEADs, of course.]
go to YouTube and type in “lord of the rings parody” and pick the one that shows a stick figure. tis hilarious.
i hate lotr!!!! PIE EM’ ALL! DIE HOBBITS, DIE!
am i controversil or what
i really do hate em’
i take offense
6 – ooloo
Is this already turning into an LOTR pie war? Or are people going to discuss things?
9 – what is there to discuss? it goes like this:
walking, walking, walking, walki-
EPIC BATTLE SCENE!!!!!
walking, walking, walking, walki-
EPIC BATTLE SCENE!!!!!
walking, throws ring into volcano, suddenly-
EPIC BATTLE SCENE!!!!!
end.
Hello there!
what shall we discuss?
Hello! My internet was down this morning, so I couldn’t get on. I love The Lord Of The Rings.
What on earth does “Frodo Lives” mean? There’s only a brief part in book 2 in which anyone could think he was dead.
I haven’t read the LOTR books except for the first 2 pages of The Hobbit which didn’t build fast so I got bored and read a different book instead
Did you know that LOTR is a trilogy because that was the only way to publish it? JR Tolkein wanted it to be one big fat book, but that would not fit on the bookshelves.
Has anyone ever read Here, There be Dragons? (Yes, this is connected to The Lord Of the Rings, at least to some extent.)
SPOILERS!SPOILERS!SPOILERS!SPOILERS!SPOILERS!SPOILERS!SPOILERS!SPOILERS!SPOILERS!It’saboutTolkein,C.S.Lewis,andsomeotherauthorsinthismagicworldwithallthesebookcharactersfromvariousauthors,whichiswheretheygottheirinspiration.SPOILERSOVER!
Ooops! Can the GAPAs throw a few more “SPOILERS!” in there please? Or snip it or something, it could ruin the book for someone.
10- Not true! There’s lot’s of description and stuff. Like the ents. And Tom Bombadil.
pies for
alice
glassbro
that was me, dr B
19 – Are you new?
18- Don’t turn this into a pie war. There already is one, which I could post a link for but I’m too lazy. Search for Pie War 2007. Also, read the rules, the HG2MB, and the Welcome newcomers thread.
pffff….
So far, this thread looks to me like a big waste of space. Can anybody give me a good reason not to zap it?
Yeah, um, not many people have commented. what is there to talk about anyway? i mean, you can’t speculate the end since the end has already been published.
Um, well…
I know! I’ll run a qwik powl:
Do you have LOTR on a DVD?
Do you have the extended one with the extra stuff about how they made it?
What did you think was the coolest thing they did with the special effects?
These usually bring in lots of people. Please don’t zap it just yet!
Well, the first new Middle-earth book in years has just been published. You’d think that Tolkien fans, if there are any on the blog, would have something to say about that.
Do you have LOTR on a DVD?
Yes, all three.
Do you have the extended one with the extra stuff about how they made it?
Yes, for all three.
What did you think was the coolest thing they did with the special effects?
The way they did the fire when the insane king whose name i can’t remember doused himself with oil and tried to burn himself. They lit a fire and the fire that you see on the screen isn’t real, it’s just a mirror image of the real one. It was cool.
I have the first 2 on DVD, with the first one as the Extended Edition. I have the 3rd on VHS.
bilbo’s hardly commented on this thread. That’s strange. I didn’t capitalize the first sentence because bilbo doesn’t capitalize his name.
27- That’s Denethor to you. We could just use this thread to say fun names. Farimir. Meriadoc. But anyway, to the poll.
I have the first two on DVD. Much to my woe and dismay, I have never seen any of the Extended Versions, though I’ve seen the stuff about how they made it because that’s on the Special Features.
I dream about LOTR a lot(r).
Oooh, I must read that book.
I have never read the Silmarillion.
Has anyone seen Ringers: Lord of the Fans?
Three rings for the Elven-kings under the sky
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone
Nine for mortal Men doomed to die
In the land of Mordor where the shadows lie.
One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them
One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the land of Mordor where the shadows lie.
I will keep this thread alive if no one else does!
In the movie, when Gandalf’s talking about death, and how it’s white shores and stuff, that’s a quote straight out of the last book. It’s what was on the other side of the sea. So clearly the screenwriters unnecessarily associated going across the sea with death.
Bit depressing, that.
Each summer for the past 2 years I’ve done a week-long camp where we get to act out one of the LOTR books. This year I’m technically too old but I’ll probably get grandfathered in. Yay!
Oh, you lucky duck, you! Where is it? What’s the age limit?
yeah what is the age limit??? send me a link
I was once, by visiting every day of the week, a guest of a LotR class and nick-named “Bill the Pony” ^_^
I own all three as EEs and too many copies of the books
I own various random reference books and other books by Tolkien
I’ve started the Silmarillion but never been able to get into it.
I’ve read the Hobbit.
I would like to learn Elvish. How exactly does one go about it?
New book cam out? I’ve always refrained from reading all the extra LOTR books (The Sillmarillion, The Book of Lost Tales etc) because part of what I always loved about the books was mystery. It made it seem more real.
(32) Yeah, that did bother me a bit. In the books, going to the white shores is not like going to heaven or anything. It’s just where the elves and ringbearers go.
My little sister is trying to substitute cats for the characters. She’s calling it “The Lord of the Strings” and has dubbed the laser pointer “The Eye of Sauron.” My mom’s idea, actually, but that doesn’t stop her.
I have all three on DVD
I have Return of the King extended edition
I really like the Ents special effects. They rock.
I have at least two copies of every book, and I read them anually.
37 – There are some words at the back of the Return of the King, the old version. I’m sure there some place online with it, but I don’t know where.
20 – I dream about it too, and a lot of other books, and some weird things that seem similar to the books but actually aren’t.
I love the music, too.
1. Into the West
2. May It Be
3. Send Me a Song
I have a theory which contains spoilers for the Hobbit and the Silmarillion. Will post it later.
Cool. I don’t intend to read the Silmarillion any time soon, and besides I
likedon’t mind spoilers.SPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILERSPOILER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
******************
*******************
****************
******************
***************
***********
*****************
*********************
******************************
*****************
******************
***********
Do not read the following unless you have read the Silmarillion and the Hobbit.
***************************************
********************************
I think that the Arkenstone is a Silmaril. At the end of the Silmarillion, Maedhros (one of the last two surviving brothers of Feanor) (I think) flings himself into a deep crevasse and thus to Middle-earth’s fiery heart, taking a Silmaril with him.
But Silmarils are even harder than diamond, so this one would be difficult to destroy. It worked its way up into the Lonely Mountain (which I think was an extinct volcano- correct me if I’m wrong), where the lava cooled. Thousands of years later, it was dug up by the dwarves, who named it the Arkenstone. It now rests in the tomb of Thorin Oakenshield.
**********************************************************************************************************************************************************8
*******************************************************************************
*************************************************************
SPOILERS END
I have never read the the Silmarillion, but I know what you’re talking about, nonetheless. Amazing.
*goes to dad’s bookshelf and finds The Silmarillion*
Oh. My. God. Small print. Big book. Will I read it? I probably will. It looks interesting enough and is not as full of unpronounceable names as I thought.
We have the Silmarillion on our book shelf. Supposedly, it’s only for hard-core LOTR fans. My friend tried to read it and could only go a chapter at a time beofre she had to take a break, and she’s a pretty big fan. I’ll probably re-read all the others before atempting it, though.
I had something else to say. What on erath was it?
I think we need new copies of our books.
The Hobbit’s cover is rather near to coming off.
Both covers are gone from the Fellowship, and it’s spine is plastered in packing tape.
The Two Towers is dangerously close to losing its last page, and it is also covered in packing tape.
The Return of the King is in really good shape, considering, probably because I couldn’t find it the last time I read it, so I had to make do with a library copy.
Here is my LOTR experience, classified into stages:
1) the disinterested stage
Lord of the Rings
What’s that?
oh, a book.
a fantasy book.
people like to read it.
2)the sorta interested stage
I recieve the hobbit+LOTR as a boxed set
I look at it.
I put it on the shelf
…
I attempt to read the Hobbit
I fail
3)the interested stage
My friend convinces me to begin Fellowship of the Ring
I begin FR
I read FR sporadically
I discuss it with friends
I finish it and begin The Two Towers
4)the wannabe stage
I pick up TT after a LOTR hiatus
I continue TT
I avoid spoilers
I am convinced Tolkein was a GENIUS and that everyone MUST read LOTR/watch the movies
In essence, I attempt to worm my way into the LOTR fandom
5)the rebellion stage
I finish TT
I attempt Return of the King
I lay aside RK
I realize that every fantasy is judged by LOTR
I am at first in awe of (during stage 4) and then annoyed by (stage 5) the above statement
I realize being a LOTR fan isn’t my dream
I read that Tolkein didn’t like the Chronicles of Narnia
*GASP*
*hyperventilates*
…
I begin to rebel: why does everything have to be based on LOTR? Why is it THE fantasy? Why must everyone read it? Why does every movie have to be like the LOTR movies? Why is there no one who opposes LOTR’s alleged ALL-POWERFUL GREATNESS*bowdownbowdown*?!?! WHY?!WHY?!WHY?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
6)the present stage
I begin to go into a half-formed unintelligible rant whenever my friends mention LOTR
I can respect you LOTR fans, but I no longer feel a desire to join your number
I believe that The Once and Future King by T.H. White is the true ‘one’ fantasy novel.
Please don’t slash me with an orc sword
The Silmarillion is good, if you can get past the long-winded, quasi-Old-English writing style. It talks about the mythology of Middle Earth, the First, Second and early Third Ages, and the origins of Sauron. (C’mon, I know you’re dying to know where the Dark Lord came from… )
47- I am not a fan. I dislike the word “fan.” It implies adoration, worship, etc. I don’t worship anything! I enjoy LOTR enormously, but it doesn’t rule my world. It isn’t the “best thing ever.” It’s good, though. By the time I finished it for the second time, I was ready to take a break. I wasn’t when I finished it the first time, because I took a break in the middle of The Two Towers.
I do not believe that all fantasies should be measured by LOTR. That would be stupid. REALLY stupid.
I have never read “The Once and Future King.” I did read “The Sword in the Stone.” That was good.
i’m sorry but… Tolkien=BLEGH. *is pied by fanatics*
50- You think? I won’t pie you though. What do you like to read?
I sort of like the LOTR books, but the movies are not good. I’m also sick of hearing about it so much. However, I don’t hear about it as much as some people do.
51- anything that:
1. isn’t boring or dull
2. does not include an undue amount of romance
3. panders to my rather twisted sense of humor
or
4. anything that isn’t a clone of another, more original book.
the only requirements that are absolute is #1 and #2.
:idea:TNÖ:idea:
In my opinion, LOTR was well-written and original but there wasn’t a great deal of… oh, it’s difficult to say, of course, but there simply doesn’t seem to be any spontaneity. None of the lovely feeling which any author knows when writer’s block is lifted and you have a brilliant idea, and you hurry to go put it down. I think it started out that way, but it lost it. It was re-written so many times, so polished, that somehow it lost the feeling and effort the author put in it. I express myself very badly, but I think you know what I mean.
P. S. This whole post is probably a mishmash of dozens of cliches. In fact, I’m certain that what I’m saying is a cliche so never mind it.
53- Really? I dislike romance also. With a passion, actually. In fact, I agree with every one of those requirements, except I don’t think that I have a twisted sense of humor.
54- What about The Hobbit?
55: The Hobbit was really good, but not as good as LOTR.
Ok, I like lotr quite a bit. the books are better that the movies, but then, they always are. there are some pretty funny bits, like when everyone is waiting for the battle to begin and gimly can’t see and legalos says ‘shall i describe it to you, or shall i get a box’
Question: I have been arguing with my friend for some time on this issue. Is Gollum evil?
Sample discussion:
ME: the ring is evil. It takes the evil in everyone and intensifies it. smeagol had some evil, and the ring made it worse. and worse. until it had totally eaten his soul.
FRIEND: Yes, but he was evil to begin with, otherwise the ring wouldn’t work. He laughed after killing his cousin.
ME: That was the ring!
Thoughts, anyone?
I agree with you. After all, Frodo isn’t evil, and neither is Bilbo, and both of them were badly influenced by the ring. If they’d had it for as long as Gollum, they would have become like him.
I think that the movies were more dramatic, more magnified. For example, Pippin. Yes, he’s an idiot; we all knew that. In the books however, he is less idiotic than in the movies. He only did 2 or 3 really stupid things, whereas in the movies he did 4. 5 if you count his swearing allegiance to Denethor.
Yes, I counted. I am strange.
I liked the books way better, but the movies were good too.
So, what does everyone think of my Arkenstone/Silmaril theory?
59- I think it is a good theory. It makes sense, even though I never read the Sil and don’t know what they are except they’re beautiful white stones that some people have. I’m not sure, but I think those people might be princes or kings. Or at least some of them.
How close am I?
The three Silmarils were forged by Feanor, a great craftsman of the Eldar. Morgoth (Sauron’s old boss) coveted them for their beauty, and stole them with the help of Ungoliant (Shelob’s ancestor). Feanor and his sons swore an oath to take the Silmarils from any who would keep them, using any means necessary. A few centuries of cathassus ensued, at the end of which the Silmarils ended up in three different places. One was on the brow of Gil-Galad, whose ship sails the outer darkness beyond the world. One was thrown into the bowels of the earth by Maedhros, Feanor’s son, and another ended up in the ocean, put there by another son of Feanor whose name escapes me. You may think that this didn’t make sense, but you see, Feanor and his children had been driven to do so much evil by their oath that they figured it was better to make sure nobody got hold of them ever again.
So your description is accurate, just not very detailed.
LOTR ruls go one ring (into the lava) Mwhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaa
ok sory
61-cool I didi’nt know that
57-gollum isint evil the ring took him over Gollum ” what nice golden shine you have my precious” then he keps it forever and dos evil things HE HE HE
61- Cool. I will read it someday, but it’s not high on my list of priorities. And I couldn’t exactly go wrong with my description since I already knew what the Silmaril were.
62- Are you new? I would pie you but this isn’t the place.
63-no I just don’t post much
Every time we mention LotR at dinner (yeah, we’re cool like that) my dad sings the Johnny Cash song… “He fell down, down, down in that burnin’ ring of fire… and it burns, burns burns and the flames shoot higher…”
65- I may have heard that somewhere. Hmm… Oh well. I don’t care that much.
I was talking to a friend the other day and she said she knew someone named Moria. Can you imagine? “Oh yes, my name’s Moria.” It’s a nice name, but that person had some serious LotR fans as parents. Of course, my mom once knew some people named Bilbo and Frodo, so…
Someone once told me that “moria” is the Greek word for “folly.” That would make sense: it’s the root of the words moron and sophomore (which means “wise fool”).
I guess that’s why it named that, given that the dwarves awakened a balrog there by digging too deep.
68- I think it was Moria before Durin’s Bane came along. (That’s the balrog, if you didn’t know.)
67- Wait- sophmore? Hahah!! I’ll have to inform them all of this. Or, maybe, wait till I’m a junior and that way they can’t tease me next year.
I hate the gollum parts of the movies…
I liked the Gollum parts. Mostly because I really like his character (the way Tolkien described it in the book), and I liked all of the effects, etc., that they did when filming (well, digitally doing stuff with it) it. For example, when he was “Gollum,” you would see his reflection in the mirror, and when he was “Smeagol,” you would see his regular face. Stuff like that.
I just don’t like them because it’s where Frodo gets all weird with the ring.
I like the battle scenes!!!
Bother. I reread this thread (it’s not very long), and now I feel that I ought to read the Silmarillion. *sighs* I will, I will.
Hooray!
someone mentioned med at the top!
I just finished reading the felloship of the ring
UGG the books are so boring! I’m a wicked reader (like, 200 pages per session) and i got to chapter 9 and put it down. But i like the movies! Eowyn rocks!
76- Trust me, getting past all the highflown language is worth it.
I’ve been trying to read the silmarillion for ages now.. I should start trying again..
76- *shuns* You can’t say “I like the movies” but then say the books are boring! It’s against every single rule in the book!
79- Actually, I’m kind of in agreement. If you liked the movie, how can you not like the book?
I know, i know, yet still, the entire book is;
And then Gandalf inhaled. And then Gandalf exhaled. And then Frodo turned invisible. Gollum got mad at FRodo. And then Gandalf inhaled again. They walked another five leagues. Then [guess what?] Gandalf exhaled again.
No one pooosts here anymoreeee…
81- No accounting for tastes. I love immersing myself in the rich detail on every page, but I can understand how some people might not have the patience for it.
Eh. I can’t stand it.
heh. I surprised myself. I totally would’ve expected me to visit this page earlier…
OH OH OH i like that scene in the beginning of the first movie where they’re running away from the cranky gardener dude and they fall down the hill and Pip says he thinks he broke something and he pulls out a broken carrot!
I also like that scene in the third where they are burning faramir [xept not really]
Who here has a theory about what Bombadil is?
71- I find the Gollum parts rather amusing. When he says “Gollum! Gollum! Gollum!” he reminds me of a cat coughing up a hairball.
86- *heeheeheehee*
87- I find that scene unrealistic. How was Faramir’s lousy dad able to run that distance without being fried??? He should have died as soon as Gandalf kicked him into the fire! I mean, he was saturated in oil! And he was lying in a blazing fire for like, 15 seconds!!! Gosh! Seriously! Sheesh! *rantrantrantrantrant etc.*
88- I never really thought about that. I just assumed he was a strange sort of human.
(89) In the book, the “Pyre of Denethor” scene takes place completely differently. Gandalf rescues Faramir, and then Denethor slams the door on him and lies down on the pyre and incinerates himself. (He also has a palantir with him — an important detail that the movie didn’t mention.)
I can understand why moviemakers would want to make the rescue more dramatic and why they couldn’t resist the image of a flaming Denethor hurtling toward the battlefield like a meteor, but you’re right: the scene is awkward and forced.
(89, 88) As for Tom Bombadil, he’s clearly not human. For one thing, he’s immortal — older than the Elves, apparently. He really doesn’t fit into Middle-earth very well, and I wasn’t surprised to learn he started out in a different mythology. The original Tom Bombadil was a doll about whom Tolkien made up stories and songs for the Tolkien family. Tolkien liked TB so much that he included him in The Fellowship of the Ring. He is fun, but I can understand why the moviemakers left him out.
I know this thread has been dead for almost half a year, but…
I don’t like the movies nearly as much as the book, because they seem to alternate between 3 things–Aragorn and Arwen kissing, orcs getting their heads chopped off, and added dialogue. But I know they did the best they could while still making them fun for the average film-goer.
If you read history books for fun (the AP Euro textbook is particularly interesting), then I recommend that you read the Silmarillion. The writing might be dense, but it’s not boring.
90- I think that Tom Bombadil can be somewhat incorporated into the rest of the world if you just say he’s a random Maia. (sort of what you’re saying) His immunity to the Ring would still make no sense, though.
Exactly. But TB is my favorite character, apart from Legolas.91 – …I agree!
92 – …I agree also!
Bold? How?
Oh– I thought that that meant “break” because I had forgotten that you could just hit “enter.”
REVIVE THIS THREAD
96- OKAY
96- Never read LOTR, don’t plan to. Too busy trying to get HG2G3 and reading the second book of the Lost Years of Merlin.
(96) When a 10,000-year-old queen of the Noldor commands, what can anyone do but obey?
lol, yeah, plus I have one of the Three rings. So you HAVE to. But seriously people, we NEEEEEEED to revive this thread, especially since everyone’s been asking for a LOTR thread.
OK, I shall start a conversation. I liked the way the sets/costumes for the movies were set up, but the actual screenplay could have been better. What does everyone think of The Silmarillion? I haven’t read it, but I have it.
Indeed, one can only ignore a powerful Elvish queen for so long.
About Gollum being evil: I think that he wasn’t evil to start with, but the One Ring destroyed his mind to the point that he became evil.
I was a little surprised that they left Tom Bombadil out of the movies. The scene where they called out his name so that he would save them from the disembodied hands would have been nice to see.
102- THANK YOU!!! FINALLY!!!!
Anyway. I think the same about Gollum, except for one thing. I think that the Ring pulls at your worst weaknesses and all your faults. Hobbits aren’t so much affected by it because they’re just all-around good people and don’t have too many faults. So, Sméagol was probably already jealous of Déagol, etc.
They should have had Bombadil in the movie.
Okay. I guess no one saw this thread. Post please! Or new thread!
I love LotR!!!! Haven’t read the books yet, but saw all the movies. *ducks in case of pie-ing*
*crash lands* Where am I? A strange, unexplored place, no doubt. Hey look, people! They’re wearing either strange, medieval looking clothing or shirts with the words “I ♥ LOTR!!!!” on them. Weird.
For a great parody, search on YouTube “how it should have ended Lord of the rings”. Hehe.
*somehow disappears*
YAY!!!!!! THANK YOU SYLLABUB!!!!!
It’s perfectly OK. The books can be a little… long… but they are different from the movies in a lot of things.
Aw man! No one saw it. Hellooooo! Peoples!
It turns out that the executive producer of the music in the movies went to my high school. He was at an assembly where he got an award.
I’m currently writing a paper for English comparing Polyphemus and Shelob.
109- Haha, my dad was friends with John Cusack in high school.
110 – Where did your dad live? (General area, not specific). He might have gone to my school. (If he did, you can inform him that it is now a failing school.)
111- A suburb of Chicago. It starts with E. Don’t worry, we live NOWHERE near there.
112 – Okay then. He lived in the same area, but not the same place and/or school.
This thread has reminded me how much I need to reread these books.
I have a theory on the birth of a balrog:
1) A meteor storm occurs
2) A successful balrog will begin its journey as a meteor
3) This meteor will land in a volcano
4) Over the course of 100 years, the meteor will slowly melt away, revealing its core
5) Over the next 400 years, the core will be coated in lava and imbued with the power of fire
6) After the 500 years have passed, the balrog will emerge from the volcano
My theory for how to control the balrog next
115- you can CONTROL a balrog?
112 – Hey, I know what you’re talking about! I went there for a camp once.
115 – Yeah, you can control a Balrog? Spooky.
117- GAPAs, may I post the name? Probably not.
116, 117 – I said it’s a theory.
1) You should probably be a descendant of someone who saw the balrog, because you probably won’t live 500 years.
2) Assuming you have a relative, and you have the date it came into the volcano from them, wait.
3) At sunset on the last day of the 500th year, climb to the crater of the volcano.
4) Speak the incantation and you shall have a balrog under your control.
119- And what would you do with the balrog?
120 – Well, that depends. If you wanted to rule the world, it’s obvious what you would do with it. If you wanted to save the world from destruction, you would order it to destroy itself, because if you didn’t control it, it would destroy the world.
115- “For of the Maiar many were drawn to [Melkor’s] splendour in the days of his greatness, and remained in that allegiance down into his darkness; and others he corrupted afterwards to his service with lies and treacherous gifts. Dreadful among these spirits were the Valaraukar, the scourges of fire that in Middle-Earth were called the Balrogs, demons of terror.” (The Silmarillion, Valaquenta, p. 31)
‘Fraid not.
Our library has the Silmarillion, but it’s not something you can check out from the library, because it would take Forever to read and then you’d have to pay fifty dollars in late fines and (probably) the price of the book, because you’d have lost it at some point during the seven months it took you to read it.
I recently acquired the complete set of LOTR from Hobbit to Hurin! And it wasn’t even my birthday! I’ve been begging for that for ages. The reason I got it was that my (no longer) friend took my old copy of the Trilogy and somehow dropped it in the bathtub. I was SO mad when I found out, especially since I didn’t actually want to lend it to her but my parents said I should be a good friend! So unfair, I mean, I’m always reading those, and she knew that, and when I asked if she couldn’t borrow it from the library, she said, “Oh no, the library is so far away from here and I might get the book wet in the rain.” The library is about a half hour walk from our house, and I never received so much as an apology from her when she dropped it, only a phone call from my aunt while I was at the library saying “Oh no, your friend seems to have accidentally lost the book, you’d better go to her house and tell her it’s okay, because she’s probably very upset.” And when I got there, completely soaked, she didn’t even invite me in, she was having a huge slumber party, she just said, “oh yeah, I dropped your book in the bathtub.” And then she closed the door in my face!
Sorry, had to rant. I have some
The Hunt for Gollum is coming out in a few days!
I was reading a name book (you know, to find good names) and I happened across the name “Athelas”. Oh, I thought, these people decided to put a name from Tolkien in. I read the meaning. O HORROR!!!! *long and incomprehensible rant*
It said it was a miraculously nourishing bread instead of a medicinal plant! GAH!
I have stopped using that particular book. If it gets athelas and lembas mixed up, I can’t be trust the accuracy of the other entries.
/ranting about names
125- THE HUNT FOR GOLLUM????
What is that?? A book? A movie? A video game? MUST KNOW…. *drools*
“The Hunt for Gollum” is a 40-minute-long Internet-only video about Aragorn’s encounter with Gollum before the beginning of the events described in The Lord of the Rings.
A LotR thread! YAY! Okay, I’m done. It’s only been a couple years since ‘Children of Hurin’ came out? Didn’t know that.
47- We’d never slash you with an orc sword. Anduril is cooler. Probably sharper too… *rant about how orcs are so sloppy*
Please don’t die, thread! *has nothing to say*
I finnished reading the LOTR trilogy adn the Hobbit. I have only seen the first movie, because I wanted to read the books before I saw the movies.
My favorite character is Samwise Gamgee. He’s so sweet and adorable, but he gets the job done.
I will admit, while reading the books I often found my eyes moving over the page, taking the words in, but my brain was other places not paying attention.
My favorite part is probably the part with Shelob. That was the only part of the book where I was gripped with terror, not fully expecting Frodo to live.
I was rather put out that Pippin lived. Not because I don’t like him, but rather because it was kind of established that he had died on the battle field, but then he turn up later with no more excuse then “Gimli saved him”.
Overall I can’t say that I am hugely enamoured with the books. They were interesting, and such a vivid world to step into, but so terribly dense and long. It really is such an undertaking to get through them, but it was worth it. I’m glad I can say I have read them. Now I’ll have to find something else to occupy my time…..
It’s interesting how differently people experience things. I read the trilogy three times between the ages of 10 and 12. It was my Harry Potter, you might say. I found the books completely absorbing, never got impatient with them, didn’t want them to end.
I was slightly older, 13 or 14, when I discovered LOTR and was completely caught up in them from the beginning (except for losing patience with Tom Bombadil). I can even picture where the books were on the library shelf at the moment I first saw them and wondered what adventures they contained.
Such a completely realized world it drew, with its own languages. That’s not so unusual to find these days, I suppose. But at the time it was a revelation. Sadly, I didn’t know anyone then who was reading them.
Only three times? If it were truly your Harry Potter, it would have been more along the lines of 7 or 8 times. Or more. Still, that is a very respectable number of times to have read them.
I read the Hobbit (yes, I know, not part of the actual trilogy) when I was between 6 and 8 (my dad, for reasons unknown, thought I was an advanced enough reader that I would find Hobbit and LOTR enjoyable). I managed to finish it, but didn’t make it more than a chapter or so into the first of the trilogy. However, when the movies came out (when I was 12, I believe, maybe only 11), I thought I’d give it another try. Although I’m afraid I still found them a bit tedious, in parts, I made it through all three and enjoyed them. And then, more recently (senior year of highschool), I chose to take a Tolkien literature course, requiring me to read Hobbit and LOTR, and I found I enjoyed them significantly more than I had previously. I had to write about a million journal pages on each book (I forget how many, exactly, I think I exceeded them a wee bit, with around 40 journal pages per book….) I must have driven the instructor mad, assuming en even took the time to read them all, as basically every other paragraph was “Hey, this scene reminds me of this other scene in Harry Potter.” Seriously. I”m whacko. I’ll have to send those to myself at Christmas break, I can give lovely excerpts…..
Er, anyway, I digress. My post has gotten insanely long, and I”m not even sure where I’m going with any of this.
No one’s posted since last year?! REVIVE THIS THREAD!
(SFTDP)
*sigh* Could we possibly have a new thread, please? This one doesn’t seem to get much traffic.
When I was 9, I read LOTR for the first time. I didn’t get any of the metaphors, or analogies, or political/social commentaries.
Unfortunately, however, I haven’t read them since (no time!), so I still don’t get any of that.
I love these books! I’ve only read them once each, though, because I don’t generally reread things, except for HP. However, I do plan to reread several wonderful, near-forgotten books quite soon, so I’ll revisit this.
I bought the Silmarillion, and I loved it, but after about 3 weeks I was only 100 pages through (I was barely 11, but still). Having never taken so long to read any book as far as I can remember, I lost patience and stopped. I know it was excellent, though.
I usually reread things because, alas, I have no idea what to read.
I NEED MORE LOTR.
In the past two weeks I have read the entire series and watched the extended version of the movies. I am on a quest for The Silmarillion…but…but…but.
I have this illogical desire to raise Tolkein from the dead, though I’m not sure why…maybe in the hope that he’ll give me more closure than the books offer. Of course, there’s tons of stuff in the appendices but nothing to actually contradict the notion that the Undying Lands are just a metaphor for death. Which isn’t really implied in the books, but I’ve spent too much time in English class learning to read more into books than the authors intended. And then there’s that scene in the movies where Gandalf tells Pippin about the white shore and stuff, which makes me think…maybe they had some evidence that I don’t. I have spent a lot of energy thinking about this. More than it deserves, certainly.
For my senior prank i want to come back after the seniors are done with classes and re-enact Lord of the Rings in the halls and courtyards of the school.
The Silmarillion will keep you busy for a while. And you can still read the Book of Lost Tales and the Lost Road and all the rest of the history he wrote. There’s plenty to read. As for closure: everything Tolkien did was a work in progress. Nothing was ever really “finished” because he continued to change his creations throughout his life. If you raised him from the dead he’d just continue to evolve his writings and his languages. Middle Earth is very much alive.
If he continued to evolve his writings and languages that would be AMAZING. Much better reason to raise him from the dead.
The Silmarillion pretty conclusively answers that question. The Undying Lands are not a metaphor for death. (If they were, the Elves would have committed mass suicide twice and also come back from the dead several times.)