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Hatter106 posted:I want to read some scholastic study of Tolkien, and Tom Shippey's books seem to be a good start. But I can't decide which to read; The Road to Middle-Earth or the later JRR Tolkien: Author of the Century. Apparently he re-uses some material from the earlier book in Century, but the reviews seem pretty good otherwise. The Road to Middle-Earth is great; it really gives you a good idea of how well-read Tolkien was and how all that older literature influenced his writing and thinking. I'm loving the Tolkien Professor podcast, except for the way he always says "BUT" in that really exaggerated way...
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Feb 12, 2013 01:23
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VanSandman posted:'sup fellow Silmarillion fan. There's something so grand and sweeping about the Silmarillion that I love, even more than the Lord of the Rings. Maybe it's because it's Don't forget Treebeard and Tom Bombadil!
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Feb 16, 2013 15:21
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as all hell, maybe it's because Morgoth is a kickass villain, maybe it's because it makes you understand why Sauron might fear somebody like Galadriel, who is probably the oldest thing on Middle Earth before she leaves.
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Nycticeius posted:The movies captured pretty accurately what I had imagined Middle Earth and its characters to be when I first read the LoTR 16 years ago, except for Aragorn, Boromir, Legolas and Frodo. In my imagination, Frodo was thin, ugly and gaunt; Strider was ugly as well, and not unlike a scarecrow. Boromir was basically a blonde Conan, and Legolas was dark-haired. I'm pretty sure wood-elves are usually light-haired, so that wasn't a mistake. Frodo should definitely not have been played by a 19-year-old, though.
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Mar 16, 2013 15:30
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SHISHKABOB posted:Also there's those spots that never ended up underwater. I can't name them off the top of my head but I'm pretty sure that they weren't exactly the tallest spots around in general. So there's some funky magic stuff goin on probably too. Yep, I think the hill where Turin's mother and/or sister was buried is one of those spots. (Can't remember the exact details right now.)
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Mar 9, 2014 17:32
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Jazerus posted:The Silmarillion has to be taken with a grain of salt when it comes into conflict with the existence of things like Tom and Ungoliant. It's explicitly Elvish in origin, and with the Elves being so close to the Valar of course they believe that everything came from Eru; and yet I don't think it's that unbelievable that if Eru existed, so might other spirits have existed before Ea yet not created by Eru. They are beings of immense power and yet they appear to be completely disinterested in the world around them, aside from Ungoliant's theft of power from Valinor. She was able to trap even Morgoth for a time, as well as guard against the eyes of the Valar - to me this suggests something much more than a fallen Maia, and yet something that does not really care all that much about the war among the Ainur or the ultimate fate of Arda. Within the story universe this would make sense, but I'm not sure what Tolkien would say about it, given that Eru is clearly his Christian God-analogue. On a slightly related topic, I run an indie nail polish shop, and I'm releasing a Silmarillion-themed collection later tonight (ca. 11:00 EST) if anyone here is into that kind of thing!
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Mar 22, 2014 00:24
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Another thing to point out about Sam's position as a servant is that it mirrors the very Christian idea (present in both LotR and Sil) that humility is a great virtue and pride a great (actually the original) sin. So Sam's acceptance of his servile position is like a good Christian accepting his place as a servant of God. That's why Sam ends up the hero of the story. Not that this makes the books any less classist, it's just one thing that was definitely on Tolkien's mind.
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Dec 19, 2014 15:25
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