The Tolkien Thread

[Belgarion98]

This thread is for discussing perhaps the greatest author of all time! His books and ideals inspired great games like the Elder Scrolls and his ideas have been adapted in countless ways since he wrote his books. Feel free to say anything on this thread (regarding his books and ideas).
You can criticize (i.e. I think the Silmarillion is to boring) or just write about how you love his books!

I'll start it off! First question: What is your favorite Tolkien Book? Mine: The Children Of Hurin. All of Tolkien's awesomness bunched up in a little book.

What is your favorite Character? mine: Aragorn all the way!!!

This is my first thread on UESP guys. Please don't give the Mods a reason to shut it down

[Iamgoofball]

He is...unstoppable
He fights for all that is good in this world
He is Belgarion

This thread is for discussing perhaps the greatest author of all time!

I just had to.

Anyways, You gotta love the Hobbit. Nothing is better than singing about what Bilbo Baggins hates!

[the Savage Hippie]

This should be in Multimedia.OT the hobbit was the best IMO

Multimedia? I think you think of the Arts.

[Belgarion98]

Good choice, Silk

sorry, everyone. I didn't know it should be in a different thread

My favorite movie was definantly Return of The King

[Iamgoofball]

This should be in Multimedia.OT the hobbit was the best IMO

Multimedia? I think you think of the Arts.

Nah, the Arts is for things fourmies have made, I think.

[Sav]

Aragorn ftw

[AddictedtoMorrowind]

I said Tolkien could sing to my dark blue guitar...
Sorry, had to say that.



Let's battle with riddles!

[Iamgoofball]

I said Tolkien could sing to my dark blue guitar...
Sorry, had to say that.



Let's battle with riddles!

No fourm battles.

Actually, we should start a Trivia thread for book series.

[Belgarion98]

Okay, from now on feel free to question or add any tidbits of trivia you think are important. But lets stay OT.

[Feanor]

I, actually, liked the Silmarillion. It's hard to understand, but if you read it more than once it slowly becomes clear. I'm sad that Tolkien didn't have time to finish it properly. And even the nickname I use here is from that book.

From the LotR movies I don't have an absolute favourite... I just like all three. - And just eleven months now and we will get the first part of The Hobbit movie!

[Belgarion98]

Thanks for the move, whoever. Now we can finally get on topic.

[the Savage Hippie]

Okay. Now I have to speak my mind? MODS, why the H is this in Multimedia? The movies are after all fifty years younger than the original books? You don't see Franz Kafka in this section? He is in the Arts? I am very offended that you didn't move this to the Arts. To me Tolkien is one of the greatest artists to ever have walked the Earth. This is blasphemous. A pox upon ye all!

[Iamgoofball]

Okay. Now I have to speak my mind? MODS, why the H is this in Multimedia? The movies are after all fifty years younger than the original books? You don't see Franz Kafka in this section? He is in the Arts? I am very offended that you didn't move this to the Arts. To me Tolkien is one of the greatest artists to ever have walked the Earth. This is blasphemous. A pox upon ye all!

Whoa, don't start raging. After all,

This is my first thread on UESP guys. Please don't give the Mods a reason to shut it down

[the Savage Hippie]

I am raging, but in a friendly manner

[Frost Mage]

My favorite movie was The Two Towers, had the most action AND story, whereas The Fellowship of the Ring had only story, and Return of the King had all action.

[ReeceH]

I much prefered the books to the movies to be honest. While good, the movies just lacked so much depth that the books had (though I can understand why). It's funny, I am actually just waiting on a big hardback version to come in at the moment

[videogmer314]

While the movies may not be a faithful adaptation, at least stuff actually happens in them. Tolkien could write five chapters about a nondescript person walking three feet through a white void room. Purple Prose doesn't even begin to cover how verbose the books are.

[BOETHIABADMAN]

ARG! This thread just reminds me how much i want to read the LOTR trilogy -_- I keep starting but i keep getting distracted. Well once coursework is out of the way, i'll be off to join Frodo on his Merry journey...Do you see what i did there? Huh? No?...Bl

[ReeceH]

ARG! This thread just reminds me how much i want to read the LOTR trilogy -_- I keep starting but i keep getting distracted. Well once coursework is out of the way, i'll be off to join Frodo on his Merry journey...Do you see what i did there? Huh? No?...Bl

I think it's definatly one of those books people should get around to reading at one point if they can, though it's not a book for everyone. As videogmer314 says, Tolkien has a habit of drawing things out (which I actually enjoy, but that's a personal preference to his almost 'lyrical' writing style), but they are an epic series non the less.
I have just actually started re-reading them (up to the Barrows), got my big hard copy version in the mail for the weekend

[BOETHIABADMAN]

ARG! This thread just reminds me how much i want to read the LOTR trilogy -_- I keep starting but i keep getting distracted. Well once coursework is out of the way, i'll be off to join Frodo on his Merry journey...Do you see what i did there? Huh? No?...Bl

I think it's definatly one of those books people should get around to reading at one point if they can, though it's not a book for everyone. As videogmer314 says, Tolkien has a habit of drawing things out (which I actually enjoy, but that's a personal preference to his almost 'lyrical' writing style), but they are an epic series non the less.
I have just actually started re-reading them (up to the Barrows), got my big hard copy version in the mail for the weekend

I got to the prancing pony and had to postpone due to exams will most defiantly get back to it soon!

[Belgarion98]

ARG! This thread just reminds me how much i want to read the LOTR trilogy -_- I keep starting but i keep getting distracted. Well once coursework is out of the way, i'll be off to join Frodo on his Merry journey...Do you see what i did there? Huh? No?...Bl

I see what you did there.

[POMC S117]

The Hobbit's coming out! A few oldies are back!

[Dean]

Never actually read the books, but the movies where a masterpiece and you have to thank Tolkien for giving such a great plot for them. I wouldn't however say he gave us 'TES' or anything like that, mainly because nearly everything Tolkien did was based off of myths and legends from thousands of years ago... although he did have his own way of adapting said things which is pretty impressive.

[RL_Nice]

Never actually read the books, but the movies where a masterpiece and you have to thank Tolkien for giving such a great plot for them. I wouldn't however say he gave us 'TES' or anything like that, mainly because nearly everything Tolkien did was based off of myths and legends from thousands of years ago... although he did have his own way of adapting said things which is pretty impressive.

Well, he did popularize the notion of using them in a constructed world. Plus orcs. Orcs are a purely Tolkien creation.

Anyways, I never thought I'd stumble on a thread like this while I'm reading The Return of the King. I've put off reading the books for the longest time, for precisely the reasons that videogmer314 mentioned. But now that I'm actually reading them, they're not so bad. The books may be slow paced, but Tolkien really does have a way with words. Of course, as someone who grew up with Peter Jackson's adaptations, I'm no doubt going to prefer the cinematic interpretation of his work over the original. And I will defend the film adaptations. Yes, Jackson made a lot of changes, but I wouldn't call them unnecessary changes, since what works in print doesn't always work on celluloid, and Jackson knew that very well.

Still not too sure about The Hobbit getting split into two films, though.

[Archea47]

I love Tolkien and all his writing - especially his non-middle earth(ME) stuff. I first came to Arda by age 10 with The Hobbit, and LOTR was my favorite book for many years. It took a couple tries to get past Ainulindale, but I soon came to realize just how magical of a story teller Tolkien is through The Silmarillion. A lot of people are deterred from The Sil because of the Ainulindale (which is the first part of the book) but after getting a better grasp of Ea through The Silmarillion and BOLT&HoME (Book of Lost Tales and the History of Middle Earth Series - additional Tolkien writings on ME published, as with The Sil, posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien) it's now one of my favorite passages.

I didn't like the movies, and I still can't help but get upset with Peter Jackson when watching them (which I've seldom done). I don't mind so much the sauron-is-a-lighthouse thing (In The Letters of JRRTolkien you can read a letter by Tolkien that says Sauron had a physical body at the time of LOTR - the floating red eye of the movies isn't Tolkein) or the balrog having wings (a metaphor), it's the blatant hollywood-washing of the characters and inexplicable changes in some of their interactions (or who does what) to make a better love story or ... like I said, the movies upset me. The moments I've felt are the most important to LOTR are for the most part omitted or washed of their meaning in the movies

Outside of ME, I *really* enjoy The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun - a retelling of tales from The Elder Edda by Tolkien in english but with the Eddaic verse. It's an awesome feat (and a beautiful lost form of poetry), and the writings by Tolien and his son between verses on the language, Northern poetry and mythology are perhaps even more valuable than The Legend itself. I suggest Tolkien fans looking for something new that aren't interested in archaic language to rather look to Tales from the Perilous Realm, which has some wonderful (and sometimes meaningful) non-ME short stories by Tolkien.