Lord of the Rings

Rainbow · Post by **Rainbow** » Fri Apr 23, 2004 9:33 pm

What are your opinions on the books and the movies? I'm just curious.

As for me...there's kind of a little story behind it (this was fairly recent, I was about 17 or so then). First of all, my dad first suggested that since I like making up characters and have my own country I made up, that I might like Tolkien's stories. So I first tried the Hobbit, and got about half-way through it, then I lost my bookmark. Then the first movie of LotR came out, and we went to see that, but I got too scared of the fighting in the beginning, and left the theater. Then I found the book series at a book store, and got that, and I like the book series. So I'm pretty weird for my generation in that I've read the books but barely seen the movie.

One thing I REALLY like about the story is how even though Elves and Dwarfs are supposed to be enemies, Legolas and Gimli end up being friends. I wonder if, since those books were written in wartime (WWII), Tolkien meant to give a message of peace with that? Speaking of Elves, sometimes I get confused imagining what they look like, since in the books they're supposed to be tall, but I've always thought of elves as being short!

Post by **Tiff** » Fri Apr 23, 2004 9:51 pm

I couldn't get into it. At all.

Sailorasteroid · Post by **Sailorasteroid** » Fri Apr 23, 2004 11:18 pm

I enjoy reading LOTR and its self-contained universe, but I can't hope of obtaining the level of expertise as the serious geeks, so I save all my effort for things like Sailormoon.

I will however say this: the trilogy has one of the best endings written. Here's a brief list of what happens after the big climax:[spoiler]Frodo and Sam escape the mountain.
The Eagles come and clean up the last battle, then airlift out the Hobbits.
The Hobbits spend time recovering in Gondor.
Aragorn's coronation is held, with well-described pomp and circumstance.
Not one, but two royal marriages are arranged.
They find the seed of the White Tree.
The Fellowship takes a meandering route home, saying hi to some of the people they met along the quest.
THe Hobbits return to the Shire to find it taken over, but they, being big worldly warriors, dispense with the ruffians easily.
They spend the summer rebuilding the Shire. Marriages happen. Babies are born. Memoirs are written.
Frodo et al decide to retire over the sea. Sam may eventually join them.[/spoiler]

That's a heck of a long way to say "They Lived Happily Ever After." Not enough? Skip ahead to appendix B where you can find some of the drier details like who served in what jobs postwar and the names of the children of the characters.

The point being that the end of any great book or movie or tv show or anything leaves you wanting more. On the one hand you want the characters to settle all events, on the other hand you want more events. Tolkein solves this dillemma as best as anyone has by allowing the history to peter out instead of just ceasing.

Artemis · Post by **Artemis** » Sun Apr 25, 2004 4:11 pm

Heh, I'm a huge fan of LOTR. I read the first book before I saw the movie, and I loved them both. Seriously, you should see what it's like at my school. It's a freakin phenomenon. They're all obsessed with it.
I totally agree with you sailorasteroid, the series has one of the best endings I've ever read. It's much more interesting than just saying "the end".

Em · Post by Em » Sun Apr 25, 2004 6:24 pm

The moives were good very good clerly done and done well. I however find the books better I find the story flows much better and you get more deatil and less side stories then you got in the moive.

I know some stuff was cut out for time but some of the stuff that was cut out made me disspaotned ( the ending of the last moive ) I felt it was rushed oh look it's gone have to wrap up now the end.

Lady of the Light · Post by **Lady of the Light** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 2:17 pm

I love Lord of the Rings. But even I do admit that the books can seem really boring, and I confess, I fell asleep reading the first bit of Return of the King. But what Tolkien created in his books is immense; an entire earth, complete with different countries and races, he created his own languages for god's sakes!
While I do find some of the parts boring, I look behind that, and the real part that I adore is the relationships between characters. While they were set behind partly in the books, I applaud the fact that they were fleshed out a bit in the movies. You have Eowyn and Faramir, Arwen and Aragorn, Sam and Rosie...The romantic undertones give a little bit of light to what would otherwise be a very, very dark and depressing series.
I think Peter Jackson did a great job on the movies, btw. He took a massive book, and did the best he could do. Most of the details, and all the little things that made the books so enjoyable are there. Even though I did yell at him once during the theaters, calling him a nasty fat hobbit, I still love the job he did one the movies to bits. ^_^