Lord of the Rings

Can I just say:

I am a mere chapter or so away from finishing Two Towers

It has been notable for me to see how rich the character of Faramir is, how much depth he was given in the book vs the short shrift he gets in the movie

Also I love the scene in the book where Faramir warns Frodo that the path they’re taking into the mountains is bad & dangerous & that Gollum seems to him to be capable of murder: and Frodo’s heartbreaking response, like “wtf am I supposed to do, go back? turn around? I have to follow him.”

The whole trek to Shelob’s lair is SO tense & scary, largely because of that shadow cast by Faromir & the knowledge that Frodo knows theyre likely being led into danger & goes anyway :(

Is this your first read or just fresh?

Faramir is a great character for his fairly small role

Book Four might be my favourite. All of those wild landscapes, deep in enemy-occupied territory. A basic overarching problem to solve (how to get into Mordor), as backdrop to the complexity introduced by Gollum. It's so good.

Seconding those landscapes, and what a flow -- the hard edges of the Emyn Muil, the rotten growth of the Dead Marshes, the blasted landscape before the Black Gate, the ruined beauty of Ithilien, the slow transition into the desolation of Morgul Vale and all that entails. All of it described just so.

My entry into the Tolkien Fandom oral histories at Marquette recently went live:

https://cdm16280.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16280coll11/id/509/rec/1

And I was reminded about how my focus was indeed those landscapes and the grounding. I need to make that the focus of a future episode.

xpost i had only read hobbit many times & fellowship once like 10 years ago, i dont think i havs ever made it through the whole trilogy

Oh wow

Thread is now hallowed ground so

lol

My childhood copies were the 1977 Ballantines with Tolkien’s art on the covers. I’m overdue for a reread and it seems critically important for me to get that edition now. Then again, I’ve never read the 50th anniversary cleanup text and I probably should.

the cleanup text is where they cut bombadil entirely

Looking fwd to my 50th anniversary cleanup text, ive taken the liberty of preparing extensive notes of suggested excisions, ive mentioned the main one a few times on other threads iirc

cleanup ilx: no mark s

If you removed all the nomarks......

Excited for VG. Let us know how it's going.

Why deems this is EXACTLY what you want to do, right now, at this historical moment in the world, I know.

For the first time in IMAX, experience the magic of Middle-Earth. The Lord of the Rings trilogy is making its debut on the BIG screen. Remastered by Peter Jackson in stunning 4K, experience the epic in IMAX theatres Feb 5. Reserve your seat: https://t.co/LBzdw8tML0 pic.twitter.com/Q9wexUkRAx

— IMAX (@IMAX) February 3, 2021

https://t.co/UaxLXY3Uq3 pic.twitter.com/x1X3XZU0XL

— karen han (@karenyhan) February 3, 2021

lol the replies on that are great too

me reuniting with my homies who died watching lotr pic.twitter.com/0Yqqnt7g3R

— tc (@chillmage) February 3, 2021

I'm not clear about the "first time in IMAX" claim. What was I watching the first time around when I saw the trilogy at an IMAX?

it is a mystery

It's the remastering in 4K being referred to (the Hobbit films were filmed directly in 4K, by comparison).

Wasnt godwin a minor elf

No wtf, darwin its the darwin award

Can we go back

I’ve been finding this map very helpful in locating myself in the books: http://lotrproject.com/map

whoa that is cool af

also I finished Two Towers :D
On to Return of the King, and finally joining the Appendices (Nerd) Club™️

Welcome welcome

I was just playing around with that map site earlier today.

The Emyn Muil always really intrigued me. I think that's where I'd set up my hermit hut.

"R. Baranduin (Brandywine)"

^^ encapsulates so much about Tolkien's sensibilities

Gimli waxing poetic for a page and a half about the beauty of the caverns at Hem’s Deep. *chef’s kiss*

Theoden is the Puddleglum of LOTR. On the heels of victory at Helm’s Deep and on finding that his losses on the plain of battle were fewer than he had imagined AND that Edoras was defended, he still has time to mope “Well, I probably won’t get to enjoy it long. Prolly gonna die soon.”

lmao true

meanwhile this is so stupid i love it

MY FRIEND JUST SEND ME THIS WTF HAHAHA pic.twitter.com/GoamRyL2tV

— Kayjii (@kayjii) February 2, 2021

Very stupid, but I am loling.

upper-level arda map-nerd lore

1: https://i.imgur.com/LqFv5.jpg

2: https://www.theonering.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/first_age_of_arda.gif

lol sorry the first jpg is made of pure neutronium apparently

that top map certainly looks a lot like europe, asia, and the middle east

Bottom map not v like africa/gulf

?

Never got too far into maplore, wary of finding out that it was all v literal to real world ppl/places which imo starts to spoil things

yeah in the bottom map, middle earth etc. don't look as much like eurasia, but harad and co. look a lot like africa and the middle east

First map was the Iron Crown role-playing map, second is the god Fonstad working off Tolkien’s sketch.

Im feeling free to disregard irl geography anyways numenoreans are the irish this is canon

big if true (and mostly looking bad for the irish) (deems is aragorn, he's fine)

wasn't tolk imagining arda as our own earth in its infancy? (an early title for the silmarillion was LOL FVCK GONDWANALAND)

Faramir tbh and youd need to know my older brother to see it

<3

A typo on the map site had me confused, where the mountains to the north of Mirkwood were written Ered Mithrim rather than Mithrin, so I briefly thought they were the same as the Mithrim in old Beleriand. But no, it's like I remember, the mountains to the east of everything in the Silmarillion are the mountains to the west of everything in The Hobbit / LOTR, like tearing off a fresh sheet of baking paper.

The working-class self-interest of the Orcs, chattering about rumours of what the powers are doing, resenting the Nazgul for being “His favourites these days”, yearning to be free of the yoke & just find a nice spot where there’s plenty of loot nearby.

^ I’m guessing you’ve read The Last Ringbearer?

Never heard of it til now, thanks!

I’ve often wondered what “the other side of the story” is in LOTR (in life, the bad guys don’t see themselves as bad guys), but my imagination is limited & I need stories fed to me before I can see the possibilities.

But I like how Tolkien feeds us enough of a glimpse into the inner life of Orcs, despite being clearly unsympathetic to them, to get a little wedge in.

Orcs are brought into this world as cockney poor and leave it killed by pure blood royalists