How LOTR Should Have Ended

WyoBadger · Post by **WyoBadger** » Sat May 16, 2009 3:58 pm

I think this possibility has been discussed before, but I just came across this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yqVD0swvWU

Makes a heckuva lot of sense, doesn't it?

T

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Sat May 16, 2009 5:09 pm

That was hilarious...

"Can you imagine...if we had walked the whole way?!? One of us might have died...."

--- o --- O --- o ---

[serious Tolkien mode]
Just one problem...you cannot just throw away, or be made to just throw away a Ring of Power. Frodo would have never been able to release the Ring, unless Gandalf made him, and Gandalf, being Gandalf, couldn't ever do that.
[/serious Tolkien mode]

--James

Post by **Dale** » Sat May 16, 2009 5:59 pm

May I confess, in writing, that the love people have for the LOTR books (& movies) is a mystery to me? I absolutely don't get it.

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Sat May 16, 2009 6:01 pm

Well then...what was the plan? No one knew Gollum would fortuitously show up. I read the book a million years ago in high school, and maybe it addressed the problem, but eventually the not-able-to-let go was going to be a problem regardless of method of transport.

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Sat May 16, 2009 6:11 pm

Dale wrote:May I confess, in writing, that the love people have for the LOTR books (& movies) is a mystery to me? I absolutely don't get it.

You may. Confess.
I think it's a form of deep literary escapism, such as has rarely been created in modern times.
People love Harry Potter too, and imagine themselves in that world, but because it is written at a more elementary reading level the series does not lend itself to the level of seriousness that devotees feel for LOTR.
With LOTR, I think--and I don't mean this condescendingly, I think it's true--that it adds an element of greater desirability that the story is a little dense and plodding at times (to the casual reader, anyway.) If you are such a true follower that you revere not only the main 4 books, but the related esoterica as well--The Silmarillion, in particular--then you are part of a club that, well, won't have me for a member anyway, because I found that particular book about as exciting as reading 25 copies of Numbers and Leviticus. To love them means you've worked harder, delved deeper, gone where not just everyone can go. Thus, you are privy to a certain subset of arcane trivia which almost everyone knows about, but few actually know.

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Sat May 16, 2009 6:41 pm

Dale wrote:May I confess, in writing, that the love people have for the LOTR books (& movies) is a mystery to me? I absolutely don't get it.

Have you read them?

--James

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Sat May 16, 2009 6:50 pm

emmline wrote:Well then...what was the plan? No one knew Gollum would fortuitously show up. I read the book a million years ago in high school, and maybe it addressed the problem, but eventually the not-able-to-let go was going to be a problem regardless of method of transport.

There was no plan, as such. There was a kind of...faith...if I may use the word. A conviction that it's better to try and fail than not to try at all. A statement that illogical hope is still hope. A hope that if you do all you can, maybe it will be enough, even if it doesn't seem possible.

--James

Post by **Dale** » Sat May 16, 2009 7:36 pm

peeplj wrote:
Dale wrote:May I confess, in writing, that the love people have for the LOTR books (& movies) is a mystery to me? I absolutely don't get it.
Have you read them?

--James

I read half of Lord of the Rings. I misplaced the copy I was reading and months later I was saying to myself, hey, I was reading that Lord of the Rings book. I wonder what happened to it? This would have been, I guess, 1978 or 1979. Some years later I read the first few chapters of The Hobbit.

Post by **Dale** » Sat May 16, 2009 7:39 pm

emmline wrote:
Dale wrote:May I confess, in writing, that the love people have for the LOTR books (& movies) is a mystery to me? I absolutely don't get it.
You may. Confess.
I think it's a form of deep literary escapism, such as has rarely been created in modern times.
People love Harry Potter too, and imagine themselves in that world, but because it is written at a more elementary reading level the series does not lend itself to the level of seriousness that devotees feel for LOTR.
With LOTR, I think--and I don't mean this condescendingly, I think it's true--that it adds an element of greater desirability that the story is a little dense and plodding at times (to the casual reader, anyway.) If you are such a true follower that you revere not only the main 4 books, but the related esoterica as well--The Silmarillion, in particular--then you are part of a club that, well, won't have me for a member anyway, because I found that particular book about as exciting as reading 25 copies of Numbers and Leviticus. To love them means you've worked harder, delved deeper, gone where not just everyone can go. Thus, you are privy to a certain subset of arcane trivia which almost everyone knows about, but few actually know.

Thanks.

mamakash · Post by **mamakash** » Sat May 16, 2009 7:40 pm

Dale wrote:May I confess, in writing, that the love people have for the LOTR books (& movies) is a mystery to me? I absolutely don't get it.

You may. I don't care for them, either. Maybe I find them pretentious.

Anyhoo . . . I ran into this yesterday, and while I find it somewhat infantile, I can't help thinking this had to be the funniest thing I've seen.

"How Braveheart should have ended."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcoVxbutl8g

s1m0n · Post by **s1m0n** » Sat May 16, 2009 7:46 pm

peeplj wrote: Just one problem...you cannot just throw away, or be made to just throw away a Ring of Power. Frodo would have never been able to release the Ring, unless Gandalf made him, and Gandalf, being Gandalf, couldn't ever do that.

Sam managed to give it up voluntarily. Bilbo did, too, although he got a bit of a nudge.

cowtime · Post by **cowtime** » Sat May 16, 2009 8:06 pm

A friend of mine,years ago, would beg me to read LOTR. She did this for years. The first time she mentioned the books I asked "what's it about?" She told me." Nah, I don't like fantasy, science fiction or what ever that is." Finally, she wore me down in a bookstore and I bought the Hobbit and LOTR. I loved them all! OF course it gave her the opportunity to say"I told you so".

What really captivated me was the depth of imagination it took to not only write the stories, but also create a language, alphabet,and music for the tunes.

(at one time I was really into the stuff,books about the books, the Hildebrandt?? calendars-I even tried to read the Silmarillion-tried being the main word here)

s1m0n · Post by **s1m0n** » Sat May 16, 2009 8:12 pm

mamakash wrote:
Dale wrote:May I confess, in writing, that the love people have for the LOTR books (& movies) is a mystery to me? I absolutely don't get it.
You may. I don't care for them, either. Maybe I find them pretentious.

No genre is for everyone.

mutepointe · Post by **mutepointe** » Sat May 16, 2009 8:16 pm

I read and enjoyed the books. I saw and enjoyed the movies. I wouldn't go to a LOTR convention but if I had a bazillion dollars, I would order up a hobbit house as a vacation cabin.

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Sat May 16, 2009 8:18 pm

mutepointe wrote:I read and enjoyed the books. I saw and enjoyed the movies. I wouldn't go to a LOTR convention but if I had a bazillion dollars, I would order up a hobbit house as a vacation cabin.

I think this has been linked before, but here you go:
http://www.simondale.net/house/

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