Lord of the Rings

This is a very cool coinky-dink, and no mistake. I follow a Youtube channel called Apostolic Majesty, he is mostly into history and religious ideas. However, today has been, on his channel, wait for it.........Tolkien day!:lol: Loads of content devoted purely to Tolkien. Synchronicities such synchronicities as these are so good, it was a complete surprise when I went on YT and found these this evening.


Above is a short vid showing the schedule.

I'm about to begin watching some of this content now, can't sleep well of late so I keep myself occupied.

 
When people ask what my favorite movie is, there is no hesitation. It's Lord of the Rings. I'm not bothering to separate the movies as they play out beautifully together as one (although I probably enjoy Two Towers the best if I had to choose). Indeed the extended editions somehow improve the movies, even the vast majority of deleted scenes from the original are actually good scenes. Jackson probably just had to cut them for time. Watching these movies has lifted my spirits many a time. Much like the romantic literature, LOTR has a depth and understanding of people which leads to the creation of such good characters that mean something to us, that touch our souls. That is, to me at least, one of the great signs of meaningful art in our modern world.
 
My mum read The Hobbit to my sister and I when we were little, and we loved it.. I re-read it many times.. One of my favourite things about it was how it was like Tolkien was personally telling the story to you, with little asides and a conversational tone. Later I read LotR a few times too. Magic. It's been too long! Haven't read it in about 20 years. I should revisit... Oh and, I tried reading The Silmarillion as a kid but it was too much for me :) My sister and I learnt to write in Tolkien's version of runic so we could write secret messages... (We also had Tolkien's Letters From Father Christmas, a collection of letters he had written for his children each Christmas - it's just lovely.. I'll never forget the misadventures of the north polar bear, all written out in Tolkien's spidery handwriting, illustrated with his otherworldly drawing style..)

As for the movies, I should try watching them again. I haven't seen them since they came out... I liked the first one but not the next two. (Haven't seen The Hobbit ones).. But I was probably just all grumpy in my early-20s and, as a lover of the books, determined not to like the now-popular films :) I thought they felt...not otherworldly enough.. they didn't feel like how the books felt in my mind. Sorry to be a downer! I think I'll watch them again and see... (Also I had seen Ralph Bakshi's animated Lord of the Rings film, and liked it ok though it was unfinished and very slow and weird, and didn't really work... it did capture the vibe a bit more though I thought...)

My grandpa was a big fan of Tolkien (he's from England, used to tell me how as a young man he once got to meet Tolkien and C.S.Lewis!)... He used to smoke a pipe when I was little.. I always associated him with Tolkien..

Also, Gandalf, Wheel of Time eh! I've been meaning to read that for years but never have... Maybe this year...
 
I, too, have read all of the books, including 'Silmarillion'. And I love the movies, too. They did have to cut out quite a few parts of the book due to time. Jackson said that the most important thing, for those making the movies, was to follow Frodo getting to Mt. Doom. That's how they could decide what to cut and what to leave in. If the line of the story of Frodo getting the Ring to Mt. Doom, then it could be cut.

I was so very glad to see the scenes that were put back into the Extended versions. I think that they were really important, and so, too, did Jackson.

I found that the adendums that were included in the extended editions were so very interesting. I learned of the history of Tolkien and his writing of these books. Along with learning more about the actors and about how, and where, the movies were shot. These adeneums were almost as good as the movies were. And I do watch them almost every year.

Gandalf said:
But, right now I am reading The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan (15 huge books or 29 pocket book) and it is truly amazing.
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So am I! And I agree with you, they are truly amazing. The detail that the author put into these books is extraordinay; and so is the story.
 
Gandalf said:
But, right now I am reading The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan (15 huge books or 29 pocket book) and it is truly amazing.

So if you have really appreciated The Lord of the Rings, give it a try.
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Thanks for your kind suggestion, Gandalf. :cool2:

I went to Wikipedia and then to amazon to have a look around, and decided this is certainly a series of books I should read. So I bought the complete edition for my kindle as that appeared the cheapest option available. I never had any problems with reading from the screen.

Now to find the time for it. That will be the hardest part of this endeavor. ;-)
 
Palinurus said:
I went to Wikipedia and then to amazon to have a look around, and decided this is certainly a series of books I should read. So I bought the complete edition for my kindle as that appeared the cheapest option available. I never had any problems with reading from the screen.

Now to find the time for it. That will be the hardest part of this endeavor
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Hoping that you will enjoy them.

May I see that I became a member of prime video for only 2 months just to see the first 8 episodes of that series and it is far away and a lot far away better in the books. Nothing to compare to the quality of the movies made by Peter Jackson.

As for finding the time to read it, good luck!
 
Thank you for your kind words Gandalf.

I couldn't help myself jumping right in to get a sniff and I've read the first two chapters of the prequel now.

It's even more gripping than I could hope for. Robert Jordan has a way with words that is really compelling. In no time you're with him inside the world he is creating and it's already difficult to stop reading now because of bed time locally. I'm already hooked up.

His style is fairly moderate in pace, with the right balance between description, inner monologue and action, and he knows how to create an almost tangible atmosphere that is really thriving, without needing a blatant overload of explicit emotions. I was immediately reminded of the Dune saga as far as the writing is concerned. That's another favorite of mine.

No wonder then that the TV serialization couldn't match that subtlety. :-)

I'm really glad I followed your clue and thanks again for that too.
 
Loved the lord of the rings trilogy. I can't remember if watched the first film and a work colleague at the time told me the books were a must read. I then bought and read the books in between the film's.

I've watched the film's countless times annoying my wife in the process.

I find the films epic and I'd find it extremely difficult to pick a favourite as I think they are outstanding.

I think off the back of this thread I'll re-read the books. Real characters and true heroes which you can connect with.

Btw just watched the wheel of time on prime which I thoroughly enjoyed.

LOTR is imo right up with the best films ever made. Truly inspiring and I've been moved to tears on many occasions watching the movies.
 
Another huge fan here, started with reading The Hobbit when I was a kid, then LOTR and have re read many times since then. And then when the superb Peter Jackson movies came out, they actually lived up to my hopes and then some! The movie(s) I NEVER get tired of and no matter how many times I've watched it always moves me. In fact, on several occasions in my life when I was feeling low, anxious and weak, I found that watching the films again lifted my spirits when nothing else I tried would work. Glad to see that so many others have the same thoughts, in my family as well, we all know and use LOTR phrases often!
 
The Lord of the Rings will always hold a special place in my heart. The comradery and struggle against seemingly overwhelming odds and somehow making it will always be legendary themes.

This is my favorite scene in the entire series, which is when Sam uplifts Frodo when he's about to give it all up under tremendous pressure. Even a hint of Smeagol's humanity (or rather Hobbitry?) shows through. This is the side of Gollum that Frodo has hoped would pull through.


They recently had an outdoor showing in the Shire where they played the movies on a gigantic screen. There were beanbags scattered around where people could lounge in, with some preferring to sit a little further back on top of one of the wooden railings that outlined the small roads in the Shire. Truly magical, and would have liked to be there!
 
I feel compelled to add my "me-too-I-am-a-big-fan" here. I am almost falling over myself with wanting to agree, nodding wildly, smiling idiotically etc. That's why I often don't add too much. I mean how to stay calm and wear one’s age when there is so much enthusiasm and touchedness and when so much gets stirred? One easily wastes a lot of energy (one’s own as much as other people’s) by wildly “faning”. And what can one say anyway? I guess that is exactly why writers write and singers sing and actors act: to find a “channelled”/deliberate expression of their raw excitement, which otherwise, might easly just remain (annoying) noise. I guess Tolkien himself managed to do exactly that: wrap his vast understanding into form.

I like to call such great works “time travellers”.

They keep moving one generation after another by touching upon the biggies: honour, betrayal, temptation, possessiveness, sharing, loyalty, colaboration, direction, balance, replacing one’s ficklenss with long term faith etc.

Also that extreme pull, the suction of evil and how even the greatest are not safe from its lure and when the great and their immense powers are harnessed by the dark side, the effects are all the more devastating.

In terms of identifying with a character, I would say: since we are called to “feel everything and not collapse” we might want to understand all of the characters as best as possible: their weaknesses as well as their strengths and not overly identify with a personal favourite.

I had the audacity to translate one of the book’s most stirring lines (in my estimation) into Swiss German and the reason I did this was partly because it’s my mother tongue (and hence there is a deeper childhood connection - much as I prefer the English language or “high German” as we call it), and partly because it helps me to tone down the over importance of these lines. One simply cannot speak Swiss German and sound monumental. And that “tone down” helps me personally to not waste myself too much in imaginary grandeur and nobleness, while still retaining the seriousness of this motivator of all motivators:

“A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends, and break all bond of fellowship, but it is not this day.”

(NB: Finduilas495 and John just happen to Christmas-treat us with a copy of the book: “The Art of The Lord of the Rings” with Tolkiens original drawings.)
 

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I was 12 years old when I read LOTR for the first time. It took six months, as I was too young to appreciate the masterfulness of the book. Some years later, I read/devoured it again in four days during a holiday, just pausing when eating and sleeping. Since then, over the years, I have probably read it 8 times (every time you find something new to appreciate). The same goes for Hobbit, which I just recently re-read. I think it's time to pick up the "main course" from the bookshelf!

I really liked the Silmarillion as well, and also other Tolkien's posthumously published books (edited by his son Christopher), for example "The Children of Hurin" and the "The Fall of Gondolin". The former is a more complete book, the latter is a collection of Tolkien's different versions of the story. The beginning of the "final" version is included, but unfortunately Tolkien was unable to finish it; it would have been an amazing book if completed!

Tolkien was planning to write a sequel to The Lord of the Rings, but eventually abandoned the project as it was becoming "too dark".
No doubt it would have been great writing, but if it would have "tarnished" the original, I think he made the right call.


Brandon said:
As for the movies, I should try watching them again. I haven't seen them since they came out... I liked the first one but not the next two. (Haven't seen The Hobbit ones).
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I thought that the first movie was somehow lacking when I saw it at the cinema. I take it didn't match with my imagination "completely" (later on I realised that they have to make certain shortcuts and detours, when adapting a book to a movie).

Pretty soon after seeing the movie, I moved to another country to work there for a couple of years. During the first weeks, I was very homesick. I noticed that FOTR was playing at the local cinema, and went to see it again, I guess to ease the homesickness. I appreciated it much more this time, and when the extended edition was available in late 2002, I bought the DVD. Oh boy: it was almost a different movie, with all the extra scenes and nuances adding depth!

If you are planning to rewatch the movies, I highly recommend going for the extended editions @Brandon!

About the Hobbit movies: the first one was ok, but the second was quite poor, in my opinion (haven't seen the third one).

There are theories about "what went wrong": they unnecessarily stretched the shorter book into three movies, Peter Jackson's heart was not in it (initially Guillermo del Toro was going to direct the films), etc.

Perhaps Jackson used "all he had" when directing the LOTR trilogy: it was a truly challenging ordeal, as they were making 3 movies at the same time, shooting scenes in random order. I don't know how he and the whole production team were able to pull it off, but thank goodness they did!

Touching clip about Elijah Wood's final day on set :cry:

 
Thank you, @ SlipNet for starting this thread. It is such a joy to meet other lovers of LOTR here and discuss Tolkien's and Jackson's masterpieces. :flowers:

My mother told me on more than one occasion that my father read LOTR to my mother when they had just been married and so she continued the tradition and give me the set of books when I was about 12 years old. Being the cultural barbarian that I was I never made it past The Hobbit.

Thank God I had kids and somehow we ended up watching the movies and then I bought the extended movies plus addendums box and watched them many times. I can't really put into words what they mean to me. It's just so beautifully and lovingly made, the actors are absolutely brilliant and the music sometimes simply divine.

I bought the books in English and Dutch afterwards and my youngest son read them all and even carried a ring around his neck for a long time after buying a LOTR game. The English books were illustrated by Alan Lee, who also participated in Peter Jackson's movies.

I posted the following clip in the Afterlife thread, because it was such a beautiful and encouraging way of looking at death and dying. Gandalf talks to Pippin just before battle and explains what death looks like and in doing so supports this young hobbit who only just ventured out into the world.


And the next quote always sustains me when I read or hear it and which is very helpful in these trying times:


Elijah Wood who played Frodo acted like Frodo when he talked about pedophilia in Hollywood, because that was a very courageous thing to do, so perhaps Frodo's bravery rubbed off on him in a certain manner. Also, Elijah Wood's mother made sure that he didn't attend adult parties, so he was protected from all these perverts and their crimes, the way Frodo was protected in the Shire?
 
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