Any Lord of the Rings fans?

I read The Children of Hurin but haven't read the newer ones (except as they are in the Silmarillion). I don't even remember how it differed from the one in the Sil, except maybe it had some more details that made me want to slit my wrists earlier on. Seriously, I can't handle reading this story one more time! Too sad.

 

Yes on Children of Hurin and Beren & Luthien.....have not read Fall of Gondolin.

Beren and Luthien would be a great story for a trilogy....

 

I did not read Beren & Luthien, but the other two. But that ws ages ago... just started to pass on the torch to my son three days ago, he just turned six and now it's 'The Hobbit" for the bedtime story reading.

 

I've never read the LotR books (though I've been meaning to for many years and got them for free though some Kindle promotion) but I have seen the films and I read The Hobbit years ago but I've never seen the movies. Although I did see that animated thing as a kid. So I've gotten most of the story and enjoyed it, even though I'm not ordinarily into sword and sorcery stuff, but obviously I'm not a super-fan. I actually rented the first Hobbit movie when it was a new release (when I still received physical discs from Netflix which feels like it was back in covered wagon times) but it was scratched and crapped the bed about 15 minutes in. After that it just sort of slipped my mind until the next movie came out and then I just decided to wait for the trilogy to be complete so I could binge them... then it slipped my mind again. I know a guy who owns them and I think I'll ask to borrow them this weekend.

 

Read the books

 

one thing i would really like to have with tolkien, that we get loads of with star wars, is all the side-novels by other authors. imagine how many stories they could tell in an expanded universe... we could follow all the characters, have stories that delve into the history of all the different races, even little stories about the towns like Hobbiton and Bree.
Tolkien wrote an outline for pretty much the entire history of Middle Earth, so there's already a framework there they could drop all the stories into.
i know the estate is totally against it, but maybe one day they might loosen the rules a little bit and flood us with new novels.

 

Did anyone else see the Tolkien biopic yet? If so...any thoughts on it?

 

Just now seeing this thread but I LOVE LoTR!!! Tolkien is a master writer and story teller and I've read many but not all of his books. It was amazing to see the Peter Jackson movies at the cinema. I still think the LoTR soundtracks are some of the best movie music produced.

 

Saw the Tolkien biopic. Thought it was ok. Not sure y it's flopping. I was wondering if it had the backing of the Tolkien Estate?

 

@Darth Basin The Greatest Thanks I am huge JRRT fan. I've read all his books, especially love "The Letters of JRRT". Interested too if the estate was involved in this movie....how far into his life does it go?

 

Tolkien's family/estate "distanced" itself from the movie. It follows his life from when he moved to Sarehole to when he began to write The Hobbit and tell stories to his children, focusing mostly on his school days, his courtship of Edith, and the Great War.

I thought the movie was beautifully shot and was based more on emotional beats rather than "factual" ones. (I loved the allusion to Beren coming upon Luthien dancing in the forest.) The problem is, the emotional beats don't necessarily resonate with those Tolkien himself would have chosen. At least, at the end of the movie, I felt like I hadn't seen Tolkien but someone else's view of who Tolkien probably was or ought to have been, from a distance.

I guess I think the movie had some touching moments, but it was missing its soul. The soul being that there was literally no mention of Tolkien's personal faith. Sure, there was the "Church" in the form of his guardian, but we had no idea what Tolkien thought about God, how his own faith impacted his life, his choices, his writing. And even a casual reader can find Catholic symbolism or simply a worldview brimming with thoughtful faith in almost anything Tolkien has ever written. I don't understand why any earnest biographer would attempt to portray Tolkien's life while leaving out one of the most essential elements.

 

Thanks @Choose Light that makes me sad.....the ONE book the makers of that movie needed to read was "The Letters of JRRT" - gives a TON of insight into Tolkien, his mannerisms, world view, his family, job, etc etc etc.

 

Nope, they distanced themselves from it, maybe hoping that other parts of the family history will not get to much attention.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2...vows-forthcoming-film-starring-nicholas-hoult

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/apr/28/jrr-tolkiens-son-claims-sexually-abuse-fathers-friend

 

@Choose Light so I understand you are a Faramir fan? He was always one of my favorite characters in the books, so noble and uncorruptable. Kind of like the mirror image of his brother, but still as fierce a warrior.

Not a fan of how Peter Jackson treated him in the movie....just chalk it up to Jackson's much more pessimistic view of many of the heros such as Faramir or Aragorn.

If I get started on movie-book discussions it could go on for awhile, I used to be a member at the TheOneRing net forums and spent hours debating after the movies came out...

 

Great we have that in our library. I should pick it up.

--- Double Post Merged, Sep 24, 2019, Original Post Date: Sep 24, 2019 ---

Faramir is a great character in the book. He is a bit rushed in the movie. Nonetheless I like the movies too.

 

Yes, the blood of the Numenoreans flows true in Faramir.

I was mad about Faramir's treatment in the movies for quite a while, but once I got done asking how dare they? I finally started asking why did they? I guess in terms of visual drama, they were trying to 1. create more conflict for Frodo 2. drive home the evilness of the Ring and 3. demonstrate the near-irresistible power of the Ring. I think Faramir probably was tempted by the Ring for similar reasons as he was in the movie ("here in the wild I have you, two halflings and a host of men at my call, and the ring of power within my grasp"), except that it actually lasted about five seconds. It turned out okay in the end for the movie, I guess, although I'm still burned about how his men treated Gollum.

There are things I'm still baffled about in the movies, like why Aragorn was supposedly so reluctant to make his claim (other than, you know, possibly dying a hideous death) or why in the world Arwen's fate was tied up in the Ring. Still don't get that one at all. On the other hand, "I am no man!" really beats the original for a one-liner.

But since I really had never had much hope of ever seeing the whole thing in movie form (still trying to recover from Bakshi's Boromir in a miniskirt and the balrog wearing a gorilla suit), it seemed like a miracle to get something that did stick as close as it did to the books. Overall I really enjoy the movies and I love all the love and care put into the settings, props, and costumes.

Needed more of this though.

 

The answer to all these questions are: "Because film is a very different media from novels, and making these character changes made for a more dramatic story on the screen. Drama, tension, and conflic needs to be on the surface for a visual media, like film."

 

I’m wondering what Amazon's LotR series is going to look like.

 

@Angelman my friend, I have heard that many many times before in other forums, and have to respectfully disagree.

It would seem that Peter Jackson made arbitrary changes, major changes, to key characterizations and plot lines laid out by Tolkien. Random things almost. Aragorn beheading the Mouth of Sauron.....Faramir's major changes to his noble qualities.....Gothmog, a character that gets ONE LINE by Tolkien in the books, gets minutes of screentime while Imrahil , who got solid coverage by Tolkien, not in the movie at all......turning the ghosts from the paths of the dead into an almighty "super army" at the Pelennor.....

Probably my biggest gripe is the fact that Tolkien's favorite scene in all of the books, as told by HIMSELF in "The Letters of Tolkien" is not covered accurately by Jackson.....this would be the showdown between Gandalf and LOTN at the Great Gate of Minas Tirith. The original version of the movie did not even have this scene, the extended version at least gives a somewhat accurate version....

......oh did I mention Anduril and PJ's complete mishandling of that situation (Aragorn gets Anduril 2 movies late...)

 

The ugly thing is that the movies and the book mix up in my head sometimes and I can't remember if something is in the book , movie or both.
I think I have to read the book again...