LoTR nerdfight redux

[Roentgen]

I want more "Spider-sense will negate the advantage of Predator's cloaking device!" nitty-gritty and less parsing of Tolkien's napkin notes, dammit!

According to extensive notes released by Christopher Tolkien, both Gandalf and Saruman have power levels over 9000.

[Teleku]

This thread has inspired me to re-read the Silmarillion.  It's seriously one of my most favorite books EVER.  Maybe I can even hop back into the fray later to pick apart arguments with exact quotes and appendix entries!

[Sheepherder]

This thread has inspired me to re-read the Silmarillion.  It's seriously one of my most favorite books EVER.  Maybe I can even hop back into the fray later to pick apart arguments with exact quotes and appendix entries!

I read like three pages, then it started rambling about dancing.  I might have to try again, but Unfinished Tales presumed all the preceding bullshit was immaterial, and the Lord of the Rings was condensed to the point where it feels really brief, for epic fantasy.

[Teleku]

I read like three pages, then it started rambling about dancing.

Singing actually.   

While I know the book definitely isn't for everybody, I just loved the entire epic scope of it (I don't think I've ever read anything more epic) and all the imagery (there are some pretty amazing scenes in it).  But then I'm also a whore for in depth world building, and he lays out quite a bit about all the different kinds of elves, humans, languages, kingdoms, ect.

The first part of the book is the hardest because it throws you into a bunch of esoteric world creation stuff and not much action.  But if you get past that it picks up the pace pretty fast.  The book is also much better on a second read through I found, because right from the get go it starts referencing people and places that are introduced later in the book, and it just seems like a shit ton of made up words you have no clue about.  But when you go back and reread, those parts then really help clarify things more.

[Sheepherder]

See, I can normally read anything, but not that, it was the first book I have not read start to finish.  I used to read ahead of the class when assigned Shakespeare stuff, for fuck's sake, but that I could not finish.  I don't know why.

[Sir T]

I reread the Silmarillion about 3 years ago and the only part I really enjoyed was the Part about Beren and Luthulien. Its pretty much the most intamate actiony part of the early book. Plus it has Sauron getting beaten up by a woman.  

[NowhereMan]

I read it ages ago now (almost 10 years I'm still really young honest!) and feel lik digging it out from a cupboard or buying a new copy but I remember being struck by the changing style. The first part really is along the lines of Genesis and it continues in a biblical/epic poetry style. By the end it's moved closer to the traditional narrative of the LoTR. Frankly trying to pay attention to and follow every name in the book is a good way of driving yourself mad. Unless you really want to follow it just gloss over those parts and google if you get really lost.

[Ratman_tf]

I liked it for the background of Numenor (and Elrond and Aragorn's ancestry) and the world building stuff. I feel it's worth slogging through once to get a glimpse of all the work Tolkien put into Middle Earth.

[Samwise]

It's also pretty cool to understand the significance of lines that pop up in LotR like "the last child of Ungoliant to trouble the unhappy world".

[Sheepherder]

It's also pretty cool to understand the significance of lines that pop up in LotR like "the last child of Ungoliant to trouble the unhappy world".

Sam defeated Shelob.  Ergo Sam > Morgoth > Sauron.

[Teleku]

It's also pretty cool to understand the significance of lines that pop up in LotR like "the last child of Ungoliant to trouble the unhappy world".

Sam defeated Shelob.  Ergo Sam > Morgoth > Sauron.

While I know that comment was just meant for lol factor, Morgoth/Sauron could have just stepped on Shelob.  She was no where at all in the same league as Ungoliant.  Shelob is just a giant spider, while Ungoliant was a demi-god who manifested as a humongous spider that could devour light itself 

[gryeyes]

Wikipedia is a poor choice of weapon to bring to a nerd fight.

[Sheepherder]

Tolkien hints pretty heavily through the entire confrontation that Shelob is, in fact, not just a big spider.

[gryeyes]

Terse in the manner of Hemingway?

[Sheepherder]

I'm actually reading through it again, it's really fucking weird not having paragraphs dedicated to the way Gimli adjusts his dress.  Or, you know, shit like what he looks like aside from being a dwarf.

[gryeyes]

Gimli definitely gets the shitty end of the stick in the movie. He is comic relief and nothing else, fucking legolas stealing all his screen time.

[Ironwood]

Legolas is merely comic relief of a different type.