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This might be of interest to the thread: http://historytoday.com/lynn-forest-hill/inspiration-tolkiens-ring As a side note, I've been seeing a lot of "Middle-Earth is post-apocalyptic" type stuff recently. Wonder where that idea cropped up from, since it's pretty obvious that it really isn't intended to be one.
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Jan 8, 2015 23:48
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Baloogan posted:They would have access to coal. Or would they? Are there large concentrations of fossil fuels in ME like there are on Earth? It's mentioned in The Hobbit that Thorin's krew had been reduced to mining coal at times after Smaug threw them out of Erebor.
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Jan 22, 2015 19:55
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Annual Prophet posted:For someone who really liked the Silmarillion (and has read LOTR and The Hobbit), what else would it make sense to read in the same setting? Just Unfinished Tales? I thought about The History of Middle Earth, but it seemed like that might be (serious) overkill. The History of Middle Earth, at least the Lord of the Rings parts, is a pretty good read overall. I really like the oddball ideas Tolkien started out with.
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Jun 19, 2016 09:24
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Having re-watched the LotR movies and the Hobbits, the flaws (poor scriptwriting, lack of direction) show up in the LotR movies but the cast elevates the hell out of the material. Even Liv Tyler who does the best she can with the awful stuff she's given. Theoden's written completely incoherently, but Bernard Hill salvages and elevates the lovely and ill-timed lines he gets.
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Feb 7, 2017 09:13
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sassassin posted:Theoden is a sad, grieving old man who is under the influence of at least one wizard's spell for most of his screentime. Talking incoherently is a feature, not a bug. It's that his actions make no sense, like the whole "I will not risk open war." The writers changed around the things that lead to Helm's Deep without any point to the changes whatsoever.
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Feb 11, 2017 09:26
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I was under the impression that Tolkien never seriously considered publishing the Silmarillion in any form. It was something he tinkered with for his own reasons.
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Jul 3, 2018 16:07
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Elendil and his Bronn-esque bodyguard who's only 7'1" and is called "Tiny"
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Mar 13, 2019 05:06
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Imagined posted:The books do describe it as "a lidless eye, robed in flame", the orcs carry the token of the lidless eye, the vision on the seat of seeing, etc. It's not much of a leap from there to "is just a big fiery eye" Gonna do a ww2 movie now where Hitler is swastika-shaped.
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Sep 8, 2020 06:18
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I like Galadriel driving away Sauron, but the whole direction of the scene is weird, like she seems worried about the Ringwraiths and keeps fainting all over the place.
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Sep 11, 2020 20:25
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Tolkien's got issues but one thing that keeps vaguely annoying me is that everyone uses that "the orcs are huns or mongols" quote from his letters like extremely deeply out of context.
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Oct 5, 2020 19:28
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Tree Bucket posted:Hmm. I never thought of it that way. Makes sense. Gollum refers to how Sauron only has four fingers on his Black Hand. So yeah, Isildur chopped off Sauron's finger.
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Dec 5, 2020 07:25
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In case someone wants to talk about Tolkien rpg's, I made a zero effort thread about it in TG: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3958991
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Feb 14, 2021 18:16
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re: Numenorean superiority and so on, I have a recollection Tolkien's own reply to that was more or less "the book is fiction, bro, Numenoreans aren't real."
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Mar 31, 2022 10:17
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I hope the Rings of Power features Sacha Baron Cohen as an Ent so he can do the Borat voice to say "My Entwife."
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Dec 3, 2022 10:47
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Galadriel going horrorshow mode is still one of my favorite scenes from the Hobbit movies because I have no taste whatsoever. On the other hand that's from the third movie, of which my most vivid image is the woman next to me in the cinema asking me how long this is gonna take after half an hour. Next time i glanced over, she had curled up into a fetal position in her seat and was snoring.
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Dec 20, 2022 08:25
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One interpretation that I did like was by someone lecturing about Tolkien on youtube (either Ted Sherman or a southern theology guy), that "Aragorn has the right to the throne because he's got the right blood and the right line" is to read it wrong. The remnants of Arthedain decided to not rebuild their kingdom after Arvedui, instead they became the Rangers and focused on protecting their people and to keep going a hope for a better future. Aragorn comes from this heritage, where doing the right thing is more important than having a crown. He deserves to be king, because he is kingly, wise and kind, not because he has the right to the crown through being the heir of Elendil. Tolkien's world is full of people with Numenorian blood who make the world worse, and blood alone won't make you a better person, even if you might live longer and be taller.
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Feb 12, 2023 18:50
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I think the major factor is Tolkien's own weird brand of politics: he could be described even as an anarcho-monarchist (his idealized societies basically run themselves, after all). I think it's not an accident Gondor's and Arnor's history are full of unfit rulers who had good claims on the crown: while Tolkien was a monarchist, he also had high standards for rulers. Someone might say unreasonably so. Tolkien did also comment somewhere in his letters that he is very aware of the Numenorian bloodline thing not being a real thing and poo poo like it doesn't exist in real life. There's also Eomer, a guy who wasn't ever supposed to be a king, never really aspired to be one, but ended up as one because all other claimants were dead, and Eowyn was a woman. And Eomer turns out to be a pretty standup guy over the course of the story, and is fit for the kingship.
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Feb 12, 2023 21:39
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Personally I do enjoy that the reason why Gondor doesn't have a king, is that their last one was a gigantic bro moron.
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Feb 15, 2023 07:21
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zone posted:At least he had the good sense to leave the actual crown of Gondor in Rath Dinen before he went off on his dumb stunt. I do want to point out that Glorfindel, of all people, told Eärnur "it ain't worth it bro" the first time around and this was the second time the Witch King issued a challenge. Should have paid attention to the guy who threw down with a Balrog telling you that you shouldn't go about throwing hands with that guy.
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Feb 27, 2023 14:20
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I never got people who were really into the Bakshi thing because I remember seeing the Fellowship movie as a kid who was really into Tolkien and I thought it was some hot garbage.
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May 13, 2023 17:57
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We also don't know for sure what dragons are, considering Morgoth couldn't actually create life, so he must have made dragons out of something, but what. (One theory is that they're corrupted forms of Great Eagles)
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May 16, 2024 07:26
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Diamonds On MY Fish posted:Weren't the original ones wingless, and adding wings was like Dragon 2.0? Yes, but there's apparently some indication in Tolkien's unpublished notes/letters that this would be the case. Maybe Morgoth was just poo poo at making a MVP version of dragons.
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May 16, 2024 08:56
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