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If you magically got sent back in time with a copy of the Hobbit and the complete Lord of the Rings Trilogy, when is the earliest era where you could tell the story and have it be received as enthusiastically as in the modern era? (Assume you can speak the local language.) Like, if you told a story about a magic ring to cavemen with no understanding of metallurgy or ring making, the concept of the ring would be completely lost on them, so obviously that would be too early. But I don't think you'd need to wait until the invention of the clock (Bilbo has a clock on his mantelpiece) for audiences to follow and understand the plot. So where and when is the earliest time when you could read aloud from LotR and have it be a smash hit?
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Mar 4, 2023 04:07
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| # ? Apr 29, 2024 11:21 |
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it would take x number of go-throughs but the cavemen could figure it out from context, op
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Mar 4, 2023 04:10
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Middle school before 911 I read the Smaug book
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Mar 4, 2023 04:15
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Zippy the Bummer posted:it would take x number of go-throughs but the cavemen could figure it out from context, op Yeah but would it be a hit? Would Boromir's allegiance to Gondor and the tragedy of his conundrum resonate with people who have no concepts of duty beyond one's family? Would the idea of alien creatures that look human but are more beautiful and mysterious be intriguing or fascinating to them? Would they understand what an army is? Or a war? Could they grasp the magnitude of a battle that involved tens of thousands?
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Mar 4, 2023 04:17
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Probably, like, Anglo-Saxon era Britain. The Hobbit is, among other things, an homage to Old English literature.
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Mar 4, 2023 04:18
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I bet the classical Hellenic cultures could probably grasp most of the concepts, but the style of storytelling and the themes are very different than the stories they tell. I feel like a story about the clash of mighty nations that didn't mention the gods even once would probably fall flat for them.
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Mar 4, 2023 04:19
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Applewhite posted:I bet the classical Hellenic cultures could probably grasp most of the concepts, but the style of storytelling and the themes are very different than the stories they tell. I feel like a story about the clash of mighty nations that didn't mention the gods even once would probably fall flat for them. They also might not like how it's mostly prose, rather than verse.
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Mar 4, 2023 04:21
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BeastOfTheEdelwood posted:They also might not like how it's mostly prose, rather than verse. Good point.
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Mar 4, 2023 04:23
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probably not before humans made a second ring like if u went back in time to when humans invented the first ring, but didn't make a second one yet, they wouldn't understand the concept of plural "rings" and be confused. but after they made a second ring, then they would understand the concept 
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Mar 4, 2023 04:24
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5 rings to rule us all
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Mar 4, 2023 04:25
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Samuel L. ACKSYN posted:probably not before humans made a second ring Do you think they had an idea that rings could be magical or would that be too big of a leap?
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Mar 4, 2023 04:25
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Like, the concept of magic goes way way back, obviously, but I'm not so sure the idea of enchanted objects is as old as magic itself.
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Mar 4, 2023 04:26
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Frodo is a wizzard
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Mar 4, 2023 04:28
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Sometime around the early Bronze Age, or like, whenever large agricultural settled civilizations arose. At its core LOTR is a story about heroes and nations -- it's a story about clashes between great kingdoms personified through individual heroic figures. We've had that kind of concept since the story of Enkidu!
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Mar 4, 2023 04:30
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I bet the Edo Period Japanese would find the Ringwraith parts really scary.
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Mar 4, 2023 04:30
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Cavemen were a bunch of rad tough guys who were constantly almost dying, they wouldn't have time for that nerd poo poo
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Mar 4, 2023 04:30
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DrSunshine posted:Sometime around the early Bronze Age, or like, whenever large agricultural settled civilizations arose. At its core LOTR is a story about heroes and nations -- it's a story about clashes between great kingdoms personified through individual heroic figures. We've had that kind of concept since the story of Enkidu! Do you think they'd like the Hobbit parts?
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Mar 4, 2023 04:31
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Tom Bombadil is revered as a pre-christ God figure
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Mar 4, 2023 04:35
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Applewhite posted:Yeah but would it be a hit? Would Boromir's allegiance to Gondor and the tragedy of his conundrum resonate with people who have no concepts of duty beyond one's family? Would the idea of alien creatures that look human but are more beautiful and mysterious be intriguing or fascinating to them? Would they understand what an army is? Or a war? Could they grasp the magnitude of a battle that involved tens of thousands? the quaint milieu reminiscent of pre-industrial britain and the way tolkien works with that might take some time for them but the histories of the andromeda wars (both of which featured massive armies and weapons platforms modern humans would consider magical) would still be fresh in their mindsd. besides the underground people would make their own reboots inevitably. so circa 3,102,000 bc op i think it would be just as likely to be well received as a work of fiction as it was (is) today
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Mar 4, 2023 04:38
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March 2nd, 2023
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Mar 4, 2023 04:40
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Applewhite posted:Yeah but would it be a hit? Would Boromir's allegiance to Gondor and the tragedy of his conundrum resonate with people who have no concepts of duty beyond one's family? Would the idea of alien creatures that look human but are more beautiful and mysterious be intriguing or fascinating to them? Would they understand what an army is? Or a war? Could they grasp the magnitude of a battle that involved tens of thousands? Dunno, Maybe? Their might have been complex social systems we don't know about. Might be just worth a shrug for them, depending on when exactly you are there multiple hominid species around. Conflict was probably a thing so they would probably understand it, arguably they would be appaled even more than other folk because it would be a staggeringly huge amount for them to comprehend. Also you don't need metallurgy to make rings. Telsa Cola fucked around with this message at 04:49 on Mar 4, 2023 |
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Mar 4, 2023 04:43
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So like maybe Sauron made a mighty ring of woven reeds
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Mar 4, 2023 04:45
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No but the cavemen wouldn't understand the writing on it.
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Mar 4, 2023 04:45
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Why go back in time and tell them about that when you could let them know the tale of, say, Solid Snake?
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Mar 4, 2023 04:49
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Applewhite posted:No but the cavemen wouldn't understand the writing on it. They had art and an understanding of symbols, they'd understand that this specific set of scribbles means whatever. You basically want to go back to before the theorized point where something in our brains just clicked and we became what they call "behaviorally modern" Also you could use bone, rock, shell, wood, etc for a ring. And decorating with said ring with symbols or whatever would probably not be a shocking or a new concept to them. We don't really have any real idea of what they would value in a story though, so no clue if they'd actually like it. Would probably get some looks about the giant eagles and the mumukil though since megafauna is something they'd get. Telsa Cola fucked around with this message at 05:03 on Mar 4, 2023 |
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Mar 4, 2023 04:51
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Many of our modern story and character archetypes are from classical antiquity, so at least that far back.
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Mar 4, 2023 04:53
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Stick Figure Mafia posted:Why go back in time and tell them about that when you could let them know the tale of, say, Solid Snake? They would have trouble with the concept of a heroic snake, since snakes would be an immediate and well known danger. You would have to simplify the metaphors and just call him 'Hard Penis'.
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Mar 4, 2023 04:54
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I could totally make a ring if I was a cave man
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Mar 4, 2023 05:00
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I'm gonna say 12:00:00 AM.
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Mar 4, 2023 05:04
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The oldest fairy tale that's still somewhat well known is 'The Smith and the Devil'. It's a story of smith who makes a bargain with a sinister magic creature to learn his trade, but then tricks it. It has existed for about six thousand years in more or less the same shape. The idea that making things out of metal requires magical (and maybe even sinister) power is at least that old. If you go anywhere where they know that fairytale, you just tell them Sauron is the same devil from that story and you're golden. People love sequels.
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Mar 4, 2023 05:07
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Probably like 5:30, 6:00 or so.
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Mar 4, 2023 05:07
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Isengard is a place they've ripped up to mass produce lithics, so its hosed and everywhere you step is razor sharp stone fragments
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Mar 4, 2023 05:08
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Telsa Cola posted:Isengard is a place they've ripped up to mass produce lithics, so its hosed and everywhere you step is razor sharp stone fragments Not a good place to take your hobbits to.
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Mar 4, 2023 05:09
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Applewhite posted:Like, the concept of magic goes way way back, obviously, but I'm not so sure the idea of enchanted objects is as old as magic itself. Making things might be the oldest kind of magic, if we're talking the sort of magic people can gain through "secret knowledge", instead of just the magic of the natural world. As soon as you had stuff that needed some real training and skill to create, you had people who had knowledge most other people did not possess, could do things other people couldn't easily copy, and had learned it from respected and unusual old people. That became magic pretty much instantly.
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Mar 4, 2023 05:30
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Tuesday?
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Mar 4, 2023 06:25
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Private Cumshoe posted:Tuesday? yeah. It's probably loving tuesday. You working that day?
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Mar 4, 2023 06:53
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I'd say about the time Illuvatar made the first elves. They might be pissed off about all the spoilers though, given that they haven't had a chance to live through it yet.
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Mar 4, 2023 06:57
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BeastOfTheEdelwood posted:They also might not like how it's mostly prose, rather than verse. That's not how I remember it. Song after song that you can just skip. Actual story maybe 15 pages
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Mar 4, 2023 07:04
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Once you go back in time far enough, LOTR just becomes science fiction.
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Mar 4, 2023 07:11
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| # ? Apr 29, 2024 11:21 |
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I had some tapes of The Hobbit when I was a kid and I would always fast forward the stupid rear end songs. No one like to read lyrics
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Mar 4, 2023 07:13
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