Back in the summer I was at a yard sale, and the lady was selling a thick volume of all three LOTR books for a dollar. I got it and didn't start reading it til late October and I just finished Return of the King this morning.
I really enjoyed it and I feel that even though the movie took some things out (like the battle for the Shire) they did a good job following the spirit of the story. It also reminded me the importance of a story being timeless vs being topical with a lot of messages specific to the time we are living in now.
I remember reading where Peter Jackson said that his goal was to present Tolkien's vision and not his own. I really wish the moronic showrunner for Wheel of Time had the same philosophy but he seems obsessed with lgbt representation amongst other things. I have reached a point now where whenever I hear that a new show is adapting a book series, I just buy the books. As a life long comic book reader, I am more than happy to stick with the comic books from decades past. I plan on buying the Witcher series sometime next year as well.
I remember reading it as a teen, and when the movie was announced, that they would take out Tom Bombadil on the first... I was pretty peeved. But, it turns out it was a great movie. And it did capture Tolkien's world well.
Today, things are not doing that. They are capturing the current world and politics and using the original source material as a facade to hide their message.
And Tolkien hated the hippie movement too, calling them "Deplorable cultus". That guy was seriously based, telling the Nazis to fuck off, and the hippies to fuck off too! hahaha
Absolutely! I do wonder why Tom Bombadil wasn’t in the movies. Did Peter Jackson ever explain that? I’m currently reading a Star Wars Legends book called Kenobi and then I’ll read the Simarillion
I believe it was because there wasn't enough time, he did little to advance the story and because having a character that the ring could not corrupt undercuts just how dangerous the ring was.
Yep. It's the same reason why they changed Faramir's character. In the book he was uninterested in the ring because he was one of very few pure people that couldn't be corrupted, the idea that if there were truly evil people in the world, then there must also be truly good people. However, it was understood that they couldn't show this in the movie because it would undercut how dangerous the ring was, which is also why they didnt show Tom Bombadil.
I’d say the only being the ring can’t corrupt being basically a god like entity would do nothing to negate its threat.
The Simarillion is where Tolkein's Christian theology really shines through, but at the same time you won't notice it if you're not already familiar with some of the more esoteric understandings of scripture.
Cool! I look forward to it.
Just be aware that The Silmarillion reads like a creation myth, Bible, and heavily laden history book all in one. It can be pretty dry, but if you're interested in the lore and world Tolkien created you'll enjoy it. It gives amazing context to lots of things in Lord of the Rings, which is fun to reread after The Silmarillion.
He didn't have the time to do Bombadill, so he just showed it as if they had encountered old Tom, merry Tom, and then went back to their duties.
Honestly, it was a time thing.
The movies were already pushing past the boundaries on length (for the normies).
I think Jackson did a pretty damn good job overall though.
I think it was because the movie was too long. But my memory is hazy on that.
Dude I just finished the trilogy the other day as well, it was really really good, it took a bit for me to get into it and want to keep reading along, but once it gets going its great. When I finished the last page I wanted to re read it all again lol
Exactly. Once you get used to his style it flows nicely
Yeah definitely, I learned to not let my self get too wrapped up in the geographic descriptions, or every last bit of lore. I think its too much to try to take it ALL in on the first time around, I think its meant to be read multiple times and pick new things up each time.
I remember watching the movies as a kid (fell asleep through most of the climax at Amon Hen in LOTR 1 when it was in theaters ;_;) and thinking they were great, tried reading the book series but a lot of it just went over my head and 4th grade me got bored by about 1/2 way through book 2 lol. Years go by and I get to thinking Tolkein's overrated, "Oh he's just some old guy that wrote some fantasy books." Course, fantasy wasn't really my thing either, but still. Got into GRRM in college, really enjoyed that and thought "fantasy" needed to be ReALiStIc and not silly wizards, ChOsEn OnEs, and other generic fantasy tripe.
in 2017 I decide to read the series and ohhh man what a ride. It took me the better part of a year but by the time I was finished I understood just why Tolkein is so highly esteemed. TIt turned out that what I'd thought was "typical" fantasy was simply the shoddy knockoffs eked out by people who can't even hold a candle to the merest hint of Tolkein's shadow. Honestly, calling Tolkein's work "fantasy" is probably an insult to his corpus more than anything. Such a wonderful story and it's amazing the movies followed it and turned out so well as they did. They're the quintessential lightning in a bottle.
I remember reading that GRRM wanted to subvert Tolkien’s tropes. In LOTR you can see a lot of the themes that seem to be in every fantasy novel. Also Tolkien completed his work. I love the Ice and Fire books but GRRM is taking his sweet time
Look into Joe Abercrombie or better yet Robbin Hobbs. Both are heavily character driven writers though, not a lot happens in some of their books but I would seriously read 1000 pages of Logan NineFingers or Golkta dialogue and love every minute of it.
Will do. Thanks!
For what it's worth, I think GRRM started dragging his feet to stick it to the showrunners when they said that they were the reason it was so successful, and not the source material.
Lol. The proper response to that is, "why should we care, unless you're writing a "Robin Hood In Space" kind of story?
That's funny because I've always hated "high fantasy'" and love LOTR.
because lotr is basically the proto "high fantasy" with everything else being derivative
many high fantasy writers don't know when to tone it the fuck down so you end up with worlds where everything is so fucking magical
'the moronic showrunner for Wheel of Time had the same philosophy but he seems obsessed with lgbt representation amongst other things'
From the very first interview: 'I'm a homosexual and a feminist.'
I knew at once that WOT is DOA.
first ten seconds of the show is literally “this is men’s fault”
I don't think I got through that much "we don't know if the dragon reborn is male or female". If you don't know something that fundamental to the plot I suggest you fuck off and read the source material. Granted I've only read 3.5 out of 14 myself but Jordan is awfully verbose
I've just started the 4th book and am very impressed with Jordan's writing. He doesn't get too descriptive for me, which is a constant problem when trying to find good fiction.
My imagination can fill in any blanks that may present themselves better than 2 pages of description down to the depth of the frills in lacy neckline of some lady's dress can. I got through the Hobbit, but man it felt like a slog at times with how much flavor text he used.
One of my favorite sci-fi series is the Hyperion series, but I almost didn't see the 1st books party off of the tree ship.
I feel the same way and put Wheel of Time on my reading list but it's December and it's the time of the year where I have more time to play video games so it's gonna have to wait.
I also thought about looking into buying "lots" of 80s-90s comics at the lowest price I can find. Doesn't matter the quality, condition, if I never heard of the titles even better. And just have fun reading comics.
Dollar bin comics can be very good and they produced so many in the 80s and 90s
100%
I've stopped watching WoT now. It was just too much bullshit.