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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2023 16:26:16 GMT -5
March 25 is a significant day in the history of Middle Earth: It was on March 25, in the year 3019 of the Third Age, that The One Ring and Sauron were destroyed at Mt. Doom.
Let us all celebrate the destruction of the Ring and Sauron and celebrate the Fellowship on this day!
-M
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2023 17:54:58 GMT -5
One of the guys in my gaming group is a huge Tolkien fan. His son turned one today and they had a "One Birthday to Rule Them All" Middle earth themed birthday party for him.   a hobbit hole birthday cake...  and a dark tower themed smash cake (i.e. the cake you give to the child to wreak havoc with-a tradition that was new to me)  and the birthday Hobbit himself, wearing the one ring...  not your typical post for this thread, but it was a hobbit-worthy affair (potatoes were even served-roasted to perfection), though no dwarves showed up to chip the plates. -M |
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Post by Deleted on May 11, 2023 8:23:34 GMT -5
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 14, 2023 16:01:42 GMT -5
I still think it's pricey, but my Lord... what a beautiful-looking book! The Silmarillion |
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Post by berkley on May 15, 2023 16:49:40 GMT -5
I still think it's pricey, but my Lord... what a beautiful-looking book! The Silmarillion Very tempting. I like the maps and the Tolkien illustrations. |
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Post by Deleted on May 18, 2023 17:47:26 GMT -5
Andy Serkis is recording an audiobook version of the Silmarillion coming out next month. He's previously done both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
-M
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Post by Slam_Bradley on May 18, 2023 18:03:16 GMT -5
Andy Serkis is recording an audiobook version of the Silmarillion coming out next month. He's previously done both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. -M I wonder if he can make it not be boring. Probably not. |
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
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Post by Confessor on May 19, 2023 2:44:24 GMT -5
Andy Serkis is recording an audiobook version of the Silmarillion coming out next month. He's previously done both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. -M I wonder if he can make it not be boring. Probably not. A couple of years back I bought the audiobook as read by English actor Martin Shaw, following my fifth failed attempt to read the Silmarillion any further than chapter 1. Thought it might help me penetrate the mind-numbingly dense and verbose text, but nope...that book remains some utterly impenetrable sh*t for me. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 20, 2023 18:38:57 GMT -5
I broke down and, using recent tax returns as justification, bought the darn book. I always wanted an edition of the Silmarillion that would do honour to the incredible mythology created by Tolkien.
Illustrations by the author and leather binding sound just about right. Plus the book will be bequeathed to my kids when I die, and they'll remember how I told them the story of the sack of Alqualondë and the crossing of Helcaraxë when they were young. (Then they'll sell the book on ebay, but that's their own business!!!)
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Post by EdoBosnar on May 21, 2023 6:04:41 GMT -5
(...) Illustrations by the author and leather binding sound just about right. (...) I've always loved Tolkien's own illustrations for his works, so that's nice. But - like a few others here - I've never been able to get past the first 20 or 30 pages of the Silmarilion before tossing it aside. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on May 23, 2023 5:56:01 GMT -5
(...) Illustrations by the author and leather binding sound just about right. (...) I've always loved Tolkien's own illustrations for his works, so that's nice. But - like a few others here - I've never been able to get past the first 20 or 30 pages of the Silmarilion before tossing it aside. The first time I read it, I had a hard time as well. First it wasn't at all like Lord of the Rings, and second there was a ton of material to assimilate just to understand what was going on. On the second read, years later, I had Robert Foster's Guide to Middle-Earth on hand; that made the experience much more enjoyable, as I could quickly check how this character and that one were related, or how the Nandor differ from the other Teleri. On the third reading, I could really get engrossed by the sheer awesomeness of the world Tolkien created, and by the tragic beauty of the First Age. In many ways, The Silmarillion is like The Iliad; it comes with its own catalogue of ships, so to speak. |
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2023 7:49:32 GMT -5
I've always loved Tolkien's own illustrations for his works, so that's nice. But - like a few others here - I've never been able to get past the first 20 or 30 pages of the Silmarilion before tossing it aside. The first time I read it, I had a hard time as well. First it wasn't at all like Lord of the Rings, and second there was a ton of material to assimilate just to understand what was going on. On the second read, years later, I had Robert Foster's Guide to Middle-Earth on hand; that made the experience much more enjoyable, as I could quickly check how this character and that one were related, or how the Nandor differ from the other Teleri. On the third reading, I could really get engrossed by the sheer awesomeness of the world Tolkien created, and by the tragic beauty of the First Age. In many ways, The Silmarillion is like The Iliad; it comes with its own catalogue of ships, so to speak. Yeah, I think the first mistake people make is approaching the Silmarillion trying to read it like it's a novel. It's not. It's a mythological history book. It's fiction, but in a way it needs to be approached as if it were a non-fiction book. But from that perspective, I actually prefer looking at the material covered in the Silmarillion in the History of Middle Earth volumes also edited by Christopher, as there you can see the evolution of the tales themselves and you don't get lulled into the sense that this is supposed to be a story told in novel form. I understand the issues people have with the book, I had a terrible time the first time I tried to read it in 8th grade, but I agree with RR that it is such a wonderful collection of tales, so rich and entertaining, you just have to work really hard to get to them, and for some that interferes with the enjoyment of interacting with that material. I didn't really appreciate and enjoy it until I came at it with the approach I learned in grad school studying ancient and medieval history, and that's not an approach most people want to take when reading a fantasy book. -M |
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2023 7:54:27 GMT -5
I agree with taking a particular approach when reading something like that.
For me, it can be about timing, what you have going on in life, etc. My most recent non-fiction book was a history of post-war Germany, up to and including modern times. Interesting, but heavy going. My next non-fiction book is going to have to be something light. There is a book I have about the Royal Marines during WWI, but that’d be too heavy straight after a long, heavy-going book about post-war Germany.
So when I try to revisit The Silmarillion, which I found impenetrable the first time, I’ll have to be in a particular frame of mind. It’ll have to feel right - after I do it, the next book I read will have to be lighter.
I guess it’s about balance. If I read V for Vendetta in one sitting, I’d be mentally “burnt out”. My next graphic novel would need to be lighter. So timing will be everything.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
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Post by Confessor on Dec 14, 2023 9:30:14 GMT -5
I've been thinking about the creepier moments in Tolkien's works lately and I think he would have made a very good horror writer. For me, one of my favourite creepy moments is when the fellowship are in the mines of Moria. The way Tolkien conjures up a palpably oppressive and sinister atmosphere in this section, as the fellowship make their way through the darkened mines, is masterful.
Other moments in The Lord of the Rings that have a creepy, horror-esque flavour to them are the Ringwraith's pursuit of the hobbits through the Shire and the scene where Frodo and Sam encounter Shelob -- particularly Tolkien's description of her eyes shining in the darkness and silently advancing towards the hobbits.
What are your favourite creepy moments in Tolkien's legendarium?
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Dec 14, 2023 9:58:19 GMT -5
I've been thinking about the creepier moments in Tolkien's works lately and I think he would have made a very good horror writer. For me, one of my favourite creepy moments is when the fellowship are in the mines of Moria. The way Tolkien conjures up a palpably oppressive and sinister atmosphere in this section, as the fellowship make their way through the darkened mines, is masterful. Other moments in The Lord of the Rings that have a creepy, horror-esque flavour to them are the Ringwraith's pursuit of the hobbits through the Shire and the scene where Frodo and Sam encounter Shelob -- particularly Tolkien's description of her eyes shining in the darkness and silently advancing towards the hobbits. What are your favourite creepy moments in Tolkien's legendarium? Mine is also in the mines of Moria, when Pippin drops a pebble down a well shaft (much to Gandalf's displeasure). In the book it wasn't the extremely noisy mess seen in the movie; it was just a carefree gesture that might have dire consequences. And then the Fellowship hears distant tapping from down the well, as if a hammer was used deep, deep down in the bowels of the Earth. There was clearly a sense of "something has been disturbed that shouldn't have been" to that scene, and a palpable fear of the unseen. Another moment I remember isn't creepy per se, but still: it's when Frodo and Sam reach a crossroads in Ithilien, where a statue of an ancient king has been desecrated. There is a strong sense of loneliness in that scene, and of being quite exposed to the unspeakable horrors of the enemy we know lurks just there in the nearby hills. |
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