Since most of the off-topic threads seem to be music-related, I thought it would be a nice change to talk books for a little while. Matt and I were discussing our mutual love for the Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien in another thread. So it got me to thinking I should start a separate thread for this. Anyone else in here a fan of LOTR, or of Tolkien's works in general? What does everyone think of the Lord of the Rings movies? I'm personally very excited for the last installment of the movies! Anyone going to be picking up The Hobbit game when it comes out (for Gamecube)?

Just for fun, here's some sites where you can find out what your name is in both Hobbit and Elvish...

http://www.chriswetherell.com/elf/
http://www.chriswetherell.com/elf/

Let's all reveal our Hobbit/Elf names and get a LOTR discussion going!

I am a huge fan of Tolkien. I have read all three LOTR books and The Hobbit. Tolkien is just an amazing writer. He put so much time into every book, he made them so well done.

My elf name:
Inwë Séregon

My hobbit name:
Esmerelda Brockhouse of Loamsdown

Sweet... those names are hella cool!

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I love Tolkien. I have read LOTR five times now..just recently started reading Unfinished tales, thats gonna take me a while tho.

I think he was one of the best writers ever.

I had a elf name once, but forgot what it was

my elf name:
Elessar Falassion

my hobbit name:
Till Bleecker-Baggins of Fair Downs

never read the books... just seen the movies...many many times.

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Trying to believe in hairy faith since 2002.

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Mungo Chubb, at your service, Mr. Bleecker-Baggins!

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Uh oh. You've started me on Tolkien...

Yes. I am a huge Tolkien fan. I've read the LOTR six times and would read the book more, if I had the time. Every SINGLE time I read it I find something in it that I'd missed before. It is the most complete book I've ever read - the 5 course dinner of fiction. I first read it when I was fourteen, and it opened the door for me into the fantasy genre. Not that I had much of a choice - my mother was a fan (I was nearly named Gandalf She was a hippy-chick!) and read me passages as a child.

I've read the Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, and dip in the History of Middle Earth (basically Tolkien's notes collected by his son Christopher) every so often.

I've read the Hobbit to all three of my children and my eldest (whose only 11) is currently most of the way through the Fellowship of the Ring. Shes her daddy's girl!

The Films. I love the films. They are far from perfect, and there are some parts that I feel superfluous and damn right annoying. However I can forgive that because of the specticle of seeing Middle Earth on screen. So much of the films are perfect, that the imperfections don't seem to matter (too) much. Of course the extended FOTR is the only version to watch (if you haven't DO - the 'theaterical' version doesn't compare) and I am (im)patiently waiting for the extended Two Towers and of course the ROTK.

If you haven't had a chance I HIGHLY recommend that you beg, borrow or steal a copy of the BBC Radio Adaption of the Book. In 13 parts its truely a masterpiece and is arguably better than the films - a different medium of course. Gandalf is played by Michael Horden - so Ian Mckellam had a lot to live up to - which he managed to do! Frodo was played by none other than Ian Holm!

@Fenton - Read the books. Have patience with them, and you'll find something wonderful within.

The road goes ever on...

Aranel Lissësúl the Elf, otherwise known as Wilibald Toadfoot the hobbit.

I can't count how many times I've read the books. I usually read the LOTR series every year, but sometimes more than that. I've read the Silmarillion several times but it's so epic like the Bible that I often get confused.

The movies I thought stayed as true to Tolkien's work as any Hollywood production could be these days. In fact I was quite worried when I heard the books were going to be adapted, we all know how books can be butchered on film and I didn't want that to happen to these books. Peter Jackson has stayed true to the most part to what Tolkien's works were about and tried as hard as he could to bring as much from the books to the film. I was pissed at first that the scenes with Tom Bombadil were omitted from the first movie (Tom being my favorite character in the first book), but once I saw the overall flow of the movie I realized those scenes wouldn't have fit in very well.

Oops, I forgot again to post my hobbit/elf names. Maybe next time!

Matt:
I've got the Silmarillion and have started on that, and a friend of mine, that I tutor, has all the books, so I'll borrow them and take my time reading. lol

Thanks.

I, too, am looking forward to the expanded editions of them...

peace.
fenton.

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Trying to believe in hairy faith since 2002.

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I love LOTR too. I'm now reading the third part (ROTK), I will sure finish it before the movie starts in december (in the Netherlands).
My girlfriend was in New Zealand in march this year; she saw the exposition about LOTR, all kinds of beautiful stuff...!

My Elf name:
Findecáno Telrúnya
My Hobbit name:
Olo Gamgee-Took of Bywater

Further more than interesting: Stephen King, Dean R Koontz, Clive Barker, James Herbert, Peter Straub... and so on!!

You're starting on the Silmarillion???? That wouldn't be my choice mate. As C has already inferred, it is by no means an easy read. Its a history book, and a complex one at that - though it certainly creates the mythology that was Tolkien's ultimate goal. As I recall the events that take place in the LOTR get about 1/2 a page

@C
I agree with you about Tom B - I was never under any illusion that he would be removed <sigh>. I just couldn't see how they would make him work on screen, without him detracking from the hard tone of the film. His presence in the book, whilst excellent (I do enjoy that whole chapter and the Barrow Downs that follow..) really does not progress the overall plot, so it was an easy thing to remove. Ideally I'd like to see a 30 hour made-for-TV series with EVERYTHING in it, but I don't see that happening

I think my favourite parts in the film watching for the memorable lines, or chapter names, appearing in the script. Thats fun, and I'm glad that the book has been adapted by someone with such a respect for the original.

If you haven't read Unfinished Tales - do try, theres a chapter called the Search for the Ring (or similar) which tracks the movements of the Nazgul after leaving Mordor in their hunt for 'Shire' and 'Bagginssss'

Also the last History of Middle Earth (The Fall of Sauron I think) contains a previously unpublished chapter that was removed from the final version. Its set after the end of the events that take place in the LOTR....

BTW The Lord of the Rings Exhibition is currently on show at the Science Musuem in London - with all the costumes. armour, etc. from the film. I'll definitly be going to that

If anyone is looking for modern adult fantasy that doen't fall into the trap of Tolkien plagerism, then I can recommend the Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin.

@Pinhead
I've not read much of the authors you've mentioned (only The Shining by King) but must get around to reading them.

Does anyone else reckon that there are far TOO many good books in the World? There's just NO WAY I'm going to be able to read all the books I want to...<sigh>

The Golden Compass series by Phillip Pullman. The best thing I've read this year. I lived in Scotland for a few years as a kid and Pullman's descriptions of the children and the trouble they got into were so close to what I experienced. And the fantasy parts aint bad, either .

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yup there is.. and way to little time to read them all.

I found The Simarillion quite intresting, but I wanted to know more about the older times of Middle Earth, and not just the events in LOTR.

About the movies. I really love them, but i wish some things would have been different about them, and some of the changes they made to the characters are just plain stupid. I am also waiting for ROTK.. only a bit pver two months more.

Oh yes, I pick up anything I can with Tolkien's name on it; I've read those books too. One really has to have deep concentration to keep up with Tolkien's stories! I really like the extended version of the Turin Turambar story, the one that went into detail of his childhood before Hurin was cursed.

I've not read the Turin Turambar story. I ought to et around to it; my list of things to read is close approaching the list of things I HAVE read!

As far as the movies are concerned my biggest disappointment was the end of TTT. Not that I didn't like it, its just that I thought that 'She' should have appeared as the climax. It would have make a better ending. Additioanally I thought of all the events that should take place in the ROTK and its a long list! I'm sure some of them will be cut <sigh>
I also thought that the warg attack and Aragorns 'death' somewhat cliched and really unnecessary IMHO of course

I agree, I was quite disappointed by the end of The Two Towers, when it ended I was like "wait, there's still at least 5 chapters that haven't been covered yet!!!" But if Return of the King is slated to be over 3 hours, and it is the shortest book of the 3, then I imagine that a lot of stuff from The Two Towers book will spill over into The Return of the King movie. I'm hoping that "She" will kick off the movie!