FF:NSW LOTR discussion thread (spoilers)

ok, seeing as so many of us have been reading the books in preparation for the upcoming movies, i thought it would be great to have a place to discuss, without spoiling people visiting the LOTR meet thread.

i LOVED the book, but i did dislike a few things...

when pippin seems to die, getting crushed in mordor...and then it turns out he was saved by gimli....i hated that he 'died', but i hated even more that he didnt. i cant explain it, but i dont think its right that noone realy died....boromir died, but he wasnt one of the 'good' guys.

also i hated the ending when everyone parts. maybe because i have some issues with people leaving for good, and never seeing each other again....but i would have liked it if everone could have stayed together.

they could have also had some meeting of sauron with frodo, or something. i think some sort of confrontation would have been good.

also, is it just me, or does Liv Tyler play arwen evenstar in the movies. given that she doesnt really have a role in the book, whats the deal? from the trailer, it looks like she is some sort of fighter or something. are they going to merger her character with eowyn or something? or have i completely forgotten large portions of the novel?

anyone else have anything to say?

 

Supposedly her part is WAY bigger in the movies. There is a TV spot pretty much JUSt about her.

 

*merely smiles, sits back, and decides to lurk for a while*

I could answer all of those, but they'd all be a breach in contract ...

 

I think Jackson wanted to bump up a bit of romance, so he gave Arwen a bigger part, making her more known to the audience and enhancing her relationship with Aragorn.
Hopefully, it will work.
Yeah, I also didn't like the way Pippen hadn't actually died. Because I thought the way it was described when he slipped away to be quite poetic.

 

Precisely Sith...and the undoing of that 'death' just didnt feel right.

Geck, we dont want you to do the wrong thing...but your discussion of the novel, without the movie side of it, would be good.

 

well, it seems noone wants to discuss LOTR...but i am going to say this anyway...i heard they are putting glorfindels small part in the book under arwens character.

 

This is a spoilers version thread so lets talk it up people!

I've been looking closely at the action figures recently released at most of the bigger chain stores and a there's certain number of minor spoilers associated with them. One of the larger toys is of Arwen on a white horse cradling Frodo.....as can be seen very quickly in most versions of the trailers. It looks like Arwen rescues Frodo from the Nine at the Fjord of Bruinen and not Glorfindel.

Also: one of the figures is called an "Orc Overseer" who comes with a whip and big leather-looking apron. He also has a wierd green pod with what is described a "new born Uruk-Hai" inside it. Keeping in mind (from the novels) that the Uruk-Hai work for Saruman, it would appear that Saruman is messing around with breeding better Orcs....maybe Jackson has worked in some subtle undertones of genetic experimentation IRL?

 

in the book, tolkien alludes to a human/orc hybrid working for saruman...wonder if they will go into it.

keep in mind that the novel isnt very 'scientific'

 

I could be wrong, but doesnt it say that Orcs are thedark versions of elves?

 

i cant remember seeing that.

of course, i have a memory like a...like a...something.

 

The Uruk-Hai are basically Orcs on steroids. Saruman created them, they were "born out of the rock", as fighters. They're stronger than Orcs, but on the whole, not as smart, save some individual cases (such as Lurtz of the Uruk-hai).

 

born out of the rock?

i can see a spin-off TV show

'the nature of uruk-hai was irrepressable.'

ahh, the memories.

i REALLY hope everyone knows what i am referring to...

 

Hell yes! Anyone who doesn't remember Monkey has lead a sad, sad life!

 

although some would say those that know and love the show are the sad ones...

btw, i just got a copy of the hobbit from a friend. so far (after 4 pages), i dont like the style...its like tolkien is talking to you, rather than writing a story.

 

Well, he did write it for his kids ...

The Hobbit is meant more as a children's book; LOTR being a follow up because Tolkien loved that world so much. The Hobbit is more of an adventure, whereas LOTR is a struggle of forces, the balance of good and evil.

 

I have The Hobbit in my pile of To Read's but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

Bilbo annoyed me a little bit in LOTR so I'm not sure how I'll handle a whole book about him

 

DA, it wont take long to read it... it is the equivalent of around 150 pages of LOTR...

but its worth a look to see how bilbo got the ring and stuff.

 

Bilbo is the LOTR equivalent of Arthur Dent.

 

hey did any of you guys go to see The Hobbit two years ago (you know, with the puppets...)?

 

I don't know if I'm way off your point here, but when you say there is no 'staying together' at the end...well there is in a way. If you have a look at the appendix, they are together in the new world.
????????????

 

who is together?

the ringbearers are well away.

sam merry and aragorn all die near each other

legolas and gimli leave to travel over the sea.

not much together...

 

Yer...I know what you mean but at least Sam is reunited with Frodo and Bilbo and the others that past into the 'Grey Havens' once his wife Rose dies in 1482 (see appendix B). Other bits in this appendix suggest a certain amount of 'togetherness' at the end of 'Middle-earth'. I dunno...does that count???

 

yeah i know what you mean, but i wanted everyone together at the end of the novel.

not 100 years down the track, with only a few being together etc

 

Yer, it does suck a bit...
I totally agree with the not really dying thing! It happens quite a few times, with Gandalf and Frodo, etc... When I 1st read that Shelob had killed Frodo I was so devastated that I put the book down and
went and did some trumpet practice, thinking that dear old Frodo was dead...only to pick up the book a few hrs. later and find out that he wasn't dead after all! ?

(sorry, just wanted to try the face thing! hehe)

 

yup..and the same thing is done with bilbo in the hobbit.

'and he knew no more'
in the context of a battle, and a person being struck down (or hurt), strongly indicates that they are dead.

for anyone that has read the hobbit, tell me this:

gandal wanted bilbo on the trip...he kept saying that he was important...but why BILBO. why not any other hobbit? why did it have to be him specifically, given that gandalf didnt know what would happen with the ring.