myaru | Entries tagged with public: tolkien

I've always skipped the appendices out of fatigue, so this would be my first time reading them. Until now I suppose I haven't been a fan of Tolkien, so much as someone who happened to like Lord of the Rings and occasional stories from Middle Earth, but The Silmarillion changed all of that. Now I'm willing to read tons and tons of basically useless - but interesting! - background material, though the tidbit I'm talking about in this entry is directly relevant to the story and not useless at all.

(Speaking of, I still like The Silmarillion better, even if the split of the line of kings WAS interesting. LOTR-proper has an awful lack of delectable renegade elves. I just. That is an absolutely necessary component. :P)

Aragorn's backstory was known to me in general, but I was surprised to learn that his sojourn in distant lands included a stint as a hero of Gondor under an assumed name (Thorongil), during which he served Denethor's father. Having seen the movies most recently, which mention that Aragorn was hanging around in Rohan, at least, during Theoden's youth, I kind of assumed he was also in Gondor (he says he has seen Minas Tirith, after all), but put it from my mind because I was more interested in his relationship with Elrond. Turns out I should've looked into that, because Thorongil was incredibly popular in Gondor and of special interest to Denethor's father, where as Denethor "was ever placed second to the stranger in the hearts of men and the esteem of his father," and rather disliked Aragorn. (I can't give you page numbers since I read the Kindle version; this is around location 23268, whatever that corresponds to in pages.) Since Denethor is supposed to be extremely perceptive, it's not a stretch to suspect he knew who "Thorongil" really was. In fact, since the text goes so far as saying exactly that, I will just assume he figured it out for real.

That's a long time to be looking over your shoulder for usurpers and glaring at old men in pointy grey hats. I can't fault Denethor for his attachment to his office; I can't fault him for being proud when it's clear he is deeper-seeing than men of his time, or for resenting a man who came between him and his father's love, or seemed to. And I keep thinking about Faramir's anecdote about his brother:

‘And this I remember of Boromir as a boy, when we together learned the tale of our sires and the history of our city, that always it displeased him that his father was not king. “How many hundreds of years needs it to make a steward a king, if the king returns not?” he asked. “Few years, maybe, in other places of less royalty,” my father answered. “In Gondor ten thousand years would not suffice.” Alas! poor Boromir. Does that not tell you something of him?’ (p.669)

This says as much about Denethor as it does about Boromir. They seem alike in temperament even if they're different in every other way. And Boromir always seemed to me the character most like classic mythical or literary hero - someone with heroic qualities and a fatal flaw to overcome. Neither he nor Denethor overcome, and that's too bad, because that transformation would turn them into that paragon of men that some readers or viewers want to see, which Aragorn and Faramir are seemingly by birth. Granted Aragorn goes through his own development arc, as Samu mentioned, but even in his youth it seemed he was placed above other men. He was simply born Better.

Well. That's all to say that I know too well what the long-term effects of paranoia are, and I'll cut Denethor some slack. Also, as Mark mentioned earlier, the staging of his death in the movie lends itself to an interpretation of his character that's not quite right. The movie makes me think he's committing suicide because he's completely out of it, and the book makes me think he was deeply, maybe irreversibly depressed-- despairing would be the theme-appropriate word, sorry. That does make a big difference.

I still don't like him, though.

Since I'm supposed to be sleeping so I can get to an early appointment tomorrow, it's time for an LJ post instead.

So like. I don't see that the movie did Denethor any terrible injustice, now that I've re-read him in Return of the King. ( Unpopular opinions. Maybe I missed a few things. )

One thing I do agree with wholeheartedly, though: there was no call for the Witch King shattering Gandalf's staff. That's just ridiculous. Their confrontation could've been averted the same way it was in the books.

Since Gandalf isn't a mortal man, and perhaps not bound by the prophecy, technically (?), I'll just pretend that the Witch King ran off for easier prey because he knew Gandalf's fist had an appointment with his (spectral) teeth, and they wouldn't survive the encounter. In the book, I mean, because the movie treated him too well.

Well, either this will start an argument or it'll be ignored. I hope for the latter, personally, since I'm not saying anything new.

The last stretch in Mordor, which is coming up, is really not my favorite thing. I would love to skim. But Sam will be doing great things, and I wouldn't want to miss that, now would I?

Went from my last place to the beginning of "Shelob's Lair," and despite Faramir being a sweetie, there's only one thing that needs to be said about this entire section of the story:

Frodo’s face was peaceful, the marks of fear and care had left it; but it looked old, old and beautiful, as if the chiselling of the shaping years was now revealed in many fine lines that had before been hidden, though the identity of the face was not changed. Not that Sam Gamgee put it that way to himself. He shook his head, as if finding words useless, and murmured: ‘I love him. He’s like that, and sometimes it shines through, somehow. But I love him, whether or no.’

J.R.R. Tolkien (2009-04-17). The Lord of the Rings (p. 652).

Like we didn't know before, right? But I wasn't expecting to see it in black and white! Hahahahaha oh Tolkien, if only you had known what twists and turns society would take after you wrote that down. Makes me wonder if, later, he regretted things like Celeborn's other name. :D

Ithilien reminds me that I need to do some studying next time I want to write a scene involving plants. I'm pretty bad - in fanfic, at least - about using the same set of plants over and over again because I like them. Also, because they're on the short list of stuff I would recognize if I saw it. I can name desert plants, at least in the desert I grew up in, but give me another environment and the result is kind of sad. The last time we were on a drive down south, maybe a year ago, my mother pointed out a bunch of oak trees along the freeway, and that was the first time I had ever seen and identified an oak in person (so to speak) that I can recall.

Thirty years of life, and I had no idea what an oak tree looked like.

This is why I'm a self-professed imagery addict. Because I can totally nail that and know what I'm talking about while doing so.

(I abuse Google to find what I need, and to double check the plants I want to write in with the climates they're supposed to thrive in, and that sort of thing, but seeing a photo of a tree and being able to recognize it in real life doesn't always work out for me. The proportions are all skewed, for one, and a photo of a whole tree cannot show me the details by nature, so if I'm standing right next to one, well.

Anyway, these are all excuses. I need to be prepared to study this as a big chunk of my initial world-building stage. It's stunning, really, to realize how many details I neglect sometimes.)

These two reading sessions covered, uhhh... from "The Uruk-hai" chapter, where the Merry-Pippin-Ents narrative starts, to somewhat into book four, in the middle of the Dead Marshes. I'll probably read more later, but right now my back would appreciate a break from sitting. We managed to fit in a trip down to SoCal and back this weekend - that's six hours sitting, each way, not to mention the part of the wedding that was all sitting - and my muscles haven't forgiven me for that yet.

I'm going to stop pretending I have anything coherent to say and make lists instead.

( Things that make me :D, things that make me :|... )

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We're making applesauce again. Somewhat randomly, this made me wonder how hobbits might make applesauce - and how elves would do it differently. And I thought, hm, hobbits probably didn't have vanilla or cinnamon handy - maybe they'd use allspice, or something more local...ish? And perhaps the elves would have access to vanilla beans and cinnamon, since after all Cirdan's people are sea-faring, and there's no reason they couldn't have traveled far in trade at one time - or Gondor, or someone.

Or is there? (<--- a real question, for the record. I have no idea.)

I should look into this. Hobbit recipes and Elf recipes could be interesting to try puzzling out! Just for fun, mind you. As I have not read nearly enough of the additional material to say anything intelligent, I may as well default to saying things that might be tasty instead. I don't think that's at odds with books in which hobbits are major characters. Checking out the opening chapters of The Hobbit might be a good place to start, now that I think of it, since Bilbo has to make a whole lot of food in a hurry, and I know he says something or other about ingredients. I also recall that later he was disgusted by the idea of hunting to eat and having to prepare one's own kill, because as far as he knew, meat came from a butcher, all wrapped nicely and such.

So anyway, it'd be interesting to pay attention to what sort of food they definitely have access to. Corn has been mentioned a lot during this stretch in Rohan, so my initial thought that the list might be restricted to "old world food" isn't necessarily right.

I've seen recipes pop up on

middleearthnews now and then, though the only one I recall was lembas; I've seen a few recipes for that, but have never agreed with any of them. I think there's a site dedicated to this sort of thing, though, so I'll dig around. They might have citations, which would save me a lot of time.

Didn't get to do any reading today because of the backache from hell, which was probably caused by all the reading I did yesterday, as I was determined to get to Lorien before giving up for the night. When will I learn? It's a good thing I'm not trying to do a thorough commentary, though, because I just know that the minute Saruman comes on-screen - so to speak - all I'm going to hear is the trololol song. Certainly, all I can see sometimes are the shiny Silmarillion references (like Celebrimbor's by-line at the bottom of the Hollin Gate, the Star of Feanor*, the poem about Durin's era~ nerdnerdnerdnerd). I progressed from the Council to a scene or two before the Fellowship leaves Lothlorien, and would've gone farther if it hadn't been five in the morning.

The big question for me after Moria is,"Would Gandalf have come out of that better if he hadn't been tired?" Although actually, I also wonder why he didn't recognize a Balrog when he felt one. I suppose if there were only between three and seven of them, theoretically - since I don't know that Tolkien stuck with that number - it's possible he hasn't ever encountered one.** I guess it's also silly to assume these beings have some sort of distinctive signature. Gandalf's spells might somehow be distinctive, but it could also be that sudden spikes of power in the middle of nowhere can equal only one person, from the points of view of Sauron or Saruman, since nobody seems to care about Radagast.

I think that's incredibly unfair. He's working hard too: somebody has to save the squirrels from Sauron's black rule ~~and Gandalf's fire spells~~!

For all I know Gandalf explains all that stuff up above when he comes back, and I just don't remember. He does seem to enjoy the sound of his own voice, especially when narrating his own adventures. But maybe I'm being unfair. The Council of Elrond defied brevity at every turn, no matter who was talking.

Also, couldn't help noticing that Moria appears to be one of Middle Earth's infinite examples of the evils of progress and industrialization, this time. (The one I'm used to seeing is the deforestation of Isengard.) The oft-repeated sentiment that the dwarves dug too greedily and too deep would imply it-- like a punch in the face. They mined out all their mithril (depleting a natural resource) and destroyed themselves looking for more, but even if they hadn't their wealth would've declined without it, in theory. (If by 'decline' you mean, 'oh no, we only have tons of gold and iron to trade! Nobody cares about those!') The balrog is something of a natural disaster, though, which you can't really blame on the dwarves. If s/he hadn't decided to sleep at the bottom of Khazad-dum, there wouldn't be a problem. :P

Why don't we get any female balrogs? It could've been female, you don't know! It's not like we can see any revelatory bits.

Galadriel and her ring are rather intimidating, even without her skeevy movie performance, as

amielleon put it. When she says:

I say to you, Frodo, that even as I speak to you, I perceive the Dark Lord and know his mind, or all of his mind that concerns the Elves. And he gropes ever to see me and my thought. But still the door is closed!’ (pp. 364-365)

...I think to myself, oh, how comforting. She sees into Sauron's mind! Glad to know I can count on you to know the enemy, Galadriel. But if the rings are the connecting factor, here, and Sauron doesn't have a ring to tap into, you freak me out. I can think of all sorts of logical ways for her to know that, of course, like her mirror, but yeah: skeevy.

Because of the way I tend to look at Galadriel, I was surprised she wove the fabric that made the cloaks gifted to the party. "You are indeed high in the favour of the Lady! For she herself and her maidens wove this stuff;" (p. 370). I have a hard time imagining her at a loom, to be honest. It's much easier to imagine her punching orcs in the face. Or balrogs. I also continue to find it hilarious that she blew off Feanor when he asked for a strand of her hair, and yet a few thousand years later she "cut off three golden hairs, and laid them in Gimli’s hand" (p.376). Burn.

Just look at Gimli turn into a puppy every time she looks at him. That's so hilarious!

Unrelated: I have to admit, I prefer sarcastic ass movie!Haldir to the original, borderline-courteous version. Maybe it's all in the intonation?

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* some of the fic I've read makes it out like Celebrimbor disowned the entire family, but his use of Feanor's emblem would indicate he was just pissed at his own father. Maybe he had a thing for Finrod, and having the hots for Galadriel later was a rebound thing. This would explain everything! :D

** this was in a note to the second section of the Annals of Aman (#50), which I'm reading because I'm a masochist. It's silly when I'm pretty sure someone has already plotted it all out on a timeline, but whatever. It stuck in my mind. Only three (to seven) balrogs.

This is my third reading of Lord of the Rings, I think. The first time was just after high school, so about... let's not say how many years ago, shall we? The second time was in 2006 for the class "Lord of the Rings as Epic," in which there was a lot of essay writing and many geektastic in-class discussions about which character deserved the title of 'hero' (group consensus said Sam, which my grandmother - gasp! - agrees with) and who was just generally cool (Aragorn), among other things.

About Aragorn, the most memorable response would be from a friend of ours, who said he thought that, if only Aragorn would hold him, he'd be able to feel that everything would be okay. I find I agree more when I think of the movies, because I don't find book!Aragorn quite as huggable. Tolkien wasn't big on physical description. He says what matters, and leaves it at that. 'What matters' is not, sadly, much to fangirl over, at least at first.

During my first reads I didn't quite realize how much history there is just in the first book: stories about Gil-Galad, a truncated version of the tale of Beren and Luthien, the Last Alliance of course, mentions of the Silmarils, Tom Bombadil's recollection of the world 'before the seas were bent,' on and on. Elrond reminisces a lot. This would be why my earliest impression of Middle Earth was one of historical depth, and why I walked away with very little else except affection for the counting game Legolas and Gimli kept up. Now that I've read The Silmarillion these moments are all sticking out to me like bright neon signs and reminding me of questions I want answered. Like:

I've always wondered how Elrond squared loving two sons of Feanor (or one, at least) with the unfortunate knowledge that they also drove his mother off a cliff, and it looks like I'm not going to get a sense of his feelings on that by reading LOTR! I was hoping for some hint. All I got was Elrond telling the council his lineage and a passage about Bilbo's song, which was also about Elrond's father, Eärendil. I could interpret their tone rather freely and come up with some ambivalence, but that would be my own theories talking, and not the text. Seems to me he comes from a long line of shitty parents, and he might have some wise and not-so-wise thoughts on that, but sigh.

I know, I know, the book isn't about Elrond. It isn't about Gil-Galad either, but they keep bringing him up too, and I keep thinking, Gil-Galad~~~~ The loss of your hotness has been a sore blow to Middle Earth, so come baaaaack~~~~ About that time I'm derailed, and not really focusing on the nice environment descriptions. Or, you know, anything important.

On the shitty parents thing, I suppose I might give Idril a pass on a re-read of the chapter when she leaves. It depends heavily on the timing, you see. But on the other side of the family tree we start with Thingol, and while he may not have been a shitty parent overall, he made a fatal mistake that, on top of all his reactionary political policies, I'm not sure I can forgive him for! Sorry, Thingol.

Okay, I was talking about LOTR, not The Silmarillion.

So, I read the first four or five chapters - up to Frodo meeting up with Farmer Maggot - a few months ago, and then got derailed by some event and stopped reading. I don't have much to say about that part of it anyway. Since starting again on Monday, because I needed to read a book I knew was good, I've covered Frodo and Sam meeting up with Merry, all the way to the end of the Council of Elrond (hence all the focus on him, aha). I'm fascinated with the metaphysics of the Ring and of the Nazgul, and of elves that live simultaneously in the physical and spirit worlds, but don't know enough to say much about it. I just find it interesting and hope there'll be some form of elaboration in all the notes and letters I will soon be going through, or a finger pointing at that tidbit that the souls of the Eldar have a different relationship with their bodies, blah blah, I have to go read that again.

The big thing that stood out to me was how not-annoying the Tom Bombadil chapters were. I remember finding the entire Old Forest sequence incredibly boring during my very first read, but this time I was actually interested in what he had to say. And, shockingly, I was interested in how he met Goldberry. Not sure why, exactly; I think it's just that the meeting he described seemed to echo other stories in the canon (Beren and Luthien, Thingol and Melian), even though the specifics were different. And if he was the First, and is the oldest, I mean... how does that work, exactly? I figured Elves were still the oldest. Some of the elf-lords (and ladies) hanging around are pretty ancient.

(My God, Cirdan is so old. How does he even get up in the morning?)

Secondly, my love for Sam shot straight through the roof when he threw his apple at Bill Ferney when the party was leaving Bree. I don't know why. It's what I'd want to do, and the very thing I wouldn't do because that's just so rude, but I found it immensely satisfying.

Also, this:

At that moment there was a knock on the door, and Sam came in. He ran to Frodo and took his left hand, awkwardly and shyly. He stroked it gently and then he blushed and turned hastily away.

J.R.R. Tolkien (2009-04-17). The Lord of the Rings (p. 225). Harper Collins, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

Come on. I don't even--

Sam, just kiss him.

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(Pulling the LOTRO part, but only because I'm going to make a post about that separately.)

Since the movie will be coming out this year, I thought I'd revisit The Hobbit. I read it some time during my last year of high school and can't remember a thing beyond "Smaug dies" (SPOILER?), "Bilbo gets some awesome equipment," and "a bunch of dwarves crash his party at the beginning of the book" - his single hobbit party, that is.

So, I make no secret of loving to mess with hobbits in LOTRO, but when I read them, I find I'm more sympathetic to their plight (being hungry) than the more epic characters like, say, Aragorn. I frankly find him completely unrelatable in the book (which is why I think they made so many changes to his character for the movies, but more on that MUCH LATER), while I find mushrooms to be way more exciting because-- mushrooms. Sauteed in olive oil with a bit of salt and pepper--

Anyway.

The fandom inspired my other reason to read this book - or fanon, to be more precise. Fic characterization of Thranduil, king of the wood elves in Mirkwood, ranges from batshit to seduction personified, sometimes both, and I wanted to see where in hell they were getting that. I sure didn't remember any smoking hot elf kings in my previous reading of this book, and I assure you, my favorite character type is so established you can see me fangirling over elves and hot pretty boys way back before I read this at age 18. I thought it was a horrible shame that I had completely forgotten such a hottie. So I read the book, curious to see fanon's inspiration.

Verdict: nothing. They are pulling that characterization out of their asses. Thranduil was the quintessential elven king - wise, kind, etc. All I can think of to account for his batshit characterization in fanon is his argument with Thorin:

“Why did you and your folk three times try to attack my people at their merrymaking?” asked the king.

“We did not attack them,” answered Thorin; “we came to beg, because we were starving.”

“Where are your friends now, and what are they doing?”

“I don’t know, but I expect starving in the forest.”

“What were you doing in the forest?”

“Looking for food and drink, because we were starving.”

“But what brought you into the forest at all?” asked the king angrily.

At that Thorin shut his mouth and would not say another word.

Tolkien, J.R.R. (2009-04-17). The Hobbit (p. 184). Harper Collins, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

... which doesn't take into account any secret knowledge from The History of Middle Earth, but whatever.

I figured that would be the case, but it merited checking out. On further thought, I've seen wood elves and Teleri in general characterized as more sensual or even feral than their Noldorin counterparts, and uh, I'm not seeing it. It's a strange assumption seemingly made according to faulty logic. But whatever, it's not like I don't benefit from it in the form of fic.

Maybe it's the crown of leaves and berries? That sounds like it should be accompanied by a loincloth.

So in any case, I found the Battle of Five Armies much more interesting than I likely did the first time I read the book. Bilbo's riddle competition with Gollum was fun. Thorin as a self-important blowhard was lots of fun. :D Smaug was rather interesting too, but not as much so as Glaurung - or not as sinister, nor as dangerous. You do not riddle with Glaurung unless you want to lose.

Well, it was a short book and a good read. I wish dwarves got more attention.

Whoa guys, breaking news: the herons aren't ripped off from Tolkien - rather, clearly, Tolkien traveled forward in time and ripped off Fire Emblem! See here:

[Sauron] chanted a song of wizardry,
Of piercing, opening, of treachery,
Revealing, uncovering, betraying.
Then sudden Felagund there swaying
Sang in answer a song of staying,
Resisting, battling against power,
Of secrets kept, strength like a tower,
And trust unbroken, freedom, escape;
Of changing and of shifting shape, of snares eluded, broken traps,
The prison opening, the chain that snaps.

Backwards and forwards swayed their song.
Reeling and foundering, as ever more strong
The chanting swelled, Felagund fought,
And all the magic and might he brought
Of Elvenesse into his words.
Softly in the gloom they heard the birds
Singing afar in Nargothrond,
The sighing of the Sea beyond,
Beyond the western world, on sand,
On sand of pearls in Elvenland.

From The Silmarillion, Chapter 19: Of Beren and Luthien.

Alas, Sauron kicked his ass. I was sad. These elf dudes are fsking insane, let me tell you; Reyson takes after them quite strongly! However, if we're going to compare Reyson to anyone, I think Fingolfin is a better parallel. Finrod Felegund isn't quite as crazy.

So anyway, there you go: elves turning into herons.

This book? It's heaven in a binding. Why did I not read it through before now? Reading in fragments does not do it justice at all.