[athenaeus]

Dear Book Warms of Chef Talk.

As I couldn't sleep last night I started re-reading some parts of the Lord of the Rings.
I wondering and I want your help if this is possible.

When I first read the Lord of the Rings it was summer time. I had the feeling that the whole strory in the three books was taking place during the night...

Maybe because it was summer and the feeling of the book is very dark.
But is it possible that it's Night in the book indeed?

 

[peachcreek]

To answer your question. No.


Looking forward to the movie with the usual mix of anticipation and dread....
When you think your life sucks, read the Silmarillion. Those poor people....

 

[athenaeus]

I see...

Deep in me I knew that I had the wrong idea...
Yeap! I am waiting for the film with anticipation too but not so much dread since I know that nothing can compare my imagination
let's think that cinema is a different approach to Art and sometimes we are very harsh on cinema.

Thanks for the tip also although... if I ever think that life sucks I just go to work and I feel much better by the afternoon...

 

[risa]

Odd.. I got the impression that everything was at night also. I just read the trilogy this summer and I think I'll re-read some before I go to see the movie. I can't remember Liv Tyler's character, Arwen. Funny how I forgot what is probably the most romantic part of Fellowship of the Ring.

 

[marzoli]

My classes read The Hobbit recently, and they are looking forward to the Rings movie. Some of my girls read the trilogy also, and, it's funny, they couldn't remember Arwen either!
Just remember--Frodo Lives!

 

[thebighat]

I jus re-read the trilogy within the last year and it does have a lot happening at night, at least in the beginning. Frodo leaves Hobbiton at night, they meet the elves at night, they leave Farmer Maggot's at night, they get to Crickhollow at night, it's dark when they leave for the old Forest, they enter Bree at night, trouble at Weathertop at night. The movies is supposed to be good, but I don't know if I want to drag the whole family, don't want to have to explain anything.

 

[thebighat]

I'll tell you what's odd, Afra. Where in the world did you get it on video, unless it's the old animated version which unfortunately wasn't so good.

 

[pete]

The reason many of you don't remember Arwen is that she was a minor character in the Trilogy. This is what I hate about Hollywood! They feel that they must pander to everyone. "We need a female character, so that all the young girls can relate". The fellowship consisted of 9 (?) men. That is the book! Why do they feel that they must change it? That said, I am looking forward to its release with mixed emotions. I have been waiting so long to see someone attempt to bring the trilogy to life. I am excited to see what they have created, but also aprehensive about what they have done to the story. I have to say, though, they picked a great cast! Can't wait to hear everyone's views.

 

[athenaeus]

I am gonna read again the trilogy too, in English this time.
Glad I wasn't the only one who thought the story was taking place during the night.

I think is mentioned at the first chapter that Hobbits were getting out during the nigh.

What so ever. Tommorrow I am going to see the film.It was released yesterday in Athens

 

[peachcreek]

The only love-interest that was talked about in the trilogy was between two other characters, Faramir, brother of Boromir, and Eowyn, sister of Eomer of Rohan. Eowyn was the woman who slew the Chief Nazgul during the Battle of Minas Tirith. It was also Eowyn at the Battle of Helms' Deep. Arwen/Eowyn sound pretty close, who will notice? Arwen appears in the original trilogy near the end of the third book, when she got married to Aragorn, and gave her "gift" of passage to the West to Frodo. The Story of Arwen and Aragorn is found in the appendices at the end of book 3.

 

[athenaeus]

Peachcreek : Chief Chef, bottlewasher and original Tolkien scholar

 

[risa]

I thought Liv Tyler was supposed to be Eowyn at first because of the love story, but I knew that wasn't in the first book. I saw a show about the movie on E! last night and Liv Tyler did say that most of it was in the appendices. Like I ever read appendices!

Do you know that they actually made a full-size Hobbiton (Hobbit Town?) for the movie? I think it's in Ireland and it was beautiful. It's not all special effects.

 

[anneke]

Saw the movie last night. I feel MOST undeserving beause I never read the books, but I really enjoyed it. Compared to , say, Harry Potter... I didn't have the urge to nap at all during this movie!

My husband who has read the books several times said the movie was 'ok' but it lacked soul. That's the common trade-off I supposed when you invest millions on special effects...

Oh, and Hobiton was so beautiful!

 

[thebighat]

All the trailers I've seen show lots of chasing. Frodo jumps onto the ferry to cross the Brandywine, and a Black Rider comes screeching to a stop at the water's edge. Now, if you've read the book you know that didn't happen that way. They looked back and saw the Black Rider snuffling around on the shore. Whatever. It's more suspenseful to read it, but the subtlety might be lost on a movie audience, which would want to see Frodo just jumping for his life. I also think, and this is someone who has read the trilogy probably 30 times, the Aragorn/Arwen thing is very central to who he is, but it is not mentioned prominently in the books, but more in the appendix. If they worked it into the movie I don't mind. But just from the trailers I've seen things they must have made up. Gandalf didn't throw the ring into the fire in an envelope, Frodo had it around his neck. And do we see Old Man Willow and Tom Bombadil? Bill Ferny? Does Sam hit him with the apple? And we won't see Eowyn for a good long time. I can't wait to see what they made out of Faramir's hideout. The best pictures I've seen of Middle Earth are Ted Naismiths's.

 

[thebighat]

No, nothing wrong with it, but I bet the new version isn't out on video yet, so what you have is probably the animated version, which wasn't as fully realized a portrayal of the story as some might have hoped.

 

[rachel]

The film was shot in New Zealand, like Ireland but upside down.

I haven't read Lord of the Rings, but that's another thread. . .

 

[pete]

Part of the problem with Tolkien, in regards to Hollywood, is that he spends lots of time describing the scene, the moods, the characters, etc., but he doesn't spend a whole lot of time on action. That is part of what makes his Middle Earth so realistic, so believable. Many language scholars agree that the language he created for the elves could have actually existed. He really attempted to totally involve the reader in his world. Unfortunately, that is why so many younger people have problems getting through his trilogy. Too many words and not enough action for those brought up in an MTV world. That is not to say that there isn't a lot of action going on, but I find that Tolkien is much akin to Dickens in that, what he says in 4 pages, most authors would or could say in 1 1/2 pages. Though I don't mind that at all.

As a side note (since I haven't read the Trilogy recently) what is up with "Hobbiton"? I never remember anyone refering to where the hobbits lived as Hobbiton, and the hobbits always refered to it as "The Shire". Have I forgotten or did they just make this up?

 

[peachcreek]

The Shire extended from the Barandiun River on the east to the Tower Hills to the west the southern border was Sarn Ford, the last bridge across the Baranduin farther downriver. The northern border was somewhere south of Lake Evendim. I was looking for the chapter "The ordering of the Shire" but could'nt find it on short notice. Hobbiton is one of several communities in the Shire.
According to App B, in Return of the King, the Shire was created by a land-grant by Argeleb II in Third Age 1601.

 

[risa]

Afra,
The video you bought for your brother is the animated version. You and he may want to go see the new movie that is currently in the theatres. I went last Friday and it was great although the orcs and other ugly beasties were scary. I practically jumped out of my seat a couple of times. It was a little embarrassing because there were lots of kids around me who didn't seem to find anything scary.

I know the movie was filmed in New Zealand, but I'm pretty sure that Hobbiton was built in Ireland according to a tv show about the movie. In any case, it was beautiful and the New Zealand scenery of mountains and forests made me homesick for British Columbia. Definitely a movie that I'm willing to pay $6 to see again.