A rising dislike of Tolkein?

[Herr Fick]

i think this is wrong in every single assertion. good job?

I had assumed it to be satire... :uhoh:

[Wicked Woodpecker of West]

Key word: libertarianism.

[The Killer Snark]

Deontological, to be precise.

[Mithras]

Before I first read Tolkien, I never heard of him or his works. I also did not read any fantasy before him.

So, as a totally clueless person, I picked up Two Towers and read it.

It took me 2-3 rereads to understand that the book was actually a middle piece of a trilogy.

So I bought the other books and read them too.

Since then, I suggest everybody to start LoTR with the Two Towers :D

[HexMachina]

Before I first read Tolkien, I never heard of him or his works. I also did not read any fantasy before him.

So, as a totally clueless person, I picked up Two Towers and read it.

It took me 2-3 rereads to understand that the book was actually a middle piece of a trilogy.

So I bought the other books and read them too.

Since then, I suggest everybody to start LoTR with the Two Towers :D

...Didn't it confuse you at the beginning when Aragorn seemed to burst onto a scene that began in the last book? :p And did it not click that: "hmmm, I'm missing a piece to the puzzle here!" :idea:

:lol: I'm trying to imagine what it must have been like. Did it seem confusing at all?

[Mithras]

...Didn't it confuse you at the beginning when Aragorn seemed to burst onto a scene that began in the last book? :P And did it not click that: "hmmm, I'm missing a piece to the puzzle here!" :idea:

:lol: I'm trying to imagine what it must have been like. Did it seem confusing at all?

Of course the introduction of weird names and weird creatures called hobbits (starting with the second sentence of the book) was overwhelming. But the plot was intriguing and I was totally lost in excitement. The start of book 3 was a shitstorm and it ended with the appearance of Nazgul which sounded like a game changer. And then book 4 has the story of Frodo which ended with him being captured by the enemy.

I read the book very fast and when I was finished, I was like "dafaq did I just read?"

After reading the book it once or twice again, I finally thought of checking the cover of the books for the titles. In the cover, it read “Second Part: Two Towers” and there were two books in this volume which were named as “Third Book” and “Fourth Book”.

Therefore, I finally understood that there must at least be a previous volume to this book but I repeat, the necessity for the first book did not come from the missing plotlines for me. It was only because the cover of the book implied that the book might be a part of a series.

I was like 12 when I first read the book so much of these are forgivable.

:rolleyes:

[Ser Peter Hughes]

Of course the introduction of weird names and weird creatures called hobbits (starting with the second sentence of the book) was overwhelming. But the plot was intriguing and I was totally lost in excitement. The start of book 3 was a shitstorm and it ended with the appearance of Nazgul which sounded like a game changer. And then book 4 has the story of Frodo which ended with him being captured by the enemy.

I read the book very fast and when I was finished, I was like "dafaq did I just read?"

After reading the book it once or twice again, I finally thought of checking the cover of the books for the titles. In the cover, it read “Second Part: Two Towers” and there were two books in this volume which were named as “Third Book” and “Fourth Book”.

Therefore, I finally understood that there must at least be a previous volume to this book but I repeat, the necessity for the first book did not come from the missing plotlines for me. It was only because the cover of the book implied that the book might be a part of a series.

I was like 12 when I first read the book so much of these are forgivable.

:rolleyes:

Wow... I could imagine you being confused. :bang:

[The Killer Snark]

Would anyone recommend The Simarillion? I've had that lying in my unread book collection for years now. I've just never been inclined to consider reading it any time soon.

[HexMachina]

Would anyone recommend The Simarillion? I've had that lying in my unread book collection for years now. I've just never been inclined to consider reading it any time soon.

I like it, and there are some very interesting parts which have a similar feel to the book The Children of Hurin (which is told in brief in the Silmarillion). The beginning (i.e. the creation of Arda) can be a little heavy going at times but I still enjoy it. I suppose if you don't like that part it is possible to skip that and begin afterwards

ETA: Beren and Luthien is a wonderful part in particular, though the end of their tale is not happy in truth.

[Zorral]

Wouldn't it seem that this topic's question is answered by the reception of Junot Díaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. The way Junot employed Tolkien's Big Bad in contrast to the real life evil of Trujillo -- and that the horror and terror of Sauron -- no matter how evocative Tolkien is about it -- is soft landing, compared to what the terror and horror suffered by the people of the Domincan Republic.

If people weren't still reading LotR, Junot's novel wouldn't have worked so successfully.

Though, of course, many other pop media are part of the novel's reference points too, from comix to cosplay to gaming.

[Darth Richard II]

Would anyone recommend The Simarillion? I've had that lying in my unread book collection for years now. I've just never been inclined to consider reading it any time soon.

Are you kidding?

BEST BOOK EVER READ IT NAO OMG ETC

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

TKS,

Yes. Anyone who says Tolkien's characters are all "black and white" needs to read it.

[HexMachina]

All this Tolkein talk makes me want to read the Silmarillion again. I should chase my cousin up to return it...

[Stannis Eats No Peaches]

Would anyone recommend The Simarillion? I've had that lying in my unread book collection for years now. I've just never been inclined to consider reading it any time soon.

Absolutely. Though it took me three attempts to read it, it's my favourite out of the three Tolkien books I've read (Silm, Hobbit and LOTR). Don't let yourself be put off by the beginning which is heavy-going, particularly the Valaquenta, it gets a lot better. I think the reason I liked it so much was because I didn't know what was going to happen. I'd seen LOTR before reading it, so I mostly knew what was going to happen, no real twists or surprises (except for the end), but I remember at one point while reading the Silmarillion getting caught out

when Beleg is mistakenly killed by Túrin

and feeling like I'd been punched in the stomach. Fantastic book IMO.

[The Killer Snark]

I've heard three people who've read it and loved LotR saying they hated it and gave it on it. But to fair, they don't have identical reading tastes to me.

[HexMachina]

I wouod give it a shot. If you find the Valaquenta bit unsatisfactory it is possible to skim over that. Most of the book should still make sense

[Jo498]

LotR has - in some respects - more depth than the 1st age narratives, because these are some of the myths that are hinted at in all the poems and other deeper layers. But the Silmarillion (and the longer versions of some of these stories in Unfinished Tales or Lost Tales? I am not familiar with the newes publication of the Tale of the children of Hurin) is a beautiful mythology told in the appropriate archaic, sometimes pseudo-biblical fashion.

The first parts (Music of the Ainur and Valaquenta) are about the creation of the world and may be to mythical and slow going for many. But as soon as Feanor shows up it gets really great and the biggest fault is that many of the stories are included only in rather brief versions. (There are earlier longer versions of some, but these are sometimes from older material not yet integrated into the semi-canonical later framework. I vaguely recall a version of the Beren/Luthien tale where the opponent (later Morgoth) was some Prince of Cats)

[The Marquis de Leech]

. I vaguely recall a version of the Beren/Luthien tale where the opponent (later Morgoth) was some Prince of Cats)

Close. The original version of the Beren and Luthien story had Tevildo Prince of Cats in place of Sauron (Morgoth was still very much Morgoth). The story was supposed to be a mythic explanation for cats and dogs not getting along. Meanwhile depending on the version, Beren goes from human to Elf, and back to human again.

The greatest tragedy in all of Tolkien fandom though is that for the Fall of Gondolin, the earliest (and thus weirdest) version is the only full version we have. The 1916 Fall of Gondolin had Morgoth using mechanical dragons (remind you of anything?), and various other oddities that made it impossible to insert into the later framework without massive surgery (surgery Christopher Tolkien wasn't prepared to do).

[sologdin]

gah. read the silmarillion. LotR is literally an appendix to it.

[Lord Zachary]

It's a matter of taste, like everything, I guess. I extremely love Tolkien, The Hobbit, LOTR, The Silmarilion... the world, the history, the cultures, the cool characters, he invented goddamn languages.

technically speaking his writing can sometimes be heavy and hard to face with. I remeber reading the same paragraph over and over and discarding the first book each time for a month. In it the hobbits walk in a forest and Tolkien discribes it. He can be really annoying when discribing things.

But here's the main reason for disagreement about him, In my opinion.

Tolkien was extremely affected by mythology and fairytales. There's a clear divison for good and evil, there's a quest to defeat the villan, it's pretty sured to be happy ended (I guess you can disagree when it comes to The Silmarilion). The plot twists are good, but aren't really shocking and they are predicted. The legenderium is complecated but the story isn't . The characters aren't too deep and hard to really connect to. You can love them, yeah.

So it's whether you like to drown in thoughts about Arda, magical Elves, beautiful landscapes, battles and stuff, or you don't. I do.