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To: A. Pole; HairOfTheDog
Gandalf=Wotan
Aragorn=Siegfried
Arwen=Brunnhilde

Hmm, not really. Gandalf is rather a type of a Biblical priest or prophet or angel (he is after all a type of incarnated angelic being). Aragorn and Arven correspond rather to the JRR Tolkien himself and Edith Bratt while the role of Elrond could be inspired by Father Francis.

I don't see why Tolkien couldn't have taken characters from classical Germanic mythology and then adapted and modified them with his own personal characteristics. It is certainly an author's prerogative to do so. So what you say and what I say may be right on different levels.

Weren't you also the one who hasn't read it since you were a teenager? - I think there are so many layers to the story that there is certainly more there than you could have picked up with a teenager's perspective. Give it another try

Yeah, I definitely plan to read the trilogy again and then watch the movie again. It's strange that my son (who is 19) absolutely LOVED the books and couldn't put them down, but my daughter, who is 15 (the same age I was when I read LOTR) thought that the story was slow and boring. She's a big fan of the Harry Potter books but that's definitely juvenile literature and LOTR was written for adults.

Another book I could not get into was the Silmarillon. It started out biblical, begat this, begat that, until I thought I might as well read the REAL bible since it has more relevance to me.

105 posted on 10/07/2002 7:47:37 PM PDT by Alouette
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To: Alouette
I think only really varsity geeks that have read and pondered LoTR many times can get into Silmarillion... You are not alone there. It does read like a reference manual... a history text. You are not alone if you didn't get into it. Yet.... maybe next time.

I use it as a reference, to look things up in as a study... Like the history of the Rings and the history of the Wizards... but not for reading like a novel.
106 posted on 10/07/2002 8:02:30 PM PDT by HairOfTheDog
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