Posted on 07/26/2002 11:29:06 AM PDT by HairOfTheDog
Welcome to The Green Dragon Inn
This is a chapter discussion of The Two Towers, volume two of the Lord of the Rings. It is a continuation of our discussion of Lord of the Rings that started with Fellowship of the Ring and finished a few weeks back. FoTR discussion thread.
We will cover one section of the book per week. Sometimes short, related chapters may be combined, and the process may evolve as we go to keep everybody happy! If you are joining late, jump right in, but please stick to the chapter currently being discussed. We should be a bit careful with topic and spoilers (especially if we are joined by some reading for the first time) but feel free to draw lines related to other events in the story. If you do misbehave too much you will be sent to Took's Corner. As always, if you want to chit-chat or share other news… I would probably be best to post that in The Hobbit Hole thread.
It is OK this time to share images from the Two Towers (that illustrate the current chapter of course!) They are fun snapshots that show our story coming to life. Use your head, we don't want to slow down the thread too much, but most of us love a few pics in the thread.
Every week I will ping you to the new chapter or section …. Let me know if you would like to be on - or off - this list. I will serve as the Thain of the list.
So lets read, listen and become inspired by the many aspects of The Lord of the Rings that touch us deeply and reconnect us to the values we aspire to. Many great discussions have already been had, and I hope that this thread will produce even more. Many FReepers have wonderful things to say about LoTR, whether the fantasy reconnects them with their faith, with their relationships with friends and family, or simply illustrates the splendor of great acts of heroism and sacrifice in the constant battle of virtue versus corruption.
Besides, we Tolkien fans need something to keep us busy while we wait for the film to come out December 19. This thread will adjust the schedule as necessary to be finished before the film comes out!
Yes I know what you mean! I just can't picture him! - Did you check out the links to the artist's images at the bottom of my chapter post? Again... none of them seem quite right either... but perhaps that is our failing. I grew up with the Hildebrandt Treebeard... but he is too "man" like... Nevertheless, he has taken over my mind's eye more than I think he should have. Too much like a "living" thing to ever be mistaken for an ordinary tree if he stood still... But the others don't work for me either...
Don't drink all the pints - its early!
?
We're a pretty sorry lot, eh?
To tell the truth, I don't really picture anyone in LotR. In fact, I rarely think pictorially (if that's the right term) at all. People are concepts, ideas, words, actions, personalities, etc. One of the reason's I've avoided the movies is that they might stick pictures on impressions I want left alone.
Treebeard is an old, wise, kind, understanding, slow to act, powerful, dangerous being that looks like a tree (of a particular type) if he doesn't move. *That* is Treebeard (sorta) to me. I rarely trouble myself with wondering what he would *actually* look like. The same goes for Elves and for a great many other things. I just figure I'll recognize what I need to if that becomes necessary.
I guess this is an odd way of viewing LotR, to say nothing of the world in general. I find it convenient except that I have a hard time factually describing people to the point that I often forget people's names. However, I nearly always remember what people do or what they think and say.
I guess I've spent too much time in the world of ideas and imagination and not enough in the concrete real world.
Tuor
PS: I think my way of viewing the world is vaguely similar to Entish: names in Entish are not merely labels, but describe almost everything *about* a thing; a name describes what a thing is and does. While my thought process might give something a name, that's just a label to cover the whole concept/idea/personality...a sort of mental shorthand. I suspect Treebeard has to juggle such differences when talking to Hobbits or probably any other non-Ent.
Pippin is ALWAYS full of questions. How he could have been reduced to a dumb blonde in the movie, I don't know.
So what did you think of my theory about why M & P were brought along...at least as far as Pip was concerned?
I know what you mean. I'm anxious to see them because all I've got in my head is the image of the apple throwing trees in The Wizard of Oz...and that ain't right...
It certainly ain't... I got the Bakshi Ent goin' through my head...somebody please help me!!!
I'm also curious as to how they will depict the ents movement.
I'll have to re-read that part of The Fellowship again. All I can remember about Gandalf's supporting the younger hobbits was that it was sudden and unexpected. Did Gandalf act on a whim, inspiration, or had he been sneaking peeks at Galadriel's mirror?
You've probably got your finger on what is most important. But it's probably true also that a person's physical aspects, their appearance as well as their physique, strength, height, beauty or lack of, etc. influence immeasurably their personalities, actions, behavior, etc. Appearance also influences the way others react to a person, uavoidably influencing their life in major ways.
You can tell I don't get out much. :)
Tuor
I was wondering if you have enjoyed any of the paintings or illustrations of Middle Earth?
My main worry with the film was that the casting and the settings might be off. But for me, these things were amazingly right on target. I do think that the New Zealand countryside may have a different feel than the English countryside, but it's close enough (esp. as conceived by Jackson), and once away from the Shire, perhaps irrelevant.
It's the head and face that especially baffle my mind, and the total package always seems to meld into something like the Wizard of Oz example that was given earlier.
Someone asked about the Entwives earlier, and that was something that I wondered about as well. There seemed to be some emphasis on the Entwives in this chapter, to the point that in the back of your mind, from that part onward, you wondered if Tolkien would produce them somewhere in the story. Otherwise why bring them up in that way?
If he did bring them up later, I missed it totally. But I did wonder about the Old Forest (bordering the Shire), where there were animated trees (one that almost devoured one of the Hobbits). Tom Bombadil's region. There wasn't (to my memory) any reference that would make one think that those "animated" trees in the Old Forest were Entwives, but it did cross my mind that this was the only other place where we ran into trees (or tree-like creatures) that were animated.
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