Outraged KC Star columnist rips "The Two Towers" - too much disgregard for the text

The Kansas City Star ^ | December 22, 2002 | John Mark Eberhart

[The Iguana]

I work with John.

As you can see he's a bit of a purist.

Later on I'll post my rebuttal.

[Overtaxed]

Did John read the Appendices? I believe all that stuff about Dwarf women having beards is found there.

[Lil'freeper]

The femdwarf thing took me by surprise, too, but sure enough, it is in the appendicies! Better yet, the information regarding femdwarves is attributed to no less than Gimli himself. I thought the beard reference was plesantly humorous and gave the film-Aragorn a chance to demonstrate a sense of humor, an important thing for the future king of Men.

[Overtaxed]

I don't know why this guy has such a problem moving TTT action into ROTK. Quite a bit of the book is Appendices and they're leaving out The Scouring of the Shire.

[Lil'freeper]

I think he wants the attention of being one of the few to write a poor review.

[The Iguana]

What it comes down to is that his favorite scene from his favorite book got pushed back to the next movie.

I might not have done things as PJ did. But his decisions are defensible.

[The Iguana]

It was a bit absurd to accuse Jackson of "selling out."

It was a danger with the first movie more than anything else.

Now that Jackson has made New Line back all its money and then some with FOTR, he has far more clout to follow his creative instincts in the remaining movies. I fail to see why he would suddenly be beholden to the money counters now if he wasn't when putting together FOTR.

[Paul Atreides]

Personally, I haven't encountered a book that has been made into a movie, that hasn't had some changes made to it.

[Vast Buffalo Wing Conspiracy]

AFAIK, the appendixes never state that Dwarf women grow beards. It says that there are few of them (about one third of Dwarf population), and that they are so much like to male Dwarves, that non-Dwarves mistake them for male Dwarves. However, nowhere does it say that Dwarf women have beards.

Tolkien left this ambiguous, so let us do a little basic deduction. Tolkien says that Dwarves are jealous of their "rights" - ie, they are highly protective of their women and don't like to expose them to outsiders or potential rivals. He also says that Dwarf women seldom travel, and by implication, they travel in disguise as, and among, Dwarf men. In other words, Dwarf women are secluded from all other men except their husbands and relations, and when forced to travel, for reasons of secrecy and security, they travel in disguise. Disguising them as Dwarf men is a simple enough ruse to avoid undue attention from non-Dwarves.

This is just my own deduction, but I have always assumed that when forced to travel, Dwarf women went in "drag", as it were, with false beards, and thus easily passed themselves off as males to non-Dwarves. It's not that they naturally grow beards, but that they can easily disguise themselves as male Dwarves if need be, because non-Dwarves have seldom seen Dwarf women and so can't spot the disguise.

This is my own interpretation, of course. But it does not conflict with what Tolkien wrote about Dwarves.

[Vast Buffalo Wing Conspiracy]

Yes, but the appendix does not actually say that the Dwarf women grow beards. Also, Dwarves have a natural tendency to dissimulate when talking to non-Dwarves about Dwarvish matters. They don't like non-Dwarves learning Khuzdul, for instance, and keep their ancient language a secret unto themselves. Given that they are jealous of their "rights" concerning their women, they are not too likely to be a source of 100% genuine information about them.

[Vast Buffalo Wing Conspiracy]

I don't have my books handy, so if you can locate it, quote the passage that says they have beards. My memory is that it only states that Dwarf women look enough like Dwarf men to non-Dwarves, that they can't tell the difference; but it also says that the Dwarves are secretive and hide their women from outsiders. Implying deception (ie, false beards). My memory is that the passage does not state that they actually grow beards; in other words, like many things in Tolkien, it can be interpreted in different ways.

[HairOfTheDog]

Funny things to pick out as the two major gripes...

[Overtaxed]

It says that there are few of them (about one third of Dwarf population), and that they are so much like to male Dwarves, that non-Dwarves mistake them for male Dwarves.

Maybe they wear false beards when abroad? Seems to me a Dwarf without a beard would stand out.

[Overtaxed]

Fromm the Appendices on Durin's Folk. It doesn't say anything about dwarf women disguising themselves either.

Dís was the daughter of Thráin II. She is the only dwarf-woman named in these histories. It was said by Gimli that there are few dwarf-women, probably no more than a third of the whole people. They seldom walk abroad except at great need, They are in voice and appearance, and in garb if they must go on a journey, so like to the dwarf-men that the eyes and ears of other peoples cannot tell them apart. This has given rise to the foolish opinion among Men that there are no dwarf-women, and that the Dwarves 'grow out of stone'. It is because of the fewness of women among them that the kind of the Dwarves increases slowly, and is in peril when they have no secure dwellings. For Dwarves take only one wife or husband each in their lives, and are jealous, as in all matters of their rights. The number of dwarf-men that marry is actually less than one-third. For not all the women take husbands: some desire none; some desire one that they cannot get, and so will have no other. As for the men, very many also do not desire marriage, being engrossed in their crafts.

[BradyLS]

You can gripe about the small things, like whether Middle-Earth "looks" Byzantine or Medieval when there is nothing to really go on. Or you can gripe about the big things: like whether the Ents are or are not smart enough to go to war against Saruman without having to be tricked by a Hobbit. *shrug*

[Vast Buffalo Wing Conspiracy]

Maybe they wear false beards when abroad? Seems to me a Dwarf without a beard would stand out.

That is precisely what I am implying.

[Vast Buffalo Wing Conspiracy]

Yes, that is the quote; as I remembered, it does not say that they grow beards, only that non-dwarves cannot tell them apart due to "voice and appearance" - and "in garb if they go on a journey"! So they dress like Dwarf men; no reason why they wouldn't put on a fake beard to complete the disguise.

[HairOfTheDog]

Or you can try to not gripe, and listen to a fellow fan tell the story, even though you have heard it before.

Anyone who tries to retell a story invariably has different favorite things about it, different things that they see as vital, and things they inevitably missed or remembered wrong. When you listen to them tell the story as they saw it, it is tempting to interrupt and say they are telling it wrong. But the meddling is what wrecks the telling, not the errors.

I love these books. If I told the story, I would have included Tom Bombadil and his lady Goldberry. But I also know that Jackson was also telling a story he loves, including his favorite things. No story is so sacred that it can't be retold by someone else who grows it, gives it their own flavor and perhaps embellishes it with a few things he wishes had happened. That is how stories become legends and mythologies that survive and grow, because we can all feel they are ours to see. There is so much that we all, including Jackson, saw very similarly in the story. A tribute to Tolkien's ability to create a grand and real vision.

[HairOfTheDog]

Or they might have beards... I thought the joke was cute.

[Lil'freeper]

Yes, but film-Gimli does not actually *say* she-dwarfs grow beards, only that they are indistinguishable from he-dwarfs. This is right from the text. The beard reference was a joke between film-Aragorn and film-Eowyn. I thought it was quite funny and contributed to the depth of the film-Aragorn character. As I said previously, a King of Men should have a sense of humor.