Posted on 02/16/2014 6:26:21 PM PST by Perdogg
WH Auden attempted to persuade JRR Tolkien to drop the romance between Aragorn and Arwen from the storyline of The Lord of the Rings, describing it as "unnecessary and perfunctory", an unpublished letter by the author has revealed.
The 1955 letter sees Tolkien writing to his publisher about the difficulties of completing The Return of the King, the third and final part of his magnum opus, in which Aragorn and his men face a final battle with Sauron's troops, as the hobbits Frodo and Sam continue on their journey to destroy the One Ring. At the end, Aragorn is crowned king of Gondor, and marries Arwen, the daughter of Elrond, "Evenstar of her people".
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
They could have approached Mt Doom from the side opposite Sauron’s eye. Landed and snuck into the Sammath Naur. Tossed it into the lava and it’s adone deal. Then they would be home in time for mead/cornflakes.
Sure the wizard had thousands of years but he would have gotten complacent. By the time he would have noticed anything amiss, the ring would be melted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yqVD0swvWU
Listening to the Silmarillion now. Besides the booka listed, I have The Road Goes Ever On and On, the songbook, and the Caemon record on it with Tolkien himself reading poems from the Tolkien Reader. I also still have my 1965 First america printing paperbacks, but they are a bit worn out.
The books I read at least once a year until my thirties. Now I read it every several years,
Chuck Norris melted the ring with his own blood and then roundhouse kicked all of Sauron’s Army into Mount Doom.
He knew it had been found. His minions missed nabbing it at Bilbo’s hole by a matter of hours. He wanted his friggin’ ring back BAD, and a few millennia wasn’t gonna slow him down.
Yeah, saw that one not long after the LotR movies came out. Hysterical and thought-provoking.
I have not read them more than once. I would say that my favorites are probably The Silmarillion, Return of The King (the siege of Minas Tirith was so much more grand than the movie, as well contained the scouring of the Shire), as well as the first few History books, and Morgoth’s Ring (for references to Christ’s redemption of humanity).
Definitely recommend all Tolkien materiel!
I think your daughter put her finger on the crux of the matter, and it's central to Tolkien's overall case for Middle Earth - how, indeed, could a society that ancient have any regard for the ephemerals to come? The Third Age was, after all, the time of the humans, such as they are. The ancients must board their ships and sail to another place. Very few of their companions could contemplate coming with them: Bilbo, Frodo, of course, who made a similar sacrifice themselves, Gimli, Elf-friend, Gandalf, and the list is short or unknown from there. Frodo in particular, who gave up everything to keep it safe for someone else, is perhaps Arwen's counterpart in sacrifice. And it is her place on the ships that he took IIRC.
What then of her? What of a love that would have her give up immortality for a few brief years of companionship with the beloved? It is not inexplicable, I think, it is Tolkien's very deepest commentary on human relationships, deep enough to have it carven on his and his wife's gravestones in the terms of Beren and Luthien. It is, among the many mysteries of Middle Earth, the deepest of them all. I can imagine a Lord Of The Rings without it, but it would be a lesser work. Just my $0.02.
Uh, no.
You’re assuming that the Dark Tower was shorter (or at least lower on the lay of the land) than Mount Doom here. Sauron could see past the mountains on all sides of Mordor, remember, due to the tower being located on the volcanic plateau of Gorgoroth. The Eagles still had to fly past the big Orc strongholds in Durthang, Minas Morgul and Cirith Ungol tower, too; and by the Sea of Núrnen there were colonies of enslaved men and lower-ranking orcs that were working Mordor’s only arable land.
Seriously? I’d knock the bottom out of an elf chick given the opportunity.
When you consider the Bride Price that Elrond expected for Arwen, which was no less the the total defeat of Sauron the greatest of powers in all of Middle Earth and the ascent to the throne as the High King of the Dúnedain was not alone an enormous. It had to be accomplish Aragorn who through was of the Royal Blood had no Kingdom, no army other than the few and scatter Rangers of the North no power other than his strenght and will it truly was a task that could only be accomplish by a great love.
Glad he didn’t listen.
Thanks for the ping.
“Uh, no.”
Uh, yes.
Just finished (re)-reading The Silmarillion. Carcharoth was killed by Huan, the great wolf-hound of Valinor, but not before he mortally wounded Beren. Mablung the elf-warrior was the one who cut the silmaril out.
Well, I read them in the second grade closing on 50 years ago, so I don’t think it’s impossible. This was back when absolutely nobody had heard of them, at least in this country. Got in trouble for reading them when I was supposed to be doing my Dick and Jane workbooks.
Gave a verbal book report to the 2nd grade class. Very confused teacher and students. LOL
Here’s an essay gene Wolfe wrote around 2000 or so concerning Tolkien. Pretty good stuff, he actually wrote Tolkien a letter back in the day and I guess Tolkien responded.
http://www.thenightland.co.uk/MYWEB/wolfemountains.html
Freegards
Many thanks! I’ve got the books, I’ll have to find the time to read them.
Yeah, I try to get them all in once a year. If not all of them, at least LOTR.
We (my family) have been through 3 copies of LOTR (paperback). We are hard on books... Now have a Kindle version, which saves wear and tear on the dead tree versions. The only thing I don’t like about the Kindle version is the lack of readable and easily accessible maps. I have to go back to the paper versions to refresh my memory on the terrain.
Got a leather-bound copy of LOTR this Christmas, very nice; feels wonderful in the hand! I need to next replace my paperback version of the Silmarillion, and get a new copy of Hurin’s Children (one of the dogs took a liking to my nice hardback version).
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