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Tolkien’s Lord Of The Rings battle scenes were inspired by WW1 experiences
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk ^

Posted on 02/28/2014 4:23:30 AM PST by Perdogg

The harrowing battle scenes and heartache in J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy masterpiece The Lord Of The Rings were inspired by the author’s own First World War nightmare and the death of close friends from Birmingham.

(Excerpt) Read more at birminghammail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Books/Literature; History
KEYWORDS: jrrtolkien; lordoftherings; lotr; tolkien; wwi
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The LOTR-FOTR was published on the 40th anniversary of the start of World war I and LOTR-TTT was published Armistice Day 1955.
1 posted on 02/28/2014 4:23:30 AM PST by Perdogg
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To: SunkenCiv; Tolkien

LOTR ping


2 posted on 02/28/2014 4:24:13 AM PST by Perdogg (Ted Cruz-Rand Paul 2016)
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To: Perdogg

This is pretty obvious.


3 posted on 02/28/2014 4:24:16 AM PST by Tax-chick (I've forgotten most of those languages, but I remember the joke.)
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To: Tax-chick

I thought the battle of the 5 Armies in the Hobbit was also inspired by WWI.


4 posted on 02/28/2014 4:25:53 AM PST by Perdogg (Ted Cruz-Rand Paul 2016)
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To: Aevery_Freeman; ShadowAce; Jack Hydrazine; Altariel; nuancey; Thorliveshere; skinkinthegrass; ...

ping


5 posted on 02/28/2014 4:26:30 AM PST by Perdogg (Ted Cruz-Rand Paul 2016)
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To: Perdogg

Yes. And he had such reverence for the horse, even giving them their own civilization. Long live Shadowfax. One amazing man.


6 posted on 02/28/2014 4:31:21 AM PST by SueRae (It isn't over. In God We Trust.)
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To: Perdogg

That’s a very well-designed battle. I did maps of it for the homeschool association’s Hobbit Club a couple of years ago. The text makes everything very clear, including the location of key figures as the battle progresses.

The siege of Gondor in “The Return of the King” is, in its details, the most reminiscent of WWI, in my opinion.


7 posted on 02/28/2014 4:32:11 AM PST by Tax-chick (I've forgotten most of those languages, but I remember the joke.)
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To: SueRae; Perdogg

I was just going to remark on that. Tolkien obviously loved his horse-cavalry. Sometimes it seems as if his 20th century Christian brain was fighting against his old Germanic heart.


8 posted on 02/28/2014 4:34:52 AM PST by Tax-chick (I've forgotten most of those languages, but I remember the joke.)
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To: Perdogg
Tolkien’s Lord Of The Rings battle scenes were inspired by WW1 experiences

Yes....yes it was. this is not news....

9 posted on 02/28/2014 4:39:58 AM PST by Vaquero (Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: Perdogg

The Battle of Helms Deep seems almost a copy of the siege of Constantinople...


10 posted on 02/28/2014 4:51:09 AM PST by 2banana (My common ground with terrorists - they want to die for islam and we want to kill them)
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To: 2banana; Perdogg

Why invent a battle from scratch if you don’t have to?

Tolkien had his own experiences of mountaineering in the Swiss Alps, but the scene of the Fellowship of the Ring trying to go over the Misty Mountains is very similar to a passage in Hillaire Belloc’s “The Path to Rome.”


11 posted on 02/28/2014 5:23:27 AM PST by Tax-chick (I've forgotten most of those languages, but I remember the joke.)
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To: Perdogg

Thanks for the ping.


12 posted on 02/28/2014 5:53:48 AM PST by Altariel ("Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!")
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To: Perdogg

There is a LOTR? Tolkien ping list? put me on it!


13 posted on 02/28/2014 6:01:58 AM PST by DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis
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To: Perdogg

Please put me on the LOTR ping list. Thanks!


14 posted on 02/28/2014 6:25:46 AM PST by fidelis (Zonie and USAF Cold Warrior)
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To: fidelis; All

I am starting a LOTR ping list let me know if you want on it.


15 posted on 02/28/2014 9:00:48 AM PST by Perdogg (Ted Cruz-Rand Paul 2016)
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To: Perdogg

Please put me on your LOTR ping list. Thanks.


16 posted on 02/28/2014 9:22:27 AM PST by LibertarianLiz
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To: Perdogg
The LOTR-FOTR was published on the 40th anniversary of the start of World war I ...

Cool writers do that kind of detail... makes the writing and experience so much richer.

17 posted on 02/28/2014 9:52:02 AM PST by GOPJ ({David} "Gregory, usually as alert and twitchy as a squirrel, flat-lined." Richard Cohen NYT)
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To: Perdogg

On!


18 posted on 02/28/2014 12:12:52 PM PST by JDoutrider
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To: Tax-chick

Well his job in the army in WW1 was to break in the horses.


19 posted on 03/01/2014 2:19:07 AM PST by Vanders9
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To: Perdogg

Sure, put me on it, please.


20 posted on 03/01/2014 3:10:05 AM PST by Tax-chick (Lost to headquarters.)
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