Tag: Lord of the Rings

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RoP

Okay, so on one hand, Disa’s character is trite. Grumpy husband, bubbly wife. Oh look, she gets a scene with hidden strength. She almost kinda threatens Elrond. She fusses at her kids.

That being said, I think she’s great. I like Disa. I liked her fussing at her kids, husband, and Elrond. I liked the singing bit. I like the way Durin plays off her. The contrast works, the development works, and it works organically within the characters.

The source of Durin’s conflict with Elrond worked extremely well for me, and it ground those three in a very mundane, plausible extrapolation of their internal differences. That 20 years isn’t a great thing to an elf and is to a dwarf, themselves a long-linged species, worked so well it seemed out of place in the movie. Disa keeps going with that. Magic materials! Magical races! Elves!

And grumpy husband, bubbly wife.

They really flesh-out the show.

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Home is behind, the world is ahead

And there are many paths to tread.

Once you start looking for ‘people who ignore the outside world are destroyed by it’ themes in Tolkien, they’re everywhere.

Nargothrond, Gondolin, and narrowly averted in the Shire.

The Silmarillion is not as well polished as the LotR, and one way to see it is in the twists. The hobbits of the Shire didn’t want to pay attention to the outside world, like the elves of the first age. They turned inward and bent their efforts on the doing of good things. They mastered their crafts, took care of their people, and paid attention to their own histories and doings. And doom came to them.

But because several hobbits did get involved in the outside world, catastrophe passed from the Shire. Gondolin and Nargothrond fell. That twist is the mark of a well-polished novel, unlike the beautiful but somewhat protoformed stories of earlier books.

The wood elves of Mirkwood got off surprisingly easily.

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Fiction

Writing fiction makes me feel like an evil chessmaster, sitting in the dark. On publishing day I reveal my plots and stratagems, and either conquer the world (or a few readers) or die trying.

Also, just finished a reread of the Return of the King, capping my reread of Tolkien’s big 4. It’s better than I remember. The parts I remember disliking (trouble in the Shire, slow ending, etc.) are actually fitting. The general mood, one of a world fading, I still passionately disagree with, but the book itself is better than I recalled.

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LotR

I reread Fellowship trying to regain the joy of it and maybe hatch some story ideas.

The former happened. It’s better than I remember.

The latter sort of happened. I did forment some story ideas, but they’re gaming ideas. I got plots for DnD games, not fics.

I’m going to go get a cookie.