Discussion Forums > The Lounge

How would YOU have ended Lord of the Rings?

<< < (2/13) > >>

AceHigh:
Whiny little hobbits die when they march through an orc territory.  ;D

Reminded me of an interesting interpretation by someone else:
(click to show/hide)
--- Quote ---In my teenage interpretation I pretty much saw the Hobbits as children or simply boring. The dwarves reminded me too much of greedy capitalist-pigs and they too were pretty boring. Their rules were cool and Moria was a wonderful place, but I disliked their greed vehemently - and who wants to be short anyhow? The elves were fascinating, beautiful and especially their immortality and closeness to nature was cool, but they were kind of dull and they fought for the wrong side. Instead I felt a natural attraction to Sauron, who was the person who gave the world adventure, adversity and challenges in the first place. His One Eye, the One Ring and the tower of Barad-Dur are all attributes similar to those of Óðinn. The One Eye was like Óðinn's eye, the One Ring was like Óðinn's ring, Draupnir ("Dripper"), and Barad-Dur was like the tower or throne of Óðinn, called Hliðskjálf ("Secret Ritual-Site"). His Uruk-Hai and Olog-Hai ("Troll-Race") were like Viking berserkers, the Warges were like Óðinnic werewolves, and so forth. I could easily identify with the fury of the "dark forces", and enjoyed their existence very much because they were making a boring and peaceful world dangerous and exciting.

I grew up reading the traditional Scandinavian fairy tales, where the Pagan gods are presented as "evil" creatures, as "trolls" and "goblins", and we all know how the inquisition turned Freyr (Cernunnos/Dionysus/Bacchus et cetera) into "Satan". Tolkien was no better. He had turned Óðinn into Sauron and my Pagan forefathers into the fighting Uruk-Hai. To me the "dark forces" attacking Gondor were like the Vikings attacking Charlemagne's Christian France, the "dark forces" attacking Rohan were like the Vikings attacking the Christian England. And I may add; the Vikings eventually lost their war as well, just like Sauron and the orcs did - and I didn't mind supporting the loosing part.
--- End quote ---

So a good ending? Sauron gets the ring, rapes Gondor, marches on Rivendell and pretty much conquers most of the land. Without any weak enemies left to fight, Sauron and Saruman decide that there can be only one leader, so they turn on each other. Sauron seems to have an advantage at first glance, but Saruman by that time has already bio-engineered cross-breeds of orcs and ents making freaking abominations. Later with the power of the industry which was fuelled by pretty much all the forest on that continent, Saruman defeats Sauron by bombarding him and his tower with heavy artillery. After the dust settles, orcs and humans from the south build new empires based on strength and survival. Competing with each other they both reach atomic age and blow the whole continent into a huge crater. When there is nobody left, elves will appear on their ships like the Cowardly French, claim the land and declare themselves victorious.... after a few weeks they die of radiation because the stupid elves had no inventive advancing technology and thus don't grasp the concept of radiation.

Tiffanys:

--- Quote from: datora on February 26, 2011, 01:33:55 AM ---From a serious viewpoint, Tolkien's work is so utterly masterful that I would not dare attempt to "improve" it.
--- End quote ---

Sadly, I disagree, and Tolkien himself did too.

"The most critical reader of all, myself, now finds many defects, minor and major, but being unfortunately under no obligation either to review the book or to write it again, he will pass over these in silence, except one that has been noted by others: the book is too short." (LoTR I, 9-10)

Ixarku:

--- Quote from: AceHigh on February 26, 2011, 02:34:29 AM --- Competing with each other they both reach atomic age and blow the whole continent into a huge crater. When there is nobody left, elves will appear on their ships like the Cowardly French, claim the land and declare themselves victorious.... after a few weeks they die of radiation because the stupid elves had no inventive advancing technology and thus don't grasp the concept of radiation.

--- End quote ---

Oh, god, now the Elves are French?!  I thought they were supposed to be the Jews.

Fool010:

--- Quote from: Tiffanys on February 26, 2011, 02:55:05 AM ---
--- Quote from: datora on February 26, 2011, 01:33:55 AM ---From a serious viewpoint, Tolkien's work is so utterly masterful that I would not dare attempt to "improve" it.
--- End quote ---

Sadly, I disagree, and Tolkien himself did too.

"The most critical reader of all, myself, now finds many defects, minor and major, but being unfortunately under no obligation either to review the book or to write it again, he will pass over these in silence, except one that has been noted by others: the book is too short." (LoTR I, 9-10)

--- End quote ---

I disagree about the length, the trilogy is far too long for the story it tells. At least 1/3 is made of background info, which may enrich the context, but kills the rythm. One should never forget Tolkien wasn't an author, he remained a scholar for his whole life. His writing ability never matched the scope of his creation, not to mention he never succeeded to give enough depth to the characters, therefore never allowing them to be anything else but cutouts.

I give him credit for the sheer scope of his creation, but became increasingly critical of his insufficient storytelling ability. LOTR should've been part of a larger cycle, but as he wasn't motivated enough for that, he ended up cramming too much stuff into it.


--- Quote from: datora on February 26, 2011, 01:33:55 AM ---It seemed a needless tragedy for her to have to choose between a mortal life and being with her people.  Given the magic of the lands and the very powerful people in them, I didn't really see the need for her to die.  For example, if Elrond, Galadriel and Gandalf all gave their Elven Rings to her before they departed, the final, fading power in them might have sustained her.  As a Bearer of those Rings, she would have also had the right.

--- End quote ---

Fanboy, are you ?

Is it really that difficult to understand that one may not want an eternal life separated from the one you loved the most ?

1000mAh:
I would havwe finished it exactly as it ended in the book. Thre was too much missing... From the movies.

but yeah, aslo when you ask how I would end it:
Sauron would get back in full powar, gollum would be his servant, Aragon would get half dead, frodo and sam would save them, Sam would defeat Sauron, Frodo would take the ring from Sam, they would go to the volcano,  they would plan to drop the ring, gollum interferes, accidentaly drops the ring, yells ''NNNNNOOOOO!!!''' and cries. then the rest like it happened in the book.

ANd I agree with the story lenght, the sotry was too short :P
And if you think that he should have been a master of writing, etc, etc, you just like to whine, he wrote it well enough, it is you who lacks imagination if you say ''the characters didn't have enough depth'' Lack of imagination is bad, the less you have imagination, the more ''normal'' you're, the more you'll sink into the masses without opinion and who all dress in the same way, think same way and lack orginality.

And yeah, tLotR got many affections from History, Scandinavian Mythology & Kalevala, the Finnish national epos.
Tolkien even studied finnish so he could read Kaleva in it's orginal language.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page