Favorite and least favorite chapters from LOTR

[Beutlin]

Not entirely sure if this topic does belong in here.

What are your 4 favorite chapters from “The Lord of the Rings”?

Mine are:

• A Journey in the Dark
• The Bridge of Khazâd-dûm
• The Land of Shadow
• Mount Doom

What are your 2 least favorite chapters from “The Lord of the Rings”?

• The Houses of Healing
• The Steward and the King

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Not entirely sure if this topic does belong in here.

Absolutely.

However, I don't really have any favorite or least favorite chapters. I love them all.

[Passdagas the Brown]

I have no memory of a disappointing chapter (or section), unfortunately, so I also can't participate!

[Beutlin]

I have no memory of a disappointing chapter (or section), unfortunately, so I also can't participate!

Then: If you had to choose, what are your 4 favorite chapters from the total 62?

[Passdagas the Brown]

But I don't have to choose, so I won't.

But I will think on it some more.

ETA: My fondest memories are of the Shire (all chapters before the Old Forest), the Barrow Downs, the Witch King entering Minas Tirith, and Frodo and Sam on the slopes of Mount Doom, so I suppose those chapters sit close to the top.

[kzer_za]

Favorites: Choices of Master Samwise, To Grey Havens, Mount Doom, Battle of Pelennor Fields

Least favorite: Not sure specifically, but I think a couple of the Rohan chapters. I have a hard time connecting with the hobbit-less portions of book III. I realize this is part of the point though - the hobbits are our window into a mythic world.

[yovargas]

It's been maybe a decade since I last read LOTR but I do recall that I always found Helm's Deep a minor slog. The attempts to describe the battle field and army movements and whatnot never worked for me.

[Passdagas the Brown]

yov,

Tolkien may have agreed with you. I believe he once said that if someone ever adapted LOTR to the screen, that they could dispense with Helm's Deep without doing any damage to the story.

Though I still love that chapter.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

While he did say that in the context of an adaptation, I don't believe that he implied that the chapter was not good or "a slog". Here is the actual comment:

If both the Ents and the Hornburg cannot be treated at sufficient length to make sense, then one should go. It should be the Hornburg, which is incidental to the main story; and there would be this additional gain that we are going to have a big battle (of which as much should be made as possible), but battles tend to be too similar: the big one would gain by having no competitor.

That makes sense in the context of an adaptation, particularly one that was less than 3 films (come to think of it, I don't know how many films Zimmerman was proposing). But it doesn't suggest that it is not good. There is plenty of other things that are even more incidental to the main story (beginning with Tommy B!), but should never be called "bad".

[Passdagas the Brown]

I certainly don't agree. To be honest, I love every single chapter. Including everything in the Appendices.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Clearly, you are not saying that you don't agree with me, correct? Because that would not make sense, since I am saying that it is good.

[Passdagas the Brown]

Sorry, that wasn't clear. I meant to say that I certainly don't agree with yov!

I only disagree with you if someone is paying me money to do so.

[yovargas]

I didn't say it was bad, just that I usually found it a bit difficult to get through. I think it's hard to pull off complex battles on the written page. It's the kind of thing that works far better visually IMO. (And yes, I love the movie's HD. )

[Passdagas the Brown]

I didn't say it was bad, just that I usually found it a bit difficult to get through. I think it's hard to pull off complex battles on the written page. It's the kind of thing that works far better visually IMO. (And yes, I love the movie's HD. )

Hilarious. I really dislike the movies' HD - one of least favorite extended sequences across the four films. And at least the book had some people on the opposing side, as opposed to just a mass of Uruks!

[Smaug's voice]

Helm's Deep was one of the best moments in TTT if you cut out the torch runner
and surfing.
Very realistic and almost no use of slo-mo and CGI which I dislike generally in battle scenes. IIRC a few critics compared to some of
Kurosawa's battle scenes. But I will end here. Not the place to discuss this. New thread?

I don't have a favorite chapter. All are beautifully written with lots of things to admire. But if a gunman keeps me at point black range and asks this then :

Council of Elrond.
Shadows of the past.
All chapters in Moria.

Meeting Gollum
Shelob's Layer
Choices of Master Samwise
The Uruk-Hai
The voice of Saruman.

The whole war at Minas Tirith
the passing of the Grey Company
Houses of healings
Ride of the Rohirrim
The Land of Shadow
Mt.Doom
Fields of Cormallen
the Grey havens

Yeah, I'll probably be shot.

[Siberian]

It's easier to name scenes than chapters. I love The Old Forest scenes (even Tom Bombadil!) and everything else in FOTR. In TTT, Rohan, Helm's Deep and meeting Faramir. In ROTK, everything in Gondor, Mount Doom, Éowyn & Faramir, Scouring of the Shire.

There's nothing I actively dislike but on my last reread I realized Sam and Frodo's trek across Mordor are the scenes I remembered least. They're pretty depressing, come to think about it.

I didn't say it was bad, just that I usually found it a bit difficult to get through. I think it's hard to pull off complex battles on the written page. It's the kind of thing that works far better visually IMO. (And yes, I love the movie's HD. Smile)

The book's HD is suspenseful and believable, without being bogged down by details. The movies' HD is silly and unrealistic and also shrinks Middle-earth (how did the elves know to show up just in time?) Isn't it like a week from Lórien?

Just like the book itself, warfare in LOTR (and even in Hobbit) is a combination of archaic and modern. The armies are bigger than typical medieval and they have organization and discipline more resembling WWI (no doubt based on Tolkien's own experience). Unlike PJ, Tolkien doesn't forget the implications of the lack of reliable instant communication (still an issue during WWI) and the fog of war in general. PJ is supposed to be a WWI buff - well, you could never tell it from his movies.

Saruman's weapons are actually the most modern ones, orcs have an equivalent of explosives and flamethrowers.

[yovargas]

The book's HD is suspenseful and believable, without being bogged down by details.

For me, it does get bogged down by details. YMMV, of course.

[Siberian]

I read military fiction but some if has a lot of lengthy infodumps, so HD is nothing by comparison. Although I admit that getting more familiar with the military history helped in general.