The Hall of Fire

Well, maybe I wasn't at my clearest on Friday afternoon just before home time, because I'm still not sure if we're talking about the same thing. :roll: I'm not against anybody expressing their opinion, however controversial or paranoid; it's just about how the opinion is expressed, and if there's mo...

OK, to clarify my stance on this subject: 1) Racism and xenophobia are concepts, and concepts are abstract. Of course, a concept can be defined illegal, but how can a penalty be inflicted for just harbouring a specific concept? In this, I think the treaty text is misleading. 2) I'm perfectly fine wi...

Again, a short answer - I'll get back at this subject in general more thoroughly later, after I've had time to do some background research. Rowanberry, which is your society, and what exactly is illegal there? To an American, the idea that someone can go to jail for publishing a pamphlet, even the K...

As why Gildor & co. didn't offer to escort the hobbits, I think they realized that the small folks had a better chance to survive if they would be as invisible as possible; a group of elves would have been easier to spot, and although they could scare off one Black Rider, they probably wouldn't ...

Soli, you definitely read in that text just what you want to see in it. I've got no time at the moment to answer to you more properly; doing it would require much more than the ten minutes I've got before going home. I'll just say for now that, in my country for example, the legislation already does...

At least now the link worked. Yes, a very interesting article, although some of the author's interpretations seem a bit far-fetched to me; like, the One Ring as a feminine entity? Also, I believe Tolkien made quite clear that Míriel's "failure in her responsibilities as wife and mother" is...

Signed. Hope this will have some effect.

I'll probably wait for the DVD, or until it's shown on TV.

I think my daughter was 11 when she first read The Hobbit. I tried to offer it to her a couple of years earlier, but she was scared off by the runes on the title page. :D I believe she would have liked it already then, though. (And, that was before the LOTR movies were released, and she's never seen...

That was well put, solicitr and Jn. I don't subscribe to a "fallen world" belief; but, I can see an "effect of the Ring" in the selfishness and insensitivity of human beings, as well as the capability for pity and mercy and humility that the good guys in the LOTR possess. The for...

I'm glad that your folks are safe, Mahima. :hug: The attack was a big piece of news here on the day it happened, but it was a bit buried under the news from the recent natural disaster areas and, of course, domestic news. One thing that can affect the reception of such news is, of course, what you s...

Voronwë_the_Faithful wrote:'There were no temples in this land. But on the Mountain we spoke to the One, who hath no image. It was a holy place, untouched by mortal art.'

That line resonates with me as well. In the middle of nature, I feel closer to the divine than I ever could in any church or temple.

I'll have to listen to the music samples after I get home, my work computer doesn't have any proper loudspeakers. :( Parts of Stravinsky's Rites of Spring always remind me of the great battles of the First Age, but maybe they could be used for Pelennor, for example. Also, I could see the Autumn and ...

Eru seems to want not only right actions, but freely chosen right actions, even though this opens the door to actions that are wrong as well. That, I think, is a very important aspect through the whole LOTR. All of the characters face situations in which they have to make a choice; and, if even one...

I bought the soundtrack yesterday, and just had to listen through it twice in a row. It was great. :clap: :thumbsup: I probably won't get a chance to see the show :( unless the World Tour they're planning will get to Finland or even somewhere in Scandinavia, or some of our theatres will take it up s...

I think VTSG faltered in that, nobody was willing to do the introductions any longer, and some who had promised to do so just disappeared before it was their turn... :( Some kind of a loose schedule might be good, If we want to keep the discussion in one thread; no fixed time for each chapter, but r...

Erm... What has happened to the thing called "common sense"?

She's absolutely cute.

Wish I had the patience to do something similar.

I think that Fëanor was seduced by beauty and tried to capture to keep it for himself in a way that was wholly untenable. We see the same thing in his desire to own a lock of Galadriel's hair (and what does that say of her willingness to grant Gimli the same request ages later?) I don't see Fëanor ...