The Hall of Fire

I agree he's too old for it; That's more wishful casting than anything else.

Kennneth Branagh is forever stuck in my head as Iago thanks to that deliciously overwrought "I hate the Moor" monologue.

No, Stewart was excellent. He played him as much more introspective, almost a bit Hamletish if I recall correctly. I disagree that it's more tragic if MacB is young; it's a different kind of tragedy but not not a lesser one. Stewart's had a very clear understanding. He knew what was happening, what ...

Di! I saw that production of the Scottish Play when it came to NY! Absolutely superb -- it was such a well done production and Patrick Stewart . . . :bow: indeed. I'm officially impatient for Hamlet now. I do hope that the internet is wrong about it not airing until October. Wampus -- that quote is ...

I tried not to cry and failed pretty badly. David Tennant really is a brilliant actor -- I had no idea, having only seen half of Season 4 and the rest in bits and pieces. (But working on fixing that now!) He has this peculiar way of saying 'well' -- I bet even 'well' itself had no idea it could be s...

I'm not familiar with the Notion Club Papers, but that was very interesting. It absolutely rings true. But Tolkien did the reverse: he generated the first draft, then looked at it as if that draft had been written by someone else, and he was trying to decide what it meant - and in this case eventual...

I second Jane Eyre and might add Pride and Prejudice. I read both when I was in the area of 15.

If you want to stick to something more in the line of fantasy, I'd say The Golden Compass. I first read that when I was 12 but I love it to this day.

Sharkey's ruffians' downfall begins when they are openly confronted by a King's Messenger - a legitimist intervention against the minions of that uber-politician Saruman. The Shirefolk had always kept the King's Laws long after there was no King, "being both ancient and just;" and ruffian...

Going back a long ways to Dan’s proposition of a comparison between the TCBS and the hobbits, I have to agree that it’s not possible to make a direct comparison. The hobbits have no Geoffrey Bache Smith, the TCBS no Sam Gamgee for instance. That said, the parallel is definitely there in more general...

I really should read TATGW, if only to see if there's any mention of one of my pet notions, that the resonance between the Rohirrim and the Americans is more than coincidence: a younger, less refined but more vital culture coming to save the older, established one, arriving in the nick of time. It'...

Gosh, thanks! But surely someone is going to argue with me? Point out something I missed? Stop me from going on at such length? No? Well then, this is a quick (okay, and very rambly) Osgilliation, if you will, before I launch into my next monstrous essay. I was pondering all of this and how it fit w...

I'm not going to read this thread at all yet, but I just finished season three and there is a whole world of WHAT THE FRAK. Is the last one Starbuck? It looks like that's where they're heading and I really hope not because I love her. (I don't actually want the answer to this question.) More, equall...

My point, although the resemblance to the Dead Marshes is certainly no coincidence. Voronwë , thank you for saving me the trouble of trying to find The Shores of Faery. It would have been worth it though -- what a beautiful painting. First off, I apologize if I’m going too far off both in my ramblin...

Soli -- I agree with everything you said. Gondolin is more of a broad view of the war whilst Túrin is an on the ground, personal experience of it. Going back to an earlier point, Túrin is a hero by virtue of his courage and tenacity who spent most of his life in a virtual No Man's Land. I think I'm ...

I completely agree with you, Voronwë, and it's nice to see you, too. :) Incidentally, it was this very thread that reminded me I had been wanting to read this book in the first place, so thank you. In recompense, I'm sure you'll be getting many more "And then this paragraph reminded me of WWI!&...

Late to the party, but I just finished this book. I'm tempted to say I was blown away by it, but that seems a peculiarly irreverent turn of phrase given the subject. I've been reading about the Great War all summer, so I read it not just as an illumination of Tolkien but of the war itself. The main ...

I completely agree with you, Prim! I hope I didn't come across as saying that science strangles spirit still because that's absolutely not what I meant. I think Durkheim's idea is solid and still in some ways applicable, but I would be the last person to accuse science of trying to explain away the ...

Tom Stoppard wrote in Arcadia that "When we have solved all the mysteries and lost all the meaning, we will be alone, on an empty shore." Durkheim (I believe it was) who wrote in the 19th century that science was replacing spirit to the point that it was sapping humanity of something vital...

Frodo and Arwen foil each other in odd ways. Despite, as you said, their limited interactions, they seem to each have a piece of the other. Frodo gains Arwen's journey to Valinor while Arwen takes on Frodo's mortality and suffering. She is an elf touched by humanity, he a hobbit with an elven air. I...

That is an interesting theory, Brian, and I should like to ponder it more. Thanks, Voronwë! That exactly answers what I was wondering. :) I think this in particular is interesting: The chief power (of all the rings alike) was the prevention or slowing of decay (i.e. 'change' viewed as a regrettable ...

Excuse me if I am missing something that is staring me in the face, but what is it that the Rings of Power do exactly? I get why the One Ring had to be destroyed, but beyond having his full potency back, would having it have given Sauron new strength or simply made him whole again? It seems like the...