The Hall of Fire

We could do with putting the sophisticated/primitive thing in context. Tolkien helpfully categorises his Men as High, Middle and …er…. pretty low. :D The Rohirrim are definitely Middle; not as sophisticated as the descendants of Númenor but a cut above some in ME. Incidentally, Faramir notes the fea...

Well obviously I think that Éowyn killed the WiKi, but that she wouldn't have lived long enough to kill him were it not for Merry. Team work. :) With respect, I must disagree with the "rich kid" take on Éowyn. It's a modernist take on a figure in a semi-primitive, rough-hewed society and d...

Dunno what happened here.

Who killed the Witch King of Angmar? Well, here is my take on it. I would emphasize the team effort. Were it not for Merry's intervention, Éowyn would have been killed and the prophecy would have been fulfilled in some other way. The situation is at its darkest literally and metaphorically when Éow...

I was raised in a Protestant church and I've never heard anything like that before! I find the notion rather shocking. It almost feels blasphemous or something...the notion that sin can lead to good and the notion that God needed to "prove his love". I really really don't think most Chris...

I made a mess of this post.

Oh the laughter ! Yes. There are several points in the narrative; grim, bleak points mostly, when laughter breaks through. Frodo listening to Sam talking about the tale they are in is another. I think, in both cases, it is a sort of defiance. In Éowyn's case there is the added layer that she seems t...

Many thanks for all these wonderful responses.

I'll comment later.

Very cryptic!

Tolkien has been much criticised, even by fans, for his treatment of Éowyn. She isn't developed much; may as well not be in TTT at all; etc., etc. The author sets her up in almost perfunctory fashion. She walks on stage and promptly falls in love with Aragorn. Bit quick, eh? Only later does Tolkien ...

I'll post here a few pertinent quotes about Éowyn and descriptions of her. ==================================== Mostly from Aragorn's pov: Grave and thoughtful was her glance, as she looked on the king with cool pity in her eyes. Very fair was her face, and her long hair was like a river of gold. Sl...

This is aimed at being the first of a series of discussion threads on Tolkien's characters. The object is general discussion rather than scholarly stuff from MoME. However, I thought it would be nice to start off with some biographical info on the character in this initial post. I'll add more, as an...

How wonderful to "see" everyone. :) Folks, it occurred to me some time ago to start threads on Tolkien's characters. I started one on Gimli but it just ran out of steam. From my opening spiel: I’ve been looking through old threads, and I see that we have had plenty to say about Tolkien’s p...

Count me in!

I too recommend P&P.

I suspect that most of the people that liked LOTR will like Kong, and that most of the people that were put off by Jackson's excesses in those films will be even more put off by them here. Not at all. :) I've said all along that I expect PJ's goofy (IMO) style to be well suited to the goofy Kong ma...

Pearl wrote: First film I've seen with Fiennes in which I fancied him.

What! You didn't fancy him in GoF?

....waves to everyone....


Thanks Jny. So great to "talk" to you again. So great to see all these fine folks.

And thanks for the chocolate.