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dweomeroflightI've done it! Read The Hobbit, LOTR and The Silmarillion in a row.
Reviews (ish) under cut link (well these are re-reads):
I can't even remember the first time I read The Hobbit. I would have been quite small. It was one of the first ever "big" books I read by myself without help and I remember loving it alot.
Good thing is: I still do. I actually think I like Tolkien's writing style best in The Hobbit, especially the intrusive narrator and the voice of Bilbo Baggins. It's a lovely little fantasy adventure and hobbits are such a lovely invention. I also love that Tolkien's love for music shows through even here: who could ever forget "That's what Bilbo Baggins hates... so carefully, carefully with the plates."If you take that out of the movie Jackson, I kill you
I also liked the hints of things that were to come. The ring of course is the obvious thing, but also the references to Thorin's family, in particular his father who had to be rescued from Sauron's secret hideaway in Mirkwood in order to get the dragon's map. That is one of the only times the Gandalf we come to know later shines through in The Hobbit. Most of the time he is mysterious, eccentric and really quite annoying. I also found it interesting in my appendices of LOTR that the reason for getting rid of Smaug was to preempt Sauron rising again, and freeing up land for "the good people" to muster troops without an evil dragon in their midst who would support Sauron.
I really loved the reference to Bilbo becoming more Tookish throughout his adventure, and the elves and dwarves realisation that hobbits were tougher, hardier, more honest and noble than they had first thought. Bilbo goes home never to be respectable again but it was worth it... perhaps going overseas for an extended period of time made me appreciate this more than usual, but I felt that in the case of both Bilbo and Frodo's journey's, I understood the emptiness of the homecoming more now than I ever did.
Onwards to LOTR- I also watched all three movies just to be thorough because I'm weird like thatalso they are amazing movies
On the topic of the novel... two things stood out for me on a re read.
The first was that The Fellowship of the Rings felt like it was written differently to the other two books- the other two started getting very high falutin with many "lo's" and "behold's" etc I also felt like it's pacing was better as the range of landscapes and people's was more evenly spread out. I know that LOTR is the story of the rising of the Age of Men, but it is the hobbits and the elves who interested me most. This is also perhaps, what gives LOTR its lasting emotional resonance... the knowledge that you are reading about the vestiges of a dying world; in all of its splendour, despair and great beauty and tragedy. That is the saddest part of all of LOTR for me; the knowledge that Frodo cannot go on after he completes this task, and nor can the elves whom he and Bilbo love so much. Poor Sam doesn't realise this till it is too late.
I think that in many ways the films captured this despair better than in the book. Arwen, for example, is given a proper story, rather than a mere appendices at the back and we all know that she will fade and become mortal and suffer for her love of Aragorn. Galadrial must pass the ultimate test- give in to power, not for powers sake, but to survive (as Mab tried to do to no avail in Merlin) or fade away. I love Cate Blanchett's role in this. The sadness and the weight of her wise years as she says softly "I have passed the test. I shall go into the West and remian Galadrial," gets me every single time. But it is the strong performances of the two central hobbits that pushes the terrible weight of sadness home the most in The Return of the King. The Shire was saved, but not for Sam's Frodo. "How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on... when in your heart you begin to understand, there is no going back." As a returned traveller I understand this. How do you explain to people, "I went here, I did these deeds, I did these many things" and paint a picture in words that they can understand? You cannot. Not ever.
The other thing I noticed was the amount of song and poem in the books. The first book, again, had more than the last two and perhaps this is because the first one was slightly lighter (at least at first) than the other two. I loved Merry and Pippin's bath tub song, The Road Goes Ever on and on (of course) and the many elven songs. People who know something about me will already know that I am a music nut... I believe not just in the power of words, but in the power of song. Songs can be joyous and celebratory, solmen and severe, heartbreaking and sad; used to celebrate weddings and to mourn at funerals, but always to bring people collectively together. Tolkien understood this. The hobbits have a song for every occassion and though they may have seemed to the High to be simple folk, it was their quiet resilience that won out in the end. Music is a form of expression and in times of great joy, great despair or great grief, it helped people pull through. I love that Tolkien acknowledged that.
In the film, there is obviously a different use of music in that what is used is a composed musical score. It is a very good one. I own all three cd's and Howard Shore does an amazing job of recreating scenes and emotions but there was no way he could have really incoporated the original poems and songs regularly into film without making the film a bit of a joke. There is one scene however, in Return of the King that was used to great effect. It is one of the most disturbingly memorable scenes I have ever seen in a film before. Faramir has been commanded to ride to a suicidal death with his men at Osgiliath as Denethor asks Pippin for a song of the Shire; of simple folk and simple times, to while away the time as his son goes to his death. The juxtoposition of Pippin singing against Farmir and his men riding into death is awful and yet somehow achingly beautiful too. It is one of my favourite scenes in the entire franchise.
Home is behind, the world ahead,
And there are many paths to tread,
Through shadow to the edge of night,
Until the stars are all alight.
Mist and shadow, Cloud and shade
All shall fade,
all shall fade.
This is actually taken from The Fellowship of the Ring and Merry and Pippin's walking song. It sat well here though imo.
I love both the books and the films. I think they are both brilliant in different ways and each succeeds in bringing out something special of Tolkien's vision.
The Silmarillion tells the tale of the First and Second Age and is a rather hard read. I saw it as more of an appendices to LOTR and The Hobbit than a book in its own right.
This is really a book of mythology, written like one too, so this makes for hard reading. Was it worth it? Only if you're a die hard LOTR fan I believe as it really is quite hard to keep track of everyone and follow the thread of the story.
It is in much the same vein of LOTR however. It is the story of a world corrupted from its creation; of a world always tainted, always a shadow of what it truly could have been. It is the story of great humility and great hubris; of greed and love and friendship. It is the story of a world already failing, already fading, long before the Ring of Power is discovered.
But the most powerful part of this story for me was always that of The Hobbit's. To quote Galadrial "Even the smallest person can change the course of the future." A good moral. A good moral indeed.
Have you read any of these? Or seen the movies? What did you think?
Reviews (ish) under cut link (well these are re-reads):
I can't even remember the first time I read The Hobbit. I would have been quite small. It was one of the first ever "big" books I read by myself without help and I remember loving it alot.
Good thing is: I still do. I actually think I like Tolkien's writing style best in The Hobbit, especially the intrusive narrator and the voice of Bilbo Baggins. It's a lovely little fantasy adventure and hobbits are such a lovely invention. I also love that Tolkien's love for music shows through even here: who could ever forget "That's what Bilbo Baggins hates... so carefully, carefully with the plates."
I also liked the hints of things that were to come. The ring of course is the obvious thing, but also the references to Thorin's family, in particular his father who had to be rescued from Sauron's secret hideaway in Mirkwood in order to get the dragon's map. That is one of the only times the Gandalf we come to know later shines through in The Hobbit. Most of the time he is mysterious, eccentric and really quite annoying. I also found it interesting in my appendices of LOTR that the reason for getting rid of Smaug was to preempt Sauron rising again, and freeing up land for "the good people" to muster troops without an evil dragon in their midst who would support Sauron.
I really loved the reference to Bilbo becoming more Tookish throughout his adventure, and the elves and dwarves realisation that hobbits were tougher, hardier, more honest and noble than they had first thought. Bilbo goes home never to be respectable again but it was worth it... perhaps going overseas for an extended period of time made me appreciate this more than usual, but I felt that in the case of both Bilbo and Frodo's journey's, I understood the emptiness of the homecoming more now than I ever did.
Onwards to LOTR- I also watched all three movies just to be thorough because I'm weird like that
On the topic of the novel... two things stood out for me on a re read.
The first was that The Fellowship of the Rings felt like it was written differently to the other two books- the other two started getting very high falutin with many "lo's" and "behold's" etc I also felt like it's pacing was better as the range of landscapes and people's was more evenly spread out. I know that LOTR is the story of the rising of the Age of Men, but it is the hobbits and the elves who interested me most. This is also perhaps, what gives LOTR its lasting emotional resonance... the knowledge that you are reading about the vestiges of a dying world; in all of its splendour, despair and great beauty and tragedy. That is the saddest part of all of LOTR for me; the knowledge that Frodo cannot go on after he completes this task, and nor can the elves whom he and Bilbo love so much. Poor Sam doesn't realise this till it is too late.
I think that in many ways the films captured this despair better than in the book. Arwen, for example, is given a proper story, rather than a mere appendices at the back and we all know that she will fade and become mortal and suffer for her love of Aragorn. Galadrial must pass the ultimate test- give in to power, not for powers sake, but to survive (as Mab tried to do to no avail in Merlin) or fade away. I love Cate Blanchett's role in this. The sadness and the weight of her wise years as she says softly "I have passed the test. I shall go into the West and remian Galadrial," gets me every single time. But it is the strong performances of the two central hobbits that pushes the terrible weight of sadness home the most in The Return of the King. The Shire was saved, but not for Sam's Frodo. "How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on... when in your heart you begin to understand, there is no going back." As a returned traveller I understand this. How do you explain to people, "I went here, I did these deeds, I did these many things" and paint a picture in words that they can understand? You cannot. Not ever.
The other thing I noticed was the amount of song and poem in the books. The first book, again, had more than the last two and perhaps this is because the first one was slightly lighter (at least at first) than the other two. I loved Merry and Pippin's bath tub song, The Road Goes Ever on and on (of course) and the many elven songs. People who know something about me will already know that I am a music nut... I believe not just in the power of words, but in the power of song. Songs can be joyous and celebratory, solmen and severe, heartbreaking and sad; used to celebrate weddings and to mourn at funerals, but always to bring people collectively together. Tolkien understood this. The hobbits have a song for every occassion and though they may have seemed to the High to be simple folk, it was their quiet resilience that won out in the end. Music is a form of expression and in times of great joy, great despair or great grief, it helped people pull through. I love that Tolkien acknowledged that.
In the film, there is obviously a different use of music in that what is used is a composed musical score. It is a very good one. I own all three cd's and Howard Shore does an amazing job of recreating scenes and emotions but there was no way he could have really incoporated the original poems and songs regularly into film without making the film a bit of a joke. There is one scene however, in Return of the King that was used to great effect. It is one of the most disturbingly memorable scenes I have ever seen in a film before. Faramir has been commanded to ride to a suicidal death with his men at Osgiliath as Denethor asks Pippin for a song of the Shire; of simple folk and simple times, to while away the time as his son goes to his death. The juxtoposition of Pippin singing against Farmir and his men riding into death is awful and yet somehow achingly beautiful too. It is one of my favourite scenes in the entire franchise.
Home is behind, the world ahead,
And there are many paths to tread,
Through shadow to the edge of night,
Until the stars are all alight.
Mist and shadow, Cloud and shade
All shall fade,
all shall fade.
This is actually taken from The Fellowship of the Ring and Merry and Pippin's walking song. It sat well here though imo.
I love both the books and the films. I think they are both brilliant in different ways and each succeeds in bringing out something special of Tolkien's vision.
The Silmarillion tells the tale of the First and Second Age and is a rather hard read. I saw it as more of an appendices to LOTR and The Hobbit than a book in its own right.
This is really a book of mythology, written like one too, so this makes for hard reading. Was it worth it? Only if you're a die hard LOTR fan I believe as it really is quite hard to keep track of everyone and follow the thread of the story.
It is in much the same vein of LOTR however. It is the story of a world corrupted from its creation; of a world always tainted, always a shadow of what it truly could have been. It is the story of great humility and great hubris; of greed and love and friendship. It is the story of a world already failing, already fading, long before the Ring of Power is discovered.
But the most powerful part of this story for me was always that of The Hobbit's. To quote Galadrial "Even the smallest person can change the course of the future." A good moral. A good moral indeed.
Have you read any of these? Or seen the movies? What did you think?
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Date: 2011-10-04 03:31 am (UTC)