I loved the Lord Of The Rings And All Things Tolkien

[ancianita]

I remember that in 1969, I'd turned the last page of the last volume the Lord of the Rings. I felt sad, more wistful than I'd ever felt from story experience. Which is experience.

I shook my head at this trilogy's brilliant, multi-level, multi-location panorama. After some silence, I looked at my daughter's father.

"This is so eye-popping amazing, so broad and deep in the creating of whole new beings, languages, songs, poetry, rituals, ideas of war and peace, that Hollywood will never, ever make a movie of this. Not even like this. It just can't." Having seen all kinds of film renderings of mythology and literature in varying inferior quality to their stories, I was sure that this trilogy was final proof, sadly, that epic storytelling can never be fully realized in film.

Lord of the Rings reminds us that we are epic -- as Samwise said to Frodo -- when we are glad that we can be together at the making and ending of all things.

May Christopher Tolkien rest in the peace of literary greats who give us more than story beauty, human beauty, suffering's beauty; but who instill in us readers the soul experience of Earthling peace and courage.

30 years later, in my 50's -- as my kids thought I openly wept over the movie, The Return of the King -- I couldn't explain the laughable wrongness of my old self, or how lucky I was to experience over again the epic courage, love and peace effort to carry on. That carrying on in film still makes me shake my head.

Christopher Tolkien, Mapper of Middle Earth, Keeper of the Legendarium, must always be as revered and loved as his father. Both spent their lives to show us that life's meaning is enough in the striving; and to be glad to be together at the end of all things.

That we can imagine a future together.
?

... across Time ...


That living in peace with Nature is a Good.


That we hobbits can do it...
?

That our force against hegemoic power's drama is a Good.


That our light drives out the fear of darkness and death.

[Aristus]

1. I remember my fifth-grade teacher, who introduced me to Tolkien's work after the 1977 airing

of "The Hobbit" cartoon, telling me that she always hated reading the last chapter of RotK, because then it would be over.

Even the prospect of starting over from the beginning didn't diminish the sorrow of having it end...

[2naSalit]

8. That's how I felt too

and I've read the entire work at least three times and seen the movies at least twice.

And I've written papers in English and Psych classes about it.

I never considered Lord of the Rings to be a trilogy, though, and I find it a little annoying that it is most popularly called that. It's one, long story that covers a rather short period of time, most events taking place simultaneously and are completely related. I think of a trilogy as stories taking place all at once yet unrelated outside of that commonality OR three stories being related but happening in separate time frames. I see The Hobbit as a prologue to TLoR.

Anyway, my older siblings were readers so I heard a lot about all things Tolkien and Lewis Carroll long before I could read. But it wasn't until I could read the books that they really meant something to me, and if you only see the movies w/o reading the books, you're only getting half the story/experience.

Never watched the cartoon because I had no interest in seeing the story cheapened by cartoons of the day.

[Aristus]

10. The Ralph Bakshi cartoon film has a few things to recommend it, but it can be skipped.

The Rankin-Bass cartoon I mentioned was excoriated by critics and fans of the time, but I think it deserves some re-examination.

Although the rendition was hampered by a brief one-hour running time, it should be applauded for its ability to appeal to very young viewers, thereby prompting interest in the books. Indeed, Tolkien's "The Hobbit' was the longest book I had ever read by myself up to that time.

It also attempted to include at least a few of the songs, poems, and riddles from the book; how successfully it does that is open to debate; but I will say the Riddles In The Dark sequence is atmospheric, and very well-done.

One interesting thing about the cartoon is how it is able to draw the viewer into the story so effectively. Later, when I read the book, I envisioned scenes that weren't in the broadcast so vividly in the style of the cartoon that I was surprised when I saw it again years later, and noted that those scenes from the book weren't in the cartoon.

[muriel_volestrangler]

19. It's called that because it was first published as 3 separate books

For publication, the book was divided into three volumes to minimize any potential financial loss due to the high cost of type-setting and modest anticipated sales: The Fellowship of the Ring (Books I and II), The Two Towers (Books III and IV), and The Return of the King (Books V and VI plus six appendices).[38] Delays in producing appendices, maps and especially an index led to the volumes being published later than originally hoped – on 29 July 1954, on 11 November 1954 and on 20 October 1955 respectively in the United Kingdom. In the United States, Houghton Mifflin published The Fellowship of the Ring on 21 October 1954, The Two Towers on 21 April 1955, and The Return of the King on 5 January 1956.[39]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings#Publication_history

[2naSalit]

22. Yup, I worte

a few papers about it back in college.

[Turin_C3PO]

2. Recommended.

LOTR and all the works associated with it are just magical to me. I read the trilogy every year for the past 20 years and still get something new out of the writing every time.

RIP Christopher Tolkien and thank you for protecting your father’s works and legacy.

[gratuitous]

3. Christopher has been the keeper of the castle for many years

He sent his grandson to the set to check out Peter Jackson's production of the master's work. The family has guarded JRR's legacy quite vigilantly, and wanted to be sure that Jackson was properly respectful of the source material. Apparently he was, because Royd Tolkein appears in the scene of the defense of Osgiliath. He's the young man handing out the weapons to Faramir's men in preparation to repel the Orc landing.

[ancianita]

5. Thank you, I'm not surprised I didn't know that. He's, indeed, warrior handsome.

[gratuitous]

6. And that's why you buy the extended version blu-ray edition

I am not obsessed; you're obsessed!

[ancianita]

7. I'm still learning from it is why!

[whistler162]

37. So there was no Royd rage on the set

[ismnotwasm]

4. K&R

Started reading it when I was 14 or 15. Read all the books, even the “lays” that came out. I’ve read them every so often since.

It is a beautiful terrifying magical world, and it walks right along side us in memory.

[edhopper]

9. RIP

thank you sir for keeping the legacy with class.

Sometime in the 1930s Tolkien was grading papers when a sentence came to him.

“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." and so it began.

[handmade34]

11. I named my son

after the 'King Under the Mountain' not sure he appreciates it... but I read it to him when I was pregnant and after

[ancianita]

12. Awww. He might just appreciate it the older he gets. I named my last dog Samwise.

My son and I loved listening to audiobooks of the trilogy on road trips.

[handmade34]

15. well since he is almost 40 now...

but... he did quote his namesake when he wrote his college application essay

[ancianita]

16. Wise mom! It helped more than hurt, right? And it holds up with age.

[mcar]

13. I was 21, just out of college and working in Boston

in the early 80s. I kept seeing "Frodo Lives" signs graffitied all over the place. I mentioned them to someone and they told me about LOTR. That started my decades long love of the books - and the movie. My 2 sons shared my affection for the world of Middle Earth.

Peace to Christopher Tolkein.

[Glorfindel]

14. Beautifully said, ancianita. Thank you for expressing my own feelings better than I ever could have

And RIP, Christopher Tolkien

[ancianita]

17. Hey, Glor...

[KatyMan]

18. In 9th grade in Sept 1980

I checked The Hobbit out of my high school library and it truly changed my life.

[ancianita]

20. That's so touching. I love that books can do that.

[KatyMan]

25. Thanks very much

I know it's a cliche, but it was the classic Wizard of Oz BW to color experience for me.

[gulliver]

21. I agree about the books, but you were right the first time about the movies.

Nice tries, I'll grant you, but no, the movies are a moon-cast shadow of the books. The books are Tolkien talking to you and telling you a story. Leaving Tom Bombadil out of the first movie was a big mistake. They needed him to put on the ring (without disappearing) and to make the ring (temporarily) disappear as he did in the books. It hints at the greater things beyond the Third Age in Middle Earth. It sets up a neat callback in the Council of Elrond where they could have discussed the idea of giving the ring to Bombadil for safekeeping (as they did in the book).

[ancianita]

23. Really? I've forgotten that.

[gulliver]

24. Yeah, it's cool though.

I enjoyed the movies quite a bit, just not as much as the books. They did a good job with the movies.

[KatyMan]

26. Great point.

I think of the movies like the Dune movie: spot on with the visuals, but very lacking in storytelling. I know shortcuts are needed in movies, but should stay in line with the spirit of the book.

[leftieNanner]

27. I loved those books so much too

Have read them all multiple times.

But Christopher Tolkein didn't write them. That was his father. JRR. Christopher was the "keeper of the flame", so to speak.

His passing is a great loss.

[ancianita]

28. Christopher was, however, the map maker of Middle Earth. So he contributed a lot. I wouldn't

have been able to see the scenes as well without it.

[leftieNanner]

29. Thank you for that information

I did not know that!

[malaise]

30. A truly lovely post

Rec

[ancianita]

35. Thank you, mal.

(Hope you don't mind the nickname)

[malaise]

36. Ha

I'm fine with it

[Piasladic]

31. Great post

We were sort of poor when I was growing up, but I got three beautifully wrapped presents when I was 12. I think I stayed up straight for a few days just reading. I still think Gollum was the star.

[ancianita]

32. Many have said that. He, to me, is the pitiable, shriveled soul we become when we live only

for power and control.

In the end his joyful dance over his power cost him everything...



... dragging down with him all of Mordor's other slaves, and everything the dark structure of the all-seeing eye sought -- power and dominance (and the dark slave world of corporate capitalism).

[Piasladic]

33. You are so right

I'm not saying he was good, but when I read about how he first found the ring, I felt for him and and thought that could have been me.

[ancianita]

34. Oh, yeah. I loved that sad story, too. I realize now, that how he and Bilbo suffered is the lesson

that Frodo had to learn while carrying his burden for all the peaceful kingdoms of Middle Earth. Giving it up made Bilbo bitter and gollum (I forget his hobbit name) obsessed.

To give up the chance to literally own power over all is what so many suffer from today, I think.

[Hekate]

39. Smeagol

[ancianita]

43. Yes! Thanks.

[Ilsa]

38. Beautiful tribute, and to know and present someone's heart as you do,

is the best tribute of all.

We've all been enriched by Father and Son Tolkien.

[Hekate]

40. Thank you so much for this. The pre-owned paperbacks came into my family's house in summer 1965

I was 17. I didn't know what I had in my hands at first -- it really dawned on me what a masterpiece it was when I read the last page, cried, and compulsively read every word of the Appendices because I just couldn't let it be over.

When my son was about 10 I read it aloud to him. He was enraptured.

The oddest experience I had regarding LOTR was trying to explain the thwn-recent movies as cultural phenomenon to my cousin's wife, who isMainland Chinese. I knew Tolkein's world was steeped in Western mythology, and I had read quite a bit of Asian myth, but I had never tried to actually look at it from the other side, so to speak, and grapple with how very different they look to each other -- or why. She still didn't get Frodo at the end of our conversation. Occasionally I revisit this experience in my mind, as a reminder that we are all swimming in our own culture's mythos and how much effort it takes to see past it.

RIP, Christopher Tolkien, keeper of the flame.

[Martin Eden]

41. Christopher gave us the Silmarillion

His father's epic work that preceded The Hobbit and LofR triology was a series of manuscripts written and rewritten my the master, finally and lovingly pieced together into a coherent single volume.

It spans many thousands of years from the creation of Valinor and Middle Earth up to the time of the trilogy, telling tales of heroism and tragedy so brilliant and captivating they must not be missed by anyone who loves the well known books written years later by J.R.R. Tolkein.

I read The Hobbit as a child but did not read the trilogy until after I had seen and fallen in love with Peter Jackson's cinematic renderings. I'm glad I saw the movies first, because the books offer so much more. Doing them full justice (if that's possible) would have required 4 or 5 hours per movie.

My wife bought the extended version DVD's with the Appendices, which are a treasure. Then she discovered The Silmarillion, which needs to be read more than once to fully grasp. The trilogy and the movies occasionally reference some of those ancient events which are crucial to a better understanding of Middle Earth.

R.I.P. Christopher Tolkein. You have served your father's legacy, and the rest of us, as well as any son in our own saga.

[Skidmore]

42. I have always been of the Shire,

short, close to the earth, and love to burrow in my home but await Gandalf's visits bringing tales of adventures in faraway places. Yet a small bit of my soul longs to be a slender, glimmering elf. And I keep hoping to meet an Ent.

[bluedigger]

44. My father gave me The Hobbitt on my eighth birthday.

I didn't get around to reading it until I was about 11, and then I went to the school library and read LOTR immediately, for the first of many times. I never got to thank him for that, as he passed when I was 12. Thanks, Dad!

[Cuthbert Allgood]

45. Tolkien shaped my childhood, too.

I am a tad younger than you (born in the mid 60s), but read Tolkein very early. I am sure that experience was the first of many that lead me to being an English teacher.

I hope that the passing of Christopher does not mean that the Tolkien mythology falls into the hands of some company that will exploit it horribly for a profit (I'm talking to you Disney).

[ancianita]

46. Ah, we were both English teachers. The Tolkien estate gets a good look here, for those interested.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolkien_Estate

Looks as if the Tolkien estate has gotten "the business."

On 13 November 2017 it was announced that Amazon had acquired the global television rights to The Lord of the Rings, committing to a multi-season television series. The series will not be a direct adaptation of the books, but will instead introduce new stories that are set before The Fellowship of the Ring.[16] Amazon said the deal included potential for spin-off series as well.[17] The press release referred to "previously unexplored stories based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s original writings". Amazon will be the producer in conjunction with the Tolkien Estate and The Tolkien Trust, HarperCollins and New Line Cinema.[18]

Christopher Tolkien's resignation[edit]
On 15 November 2017, at age 93, Christopher Reuel Tolkien announced his resignation as director from the Tolkien estate as well as the Tolkien trust, while remaining as the literary executor. According to Companies House, he stood down from the position on 31 August 2017.

(The Tolkien Estate trademark is too big to reproduce here. It's kinda cool, though.)