LOTR Weapons

[modelnut]

http://www.ranker.com/list/best-weapons ... ebarmakian

[daisy gold]

.Thanks for the posting, Modelnut.

Interesting to see these weapons again. I was expecting some weapons like swords, to come next after the one ring. I have always thought the three elven rings were more for defence of their realms and to enhance the wearers powers and didn't consider them weapons as such. I must be wrong. Just as well I never came across the One Ring. I had forgotten that Galadriel's ring was the Ring of Water which accounts for her 'feeling things in the water' as she says in the beginning of the film.

The elven swords are certainly powerful, and continue so down the ages.
Weta made them look as splendid as one would expect such swords to be.
A weapon that is missing from the list is Merry's dagger from the tombs on the Barrowdowns . I think that should have been mentioned, even before Legolas' bow. It did after all play a vital part in the downfall of the witch-king.

[modelnut]

But in the movies they skipped the Barrow Downs. In fact, I sometimes skipped the Barrow Downs and Tom Bombadill when I read the Trilogy myself. To me they were unnecessary detours in the story. I did this long before the movies were made. I didn't really dislike those bits. But they slowed the plot considerably. I can see why they were never filmed.

I hope this won't get me chased out of the group by an angry mob with torches and pitchforks. I know another group where this admission would cause a violent flame war.

- Leelan

[yaralindi]

Heh, I can't see anyone chasing you out of here though you might end up spending a little more time in the fridge with Gimli than you care too.

As to skipping the Barrow Downs and Tom Bombadil, you have to remember why they were in there in the first place. You are correct, they are unnecessary and do slow down the story just when the pace should be quickening, not bogging. That said, compare the story before Bombadil and then again after. The writing style shifts. The Hobbit was a children's tale and Lord of the Rings starts off in that same light and airy tone. It has to transition, however, into the deep, mysterious, and dark tale it will become and to do that you either go through another book or two or you toss in a bit that is both light and airy ("Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow! Bright Blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow!") as well as deep, mysterious, and dark ("Cold be hand and heart and bone, and cold be sleep under stone: never more to wake on stony bed, never, till the Sun fails and the Moon is dead. In the black wind the stars shall die, and still on gold here let them lie, till the dark lord lifts his hand over dead sea and withered land.") As this interlude progresses the story quietly shifts from a children's tale to a mature, full blown fantasy adventure.

Had Peter presented The Hobbit first and in the style of a children's story, he would have needed something similar to shift the audience from that story into Lord of The Rings. Since he started with the darker story he actually had a tougher time presenting The Hobbit because he had to take a children's story and make it into a full fledged adult novel. You and I, and presumably many others, don't need this literary crutch to shift since we already know what to expect as the story progresses.

[modelnut]

I wish Peter had been involved with The Hobbit from Day One. It might have turned out better. From what I have read it was all he could do to try to make changes to the last movie in the trilogy. Guillermo del Toro really messed things up with his reinterpretation.

- Leelan

[daisy gold]

But in the movies they skipped the Barrow Downs. In fact, I sometimes skipped the Barrow Downs and Tom Bombadill when I read the Trilogy myself. To me they were unnecessary detours in the story. I did this long before the movies were made. I didn't really dislike those bits. But they slowed the plot considerably. I can see why they were never filmed.
Leelan

I have always liked this chapter modelnut but I can see how it would slow the pace of the story. For me I cannot get enough of the hobbits' journey from the Shire to Rivendell. I was sorry Bombadil and Barrow Downs were left out of the films and the extended versions. However when I saw how Peter portrayed the King of the Dead and his army and to my mind made them rather cartoonish, not to mention all those childish tumbling skulls, I am rather glad he did not touch Bombadil or Barrow Downs.

Daisy

[daisy gold]

That said, compare the story before Bombadil and then again after. The writing style shifts. The Hobbit was a children's tale and Lord of the Rings starts off in that same light and airy tone. It has to transition, however, into the deep, mysterious, and dark tale it will become
.

Well said Yaralindi, this chapter and also their journey through the Old Forrest and Old Man Willow also shows this darkening of events. I have seen many barrows, dolmans and ancient burial places here in Ireland and they do evoke a sense of deep mystery and fanciful thought and maybe fear if you happen to stroll pass them at night or in a fog.
Tolkien’s description of the stones and Wights and funeral regalia etc really makes this chapter shine. As Tolkien walked the woods and lanes of the English countryside he would have seen standing stones and barrows, He may have seen some in Ireland. I read somewhere that he and Lewis holidayed here and went for walks in the Mournes. Tolkien uses the land of sweet meadows, rolling grassy hills and woodlands, all quite familiar and safe, and turns them into places of fear and danger. How will it be for the hobbits when they leave behind them this sense of familiarity and venture into strange new lands? They, and we, are learning there is no safety in the familiar from here onwards. What will these new places dish up for them.

Daisy