Tolkien Topic Tuesday: What scenery sticks out in your mind from the Lord of the Rings

What place - what description - takes your breath away each time you read it... Tolkien was a master at description; what creation of his grabs you the most?

That's a tough one. I don't think the description of the Shire takes my breath away, but I find myself longing to be there.

I hate to admit this, but nothing I imagined as a 13 year old reading LotR for the first time was anywhere's near as spectacular as what I saw on the big screen in Peter Jackson's movie version.

Jackson's Rivendell beats mine. His Shire was a bit better. But my Lothlorien kicks his butt. And so does my Moria. My Mordor is more desolute, and not just dark. My Rohan is nothing compared to his, however.

So, of all the images we have from Tolkien - my Lothlorien is the one I remember most.

Wow, there is soooo much! For me, though, it's the Old Forest, with Tom Bombadil and Goldberry!

For me, I'd have to say Rivendell or Lothlorien, Both of them made me wish I could be there and see it for real.

True, JPB. My Mordor was ashes and filth. PJ's was barren rock. His Barad-Dûr was much cooler than mine, though. Same with Orthanc. Mine was puny. LOL

Kill me now, but Mr. Jackson's versions have invaded and stomped on my imagined versions of the locales of Middle-earth. He did such a kick-arse job with the movie, so it wasn't much a battle! XD

Anywho, I'd have to say either the beautiful architecture of Minas Tirith and the White Tower or the Golden Hall of Edoras. I think I sympathise with the men a bit more than Elves.

Ok everyone, DONT SHOOT ME, but I have yet to read LOTR and Similarian. I have only read The Hobbit. I do have plans to read them but since the movies I was trying to watch those before I read the books. I dont like the movies to be dissapointing so I choose to get them out of the way before I read them. Thats why I havent read the Harry Potter books either. So that being said I am afraid I have nothing or very little that will be my own imagination when I read these. They will be preconcieved by the PJ veiws.

...if I was to give any advice (and OK, advice is dangerous stuff) you don't even need reading Silmarillion or Unfinished tales. Those two books are for die hard fans. I got LoTR read to me by my father when I was 7 yrs (it took some 2 years), and after that I read and reread it by myself now and then until aged 12. After that I read it in english (swedish before that, as I'm from Sweden, hehe) a couple of times.
Some would say I'm a fan (or maniac, as fan only is short for fanatic anyway!) but I've NEVER enjoyed reading any of his other Middle Earth material. To me, the story itself was great, at least when I was a kid. The "making a mythology"-stuff is intriguing as a concept today, when I'm adult, but honestly - I think those two books are boring. Life's too short to waste on bad writing :-)
Sorry if I offended someone but taste is individual, and everyone has a right to her own opinions. Including me ;-)

As for not having read LoTR - well, before the movies created a hausse very few I knew had read the books either, and lots of people looked down on us who had as being wierdos.

On the original issue here I'd say Caradras (I really like mountains), and Argonath with it's statues.

Busifer, I may be a diehard Tolkien fan, but I have no problem with someone not being excited about The Silmarillion or Unfinished Tales. They are not an easy read! I've read The Silmarillion 3 times, and it has gotten easier to understand with repeated readings, but parts of it are still dry. I'm rereading the Middle Earth stories now on a chronological plan I found on the internet; I now know more about Turin than I ever wanted to know.

I too read the books LONG before the movies came out (and a couple of times since then). I remember not being able to find anyone else to share my interest. As for the scenery, I was very pleased with PJ's depiction of the places in the story. Some of the scenes I had had a hard time getting my mind around. The movie helped clarify my visions. The only issues I really had were the darkness in Lorien (I didn't picture it that way at all) and the snow-capped mountains in the Shire as Frodo and Sam leave it. As many times as I have read the books, I could not get a mental picture of Minas Tirith. PJ did an excellent job, I thought, with this, and I now have a clear picture when I read.

I will freely admit that my mental images have become inextricably blended with PJ's depictions also ... I've seen too much of the latter for the former to survive untainted.

From my childhood readings though, I remember being most struck by the barrow downs and the ruins on weathertop ... Picturing such dark, dank forboding surrounds int he wind and the rain, with danger lurking beneath and without really stuck with me.

My later re-readings have become muddled with the movies ... but from those I would have to say Minas Tirith ... the white city has that guardian at the gates, mighty holdfast feel that really clicks for me. (Though I think a part of it is the emotional weight behind the locale, and the characters there as much as the description ... the same thing happens to me with the Night Watch and the Wall in George R R Martin's work).

It feels odd to realise that I will never just see Middle Earth as I first imagined it now ... it makes me wish I could go back and ask myself some questions.

I've been thinking more about the books and less about the movies in the past few minutes. Edoras was very interesting to me. It seemed Celtic and rustic but beautiful. For some reason, this setting was peaceful in my mind, even though the people were war-like in the books. If I were to choose someplace in Middle Earth to live, Edoras is where I would like to make my home.

I was influenced by Tolkien's painting of Barad-Dur on the cover of my copy of Return of the King - so that 'horrible office building' image took over in my mind. Driving through the North Island of New Zealand, from the Rotarua area to Wellington in late 2003, I can see why Jackson made Mordor as he did - it looked very much like the desolate places of that island, south of Lake Taupo.

Oh, I am a Shire-lad through and through, at heart. But my vacations would be in Rivendell, Edoras, Lothlorien and Minas Tirith, in that order of frequency. LOL.

As to the chronological plan - could you point us to it, hobbitprincess?

And to NightAngel... be prepared for quite a few surprises when you read the books. Read them now. Seriously. Please. ;)

HAHAh I have to get them first. I have been eyeing the leatherbound editions for a while now. I have the leatherbound Hobbit edition.

Looks like I will be making my own personal trek to Rivendale. I have discovered a site to take me there. SO here is getting in some cardio and enjoying the journey. To learn more check out this site:

http://shieldmaidens.net/milestonescelebrations/atlas_of_middle_earth.pdf

I stumbled across it while I was looking through a challenge group on my fitness site. YAY for Sparkpeople.com

I had forgotten about that site, NightAngel! I've seen it mentioned many times on theonering.net, but that was before I started my own daily walking.

Gosh, I'm not even to Farmer Maggot's yet. *blush*

Of course, I'm not being chased by the Nazgul. :D

Okay, I joined, and I entered the total distance that I walked today. :o) This is great! It gives me someplace to pretend I'm going...

Whenever I re-read LotR, the region east of the Anduin, between the Emyn Muil and the crossroads grips me the most. Perhaps because it is such a desolate place.

What an amazingly GREAT idea!!!

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

Not that it's amazing wonderful to behold, but I've always liked Bag End. I could picture it the easiest in my mind and seems like a comfy place.

Oh yeah, I can imagine few Tolkien readers indeed who wouldn't want to live in a (suitably scaled) Bag End!!!

I've always dreamed of having a comfy Hobbit Hole built!!!

Well, I for one would pass the offer. Shire's fine, but I find it way too cosy/jolly - a place where the different or other stands out and have to defend itself perpetually. Maybe I could stay by the Brandywines, if I got free access to the Old Forest, but... Shire's a bit too English, and I have no longing to join the jolly partyers.
I'm sorry.
If Rivendell, Edoras and Minas Tirith where a bit closer to each other it would suit me better - then I could stay in Rivendell and visit the other places/countries frequently.
Rivendell has a kind of libraryish, eternal and quiet feeling that I find attractive.

Here's the chronological site:

http://www.chronology.org/tolkien/

I have read LotR so many times; I was looking for a different take on the story and found this site while searching around. It's quite interesting.

Thanks for the site, NightAngel. Maybe it will inspire me to get back on that treadmill. I actually started "walking" to Alaska, but this is a lot more interesting.

The scenery that always stays in my mind is Mordor, when they are crossing the wastelands after they have escaped from the Dark Tower. Tolkien wrote the scene so well, by the time I finished reading it, I was as hungry, thirsty, and completely exhausted as Sam and Frodo! I never read that part any more without a glass of water sitting next to me. I also loved his description of Weathertop, although I certainly wouldn't want to spend any time there!

In the movies, it would be Rivendell or Lorien. I think PJ did both of them beautifully. I'd definitely pick Rivendell if I could live in ME. I always picture it as a place filled with gardens, fountains, and music.

Wouldn't mind visiting Bombadil, Beorn, or the town of Dale at some point as well...

Yay I am glad you all liked that site. I thought it fit in well with our current topic.

NOTE TO SELF: Get the books off the shelf so you can answer JPB's question!

Moviewise, it's easy -- Edoras.

True, AS! Edoras was fantabulous! :o)

So far every place mentioned is in the actual Lord of the Rings trilogy...Tolkien's description of the ancient city of Gondolin always facinated me, as well as Tol Erresea.

While I agree there are many, many sites in the works that I would so dearly love to go to, the one I haven't seen mentioned here (surprisingly to me) which always stirred my imagination - as well as raising chill bumps - is the Paths of the Dead. I would read and re-read those passages when I was younger...imagining the dark and terrifying trek through those caverns...

OOOOooooOOOOooooh! What a great choice!!!

When I was about 19 I was travelling along The Road to the Isles. Probably the most beautiful road in Britain. It was about 4:30 and a beautiful bright summer morning. We stopped to stretch our legs Stepped away from the van and steped away from the van to see pools or lakes clearer than glass and smoother than a mirror reflecting the mountains that cupped them. I knew then What mirrormere was like.

Simon

I want to visit the Ents. Their depiction in the film was a big disappointment for me.

There is a photo in one of the Tolkien biographies of a tree in the Botanical Gardens in Oxford that he was supposed to have visited daily. When I visited Oxford I had only a few minutes to spare at the gardens, and realized that I could never locate the tree in that time. I gave up, but took a slow look around before leaving. In the distance, I spotted a marvelous old tree, and when I got to it, the marker identified it as the right one. That's my idea of an Ent, and their forest is full of such trees. :-)

Ok thats too cool, that you got to see the tree that may have been the inspiration for the Ents.

AGREE! that is just beautiful!!!

Tolkien tree: Don't tell anyone (grin), but I picked up some shed pieces of bark, and didn't mention them at Customs. I don't know if it was the inspiration for the Ents. The book said that it was a favorite of JRRT, and that he went to see it daily. When I looked around the part of the gardens within view, and spotted it, I thought "If that isn't an Ent, it should be." It freaked me out when the Latin name confirmed that I'd picked the right tree from so many.

I won't tell you about the other Ent that a little Scottish boy showed me in the woods near a ruined abbey. You'd be ordering a tie-in-the-back jacket for me. :-)

Heee heeeee! You DAWG! that is BRILLIANT!!!

very very cool!