The Two Towers (1954)

Ents don't fuck around
punch down your town, drown what's left
be nice to trees, jeez. ( )

It's sometimes hard to complain about one of your favorite books, but here I go, comparing it to the damn movie and making my complaints. :)

... the movie has much better pacing. I mean, damn, I love how it improved on the book by switching between PoV's like that! No sticking with Aragorn and company and THEN sticking with Merry and Pippin, etc. And then the battles were all pretty much superior in the movies, but we're spoiled. Super spoiled.

BUT I really really HATE how the movie adds freaking Elves to the battle of Helm's Deep. Seriously.
In the book, it really is pretty awful and hopeless, but it was awful and hopeless for the Rohirrim. Adding elves might be flashy and blah blah oh good for you, focus groups, but DAMN. There was no lasting agreement between elves and the horse lords. Why should there be? I mean, MAYBE I would have bought the big lie if it was brokered between Gondor and the Elves, but history tore a huge rift between the Elvenkind and Men that ended with the elves destroying Numenor, the island of Men, after Men's treachery. Only the line of Isildur and the Rangers, having never broken faith, remain on friendly terms.

So WHERE THE HELL IS THE REASON for the elves giving up their immortality (and not coming back because they don't have souls like men), dying in a stupidly senseless fashion? I mean, JUST because Galadriel took a fancy to a couple of blokes passing through on an admittedly dire quest? Then why not send a ton with Frodo to storm Mordor? Yeah, yeah, I know, secrecy... but elves can be stealthy.

Just not that weirdo who likes to surf shields and oliphant trunks.

Again, the movie was great for all those battles and I loved being in the thick of the Ents like that. The Shelob scene was brilliant.

The book does the history so much better. Especially the Ents. And in most ways, the book's version is so much more meaningful. The Ents went across Arda in search for their Ent Wives at the end of the First Age and freaked EVERYONE the hell out. They never found them. Tho, I do wonder. Did any of those hasty Ents ever catch up with Tom? Ask him about his bubbling brook of a wife? I wonder how she fits into all of this. Did Goldberry REMARRY? *gasp*

Otherwise, I love the book's quiet times, the introspective times, the thinking-things-out times. And of course, Sam's brilliant meta-speech.

I love them both. :) They're near-perfect companions.

Except, of course, for the uninvited dinner guests at that damn battle. *grumble* *grumble* *baaharrooooooom* Who was that hasty never-d0-well that decided to invite them, anyway???

( )

Der Schauplatz des Herrn der Ringe ist Mittelerde, eine alternative Welt, und erzählt wird von der gefahrvollen Quest einiger Gefährten, die in einem dramatischen Kampf gegen das Böse endet.

Durch einen merkwürdigen Zufall fällt dem Hobbit Bilbo Beutlin ein Zauberring zu, dessen Kraft, käme er in die falschen Hände, zu einer absoluten Herrschaft des Bösen führen würde. Bilbo übergibt den Ring an seinen Neffen Frodo, der den Ring in der Schicksalskluft zerstören soll.
Hobbits sind kleine, gemütliche Leute, dabei aber erstaunlich zäh. Sie leben in einem ländlichen Idyll, dem Auenland.

source: klett-cotta.de

The fellowship, being sundered the shards of the fellowship continue in their quests. For the review...read the book itself. ( )

After the splitting of the Fellowship of the Ring near the falls of Rauros, Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas pursue the orcs that have captured the hobbits Merry and Pippen into Rohan to the edge of Fangorn Forest. In the forest both groups, the hobbits and the man, elf and dwarf meet unexpected allies.

Meanwhile Frodo and Sam attempt to find a way into Mordor to attempt to destroy the enemy’s most powerful weapon. Their unlikely guide is the less than trustworthy creature Gollum.

On this rereading of The Lord of the Rings, I am struck by Tolkien’s rich use of the natural world as a setting for his epic fantasy. His skillful descriptions of rock faced mountainous passes, lush forests, waterfalls, and grim stinking marshlands enhance the verisimilitude of his tale of virtuous heroes, evil villains, and fantastic beings. ( )