Any Lord of the Rings fans out there?, Post your favorite quotation... Options

[Dhyana]

Are there any among you who like Lord of the Rings? Bookies or movie fans, or movie music fans -- there are many sampradayas out there, I am a bookie first and foremost. I first read LOTR at 17, and while much about this book is sheer enjoyment, plain and simple, it also opened my eyes up to some truths I can only call spiritual.

Here's one of my favorite passages. Context: Elrond has chosen the company of eight persons to accompany Frodo in his quest to destroy the Ring. Elrond explains that only Frodo will be duty-bound to his mission, all others go with him as free companions, free to turn aside into other paths if they wish.

"Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens," said Gimli.
"Maybe,," said Elrond, "but let him not vow to walk in the dark, who has not seen the nightfall."
"Yet sworn word may strengthen quaking heart," said Gimli.
"Or break it," said Elrond. "Look not too far ahead! But go now with good hearts!"

[angrezi]

I was probably 14 or 15 when I read the full trilogy, between joints. I would say it had a spiritual effect on me as well, the books I mean. I do think the movie could not possibly contain the complete mood of middle earth the way the books do.

I have seen all three movies and I must say the first was the best in my opinion. The third was too long, and the second was just a big preparation for the battle at the end.

I don't know if I'm really to be considered a fan like some are. But Tolkien was a genious in the genre. I tend to think he had some contact knowingly or unknowingly with forest spirits and Celtic kings.

Carl Jung writes of having dreams of soldiers going to war shortly before he unearthed a 150 year old swiss soldiers skeleton at his compound. He was very moved by this event. I think ideas come in intresting ways...

[Preyobrazhenya]

I'd say we have some common interests! First Beatles, and now LOTR.

[Milla]

I read the Hobbit many times pre-ISKCON, LOTR wasn't translated yet. From the book a whole subculture had sprung up and I think this was the reason it wasn't published in the Communist times, to protect the innocent from decadent Western influences.

Post-ISKCON I read it a few times and enjoyed it immensely. My sister is a fan and a true believer. She is in a Tolkien fan club, has an identity (elf) and a name, Edhelwen Lala-something. Her boyfriend speaks and writes Elvish, although his identity is human. She told me that Peter Jackson consulted extensively the most prominent international fan clubs for his trilogy.

The film was great, considering what a challenge is to translate such an iconic book in another medium.

[Dhyana]

Post-ISKCON I read it a few times and enjoyed it immensely. My sister is a fan and a true believer. She is in a Tolkien fan club, has an identity (elf) and a name, Edhelwen Lala-something. Her boyfriend speaks and writes Elvish, although his identity is human. She told me that Peter Jackson consulted extensively the most prominent international fan clubs for his trilogy.

He consulted foremost authorities on Elven languages. Many of the lyrics for the movies, as also dialogs, are in various Tolkien languages, translated into these languages especially for the movie.

One may wonder how there can be authorities on nonexistent languages, but Tolkien was a linguist and wrote extensive notes on the grammar etc. of his invented languages. I have read somewhere that his Sindarin (one of the Elven languages) was based on Welsh vocabulary with Finnish grammar...

I participate in a LOTR discussion forum. Once a lady, a fan of Tolkien languages, was lyrically and in detail describing the ingenuity and elegance of Tengwar, the syllabic script invented by Daeron, the minstrel and loremaster of King Thingol of Doriath.

I commented saying the Tengwar is closely based on Devanagari, with implied "a", vargas and stuff.

I think I put my foot in my mouth. There was a long silence.

The film was great, considering what a challenge is to translate such an iconic book in another medium.

I agree. Though every bookie has a couple of passages they just can't forgive Peter Jackson for changing. But all in all, every endeavor is covered by imperfection... and this one came very close to perfection.

[Milla]

He consulted foremost authorities on Elven languages. Many of the lyrics for the movies, as also dialogs, are in various Tolkien languages, translated into these languages especially for the movie.

One may wonder how there can be authorities on nonexistent languages, but Tolkien was a linguist and wrote extensive notes on the grammar etc. of his invented languages. I have read somewhere that his Sindarin (one of the Elven languages) was based on Welsh vocabulary with Finnish grammar...

Tolkien was an English professor and knew some 10 languages, among which Latin, Greek, Old Norse, Old English.... As far as I remember, the original Oxford Tolkien Society (still exists) was formed by fellow professors and linguists. The two varieties of Elvish, Sindarin and Quenya, are the most developed ones in terms of vocabulary, and are the ones the fans are most likely to learn.

My sister told me that Peter Jackson consulted the fans for the characters, how they should look and behave, etc. He knew very well that the Tolkien fans will either make or break his movie and wanted them on his side from the beginning. He also knew that these characters are like Deities and there is a Tradition about how they should be interpreted. (BTW, my sister's boyfriend is the vice-president of the national Spanish fan club and he lives and breathes Tolkien). My sister was pretty much satisfied with the film, the only character that wasn't so much to her liking was Galadriel, but I forgot exactly why.

Do you go to Tolkien festivals, Dhyana? At least in Spain, they are held regularly. And the fans went to the premieres of the movie in the biggest Spanish cities dressed in Tolkien costumes which are quite beautiful and elaborate. Some of them must have cost a lot of money to make.

[Tapati]

I read the Hobbit while in Junior High school. But I never got around to reading Lord of the Rings until I was staying with Jamadagni and his wife when I was homeless and pregnant (they kindly took me in). They had a copy and I started reading. Later on, as Cintamani's own pregnancy was getting close to delivery, I left and was staying in another friend's laundry room off their garage. It was a difficult situation and I continued reading the trilogy. I was literally taking refuge in Tolkien's world to endure my own hardships as a battered, pregnant, homelss and impoverished woman. We were low on food, I was sleeping on a cement floor, on a sleeping bag, the room was unheated and it was winter in L.A., and my husband was busy trying to solve our problems by looking for psychedelic mushrooms growing wild so he could sell them.

All glories to Tolkien for saving my sanity in that horrible situation!

Since then I have read it many times; I have lost track of how many. I have some passages practically memorized, almost word for word, and definitely small segments word for word.

I loved the movies although I had my differences with some of the editing choices. But I wrote a letter to scifiweekly defending Jackson and pointing out that while most of us dreamed that it would be a movie, he was the one who persevered and made it happen.

His Aragorn and Gandalf choices come very close to my mental picture. Aragorn was particularly important because didn't most of us ladies fall in love with him?

I will add some of my favorite passages later but there is one little bit that has been running through my head ever since I was diagnosed with heart disease, and I feel it reflects my own feelings about dying, although that was not its context.

Galadriel:

But if of ships I now should sing, what ship would come to me?
What ship would bear me ever back across so wide a sea?


btw, Galadriel is what I named my Mac hard drive at work.

[0ramakesava0]

My favourite quote is:

"Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger."

it feels like 'leave it to the professionals (or else)!"

[Dhyana]

Yes, Rama, but then remember what Pippin answered (paraphrasing):

"Our whole presence on this trip is meddling in the affairs of wizards!" And good point he had -- after all it was Gandalf who saw a role for hobbits in the undertaking.

After which wise statement Pippin proceeded to take a peek in the Palantir of Orthanc...

[Tapati]

I have meant for some time to get my books out and get back to this thread.

Aragorn: Few other griefs amid the ill chances of this world have more bitterness and shame for a man's heart than to behold the love of a lady so fair and brave that cannot be returned. Sorrow and pity have followed me ever since I left her desperate in Dunharrow and rode to the Paths of the Dead; and no fear upon that way was so present as the fear for what might befall her. And yet, Eomer, I say to you that she loves you more truly than me; for you she loves and knows; but in me she loves only a shadow and a thought: a hope of glory and great deeds, far from the fields of Rohan.

I have, maybe, the power to heal her body, and to recall her from the dark valley. But to what she will awake: hope, forgetfulness, despair, I do not know. And if to despair, then she will die, unless other healing comes which I cannot bring. Alas! For her deeds have set her among the queens of great renown.

Galadriel, delivered by Gandalf:
Legolas Greenleaf, long under tree
In joy thou hast lived Beware of the Sea!
If thou hearest the cry of the gull on the shore,
Thy heart shall then rest in the forest no more

"You are wise and fearless and fair, Lady Galadriel," said Frodo. "I will give you the One Ring, if you ask for it. It is too great a matter for me."

Galadriel laughed with a sudden clear laugh. "Wise the Lady Galadriel may be," she said, "yet here she has met her match in courtesy. Gently are you revenged for my testing of your heart at our first meeting. You begin to see with a keen eye. I do not deny that my heart has greatly desired to ask what you offer. For many long years I had pondered what I might do, should the Great Ring come into my hands, and behold! it was brought within my grasp. The evil that was devised long ago works in many ways, whether Sauron himself stands or falls. Would not that have been a noble deed to set to the credit of his Ring, if I had taken it by force or fear from my guest?

"And now at last it comes. You will give me the Ring freely! In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen. And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than the Foundations of the Earth! All shall love me and despair! "

She lifted up her hand and from the ring that she wore there issued a great light that illumined her alone and left all else dark. She stood before Frodo seeming tall beyond measurement, and beautiful beyond enduring, terrible and worshipful. Then she let her hand fall, and the light faded, and suddenly she laughed again, and lo! she was shrunken: a slender elf-woman, clad in simple white, whose gentle voice was soft and sad.

"I pass the test." she said. "I will diminish, and go into the West, and remain Galadriel."

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[sekhmetsat]

"EGSSESSSS< EGGSSESSS MY PRECIOUS"

erm, i say this when making breakfast for my kids

then of course

"WHAT DOES IT HAVE IN ITS NASSSSTY LITLLE POCKETSESES?!!!!!!!"

also said to my kids quite often. yes, i'm weird.

[Dhyana]

also said to my kids quite often. yes, i'm weird.

Glum, glum.

[extranjero]

Never finished reading the book but the movie was fascinating.

When Elrond talked to Arwen about this world as a place of death (mrityuloka), it was almost like a passage from Bhagavata.

— Why do you linger when there is no hope?

— There is still hope.

— If Aragorn survives this war, you will still be parted. If Sauron is defeated and Aragorn made king and all that you hoped for comes true, you will still have to taste the bitterness of mortality. Whether by the sword or
the slow decay of time, Aragorn will die. And there will be no comfort for you. No comfort to ease the pain of his passing. He will come to death. An image of the splendor of the kings, of men in glory, undimmed before the breaking of the world.

But you, my daughter, you will linger on in darkness and in doubt. As night falling winter has come without a star. Here you will dwell, bound to you grief, under the fading trees, until all the world has changed  and the long years of
your life are utterly spent.

Arwen. There is nothing for you here. Only death.

[extranjero]

And the end where Frodo realizes that he can never really return to the Shire, it was so heart-breaking.

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. There are some things that time cannot mend. Some hurts that go too deep; that have taken hold.

And before leaving:

We set out to save the Shire, Sam. And it has been saved but not for me.

And since Sam also had been a ring bearer for some time, he was not able to enjoy the Shire either and one day he would have to leave. But he could never open his heart to anybody because who would understand? This victory is so sad that sometimes it seems that it would have been better to lose.At least that way you can keep hope for the next time.

[Tapati]

Frodo: It's a pity Bilbo didn't kill him when he had the chance.

Gandalf: Pity? It was pity that stayed Bilbo's hand. Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends. My heart tells me that Gollum has some part to play yet, for good or ill before this is over. The pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many.

[angrezi]

I developed a thing for Elfin women after seeing that trilogy.

[0Sam0]

But have you noticed that the books hardly contain any female characters? The entire trilogy was written about men, be they hobbits, elves or ogres. This was pointed out to me by my daughter a few years ago when I read it aloud to her.

[Tapati]

Yeah, so much a book of its times in terms of that: women were assumed to be the ones waiting at home, like Arwen or Sam's girlfriend, not on the battlefield. They had to alter the movie to better reflect modern sensibilities. However, Tolkien did show a little feminist spirit by having a woman disguise herself and go to battle, helping to defeat the enemy no less. Perhaps he knew the truth--that some women did go to war in disguise if that was the only way they could do so.

[Subhash]

I was just sad they missed out the Tom Bombadil section - he was my favourite character- i reckon he could stand having a film of his own though- i should start a petition

[Subhash]

I thought the films worked really well on a comedic level, but i can never decide how intentional that is. For instance, the ongoing homoerotic tensions between Frodo and Sam, and the scene where, dreaming of kissing liv tyler, he awakes to find he's been kissing his horse-can there be a further fall?