They Do Have a Point...

Spend Today in the Middle of Middle Earth

"Fantasy remains a human right: we make in our measure and in our derivative mode, because we are made: and not only made, but made in the image and likeness of a Maker."
~J.R.R. Tolkien, On Fairy Stories

Happy Birthday (and Merry Christmas), old maker of Hobbits!

Today, since it is his 120th birthday, is J.R.R. Tolkien day. I would heartily recommend the enjoyment of the extended versions of the Lord of the Rings films, the repeated viewing of the trailer for the new Hobbit movie due to come out in December, a speedy run-through of any of his books, making and enjoying various fan adaptations of Middle Earth foods, or - the activity I choose - hours spent in the combat contained within The Return of the King video game. I normally would have spent the day in watching all 11+ hours of the movies (or however long the three extended versions run to - I never watch the theatrical versions), but, alas, my family's copies are with an older sibling for the time being. So I shall content myself in my Aragorn- Legolas- Frodo- Sam- Gimli- Gandalf- Boromir- Pippen- Merry- Faramir- and Galadriel-less sorrow (apologies to any good characters I forgot) by immersing myself in a desperate fight to defeat various baddies from the story.

If you're really desperate for something Lord of the Rings (or in need of a good laugh), watch this video. I hear there's a 10-hour one on youtube as well, but I have neither the time nor the inclination to watch it.

P.S. Notice how I snuck in "Merry Christmas" - thus making this post technically a Christmas post.

The Hobbit Trailer!!!!!

Okay, this is soooooooooooooo much better than I thought it would be! The character list (Frodo? Legolas?) and various other things were rather worrisome and indicated that perhaps Peter Jackson and company would not be particularly faithful to the book. But this! This is awesome.

The dwarves look much I remember they do in the book - rather short and stout and not nearly as fearsome as in their publicity stills. It looks as if there will be a Shire sequence to rival even that in The Fellowship of the Ring, only with dwarves added! And most of the scenes (Galadriel excluded) seem straight out of the book, right down to the dwarves tumbling into Bilbo's house. Martin Freeman is very nearly perfect for Bilbo - though perhaps not quite as Ian-Holm-like as I would wish.

In short, LOTR fans should be positively drooling over this trailer. Here's a question: If there's enough footage to put out this trailer, why do we have to wait until next December to see the whole movie?!!

Welcome Back to Middle Earth! We Hope You Enjoy Your Stay...

A picture of Thorin is out on theonering.net! Plus, IMDb has stills from the movie! (For those of you who have been on a trip to Mars and only just returned, a two-part version of The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien's prelude to Lord of the Rings, is coming out in 2012 and 2013.)

Other pictures have come out, but the one of Richard Armitage (North & South, and that dreadful Robin Hood show) as Thorin is the one I have really looked foward to. My first reaction was a grimace. Richard Armitage is a very good-looking man, and as Thorin he looks rather, well, dwarvish. But I soon recovered and decided he looks just fine. After all, he still has his piercing eyes. And I'm thrilled that Martin Freeman (Sherlock) is playing Bilbo Baggins. He doesn't look as much like Ian Holm as I would wish, but he'll make a great Bilbo.

To expand from the pictures to the movie, I'm really excited that this project is finally becoming a reality. It took forever after ROTK came out (2003!), but real progress is being made. All I can say is: They'd better stick to the story. Some of the ideas that were apparently bandied about during the making of LOTR terrify me. (For example, sending Arwen to Helm's Deep to fight alongside Aragorn in TTT was apparently an option. Also, Aragorn was going to fight Sauron at the Black Gate in ROTK, but the Dark Lord was replaced by a troll in the final version of the film.) So, as long as they don't do anything too weird with the story (like insert a romance; romances add a lot to most stories, but there's no place for one here), I'm definitely seeing it in the theater and buying the (extended version?) DVD when it's released.

Regarding The Lord of the Rings

Three rings for the Elven kings under the sky

     Seven for the dwarf lords in their halls of stone

Nine for mortal men doomed to die.

     One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne

In the land of Mordor where the shadows lie.

One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them

One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.
In the land of Mordor where the shadows lie.

In The Lord of the Rings, the epic trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien, a hobbit named Frodo Baggins inherits a simple gold ring that has the power to turn its wearer invisible. Gandalf the Grey, an old wizard, is disturbed by this magic ring and sets off to investigate its history. He discovers that this tiny object has the power to send Middle Earth into darkness.

Pros: Where to start? The characters are all enjoyable - particularly Gandalf, Aragorn, Frodo, Sam, Faramir, Eowyn... I could go on for years. The story, world, and creatures are unmatched in the fantasy genre. J.R.R. Tolkien was Catholic and there are many Catholic analogies to be found in the books if one looks for them.

Cons: My only complaint about these books is that it's sometimes difficult to imagine the places Tolkien describes. This, however, isn't a problem in most cases if one has seen the movies.

My Rating: OK (spooky creatures, violence)

Picture from tolkien-online.com

The Lord of the Rings and Catholicism

Here's a fascinating blog post on Catholic analogies found in The Lord of the Rings (both books and movies).