How would you change things?

[afro-elf]

Hello, this is my 1st post after tons of reading.

I'm a role-player and a would be writer. I was wondering for you of a similar mind how would you change the Lord of the Rings if YOU wrote it today.

For me the world be a little altered. The Elves would not have faded to the extent that they have in LOTR. ( I really like Tolkein's Elves) There would have been better communication between the free peoples. Not SO much estrangement.

O'course because I'm a minority there would have been a wider mix of colors. I DO NOT IN ANY WAY THINK LOTR IS RACIST.

I know the hobbits were dark but I'm about to speak blasphemy... I liked the parts dealing with Elves and Men more so
than the parts with hobbits. I liked Merry and Pippin. Legolas and Aragorn, Glorfindel, Imrahil, Faramir, Gandalf and Gildor were my favs though.

I USUALLY role-play characters similar to me physically if Human. Or at least darK skinned if not.

For me it would have been cool if some of minor but cool characters were Black or Asian. Say Glorfindel, Gildor, Imrahil or Beregond.

Or REALLY cool if the House of Stewards were Black or Asian

Maybe the Riders of Rohan would have been Mongols

Then it could be really multi-cultural

A Human Aragorn marries an Elf,
A black Faramir marries an Asian
Galadriel and Gimli oops!

I'm not a big fan of "HIGH MAGIC" so LOTR is fine. BUT I think the Black Riders did not seem THAT powerful to me. I think I would have made them more fearsome.

The Lord of the Nazgul only seemed like the" Lord of the Nazgul " to me in the Return of The King. That's when he became the "TERRIBLE WITCH KING" to me.

Maybe the descrition of magic would be a tad more detailed.
Ex. Did Andruil glow with flame or was if figurative?

Gimli and Legolas would have been more prominent. Maybe the same with the son's of Elrond and Halabard. Maybe showing them "Hanging out" with Aragorn getting to know about the Rangers' life.

O'course Eowyn being told not to leave would have to do more needing one of noble blood staying behind more than her being a women.

There MAY have been a HANDFUL women warriors around in my story.

Tom Bomodil would not be singing Tom Bomodilo la la la
(blasphemy again) the character would have stayed but without
romper room gaity

Legolas would have wore boots not shoes and had a short sword(Roman Gladus style) instead of a long knife


These are just a few things I thought of. I really enjoy LOTR rings but my writting style is different than that of the Professors.

PLEASE DO NOT TAKE THIS A Tolkien bashing is just a question to see what you guys would change.

please forgive the errors that may be in the above I'm 3+ hours GMT and its WAY past my bed time

Ciao

[Ñólendil]

I won't attempt to respond to so much, so I greet with you hearty 'welcome!'

[Darth Tater]

Welcome to Entmoot! I'm a (pitifull) writer myself, but I honestly would not change LOTR in any way. I consider it to be nearly perfect, and anything I did would only ruine it. BTW, there are black people in LOTR, they just happen to join up with Sauron. There's also a suggestion that the Breelander's are dark skinned, more so then simply from too much time in the sun.

[Ñólendil]

*leers threateningly at Darth*

As far as I am aware, there is no quote which specifies any swarthy Men having black skin, specifically. Not the Haradrim, not the Easterlings (the Wainriders were actually white-skinned, the skin-colour of the bearded ones with axes in the LR narrative is not specified), not anyone. But there are many swarthy people on either side.

The Men of Bree-land were descended from the Dunlendings, who had dun-brown skin. This is a very large racial class. The Halethrim, Dunlendings, Bree-landers, many Gondorians, the Dead Men of Dunharrow, they all come from one people. Read the Minas Tirith chapter again Darth, Pippin notices many swarthy people marching into the City (and I do believe the Woses were of darker skin, though that is not said in the Lord of the Rings). Too many people for mysterious reasons do not remember the dark skinned folks on the good side. What I have listed here is a very small selection. But as for specifically black skinned people, I don't remember reading about any. It is of course quite possible that some people who were pointed out as 'swart' were in fact black, but as I said there are good and wicked swarthy people in Tolkien's works.

[Darth Tater]

You don't remember ppl seeing groups of I believe the exact quote is "black men" going to Mordor?

[Ñólendil]

I remember 'black men like Half-trolls' who are later called Half-trolls that fight in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields (they came from the far South, I imagine the creatures were some mix of Men down there and the Olog-hai of Sauron), other than that, no.

Anyway 'black men' doesn't always mean 'black-skinned men', sometimes it means 'evil men' (i.e., under the Shadow, like the corrupt Black Númenóreans, who were white-skinned), sometimes it means 'men who wear dark clothing'. Gollum is frequently called black, but never in relation to his skin. When his skin hue is mentioned it is pale. He was mostly called 'black' when in the dark and I assume (what because it was suggested by Michael Martinez to me some time ago, and it makes sense) he wore dark clothing. The Black Riders of course have no visible skin.

[Bantan]

I liked your changes EXCEPT Tom Bombadil. he shouldn't be changed in any way! as for the singing, that just shows who he was. he was the Master of the forest, but he didn't take it as a burden, he was happy in his work and i daresay eccentric. in LotR, besides Gollum, my favorite character is Tom .

[afro-elf]

Thanks for the replies.



These are some further thoughts.

I guess one BIG change would be ME.

I'd be one of the characters. Since I'd wanna be dark I'd be a Bree Lander with a really adventurous spirit.

Since it "SEEMS" that humans can possess SOME magic and since I like Elves. I'd be some Elf-happy Breelander, with little bit of ELF-wanna be magic

I'd be Aragorn's sidekick maybe.


I'd boot Samwise and make Merry or Pippin replace without the master servant thing going on.

My love of Elves and devotion to Aragorn could repalce Samwise's
love of Elves and devotion to Frodo

Perhaps I'd make Legolas a female and have Gimli, Legolas, and myself have a more involved triangle of sorts. My fawning over the female Legolas and Gimli's shakey start with the Elf could provide some humor .

Also being a Breelander maybe the Hobbits would underestimate me at first, also.

Despite my Elf-happy ways. I would not be comic relief. Under the tutelage of the Elves I would have developed certain insights.

[cee2lee2]

I don't have the imaginaton for it, but you sound like a very good RPG player.

[Elven Warrior Maiden]

afro-elf, all thats pretty good, I want to be a writer to, but I wouldn't change anything. Especially Legalas a female, my sister wouldn't be to happy.....

cee2lee2, what is a whatever it was player?

[Play Girl]

More women and more sexual tension between Sam and Frodo!
play girl

[Ñólendil]

RPG= Role-Playing Game.

[afro-elf]

Thanks for the compliment cee2lee2

[IronParrot]

I don't think a damn thing should be changed about this perfect, perfect novel.

Oh, one gripe, though.

In I.5 ("A Conspiracy Unmasked") you know how Pippin and Merry do all the explaining, while Fatty sits there silently for the whole chapter listening to everyone around him talk? That's always struck me as a little awkward... I'd expand his role a little.

[Ñólendil]

It is difficult to imagine what Fredegar was doing throughout most of that part, just sitting and listening I guess. It does come across a bit awkward.

[Comic Book Guy]

If I was to expand Fatty's part, I would have him go with the hobbits to Rivendell, then have Elrond tell him go back to the Shire and warn everybody, which was to be the original task of Merry and Pippin.

Of course this could be a bad thing for his role, perhaps it was the simplicity of his part which appeals to me and others.

[Ñólendil]

But he had a job in the Shire you know. He was to stay behind and make it seem as though Frodo was still at Crickhollow. He'd wear Frodo's clothes even. And, he was going to tell Gandalf what had happened. In the event Gandalf did not stop for news, but Fredegar succeded in convincing the Blackriders (on accident) that 'Baggins' was indeed still staying at Crickhollow. He escaped them, alerted the neighbours, and the Horn of Buckland was blown and the residents aroused. The Nazgûl then fled. Later he led a band of Hobbits against Sharkey's Men and was shut up in the Michel Delving for his troubles.

[IronParrot]

Yeah, I just meant expanding Fatty as in, showing him having a more active role in planning his end of the deal with the others.

[Captain Stern]

I'd eliminate Eowyn's character because I thought it was politicaly correct even if that wasn't Tolkien's intention, I can not stand Xena Warrior princess types.

At the least I would give Merry a lot more credit for his part in the killing of the witch king. If it wasn't for Merry Eowyn would have been cut down like grass, so he played the largest role in killing him and he should have been reckognised as doing so too.

[afro-elf]

I do agree that merry should get equal praise for slaying the witch-king. eowyn may have scored the the goal but merry deked the defenders and set up eowyn with a picture perfect pass.


BUT i don't think xena and eowyn are even in the same league.

eowyn is a mortal woman who has been trained to fight. ( she mentions something about being a shield maided) AND historically women fought in several cultures. i can provide info if you like.


she is not like the xenarwen on the humorous mouth of sauron site. check out the unofficial scripts there and i think you'll have a blast on their version of both arwen, eowyn, and xena