Who's for your opinion the most 5 important characters?

[Jon S.]

Happy April 1 to you too, Butterbeer.

[Butterbeer]

heh .. i was being serious!!!

[The Gaffer]

1) Sam - it's his story IMO
2) Frodo
3) Aragorn
4) Sauron
5) Smeagol - Gollum

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

I agree about Sam... it's essentially, for all those who are not Maia, his story.

I can go with the rest of the list, too, with the possible exception of Sauron.

I'm just not sure Sauron is a person in most senses of the word. he's certainly a force...but the Ring is almost more a character.

[BeardofPants]

He may not be a person, he may be a force, but he still has hands, so I guess he can count as a character - he MADE the rings of power after all.

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

Originally Posted by BeardofPants

He may not be a person, he may be a force, but he still has hands, so I guess he can count as a character - he MADE the rings of power after all.

He doesn't have a characterization, is more my complaint.

When, as an actor, I talk about "a character", I'm talking about "someone I get to play." Characters, in that sense are just 'jobs.' From a literary POV, a character needs to be more than a hole in the scenery with hands. A character makes choices, and a central character makes choices that matter to the story.

Within LOTR, Sauron hardly qualifies. I know he's a big deal in the Tolkien mythos, but Arwen makes more choices, even Gimli is more fully drawn. Sauron is a straw man. He's "the bad guy."

That's my objection.

[EowynRocks]

I think it's got to be:
Gandalf
Aragorn
Frodo (Mr grumpy )
Sauron (you need a baddie really) Evil but not as grumpy as frodo
Sam He rocks!!!

ie. same as everyone else...

[The Gaffer]

Sauron, the "wise fool", makes plenty of choices; Gandalf describes his motives and intentions in some detail, for example.

Clearly, no actor would want to play him though, as he is off stage the whole 3 Acts..

[Curufin]

Elrond - Helped raise Aragorn and he's Arwen's father. Also has a very important supporting role, and it's in his home that the Fellowship is brought together.
Glorfindel - Well, they all would have been Nazgul food without him, eh?
Théoden - call him the Blücher of LotR, comes in at the last moment and saves the day, without him, the Pelennor Fields would have been lost.
Aragorn - The man who would be king. Of course he's important.
Sam - A hobbit making my list. You should be impressed. But wimpy Frodo never would have made it witout him.

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

Originally Posted by The Gaffer

Sauron, the "wise fool", makes plenty of choices; Gandalf describes his motives and intentions in some detail, for example.

Doesn't count. You never EVER accept another character's evaluation of you. Sauron has very little direct testimony, even in the books.

It's just like Richard 3rd, folks. It's a great play, has nothing to do with the actual guy.

Suaron isn't even eye-witnessed in the books, except in appendices. Not enough to work with as a 'character."

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

Originally Posted by Curufin

Elrond - Helped raise Aragorn and he's Arwen's father. Also has a very important supporting role, and it's in his home that the Fellowship is brought together.
Glorfindel - Well, they all would have been Nazgul food without him, eh?
Théoden - call him the Blücher of LotR, comes in at the last moment and saves the day, without him, the Pelennor Fields would have been lost.
Aragorn - The man who would be king. Of course he's important.
Sam - A hobbit making my list. You should be impressed. But wimpy Frodo never would have made it witout him.

I'll take this in the spirit of April Fools.

[Curufin]

Er...I was totally serious. And I even included species other than elves. That took work. My first list was:

Elrond
Galadriel
Glorfindel
Gildor
Legolas

So I really tried for multiculturalism here.

[The Dread Pirate Roberts]

First, I am glad to see so many people value Sam.

Second, Sauron indeed should count. He was a character in the book.

Third, Curufin? This isn't a "favorites" thread, it's a "most important" thread. As in, most important to the story LotR, not most important to you.

[BeardofPants]

You are entitled to your opinion siscuz, but I must vehemently disagree with your assertion that Sauron is not a character.

Let us take a defintion from the handy google + define:

"fictional character: an imaginary person represented in a work of fiction (play or film or story);"

For a fictionalised entity to be recognised as a character, all it has to do is meet the above criteria. A representation. It can be an absentee, only-gonna-turn-up-to-find-his-lost-contact-lens, apparently has no hands SOB (according to those 'beloved' movies), but he's still a character, and as the 'creator' of the rings, I'd argue a pretty darned important one.

Oh - and it's awesome that this thread has been so revitalised. I was expecting another abrupt death.

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

This is such a Rorschach test.

We're like the blind men and the elephant.

Or Oliphant, if you will.

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

Originally Posted by Curufin

Er...I was totally serious. And I even included species other than elves. That took work. My first list was:

Elrond
Galadriel
Glorfindel
Gildor
Legolas

So I really tried for multiculturalism here.

Ya know, I knew that, right away. And I appreciated it.

[Curufin]

Third, Curufin? This isn't a "favorites" thread, it's a "most important" thread. As in, most important to the story LotR, not most important to you.

I know, DPR. That's why Gildor isn't first.

Sis - First - Second: What characters on my list aren't important?

[Mari]

Hehe, BoP, you managed to kill and resurrect the thread, how nice

1) Sam
2) Gandalf
3) Aragorn
4) Treebeard and the ents
5) the eagle who's name I keep forgetting.

EDIT: though Sam is number 1, the others are in no particular order

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

Originally Posted by The Dread Pirate Roberts

Third, Curufin? This isn't a "favorites" thread, it's a "most important" thread. As in, most important to the story LotR, not most important to you.

Gee, DPR, where did you get that stricture? That's all in your mind, friend.
100 years ago, my parents saw fit to have me evaluated by psychologists. They administered tests, and I took them. The results they arrived at contravened everything anyone previously knew about me, so everyone was mad at me for gaming the tests.

Now the problem was, I did EXACTLY what I was asked to on those tests. If they asked me which picture I liked best, I told them. I might judge on the composition, I might judge on the fashions, I might judge on people's expression. There was no stricture given on my method of deciding.

Not my fault it was a poorly designed test. I could have helped them with that.

Originally Posted by sisterandcousinandaunt

This is such a Rorschach test.

And thus has no wrong answer.

Originally Posted by Curufin

I know, DPR. That's why Gildor isn't first.

Sis - First - Second: What characters on my list aren't important?

All characters on your list are important. All characters on any list are important. Your characters are chosen (other than by being elves, which is a first degree of importance to you) as being critical to the plot. That's very coordinate with a political leaning, btw. Strategic. Someone else might feel each species needed a representative. Someone might compose a list of the characters whose perspective changes most over the course of the book (a classic issue in defining protagonists). Someone's list might be of characters that they personally identify with. Someone's list might be only of royalty, of one kind or another.

It's all very interesting.

Thanks, BoP.

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

Originally Posted by Mari

Hehe, BoP, you managed to kill and resurrect the thread, how nice

1) Sam
2) Gandalf
3) Aragorn
4) Treebeard and the ents
5) the eagle who's name I keep forgetting.

See, that's Mari. She's so much further without prejudice than most people. Eagles and Ents. Seems obvious, when she points it out.