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03-10-2011, 08:13 PM
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#1 |
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Fëanorophobic
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Between the pages of a book
Posts: 1,417
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What is it about LOTR that keeps you coming back?
Hello everyone,
It's certainly been a long time for me since I last "mooted"  I doubt if people around here will even remember me. I don't know why but I really felt like coming back to the Moot to talk with fellow LOTR fans. I thought it adequate to stage my "come back" through a topic on coming back to LOTR. I have read and re-read LOTR more times than I care to count. Yet there's always something that makes me come back and re-read it yet again. For me, it's the magic and wonder of his world that keeps me coming back. The childlike wonder of the Shire and its people, the beauty of the Elves, the sad and heroic stories of Men... Whenever I feel like I'm stuck in a rut and my day to day life is just a slide show of the same pictures stuck on repeat, my thoughts immediately turn to LOTR and I pick it up again and feel refreshed  So my question to you is this: what is it about LOTR that keeps you coming back? What do you think sets it apart from other works of fantasy/sci-fi? |
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03-10-2011, 08:52 PM
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#2 |
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The Chocoholic Sea Elf Administrator
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: N?n in Eilph (Belgium)
Posts: 14,363
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I remember you.
*waves*To me it's the descriptions and the level of detail. No matter how many times you re-read, every time there will be something that you've forgot and get to enjoy again. It's one of the only books I regularly re-read every couple of years as I know that LoTR will never bore or disappoint me.
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We are not things. |
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03-10-2011, 09:11 PM
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#3 | |
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Fëanorophobic
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Between the pages of a book
Posts: 1,417
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*waves back excitedly*
Quote:
P.S. Glad to see a familiar face welcoming me back, Earniel |
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03-10-2011, 10:21 PM
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#4 |
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Advocatus Diaboli
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: Reality
Posts: 3,767
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Probably the positive attitude is what brings me back the most. All of Tolkien's characters are optimists, a rare breed amongst us mortals.
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Your reality, sir, is lies and balderdash and I'm delighted to say that I have no grasp of it whatsoever. |
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03-11-2011, 09:41 AM
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#5 |
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Fëanorophobic
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Between the pages of a book
Posts: 1,417
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brownjenkins!
Nice to see you again. Yes, you do make a good point about the optimistic tone of the story in general. I think that this is one of the good things about PJ's movies: he emphasizes this optimistic tone... Last edited by Beren3000 : 03-11-2011 at 06:53 PM. |
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03-12-2011, 12:26 AM
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#6 |
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Half-Elven Princess of Rabbit Trails and Harp-Wielding Administrator (beware the Rubber Chicken of Doom!)
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Not where I want to be ...
Posts: 15,254
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And hello again! So nice to see you!
 I just started a re-read after many years. I guess what keeps me coming back is all the truth in the book, and all the beauty.
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. I should be doing the laundry, but this is MUCH more fun! Ñá ë?* óú éä ïöü Öñ É Þ ð ß ® ç Ã¥ â„¢ æ ♪ ?*"How lovely are Thy dwelling places, O Lord of hosts! ... For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand outside." (from Psalm 84) * * * God rocks! Entmoot : Veni, vidi, velcro - I came, I saw, I got hooked! Ego numquam pronunciare mendacium, sed ego sum homo indomitus! Run the earth and watch the sky ... Auta i lómë! Aurë entuluva! |
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03-12-2011, 04:46 PM
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#7 |
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Elven Warrior
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: United States
Posts: 401
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Welcome back!
As for your question, I think that there is definitely something that sets Tolkien's world apart from other fantasies. After reading a few of his biographies, I think I have come to realize what exactly it is. So much of Tolkien's life-not merely his studies-but his life from childhood to adulthood is rooted and woven into Middle Earth. But of course there is also the fantastical aspect of the books, that which he had to create. The life Tolkien breathed into Middle Earth first lures us as readers; but then we are called to return there by that faerie which relies on the imagination. And yet it remains just out of our grasp.
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Elleth Valatari "We have come from God, and inevitably the myths woven by us, though they contain error, will also reflect a splintered fragment of the true light, the eternal truth that is with God. Our myths may be misguided, but they steer however shakily towards the true harbour, while materialistic 'progress' leads only to a yawning abyss and the Iron Crown of the power of evil." — J.R.R. Tolkien Last edited by EllethValatari : 03-13-2011 at 08:58 PM. |
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03-13-2011, 04:15 AM
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#8 |
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Half-Elven Princess of Rabbit Trails and Harp-Wielding Administrator (beware the Rubber Chicken of Doom!)
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Not where I want to be ...
Posts: 15,254
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Just finished FOTR - and spilled a bowl of Cheerios all over it!
 Oh well, that only gives it more character (this is my 3-volume paperback version that is held together with packing tape )Starting on TT ...
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. I should be doing the laundry, but this is MUCH more fun! Ñá ë?* óú éä ïöü Öñ É Þ ð ß ® ç Ã¥ â„¢ æ ♪ ?*"How lovely are Thy dwelling places, O Lord of hosts! ... For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand outside." (from Psalm 84) * * * God rocks! Entmoot : Veni, vidi, velcro - I came, I saw, I got hooked! Ego numquam pronunciare mendacium, sed ego sum homo indomitus! Run the earth and watch the sky ... Auta i lómë! Aurë entuluva! |
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03-13-2011, 09:46 AM
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#9 | |||
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Fëanorophobic
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Between the pages of a book
Posts: 1,417
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Quote:
And thanks for the (now legal) beer You're right, Tolkien's works are pretty timeless, aren't they? Quote:
Yes, you're right, I guess the fact that he was deeply invested into his work is what gives Tolkien's universe a dimension of realism and a huge sense of "back-story" that other fantasy writers fail (IMO) to achieve. Quote:
I know what you're talking about. My LOTR copy has had it pretty rough, too. I think at one point I spilled a runny egg yolk on it! |
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05-08-2012, 07:19 AM
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#10 |
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High King at Annuminas Administrator
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Wyoming - USA
Posts: 10,752
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I started re-reading LOTR, in advance of The Hobbit movies, way back in March. I'm reading other things as well though, and don't have the convenient times to read that I used to. So I've struggled. I was in the Prolog for a long time, and then slowly through 'Long-Expected Party'. Yesterday I made some progress. Finished 'Party' and got several pages into 'Shadow of the Past'.
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My Fanfic: Letters of Firiel Tales of Nolduryon Visitors Come to Court Ñ á ë ?* ó ú é ä ï ö Ö ñ É Þ ð ß ® ™ [Xurl=Xhttp://entmoot.tolkientrail.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=ABCXYZ#postABCXYZ]text[/Xurl] Splitting Threads is SUCH Hard Work!! |
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09-08-2012, 08:59 PM
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#11 |
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Elven Warrior
Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: central Louisiana
Posts: 105
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I love books. It is the best story ever written. Peace and goodwill.
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Mark Wellman ><> |
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09-11-2012, 01:06 AM
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#12 |
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of the House of Fëanor
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 6,150
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I remember you, Beren3000! I can't be sure if we ever exchanged posts, but I definitely remember you. I recently returned here after a lengthy sabbatical, myself. Welcome back, baby!
"What is it about LOtR that keeps you coming back?" Answer: Everything. The truth and the beauty, as Rian noted, and the incredible writing, and the flawless escapism which only becomes a richer and more nuanced experience as time goes by at each re-reading.
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Few people have the imagination for reality.
~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe |
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06-23-2015, 12:01 AM
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#13 |
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Elf Lord
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: St. Louis, Mo. USA
Posts: 561
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I have stated this before...its so good! It is as if the author actually believed it happened!
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Ringbearer Hide Witch, hide! The Good Folks come to burn thee! Their keen enjoyment hid behind A Gothic mask of duty! |
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06-23-2015, 12:11 PM
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#14 |
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Elf Lady
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: In the lands where mountains are but a fairytale
Posts: 8,588
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I like how the story feels like new every time you read it.
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Love always, deeply and true ★ Friends are those rare people who ask how we are and then wait to hear the answer. ★ Friendship is sharing openly, laughing often, trusting always, caring deeply.
...The Earth laughs in flowers ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Hamatreya"... |
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