Comical Parts
 

What parts in The Lord of the Rings do you find comical? This is so far my favorite:

As the Company from Helm's Deep emerges from the Forest of Huorns that consumed the Uruks:

"Legolas halted and looked back with regret. Then he gave a sudden cry.

There are eyes! he said. Eyes looking out from the shadows of the boughs! I never saw such eyes before.

The others, surprised by his cry, halted and turned; but Legolas started to ride back.

No, no! cried Gimli. Do as you please in your madness, but let me first get down from this horse! I wish to see no eyes!"

(The Two Towers, The Road to Isengard)

Makes me laugh everytime! Especially the "do what you will in your madness" line. I just picture Legolas taking off with poor Gimli there.

I absolutely love the part where Gimli and Legolas are keeping a "kill count" atop of Helms Deep. I laugh everytime....hehehe*wipes a tear from an eye* :D

The part that has always been my favorite and will possibly always be my favorite, in terms of light humor, was Eomer and Gimli's dispute over Galadriel.

They fought a hard battle and became dear friends. They have triumphed over evil and have formed an unbreakable bond. I smile every time at the cordiality of the death threat.

Notice all of these scenes involve Gimli...Jackson did it right!

Well, my favourite comic part in Tolkien is not in Lord of the Rings; it is in the essay On Fairy-Stories.

:D :D :D

Oh! oh! oh!

And all the rest of that conversation!!

-- Folwren

Interestingly, most of my favourite comical scenes involve Legolas.

Maybe they're not that comical, but they make me smiles every time I read them.


Another one is the disarming before Meduseld:
"Foolishness! Prudence is one thing, but discourtesy is another." - priceless


But my absolute favourite is the three young hobbits who go treasure-seeking in Frodo's cellar. It is so ludicrous a picture if you visualise this.

hahaha I also love this one!

I always love the parts where you know Sam would just like to beat the living snot out of Gollum, and Gollum acts all helpless and pitiful.

Just to add, I realized that my favorite comical part involves Legolas too. I don't think Legolas even intended what he said to be funny....which makes it even more comical.

That is funny! As is the humorous thought of Frodo actually having a tussle with one of them!

Another part that makes me chuckle is this:

Also. . .

In LotR there is one passage that always makes me if not laugh, then at least smile. Or this one, also (suprisingly) by Gimli: But, though all my favourite comical parts involve Gimli, I think Jackson has made Gimli far too humorous a character. It takes all the point away of the comical part of Gimli's nature.. At least so it seems to me.

I'm pretty sure he does. Tolkien gave Legolas the quite subtle and ironic humour that you would expect of a lighthearted and old (in mortal eyes) elf.


The problem is, I think, that in the book we laugh with Gimli, in the movie we (are supposed to) laugh about him.

Oh! Oh! And nobody mentioned Merry and Pippin at the gate of Isengard, yet.

Not LOTR, but it works.
 

I usually find secondary characters to lighten the mood.

- The Hobbit

But don't even get me going on Tom.

Yeah, true about Gimli - but you can't really transfer such effect on a movie screen. But you CAN go too far in aiming at comic relief, as I believe PJ did.

Naturally, my siggy brings a smile on my face every time (:

All time favourite would probably be: 'Eavesdropping, sir? I don't follow you, begging your pardon. There ain't no eaves at Bag End, and that's a fact.'

Most of what I find funny otherwise is either from the younger hobbits or from Gandalf

"A pawn did Gandalf say? Perhaps but on the wrong chessboard.'"

"'A most unquenchable hobbit! All Wizards should have a hobbit or two in their care - to teach them the meaning of the word, and to correct them. "

"'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' "

"PPPS. I hope Butterbur sends this promptly. A worthy man, but his memory is like a lumber-roam: thing wanted always buried. If he forgets, I shall roast him. "

and many more (many of which were already mentioned!)

HAHAHA I've always loved that one as well.

I find the comedy in Gimli in PJ's films A-OK, at least in my book. It wasn't a drastic negative for me.

For some reason I always smile at the though of Lobelia Sackville-Baggins stealing spoons from Bag End ...

I always find Gandalf's shout to the hobbits when the wolves attack on the hilltop to be funny. I can hardly say, "Fling fuel on the fire" when I'm *not* under attack.

I like it when the Fellowship enters Lorien and the elves tell them that they could hear them breathing a mile away. So when Sam climbs the tree to the flet, he gets all self-conscious and practices breathing as quietly as he can.

A hobbit climbing a tree and trying not to breathe loudly - now that's funny.

The best I can do without a crib
 

Goldberry and Tom have a nice line in facetious humour. Each time someone asks who Tom Bombadil is, they manage to answer without answering, so in answer to "Who is Tom Bombadil?" Goldberry simply indicates which person present is Tom Bombadil: "He is." Tom himself simply answers: "Don't you know my name yet? That's the only answer". Cruel but funny.

I've gone on record that A Long-Expected Party is full of excellent social comedy, but I particularly like this comment: "Bilbo was doing splendidly. This was the sort of stuff they liked: short and obvious."