[Elentári_O_Most_Mighty_1]

Well, I would certainly agree that the characters in the books are undeveloped, but I do not necessarily agree that this constitutes a fatal flaw.<BR>In my opinion, as this is a history of the War of the Ring, the characters are only mentioned at all for the part they played in it. Therefore minor details such as the colour of Legolas' hair are frankly irrelevant. I suppose the places were described more vividly to create the world more fully- and IMO it certainly worked. I could go on much longer, having written about 8 pages on the subject for my English coursework, but what I have just said pretty much sums it up for me and so I won't bore you. Certainly the book has its flaws, and the films no less, but the book's strengths far outweigh its weaknesses. I would have to say its main strength is the sheer depth it goes into, with all the details of these separate languages and cultures that you find in each place- like Lothlórien, the Shire, Rivendell, Rohan, Gondor...oops, I said I wouldn't continue... <P>EDIT: Ahh yes, one last thing...frankly I was glad all these versions have left Tom Bombadil alone, because I think he is too individual and 'out-of-this-world' for any actor to achieve without him simply looking ridiculous, which he certainly is not in the book.<P>Oh yeah, and I think I recall that Merry and Pippin followed the Ring in the films because they were listening when they shouldn't have been and decided that they didn't want to be left behind. Not sure about the others though...<BR> <p>[ October 20, 2003: Message edited by: Elentári_O_Most_Mighty_1 ]