Dumbing down the Books - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Maéglin · 10-25-2003, 06:35 AM

I agree with Eurytus on this one [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]
Everything in LOTR seems all nice and clean, no nitty gritty details about the sacrifice of people in Numenor for example, nor anything about the 'great slaughter' that Men did to the orcs. When the bad guys are killed in Tolkien's world the audience feels "Alright! look at Hurin! 70 trolls!" and the fact that the main villains are not even human makes it even less likely for us to sympathise with them.

But of course this does not necessarily make it a bad book albeit imperfect as has already been justified. Personally I appreciate LOTR and other related works because of its almost biblical scale. It is really an epic and mythological work, as Tolkien admits. I do want to know about Anarion and how he died, or what happens to the Dunlendings and Easterlings after the war. But IMHO the details are not what makes the books so great. So even we cannot settle this, let's just all agree to disagree.

Bah, how did we talk from dumbing down the books to this [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Switch to Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Threaded Mode

10-25-2003, 06:35 AM	#11
Maéglin Haunting Spirit Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Australia Posts: 99	I agree with Eurytus on this one [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] Everything in LOTR seems all nice and clean, no nitty gritty details about the sacrifice of people in Numenor for example, nor anything about the 'great slaughter' that Men did to the orcs. When the bad guys are killed in Tolkien's world the audience feels "Alright! look at Hurin! 70 trolls!" and the fact that the main villains are not even human makes it even less likely for us to sympathise with them. But of course this does not necessarily make it a bad book albeit imperfect as has already been justified. Personally I appreciate LOTR and other related works because of its almost biblical scale. It is really an epic and mythological work, as Tolkien admits. I do want to know about Anarion and how he died, or what happens to the Dunlendings and Easterlings after the war. But IMHO the details are not what makes the books so great. So even we cannot settle this, let's just all agree to disagree. Bah, how did we talk from dumbing down the books to this [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]