Elven Rings - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

01-18-2002, 05:19 PM

First time here, hello! Lothlorien is the place which interests me most in LOTR's.I always imagine it as having an archaic quality about it, people mention sunlight and springtime but from Tolkein's descriptions it was more subtle than that, it wasn't really affected by weather and the seasons like the outside world, everything was more subtle,like looking through a veil, screened from everyday influences.Even though the Frodo & co arrived in the middle of winter, the climate was mild enough to sleep outside and floweres were blooming. I always imagine it like being in a vast cathedral, expectant, silent, cool, serene, not the sort of place to run around in or talk loudly. I guess the sense of other wordliness could have been omnipressant.
Time also passed differently, when the company rested there they lost track of time and found it impossible to say how long they had been there with accuracy.
It is sometimes scary being in ancient places which have few reminders of the world we come from and I think Lothlorien was like that, superficially familiar but fundamentally alien, full of memories of things which were from another time and place.
Remember Galadriel must have been 1000's of years old, the very experience of the passage of time she had would be beyond a mortal's understanding. She was also in exile, apparently doomed to live forever outside the Undying lands. The very place had been created and moulded by her, sustained by the power of the ring Nenya, to remind her of where she came from. She was given the Mallorn trees from Numenor (apparently not the easiest things to grow), had seen every single one grow to maturity. She knew everything about her realm, was its soul, its conscience in a way. At its heart though I believe would have been a bitter sweet melancholy, afterall it was in effect a small island, cut off from everything it pertained to, doomed to last forever in terrible perfection.
When the power of her ring faded , so Lothlorien lost its soul and sense of otherness and became part of the everyday world once again.
I thought they captured the atmosphere very well in the film, especially musically. The fact the elves looked and spoke strangely really captured there non human nature. Hope this isn't too wierd!

01-18-2002, 05:19 PM	#9
Naweela Guest Posts: n/a	First time here, hello! Lothlorien is the place which interests me most in LOTR's.I always imagine it as having an archaic quality about it, people mention sunlight and springtime but from Tolkein's descriptions it was more subtle than that, it wasn't really affected by weather and the seasons like the outside world, everything was more subtle,like looking through a veil, screened from everyday influences.Even though the Frodo & co arrived in the middle of winter, the climate was mild enough to sleep outside and floweres were blooming. I always imagine it like being in a vast cathedral, expectant, silent, cool, serene, not the sort of place to run around in or talk loudly. I guess the sense of other wordliness could have been omnipressant. Time also passed differently, when the company rested there they lost track of time and found it impossible to say how long they had been there with accuracy. It is sometimes scary being in ancient places which have few reminders of the world we come from and I think Lothlorien was like that, superficially familiar but fundamentally alien, full of memories of things which were from another time and place. Remember Galadriel must have been 1000's of years old, the very experience of the passage of time she had would be beyond a mortal's understanding. She was also in exile, apparently doomed to live forever outside the Undying lands. The very place had been created and moulded by her, sustained by the power of the ring Nenya, to remind her of where she came from. She was given the Mallorn trees from Numenor (apparently not the easiest things to grow), had seen every single one grow to maturity. She knew everything about her realm, was its soul, its conscience in a way. At its heart though I believe would have been a bitter sweet melancholy, afterall it was in effect a small island, cut off from everything it pertained to, doomed to last forever in terrible perfection. When the power of her ring faded , so Lothlorien lost its soul and sense of otherness and became part of the everyday world once again. I thought they captured the atmosphere very well in the film, especially musically. The fact the elves looked and spoke strangely really captured there non human nature. Hope this isn't too wierd!