Fantasy Morality - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Mithalwen · 05-17-2011, 01:41 PM

Actually, Pitch, I think to start a post - particularly your first ever post on a message board with "My God, people..." followed by an attack on posters you don't know and a reprimand that they are going against what the Professor would have appreciated, is hostile and frankly when I read it I assumed the poster was a troll.

Apart from saying stuff that just don't bear scrutiny (Tolkien did start a sequel to ROTK and those aren't the reasons he abandoned it - he simply thought it would be depressing and not worth doing) there was the diktat on how the work should be taken and describing not doing it the poster's way as one of the "biggest tragedies"....

Tolkien is very far from a simplistic writer - the more I read him the more I aprreciate the depth and complexity of his work, the care given to give characters an ideolect appropriate to their history.

Pitchwife · 05-17-2011, 02:29 PM

OK, Mith, if you put it that way, I see what you mean - but if leap behaved like a troll, s/he was being an independently thinking and articulate Olog with strong feelings about Tolkien that I don't fully agree with but can sort of sympathize with, and the ability to express them, and I don't see why there shouldn't be room for a few such specimens in this large zoo of excentric personalities, even if they don't arrive fully house-trained. To be honest, I rather liked leap's first post - which doesn't mean I have to agree with each and every statement therein.

But maybe, since I wasn't involved in the original discussion (although I followed it with interest), I should shut up now and not get even further off topic than we already are.

Mithalwen · 05-17-2011, 02:58 PM

Pitch, I think we are a "broad church", and we have many articulate, independent thinkers and surely we all care passionately about Tolkien else we wouldn't be here.

If we were a bunch of sheep we possibly wouldn't have minded being told the error of our ways....

but I'm done before the Skwerls arrive.

05-17-2011, 01:41 PM	#1
Mithalwen Pilgrim Soul Join Date: May 2004 Location: watching the wonga-wonga birds circle... Posts: 9,461	Actually, Pitch, I think to start a post - particularly your first ever post on a message board with "My God, people..." followed by an attack on posters you don't know and a reprimand that they are going against what the Professor would have appreciated, is hostile and frankly when I read it I assumed the poster was a troll. Apart from saying stuff that just don't bear scrutiny (Tolkien did start a sequel to ROTK and those aren't the reasons he abandoned it - he simply thought it would be depressing and not worth doing) there was the diktat on how the work should be taken and describing not doing it the poster's way as one of the "biggest tragedies".... Tolkien is very far from a simplistic writer - the more I read him the more I aprreciate the depth and complexity of his work, the care given to give characters an ideolect appropriate to their history. __________________ “But Finrod walks with Finarfin his father beneath the trees in Eldamar.” Christopher Tolkien, Requiescat in pace Last edited by Mithalwen; 05-17-2011 at 01:46 PM.

05-17-2011, 02:29 PM	#2
Pitchwife Wight of the Old Forest Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Unattended on the railway station, in the litter at the dancehall Posts: 3,329	OK, Mith, if you put it that way, I see what you mean - but if leap behaved like a troll, s/he was being an independently thinking and articulate Olog with strong feelings about Tolkien that I don't fully agree with but can sort of sympathize with, and the ability to express them, and I don't see why there shouldn't be room for a few such specimens in this large zoo of excentric personalities, even if they don't arrive fully house-trained. To be honest, I rather liked leap's first post - which doesn't mean I have to agree with each and every statement therein. But maybe, since I wasn't involved in the original discussion (although I followed it with interest), I should shut up now and not get even further off topic than we already are. __________________ Und aus dem Erebos kamen viele seelen herauf der abgeschiedenen toten.- Homer, Odyssey, Canto XI

05-17-2011, 02:58 PM	#3
Mithalwen Pilgrim Soul Join Date: May 2004 Location: watching the wonga-wonga birds circle... Posts: 9,461	Pitch, I think we are a "broad church", and we have many articulate, independent thinkers and surely we all care passionately about Tolkien else we wouldn't be here. If we were a bunch of sheep we possibly wouldn't have minded being told the error of our ways.... but I'm done before the Skwerls arrive. __________________ “But Finrod walks with Finarfin his father beneath the trees in Eldamar.” Christopher Tolkien, Requiescat in pace