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10-30-2008, 06:11 AM | #81 | ||
Laconic Loreman
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Fenris Penguin
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10-30-2008, 07:08 AM | #82 |
Princess of Skwerlz
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: where the Sea is eastwards (WtR: 6060 miles)
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Lommy, I am a native speaker, and I'm not aware of a common saying that goes "Short cuts makes long delays", so I'm inclined to credit Tolkien with inventing that one. It's all too often true, isn't it?!
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'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?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...' |
10-30-2008, 09:57 AM | #83 | |
shadow of a doubt
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Back on the streets
Posts: 1,143
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I'm going to check how it's translated into Swedish. Yes, it's "genvägar kan bli senvägar". I don't know if the good Prof has an interest in Swedish and Swedish sayings and picked it up from there or if he just made it up.
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"You can always come back, but you can't come back all the way" ~ Bob Dylan |
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10-30-2008, 02:09 PM | #84 | |
Dread Horseman
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Behind you!
Posts: 2,752
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"Haste makes waste," we often say here, which amounts to the same.
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Try to think back to before you knew all there was to know about the Nazgûl (admittedly not much, relatively speaking, but still). The sniffing and snuffling, I think, is definitely an effective way to signal that these Riders are not human, that there's something weird (in all senses of that word) about them. Also it provides a nice bit of suspense when Frodo realizes that although he is out of sight, he is not effectively hidden from his pursuer -- it's only luck (Providence?... deus ex machina?... here we go...) that saves him. We're a little jaded about supernatural creatures nowadays. You can't throw a stone into popular culture without hitting one. I think all that business about them not seeing the world of light as we do, but they can see through their horses' eyes and use men and other creatures as spies is pretty nifty. Put it in the context of the mid-50's and it's even less anticlimactic. |
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10-30-2008, 05:52 PM | #85 | ||
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Facing the world's troubles with Christ's hope!
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I heard the bells on Christmas Day. Their old, familiar carols play. And wild and sweet the words repeatof peace on earth, good-will to men! ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow |
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11-01-2008, 09:52 AM | #86 |
shadow of a doubt
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Back on the streets
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I sometimes wonder whether JRRT had a passion for mushrooms matching that of the Hobbits. I would say so or else he wouldn't have dedicated a whole chapter to this culinary treat. Whereas I can't read "Three Is Company" without yearning for a cross country-walk and I can't read "A Short-Cut To Mushroms" without desiring a heap of butter-fried mushrooms and perhaps a vintage Old Vineyards to wash it down with.
Mmmmmmmmm, Mushrooms. *drools*
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"You can always come back, but you can't come back all the way" ~ Bob Dylan |
11-05-2008, 09:12 AM | #87 |
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Facing the world's troubles with Christ's hope!
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Consipiracy Unmasked
I'm afraid that I don't have much to say for this chapter other than it was a creative way of getting Merry and Pippin back with Frodo.
Here is another point where we see that Hobbit nature come out in our four heroes. It is almost startling how loyal they are to Frodo after what Pippin and Sam had gone through with the Black Riders and all, yet still braver of them to dare plan of going into the Old Forest (I have an analysis on that but I'll save it for the next chapter). Besides that I'm afraid I don't have much to say, other than Tolkien writes one of the best baths songs I've ever heard in this chapter.
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I heard the bells on Christmas Day. Their old, familiar carols play. And wild and sweet the words repeatof peace on earth, good-will to men! ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow |
11-05-2008, 04:14 PM | #88 | ||
A Mere Boggart
Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: under the bed
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Anyway, I'd better read the next chapter.....
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Gordon's alive!
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11-14-2008, 12:43 PM | #89 |
Doubting Dwimmerlaik
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Heaven's basement
Posts: 2,499
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In this chapter we lose Fatty Bolger, said to be a good friend of Frodo's, but never to really show up again. It's interesting that Fatty would rather play at being Frodo than to journey with his friend. Obviously he didn't know how deadly such a choice could have been (it's been said that, inside even the fattest hobbit, there exists down deep - almost buried - the legs of a sprinter).
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There is naught that you can do, other than to resist, with hope or without it.
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12-15-2008, 03:07 PM | #90 | |
Shady She-Penguin
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: In a far land beyond the Sea
Posts: 8,385
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*bump*
I thought I'd only post when I've read this and the following chapter but this discussion and my reading pace are so pitiful that I had a change of plans...
I like Merry very much in this chapter. He seems to be a natural born organizer of stuff. And he's such a lovely person too. Or what would you say of this quote? Quote:
I also find it interesting how easily Merry found out about the Ring. Makes me think that it wouldn't have been to odd if someone else had known about it too...
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Like the stars chase the sun, over the glowing hill I will conquer Blood is running deep, some things never sleep Double Fenris
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12-16-2008, 06:09 PM | #91 | |
Wight
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 204
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Probably less to say about this chapter than some, but a few things strike me.
One was the story from Merry about how he found out about the Ring, seeing Bilbo disappear off the road as the Sackville-Baggins were approaching. And then the short poem along the model of a dwarf-song when they decide they will all set forth together, with one verse: To Rivendell, where Elves yet dwell In glades beneath the misty fell, Through moor and waste we ride in haste, And whither then we cannot tell. And then I think we get the first of Frodo's dreams (more later in Bombadil's house), where he begins overlooking a dark forest from a high window (the Old Forest?), but then he hears a sound he takes initially as the wind coming through the trees, then realizing it is the sound of the Sea: Quote:
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`These are indeed strange days,' he muttered. `Dreams and legends spring to life out of the grass.' |
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12-16-2008, 09:08 PM | #92 | |
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
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I'd like to jump in here and make a comment on the
last chapter, about Farmer Maggott. he seems to be one of those interesting barely introduced figures (like Gildor) who alludes to something thereby giving depth to the story. Like JRRT said in Letters about "barely glimpsed vistas", something about being needed to give depth to a story/world, and if explored/exploited by the storytellrt then in need of further barely cited vistas to give a continued feeling of depth. As to Maggott's importance beyond that of the hobbits understanding consider Tom Bombadil's observation: Quote:
(In a way, he was taking on a fallen maia)! An interesting thread here, 'praps I'll follow along.
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The poster formerly known as Tuor of Gondolin. Walking To Rivendell and beyond 12,555 miles passed Nt./Day 5: Pass the beacon on Nardol, the 'Fire Hill.' Last edited by Tuor in Gondolin; 12-16-2008 at 09:12 PM. |
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12-16-2008, 10:38 PM | #93 | |
Wight
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 204
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`These are indeed strange days,' he muttered. `Dreams and legends spring to life out of the grass.' |
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03-10-2010, 05:37 AM | #94 |
Shady She-Penguin
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: In a far land beyond the Sea
Posts: 8,385
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Anybody still reading?
I have been reading LotR slowly and occasionally on my own, continuing from what I started here, and I'm currently in the chapter Treebeard. (Wonderful progress, don't you think? )
My question is, is there anybody out there who would like to continue reading from where we left (A Conspiracy Unmasked is the last chapter that has been talked about) or even start from the beginning (since we only got this far) and maybe post a post or two about the previous chapters and then continue with me from the Old Forest onwards? I would like to continue the discussion here.
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Like the stars chase the sun, over the glowing hill I will conquer Blood is running deep, some things never sleep Double Fenris
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10-24-2010, 03:27 PM | #95 |
Blossom of Dwimordene
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: The realm of forgotten words
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I just want to add something to the discussion in general, not just this particular topic.
I think that is anythink in Tolkien's books seems insignificant to you - think again. Every single line in his works has its purpose and weight, even if you don't notice it right away. The first time I read LotR, I thought about how useless the first chapter is. After understanding it better, I realized that that chapter in really one of the most significant things in the book, because it highlights the change in Frodo, Sam, Pippin, and Merry in the end of the book. Every sentence, even the punctuation, has its purpose, useless as it seems.
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You passed from under darkened dome, you enter now the secret land. - Take me to Finrod's fabled home!... ~ Finrod: The Rock Opera |
10-24-2010, 06:47 PM | #96 | |
Haunting Spirit
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