I know it doesn't look like that...

[Firefoot]

Has there ever been something in one of the books that you get a strange mental image of, and it sticks with you? This has happened to me on several occaisions, where I actually have to conciously try to get a correct image. For example:

Barrow-wights: Ever since reading LotR for the first time, I have had a strange picture of Barrow-wights being these creatures that are a mix between the Whomps in Super Mario World and the Easter Island statues. Since joining this website the entire Barrow-downs has had a greenish affect.

Flets: If I'm not thinking about it these become a lot like treehouses that little kids make, especially since they do have the rope-ladders. I don't think I really realize how large they really are.

The Withywindle Valley: when Merry says this is where all the queerness comes from, I get a picture of strange little wood-trolls (the kind with the pointy hats) walking around conducting evil business, bewitching trees, and working in strange factories that emit green smoke.

So what about all of you? Any strange mental pictures?

[Morsul the Dark]

You ever see muppet Chiristmas carol when Kermit is carrying tiny tim and there singing and kermit is kind of hopping. I think thats how Tom Bomnbadil walks

[The Only Real Estel]

Hmmm, I know I always used to image Orcs as your generic bad guys. Big, to black to make anything out except that they were covered with hair & had red eyes.

For the wierdest reason I got the image of Elrond with white hair & a white beard, almost like Gandalf. Don't ask me how I did that, since it states right there in the book his hair was raven-black !

[Elennar Starfire]

Helm's Deep. It's made of red bricks, and has a funny little arch thingy over the red bricked path where the orcs are trying to get in. Basically the whole thing is a wall across a valley.

My dad read LotR to me when I was five, and the mental pictures have stuck around very persistently. Even the one of Faramir being carried on a beer can...despite making no sense...it stuck.

[Imladris]

Along the lines of Estel's, I've always imagined Eowyn with black hair. Always. And it still sticks.

[Oddwen]

And I, way back in my dark ages, thought that Arwen was a blonde.

[Elennar Starfire]

And in the Hobbit, I always think that the sign Gandalf scratches on Bilbo's door to mark it for the dwarves looks like that^^.

[Morai]

I always imagined Ringwraiths as shadows with claws, but alas since the movie, they now wear long cloaks.

Galadriel's mirror I actually picture as a hand mirror on which she pours water on.

[Carnimírië]

I used to imagine the bridge of Khazad-dûm as being outdoors instead of inside Moria, in a grassy little park, and the abyss was lined with stones like a well. Then I read the book again and found out I was wrong.

But in my mind the Mouth of Sauron wears a baseball cap backwards, a mental image that sticks with me, dunno why

[The Only Real Estel]

I used to imagine the bridge of Khazad-dûm as being outdoors instead of inside Moria, in a grassy little park, and the abyss was lined with stones like a well. Then I read the book again and found out I was wrong

That reminds me of another one of my wierd visuals:

The Bridge of Khazad-dum was outdoors, with trees on the other side, if they could just make it across the bridge-which was one of those rope-bridges, if you know what I mean. You know, the ones with lots of smallish wooden, log-like things, and all of those are tied together? Ugh, somebody help me out here...

[arcticstorm]

When I first read the Fellowship of the ring, I pictured balrogs as looking like a grim-reaper holding a wip instead of a scythe.

[Mithalwen]

Originally Posted by The Only Real Estel

That reminds me of another one of my wierd visuals:

The Bridge of Khazad-dum was outdoors, with trees on the other side, if they could just make it across the bridge-which was one of those rope-bridges, if you know what I mean. You know, the ones with lots of smallish wooden, log-like things, and all of those are tied together? Ugh, somebody help me out here...

Sounds very much like you had also seen Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom ..where they escape from underground cavern across just such a bridge but there is a further conflict on the bridge which is broken by the hero in an attempt to thwart the enemy .... not surprising you got them muddled.

I know it sounds stupid ... but since it was always made clear that Tolkien Elves were soooooo unlike Fairyland pixies - I never expected teh Elves ot have pointy ears in the film. I had chuntered to my self about PJ and then read in teh Sil or Home that elves did indeed have leaf - shaped ears

[Lalwendë]

Despite what it says in the books, I always had a picture of Elrond in my mind as a slightly distinguished chap - a bit like Anthony Hopkins. This was completely skewed when the films came out and I saw 'that guy who was in Priscilla Queen of the Desert' had been cast as Elrond. I simply cannot divorce Hugo Weaving from his earlier role and in Return of the King I would not have been surprised if Hugo flung his cloak back in Aragorn's tent to reveal an Abba costume, and then burst into song...

[The Only Real Estel]

Mithalwen: Good, it sounds like you got the picture of what I was trying to say. Although I've never seen The Temple of Doom, so I must've come up with the image all by myself .

[Morai]

I've always imagined, (and still to this day) the forests of Lorien as short apple trees in which the elves just kinda sit in.
It's the same thing with the ents in a way, they're trees with human arms and eyes.

[Gil-Galad]

Funny how first time readers may picture the elves as Santas Little Elves...

[Elennar Starfire]

I had chuntered to my self about PJ and then read in teh Sil or Home that elves did indeed have leaf - shaped ears

Here's a silly little mental tidbit for ye...Maple leaves.

[Mithalwen]

Originally Posted by The Only Real Estel

Mithalwen: Good, it sounds like you got the picture of what I was trying to say. Although I've never seen The Temple of Doom, so I must've come up with the image all by myself .

That is amazing - I think it could look awfully familiar!


Hugo is my favourite actor and though I love Priscilla I can still believe in him utterly as Elrond (especially in armour) .. however if they had cast Terence Stamp as Gandalf and Guy Pearce as Elladan/Elrohir, it would have been harder! I do love the "Hobbits are a virus" pic though

[Encaitare]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

Despite what it says in the books, I always had a picture of Elrond in my mind as a slightly distinguished chap - a bit like Anthony Hopkins. This was completely skewed when the films came out and I saw 'that guy who was in Priscilla Queen of the Desert' had been cast as Elrond. I simply cannot divorce Hugo Weaving from his earlier role and in Return of the King I would not have been surprised if Hugo flung his cloak back in Aragorn's tent to reveal an Abba costume, and then burst into song...

AGH! I love Priscilla... it would be great if a parody was done where he did that! But the fact that he was in Priscilla doesn't affect my view of him as Elrond.

however if they had cast Terence Stamp as Gandalf and Guy Pearce as Elladan/Elrohir, it would have been harder! --Mith

Oh, the beautiful Guy Pearce... it's so fun to put on an Aussie accent and sing "A desert holiday..."

[Lachwen]

Even thought I saw Fellowship of the Ring before I had read the books, I still see the Uruk-hai as these cartoon-y creatures; in fact, they look just like these brown aliens from an episode of that (thankfully) short-lived Buzz Lightyear show... And Ents are just tree trunks that are broken at the top and have arms.

Also, in my mind, Wormtongue is a little, white, naked (but lacking genitalia) guy who looks a lot like a wrinkly version of the aliens from Close Encounters (though his eyes aren't quite that big).

And the fall of Sauron is infinitely cooler than the way Peter Jackson did it...oh, wait, that's the way it's supposed to be...

[Morai]

Also, in my mind, Wormtongue is a little, white, naked guy who looks a lot like a wrinkly version of the aliens from Close Encounters (though his eyes aren't quite that big).

I also had a "strange picture" of him in my head. Yet mine is quite different. Wormtounge looks like Satan from Passion of the Christ. worms in the nose and all. (Even though I saw and read LOTR before seeing the said movie.)

[Encaitare]

Also, in my mind, Wormtongue is a little, white, naked (but lacking genitalia) guy who looks a lot like a wrinkly version of the aliens from Close Encounters (though his eyes aren't quite that big).

As a "rabid Grima fan" (as Imladris has so eloquently put it) I must say... eep. Poor guy.

I also had a "strange picture" of him in my head. Yet mine is quite different. Wormtounge looks like Satan from Passion of the Christ. worms in the nose and all.

Satan was played by a woman, tee hee! Again, poor Grima! It's his tongue that's supposed to be wormy, not his nose..

As for my own strange image... Goldberry is literally golden and somewhat luminous.

[Lalwendë]

I always thought of Grima as having grey hair and being dressed in threadbare clothes; he was always like an old man, yet not old, if you see what I mean - more twisted by his character than by age.

Tom Bombadil I have always imagined to be like a younger, more lithe Brian Blessed. I think it's the voice which does this!

[Encaitare]

he was always like an old man, yet not old, if you see what I mean - more twisted by his character than by age.

I agree, the vision I had was of a scrawny middle-aged guy who has not aged particularly well, with black robes -- rather like the one in the movie although not nearly as unhygienic and disease-ridden!

[Lachwen]

Lalwendë: now I have a mental image of Bombadil bellowing "Shizzik! Fresh horses!"

[Nimrodel_9]

My picture of Denethor was a lot like the movie`s John Noble, only a bit skinnier. My Tombombadil is always a blur. Once in a while I get a clear picture of him, but it always goes away. Kinda like Sirius in Harry Potter (my fav character), but after seeing LotR, he always looked like Strider, (another of my favs) and still does. Weird how other movies/books affect the way we picture people in other movies/books, isn`t it?

[Saraphim]

When I first read the book, the intitial image I got of Caras Galadhon was of the Emerald City from The Wizard of Oz.

Thinking back, I can actually see the parallels that may have driven my mind into making that connection. You know, the "good guys" running for safety to a questionably safe location.

I've revised my image though.