LOTR - A Long-Postponed Re-Read - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Pervinca Took · 09-03-2012, 11:07 AM

Mods, is it OK for me to start this thread? I haven't actually read LOTR from cover to cover since my second complete perusal of it almost thirty years ago, although I have dipped into it on many occasions.

I've finally found the time to completely reread it again, (that is to say, I finished "The Council of Elrond" this morning, and do not intend to start anything else until I have finished the whole book, including the Appendices), and thought it might be interesting to share new insights/similarities and differences in my reaction to it now as compared with my reactions as a much younger person.

I would be fascinated to hear other posters' changing reactions to the book too (or even non-changing, as the case may be!) I don't read LOTR every year, but I have a strong memory for texts that I really connect with, and I am now discovering the bits I had forgotten, through not periodically re-reading the entire work.

I know there are threads discussing each chapter, but I was thinking more of general impressions, and how they change.

Again, if there is already a thread covering this, I apologise and will await deletion.

Lollipop010900 · 09-03-2012, 11:46 PM

Well, i had read to entire book twice before i watched the movie and each time i imagined certain things differently. For example; the first time i read about Lorien and Galadriel i didn't think Galadriel was very powerful (don't ask me why because i don't know) but the second time i was almost scared of her power and i was like-Wow! This is NOT an elf to mess with. I don't know if it was the difference in ages-even though i was 11 both times-i think i had a new found respect for the book and its characters, more so than the first time. Maybe i was not paying attention to what i was reading or...

I don't know, but great idea for a thread Pervinca and i hope more people post stuff.
And about there already being a thread-i have no idea.

Pervinca Took · 10-13-2012, 04:14 PM

Have finished, barring the Appendices - and am up to the family trees.

Am wondering - why didn't Ar-Pharazon try to take the Ring from Sauron when he took him prisoner? I take it Sauron had him in a kind of spell, since he managed the Downfall of Numenor through his "imprisonment." If Ar-P desired immortality, the Ring would have given him that - after a fashion. Maybe Sauron deflected this with a very lyrical hard sell about invading Valinor.

Or maybe this is told in more depth somewhere else (Unfinished Tales, perhaps), and I've forgotten it.

Inziladun · 10-13-2012, 04:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pervinca Took

Am wondering - why didn't Ar-Pharazon try to take the Ring from Sauron when he took him prisoner? I take it Sauron had him in a kind of spell, since he managed the Downfall of Numenor though his "imprisonment." If Ar-P desired immortality, the Ring would have given him that - after a fashion. Maybe Sauron deflected this with a very lyrical hard sell about invading Valinor.

Or perhaps this is told in more depth somewhere else (Unfinished Tales, perhaps), and I've forgotten it.

Odds are, Pharazôn didn't know anything of the One Ring. The best source of information on the subject would have been the Eldar in Middle-earth, and Pharazôn wouldn't have been disposed to ask them anything.

Even if legends of the Rings of Power remained in Númenor, I can see Pharazón convincing himself the tales, with an "Elvish" origin, weren't worth worrying over.

Pervinca Took · 10-13-2012, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Inziladun

Odds are, Pharazôn didn't know anything of the One Ring. The best source of information on the subject would have been the Eldar in Middle-earth, and Pharazôn wouldn't have been disposed to ask them anything.

Even if legends of the Rings of Power remained in Númenor, I can see Pharazón convincing himself the tales, with an "Elvish" origin, weren't worth worrying over.

Good point.

I was quite astonished at how long Sauron held the Ring before he was overthrown. Plenty of time to wreak all kinds of destruction. I know there were far more of the Eldar in Middle-earth then to withstand him, not to mention the Last Alliance, but it makes me wonder exactly how powerful the Ring was.

Elmo · 10-14-2012, 03:42 PM

I'm sure Sauron did not take his Ring to Numenor or it would have been lost when Numenor was destroyed. He left it in Mordor and took it up again after the cataclysm.

Belegorn · 10-15-2012, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pervinca Took

it makes me wonder exactly how powerful the Ring was.

The Ring had the power to corrupt but I think it was meant in the end to work in concert with the other Rings so that Sauron could control the free peoples of Middle Earth. Anything built with the One would always stand until the Ring itself was destroyed. However, with the One he was able to corrupt the king's line in Numenor save the Faithful, but, "Ar-Pharazôn...grew to the mightiest tyrant that had yet been in the world since the reign of Morgoth" [Sil, p. 339]. Not even his most powerful servants could stand against the Numenoreans [Sil, p. 334].

09-03-2012, 11:07 AM	#1
Pervinca Took Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: The Treetops, C/O Great Smials Posts: 5,035	LOTR - A Long-Postponed Re-Read Mods, is it OK for me to start this thread? I haven't actually read LOTR from cover to cover since my second complete perusal of it almost thirty years ago, although I have dipped into it on many occasions. I've finally found the time to completely reread it again, (that is to say, I finished "The Council of Elrond" this morning, and do not intend to start anything else until I have finished the whole book, including the Appendices), and thought it might be interesting to share new insights/similarities and differences in my reaction to it now as compared with my reactions as a much younger person. I would be fascinated to hear other posters' changing reactions to the book too (or even non-changing, as the case may be!) I don't read LOTR every year, but I have a strong memory for texts that I really connect with, and I am now discovering the bits I had forgotten, through not periodically re-reading the entire work. I know there are threads discussing each chapter, but I was thinking more of general impressions, and how they change. Again, if there is already a thread covering this, I apologise and will await deletion. __________________ "Sit by the firelight's glow; tell us an old tale we know. Tell of adventures strange and rare; never to change, ever to share! Stories we tell will cast their spell, now and for always." Last edited by Pervinca Took; 10-13-2012 at 04:09 PM.

09-03-2012, 11:46 PM	#2
Lollipop010900 Animated Skeleton Join Date: Jan 2012 Posts: 47	Well, i had read to entire book twice before i watched the movie and each time i imagined certain things differently. For example; the first time i read about Lorien and Galadriel i didn't think Galadriel was very powerful (don't ask me why because i don't know) but the second time i was almost scared of her power and i was like-Wow! This is NOT an elf to mess with. I don't know if it was the difference in ages-even though i was 11 both times-i think i had a new found respect for the book and its characters, more so than the first time. Maybe i was not paying attention to what i was reading or... I don't know, but great idea for a thread Pervinca and i hope more people post stuff. And about there already being a thread-i have no idea. __________________ “That's the only place in all the lands we've ever heard of that we don't want to see any closer; and that's the one place we're trying to get to! And that's just where we can't get." - Sam

10-13-2012, 04:14 PM	#3
Pervinca Took Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: The Treetops, C/O Great Smials Posts: 5,035	Have finished, barring the Appendices - and am up to the family trees. Am wondering - why didn't Ar-Pharazon try to take the Ring from Sauron when he took him prisoner? I take it Sauron had him in a kind of spell, since he managed the Downfall of Numenor through his "imprisonment." If Ar-P desired immortality, the Ring would have given him that - after a fashion. Maybe Sauron deflected this with a very lyrical hard sell about invading Valinor. Or maybe this is told in more depth somewhere else (Unfinished Tales, perhaps), and I've forgotten it. __________________ "Sit by the firelight's glow; tell us an old tale we know. Tell of adventures strange and rare; never to change, ever to share! Stories we tell will cast their spell, now and for always." Last edited by Pervinca Took; 10-16-2012 at 03:25 PM.

10-14-2012, 03:42 PM	#6
Elmo Pittodrie Poltergeist Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: trying to find that warm and winding lane again Posts: 659	I'm sure Sauron did not take his Ring to Numenor or it would have been lost when Numenor was destroyed. He left it in Mordor and took it up again after the cataclysm. __________________ As Beren looked into her eyes within the shadows of her hair, The trembling starlight of the skies he saw there mirrored shimmering.