I am watching the Fellowship of the Ring and I was good until Arwen shows up glowing. Damn it Peter, she was born in the 3rd age, not under the trees, that was why you were suppose to leave Glorfindel in place.
Thank you, I needed to vent without bugging the kids.
I still love the Ford scene though. Nice job on the watery horses. Too bad it is immediately followed by more bad Arwen stuff.
Jim
Just keep repeating “she’s an offspring of Luthien, she’s an offspring of Luthien” over and over again.
I would have liked the Ford scene if Arwen had defied the ringwraiths by saying “By Elbereth and my foremother Luthien the Fair, you shall not claim him”.
Oh well…
[sub]I kinda liked Arwen acting more like Luthien, charging out to help her lover, rather than being so damn passive like in the whole book…[/sub]
Thank you for the encouraging words. I do get silly about this.
Well, we are past Arwen so I should be good for quite awhile now.
We paused for the night as the doors of Moria opened. This is going to take all week.
Jim
me too
(I suppose I’ll have to turn in my Secret Tolkien Decoder Ring, now I’ve admitted to liking some of the Arch-Heretic’s changes?)
Hey, JRRT kept re-writing his core ideas up until his death. If given world enough and time, he’d have gotten around to tightening up LOTR here and there too! 
No, just say “Mellon” and enter, no need for a Secret Tolkien Decoder Ring, they are all powerless now anyway.
Jim
Now if we find that the Quenya for “melon” is frend… 
Okay, my guess is that glee wrote to ask why, at the Gates of Moria, Gandalf says that “Merry, of all people, was on the right track,” when Merry actually didn’t say much of anything to help solve the problem.
And Professor Tolkien’s letter in reply was an unrelenting torrent of profanity in Anglo-Saxon, Old Norse, Quenya, Sindarin, Khudzul, Black Speech, Swamp Hobbit, Ent, Dog, and several languages invented on the spot for the express purpose of cursing glee out more thoroughly.
That’s my guess anyway.
I liked some of Jackson’s changes, and overall loved the films. Now I just zip through the few really cringe-worthy moments. Although if someone absolutely hated the films, that’s their right. We’re all LOTR geeks together, I say.
and more should post not just lurk. even if you don’t know as much as QtM I’m still interested in your opinion.
and the Scouring was such a vital part of the whole saga. You know, LOTR doesn’t have a real strong villain character like Voldemort or Vader. Sauron is so amorphous. LOTR is more about fighting the evil within ourselves, which obviously comes into play when the Shire is corrupted.
Be that as it may, I still felt like the character at the end of a particular Guild Wars game tribute clip. First, a tour of the Kingdom of Ascalon before that fateful day. Now, The Searing, didn’t you feel a bit like the character’s emote at the end of that clip when you read that the tree The Party was held under was torn down?
The Orcs hatching bugs me too. But I love the landscaping. I love the look of the land. It comes close to my minds eye.
Hear, Hear!
I think that is why Peter played up Saruman, was to have an actual embodiment of evil.
I was disappointed the the Scouring of the Shire was not done at all.
I may need to turn in my TokeinGeek card, but I didn’t miss the Scouring of the Shire from the films. I understand the importance of the chapter to the overall theme of the work…but hobbit-on-hobbit violence, and Saruman being called “Sharkey” is just sad and anti-climactic.
Yes, I know it’s from the Black Speech “sharku” = old man.
And I didn’t like Tom Bombadil either! There! I’ve said it!! Ha ha!!
Don’t worry on this one, in prior on board discussions, it appears that many do not like Tom.
I love Tom, but I cringe when I think what PJ might have done to him, so it’s best the way it is.
I thought the ending of the movies went on too long, too many farewells and adieux and would have preferred the time spent there to have been spent elsewhere.
But that’s ancient history now.
Hello? I think I should be on that list…
Oops, sorry, I was afraid I missed some.
Wait, it was a love letter wasn’t it?! Yes, that’s what it must have been… A swoony loooooove letter, all gooey and yearning, with the I’s dotted with little hearts, written while gazing fondly at a bedroom wall plastered with posters and glossy photos of the world’s dreamiest Oxford don.
And Professor Tolkien’s letter in reply was an unrelenting torrent of profanity-- sexy, dirty talk that combed the erotic depths of the English language as only a master linguist can, then plunging into fresh seas of desire with bawdy rhymes in Quenya, Sindarin, Ent, Dog, Were-Worm, and several new languages invented on the spot solely for the purpose of turning glee on. Said letter followed almost instantly by a restraining order issued at the request of Mrs. Tolkien.
Forgot to answer the question in the OP
What draws me to Middle Earth is a) it’s not here, b) it’s beautiful and exotic, c) the characters are, for the most part, real individuals, with their own motivations, prejudices, etc. There are probably more reasons, but I’m not finding the words right now.
The reason I enjoy joining the conversations about ME on the SMDB (however little I actually contribute) is there are always top quality folk posting here, both in personality and knowledge. My occasional comments are treated with respect, corrected with good humor and without condescension.