It took one guy a year to program Bara-Dur crumbling because all the stock programs for towers falling they had resembled 9/11 and also wouldn't let the eye stay in tact as long as the wanted

They used a prop Shelob stinger to stab Frodo that actually bruised him. yay prcatical effects

k srsly done sharing my quibs now

the thick of it and nathan for you are in the tier just below larry sanders in all time great tv comedies

the thick of it and nathan for you are in the tier just below larry sanders in all time great tv comedies
- Shutdown

(frank)in hate that i respect your opinion. already ankle deep in a thick of it rabbit hole

bye

The scenes where Aragorn takes care of his clothing and sharpens his sword were actually Viggo's idea, and he learned how to stitch and use a wetstone for those scenes.

Also a lot of the scenes where Aragorn talks all soft and nice to horses was Viggo's own ideas on how Aragorn would handle those situations.

k i'm done now
- Lindenis#1

i've probably read the books half a dozen times and listened to the audiobooks a bunch but i feel like you're 100x more of a fan than me still

the thick of it and nathan for you are in the tier just below larry sanders in all time great tv comedies
- Shutdown

so underrated

so underrated
- Nucker101

ive liked the ones ive seen but have yet to fully dive in

ive liked the ones ive seen but have yet to fully dive in
- Crimsoninja

it's just the real undeniable poop he pulls of just for the hell of it that's impressive on top of comedy factor

(frank)in hate that i respect your opinion. already ankle deep in a thick of it rabbit hole

bye
- Crimsoninja

the thick of it is so dense sometimes. so much going on

i've probably read the books half a dozen times and listened to the audiobooks a bunch but i feel like you're 100x more of a fan than me still
- daeth

I read the books once a year and watch the films bi-annually.

And I still haven't a (frank)ing clue WTF Tom Bombadil is.

I read the books once a year and watch the films bi-annually.

And I still haven't a (frank)ing clue WTF Tom Bombadil is.
- Lindenis#1

The hobbits stumble upon him and his wife pretty early on in the first book. It's like one giant acid trip and feels totally different than the rest of the series. I love it.

Useless fact: I just found my ticket stub from the two towers in my fellowship of the rings book when I thumbed through it. I saw the two towers on Dec 26th 2002.

The Bombadil stuff is in chapter 7

The hobbits stumble upon him and his wife pretty early on in the first book. It's like one giant acid trip and feels totally different than the rest of the series. I love it.

Useless fact: I just found my ticket stub from the two towers in my fellowship of the rings book when I thumbed through it. I saw the two towers on Dec 26th 2002.
- daeth

i remember reading the first book before watching the first film and wondering how in the world they'd handle Bombadil. Turns out they didn't at all, and it kinda works super well.

A lot of the first book is kind of a boring mess of nothing, yet still fun to read weirdly.

I still haven't finished ROTK yet this year. I'm mostly through the first half and mainly have the Hobbits returning to Erador to power through.

I've actually read the appendices like twice. Arnor is a (frank)ing dope ass concept that's made even better by the fact its a lost society and the explanation of it is largely left up to the reader visualizing it on his own

i remember reading the first book before watching the first film and wondering how in the world they'd handle Bombadil. Turns out they didn't at all, and it kinda works super well.

A lot of the first book is kind of a boring mess of nothing, yet still fun to read weirdly.

I still haven't finished ROTK yet this year. I'm mostly through the first half and mainly have the Hobbits returning to Erador to power through.

I've actually read the appendices like twice. Arnor is a (frank)ing dope ass concept that's made even better by the fact its a lost society and the explanation of it is largely left up to the reader visualizing it on his own
- Lindenis#1

Ah ok, I misread what you said. I've just assumed he's a Maia or Vala or something like that based on prior googling. Tolkien pulled a David Lynch with this one and wanted it to be unexplained. That (frank)er. I like it.

I also liked how they explained why they didn't just get him to get rid of the ring. The quest to destroy the ring would be too meaningless to him and he'd probably just forget and throw the ring away or something haha.

With the audio books they actually read through all the appendices, it's such a massive info dump. I don't think humans are meant to be able to take all of it in like that.

I effing love the maps Tolkien made for Middle Earth.

It really helps show just how far to travel they really did. Like from Hobbiton to Bree to Rivendell is like 400 miles in a straight line. Then its kinda unclear exactly where they made their first pass through the mountains by going over, but then down to Moria and Lorien, finally to the River Anduin where they all split up.

The Dead Marshes are so (frank)ing cool.

The bits and pieces about Harad and Rhun are fascinating. With like the Haradrim and Easterlings crossing into the Black Gates on promises from Sauron. Like, are they just evil? Are they really just that big of haters on Gondor? Or did he corrupt them in some way? How were these human soldiers just hanging out inside Mordor?

Like, its stated that in the second age that south Mordor is actually quite lush with plant life and clean water. But presumably like everything else inside Mordor as it got into the third age it probably corrupted. That was a big thing about the treck to Mount Doom by Frodo and Sam that they somehow managed to find a clean stream of water in this land of death, that there is hope and a chance and everything.

Then things like Cirith Ungol, Osgiliath, The Black Gates and Minas Morgul all being former Gondor strongholds that have fallen really adds to making the world feel old and shows how far things have come and gone.

The only thing, besides Tom Bombadil, that I still don't really get is how the Corsairs (pirates) were supposed to be some formidable force and a heckin' good set of reinforcements at Pellenor. There was like 20 boats, which is a lot I guess, but really compared to the numbers of the orcs, uruks, trolls, Mumakil and Easterlings (which always bugged me that they were missing from the Battle of Pelenor) it isn't all that much.

Ah ok, I misread what you said. I've just assumed he's a Maia or Vala or something like that based on prior googling. Tolkien pulled a David Lynch with this one and wanted it to be unexplained. That (frank)er. I like it.

I also liked how they explained why they didn't just get him to get rid of the ring. The quest to destroy the ring would be too meaningless to him and he'd probably just forget and throw the ring away or something haha.
- daeth

Its kinda similar to Faramir, how in the books he's just like "I agree with what you say Hobbits. The ring is bad. It doesn't tempt me at all. let me help you" where in the film he somewhat succumbs to it in a way to appease his father, but then reverses course and shows he's got more strength than Boromir did, and more quality than Denethor ever gave him credit.

If you're pushing the Ring for the War of the Ring at Summerslam, then you don't want to undercut it by having this pseudo angel spirit character just being like "lol (frank) cares"

With the audio books they actually read through all the appendices, it's such a massive info dump. I don't think humans are meant to be able to take all of it in like that.
- daeth

Its why even though games like Shadow of War, War in the North and what bits you get from Battle for Middle Earth 1/2 are varying degrees of quality, they all kinda take some chances to delve into the appendices and other books for material that make them heckin' cool and worth it if you need your dork meter fulfilled.

I effing love the maps Tolkien made for Middle Earth.

It really helps show just how far to travel they really did. Like from Hobbiton to Bree to Rivendell is like 400 miles in a straight line. Then its kinda unclear exactly where they made their first pass through the mountains by going over, but then down to Moria and Lorien, finally to the River Anduin where they all split up.

The Dead Marshes are so (frank)ing cool.

The bits and pieces about Harad and Rhun are fascinating. With like the Haradrim and Easterlings crossing into the Black Gates on promises from Sauron. Like, are they just evil? Are they really just that big of haters on Gondor? Or did he corrupt them in some way? How were these human soldiers just hanging out inside Mordor?

Like, its stated that in the second age that south Mordor is actually quite lush with plant life and clean water. But presumably like everything else inside Mordor as it got into the third age it probably corrupted. That was a big thing about the treck to Mount Doom by Frodo and Sam that they somehow managed to find a clean stream of water in this land of death, that there is hope and a chance and everything.

Then things like Cirith Ungol, Osgiliath, The Black Gates and Minas Morgul all being former Gondor strongholds that have fallen really adds to making the world feel old and shows how far things have come and gone.

The only thing, besides Tom Bombadil, that I still don't really get is how the Corsairs (pirates) were supposed to be some formidable force and a heckin' good set of reinforcements at Pellenor. There was like 20 boats, which is a lot I guess, but really compared to the numbers of the orcs, uruks, trolls, Mumakil and Easterlings (which always bugged me that they were missing from the Battle of Pelenor) it isn't all that much.
- Lindenis#1

I guess if they're like the huge galleons they could fit like 1,000+ people per boat, maybe as much as 1,500. Then all the cannons. I don't know lol.

I assume anyone on Sauron's side was either corrupted or just a bit of a Richard.

Its why even though games like Shadow of War, War in the North and what bits you get from Battle for Middle Earth 1/2 are varying degrees of quality, they all kinda take some chances to delve into the appendices and other books for material that make them heckin' cool and worth it if you need your dork meter fulfilled.
- Lindenis#1

They should make a children of hurin game. Press X to accidentally kill your best friend.

Its kinda similar to Faramir, how in the books he's just like "I agree with what you say Hobbits. The ring is bad. It doesn't tempt me at all. let me help you" where in the film he somewhat succumbs to it in a way to appease his father, but then reverses course and shows he's got more strength than Boromir did, and more quality than Denethor ever gave him credit.

If you're pushing the Ring for the War of the Ring at Summerslam, then you don't want to undercut it by having this pseudo angel spirit character just being like "lol (frank) cares"
- Lindenis#1

I don't really get why movies have to add fake drama like that. It doesn't really bother me but I just don't think it really added anything positive at all.

While the Silmilriioalianaln is kind of a chore, the stuff about how the elves are actually huge Richards and would in-fight all the time about territory and assissinate, kinda, and kill each other all the time is kinda neat.

Because if you read the third age as their like "adult/grandparent" years then the 1st/2nd age is like their angsty teen years.

Also, the fact that apparently there was like an entire army of Balrogs and the one in Moria was the most female dog runt of the group is (frank)ing cool to think about. Also that the Balrogs are maybe the corrupted spirits of wizards/angels is rad.

Also that Gandalf/Sauron has some like weird mental blocks that prevent them from reaching full power to be basically invincible because that wasn't their purpose is kind of a thing too. Which again makes you wonder about the dark spirits and maia/valar or whatever about and if its kinda Star Wars in that the dark side has more raw power and ways to beat the good Jedi restrictions, although duh LOTR is before SW.

The Similarioan really reads more like someone telling you about a story, than a story itself.

Like how the ring doesn't make you "invisible" but basically teleports/taps you into a wraith world. And because people/hobbits aren't really spiritual it means they can only exist in one at a time.

And how when you get to the undying lands, you can't die even if you're not an elf. So like Gimli and Frodo and Bilbo are all still chillin' together. Maybe even the few dudes of Numenor who made it across are still alive even though they're burried underground.

I don't really get why movies have to add fake drama like that. It doesn't really bother me but I just don't think it really added anything positive at all.
- daeth

I kinda dig it in this sense. it does make the ring seem all the more corrupting if the Hobbits aren't consistently running into people who are like "lol no idc"

I remember I did a paper in my Greek and Roman Mythology elective in 2nd year on all the similiarities between Middle Earth and that stuff.

Like how an entire continent sunk to the bottom of the ocean during a battle featuring gods and dragons and demons.

Also how the physical geography was entirely different early and was shaped and changed as the god and demi god spirits of varieties warred with each other like the Gods and the Titans.

And even the length of lives that men were able to live shrinking the further away they got from being closest with their gods from 1st/2nd/3rd age is like the gold/silver/bronze age in Greek myth

Army of the Dead are roughly like the Shades in Hades

I guess if they're like the huge galleons they could fit like 1,000+ people per boat, maybe as much as 1,500. Then all the cannons. I don't know lol.

I assume anyone on Sauron's side was either corrupted or just a bit of a Richard.
- daeth

yeah but even then, like 20 of them is like 30k peeps tops. There are like ~200K orcs alone on the battlefield. Legions upon legions of Easterlings totaling "Some hundred every day" over the like year when Sauron was really cranking up unit production. Haradrim foot soldiers and like 30-50, on the low end, Mumakil. Hundreds of trolls. 9 Nazgul.

There are also some miscellaneous "great beasts" and a couple packs of wargs.

And yet like these Corsair dumb(frank)s and their boats were a really big deal to take out. Like they weren't even descendants of Numenor/Dunedain anymore at that point really.

Like, yeah I guess raiding and destroying the smaller communities that fish and mine for Gondor is important, but kinda seems like not a big deal when you're sodomizing Minas Tirith with ease. Whatever reinforcements and numbers that were left in the rest of Gondor wouldn't stand a chance.