On Wed, 2 Jan 2002, Brett Coster wrote: > Sorry Alberto, but I still can't see much use for Tom Bombadil. Of the 3 or > 4 times I've read LOTR, I've skimmed that section at best every reading > after that first time.
I rather like old Tom. I admit it's hard to see just how he fits into things, but it's interesting that to him the Ring is an almost-meaningless trinket which holds no power over him--has no effect on him at all, really. And then, at the end, Gandalf says something about it being time to pay old Tom Bombadil a visit. He seems to symbolize that the division of life into good and evil is artificial somehow, and temporary. > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > + > > And the romance between Aragorn and Arwen is far better treated as in the > film: Tolkien didn't really write any proper female roles - apart maybe from > Eowyn, and she was pretty much an hysterical schoolgirl - and the book's > Aragorn/Arwen romance is treated as a barest afterthought after all the > bloke stuff has been done. It's never felt right for me. I agree. I think this is a side effect of the books' being told entirely from Hobbit-perspective. To them the great loves and losses of kings and queens are mere asides to the business of surviving and finding a good meal and a bit of pipeweed to smoke. But movies don't work quite as well that way. Showing a big wedding in the third movie with no romantic buildup for the bride and groom wouldn't make any sense. > Another change, one I think the Brin would appreciate, is how the elves are > shown. Elrond and, particularly, Galadriel are clearly not all sweetness and > light. I pretty much agree with the Brin's take on how the elves take > themselves as a superior race and do not pass on the knowledge they have to > the lower classes. After all, there was practically zero progress evident > from the first Last Battle where Isildur took the ring to the time of Frodo > and the Fellowship. I'm not sure Tolkien believed in "progress" as such, though I too like the portrayal of the elves. There's a comment of Arwen's in the appendices to LotR that I would like to see reflected in the movies somehow: she tells Aragorn that until she experienced mortality firsthand, she (and elves generally, I assume) considered humans to be foolish, stupid, and almost beneath contempt. Only in the context of death to the passions of men make any sense, but since elves don't (naturally) die.... Suddenly I have an image of Boromir lecturing Elrond: "It's a human thing. You wouldn't understand." Marvin Long Austin, Texas
