DonQuixote99

Well, a true fan should own both, I say.

Looking forward to The Hobbit, and The Scouring of the Shire after that! Just a chapter, you say? But a very eventful chapter. Add in a prologue where it's revealed that Saruman isn't dead after all, and expand a little with some of Merry and Pippins adventures when they're off-stage in the book. Then include a fair bit of the resolution afterwords, with Sam going around with the Galadriel dust and all, while poor Frodo poignantly slides into semi-invalidism, and one could certainly make a feature out of it.

Samwise Gamgee

Yes.
I'm re-reading LoTR, so I just read an intro from Tolkien saying that The Scouring is a very important part of the books and couldn't be left off (the book). He said this because people were relating the scouring to the war/political situation back that time.

I'll buy an english (original) LoTR book so I can post quotes and stuff as I'm reading!

Cryostar

I'm so glad that they're just going to flesh out the hobbit to get 2 movies, instead of trying to rush through the hobbit in order to make a second completely new movie. I'd be worried that they couldn't keep Tolkien's style at all.

Samwise Gamgee

PJ may be not directing, but he's involved and that's a great point. I'm hoping he will keep the Tolkien style and feeling.

It's amazing that we'll get 2 movies. It will feed us with lots of goodies!

DonQuixote99

Despite Tolkein's protestations, I think the scouring does relate to a view of the rise of fascism in Germany before WWII. Saruman = Hitler (recall the Voice), ruffians = brownshirts, and Lotho = conservative figures in Germany who thought elevating Hitler to Chancellor would be a good way to counter to leftist opponents and stabilize things. Alas, Germany's 'Lothos' understood nothing of Hitler's intent to seize dictatorial power. Not a bad analogy, really.

Of course the whole thing breaks down if one tries to imagine the Hobbits setting out to conquer neighboring lands. But WWII was still ahead in the 1937-38 time when the plot of LOTR was first laid down. The analogy should be understood to start and end as a picture of a rise of a fascist regime, and then a fantasy resolution of the situation. The main thing it leaves out is Hitler's achievement of mass popularity (though again, the Voice would explain much). In any case, however unhappy and terrorized many Germans certainly were, I don't think it ever came close to amounting to overwhelming hatred of Nazism, just waiting for a catalyst to send it boiling over. The brownshirts and SS weren't foreign occupiers to be ejected, they were Germans.

Indeed, Tolkien's vision of war veterans returning home, seeing the necessity of force to resolve a subversion of the homeland, and knowing just how to do it, relates a bit too closely to the situation right after WWI in Germany. At that time some veterans joined paramilitaries and took violent action against Communists and others, setting a precedent for the later rise of the Brownshirts.

Still, the fate of Lotho, like that of Hitler's erstwhile allies in Germany, stands as a lesson to those who, while being reasonable enough fellows themselves, may think it expedient to ally with violent political extremists.

Samwise Gamgee

Don, you're absolutely right.
Every book, movie, art... It carries a lot from the author. About his point of view, about his life and situations around him. You just can't escape from that. It all may comes as influence.

Your analisys was really amazing and you so have a point!

DonQuixote99

Thankee, Sam. I in turn totally agree with your observation that creative work reveals a lot about the author. Indeed, putting out a work in which you've created the characters, the situatiuons they are in, and the choices they make, with it all elaborating 'themes' and 'points' of the one's own choosing, is pretty much to go naked in public.

DonQuixote99

Since your English seems quite good, I'd think you'd want an English LOTR edition to compare to the translation you have (in Portuguese I assume?). There are various approaches to translation, but of course none can produce an exact equivalent.

Cryostar

Honestly, don't care that PJ's not directly.....Del Toro's directing, so Smaug will be absolutely awesome.

seashelly

I was actually just reading about all this in a new book which is not only about the Lord of the Rings films but also gives some great details about the prequels, including some casting information. It's called The Lord of the Films:

Amazon.com: The Lord of the Films: The Unofficial Guide to Tolkien's Middle-Earth on the Big Screen (9781550228908): J. W. Braun: Books

Anyway, I agree that LOTR rocks. It'll be interesting to see how the films age over the next decade!

Samwise Gamgee

Yes.
I'm a... hummm... writer wannabe!
So I'm preparing myself to go around naked sometime!

Samwise Gamgee

Aww! Thanks!!
You're so kind (or a liar ) Just kidding!

Yes, I'm gonna read it in english sometime! I use to read a few books in english but I believe LoTR will demand a lot of me cause Tolkien created concepts, words and stuff. May be kinda hard, but I'm up for the challenge!

And yes, I read LoTR in portuguese!

Samwise Gamgee

I don't care about who is directing!
I just wanna se an awesome work on big screen!

Cryostar

*gasp*

You dont' care about Del toro?! have you not seen hellboy and the wonderful creatures he's done?!


Great book...i may have to look into getting that

Chrissy

I must confess that LotR is not as easy to read in English as other books. (But way more fun.)

But I always struggle with the many characters that Tolkien uses, no matter what language. On the other hand I love the maps.

The German translation I read first when I was a teenager was good, but in the end nothing can be as good as the original.