/lit/ - Literature

>>2346854 cont.

The Gollum character is a very common theme in LotR, which is the thing that has been. The elves are not as powerful as they were in the past, Sauron is not as powerful as he were, Gandalf rises as the White one because the council has been corrupted, Aragorn is just coming back. The past plays an important role, nothing is at its pinnackle, because that would leave little to our imagination. You have this amazing world and it's toned down, it's the autumn of times and we can only wonder how it was before. It's the same with all myths, you have an ancient past that is always better and ideal, a Garden of Eden type of thing. Gollum is the perfect example of that corrupted past, he is the only character that was actually defeated by the Ring, again, from the inside. You see, Isildur was killed, but Gollum protected himself from the outside. Things could not be inflicted onto him, because he knew he couldn't fight that, so he was reclusive, living in terrible conditions just so that he could conquer the Ring. And why was that for? He lost all his meaning, all his intention, it was all about the Ring. In LotR, he doesn't have the Ring and the greatest thing about the creature Gollum is that he begins to question himself on other values outside of the Ring. He has glimpses of kindness, that might or might not be an illusion, even to him. We identify ourselves with Gollum in our obsessive behavior, in our misoneism.

cont.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTSoD4BBCJc

So, does /lit/ think this is going to do justice to the book?

another cup