Why did this book touch you?

[Anonymous No.21793470]

What exact aspect of LOTR did you find so moving?

I’m about to marathon it on a round trip flight across the world. I want to keep my eyes out for the things that others have found to be the most meaningful.

[Anonymous No.21793480]

>>21793470
Finally learning about my ancestors.

[Anonymous No.21793488]

I learned that midgets such as myself (5'10) can actually participate in society

[Anonymous No.21793489]

>>21793470
Aside from the worldbuilding and story I think Tolkien's prose is just phenomenal. He's extremely good and painting a picture with words, and not just pictures but atmospheres, action, and scenes in general, the translation in my language was great. He's just a really good writer.

[Anonymous No.21793490]

>>21793480
What race are you?

[Anonymous No.21793494]

>>21793470
it has top tier nature writing

[Anonymous No.21793497]

>>21793489
What language?

[Anonymous No.21793501]

>>21793490
Hispanic

[Anonymous No.21793507]

>>21793501
Ah yes, I’ve heard that the Hispanics are an integral part of the LOTR universe

[Anonymous No.21793509]

>>21793490
orcs

[Anonymous No.21793511]

>>21793489
Here's an example I like:

These we will take!' said Gandalf suddenly. He cast aside his cloak and a white light shone forth like a sword in that black place. Before his upraised hand the foul Messenger recoiled, and Gandalf coming seized and took from him the tokens: coat, cloak, and sword. 'These we will take in memory of our friend,' he cried. 'But as for your terms, we reject them utterly. Get you gone, for your embassy is over and death is near to you. We did not come here to waste words in treating with Sauron, faithless and accursed; still less with one of his slaves. Begone!'

Then the Messenger of Mordor laughed no more. His face was twisted with amazement and anger to the likeness of some wild beast that, as it crouches on its prey, is smitten on the muzzle with a stinging rod. Rage filled him and his mouth slavered, and shapeless sounds of fury came strangling from his throat. But he looked at the fell faces of the Captains and their deadly eyes, and fear overcame his wrath. He gave a great cry, and turned, leaped upon his steed, and with his company galloped madly back to Cirith Gorgor. But as they went his soldiers blew their horns in signal long arranged; and even before they came to the gate Sauron sprang his trap.

[Anonymous No.21793521]

>>21793497
Icelandic

[Anonymous No.21793529]

it's just comfy

[Anonymous No.21793530]

>>21793507
I'm the Haradrim. My last name can even be translated to "south."

[Anonymous No.21793536]

>>21793521
Icelandic seems to have an Elvish energy to it somehow, but maybe I’m just a dumb American

[Anonymous No.21793547]

>>21793536
You are indeed dumb american. Elvish languages have nothing in common with Icelandic or Norse languages, but Finnish language which is Ugric.

Even the languages invented by Tolkien were not original, Quenya is literally a dialect of Finnish language. Pic related for proof, Tolkien did not even "invent" the words, he straight up just used Finnish words for Quenya and elvish languages. He literally just opened Finnish dictionary.

Why did Tolkien steal from the Finns then? Old Fakey lacked the imagination to come up with something original?

>“It [discovering Finnish] was like discovering a wine-cellar filled with bottles of amazing wine of a kind and flavour never tasted before. It quite intoxicated me.”

>[The Kalevala was] “the original germ of the Silmarillion” (Letters, 87)

>Quenya is a constructed language created by Professor J. R. R. Tolkien. According to its creator, Quenya's main models were Latin, Finnish and Greek. It could perhaps be said that Finnish was the most important of these in the beginning, because it gave Tolkien the initial impulse to create Quenya. Finnish influence does indeed seem strong in the earliest forms of the language, at least in vocabulary, where many words are Finnish in style.

Why most people try to discredit the Finnish influence that Tolkien recreated with his Silmarillion/Lord of the Rings/World of Arda?

I see people here commenting absurd things like "Tolkien was channeling the Northern Spirit of European Folk-tales" etc, when it is clear that he is not talking about the Northern Spirit, but the Finnish spirit, the finnish landscapes and the finnish culture, heritage and language.

>But muh bible! Gandalf the white is Risen Jesus!
It is more than clear that Gandalf sole inspiration was the sage Väinämöinen.

>b-but muh Odin! The Grey Wanderer! He is Gandalf
It is clear that Odin shares little to none similarities with Gandalf. Perhaps the one Eye of Odin could be regarded as a reference to the one eye of Sauron

>B-but muh Merlin the Wizard! Surely he is the true inspiration of Gandalf
Absolutely not. Merlin resided in a tower, just like the corrupted wizard Saruman, whom Gandalf overthrows.

Numerous academic treatises have also been written how Silmarillion is basically just retelling of the forging of Sampo:
http://jultika.oulu.fi/files/nbnfioulu-201804201498.pdf

Respect the Finns.

[Anonymous No.21793552]

>>21793511
You like the scene? I think I remember this from the movie, it was the dude with the screwed up teeth iirc

[Anonymous No.21793553]

>>21793547
is this a copypasta?

[Anonymous No.21793566]

>>21793547
You have some good data to support your case for Finns actually mattering this one time in this particular way, but denying the Catholic influence on LOTR seems to be going a bridge too far

[Anonymous No.21793580]

>>21793566
What the fuck are you talking about? Some "good data"? Tolkien literally says in his diaries and letters that he would not even created Arda or LOTR, Silmarillion without the Kalevala and his study of Finnish languages

Tolkien had little to none inspiration from Norse mythology or Catholicism. Some minor influence, but perhaps 10-20%

The bulk of Tolkien's mythological world was borrowed from Kalevala and this is the scholar opinion too:
>[The Kalevala was] “the original germ of the Silmarillion” (Tolkien Letters, 87)

>Tolkien wrote that The Story of Kullervo was ‘the germ of my attempt to write legends of my own’, and was ‘a major matter in the legends of the First Age’; his Kullervo was the ancestor of Túrin Turambar, tragic incestuous hero of The Silmarillion. In addition to being a powerful story in its own right, The Story of Kullervo – published here for the first time with the author’s drafts, notes and lecture-essays on its source-work, The Kalevala, is a foundation stone in the structure of Tolkien’s invented world.

Verlyn Flieger, who wrote that above quotation, is the Professor in the Department of English at the University of Maryland.

Why does /lit/ say that the influence of Kalevala was rather minor, when university professors and academia say contrary things and tell us that the Finnish myths and national epics of Finland formed the very backbone of Tolkien's mythological world?

Why people say that Tolkien was inspired by other myths/stories when Tolkien himself repeats again and again that The Kalevala of the Finns was his main and fundamental influence and even the topic of numerous academic studies

Researching J.R.R. Tolkien:
How Kalevala influenced his legendarium
http://jultika.oulu.fi/files/nbnfioulu-201804201498.pdf

https://jyx.jyu.fi/bitstream/handle/123456789/41456/URN-NBN-fi-jyu-201305151681.pdf;sequ
J.R.R. Tolkien’s Land of Heroes–
Fëanor, a tragic hero of Middle-Earth in
comparison to Seppo Ilmarinen from the Kalevala

University of Jyväskylä
Department of Languages
English

What J.R.R. Tolkien Really Did with the Sampo?
Jonathan B. Himes
https://dc.swosu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1342&context=mythlore

+50 other numerous academic studies.

So next time, give credit where its due: the Kalevala and Finnish mythology. Not norse myths. Not English myths or Catholicism. Finns and the great Finnish nation.

[Anonymous No.21793586]

I really liked the first half of FOTR and absolutely loved the second half. The Frodo-Galadriel scene is a lot better than the movie adaptation. Everything past Elrond Council is riveting, both in atmosphere and plot-wise.
Two Towers is where it's at. Absolutely phenomenal, especially the early chapters with the orc hunt. The Sam/Frodo POV is superb. I think Book IV is my favorite in the entire trilogy overrall.
ROTK's first half was underwhelming for me. Pippin's adventures in Minas Tirith, the Battle of the Pelennor Fields and the Frodo/Sam POV inside Mordor are not that interesting. ROTK's quality skyrockets once they actually destroy the ring, which is about 60% into the book IIRC.

[Anonymous No.21793599]

>>21793580

[Anonymous No.21793611]

>>21793580
> Tolkien had little to none inspiration from Catholicism
topkek

[Anonymous No.21793629]

>>21793536
People say that but there's more finnish influences in quenya I think.

[Anonymous No.21793634]

>>21793470
A minor character still dreams of his wife and believes she will come back to him years after her disappearance and its implied that Sauron killed her
This hit me like a brick

[Anonymous No.21793646]

>>21793470
The orcs say "Hola" to eachother in Two Towers :)

Tolkien INVENTED the Amerimutt meme. Orcs are multiracial abominations that are easily controlled by the Empire.

[Anonymous No.21793648]

>>21793629
What people?

[Anonymous No.21793649]

>>21793536
Iceland is rumored to have elves living there yet the Elvish language in LotR sounds more Finnish

[Anonymous No.21793825]

>>21793648
That schizo up there with way too much national pride for a country ranked 42 in national GDP

[Anonymous No.21793883]

>>21793547
>>21793580
>>21793629
>>21793648
Stop. No one cares about your dump of a country and its ignored culture.

[Anonymous No.21793937]

It' didn't. I prefer the movies, the books are meh. I don't like tolkien, too much christian undertones and an archaic binary view of good and evil, with characters which are all essentially the same, the goodies and the baddies. The only one i liked was denethor because at least he sounds interesting, much more than the other cookie cut heroes of yore that infest middle earth like weeds.
And his hatred towards industry and progress becomes tiresome. We know, we get it, you miss your old english countryside now swallowed by cheap housing. Too bad yabbering about that for three books is jarring, and it makes you wonder if he wants the world to just stagnate in a state of perpetual stillness, like in his fantasy world where nobody made progresses in sciences or arts, ever. Everything is stuck in a medieval setting which is lasting thousands and thousands of years, where everything was perfect at the beginning and it went gradually worse and worse, as if humans are not capable of making anything good.
He never even explained how dying is a gift in his headcanon, you'll be plucked from the sea of souls eons after you die and be forced to sing. The end. Wow totally worth it instead of being an immortal superman like the elves.

[Anonymous No.21794230]

>>21793470
The worldbuilding is good but it's a chore reading through them. The movies are netter than the booms imo.

[Anonymous No.21794237]

>>21793470
>What exact aspect of LOTR did you find so moving?
The movies

[Anonymous No.21794363]

>>21793937
>too much christian undertones
DON'T YOU MEAN *FINNISH* UNDERTONES

[Anonymous No.21794403]

>>21793470
I'm reading RotK now and "Treebeard" chapter is my favorite so far. It's one of the most beautiful things I've ever read.

[Anonymous No.21794419]

>>21793470
At the risk of sounding like a faggot, it's a very wholesome experience. Everything nowadays is such degenerate trash.

[Anonymous No.21794439]

>>21794403
Treebeard is a beautiful creation that the movies butchered.
I love the poem associated with him and his gf

[Anonymous No.21794454]

>>21793470
Frodo being a hollow shell of a hobbit while the shire was being scoured hit me hard

[Anonymous No.21794464]

What’s the best hardcover collection to get? That’s actually still purchasable new? Those illustrated ones look tight but I see mixed reviews on some and you never know what you’ll get from Amazon.