Tag: tolkien

The Silmarils are not MacGuffins

lintamande:

I think, on a first readthrough of the Silmarillion, there were a lot of things I accepted as happening because the plot required it, not because, you know, it actually made any sense. Like the departure of the Noldor from Aman, or Morgoth stealing the Silmarils, or Thingol wanting a Silmaril, or Celegorm and Curufin turning evil in Nargothrond. 

But I think that’s selling Tolkien short, and selling the story short. I’ve made the case in detail for why some of these apparently-plot-motivated decisions made sense, and today I’m going to tackle another one by exploring the Silmarils: why they deserve the reverence they’re treated with by the text and by the characters, why the determination of everyone to steal them or hold onto them isn’t as stupid as it looks, and generally why I think we sell the story short by behaving as if they have only sentimental value. 

Keep reading

brainstatic:

I’ll vote for the first candidate to come right out and say: “no, they couldn’t have just taken the eagles to Mordor from the beginning, for a number of reasons. The mission rested on the fact that Sauron didn’t know anyone was coming to destroy the ring, because evil underestimates the willpower of good. Coming in with eagles would kill that. The eagles are also servants of Manwe, king of the gods, and after the wars of the First Age and ruin of Beleriand they retreated from the affairs of mortals, and the eagles themselves were crushed by the winged demons of Morgoth. They only listen to Gandalf occasionally because he’s one of the Maiar, a lesser god. The role of the gods comes from Tolkien’s Catholicism and the belief that people need to accomplish things on their own without God’s help.” But they won’t say that, because of the corporations.

And we shouldn’t be here at all, if we’d known more about it before we started. But I suppose it’s often that way. The brave things in the old tales and songs, Mr. Frodo: adventures, as I used to call them. I used to think that they were things the wonderful folk of the stories went out and looked for, because they wanted them, because they were exciting and life was a bit dull, a kind of a sport, as you might say. But that’s not the way of it with the tales that really mattered, or the ones that stay in the mind. Folk seem to have been just landed in them, usually – their paths were laid that way, as you put it. But I expect they had lots of chances, like us, of turning back, only they didn’t. And if they had, we shouldn’t know, because they’d have been forgotten. We hear about those as just went on – and not all to a good end, mind you; at least not to what folk inside a story and not outside it call a good end.

Sam, The Two Towers (via one-small-garden)

petermorwood:

lotrfansaredorcs:

spartanlocke:

elfmaidens:

lotrfansaredorcs:

A deleted song from Lord of the Rings!

This song, Use Well the Days, was written for the ROTK end credits. You won’t find it anywhere in the soundtrack- It was cut after Into the West took its place. (this recording may not be the “final draft” of the song, either.) Just like Into the West, it was composed by Howard Shore and sung by Annie Lennox, with lyrics by Fran Walsh.

Use Well the Days is about Frodo bidding his final farewell to Sam…. thanking him, blessing him, and hoping the rest of his life in Middle Earth will be happy and peaceful. 

lyrics:

round the corner there may wait
a new road or a secret gate
and though I have passed them by
a day will come
I will take the hidden paths that run
west of the moon and east of the sun
I’m glad that you are here with me, here at the end of all things.

night too shall be beautiful and blessed and its fear will pass
I must leave, must cross the Sea
the love you gave is all I take with me
use well the days
use well the days
turn your face to the green world
use well the days

seven stars and seven stones and one white tree from all the sound it seems
use well the days
use well the days
turn your face to the green world
use well the days

and it’s based on Frodo’s version of Upon The Heart The Fire is Red:

Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate;
And though I oft have passed them by,
A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun.

I honest to god wish this had been used instead of Into The West.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Into The West with all my heart, but if I heard the lines “I’m glad you’re here with me, here at the end of all things” immediately followed by “the love you gave is all I take with me” right after watching RotK I would’ve straight-up dropped dead.

I know what you mean…I personally love Into the West more but I also love the idea of Return of the King ending, not with a huge showstopping song like Into the West, but with a humble Shire-y song like this. Frodo’s version of the Last Goodbye.

Howard Shore has said in interviews that his favorite parts to score were never the epic scenes but the the small, intimate moments between characters, especially between Frodo and Sam. He’d wanted the last song to sound “like it belonged in the Shire.” And yeah, this song does sound far more humble and hobbit-y than the elven Into the West. 

But Into the West was also written for a young friend of the crew who died of cancer during the production of ROTK…and when you listen to it you can hear that very real grief and pain. Into the West wasn’t just about Frodo passing over the sea, but the death of someone the filmmakers knew.

I almost feel like ROTK needed to end with both songs? Because they’re equal and opposite.

Into the West is sung to the person crossing the sea.

Use Well the Days is sung to the person who was left behind. 

I like this, but then I also like “Into The West” (which has associations for me as well).

Since “Return of the King” seemed to have about five endings before the credits rolled, they might at least have used both songs…

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)

bananaraisinface:

J. R. R. Tolkien on escapism in “The Lord of the Rings” (x)

“Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisioned by the enemy, don’t we consider it his duty to escape?…If we value the freedom of mind and soul, if we’re partisans of liberty, then it’s our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can!” 

-J.R.R. Tolkien