Search found 709 matches

by kzer_za
Wed Jan 24, 2024 6:31 pm
Forum: The Shibboleth of Fëanor
Topic: Re-reading the legendarium
Replies: 8
Views: 4122

Re: Re-reading the legendarium

Well I read the Unfinished Tales aborted Fall of Gondolin rewrite and now I'm doing the Lost Tales version. Everyone dedicated to the legendarium already knows this, but that Tuor and His Coming to Gondolin ends so early is so sad. If it had been completed it would have been one of the very finest t...
by kzer_za
Mon Dec 11, 2023 2:45 am
Forum: The Shibboleth of Fëanor
Topic: News from Bree and other random discussions
Replies: 218
Views: 91338

Re: News from Bree and other random discussions

Galadriel's backstory is one of the most unstable and uncontradictory parts of the legendarium. The versions tend to point to "something in between" though - not actively participating, but willing to go along with everything that happened after, benefiting from the stolen ships, and proba...
by kzer_za
Thu Nov 30, 2023 10:06 pm
Forum: The Shibboleth of Fëanor
Topic: Re-reading the legendarium
Replies: 8
Views: 4122

Re: Re-reading the legendarium

Been taking a bit of a break from reading the First Age as I listen through Christopher Lee on Children of Húrin. I will say Túrin is a more sympathetic character than I remembered, and his clueless idiocy in the Finduilas love triangle is actually funny. It's also interesting how prominently disabi...
by kzer_za
Sun Nov 12, 2023 10:58 pm
Forum: The Shibboleth of Fëanor
Topic: The Second Prophecy (and related subjects)
Replies: 81
Views: 158093

Re: The Second Prophecy (and related subjects)

Spoke with a friend about this who knows his Tolkien well (I'm very thankful to have a couple of friends who I can joke "I'm a Maglor restorationist" and they get it lol). He said he prefers it as it is in the published Silmarillion, where there are a few small hints to give enough hope fo...
by kzer_za
Wed Nov 08, 2023 4:28 pm
Forum: The Shibboleth of Fëanor
Topic: The Second Prophecy (and related subjects)
Replies: 81
Views: 158093

Re: The Second Prophecy (and related subjects)

I haven't but yeah I'd be interested.
by kzer_za
Wed Nov 08, 2023 4:23 pm
Forum: The Shibboleth of Fëanor
Topic: Re-reading the legendarium
Replies: 8
Views: 4122

Re: Re-reading the legendarium

I'd read a lot of the extended Míriel (the elf one) stuff before, but this might have been the first time I've read about Finwë taking on Míriel's sentence after death so she can re-embody. Quite a moving little vignette. Glad she gets a somewhat happy ending in one version, and makes an interesting...
by kzer_za
Wed Nov 08, 2023 4:18 pm
Forum: The Shibboleth of Fëanor
Topic: Tolkien's Modern Reading, and Carpenter's biography
Replies: 3
Views: 3814

Re: Tolkien's Modern Reading, and Carpenter's biography

Well that letter (53 right?) is clearly somewhat tongue-in-cheek. And I did say "completely" reactionary. Tolkien was generally conservative and could be called reactionary on certain matters, but he's also eclectic and can't be neatly put in a box. In that same letter for example he takes...
by kzer_za
Mon Nov 06, 2023 5:37 pm
Forum: The Shibboleth of Fëanor
Topic: The Second Prophecy (and related subjects)
Replies: 81
Views: 158093

Re: The Second Prophecy (and related subjects)

The Túrin part feels odd to me because he wasn't exactly a great guy. It's one thing to say he's still not beyond redemption, it's another thing to give him that central and heroic a role in the final battle (maybe even becoming a Valar in some versions?). Maybe if you regard him as a completely hel...
by kzer_za
Mon Nov 06, 2023 5:05 pm
Forum: The Shibboleth of Fëanor
Topic: The Second Prophecy (and related subjects)
Replies: 81
Views: 158093

Re: The Second Prophecy (and related subjects)

1. Judgement of moral behaviour: "He will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead." 2. Resurrection of the dead: "We look for the resurrection of the dead." 3: Eternal life thereafter: "and the life of the world to come" (can be paraphrased as "to l...
by kzer_za
Sat Nov 04, 2023 6:41 pm
Forum: The Shibboleth of Fëanor
Topic: News from Bree and other random discussions
Replies: 218
Views: 91338

Re: News from Bree and other random discussions

Okay, let me bring up something that's always disturbed me, right from my first reading of LOTR. When Théoden meets Ghân-buri-Ghân, one of Ghân's terms is that they will "leave Wild Men alone in the woods and do not hunt them like beasts any more. "Any more"??? Does that mean that th...
by kzer_za
Sat Nov 04, 2023 6:38 pm
Forum: The Shibboleth of Fëanor
Topic: Re-reading the legendarium
Replies: 8
Views: 4122

Re-reading the legendarium

Hi everyone, I know I've been away for a long time. So I've finally been doing something I've wanted to for years - a chronological re-read of the whole legendarium (chronological in-universe, not real-world) ending with Lord of the Rings. Or more specifically, perhaps I'll do Appendices/UT -> Hobbi...
by kzer_za
Tue Dec 20, 2022 10:45 pm
Forum: The Rings of Power
Topic: Rings of Power: Choices in Adaptation
Replies: 7
Views: 2728

Re: Rings of Power: Choices in Adaptation

Here's my armchair-quarterback of how I would map out five seasons, trying to balance both honoring the passage of time that is so important to the second age and also keeping in mind the practicalities of TV production. Closer to the chronology than Amazon but not too literal: Season 1: Open with N...
by kzer_za
Wed Sep 21, 2022 2:47 pm
Forum: The Rings of Power
Topic: Episode 4 (Spoilers)
Replies: 53
Views: 6888

Re: Episode 4 (Spoilers)

I think Pharazon's speech was better at setting out the Númenórean sense of superiority, rather than the lazy "they took our jobs" them in the previous episode. The series still has not come to grips with the other side of the coin: fear of death and the envy of the elves' deathlessness. ...
by kzer_za
Sat Sep 17, 2022 6:25 pm
Forum: The Rings of Power
Topic: The Stranger of Udûn? - New Info and the Identity of Meteor Man
Replies: 124
Views: 29930

Re: The Stranger of Udûn? - New Info and the Identity of Meteor Man

So someone straight up said The Stranger is Sauron this episode. It could be more misdirection to keep people guessing, sure. He could be mistaken or lying. But if they’re ramping up to a Sauron reveal late this season (or maybe it’s gonna be s2?), it’ll probably be someone we’ve already met at the ...
by kzer_za
Sat Sep 17, 2022 6:03 pm
Forum: The Rings of Power
Topic: Episode 4 (Spoilers)
Replies: 53
Views: 6888

Re: Episode 4 (Spoilers)

I'm going to be brief for once, for now. As fantasy TV, this was pretty good and the best episode so far. I still wouldn't call it must-see TV, but I enjoyed it. As Tolkien? This show just doesn't feel like Tolkien taken as a whole to me, more of a Tolkien/D&D-derived fantasy world (an above ave...
by kzer_za
Thu Sep 15, 2022 2:25 pm
Forum: The Rings of Power
Topic: Episode 3 (Spoilers)
Replies: 79
Views: 10116

Re: Episode 3 (Spoilers)

My hunch is that they rushed through the First Age because their limited rights mean they can’t go very deep with the First Age and they have to kinda skirt around the edges. Like what we got was well shot and stylized and had some nice references (I appreciated the Nirnaeth mound) but there’s so li...
by kzer_za
Tue Sep 13, 2022 2:46 am
Forum: The Rings of Power
Topic: Discussion about the Discussion about RoP
Replies: 119
Views: 20209

Re: Discussion about the Discussion about RoP

Practical considerations aside, however, Netflix’s adaptation of The Sandman is also making a statement – about how seasoned veterans like me don’t exercise some sort of imagined authority over culture just because we were there in 1989. This need to resist cultural gatekeeping is something Gaiman ...
by kzer_za
Tue Sep 13, 2022 2:31 am
Forum: The Rings of Power
Topic: Episode 3 (Spoilers)
Replies: 79
Views: 10116

Re: Episode 3 (Spoilers)

One thing that I was wondering about is the discussion between Míriel and her father in which Míriel says to him (if I am remembering correctly) that the Elf that he predicted would arrive has done so, implying that Galadriel's arrival was the sign of a pivotal event, probably a bad one. Tar-Palant...
by kzer_za
Sun Sep 11, 2022 11:05 pm
Forum: The Rings of Power
Topic: Lord of the Rings series!?
Replies: 850
Views: 351121

Re: Lord of the Rings series!?

To an extent, but I do think at least judging each season as a unit is fair and we're close to 50% for the first. (Also I think you mean 40 hours). At any rate, I have decided I will very likely finish the first season to make sure I give the show a fair chance. (Since I'll be in Europe most of Octo...
by kzer_za
Sun Sep 11, 2022 11:02 pm
Forum: Arda Reconstructed
Topic: So I finally ordered this book
Replies: 7
Views: 24049

Re: So I finally ordered this book

So I am thinking about doing a chronological read-through of the legendarium next year (chronologically meaning in-universe, not real-world), perhaps with the published Silmarillion as a base for the First Age and supplementing it with additional HoME texts chapter-by-chapter. I would likely use thi...