Middle-earth Journeys

Fuhgetaboutit, late of the North may have well been the spelling on many ship's logs. Yet Forgetaboutit the Restless, being much of legend than fact, may well have been a fabrication of history or one of Castimir's hapless minions who came to a new land to find it popluated by less than doughty mariners. It is said that his sauce, the Marinara came to grace much of legendary pizza that few claim can be made beyond the borders of Brooklyn. This much is known; any claim to royalty is compromised by his appilcation of food groups and a fool's hope for a game that would be named baseball.

Well the answers are pretty close. Merry, yes the Druadan Forest was one. Elizabeth, yes the Shire was one. Bruce, yes the Ents got Isengard.

But, while Faramir was made Prince of Ithilien, special lands from Ithilien were actually given to Legolas and the Elves from Greenwood. Lastly, don't forget that Aragorn actually gave the Glittering Caves to Gimli.

Since Bruce spoke up last...he gets the next trivia. Go for it my friend.

Okie dokie, let's go to who said what and when. As we all know Peter Jackson and his script writters took many liberties with the text. The first words spoken were: "The world is changing: I feel it in the water, I feel it in the earth, and I smell it in the air." Mr. Jackson would have Galadriel speaking but it was not. Who was it?

Level 1.5

Bruce, the originator of those lovely words was Treebeard. In the "Many Partings" chapter of LOTR, when the travelers reunite with Treebeard outside of Isengard, the old Ent has the opportunity to renew his long-ago acquaintance with Galadriel and Celeborn. He says to them:

"It is long, long since we met by stock or by stone, A vanimar, vanimalion nostari! It is sad that we should meet only thus at the ending. For the world is changing: I feel it in the water, I feel it in the earth, and I smell it in the air. I do not think we shall meet again."

Sigh . . . I am grateful that Peter Jackson used these lovely words, but how much more appropriate they are coming from Treebeard, the oldest living creature on earth!

Correct you are and is it not ironic that Jackson used it open the first film where it was at the end of ROTK? Shall we continue on with informing who said what and where?

I'm right with you on that theme, Bruce!

This should be a level 1 question:

In PJ's TTT, Grima Wormtongue and Eowyn have that fabulously creepy scene in which actor Brad Dourif brilliantly delivers this challenge: "Who knows what you have spoken to the darkness, in the bitter watches of the night, when all your life seems to shrink, and the walls of your bower close in about you, a hutch to trammel some wild thing in?"

In the Professor's story, this sentiment was expressed in an entirely different tone by a very different character under very different circumstances. Who relates these thoughts in which part of the story?

I know! Gandalf in the Houses of Healing: it causes Eomer to see his sister in a new light. Some of the best words in LOTR, IMHO. (Of course, I seem to say that a lot!)

Wonderful work ladies!

Well done, Merry!

I do love Gandalf's wonderful insight into Eowyn's private grief and turmoil, but my favorite quotation from this part of the Houses of Healing chapter is Aragorn's:

"Few other griefs amid the ill chances of this world have more bitterness and shame for a man's heart than to behold the love of a lady so fair and brave that cannot be returned."

THUD! (Lindariel picks herself dizzily off the floor.)

Pardon me, that beautiful sentiment gets me every time. "Bitterness and shame" instead of a macho ego trip. What a man!

Your turn, Merry!

Okay, then, to continue the theme:

In The Two Towers, one of the characters looked at the corpse of a Southron and "wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil of heart, or what lies or threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace . . ." These thoughts are voiced by Faramir in the film.

Level 1 question: whose thoughts were these in the book?

Oh dear, this thread is speaking volumes to my heart. Who else could have been than dear Sam, who's love would not fail not even to the cracks of doom? This kind of empathy for another could have only been spoken by such a Hobbit.

Yes, indeed, Bruce, although I think Sam had grown a bit from Hobbiton to Ithilien. I wonder if Tolkien had similar thoughts at the Somme.

Your turn!

I often think about the Professor's time spent at the front. Could he not have seen the remains of a German, a late teen in all likelyhood? Had not this youth been cutting hay with his father the previous summer? When I think of the First World War I often shake my head that a senile monarchy, the grandchildren of Victoria could thrust the entire world into one of the cruelest blood lettings of the 20th century.
At Minas Tirith, Peter Jackson would have Gandalf muse over such a case. In the extended version Gandalf informs Pip of the fall of the race of the Numenorians: "Kings made tombs more splendid than the houses of the living, and counted old names of thier descent more dearer than the names of their sons. Childless lords sat in halls musing on heraldry, or in high cold towers asking questions of the stars."
Who said this and where?
This is also a level 1 question

I think you're right, Bruce. That Tolkien was also of German ancestry and loved 'northern-ness' made him somewhat sympathetic to the German people. Not Hitler, though: all his expansive vocabulary is let loose on Hitler in his letters.