NationStates Jolt Archive

Just out of dumb curriosity, and sheer boredom, I was wondering who actually read J.R.R. Tolken's Books, or just watched the movies, or did both. You can discuss why you didn't like it, what you think could improve, or what you thought made it the best trillogy you ever read/watched.

Somehow i think this is the wrong forum to post this thread. Anyway I watched and read the Trilogy and i am a fan of Tolkien's works. Its interesting to see how PJ turned such a series into movies seeing as Tolkien once said, "I think its impossible to make my books into movies"

Its nice all in all.

Wrong forum just so you know, but I have read all three LotR books and the silmarillion.

I have read all of his books and seen all three movies.

To be honest, his books aren't that great. Tolkien wasn't a very talented writer. Sure, he had some good ideas, but his writing style is convulted and often confusing.

Wrong forum just so you know, but I have read all three LotR books and the silmarillion.

Which forum I should've put it in?

ooc: No worries, General should have been better. It's an easy mistake when you're a young 'un. Just ask the mods to move it.

Read his books, saw the movies. All the books, and all before the movies.

And off to General with this!

ooc: No worries, General should have been better. It's an easy mistake when you're a young 'un. Just ask the mods to move it.

Actually, I just wasn't paying attention, since International incidents is wher I usually hang out. How do you ask to move it? That I don't know.

I read the books and then saw the movies AND I think it should have gotten 11 Academy awards, but I am biased. *shrugs*

Actually, I just wasn't paying attention, since International incidents is wher I usually hang out. How do you ask to move it? That I don't know.

Go to Moderation and request them to move this topic to General (and provide a link to make it easy.)


Read the books. saw the movies. and loved them both pretty much with a few minor things i didn't care for.

Go to Moderation and request them to move this topic to General (and provide a link to make it easy.)


Read the books. saw the movies. and loved them both pretty much with a few minor things i didn't care for.

Will do. Thanks

Read LOTR, the Hobbit in English and Dutch and the Silmarillion in Dutch. Then I saw the movies. I think the books are better, but the films aren't bad either :D

I just asked to have this thread moved to Generals. I don't know when it will show up.

Go to Moderation and request them to move this topic to General (and provide a link to make it easy.)


Read the books. saw the movies. and loved them both pretty much with a few minor things i didn't care for.

Comdidia, your positive that they'll move it to general from the link I provided in Moderation?

Read then saw. Books were better than the movies, but the movies weren't too bad. Tolkein's my favourite author. I've read other works by him also. The Silmarillion has to be my favourite - except for that chapter in which he only describes the surroundings and the details of where these events are takign place. He likes to use a lot of detail, and that makes his works more vivid.

Read the books and than saw the movies. The books are better.

I have read all of his books and seen all three movies.

To be honest, his books aren't that great. Tolkien wasn't a very talented writer. Sure, he had some good ideas, but his writing style is convulted and often confusing.

Burns in the fiery pit of mount doom, before being cast down from the Bridge of Kazzad Dum.
Tolkien is the father of all modern Fantasy. All your games, movies, and modern books, that fall under the Tolkienesque fantasy, come from the literary genius himself. His writing style is like that because he wanted it to be. just as he said in his letters. Its only confusing if you don't care to listen to the detail. My advice... go over it again, this time with a fine tooth comb, and enjoy it, instead of just trying to finish it like every other book on the market.

I read the books a while back then saw the movies. Truly cinematic masterpieces!

LOL, I saw the thread topic and misread it at first as J.J.R. Tolkein and wondered if Jangle Jangle Ridge was writing a book! Ooops! Dammit JJR, write a book now!

Read the books and than saw the movies. The books are better.

Books usually are.

How about a 6th option.... Both the Books and movies totally sucked, and should've been burnt in the 30's? Cuz that's what i wanna vote for. -.-

Loved the story.
Hated the writing style.
Stilted and hard to wade through.

Read the books, thought they were annoying, didn't see the movies.

I'm not missing anything.

I read the book and saw the movies and i loved both. I actually saw the movies first because i normally don't like fantasy stuff so i had never read the books. I didn't even think i'd like the movies either, i just went to the first one because my step-dad and step-brother were going and my step-dad was paying, i had nothing else to do...lol. I loved The Fellowship as soon as i saw it and went to see the other two with my step-dad. They instantly became three of my favorite movies. After i saw The Return of the King i read the book and it became my favorite as soon as i read it. I am reading it for the third time right now, the third time in a year and a half...lol. I have also read The Silmarillion and our teacher read us The Hobbit in grade 6.

His writing honestly isn't that confusing for me, and not just because i saw the movies first. I think he is a good writer, but to each his own. I like that he wrote it as if it was a history, as if Middle Earth and all the races in it actually existed. He actually makes you believe that they did, if only for a moment, and you certainly wish they did.

I think they did a good job with the movies. It's hard bringing to the screen a story that long, with all those stories and characters intertwined, and one so beloved by people.

I am Lord Saurun bow down to me fools or I will slay ye all!

I read first, then watched. I think his writing style is a little heavy, but still worth trying. I think I appreciate his work more than some people because I'm a RP gamer (Dungeons and Dragons, etc.) and a huge fan of other fantasy fiction. His work is really the foundation of both those genres.

Besides, whether you like the movies or not, they are really the Star Wars of my generation. They have had as much of an impact on filmmaking technology and scope as the original SW trilogy did. But then again, if you don't like Tolkien, you probably don't like Star Wars either. *shrug*

Read, then saw.

Read then saw.

Have to say, I preferred the movie better than the book. :p

Well, the book was slightly better concerning the story line, and no lovey-dovey between Aragon and the elf-guy.

The movie was more entertaining though.

read the books a few times, saw the movies, saw the extended versions read the books a couple more times.....


if you havent read lotr and are thinking of it, i have one really important hint

SKIP THE STUPID SONGS THEY ADD NOTHING TO THE PLOT

utterly nothing

they are for when you are obsessed with middle earth and long to read stories about other times and other characters. so save the songs for the next time you read the books

if you follow that one simple bit of advice, you will love the books.

I watched the first movie before getting into reading all of the books because I'm a visual learner and I like to see something before I read it. However, in the case of LOTR, there really is no way to compare the movies to the books. It's like trying to compare HP to LOTR. Anyway, I love both the movies and books, each for their own uniqueness. The movies don't follow the books 100%, but I have yet to see a movie that actually does that.

Read the books at age 15.

Peter Jacksons movies were the greatest movies made in the last 20 years.
Not the best movies of all time or anything, but certainly better than anything Hollywood has produced in the last 2 decades.

The movies actually did what Tolkein should have. It edited out all the useless crap.

Tom Bombadil: Useless and therefore gone.
All the annoying elven singing that went on for pages: Not gone, but done tastefully.

The acting was superb as well.
One of my favorite performances in the ROTK, was when Eomer finds Eowyn unconcious and believes her dead.

The man looks like he's losing his shit.
Its very brief, but its such an intense display of overwhelming grief.


The Simarillion was the most boring book I have ever read, and never should have been published as a story.

I am Lord Saurun bow down to me fools or I will slay ye all!


Im sorry.

But I cant fear you if you cant spell your own name correctly.

The acting was superb as well.
One of my favorite performances in the ROTK, was when Eomer finds Eowyn unconcious and believes her dead.
The man looks like he's losing his shit.
Its very brief, but its such an intense display of overwhelming grief..

When he looked really sad.. I nearly bursted out laughing in the cinemas.

I thought he was going to say "Morpheus" :D

I did expect Sam and Frodo to have a dirty volcano sex scene at the end however.

Very sad, read LOTR years ago and severla times since, also book of lost tales etc etc. everything about middle earth.
Enjoyed the films but too much romance and too many little changes esp in the second one!

Well, I was meaning to read the books but I never got around to it. Then the movies came out and I watched them... still planning on reading the books sometime. I mean, I read most of the Fellowship... why didn't I finish it again? Damn.

Remember it's both a history as well as a story so all the 'crap' has to be in there. I admit, when i first got to the House of Elrond in the book and had to wade through an entire chapter of history, i put the book down and didn't read it for another 6 months, then i picked it up in the summer holidays and read it in just over a day. But the point is without it, it wouldn't be anywhere near as good a book as it is.

As for his writing style, it's all a matter of opinion, as a history student, i have seen and read much much worse, so it didn't bother me.


Oh and Tom Bombadil is a legend! Although the only reason he is there is to tie the whole story together...and allow a seperate book about his stories too. mmmm money making :D

I read the books about 5 years ago, all of the books as in: The Hobbit, The LOTR Trilogy, The Silmarillion, and The Books of Lost Tales (1 & 2). I love Tolkiens' writing, the details...the adventure, beautifull done books.

The movies, however much Jackson butchered the books, I can't exactly be mad at him...because the books contained so many details and little points to be boxed into 3 movies. These movies will probably be the best to ever be done with Tolkiens' work.

I read then Watched.
My biggest regret is i never actually saw the first movie-i was to lazy/messed up :(

i thought the 2nd was the best after i read the 3rd and then watched it i felt terribly let down.-No mighty Hobbit Battles at the gates or in the Shire against Saruman. :(

The Trilogy was much better than 11 Oscars.
It got summed up pretty well when someone said they knew there was 3 movies so they could pile on the praise after the 3rd.
Which unfairly shunned the first two movies Which coulda/shoulda/woulda cleaned up.

There are two? editing mixing awards Master and Commander got one LOTRTROTK the other but surely to win the LOTR one they should have won the other and yet they were not nominated????

The Awards are just dumb nothing should be read into Hollywood stroking its own Ego.

Remember it's both a history as well as a story so all the 'crap' has to be in there. I admit, when i first got to the House of Elrond in the book and had to wade through an entire chapter of history, i put the book down and didn't read it for another 6 months, then i picked it up in the summer holidays and read it in just over a day. But the point is without it, it wouldn't be anywhere near as good a book as it is.

As for his writing style, it's all a matter of opinion, as a history student, i have seen and read much much worse, so it didn't bother me.


Oh and Tom Bombadil is a legend! Although the only reason he is there is to tie the whole story together...and allow a seperate book about his stories too. mmmm money making :D
Tolkien was a Uni Lecturer specialising in Saxon history.

I read a book about the 30 years war by a Czech about Germans(mostly ;) )in English now that was boring.Most History books are boring but especially the ones by Uni lecturers.

I actually have the LOTR Battle history and Armour book it tells the story of the peoples involved in LOTR and the weapons they use it is awesome also has a few Scenes that werent in the 3rd movie(edited scenes).

i think Peter Jackson does have the rights to make The Hobbit but between Newline and ______(cant remeber )the rights to release it are tied up.

I read the books about 5 years ago, all of the books as in: The Hobbit, The LOTR Trilogy, The Silmarillion, and The Books of Lost Tales (1 & 2). I love Tolkiens' writing, the details...the adventure, beautifull done books.

The movies, however much Jackson butchered the books, I can't exactly be mad at him...because the books contained so many details and little points to be boxed into 3 movies. These movies will probably be the best to ever be done with Tolkiens' work.
Thats so true but it kind of had to be done were talking abot an Epic book/series and at the end it was 10 hours long.
Sarumans death is areal cop out though Christpher Lee was shunned the Battle of the Shire rocks go the little men.

The Silmarillion, and The Books of Lost Tales (1 & 2). are the two i havent read but ive read excerpts from the Lotr edition i have and the whole history of that world is amazing the King of Agmar* the Witch King the nortern Kingdom Saurons betrayal.The death of Arwen-really sad

Tolkien was a Uni Lecturer specialising in Saxon history.

Yeah, he based the Rohan people on what he thought the anglo saxons would have been like if there were more horses in the culture and they had defeated William I at the Battle of Hastings etc etc (see the extras on ROTK tells you all about it).

He was also a linguist too, hence the elven languages, the language of Mordor and all the word play in his books.

Sarumans death is areal cop out though Christpher Lee was shunned the Battle of the Shire rocks go the little men.

Yeah that annoyed me, but it had the funny side story of some tabloid in NZ seeing it then saying they killed gandalf in a major plot change! LOL!

I am Lord Saurun bow down to me fools or I will slay ye all!

Sorry. Can't spell your own name correctly (as one of the other nations pointed out) and I would just send in a couple of sith and kills sauron with their lightsabers. Not to mention that if I was doing a LOTR's nation, my army would be a lot larger than yours, Saurun.

In other words, I don't bow down to those lesser than me. And besides, you joined this month. There is no way you could stand up to me even if you were future tech.