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I think the omission of The Scouring Of The Shire would have particularly riled Tolkien, he saw evil in part as the desire of others to boss people about and taken as a whole with the Silmarillion it's notable how evil diminishes in every age, culminating in the pathetic and spiteful actions of Saruman attempting to dominate a gentle and harmless people.
I think that's why it's in the book but without the entire history the films couldn't express this idea.
And it's perfect for throwing in the face of people who say Tolkien has too black and white view of evil. Frodo has to stop the gentle and harmless hobbits from massacring their prisoners.

That bit always upsets me, the evil of morgoth even in the shire
 
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And it's perfect for throwing in the face of people who say Tolkien has too black and white view of evil. Frodo has to stop the gentle and harmless hobbits from massacring there prisoners.
Indeed. I think he was all too aware that once any group sees themselves as 'the good guys' it's a short step to committing atrocities as you're 'doing good'.
 
I also think "The Scouring of the Shire" shows how the fight against evil is continuous and not only in grand battles.
It also allows the four Hobbits to use all that they have learned on their adventure, to return home and have to save everyone all over again. I think the "Scouring of the Shire" is a brilliant end for the Hobbits part in the War of the Ring.

It also ties together the threads of the sights of strange men in The Shire mentioned at the beginning and the presence of the tobacco/leaf in Saruman's stores at Isengard and gives a fitting, desperate, pathetic, fall-from-grace end to the once great Saruman (who was, after all, one of the Istari)
 
It's interesting reading the insights and fresh perspectives on things I hadn't considered.
I read the Scouring of the Shire as Tolkien, almost with a sense of exasperation, demonstrating how the lust for power never ends.
Middle earth in its entirety was described as Morgoth's ring. Evil being an inherent part of its creation almost from the beginning.
Frodo's intervention could be seen as someone freed from the bounds of that evil, and represent a new thought, that violence begets violence, breaking the cycle so to speak. A ring in itself. And freedom from Morgoth's ring
Don't mind me, I've been up since five.
 
It's here! I am not sure how much it adds to the story, but it has pretty pictures.
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Alan Lee is a good artist. I wonder how immersed in Middle-Earth the famous Tolkien artists are? I'm sure that they are very familiar with the Lord of the Rings & the Hobbit, but do you think they're hardcore obsessives?

The Hildebrant (sp.?) brother spring to mind as artists who have helpled shape our conception of Tolkien's world.
 
Alan Lee is a good artist. I wonder how immersed in Middle-Earth the famous Tolkien artists are? I'm sure that they are very familiar with the Lord of the Rings & the Hobbit, but do you think they're hardcore obsessives?

The Hildebrant (sp.?) brother spring to mind as artists who have helpled shape our conception of Tolkien's world.

It's Hildebrand. Another artist is Pauline Baynes who worked with JRRT. I think maybe they could be, or be just generally fascinated with Tolkien.
 
It's always enjoyable seeing the realisation of characters that have previously only existed in the imagination.
I like Huan, bulkier and more of a bruiser in my minds eye but ok.
It does beg a question as to why, in battling Sauron, they didn't just set a dog on him.
 
He wasn't what you would call a great artist, but I think Tolkien's own illustrations held a certain charm. This one, as a cover of a paperback, really, really made me want to read The Hobbit -

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Is this one of Tolkien's? It's perfect and would make a good tattoo, if you were that way inclined -

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I suppose you are aware that one edition of Lord of the Rings was illustrated by Queen Margareth II of Denmark.
 
John Howe--he's one of my favourites. His pictures of Bag End and the Shire clearly influenced Peter Jackson and his team.

I'm especially found of the oft-copied picture looking through the open round door of Bag Bag End into the rolling countryside beyond. The neatness of the worked and polished wood and its contrast with the beauty yet disorder of the world oustide perfectly encapsulates Tolkien's mental sketch of Bilbo.
 
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My dad took me to see that film when I was very small, because LOTR was my bedtime story. I managed to sit patiently through the books, so sitting through a 2 hour + film was a cinch.
 
My dad took me to see that film when I was very small, because LOTR was my bedtime story. I managed to sit patiently through the books, so sitting through a 2 hour + film was a cinch.

What do you think of it? A lot of people think it was weird because of the mix of animation and rotoscoping Bakshi used.
 
What do you think of it? A lot of people think it was weird because of the mix of animation and rotoscoping Bakshi used.
I loved it myself (I know you weren't asking me). I'd like to have seen it completed.
 
What do you think of it? A lot of people think it was weird because of the mix of animation and rotoscoping Bakshi used.
I thought it was kinda weird. The unfinished nature of the film was most disappointing.
 
That I agree with. Is there some suggestion that casual cinema-goers were deliberately kept in the dark about it?
 
I remember watching it and when it got to the end, I thought 'what - is that it? I'm sure there was more story left'...
 
It's been a long time since I saw it, but I think I recall the scenes in Bree making a good impression.

The journey from the Shire to Rivendell is one of my favourite parts of the story.
 
I remember watching it and when it got to the end, I thought 'what - is that it? I'm sure there was more story left'...
It pretty much finishes at Helm's Deep. Hence my remark about it would be nice to see it completed.
 
It pretty much finishes at Helm's Deep. Hence my remark about it would be nice to see it completed.
Modern technology would make that possible - quicker and cheaper than the methods used for the Bakshi film (the cost and time is probably why the film ended suddenly).
That film was a financial success, so the film company had no real excuse for not letting Bakshi finish it.
 
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