I've read the Silmarillion, the Book of Lost Tales, and the Lays of Beleriand yet I couldn't describe any of the stories in detail outside of a few. Granted it's been a while so I mostly just forget most of it but it's still a hard read. Whenever I read it again I'll just have a wiki open on my tablet or something and go back and forth.

The Children of Hurin is (frank)ing great though, Christopher Tolkien did a great job fleshing it out since it was pretty barebones in the Lays of Beleriand and the Simallalllklarian. I have the new Beren and Luthien book too but I haven't finished it yet. I really should get to it.

yeah but even then, like 20 of them is like 30k peeps tops. There are like ~200K orcs alone on the battlefield. Legions upon legions of Easterlings totaling "Some hundred every day" over the like year when Sauron was really cranking up unit production. Haradrim foot soldiers and like 30-50, on the low end, Mumakil. Hundreds of trolls. 9 Nazgul.

There are also some miscellaneous "great beasts" and a couple packs of wargs.

And yet like these Corsair dumb(frank)s and their boats were a really big deal to take out
- Lindenis#1

They're just really skilled bro

I remember I did a paper in my Greek and Roman Mythology elective in 2nd year on all the similiarities between Middle Earth and that stuff.

Like how an entire continent sunk to the bottom of the ocean during a battle featuring gods and dragons and demons.

Also how the physical geography was entirely different early and was shaped and changed as the god and demi god spirits of varieties warred with each other like the Gods and the Titans.

And even the length of lives that men were able to live shrinking the further away they got from being closest with their gods from 1st/2nd/3rd age is like the gold/silver/bronze age in Greek myth

Army of the Dead are roughly like the Shades in Hades
- Lindenis#1

Wasn't Tolkien also really huge into just general European mythology as well? Finnish, Norse, stuff like that?

They're just really skilled bro
- daeth

i added more to that post

While the Silmilriioalianaln is kind of a chore, the stuff about how the elves are actually huge Richards and would in-fight all the time about territory and assissinate, kinda, and kill each other all the time is kinda neat.

Because if you read the third age as their like "adult/grandparent" years then the 1st/2nd age is like their angsty teen years.

Also, the fact that apparently there was like an entire army of Balrogs and the one in Moria was the most female dog runt of the group is (frank)ing cool to think about. Also that the Balrogs are maybe the corrupted spirits of wizards/angels is rad.

Also that Gandalf/Sauron has some like weird mental blocks that prevent them from reaching full power to be basically invincible because that wasn't their purpose is kind of a thing too. Which again makes you wonder about the dark spirits and maia/valar or whatever about and if its kinda Star Wars in that the dark side has more raw power and ways to beat the good Jedi restrictions, although duh LOTR is before SW.

The Similarioan really reads more like someone telling you about a story, than a story itself.

Like how the ring doesn't make you "invisible" but basically teleports/taps you into a wraith world. And because people/hobbits aren't really spiritual it means they can only exist in one at a time.

And how when you get to the undying lands, you can't die even if you're not an elf. So like Gimli and Frodo and Bilbo are all still chillin' together. Maybe even the few dudes of Numenor who made it across are still alive even though they're burried underground.
- Lindenis#1

Lol yes to the balrog. The war of unnumbered tears puts everything that happened in the lord of the rings to shame. How many balrogs were supposed to be in that battle? Like an entire regiment of them or something ridiculous.

i added more to that post
- Lindenis#1

It pretty much just came down to needing a convenient plot device. I've accepted it

Wasn't Tolkien also really huge into just general European mythology as well? Finnish, Norse, stuff like that?
- daeth

Pretty sure dude cranked more than a few off to Beowulf. Edoras is the same name as Beowulfs palace.

And, ignoring the film depiction of the races, there is a lot of Rohirrim are Norse, Haradrim are Egyptian/African, Gondor is Greek, etc. themes in the way he describes their architecture and technology.

Dude made up like 12 of his own languages. Not just like enough for the bits needed in the book like enough that you could become fluent in every day speak in elvish, old elvish, black speech, dwarven, numenorian, etc.

Lol yes to the balrog. The war of unnumbered tears puts everything that happened in the lord of the rings to shame. How many balrogs were supposed to be in that battle? Like an entire regiment of them or something ridiculous.
- daeth

yeah there was like an entire herd or whatever of them like when the Mumakil charged at Pelenor.

and before that battle Middle Earth was flat but that war was so tits it literally created mountain ranges, sunk continents, reshaped others and rounded the world.

Pretty sure dude cranked more than a few off to Beowulf. Edoras is the same name as Beowulfs palace.

And, ignoring the film depiction of the races, there is a lot of Rohirrim are Norse, Haradrim are Egyptian/African, Gondor is Greek, etc. themes in the way he describes their architecture and technology.

Dude made up like 12 of his own languages. Not just like enough for the bits needed in the book like enough that you could become fluent in every day speak in elvish, old elvish, black speech, dwarven, numenorian, etc.
- Lindenis#1

I've tried finding other novels that come close to his level of world building but it's pretty hard. The closest I've seen so far is Scott Bakker's books but they're really weirdly sexual so I'm kind of put off the entire time I'm reading them. I haven't read the Steven Erikson books or the Game of Thrones stuff though.

I've read the Silmarillion, the Book of Lost Tales, and the Lays of Beleriand yet I couldn't describe any of the stories in detail outside of a few. Granted it's been a while so I mostly just forget most of it but it's still a hard read. Whenever I read it again I'll just have a wiki open on my tablet or something and go back and forth.

The Children of Hurin is (frank)ing great though, Christopher Tolkien did a great job fleshing it out since it was pretty barebones in the Lays of Beleriand and the Simallalllklarian. I have the new Beren and Luthien book too but I haven't finished it yet. I really should get to it.
- daeth

Children of Hurin is good. One of my plans in the pound palace once its done being reno'd is to sit in my recliner, poor a glass of whiskey, drop two rocks in it and re-read that book by the new year.

have you read the letters of JRR Tolkien? dude replied to fan letters who wanted to know more ish about middle earth and wrote like (frank)ing encyclopedias in response.

I've tried finding other novels that come close to his level of world building but it's pretty hard. The closest I've seen so far is Scott Bakker's books but they're really weirdly sexual so I'm kind of put off the entire time I'm reading them. I haven't read the Steven Erikson books or the Game of Thrones stuff though.
- daeth

have you read Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind? Apparently its supposed to be good. There is another series called Wheel of Time that is similar apparently. Both are on my "to read" list

One of the reason's I'm such a mark for Dragon Age books and games is because its the closest I've ever come to a property that tries to build a world on the level of Tolkien. I could go on for days and days about it.

Children of Hurin is good. One of my plans in the pound palace once its done being reno'd is to sit in my recliner, poor a glass of whiskey, drop two rocks in it and re-read that book by the new year.

have you read the letters of JRR Tolkien? dude replied to fan letters who wanted to know more ish about middle earth and wrote like (frank)ing encyclopedias in response.
- Lindenis#1

I didn't even know about it. I'll buy it if I see it. That sounds like a very Tolkienian way to respond to fan mail.

have you read Sword of Truth by Terry Goodkind? Apparently its supposed to be good. There is another series called Wheel of Time that is similar apparently. Both are on my "to read" list

One of the reason's I'm such a mark for Dragon Age books and games is because its the closest I've ever come to a property that tries to build a world on the level of Tolkien. I could go on for days and days about it.
- Lindenis#1

I failed to finish the Sword of Truth.

I haven't read anything from Robert Jordan but if you ever go into a used book store like 90% of the fantasy section is filled with his novels. That's actually why I haven never tried them. That put me off lol.

I didn't even know about it. I'll buy it if I see it. That sounds like a very Tolkienian way to respond to fan mail.
- daeth

i haven't read it, just exerpts and its bananas. I plan to have an entire Tolkien bookshelf in my new digs once I can afford to buy proper copies of everything. Read most of this stuff using a library card of all things. Same way I get most of my comics actually.

my copy of LOTR is so old and I've read it so much its literally held together by hockey tape and crazy glue.

I want to get a new copy of LOTR but I can't find one that I dig the aesthetics of.

I failed to finish the Sword of Truth.

I haven't read anything from Robert Jordan but if you ever go into a used book store like 90% of the fantasy section is filled with his novels. That's actually why I haven never tried them. That put me off lol.
- daeth

hmm k

fantasy is a tough genre because i dig where it reads more like an account of history or myth, than like World of Warcraft.

I gave a fantasy book away a few years ago because despite it apparently having a crazy deep world and being like a 700 page novel part 1 of 3, it was so "the dark elf lord Murmurgurdurbrrr used the sword of 9000 soul skulls to vanquish Aneiaionoawalaon, the wizard of lightness"

i haven't read it, just exerpts and its bananas. I plan to have an entire Tolkien bookshelf in my new digs once I can afford to buy proper copies of everything. Read most of this stuff using a library card of all things. Same way I get most of my comics actually.

my copy of LOTR is so old and I've read it so much its literally held together by hockey tape and crazy glue.

I want to get a new copy of LOTR but I can't find one that I dig the aesthetics of.
- Lindenis#1

my original set was given to me by my brother, it's either from the 60s or 70s. white box set. i bought the cheap paperbacks in like '99 or something because i was afraid i'd wreck my old ones. they look ok.

hmm k

fantasy is a tough genre because i dig where it reads more like an account of history or myth, than like World of Warcraft.

I gave a fantasy book away a few years ago because despite it apparently having a crazy deep world and being like a 700 page novel part 1 of 3, it was so "the dark elf lord Murmurgurdurbrrr used the sword of 9000 soul skulls to vanquish Aneiaionoawalaon, the wizard of lightness"
- Lindenis#1

insanely complicated and impossible to pronounce names and locations are such a fantasy novel cliche. the bakker novels are really bad at this.

my original set was given to me by my brother, it's either from the 60s or 70s. white box set. i bought the cheap paperbacks in like '99 or something because i was afraid i'd wreck my old ones. they look ok.
- daeth

i want a nice hardcover set, but the ones i've seen at Indigo have a little too much movie influence in their design

back in like high school I remember checking out a book of Alan Lee's art and I wish I could basically get it as a wallpaper.

insanely complicated and impossible to pronounce names and locations are such a fantasy novel cliche. the bakker novels are really bad at this.
- daeth

like weird names come with the genre, but when it feels adlibbed to be fantasy edgelord its like the buttrock version of fantasy novels

i want a nice hardcover set, but the ones i've seen at Indigo have a little too much movie influence in their design

back in like high school I remember checking out a book of Alan Lee's art and I wish I could basically get it as a wallpaper.
- Lindenis#1

Alan Lee's art is pretty amazing in the Children of Hurin. Same with Beren and Luthien.



I'd love to have this set but they are super expensive.

Alan Lee's art is pretty amazing in the Children of Hurin. Same with Beren and Luthien.



I'd love to have this set but they are super expensive.
- daeth

its pretty nuts how much of his art was almost directly brought to screen. That pic of the Black Gates is almost lifted directly. A lot of his geography and land scapes and architecture and stuff

John Howe has some great stuff too. I like his designs for characters and creatures and armors. he has legit actual knowledge about how armor works and interacts, and same with animal physiology and stuff.

This is a portion of a huge drawing several yards wide, covering several sheets of paper.
The temptation is to just keep going and going - until you're reminded it's perhaps time to work on something else...

Pretty nuts.







It's 3am. (frank).

Pretty nuts.

It's 3am. (frank).
- daeth

is that Minas Morgul or the bridge to baradur?

If you look at a lot of Howe's sketches of Gandalf, Nazgul, Witch King, Gondorian and Elven armors, they're pretty bananas.

I'm 12 tabs deep on the LOTR wiki and opening more and more as I go

i love you guys but wow this is crazy.