> Possibly the least liked character in The Lord of the Rings.
In what universe? Every Tolkien fan I know, including myself, loves Tom Bombadil and sees his omission from the movies as their biggest shortcoming.
In what universe? Every Tolkien fan I know, including myself, loves Tom Bombadil and sees his omission from the movies as their biggest shortcoming.
I, myself, like him just fine. But it is true that a lot of people who liked the more "swords and sorcery" aspects of LotR, did not like Bombadil. And that's a goodly portion of the people who read the books (tho' by no means all).
I feel sorry for people with so little capacity for whimsy and magic
If that's what you are looking for LotR might be one of the worst fantasy books one could pick.
As far as shortcomings go, I feel that the movie's bastardization of Faramir was the worst travesty because his honor in the face of having the ring in his grasp is one of my favorite parts of the books. Making him drag the ring-bearer back to the city ensured that I will never watch the movies again.
As well, that crap with Aragorn getting lost and then fighting back by himself was an utter travesty, and the crap with his fiance was crap, too (except for where they subbed her in for Glorfindel in the race to Rivendell), as much as I understand that they wanted a woman to play a more prominent role. That said, Eowyn's story should have been enough and at least they didn't mangle her.
But, yeah, it would've been really cool to have a Patrick Stewart Tom Bombadil.
That said, I personally feel their treatment of Aragorn was the best liberty they took. He felt fairly one-dimensional in the books; his whole character was about his destiny to be king and he reminded everyone he met. In the movie he doesn't want power; he struggles between his fear of it and his desire to help the world. This struggle over the kingship mirrors the struggle over the ring (which both he and Gandalf face, among others) and makes him much more compelling as a character. I also liked the Arwen subplot; she really wasn't a character at all in the books. I thought their relationship was powerful and expanded upon his being pulled between the realms of elves and men (of which his Numenorean heritage was a microcosm).
I don't remember where I heard it, but it was many years ago, that the "bad guys" can come in some many varieties, have so many different kinds of character defects and obsessions and whatnot, but that the true hero is always the same kind of boring because goodness itself is not flashy. That is why Hollywood always portrays their heroes with some kind of serious character defect, unless it just writes stories with only an anti-hero of some kind.
One must never forget that Tolkien lived through WWI whose horror and tragedy gave him a firm grasp of the complex realities of both good and evil. The resulting simplicity is why LoTR has stood the test of time as a truly epic story.
History has shown us that any powerful figure whose sense of inner direction comes without struggle or conflict is probably incredibly evil, even (especially) if they don't see themselves that way.
Everyone who says that the perfection of the human being is impossible have never tried, thus they are acting just as the contemporaries of Boltzman and Einstein who derided their advanced understandings of the universe. The reality is that most people never try to better themselves, especially if the techniques suggested stray beyond their preconceived notions of the nature of the universe and themselves. As well, most people are caught up in their desires for pleasure and material wealth and generally have no concern for those outside of their social circle, be it based upon ethnicity, form of religion, class, sexual orientation or gender identity.
That the incremental perfection of each human being is possible is provable simply by noticing that every choice we make can be better chosen each day, by conscious thought and honest self-reflection on our past deeds combined with earnest study. We must consciously shift our societies' dynamics from destructive competitiveness to constructive cooperation, from selfishness to selflessness, from callous indifference to caring compassion. Love is the essence of humanity, without such agape (service-based love for all other human beings) we are left as the unenlightened animals we all begin as. Only we human beings have the ability to consciously rise above our foibles.
It is also our nature to require an inward connection with our Creator to effect our transformation from selfishness to selflessness. There is a science of spirituality that is beyond any form of religion but most modern scientists deny such science for lack of external evidence. The evidence must be perceived within oneself, just as Boltzman and Einstein's contemporaries needed to read the papers and understand the processes that they were describing. The difference is that denying the spiritual path indeed makes it not exist for that person, for each person must embark on that endeavor themself before being able to feel its reality. Those outside of that circle of understanding must have an open mind and heart to enter that circle or else they will never experience it and that is just another aspect of our human reality: we are free to choose to remain ignorant of it, but we all know what history says about Boltzman and Einstein's deniers.
"The Way goes in." --Rumi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bored_of_the_Rings
BOTR: Tim Benzedrine
Allusion: Benzedrine, a stimulant drug popular during the 1950s, and a reference to Timothy Leary.
LOTR: Tom Bombadil
BOTR: Hashberry, wife of Tim Benzedrine
Allusion: "Hashbury", the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, or hash(ish)-berry.
LOTR: Goldberry
I have assumed Gene is Eugene McCarthy, US Senator from Minnesota and candidate for president.
I still think of the two hobbits as Moxie and Pepsi. And the Battle of Minestroni.
I liked the passage as a curiosity because of the (English) language, but story-wise I think it was pretty weak and did not bring much overall.
I do sympathize with the decision to cut him from the movies; his chapter was a large and neatly isolated part of the story, and the movies were strapped for screen time as it was. But it was still a loss.
I was far more aggravated by replacing Glorfindel with Arwen, as a first example.
There were a lot of irritations, but the only really unforgiveable fuckup for me was the complete dog's breakfast they made of the Pelennor Fields.