And the serpent began to speak to Eve.

And Eve did cry out, “EEEEEK! A TALKING SNAKE!”

And she did take up into her hand a fallen branch that was nigh unto her feet.

And she did smite the serpent, giving unto it seven times seventy blows, which did reduce it unto a bloody pulp from which life had departed.

And the LORD saith unto her, “My thanks unto you, most faithful servant. The snake was filled with wiles, and did elude the exterminators.”

And the LORD gave Eve dominion over all the vermin and fruitbats and orangutans. And she did strike fear and terror into them, and smote them all into bloody pulps from which life had departed.

And Adam and Eve dwelt in the Garden of Eden with the LORD for all eternity.

csdeven on October 3, 2007 at 1:26 PM:

LOTR purists = Video game “enthusiasts”

Peter Jackson made the story better. He fixed many of the errors that Tolkien made in the original story.

In fact, Tolkien intensely disliked even the idea of messing with his stories. Tolkien would be at the head of the purists. But he also thought that any interest beyond reading and discussing his stories was unhealthy. Really.

jdpaz on October 3, 2007 at 11:31 AM:

name one moderately interesting thing that happened.

When I first read the book, Merry’s killing the Nazgul king was a shock. It’s much more interesting in the book because they left important details out of the movie. Merry’s sword was effective only because it was from Numenor and had been given to him by Tom Bombadil. An ordinary sword like Eowyn’s (or probably even Aragorn’s) would have had no effect if it hadn’t been helped by something like Merry’s sword. If you haven’t read the book, there’s more detail there.

As far as those who do not like LotR, I have only one thing to say: Infidel!

Yeah, I could do all that. Or I could just say “Air power rulez!!!11!”Bryan Preston

Tolkein was a grunt in WWI. I’m sure he would have favored the Marines!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

/s/

Mr guerilla

Bryan a LotR fan? Awesome!

2Brave2Bscared on October 3, 2007 at 1:06 PM

Not as awesome as being a Firefly/Serenity fan!

We all know that the only reason that the fellowship of the ring attacked Sauron is because Mordor is the number one source of oil in Middle Earth.

JayHaw Phrenzie on October 3, 2007 at 10:53 AM

That’s the free peoples of Middle Earth apologist version. The official Mordor version was; the fellowship was manipulated by the Zionist agent, Gandalf.

jdpaz on October 3, 2007 at 2:03 PM

Maybe it’s like brussel sprouts or okra — you don’t like it now but it may grow on you later. For me, a lot of what was so special about the books was how they impacted my life. My circumstances had a lot to do with it. I couldn’t put the books down the first time through, and I try to read them every year to pep me up. In a way, they very much led me to where I am today. I bet there are other things that made you feel the same way.

9 individuals were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for something they didn’t cause, for a world that would never fully understand or appreciate it. That, plus there’s a lot of killing of the bad guys. “Let’s hunt some Ork!”

Numenorean on October 3, 2007 at 1:39 PM

I agree that the concept is good. Heroic self-sacrifice—w00t! The execution of the concept was, in my view, less than exciting/interesting. Much, if not most, of the battling happen “off camera” while we’re treated to page after page of Frodo’s angst-ridden wearing/not wearing of his ring of invisibility/ultimate evil.

I’m glad so many people seem to get so much enjoyment/enrichment/symbology out of it. It does nothing for me. Maybe I should just embrace the fact that I’m a philistine.

Peter Jackson made the story better. He fixed many of the errors that Tolkien made in the original story.

csdeven on October 3, 2007 at 1:26 PM

Oh, my God. I think you just killed me.

name one moderately interesting thing that happened.

jdpaz on October 3, 2007 at 11:31 AM

9 individuals were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for something they didn’t cause, for a world that would never fully understand or appreciate it. That, plus there’s a lot of killing of the bad guys. “Let’s hunt some Ork!”

Peter Jackson made the story better. He fixed many of the errors that Tolkien made in the original story.

http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/arts/al0160.html

It is sort of like Israel disabling Syria’s new Russian air defense system before the airstrike on the Korean nuke materials.

JayHaw Phrenzie on October 3, 2007 at 10:53 AM

air superiority

you mean “Air Supremacy”?

nukemhill on October 3, 2007 at 11:21 AM

Ok, I was exaggerating for effect on the 400 hour thing. But seriously, in those multiple thousands of pages, name one moderately interesting thing that happened.

Am I the only one who thought that LoTR was a waste of good wood pulp? I forced myself to read that piece of drivel because it is, after all, “teh greatest novel, like, EVER”. That’s 400 hours I’ll never get back.

Have you, perhaps, considered a causal relationship between the first and second statements? 400 hours? Cripes, my eleven yo son read it in less than a week, and that included school and sleeping!

I would have changed one thing in the video. When Frodo dropped the ring and the eye of Sauron had that look of stunned silence, he should have said …..

Ruh roh.

As far as Nazgul riding horses versus flying the fell beasts. A horse draws a lot less attention than a giant flying lizard spouting fire, and a horse is much more efficient for nomral travle. However, in difficult terrain or in combat, a flying beast is much more effective than a horse.