Ambrosia Software Web Board: A Few Words - Ambrosia Software Web Board

It wasn't very complex I know, but Fellowship is kind of enjoyable in simplicitly. People will (I suppose) need to make a change.

Hey, when one thinks of how hard it is to make a LotR movie, doesn't this area of the book come in mind?

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There are only 3 kinds of people, those who can count, and those who can't.

I'm curious as to how the Return of the King will turn out. Your big climax with the ring is rather near the beginning of Book VI, and then you've got another 7-8 chapters to go. Of course, they could do that something with the Shire, but that doesn't seem to make the best climax for a three-part series like Lord of the Rings. It doesn't seem that big and overpowering like the finale with the ring.

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"There is a time and a place for everything."

My prediction:

- Big climax when the ring is destroyed
- Someone (Sam?) narrates and glosses over the remaining chapters, the old "happily ever after" routine
- All of a sudden, they jolt you out of HAE mode for the Battle of Bywater
- The Hobbits win, and they wrap things up with the Grey Havens

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It's official. I now have nothing to live for.

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dude3 -- the Mushroom Master's glimpse of futuristic insanity

Quote of the Week- "What do you say to that, Sparkplug?" -Howlin' Mad Murphy

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Well, apart from being a facetious twit, no.

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There are only 3 kinds of people, those who can count, and those who can't.

[This message has been edited by Joveia (edited 12-02-2002).]

If he doesn't do a good job, Tolkien fans will set upon him with sticks. It couldn't be simpler in my opinion.

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There are only 3 kinds of people, those who can count, and those who can't.

[This message has been edited by Joveia (edited 12-03-2002).]

I'll start sharpening my stick. (Hey, I'm fanatical enough to have a sharpened stick!)

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* Dark Side: Gates gives $100m to fight HIV, $421m to fight Linux, Thomas C. Greene, The Register, 11.13. $100m over 10 years to fight AIDS in India; $421m over three to fight Linux. Priorities.

I don't think it will be good.

I think it will be perfect.

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There are only 3 kinds of people, those who can count, and those who can't.

I just saw lord of the rings again... and I understand it's true magic. It is irreverant of either good or evil.

As long as it's drawn from the book, not jackson, it should be perfect. So it should.

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There are only 3 kinds of people, those who can count, and those who can't.

[This message has been edited by Joveia (edited 12-04-2002).]

Jackson's no fool, and a highly skilled director as well. What he changes, he does with good reason- to make a good movie. Everyone knows how much the first Harry Potter movie dragged, and that was because it stuck too closely to its book.

Still, he's sourced everything firmly from Tolkien. Even the included love scenes are drawn from an Appendix written by JRR Tolkien himself, so irritated as the purists might be to have them in-movie, they're real stuff.

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Sundered Angel,
The One and Only
Ares Webboard Moderator, and all-around Nice Guy

I'm going to post a topic on some sort of forum soon about an indepth analysis of LotR. I'll put some of it here:

Basically LotR is a novel about power. This is a big big issue in the whole novel...

:Concept: it is that power is evil (which it is, and I'll explain why in a moment.) and also that people are not *really* to blame, because power is force that is sort of like a strong emotion - it pulls you to something you have little control over it's corrupting influence aka the ring which cannot be resisted.

So the heroe of the story is defined not by super strength or superior mental agility, but purely by his ability to resist the lure of power, - despite having truly _great_ power. This is responsibility therefore. Tolkien concentrates on maintaining responsibility over power.

Next of all it must be thrown into mount doom. I can't say there are alot of mystery metaphors in this, except that it's a bloody long journey and leaves plenty of time for agonising soul-searching.

Next of all there's king and men and the war of power etc... I think Tolkien was correct in thinking that power if you use it indiscriminately basically knocks everyone down. And then fascism, which is based on a leader (in this case Hitler is Sauron) when the leader dies basically it falls apart. Hitler if he had won would be another Barbarossa, his empire would collapse after his death.

The classic rule of philosophy until the rise of Humanism (not that cheap unconscious leader trash) is basically that the best thing is whatever is good for the stronger. Thus whatever must 'benefit' society is whatever benefits the most dominant group. Tolkien weaves a story, where the inhabitants of the 'strongest' society are actually the worst, by very cleverly showing how it is possible to completely dominate the world without being in any way a good force, and having horrible social welfare (the orcs) and stuff. Lots of orcs, - high death rate and no education? Brutal emotions come easily...

So what he is saying is that you shouldn't rule based on this philosophy, because in the end your society can be dominant but no one will be happier, and more importantly, nothing of worth will come out of it. As Frodo says in the two towers 'the ring will not save Gondor, it has only the power to destroy.' So a power-based culture has only the power to destroy. That is why Socialism/fascism always causes some kind of war.

Now, this is where tolkien and I seperate. Tolkien thinks that everything should be governed by kings. While it is not necessarily sane to keep a democracy in middle-age times, yet it seems to be a constant theme in Tolkien's work. Not to have dictators, but to keep kings and emperors and leaders in the system governing everything. In fact, every organisation of Tolkiens has either a responsible good leader (like Aragorn) or a bad leader or a leader who gets possessed through something which is not his fault (Isildur, Denethor). Etc.

I don't believe this is the best system. However I'll leave that somewhere outside because this is a Rings analysis.

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There are only 3 kinds of people, those who can count, and those who can't.

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It was said that the ring was forged in the fires of mount doom. If the ring is supposed to symbolize or be the embodiment of the corrupting influence of power, than the place of the power's creation (in this case the aptly named "mount doom") further strengthens that idea. Corrupt power will bring doom.

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"There is a time and a place for everything."

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Gee, ya think?

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I appreciate the fact you bumped this topic up.

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There are only 3 kinds of people, those who can count, and those who can't.
Founder of the Democratarian party! Pro-freedom, anti-Hitler!

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All power is corrupt. For it not to be corrupt an action must be undertaken on behalf of a person without any emotions such as fear. Otherwise power is 'anticipatory pain'. You fear the brutal regime and punishment of a dictatorship.

Or else the logical reason for giving someone the 'moral authority' to order you around is gone, and you are still bound because he/she wants you. This is similar to the above principles and complies with nearly all of the important facets of power, which is that no one in either situation will do this and this logically.

I suspect the perfect system would be one where the leaders function with the authority of a computer. Ordering people about but not enforcing or having the capability to enforce decisions. People would do this because they recognise smartness. There would be *no* emotional conflict.

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There are only 3 kinds of people, those who can count, and those who can't.
Founder of the Democratarian party! Pro-freedom, anti-Hitler!