Very nice. Also of interest with discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30764886
Rarely Seen Paintings by J.R.R. Tolkien
21–30 of 64 posts
Re: Rarely Seen Paintings by J.R.R. Tolkien
#22Tolkien would have been a good friend. Maybe he was Tom Bombadil. I mean, because that happens so often, the author is mirrored in a character. Tom is kind and generous, but with a serious hidden side. Deep and a bit scary. Maybe Tolkien had a hidden side. I'd like to have known him. His craft, 1000x polished, we see that. But the man. To talk with him. That must be honey and cream. Tolkien, Lewis and Lovecraft all w…
Tolkien saw himself and his wife as Beren and Luthien, I believe.
Some see Bombadil as God visiting his creation, others as a pre-Christian god.
Bombadil is wholly unaffected by the Ring if you recall and is able to both notice it and see thru Frodo being invisible.
Edit to add: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/jrr-tolkiens-grave
Re: Rarely Seen Paintings by J.R.R. Tolkien
#23Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm a fan of Jackson's LOTR, but his Hobbit was almost a complete failure (in my opinion). Radical departures from feel, and yes, plot, of the book.
You can read the book in half the running time of the movies. There's a lot of padding and pointless meandering in them. It should never have been a trilogy.
While I think the hobbit movies were very bad, I've never agreed with this take. Mostly the movies pull details out of the lord of the rings appendixes and fill in gaps in the plot of the hobbit that would honestly be quite strange in a modern film. Gandalf just screwing off for no apparent reason for half the film would be confusing and weird (honestly it was in the book too, but it's too whimsical to be a bother). And a lot of people complained about Legolas being there but other people would complain if he wasn't, or if he was just a no name member of the mob like the elves were in the book.
There's nothing inherently wrong with an adapted version of the hobbit that fits in better to lord of the rings imo, it's just that this particular try at it was a disaster.
Re: Rarely Seen Paintings by J.R.R. Tolkien
#24> Rarely Seen Paintings by Tolkien Portray a Lush ‘Lord of the Rings’ Landscape
That's a great prompt for DALL-E 2! Someone should try it and compare the results to the real drawings
Re: Rarely Seen Paintings by J.R.R. Tolkien
#25Link to the actual paintings: https://www.tolkienestate.com/painting/
Re: Rarely Seen Paintings by J.R.R. Tolkien
#26Earlier quoted context omitted.
Despite the Peter Jackson movies, The Hobbit was actually written as a childrens' story rather than a grand epic. I'd wager a lot that the cartoonish nature of his pictures was an accurate reflection of how he saw that story. If you haven't seen the 1977 animated Hobbit film (often called Rankin-Bass after it's creators), you're doing yourself a disservice.
I'm a fan of Jackson's LOTR, but his Hobbit was almost a complete failure (in my opinion). Radical departures from feel, and yes, plot, of the book.
I found the LOTR movies completely missed the essence and magic of the books and I see them as little more than cliche-ridden hollywood garbage. I can't possibly imagine Tolkien being happy about such depraved debasement of his life's work.
The only adaptation of Tolkien's work that I think does justice to it and captures part of Tolkien's spark, are the albums of the Austrian black metal band "Summoning".
Re: Rarely Seen Paintings by J.R.R. Tolkien
#27I've been listening to the audiobook of the Silmarillion while on a run or doing chores. At first I thought "this has to be the worst idea" since I found myself going back constantly and re-listening to bits to find out who was being referenced in some long description or I'd lose track of what happened entirely.
However, I've since decided that this must be the best way to enjoy all the little detail. Each re-listen I've understood more and more. It's a strange way to enjoy the work but I honestly think the creation myth at the beginning is really well written and had I just read the book I may have read it the once, retained some of it, referred back to it maybe, and moved on to the rest of the tale.
Slow going but commenting just because you may enjoy this too if you've made it to this thread. I haven't read the rest of the books since I was a kid so priming myself thoroughly for the re-read with Silmarillion first seems like it's going to have a nice payoff as rich as the world is.
Re: Rarely Seen Paintings by J.R.R. Tolkien
#28I love Tolkien's depiction of Smaug. He looks... cartoony, like Singe from Dragon's Lair . Everything is evocative of pure imagination. I guess when you fought in WWI and have seen how bleak the real world is, an imaginary world of whimsy and bright colors is a more cheerful place for your mind to inhabit from time to time.
Despite the Peter Jackson movies, The Hobbit was actually written as a childrens' story rather than a grand epic. I'd wager a lot that the cartoonish nature of his pictures was an accurate reflection of how he saw that story. If you haven't seen the 1977 animated Hobbit film (often called Rankin-Bass after it's creators), you're doing yourself a disservice.
True fact I learned only this week, from another HN story: Topcraft, the Japanese firm that did the animation for the Rankin/Bass Hobbit and ROTK, ultimately broke up and a bunch of its team went on to help form Studio Ghibli; several of the animators on The Hobbit went on to work on classic Miyazaki films.
Re: Rarely Seen Paintings by J.R.R. Tolkien
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm a fan of Jackson's LOTR, but his Hobbit was almost a complete failure (in my opinion). Radical departures from feel, and yes, plot, of the book.
I found the LOTR movies completely missed the essence and magic of the books and I see them as little more than cliche-ridden hollywood garbage. I can't possibly imagine Tolkien being happy about such depraved debasement of his life's work. The only adaptation of Tolkien's work that I think does justice to it and captures part of Tolkien's spark, are the albums of the Austrian black metal band "Summoning".
Watching Leg-o-Lamb surf in the battle of Helm's Deep kinda ripped me back to "this is just a movie". Jackson should just snip that out and burn the footage of it.
These days, I tend to just put LotR on with the sound off, as moving wallpaper.
Re: Rarely Seen Paintings by J.R.R. Tolkien
#30Such lovely, whimsical paintings. Tolkien's work is such a gift to the rest of us. I recall picking up The Two Towers in 6th grade and was totally hooked by the first sentence.
My 6th grade teacher had been reading "The Hobbit" to the class a page at a time, and was shocked to discover me reading TTT. Of course, I didn't know it was a trilogy at the time.