visions and revisions
Gary the Tolkien Geek has been reposting blog posts that analyze the text of <p>The Lord of the Rings</p> , so I haven’t tried to reread the thing itself. (Despite the fact that I’ve read the book multiple times, it’s absurd the things that I’ve managed to miss: for example, the insinuation that Eärendil’s ship Vingelot may be a spaceship or the fact that the place name Nargothrond actually occurs in the text.
The world was fair, the mountains tall,
In Elder Days before the fall
Of mighty kings in Nargothrond
And Gondolin, who now beyond
The Western Seas have passed away:
The world was fair in Durin’s Day.
At first I, too, was outraged by Peter Jackson’s decision to have Faramir take Frodo and Sam back to Denethor as prisoners, but interestingly, after reading <p>The History of Middle Earth</p> , I discovered that this is what Tolkien had originally envisioned (although Faramir was not yet Faramir at this stage in the game.)
He also originally envisioned Elves from Mirkwood (and Ents from Fangorn!) joining the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, which makes the idea of Haldir and the Galadhrim showing up at Helm’s Deep less crazy, I guess.
One wonders how many Tolkien scholars Jackson hired to help him with his masterpiece.
