Hello all!
Continuing our journey through Middle-Earth, we present to you a thread dedicated to discussing The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.
Now that we are well into the story of The Lord of the Rings (LotR), it might be a good time to ponder questions about Tolkien’s world in general.
As we continue reading, consider the following:
- As a reader of the Narnia books, what do you enjoy about Middle-Earth?
- Are there important comparisons and contrasts you’d like to make between LotR and The Chronicles of Narnia?
- In what ways do you see the influence of Lewis and Tolkien on more modern fantasy storytellers?
- How does Tolkien expand and develop his story in these two books?*
- Do you notice anything you hadn’t before as you read (or re-read) this story?
- What themes do you find in the text?/What value(s) does this story bring to your real life?
- How are you enjoying the read so far?
And, of course, the question that people still have strong feelings about: - How well did Peter Jackson and company do adapting this story?
Answer all, any, or none of these questions, and please, please feel free to add your own questions. It’s time to discuss!
-Movie Aristotle
*Because, as you probably know, The Two Towers is technically two books, not one.
Movie Aristotle, AKA Risto
I have a lot of respect for Lewis and Tolkien.
Narnia and LOTR are similar because they both have magic rings, dwarfs, and dragons. They both have creatures taken from various mythologies. They both have creatures originally invented by Lewis and Tolkien themselves (marshwiggle and hobbit). And they both have unlikely heroes.
"And this is the marvel of marvels, that he called me beloved."
(Emeth, The Last Battle)
I have a lot of respect for Lewis and Tolkien.
First of all, I totally agree!
Are there important comparisons and contrasts you’d like to make between LotR and The Chronicles of Narnia?
Now, to business. After my recent rereading of the MN, I noticed that Lewis's writing style in this book is different from that of the other chronicles(or at least I think it is different). This becomes especially noticeable during the section where Uncle Andrew is explaining to Digory about his life long obsession with magic and dark sorcery. This is one of my favorite parts of the whole chronicles, because Lewis spends pages explaining Uncle Andrew, the rings and Digory. This section bears similarities to the chapter 2 in FotR, 'Shadow of the Past', where Gandalf relates to Frodo about Isildur, Sauron, Gollum/Smeagol and all the condensed, but still massively complicated history surrounding the One Ring. Tolkien is known for his time and care to painstakingly develop a plot through description and dialog, while Lewis uses events to let the plot unfold and for you to slowly understand the situation and stakes. Neither is necessarily 'better' than the other, they both take skill, but it seems to me that Lewis leans towards the signature 'Tolkienish' style with MN. What do y'all think, I am very curious to hear your opinion on all this.
And a question of my own: Do y'all think that Gandalf would have been a worse and more powerful ring master than Sauron or not?
Child of the King: SonofStone
P.S. I am sorry if I got chapter names, page numbers or anything else wrong, I am on a road trip and I don't have access to my Narnia and LOTR books to check myself. Please correct me if I made a mistake!
Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.
1 Corinthians 16:13-14