I don't think Tolkien was an amazing writer. He was a quality storyteller, a brilliant world-builder and linguist. His mythic writing style wasn't poorly done but the pacing was erratic at times, his descriptions were drawn out and his writing style incredibly dry. He focused on the little details in nature and didn't describe the battles/wars much at all. Obviously, he experienced WW1, so it's not like you'd want to focus on the bad things but it still makes for an unbalanced read.

Fair points, W4J. Mind you, I loved all those appendices to LOTR, though by the time it got to the Silmarillion and the Children of Turin I began to feel turned off by the very darkness and tragedy of these works.

Tolkien was almost obsessive over detail, and I suspect it was just this obsessiveness with the minutest detail which brought him into conflict with C.S.Lewis. Someone like Tolkien would regard the writing of C.S.Lewis' Narnia septology as downright sloppy.

Tolkien was almost obsessive over detail, and I suspect it was just this obsessiveness with the minutest detail which brought him into conflict with C.S.Lewis. Someone like Tolkien would regard the writing of C.S.Lewis' Narnia septology as downright sloppy.

I'm not usually a detail person in books, but I think that's because the detail is boring and I'm not into the story. In LotR, I relish all the little details, descriptions, small things that I would unconsciously skip by in other books. It's very important to the story as a whole, and they give me a deeper enjoyment of them. One read, the second for me I believe, I did the skipping that it's easy to do without even knowing it, and I didn't nearly enjoy it. I honestly cannot understand how people can find any part of those books boring, no offense - I just can't fathom it. I love the writing style, and to my own limited perception, Tolkien was a fabulous writer.

Tolkien was definitely the better world-builder but I find it fascinating and I admire how Lewis was able to summon the imagination of the reader to fill in all of the blanks, by using only a few choice descriptive words. Now, that's talent!

So why don't we see any hint of Smaug in The Hobbit trailer? He's the main reason I would go to see the movie!

I am guessing Smaug will be saved for a surprise for later. The filmmakers surely don't want to show too much too soon. We've still got a year to go. Well, a little less than a year now.

So why don't we see any hint of Smaug in The Hobbit trailer?

Probably because he won't be in this movie (unless we get a hint of him at the very end... and then I doubt they'd show that in the trailers). He'll be in There And Back Again.

Was I the one who was discussing canon? It must have been a long time ago ... I haven't been around much last year.

I believe you were one of them, but there were others as well. Some pages back.

Canon is finished-and-published Tolkien, whether J.R.R. or Christopher.

I would say The Hobbit, LotR, Silmarillion and Children of Hurin for that, then.

Deutero-canon would be things that were so incomplete that they couldn't be presented to the public without the heavy influence and interpretation of the redactor, whether Christopher Tolkien or Ralph Bakshi or Peter Jackson.

Like Unfinished Tales and The History of Middle-earth.

Fanon is the organized efforts of fans (such as published articles, fiction, plays, internet films like "the Hunt for Gollum," etc.) that doesn't contradict the above enough to irritate the holders of copyright.

The term is also sometimes used within fanfic to describe conventions that have arisen from one (or more) fanfic writer's concept of certain details that the author didn't mention. E.g. additional details about life at Cair Paravel during Narnia's Golden Age, like Edmund being a great chess player, while canon only says that the siblings owned a chess set. Other fanfic writers then pick up on the "fact" and continue to write Edmund as a great chess player.

Fanfic is the disorganized efforts of fans and can be either brilliant or tripe (Mary Sue, anyone?).

Like my "Wise Queen" account on fanfiction.net ...

As for the elves, if you thought I was suggesting Tolkien was a fan of pretty little pixies, I wasn't clear enough. I meant to say that he did what he could to give them some dignity, and I was wondering if that was part of the popularity of the Vulcans (besides their brilliant actors, that is). Galadriel and Spock came into the public consciousnessness in the States at about the same time, give or take a decade.

No, no - more like adding a trivia point of my own.
Mainly because I don't know the Vulcans or Spock - I guess I've missed out on something there ...

Trivia point: in the very early drafts, Tolkien named the Noldor the Nomin, sometimes spelled Gnomin. It meant "the wise." What he would have thought of garden gnomes (smiling mini-me dwarf things using his Elf name), I wouldn't dare to guess.

I think the term Gnomish of their language lasted even a bit longer than the name of the people.
As for garden gnomes - I hate to think ...

http://www.tolkienlibrary.com/press/902 ... illion.php

Wow. Just. Wow.

I've seen some pretty amazing pieces of calligraphy using Tolkien texts, but I think this one takes the cake.

Is anyone else besides me drooling over the Lord of the Rings legos that are coming out? If you haven't seen the pictures yet, here you go....

... =1&theater

... =1&theater

I'm not a collector at all, but I may have to shell out a few bucks for the LotR sets that are coming out.

Wow, Mel, that calligraphy is beeeaauutiful!

Definitely, fk, drooling, yep. And, as you know, we're thinking a lot alike about this: even though I am not a fan merchandise person, I am very much wanting to set aside some moolah to purchase the sets. Our one son, in particular, was/is a huge Lego fan, and this will help me with my justification in buying it. (Not that I need any excuse.) So, woohooo!

Also, I'm sure most of you have seen the new photo by now, but just in case anyone has missed it ... Voilà!

Billy Connolly has joined the cast of The Hobbit.

http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2012/02 ... l-release/

~Riella

Ooh. I can't say I've heard of Billy Conolly before now, but he looks like he's a perfect actor to play a dwarf. I'm actually thinking they won't have to do much to his appearance to make him look right.

Now, a question for the LotR scholars: Dain Ironfoot was in the book, right? I'm afraid if he was, I don't remember him at all. I thought I'd ask here since a lot of you know the LotR books and the Hobbit much better than I.

Dain has a small role - he shows up at the very end, right around the Battle of the Five Armies. When Thorin dies, Dain is the one who becomes king under the mountain.

This is officially the weirdest casting choice for this movie for me, and makes me question what they have in store for the character of Dain. For those who aren't familiar with Billy Connolly, he's a comedian. To me, it'd be like casting Robin Williams in the role of Dain. I like Billy Connolly a lot, don't get me wrong, but as Dain? Bizarre.