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The audience need not be modern. Milton does exactly this with Satan in Paradise Lost. The idea is hardly new. The cost is that Satan is no longer a mythotype; he becomes a humanised protagonist. But it’s hard to execute well. Milton pulls it off, but his writing skills were rather better...

This seems to be an argument from silence - which has merit - but I still think it’s a stretch to assert that Tolkien viewed his depiction of Eowyn as “frightfully progressive.”

The point I was trying to make - apparently I did not articulate myself clearly - is that the locus of conflict in a mythic fiction is located in the reader; it is not dependent on external conceits of characterization. It’s the same with any mythology. We don’t need to ascribe internal...

Could you maybe give an example? Not where Eomer, Wormtongue, Theoden, Faramir or Aragorn are articulating what might be considered consistent commentary in-universe with regard to the presumed role of women in Middle-Earth. But rather where you feel the author’s voice is explicitly adopting a...

I wanted to pick up on this, because I’d be interested if you could point me in the direction of something which supports this assertion. As far as I was aware, the principal influence is rooted in the idea of the skjaldmaer from Norse myth, placing it very much in line with his “medieval...

I’m not really sure what point you’re trying to make, but I don’t disagree with many of your observations.

The original text deals with mythemes rooted in medieval sensibilities; the movies begin a move toward modernity which the TV series runs with even further. But I can’t say that I think the Fellowship movie is better than the book based on a single casting choice, no. My frame of reference...

There aren't many cases I can think of where a cinematic adaptation really surpasses the literature - The Godfather springs to mind. Maybe Blade Runner? Shawshank Redemption? I think that the more egregious departures from Tolkien's history - say, the balrog, Gandalf, the order in which the...

Sorry for any excessive negativity, everyone. I’ve been spending too much time on the biblical history forums, and need to tone down my rhetoric.

I mean, everyone needs to make a paycheck. And Olsen certainly isn't the first academic to act as an apologist for, and as the "expert face" of corporate interest. But some of his commentary on S1 of RoP is painfully obsequious, as he speaks about the "deep meaning and symbolism" which is...

It’s almost as if the Die Hard franchise constantly and comedically riffs on the idea of its hero being absurdly difficult to kill.

Do you think Prime Video compensated Olsen for his time and work? I think it’s also worth pointing out that it was Olsen who dubbed Olsen “The Tolkien Professor” - it’s not like it was somehow acquired through popular accolade. A couple of thoughts: 1. I think it's worth drawing a distinction...

In many cases, this could have been eased by the showrunners inserting a single, brief scene which aided continuity, e.g.: Miriel’s Numenorians arrive in the Southlands. They begin a cavalry charge. Where? Why? Insert: Brief scene describing/demonstrating/alluding to an orc attack on a nearby...

This show requires the viewer to make an awful lot of assumptions in order to maintain a strained sense of continuity.

Maybe, I guess. But I think they would have already put it out there, if that were the case.

Why would you think that a fidelity to lore applies in this case in particular, when it has been ignored in so many others? In the Alatar/Pallando iteration of the Blue Wizards, it is Oromë who chooses Alatar, and he brings Pallando as a friend. This is the version that places Curunir as a Maia...

So, Episode 8 The Good: Music Adar Family orc meets a grisly end Charlie Vickers and Charles Edwards putting on good performances despite the challenge of dealing with awful writing and dialogue The Bad: Badly choreographed fight scene between Sauron and Galadriel Galadriel falling 500ft...

I think it’s a mistake to view the show in terms of lore - period. Nothing which it has presented comports closely with anything established by Tolkien. It has diverged from the timeline, from what we know about established characters, and in terms of Middle-Earth history. It has introduced a...

If no-one, anywhere ever makes a rational decision, I think the problem is rather worse. Every character in this show seems to be a moron.

When I was in my 8000s I was pretty much the same as when I was in my 5000s.