Tewligan
First Post
They can't. That's what makes them so angry.Furn_Darkside said:
Pfft- how would they make smores, then?
FD
They can't. That's what makes them so angry.Furn_Darkside said:
Pfft- how would they make smores, then?
FD
Joshua Dyal said:I thought spoilers would be a moot point when discussing the books with this group. And those aren't necessarily spoilers for the movie anyway. After all, we already know that Arwen plays another prominent role in The Two Towers movie, and "The Scouring of the Shire" is been completely excised.
Uller said:
Shhh! Your giving away spoilers!
One of the things I always thought was cool about Middle Earth was that many of the really powerful heroes and villians seemed to exist at least partially in a sort of parallel plane. Frodo seems to get a glimpse of this plane when he puts on the ring and when he is under the effects of the Morgul knife...
Elves and those with elven blood and good Mayar (sp?) shine with a white light. Evil beings seem to absorb the light. In D&D terms, these creatures all seem to be somewhat celestial or infernal...Probably the Witch-King didn't quite know what he was looking at when he first encountered Aragorn...only that it was something powerful and new to him (kind of like when Quigon encountered Darth Maul for the first time...was it a Sith? A renegade Jedi? Something entirely new? He didn't know. Even Yoda was not really sure at first).
In such a case, caution is definately the better part of valor...
shouit said:Another question related to Strider is what about the sword. In the books they reforge the sword before he left the elven lands, but in the movies, they didnt do that. What gives? Does anyone know?
shouit said:Another question related to Strider is what about the sword. In the books they reforge the sword before he left the elven lands, but in the movies, they didnt do that. What gives? Does anyone know?
Wicht said:One problem here is trying to discuss the events of the book and the events of the movie as if they were the same, which is far from the case. The scenario I described earlier is how it happened in the movie (though I think I would change the suprise round to a successful intimidate on second thought) but the events of the book are very different and IMO more plausible.
First off Aragorn, has no sword (he carries only a broken blade). He chases the wraiths off with two flaming brands. He explains to the hobbits that the wraiths fear fire. They certainly are not afraid of swords. Frodo stabs a wraith in the foot and it destroys the sword. The name of Elbereth which he cried had more effect on them.
Second of all the wraiths are weaker on Weathertop for two reasons. One, they are not all there. They seem to have greater strength in numbers. When they battled Gandalf on weathertop I believe they were all present. But an elf stood against two or three of them at a time. Furthermore, they have been weakened from former glory by the loss of the one ring. It is explained the if the ring is returned to Sauron they will be more powerful again. They are essentially disembodied, much as their master is.
The primary weapon of the wraiths is portrayed in the books as being fear. In return of the king, when the Lord of the Nazgul rides into battle, it is the fear he brings upon the enemy that is his biggest power. Swords they carry but they do not often use them, nor do they need to use them.
Thus when they attacked Frodo, Frodo momentarily hurt them by calling the name of Elbereth and then a very powerful person, in the form of Aragorn, rushes at them with fire. They decide it is easier to retreat and then hunt the hobbit as he dies. All they have to do is keep him out of Rivendell and he is theirs. To this end the five on weathertop withdraw and the four elsewhere stage an ambush by the fords of Rivendell. When all nine are together again at the fords they feel strong enough to rush the dying Frodo, they almost turn away from the water when the torrent is unleashed but Aragorn and Glorfindel, weilding fire again, chase them into the water. They are not killed but they lose their shape and thus are powerless until reclothed. (I might also postulate that their power is stronger the closer they are to Sauron)
WizarDru said:
Further, trying to cast LOTR in D&D terms is an interesting mental exercise, but ultimately pointless. The LOTR world doesn't match D&D (try balancing a Tolkien elf to a human, for example). The good Colonel worked on a d20 LOTR project, and can speak better to this than I can, but the point is that many things operate differently in LOTR than in D&D 3E.
Further, trying to cast LOTR in D&D terms is an interesting mental exercise, but ultimately pointless. The LOTR world doesn't match D&D (try balancing a Tolkien elf to a human, for example). The good Colonel worked on a d20 LOTR project, and can speak better to this than I can, but the point is that many things operate differently in LOTR than in D&D 3E.