The Fellowship of the Rings and other Observances

[Dr Midnight]

That hideous Martin?

Gamer please.

 

[Tharkun]

Martin who?

 

[Morrus]

Finally, no matter what some have said about the influences on D&D, no other literature, that’s right literature for you bub, than Lord of the Rings has shaped the game more. Look at Original D&D for instance. What races could you play; hmmm, human, elf, dwarf and hobb… er I mean halfling. I’ll admit that influence from the game came from many sources such as that hideous Elric cra… stuff, Robert E. Howard and others, but Lord of the Rings takes precedence above all.

Son of Thunder

AH, but your logic has completely broken down here. In fact, you've contradicted yourself. Gary Gygax says otherwise, and you earlier stated, when talking about Tolkein's intentions:

Now given the words of some and the man who wrote the book, I’m going to believe the man who wrote the book.

So you have to define your position with more certainty. Are the words of the author to be held as gospel truth or not? If yes, then LotR was only a minor influence on D&D; if no, then WWII could well have been an influence on LotR.

 

[Prince Atom]

FYI

I don't think anybody was ever comparing LotR to WW2; I always thought that WWI was the influence for things like the Mere of Dead Men, seeing as Tolkien served in that war.

Also, I think part of what gives Tolkien depth and history is that he's got characters who saw the things happen. Elrond was there at the last battle, in whatever capacity he had (in the book he's the standard bearer for the Elf-King, in the movie he seems to be a commander himself). Gandalf's as old as the hills. And I though I saw somewhere that Aragorn is almost eighty years old.

Age and wisdom.

TWK
Sure, Tolkien did all this amazing stuff for his world, but it took him 50 years!

 

[ColonelHardisson]

Re: FYI

And I though I saw somewhere that Aragorn is almost eighty years old.

Almost 90. At the time of the Fellowship of the Ring (the book), Aragorn is 89 years old. He lives to be 210. He was a throwback to Dunedain of old. His distant ancestor, Elros - Elrond's brother - lived to be over 500. At the tim of FotR, the book, even Dunedain only lived to be around 70 (basically, the same lifespan as people today).

 

[Storm Raven]

Re: FYI

Also, I think part of what gives Tolkien depth and history is that he's got characters who saw the things happen. Elrond was there at the last battle, in whatever capacity he had (in the book he's the standard bearer for the Elf-King, in the movie he seems to be a commander himself).

Elrond is described as Gil-Gilad's Herald, which is more than being a standard bearer, in midaevil society the king's herald was usually a powerful noble and an influential person in his own right. depicting him as a commander in Gil-Gilad's army, and the leader of the elven forces after Gil-Gilad's death is not inconsistent with Elrond's job as herald.

Gandalf's as old as the hills.

Galdalf is as old as creation, since he was a Maiar created by the thought of Eru at the beginning of the world and participated in the song of the Ainur. Her has only been in Middle-Earth for about 1,000 years at the time of LotR though.

And I though I saw somewhere that Aragorn is almost eighty years old.

89 to be exact.

Boromir, at age 40, is one of the youngest members of the Fellowship. Only a couple of the Hobbits are younger. Frodo is 50.

Gimli is in his 130's. Legolas and Elrond are both First Age elves, over 4,500 years old. Arwen, Elladan and Elrohir were all born early in the Third Age, making them over 2,000 years old. Galadriel is incalculably old, perhaps 10,000 or more years old.