Lists of five

[tree_and_leaf]

OK, firstly for [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com]



Your five favourite places in the novels of Tolkien (locations, I mean, not which bits of the books are most fun).

In no particular order, as it's too hard to make a ranking.

Meduseld - it's probably the mediaevalist in me (I've just been teaching on the Hildebrandslied, too, so heroic poetry is in my mind), but I always really loved the Rohirim. Actually, I wanted to be one. Preferably Eowyn. (And I'm afraid I have done since the age of eight). Partly the poetry, partly the swords, partly the feudal spirit.

Ithilien, although I think it would be improved by fewer orcs. But there's something very poignant about the fragile beauty existing so close to darkness and horror, that heightens your awareness of it. "Ithilien, lost garden of Gondor, kept still a dishevelled dryad loveliness." Even the name is beautiful. The camp behind the waterfall is also my ideal of a place to make camp in secret.

(Theres also the possiblity of running into Faramir. But the true Faramir, not the travesty in the film version).

Lothlorien. I love trees, and I have always wanted to see a mallorn.

The Shire, in particular the Woody End where the hobbits meet the elves. it sounded like a nice, homely, species-rich British wood: they aren't all that easy to find these days, but they are very lovely.

The Prancing Pony (which I imagine is rather like the Turf in Oxford, only with fewer students and tourists). Good beer, an honest and hospitable landlord, attracts people who are eager to hear songs, and Gandalf or or Aragorn might drop by.

Comments

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

Meduseld - it's probably the mediaevalist in me (I've just been teaching on the Hildebrandslied, too, so heroic poetry is in my mind), but I always really loved the Rohirim. Actually, I wanted to be one. Preferably Eowyn. (And I'm afraid I have done since the age of eight). Partly the poetry, partly the swords, partly the feudal spirit.

I always wanted to be Eowyn - well, there weren't many alternatives, but all the same...

Mind you, the way I'm going, I'll probably have to settle for Shelob...

Ithilien, although I think it would be improved by fewer orcs. But there's something very poignant about the fragile beauty existing so close to darkness and horror, that heightens your awareness of it. "Ithilien, lost garden of Gondor, kept still a dishevelled dryad loveliness." Even the name is beautiful. The camp behind the waterfall is also my ideal of a place to make camp in secret.

This, I agree with wholeheartedly. I'm not at all a visual person - when I read books it's all about the words - but every time I read this part, I can see Ithilien, smell it even. Too bad about the Orcs, but I actually get the feeling that Ithillien might be a nicer place for being slightly neglected and overgrown.

(Theres also the possiblity of running into Faramir. But the true Faramir, not the travesty in the film version).

Yes, shocking, wasn't it? Not as OBVIOUS as the appalling hatchet job on his poor father - at least I felt he looked the part - it's just that the Demons of Pointless Plotlines had taken over his brain.

I love trees, and I have always wanted to see a mallorn.

I'm afraid that when I heard their leaves stayed on in winter I immediately thought of rhododendrons - and that image has stayed with me ever since.

A nice choice - though I was surprised that a scholar and lover of ancient culture had overlooked the great city of Gondor and its barely explored libraries...

[tree_and_leaf]

All one can say about movie 'Faramir' is that at least he sort of got his original personality back for the second film (though I still think that they should have put in the Houses of Healing scene with Eowyn and cut out the hobbitsbouncing on beds later on).

Denethor... there are no words.

What I don't understand, though, is why the Rohan scenes were so much more succesful and true to the spirit of the book than the Gondor ones. Admittedly I disliked the exorcism scene and I wasn't mad about Aragorn toying with Eowyn like that - having said that I loathed Liv Tyler's Arwen, so i suppose I can't blame the man too much, but there was so much in there to like, even for a sefl-confessed canon fascist like myself. Heck, there were brilliant touches for any mediaevalist to enjoy - the Old English, the use of the White Horse at Uffington (or a version thereof) as the banner of Rohan...

But while there were moving moments in the Gondor sections - Pippin singing, for one thing, or Faramir's troops riding out just before that - on the whole, they just didn't convince me.

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

I agree with you completely about Rohan vs Gondor in the films - Rohan was gorgeous and vivid, whereas Gondor looked computer-generated (well, I suppose it was, most of the time).

Not, as you say, that it wasn't without its moments. The chain of beacons spreading over the mountains never fails to send a chill down my spine.

[tree_and_leaf]

I take your point about Ithilien - I hope Faramir and Eowyn didn't tidy it up too much - but while neglect often improves a landscape, hordes of screaming orcs can really ruin your day...

I'm afraid that when I heard their leaves stayed on in winter I immediately thought of rhododendrons - and that image has stayed with me ever since.

Aargh! Rhodie mallorns! (Morgoth's horticultural equivalent of orcs and trolls? "The evil of this deed was not at once apparent, but yet at last it became plain that these rank weeds overcame all the plants around them, for they withered an blighted all they touched, covering great swathes of country with their dull leaves. So insidious proved they that they are with us still, last seed of evil from the Elder Days")

A nice choice - though I was surprised that a scholar and lover of ancient culture had overlooked the great city of Gondor and its barely explored libraries...

Oh, yes, good point. Libraries. I'm surprised I never thought of that. I can only attribute it to the fact that I'd just been teaching a class on Old High German, and my mind was running more on the lines of 'oral epic poetry is wonderful!', hence the appeal of Meduseld. I suppose Duke Humfrey and the Bodleiean are spoiling me and making me take libraries for granted. But there's no way I will ever hear oral Germanic poetry performed...

Maybe I'll swap the Woody End for the libraries of Gondor, then, if that's not cheating!

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

I take your point about Ithilien - I hope Faramir and Eowyn didn't tidy it up too much - but while neglect often improves a landscape, hordes of screaming orcs can really ruin your day...

That's true. And I don't suppose orcs - even very highly trained ones - can bring the passion to topiary or herbaceous borders we can expect from Eowyn in her passionate Healer mood (and I've always wondered how she felt about that decision a few years down the line).

Aargh! Rhodie mallorns! (Morgoth's horticultural equivalent of orcs and trolls? "The evil of this deed was not at once apparent, but yet at last it became plain that these rank weeds overcame all the plants around them, for they withered an blighted all they touched, covering great swathes of country with their dull leaves. So insidious proved they that they are with us still, last seed of evil from the Elder Days")

Laughed out loud at this. You've hit the nail on the head, I think. I always knew there was something not right about rhododendrons.

[tree_and_leaf]

Meanwhile, I spluttered a bit over the image of Eowyn, manic gleam in eye, topiaring a hedge into a sculpture of the Riders of Rohan using only a broadsword....