[thechat] LoTR questions

[Jackson Yee]

Now that I actually have time to reply on a subject that won't cause
yelling, I'll take advantage of it.  ;-)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Madhu Menon" <webguru at vsnl.net>

> So LoTR: The Two Towers finally rolled into town on Friday (4 bloody
months
> late) and I went to see it yesterday. Now, I have the book, but I haven't
> read it yet because the size of it intimidates me.

The actual War of the Ring is only the tip of the iceberg, Madhu.  You won't
really understand what's going on in Middle Earth until you've read the
Similarion, Unfinished Tales, and Letters of J.R. Tolkien.  That's why
Tolkien's work is regarded as one of the most comprehensive universes ever
created.

> 1) Am I the only one who finds Gollum as irritating as Jar Jar Binks? I
> know he's important to the plot and all that, but that hissing really got
> to me after a while. It also looked like the CGI dudes intentionally gave
> him every expression they could think of just to say, "Look what I can do
> with SFX. Ain't it cool?"

I actually thought that they did a pretty good job with Gollum and
expressing his nature and nuisances.  Finish reading the book first and then
we'll discuss.

> 2) How did Gandalf come back from the dead? I turned to the chapter in the
> book that talks about it, and it only says something about his work not
> being complete.

Basically, he was brought back to life by God so that he could finish his
work as one of the Istari.  More details can be found at

http://members.cts.com/king/e/erikt/tolkien/gandalf.htm

> 3) Is Gandalf the White more powerful than Gandalf the Grey?

Oh, yes.  Gandalf the Grey could never have gone head to head with Theoden
or Dethenor in the way that Gandalf the White did.  Despite everything that
he did though, Gandalf is still hiding the vast majority of his power as a
Maiar, for he was permitted only to teach and to encourage, not to conquer.

> 4) How did Theoden's nephew get so many troops at the end? When we saw him
> earlier, he only had some 40-50 men riding with him.

I think the general theory is that we only saw one group which Eomer
commanded at the beginning, while we saw the larger Rohirrim as a whole at
the end.  Of course, in the book, it actually reads "a thousand men on foot"
and the orcs were actually killed by the Ents and not the Rohirrim, so your
guess is as good as mine.

> 5) Ain't Legolas cool? For some reason, I really dig him.

So do a few hundred thousand of girls between the ages of 8 to 25, judging
by the reviews floating about the net.

> 6) How are new Uruk Hai created? What's that sac-like thing they come out
from?

You've got me on that one.  Orcs were elves who were corrupted by Melkor
back during the first age.  There's no evidence that they reproduce any
differently from elves or men, but that sac definitely was not childbirth.

> 7) Treebeard is supposed to be only about 14 ft. tall. Them trees all
> looked a lot taller, relatively speaking.

They did seem kind of tall for 14 feet.  Hobbits are two to four feet tall,
so 20 would have been a better gauge than 14.

> 8) Liv Tyler v/s Miranda Otto? No contest.

Miranda's going to have a more expanded role in "The Return of the King."
Obviously, I won't post any spoilers here, but I'm looking forward to seeing
it.

Regards,
Jackson Yee
jyee at vt.edu