Favorite Tolkien Character?

[Thuloid]

Yup, Tom was a maia. As, I'm sure, Goldberry is as well.

I object to insinuation that the Tom Bombadil side plot is "random." Bombadil highlights several things very well- First, the provinciality and naivete of the hobbits, living under the shadow of ancient powers both good and evil in the Old Forest. Second, Tom is a connection to Middle Earth itself, its origins, and its destiny. He helps to place the whole story within the cosmos, as Tom is First and Last (echoes of Rev. 1:8, "I am the Alpha and the Omega," and 1:17 "Fear not, I am the first and the last) in the words of Glorfindel at the Council of Elrond. Tom makes it clear that wars, cataclysms, even the One Ring, are just passing shadows on the face of Middle Earth. I don't think Tom was God precisely (Eru/Iluvatar is a separate being), but Tolkien included divine characteristics and strong elements of his own Catholicism in some characters, and Tom is certainly portrayed as intimitely connected with divinity. Anyway, this leads to my last point about the significance of the Tom Bombadil episode, and that is that it represents an oasis of good in a world touched universally by evil. This reveals something about the ring, and evil itself, namely, evil in the world is intimitely connected with the darkness within a person. Tom has no darkness in him at all, and hence is unaffected by the ring to the extent of not even understanding its value. Tom is like a background of goodness against which the evil of Sauron and the great events unfolding on Middle Earth can be measured.

Read 'em all.

 

[Morgasshk]

But... What about that slut... you know the
one with the shirt that was in that bit with the other guy,... she was hot! she had that hair that went that way that was cool like the other chick in the movie with the guy with the hair!

Yeah, definately have to vote for her!!!

morgasshk!

 

[Mongol Horde]

Originally posted by Thuloid
Read 'em all.

I have read what I have read and will read what I please in the future and I object to you insinuating that I was insinuating anything. The fact that I found the Tom Bombadil section not integral to the plot of the book is just my opinion i.e. take the section out and the book works just as well. This is not to say that the section is not both intersting and enjoyable.

 

[andycapp]

My favourite evil character in LOTR's is not the obvious nasties such as Sauron, Saruman or a Nazgul but that slimey slippery guy with the gift of the gab - Wormtongue!

He also has another thing in his favour - he sticks the knife into Saruman - the one decent thing he does in the whole story, :arrow: - and the Hobbits shoot him.

 

[Icepick Trotsky]

Vive monsieur Aragorn. He's the original cool guy.
The only truly useful member of the fellowship.

 

[Thuloid]

Originally posted by Mongol Horde
The Tom Bombadil side plot is so random it always gets left out of any abridged versions..

Originally posted by Thuloid
I object to insinuation that the Tom Bombadil side plot is "random."

Originally posted by Mongol Horde
I have read what I have read and will read what I please in the future and I object to you insinuating that I was insinuating anything.

Somehow I misunderstood this? You're right, though, insinuate was the wrong word. You simply stated that the Bombadil side plot was random. In any event, pretty much everything on these boards is opinion, and it was your opinion I objected to, Mongol Horde.

BTW, "Read 'em all" was a reference to the post directly before yours, by CurtSibling, who lamented that some of those posting on this board hadn't read, in his estimation, enough Tolkien stuff. That is, it was not a command, but a past tense statement of fact, abbreviated from "I have read them all."

 

[stormerne]

I've read Lord of the Rings many times over the past 25 years. More often than not, I pick it up on a whim and start reading from a central chapter entitled "The King of the Golden Hall". If it grabs my attention, I read from there to the end of the book, go back to the start and then read to the middle again and stop. Takes me about two weeks. C'est bizarre, n'est-ce pas?

King Theoden is the character that appears first in that chapter. He has such an admirable nobility, I can quite empathise with Meri for whom he becomes like a father for a while. His is a nobility that is accessible. We can all be like Theoden, but which of us could ever be like Aragorn?

Many of us have at sometime allowed ourselves to become less than full human beings, like Theoden under the influence of Grima. But Theoden awakens, with Gandalf's help, and rises to fulfill his true potential, much as we can. His heroic deeds inspire his folk to song and admiration and greater deeds themselves as they are moved to follow him in their glad surprise. He is a role model for me in ways that none of other characters can be.

That's why I vote for Theoden.

 

[Sultan Bhargash]

I want to clarify that my "other" vote was for Tom Bombadil.

And if I could be anybody in Middle Earth, that is who I would be.

Guy gets stoned and sings songs and has river nymph girlfriend and if any Barrow Wight tries to mack he busts out with the Barry White and that is that.