GW, I think it is actually impossible to be better than the books, because movies are limited by there own physicality. Our minds can see things in such a unique way that even if we could make exactly what we see, it would only be the right thing for us no one else. Therefore it is IMPOSSIBLE to make a movie as good as the book.

^ FTW


darn good films tho

I am marginally amazed that I could NOT find a Nazgul or Witch King smiley in 5 minutes of Googling.....

Also, Mr's Exo actually prefers the Pirates of the Carribean series to LOTR. Now, don't get me wrong, POTC is one of my favorite series of movies EVER...but....well, sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words......

Awesome PIC

^ this

That pic rocks.

POC is good but not even in the same league as LOTR's but there's no accounting for women's taste. 'cough, cough, country, cough.'

Gandalf is the best and most memorable character in the books (and movies, including the Rankin/Bass '70s versions, the Bakshi '78 film, and the Jackson films). John Huston had the perfect voice for Gandalf and to this day it's hard for me to imagine a different voice, even after seeing McKellan portray him well.

My e-mail address is and has been for a very long time "mithrandir2" @ blah-blah-blah. My first Counter-Strike handle was Glamdring, although people assumed I was female (glam, I guess), so even though my CS spray was a picture of the sword Glamdring when people didn't get it I changed my name and became DisposableHERO (my forum names are a throwback to my Counter-Strike days when I was DisposableHERO and MasterOfPuppets). My eBay name is "faramir" and I was one of the earliest eBay'ers so I got "faramir" without any numbers or other junk tacked on to the end. My wife got to name all of our cats except one, which I named Nenya. For kicks I even have my hard drives named Lothlorien, Gondor, Osgiliath, Khazaddum and Mordor instead of the generic hard drive designations.

The first time I read the Lord of the Rings I was in third grade. It was a boxed set I received for Christmas (and there's an amusing story behind it, but I won't bother with it). I was enthralled. I think I've read it a half dozen times total, and I have a collection of Tolkien books, from various editions of his works to various books of artwork and bestiaries and guide books. I have a collection of some Tolkien puzzles, too, vintage puzzles, and some vintage computer games based on his work. I've got a huge collection of MERP (Middle Earth Role Playing) stuff by ICE (Iron Crown Enterprises) from back when they had a license to make the game. I never even played the game, just had it all for my Tolkien collection and because of all the amazing details about parts of Tolkien's world. I've got a bunch of board games, including two versions of that classic SPI War Of The Ring war game, and a ton of cards from METW. In the living room I've got a framed print of Lord of the Rings artwork painted by Jimmy Cauty (of the KLF/the JAMs), which I've included a picture of below, a picture I got from the internet. [If you ever watch the movie Fathers & Sons with Jeff Goldblum and Rory Cochrane, watch for a shot of Rory Cochrane's character's bedroom wall. I remember seeing that poster. Kind of a cool memory.] One of the coolest set of collectibles I have is a Royal Doulton set of figures of all the members of the Fellowship.

Did I mention, I'm a Tolkien fan and collector?

Given the money situation right now I may have to sell some of this stuff, but I'll sell other stuff first if I can.

By the way Wes, you could make a better set of movies than Jackson. All you have to do is remove Liv Tyler. Voila.

If any of you ever play Lord of the Rings Online, make your characters on the Vilya server and send a hello. My characters are Endrala, Celdelan, Torgalin, Broggle, Tarithradin, Teregard, Balandor, Galanel, Veridan and Stentor. My creeps are Skitterweave, Skulknash, Grogbash, Tagluk, and Muklash, but I haven't played them in about a year.

All right people, hit me with all of your "nerd" comments.


This is the print I mentioned:

Honestly? Hm... I like Gandalf for sure.

But a close second would have to be Sam. Whether in the books or the movies, his loyalty and obvious love for his friend were a great example for all of us. Sam was the truest example of what Jesus meant when he said, "Greater love has no one than this..." Sam would have given his life a thousand times for Frodo, and that kind of loyalty and courage are hard to come by, book or otherwise.

Oh, and incidentally, I think Tolkein went a bit overboard on the details... I prefer to have something that has details without slowing down the pace. XD

I stand in awe of your nerdiness, for it has left my own rank and in ashes.

ZOk, in just the LOTR trilogy, my favorite characters that appear are:

Galadriel
Boromir

Farimir
Éowyn (a better couple than Aragorn and Arwen IMO)


Witch-King!



As for the whole Middle-Earth universe I need to give another shout out to my man Ulmo. Let wiki teach you about He Who Pours:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulmo

I have this poster!!! Bought it a The University Of Akron in 1992. Still my favorite. The detail and rendernings are fantastic!

Disposable Hero.....my last literary journey to Middle Earth via the LOTR books was #10! LOTR Nerds unite!!

sauron is one of my faves..

known before that as Annatar




His Master, Morgoth(The original Dark Lord) is great too..

Time Stands Still At the Iron Hill!!!

I always liked Melkor/Morgoth a ton more than Sauron because Sauron was always always always a liar, a coward, and a fool. Foolish moreso than Morgoth..

The pictures on this thread are great... I love fantasy imagery!

I always saw him as too proud though, his cleverness getting overboard to where he was a slimey evil rather than a more fearsome one....like he didn't do things to exercise his confidence in power, but rather because it was the easy way.