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LOTR Books vs movies

Do you like the books or movies more?


  • Total voters
    32

Steerpike

Felis amatus
Moderator
I think that was exactly what Tolkien intended to do. You can't, you shouldn't understand Bombadil, he's his unsolved mystery.

Yeah, Tolkien himself said something to that effect. He also said he wouldn't have left the character in the book if he didn't serve a purpose. Some people just don't like him, I suppose. It's not for everyone.
 

peteks

Acolyte
I enjoyed the movies immensely, and still watch them like once a year at least, in one marathon of extended edition goodness.

Still, I voted for the books, because I absolutely love them. I read the trilogy + the Hobbit at least once a year, and they will forever hold a soft spot in my heart, being the first real books not intended for small children that I read.
 
I liked the first two books, but I lost interest in Return of the King when Pippin became a Citadel Guard and had that guy showing him around. I just couldn't shake the voice in my head that said "**** it! I don't give a **** what the passwords are! Get to the battle!"
 

Demesnedenoir

Myth Weaver
Books. The movies are already aging for me, the books are still the books.I “get” Jackson’s changes to the story, screenwriting demands it, but I didn’t love all the acting and dialogue and whatnot. And I must admit, the Hobbit movies damaged my psyche, I try to blank them from my memory. LoTR suffers for it, I suspect.

I’ll add, I’ve only read two books more than once: The Lord of the Rings and Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose. And the latter was because I stumbled into a monastic history course that required me to read Name of the Rose again... not that I minded.
 

Insolent Lad

Maester
I can admit I actually liked Bakshi's one Rings movie better than the Jackson ones. The music too. But the books are far superior to any attempt to dramatize them. There is just so much depth in them while the movies just played in the shallows.
 

Demesnedenoir

Myth Weaver
Bakshi’s LoTR was excellent, but never finishing kind of damages it. The Soundtrack was stellar.

I have a signed animation cell where Boromir is full of arrows with Pippin and Merry standing there with daggers.
 

Jez

Dreamer
I voted books.

I remember reading them when I was a lot younger, they were my first foray into the world of fantasy. The movies, and this will be an unpopular opinion, I found to be hard to watch more than once. I can read the books over and over, but watching the movies feels really laborious.
 
Books, definitely books. I love the movie don't get me wrong. I watch at least one disc a week. But I can't stand it that they changed Faramir and Aragorn's personalities! Especially Faramir. Also Tolkien is an amazing writer and if anyone hasn't read Silmarillion they need to do so because so many things make so much more sense in the books if you do. The Fingolfin vs Morgoth scene is the best scene that Tolkien has ever written btw.
 

MauEvig

Minstrel
I'm going to have to vote movies. I enjoy Tolkien's storytelling, but it's so description heavy I tend to get bored reading it.
The films on the other hand have exciting musical scores, plots and effects, the characters look realistic and believeable. I enjoy watching the movies and on occasion doing a marathon.
 
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