Characters that are often overlooked.

[Quickbeam]

What characters do you think are often overlooked? I think that Cirdan is one of those characters. He is one the wisest elves in Middle-earth. Also he did some important thing in the Third age that are barely even mentioned.
So which characters do you think are often overlooked?

[*LillianTinuviel*]

I think Luthien Tinuviel is overlooked far, far too much. She is a beautiful and dramatic figure (as well as my namesake)and I think it is just not right that no one has ever heard of her.

[Ainaserkewen]

I'd have to say that all of the Valar(with the exception of Mandos, Varda and Ulmo) are pretty overlooked in my opinion. They've done such great things and practically noboby gives the recongnition they diserve. As for Mandos...he made a name for himself with that scary "The doom of Mandos" speech. Varda(aka Elbereth) is mentioned so often the the trilogy, but only as one would say praises or thanks. She's become a byword. Ulmo is a little less recongnised but more so than any other Valar. I think he was mentioned at least once in the Trilogy, and is he wasn't...people still tend to know who he is.

[ 1:19 PM November 27, 2003: Message edited by: Ainaserkewen ]

[Failivrin]

Mandos and Nienna. they are such wonderful characters. also, Fionwe.

[Sharkû]

It appears to me that many people often disregard Celeborn as an average elf among the great, since he appeared to be overshadowed in importance and lineage by his wife. This does not do justice IMO to the great leader and general he must have been.

[ 4:51 PM November 27, 2003: Message edited by: Sharkû ]

[Meela]

I remember discussing Celeborn once. I have always admired him, and I can see why he is overlooked, but he should be given a little more notice.
I agree that most of the Valar are often overlooked as well.
I'm also quite disappointed that it is only once in a while that I remember Thranduil. I found him quite interesting, although he is rarely mentioned.
Finduilas is one of the characters I most want to know more about, and I wish the information about her was a little more in-depth.

[Legolas]

Sharku beat me to it.

For further (perhaps respect-building) information, see Unfinished Tales, 'The History of Galadriel and Celeborn.'

[ArathorofBarahir]

Melkor because had he not fallen from grace there would have been no rings or anything.

[Ainaserkewen]

And no story line either.

[Elentári_O_Most_Mighty_1]

I don't know...Celeborn perhaps, yes. And Thranduil...the only thing I know about him is he had a love of gold and jewellery. There might be more, I don't know. Aina, I like your siggy! It took a while to sink in though...I'm not good at jokes, unlike my dad who got it straight away. Oh well...

[Failivrin]

oh Elentari, you know that Thranduil is Legolas' father, surely?! smilies/tongue.gif

i also think Thranduil.

[Snowdog]

I would say the other 28 un-named Rangers that rode south with Halbarad and the Sons of Elrond. Halbarad and the Sons of Elrond for that matter are quite overlooked.

[Ainaserkewen]

You're right Snowdog...who are these people, what are their stories, their families, pasts, futures. The Dunedain in general have a somewhat clouded existance in the third age. A mystery to everyone, even themselves.

[The Saucepan Man]

Gothmog (from LotR, not the Silm). He was second-in-command to the Witch King (in military terms at least), yet we don't even know whether he was a Man, an Orc or a Nazgul.

[ainur]

I always wanted to know more about Celebrimbor. He forged the rings of power, he was in love with Galadriel, and (I think) he founded the elven realm of Hollin during the second age. But I only seem to find a few paragraphs about him, a dozen or so.

[Lyta_Underhill]

I always wanted to know more about Celebrimbor.
Ditto, ainur! I always take an interest in a descendant of Fëanor! smilies/rolleyes.gif As far as I can tell (which isn't that far, as I haven't read the HoME series), he's the only descendant of Fëanor to make it into the Second Age. Didn't any of the other Sons of Fëanor have children? Or perhaps they just didn't do anything of note?

Of course, Celebrimbor has the distinction of having one of the most colorful after death scenes, as his body was carried by the forces of Sauron as a standard. (BTW, has any artist done a depiction of THIS?) I'd say that is right up there with poor old stomped Fingon! And of course, we have the horror-movie worthy disintegration of Saruman at Bag End... smilies/tongue.gif

Cheers,
Lyta

[Amrod the Hunter]

Yes,definetly Celebrimor,who is descendant of the great Feanor and one of the mightiest elves in ME,and still there is almost nothing about him.

[Boromir88]

I'd have to say Prince Imrahil and his knights of Dol Amroth. Not so much Imrahil, because he gets a lot of acknowledgement in ROTK. But his knights (beside Gandalf) were the only Gondorian soldiers able to withstand the nazgul shriek. Imrahil I also love about him that he doesn't impede Aragorn from claiming the throne, he actually urges Aragorn to do it ;) .

Ghan-Buri-Ghan, need I say more, I just love the way he talks, "gorgun."

Some other characters that I think are overlooked are (that aren't already mentioned):
Butterbur
Farmer Maggot
Beregond
Radagast
Hama
Erkenbrand
Ohtar
I can go on for a while, but anyway...

I can see that we have a Celeborn fan wagon gathering up, I might as well hop on, GO Celeborn. Snowdog, wonderful answer ;) .

[ninlaith]

I've always thought Goldberry and Glorfindel were very overlooked characters. They were both very well written characters. Goldberry was mysterious and charming. She probably had a very good story behind her. And Glorfindel, he was extremely overlooked. Just his part was in the movie but he apparently wasn't important enough to be put in. Glorfindel was strong, courageous, and intellegent. He would have had a very good story as well. I feel bad for both of those characters.

[Morgul Queen]

Yes,definetly Celebrimor,who is descendant of the great Feanor and one of the mightiest elves in ME,and still there is almost nothing about him.

Oh, you have a Mini-balrog too? Mine are Celebrimbror and Eridor. Say Hi Celebrimbror!

Celebrimbror: *snarls*

Well, close enough...

Anyway, buck to overlooked characters.

Celeborn, who has already been mentioned.

Thranduil, c'mon, the guy held off sauron for close to 3000 years without the aid of a Ring like Elrond and Galadriel. He deserves some applause there...and I still don't get why the Fanbrats think he's evil. *shakes head*

Celebrimbor, even though he was decieved by Sauron he did what he could to fight him as well. He managed to hide the Rings and hold Eregion against Sauron until the last moment and then was tortured to death, poor guy.

Denethor, lost his father, lost his wife, had to look after two toddlers on his own while trying to keep Gondor safe and fighting Sauron while slowly being driven mad by the Palantir and still managing to hold onto the defenses for 40 years.

Tinfang Gelion, 3rd greatest minstrel of the elves, is only mentioned in The Lays of Beleriand in one sentance.

*eyebrows her list* Yep, I fangirl each and every one of them...

[Nimrodel_9]

Definately Thranduil and Celeborne. Thranduil is only mentioned when they are refering to Legolas. His name isn`t even spoken in The Hobbit. Celeborne is married to a "popular" elven maiden yet very rarely do you hear about him. :confused:

[Lachwen]

You know who I think is overlooked? Oropher. Father of Thranduil, King of Greenwood the Great, slain in the Battle of the Last Alliance. I'd like to know more about him. Also, I love his name. :cool:

I also think that Huor is overlooked a lot. Most people just think, "Oh, yeah, Tuor's dad," or "Húrin's little brother." There must be more to him than that! (see my post in the thread "Best MORTAL Fighter" to hear me rant about this injustice some more :) )

And let's not forget the brother of Olwë and Elwë: Elmo! :D

[Imladris]

In my opinion, Legolas is overlooked. He had virtually no character developement...we don't even know the colour of his hair.

[Morgul Queen]

And let's not forget the brother of Olwë and Elwë: Elmo!

And while we're on the subject of Elmo, what about Galadhon (Elmo's Son, Celeborn's father) and Galathil (Celeborn's brother).

Or Amdir? Amroth? Dior? Daeron?

[Lachwen]

Or hey, what about Nellas? Or Nimloth? All that's said about her is that she was Elwing's mother. Or what about Rían? Or Celebrían, for that matter?

Or are we just being stupid? Tolkien was a great writer, yes, but even he couldn't some up with wonderful, in-depth backgrounds for every character.

[tar-ancalime]

Quite a long time ago, Lyta_Underhill said:

Didn't any of the other Sons of Fëanor have children? Or perhaps they just didn't do anything of note?

I find it very hard to believe that any descendant of the Spirit of Fire would sit quietly and twiddle his/her thumbs. Oath or no oath, Fëanor and all his progeny were made in the (by Elven standards) "live fast, die young" mold.

But back to the original topic, I think Gilraen is an oft-overlooked character, even in this thread! ;)

[Lalaith]

The sons of Feanor who were still unmarried at the time of the oath probably stayed single, I doubt any self-respecting elf-woman would go a bundle on a chap with that deadly promise hanging like an albatross round his neck.

Gil-galad's mother is VERY overlooked. We don't even know her name.

[Boromir88]

Imladris, ahhh, true, even as another member of the Fellowship Legolas is thought of as...I don't know how to describe it, maybe "insignificant."

[rutslegolas]

Well I always thought that Legolas was viewed as some kind of preety boy.But I think the most overlooked character is Anarion.

Isildur and Elendil are often talked about because they were related with the ring ,though Elendil was'nt.But Anarion was not even mentioned in LOTR except that some part about him being killed by a stone from Barad-Dur, I think that he was as good as Elendil and Isildur. Is their any piece of information about Anarion in JRR's books ??

[Morgul Queen]

Mithrellas and Imrazor.

*grins*

[Lachwen]

Gil-galad's mother is VERY overlooked. We don't even know her name.

Following that train of thought, what about Fingolfin's wife? We don't know her name, either. Or Legolas' mother. Or Olwë's wife.

[Boromir88]

Ruts, I believe Anarion's helm that was crushed from the stone from Barad-dur was used as the first Helm for the king's of Gondor. However, I will have to check up on that.

[the phantom]

What about that orc-chieftan in Moria that stabbed Frodo?

If it weren't for the mithril....

And didn't he, on the way to his target, knock down Boromir and dodge Aragorn's swing? He sounded pretty beastly. And when Aragorn brought his sword down on the orc-chieftan's head wasn't there like a mini-explosion or something?

Who was that orc?

[Boromir88]

Who was that orc?

OMG!!! It's PJ's immortal black uruk Lurtz!!! Gets a dagger through the leg, his arm chopped off, a sword stuck in his gut, and a chopped off head, like I said, Lurtz the immortal (well semi-immortal) black Uruk.

[Lachwen]

No, Lurtz was an Uruk-hai. The orc that Phantom is talking about is a Moria-orc.

Though now I must say that I loved the bit with Lurtz licking his own blood off the knife-blade. That was freakin' awesome. :D

[Lush]

Arwen, because she is defined almost exclusively by her relationship with Aragorn. She is so mysterious. So hot.

Goldberry, once again, hot, mysterious, and merry. How does Tom keep her so happy?

Glorfindel, what was he all about? Brave, undoubtedly hot, and not a man of many words either.

[Morgul Queen]

And Theodred the hardly mentioned.

Poor b*****d.

[the phantom]

I've never really thought of Glorfindel as an overlooked character (except when we're talking about the movies).

I thought everyone who read LOTR thought that ol' Findy was awesome and wanted to find out more about him.

And Lushy-poo- how could multiple "hot" characters be overlooked? It's a crime! It defies all logic.

But you kind of expect it since what, maybe 90% of Middle Earth's main characters were tall and good-looking.

Tolkien sure knew how to create a great world.

[StarJewel]

Lachwen...your comment on Fingolfin's wife sparked my curiosity. She is mentioned in the Peoples of Middle Earth, though rather briefly. Her name is Anaire, and she didn't leave Aman to go with Fingolfin into exile. That's about all that is said about her.
On that note, I think that most of the Elven wives are overlooked, with the exception of Galadriel and Melian. How many times do we hear how the gentler half of the Eldar influenced things?

[Boromir88]

Not just elven wives, but dwarven wives too (or women)!!!! Only Dis was mentioned, poor girl, stuck with all them dwarves.

[Amrod the Hunter]

Dragons-you only get to know something of how they look and that they are cruel.In LoTR there is no dragons.Was Sauron that poor or could he bouught a little,cute... flame-throwing dragon!Hahaha
Others are werevolves-really.Werevolves are mentioned really rare-who created them?How many were they?
ANd you have many more creaatures,but I can't remember,so move on!Next!

[dragoneyes]

Robin Smallburrows - he sounds so sweet from what he says to Sam, he doesn't mean no harm, he just always wanted to be a shirriff.

Fatty Bolger lead a rebellion against the ruffians and was then nearly starved to death and all we hear is how he commented on Pippin's height. Though he did get a little more attention before the quest.

[Boromir88]

Forlong as well, Lord of Lossarnach.

The man brought in 200 tall men from the mountains (the people expected more), however, they still cheered as he entered the city.
Forlong the Fat! Forlong the Brave! Forlong the Old!

[Iris Alantiel]

Or are we just being stupid? Tolkien was a great writer, yes, but even he couldn't some up with wonderful, in-depth backgrounds for every character.

Given enough time, Lachwen, I'm sure he would have done just that. :D

As for overlooked characters, I'm with Imladris. Nobody thinks of Legolas as an overlooked character anymore because of all the fangirl attention he's gotten, but really, I always wondered about him. He's the member of the Fellowship we get to know the least. What was he doing there, how did he get there, and where had he come from before?

Also, I think Rosie Cotton is completely overlooked. Sure, her life doesn't really seem to have the drama of an Eowyn or a Galadriel (or even an Arwen) but I still want to know about her. What was so wonderful about this hobbit-lass that captured Sam Gamgee's heart so completely? Even after all he had seen and done, he returned as in love with her as he'd been when he left - so she must have been something special. Yet we only ever get to know her peripherally, in relation to Sam. So what was her story?