Quote:
Originally Posted by Galadriel55
I have to admit I don't really understand what the word "relate" means, not only here but in a more general way too.
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I agree.
I once mentioned Tolkien in a post on a Doctor Who forum and my correspondent remarked that he found no character in Tolkien remotely believable. I didn’t follow up on this, but Pippin, for example, reminds me of several people I have known in real life, in all cases a person who is somewhat younger than those he hung around with and who tended to play the clown, probably in part because he realized that he was going to be seen as somewhat funny, and so he might as well play to that perception and was able to do it. Merry, on the contrary, is very responsible and helpful, another type that I recognize in reality.
By the way, though you are somewhat younger than most on this site, you don’t remind me of Pippin at all. You are instead awesomely intelligent and knowledgeable.
I agree with Blantyr that the
Silmarillion heroes are all pastiches of traditional heroes. That may explain why I like them in a different way than I do Frodo or Aragorn because they derive from a different sort of hero to be appreciated in a different way. And that kind of hero may be appreciated in original tales, not through pastiches.
I recall as a child disliking that the ends of heroic Greek legends were usually tragic with the heroes and heroines turning into base villains: Bellerophon, Jason, Theseus, and others, these conclusions usually not told in the endings of the tales as adapted for children. But as I discovered these endings I got used to them and began to appreciate them.
As to whether
The Children of Húrin, for example, is better than
The Lord of the Rings, I think not, but I do not believe that I have any right to make such a judgement other than for myself, alone, for this time only (I might change my mind).
See
http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/The_C...%BArin_reviews for reviews, more of them favorable than otherwise.
One’s taste may change depending on mood, and even a review which seems inane may provide insight, or not.