Picky, Picky, Picky.

[Boromir88]

I've been gathering for quite a while now, some little nit-picky, carpy complaints by Tolkien purists (or presumably Tolkien purists). Some, of them I find rather funny, just to see how minor these little complaints are, and they act like it's the end of the world. Here are a few of them...

"Gandalf's light to drive off the Nazgul should have been brighter. It says in the book it is a blinding flash of light. Jackson underexaggerated Gandalf's light making it look like a dinky flashlight."

"ERROR IN THE MOVIES! Legolas' eye color changes from blue to green? How come?" (I'm sorry to the person who wrote this, but I find myself too busy watching the wonderful scenery then paying attention to the eye color of people).

"Narsil was only broken in two pieces, not 10."

"Elendil was too short, he should have been taller."

"Boromir's hair was too light, he was like the rest of the Gondorians, black hair."

I find all these nit-picky and meaningless complaints by people. So, what sort of picky, picky, picky, complaints have you found from others?

[Neurion]

Originally Posted by Boromir88

I've been gathering for quite a while now, some little nit-picky, carpy complaints by Tolkien purists (or presumably Tolkien purists). Some, of them I find rather funny, just to see how minor these little complaints are, and they act like it's the end of the world. Here are a few of them...

"Gandalf's light to drive off the Nazgul should have been brighter. It says in the book it is a blinding flash of light. Jackson underexaggerated Gandalf's light making it look like a dinky flashlight."

"ERROR IN THE MOVIES! Legolas' eye color changes from blue to green? How come?" (I'm sorry to the person who wrote this, but I find myself too busy watching the wonderful scenery then paying attention to the eye color of people).

"Narsil was only broken in two pieces, not 10."

"Elendil was too short, he should have been taller."

"Boromir's hair was too light, he was like the rest of the Gondorians, black hair."

I find all these nit-picky and meaningless complaints by people. So, what sort of picky, picky, picky, complaints have you found from others?

None of the above changes from the book really annoy me. I'm far more ticked off that the Gondorians seem to come across as incompetant cowards who can't even take out a little 5'4" Snaga by themselves. Is this nit-picking?

[Boromir88]

No, because I don't see a reason behind it. Why make the Gondorians look like dumb tables? (well the main reason is because I think the same way, lol).

[Neurion]

Originally Posted by Boromir88

No, because I don't see a reason behind it. Why make the Gondorians look like dumb tables? (well the main reason is because I think the same way, lol).

Nice to finally know I'm not entirely alone in that view.

[THE Ka]

I do agree with you, the scenery is much better than legolas' eyes but, i do admit i was somewhat upset with how they made boromir's hair... (That's just one, mostly I was upset about trees...i wanted to see more ents... )

To add to this list, here is some sampling from my friend, who is indeed, 100% a puritan when it comes to tolkien...


"What?! What! What happend to Tom Bombadil! the Old Forest! Damit, it is important to the story!"

" What happened to saruman and gandalf's little talk after the ent raid? Hmm? or Saruman's trip into the shire?"

" Pippin's not that drunk!" <--- they admire him... I sense alittle fan defense...

" Why doesn't frodo sing in the prancing pony?!"

...And much more... That, i will not try to recreate on here. Even though, it is funny to poke at...

~An Easy going Ka~

[Captain of Despair]

To me it seems a little nit-picky when people complain about Barad-dur appearing to be so close to the Black Gates. Sure it's quite a divergence from the book as far as geography is concerned, but it's not really a big deal and it helps add impact to the scene of the tower's destruction (with the characters being able to actually see it and all).

[Sapphire_Flame]

Originally Posted by THE Ka

"What?! What! What happend to Tom Bombadil! the Old Forest! Damit, it is important to the story!"

No, it isn't. Tolkien said so himself. Bombadil was featured purely for sentimental reasons, not because he was important to the story. (Check in Letters! It's there!)

I agree with Boromir and Neurion about the Gondorian soldiers; they really got a raw deal. I really hate how Gandalf had to tell them to shoot the trolls instead of the towers. It's when people start picking about hair colour that I get a bit annoyed. Just let it go!

~ Saphy ~

[THE Ka]

Thanks Saphy! Now I can let that fact be my daily 'sentence stopper' to my friend and watch how their entire day will be ruined... Nah, i think i'll just bug them about it. Repeatedly...

Thanks for the fact!

~ Undoubtly Devious Ka~

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

Well, I am going to play Devil's advocate here and ask "Why the hell not?" If Faramir has brown hair in the film I am going to point it out and ask "Why?" Why shouldn't I be allowed to complain?

I think the problem is that people confuse levels of seriousness. No, people do not need to get upset about minor changes, but neither do people need to get upset when people point them out.

This is, after all, a Tolkien discussion board. We will get into the finer points that 'normal people' would not think about. Call me a pedant and I will smile back.

[AbercrombieOfRohan]

My friend is an uber-extreme puritan. She now refuses to watch the beginning of Fellowship with Gandalf and Frodo when they are driving up to Bag end and Gandalf sets of fireworks for the little hobbit children. She always runs away screaming," There were no fireworks there!!!! AAAAHHHHHHHH!!!"

[King of the North]

Right now I currently quite weary from the amount of death that is happening around me in my life to spend time searching for some

nit-picky, carpy complaints

but I am very annoyed with the pathetic comments some people write. As I have written in other threads the transition of book to film requires some changes, for example even though I love the Scouring of the Shire I can easily see why it was left out. Because of the way that the RotK was set up, that scene would seem VERY anti-climatic. That is understandable though, the fact that people lose their heads over stuff like how many pieces Narsil was in, is beyond me. btw i have heard that one a LOT, and plus what low-life would spend time actually counting the shards on Pause.

[Dragon Reborn]

Let's just say the makers of the films knew what they were doing and if they did somthing we think is wrong, well, this must be for some reason we don't understand, and leave it at that.