Annoying Unbelievers

[Lalwendë]

Argh! The 'Eagle' question! Honestly, this one has been tossed around so often where I work that it's now become a bit of a joke.

I have some stock answers to that one:
1. If the eagles did fly over Mount Doom and 'drop in' the ring, then why would there have been a book at all.
This is your petulant reply, if you can't be bothered arguing any further.

2. The eagles have their own minds and they are their own race, and as such they are not at the constant call of anyone.

3. If the eagles flew into Mordor carrying The One Ring/Frodo then the Nazgul would rip them apart.

Mostly though, I don't mind questions or weird statements about LOTR, as they just give me a further excuse to talk or while the day away with e-mail chains about my favourite topic.

[Nirvana II]

heres one my brother asked me the other day as we were watching RotK on Pay Per view:

If Sauron and Gandalf are equals (I told him about the Ainur), why doesn't Gandalf just kill Sauron?

[Saraphim]

Yeesh. In the amount of time I've spent trying to explain to people why Frodo couln't have been taken to Mt. Doom by eagles or horses, I could have taught myself Quenya, Sindarin, Kuzdul, Aduniac, Old English, and the Black Speech.

What really makes me want to smack people around with a flaming trout is the question: "What's so great about Lord of the Rings?"

[Nirvana II]

therin lies the unanswerable question.....and what is so great about LOTR...i sure dont know that...... and another.....Can Gandalf teleport?And if so why can't he take anyone with him?

[Gil-Galad]

theres a bunch of questions i can't remember...

[Gorwingel]

I have had people ask me questions like this, and usually I don't try to give them an explaination at all, because it makes it easier and it takes less time. I usually tell them to just go with the story, and to try not to think too much about the details. Because if they do that they usually will get it, and answer their own questions in time

[Boromir88]

Gorwingel, that's some good advice, I suggest the same thing. Soon I will be starting The Sil, for the first time, and first reading I'm just going to read it for pure enjoyment. I'm not going to spend too much time focusing on little details and getting all the names down, then when I start rereading it that's what I'll begin doing, focusing on the names, places...etc.

Nirvana,

therin lies the unanswerable question.....and what is so great about LOTR...i sure dont know that

That is definately unanswerable, it all depends upon the people's like and dislikes. I've seen fans who enjoy the story/plot, but slam Tolkien for his crappy writing. Personally, there are definately better writers out there then Tolkien, but his story was such a great one, and to me it seems very well written. The description he uses only brings you more into the story. There's some parts of Tolkien's writing that I would do different, for example add more round characters, theres only what I see 4-5 different round characters everyone else is pretty much flat. Denethor, Beregond, Faramir, Gollum, and possibly Boromir all come to mind (forgot about Saruman as well). The good parts too it, is the description, the "growth" of all the fellowship characters, from the start of the story, to the end, and as mentioned earlier an amazing plot/story. LOTR is one of the few fantasy books I have ever read, there were a few more written a while back, (name and author scip me at the moment) but it was a series and one of the books was called "Page" and it was about the tales of Krondor and everything. If anyone knows please help me out. Besides that those are the only fantasy books I've enjoyed. Which tells you, in my opinion, Tolkien is right up towards the top.

Can Gandalf teleport?And if so why can't he take anyone with him?

I haven't read any where that Gandalf could teleport (also so far I've only read The Hobbit and LOTR a zillion times). I would guess no, since there have been no records of Gandalf teleporting, but that doesn't mean that he actually couldn't have teleported. Yes, another unanswerable question, atleast to one who hasn't read all of Tolkien's work. For the question, why can't he take anyone with him? Same question as the eagle one, and a stupid one. If Gandalf actually was able to teleport, there would be a reason why he wouldn't take anyone with him I'm sure, maybe because only wizards could withstand the "teleport warp" I don't know lol.

I don't mind people who don't like LOTR, its all about what you prefer to read, it's the ones that come into rooms and forums and mock Tolkien fans that tick me off. I can't force everyone to like the stories but you can leave us in peace and let us discuss what we like, we'll leave you peace and let you discuss what you like. I'm one of those people that often uses the "I give you respect if you give me respect" saying.