Jareena Faye Posted June 25, 2004 Report Share Posted June 25, 2004 "I like going south. For some reason, it feels like going downhill." -Treebeard Okay, I know it doesn't technically make sense, because that would defy gravity. Also, you would have to be in the northern hemisphere. But... When does fantasy have to make sense, hmm? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Degenero Angelus Posted June 25, 2004 Report Share Posted June 25, 2004 (edited) Middle Earth (and by Middle Earth you mean Arda, Middle Earth was just a continent) was flat, until Ilúvatar sunk Númenor and made it round, removing Aman from the world. Edited June 25, 2004 by Degenero Angelus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaeha Posted June 25, 2004 Report Share Posted June 25, 2004 I haven't read much Tolkien, honestly. I read the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings, and decided that he was too dry and longwinded for me. I'll take Modesitt or Goodkind over Tolkien any day. (I'd take Dr. Seuss, for that matter. ) I'd always just assumed that that world was round because the standard laws of physics seemed to apply. *Confused look* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zadown Posted June 25, 2004 Report Share Posted June 25, 2004 I thought it was the other way around, Deg - that Arda was flat until the sundering of Númenor, at which point they moved the Undying Lands outside the world and made the rest of it a sphere. Some of Tolkien's talk in prologue and elsewhere seem to mean this was all the history of our world, from the times magic was real, and it's now all gone and only men remain. Too lazy to actually reach 10 ft and read my Silmarillion, tho. Or, well, perhaps not that lazy ... "It was that great mariners among them would still search the empty seas, hoping to come to the Isle of Meneltarma, and there to see a vision of things that were. But they found it not. And those that sailed far came only to the new lands, and found them like the old lands, and subject to death. And those that sailed furthest set but a girdle about the Earth and returned weary at last to the place of their begining; and they said: 'All roads are now bent.'" -Silmarillion, the last page of Akallabêth, J.R.R.Tolkien ... so, yeah, I was right. Nyah nyah! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zadown Posted June 25, 2004 Report Share Posted June 25, 2004 Sheesh, ye editted yer post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Big Pointy One Posted June 25, 2004 Report Share Posted June 25, 2004 Middle Earth (and by Middle Earth you mean Arda, Middle Earth was just a continent) was flat, until Ilúvatar sunk Númenor and made it round, removing Aman from the world. Which man did they remove? ;p *ducks the inevitable projectiles* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jareena Faye Posted June 25, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2004 Haha, okay, you guys' geek moments beat mine. I guess I should get around to finishing Silmarillion, eh? (Or picking it back up, for that matter.) I just can't believe that I missed that joke considering how many times I've watched Two Towers. That was just such a funny revelation, an unexpected bit of physics in a surreal world. Even though, like I said, the physics are flawed... I read the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings, and decided that he was too dry and longwinded for me. *whisper* C. S. Lewis! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaeha Posted June 26, 2004 Report Share Posted June 26, 2004 Nah... I read Narnia and the Screwtape letters, and it was interesting. But he's too short and simplistic. I don't dislike long books (On the contrary, my two favorite series both average out to about 600-700 pages per book -- both series being at least 8 books long. And I've avoided Robert Jordan like the plague) It's just that I want 600-700 pages of plot, and character development, and stuff happening. Not 600 pages of description, 60 pages of plot, and 40 pages of epilogue to hide the fact that there's no character development. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Degenero Angelus Posted June 26, 2004 Report Share Posted June 26, 2004 I edited my post way before you even posted, Z, look at the timestamps Alaeha: Goodkind? And you had a problem with Tolkien being dry? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gyrfalcon Posted June 26, 2004 Report Share Posted June 26, 2004 Oh no, Goodkind isn't dry, in fact he's sort of sticky from all the blood his books wade through. o_O He has an absolute fascination with cutting people into bits and describing what spills out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zadown Posted June 26, 2004 Report Share Posted June 26, 2004 I edited my post way before you even posted, Z, look at the timestamps You edited yer post after I started posting but before I had finished posting. It took a few minutes to browse through Silmarillion etc. Why would've I posted what I did otherwise? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Degenero Angelus Posted June 26, 2004 Report Share Posted June 26, 2004 I can't tolerate Goodkind. He bores me beyond comprehension. Z: Oh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griever Posted June 26, 2004 Report Share Posted June 26, 2004 (edited) I always wondered, what exactly middle earth was in the middle of?... can any one answer me that Edited June 26, 2004 by Griever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peredhil Posted June 26, 2004 Report Share Posted June 26, 2004 Your answer can be found at a wonderful Middle Earth reference site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gyrfalcon Posted June 27, 2004 Report Share Posted June 27, 2004 I think I'll get out of Goodkind's series, though I stuck through eight books. Like most series, the first few were the best, and then it swiftly went downhill. In the previous two books (SPOILERS!) There has been NO plot development of any sort. Even most of the characters introduced in the book before the most recent disappeared, either dead or left behind. I hate it when an author costs sideways rather then continues the story.(END SPOILERS!) Yeah, sorry for the divergence from Middle Earth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jareena Faye Posted June 27, 2004 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2004 Actually... yeah, that's the thing. Like you said, and like Aleaha said, Tolkein's kinda long and drawn-out. Not much character development to speak of, really--- at least not in the way we like to think. One might say it was too much of a good thing. Tolkein just had a lot of ideas. A VERY elaborate world, which is what most people respect about him. He just had so much of an elaborate world that it was hard to find room for the characters, without stretching it on and on and on. Just think. If he'd taken it slow and told the story in a Harry Potter sort of way, we probably wouldn't only have Silmarillion unfinished--- the trilogy would be, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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