Why Lord of the Rings is Still The GOAT w/ Bill Donaghy

[@cehson]

Lotr was part of my conversion from deep atheism to christianity. I love the story so much. :)

[@accountsofsolon7598]

My best friend got me into Tolkien. Fell in love Being kiwis we were stoked movies would be filmed in & NZ and by our fav director Peter Jackson. Sadly passed away in 2020, leaving loving wife & 2 small kids. LOTR will always remind me of our nearly 30 years of friendship. He was as loyal & protective as Samwise Gamgee Miss you bro 😢

[@sarahbreisch4750]

I just re-read the Silmarillion after about a 25 year gap. Things that seemed unreachably complex, unimportant, or just too mystical when I was a 15 year old girl now felt familiar, engrossing, and touched with the bittersweet joy that marks the passing of each day of this brief life. As a 40 year old mother of 8, I felt pity and fear for Feanor's immense ingenuity and his equally immense pride. I felt the magnitude of Fingolfin's passing, and sobbed as his broken body was saved from further desecration. I was horrified at the words of Eol, "Let the bird go back to her cage, where she will sicken again", words that were dripping with the poison of an angry, jealous husband. And what a terrible end to that marriage, and legacy of treachery and despair that Eol's handiwork left in the life of twice-cursed Turin. And this is just the literal level of the stories. The overarching themes I see, are of the compounded consequences of each choice made in every moment. Because so many of the consequences are terrible at one time or another, it might seem easy to give in to despair or bitterness or grief. But the other theme, is of the eternal idea or music of Illuvitar under all things, and bringing all things ultimately to the end He intended. Good stuff for a parent to read.

[@petergreen8477]

One of my schoolteachers was a close friend of Lewis and Tolkien and managed to get an audio recording of Tolkien reading an extract from _The Lord of the Rings_ before Tolkien had finished writing it.

[@LadySilmarien]

I first read LOTR in High School. At 23 I began reading LORT every summer. I will be on my 44th reading summer 2023. That quote you were looking for is “ Behold. We are not bound forever to the circles of the world and beyond them is more than memory. Farewell.”

[@gmansard641]

First read Lord of the Rings when I was 16, was so engrossed that I tore through it in less that 2 weeks. Missed a few things. Then read The Silmarillion and thought "what?" A few months later tried The Silmarillion again, deliberately went slow, looked up every name I didn't recognize (every character has 5-6 names), ended up taking longer than when I first read Lord of the Rings. I loved it! This was where my deeper love of Tolkien started. I then re-read Lord of the Rings and was amazed at all I had missed the first time. The depth and complexity of Tolkien's world still astound me, 40 years later.

[@sueannevangalen5186]

I've heard it said that when we get to heaven, when we meet our guardian for the first time, our angel will tell us its name, and then we'll discover that we already knew its name -- we'll find that we knew it all along. The Lord of the Rings is the one fiction reading experience I've had where I've had that overwhelming sense of "discovering what I already know." ....but I know what you mean, reading it was WORK the first time 😊

[@lumpichu]

I started reading Tolkien with Silmarillion, it was in my teens (because we got both The Fellowship of the Ring and Silmarillion at the same time and my brother chose LOTR). Never regretted it. I was totally fascinated. It so reminded me of the Bible (even when I knew it only a little back then). My brain couldn't keep with the characters and history and details (the same like I struggle with it in the Bible today) but it didn't bother me.

[@dutchmansmine9053]

Glad to know I'm not the only one who was overwhelmed. I probably read it the first time when i was about ten, often taking breaks for a bit, but did get through it eventually, reading the appendices and then going on to the silmarilion which was a much tougher read. I actually found it harder to read the second time during my early teens, however I look forward reading it a third time when I get my own copies.

[@maryellenrose1764]

Our son read the whole thing in fifth grade. He did three book reports and the teacher would only give him credit for one. What a jerk

[@michaelkelleypoetry]

Well, Tolkien himself considered it as one book. It was only split into three books because of paper costs; it would have been so expensive the publisher didn't know if many people would be willing to pay the higher price tag. Tolkien even had to scramble to think up three titles for the volumes, and he ended up liking the title "The Fellowship of the Ring", he thought "Return of the King" gave too much away, and thought "The Two Towers" was too ambiguous, there being about six towers in the book.

[@apowave]

I bought the 4k release right when it came out.

[@victorhugo-nr6xp]

"...destroy their brains on tiktok or youtube." Me, watching him on youtube: 🤔🙁

[@sebastianofmilan]

Kek

[@irisgonzalez-caulder9352]

Victor Hugo you think he was talking about religious audios - videos on KZbin ?

[@victorhugo-nr6xp]

@@irisgonzalez-caulder9352 too much of youtube is bad. Nothing beats reading or listening to audiobooks. It's not just the content that affects your brain but the social engineering behind, like the dopamine inducing scroller feed.

[@irisgonzalez-caulder9352]

Victor Hugo to much of KZbin isn't bad, unless I sit down and look at the videos. I L I S T E N to KZbin audios your interpretation ? of " audiobooks " definitely my interpretation of audiobooks while doing other things. Victor Huge, I didn't know you are God and could read and know hearts and minds of folks and if content of KZbin effects'em since you know my heart and mind you tHEN🐔-could think feel - speak on my behalf go on engineering. And the dough famine ⭐'s in 2005 to this day 2022 unknown to my mom and I. Information is in this case kept from the ones paying from 2005 unknown to my mom and I is the power their power kept from us quite a winning combination

[@holographic_studios]

I always find it funny when Matt says “kids today who are destroying their minds on KZbin” when I’m on KZbin right now

[@rc3088]

Thank you

[@michaelkelleypoetry]

Dang, Matt stumbled on Lord of the Rings when he was only 2-years-old? Wow.

[@folofus4815]

So true!!!

[@StFrancis9]

I’m 39 too!!!!

[@CranyumHipHop]

I read LOTR first time at 15 and I’ve read its entirety 8 times over! Tolkien and Jesus Nerd

[@williamgragilla7007]

I know this might be a minority opinion, but I agree. I’m not ignorant of the scale of what I’m saying, I’ve read the Brothers Karamazov, War & Peace, A Tale of Two Cities, The Grapes of Wrath, Voltaire, and Hundreds of others. I would like to think mine is an informed opinion. If all you know about Tolkien is the movies and you know nothing of the man’s personal / professional life nor read the Silmarillion, the breadth of Tolkien’s accomplishment is missed. He just might be the greatest writer that’s ever lived. Before you heartily disagree, read Silmarillion.

[@beck320]

is it just me or is the audio kind of harsh with this one?

[@bumbleybumbleton9382]

Thinks it's just you, sounds fine to me.

[@JosephandIsaiah]

Yea there’s a noise sounds like an ac or rain in the background but it’s not too bad

[@beck320]

@@bumbleybumbleton9382 yeah I gotta fix my sound settings!

[@thewrightguy8367]

LOTR and Hobbit trilogy’s are on Amazon Prime if anyone is interested

[@t8br00k36]

What’s the GOAT

[@Irishcowboywarrior]

Greatest of all time

[@t8br00k36]

@@Irishcowboywarrior thanks 🙂

[@geneticsmatter3834]

Why do so many in this community seem to think that diversity is our greatest strength?

[@rc3088]

What community? Diversity is NOT our strength. It's a mental issue on the left and maybe a few on the right.

[@substance-m7u-boredigger]

More importantly, why does this comment have 4 upvotes. Do better people

[@peterwebb8732]

It’s a lie, told by people who - when tested - don’t really believe it... and believed by people who have never thought about it. The same people absolutely hate diversity of thought.

[@substance-m7u-boredigger]

@@peterwebb8732 Slavery is good, then?

[@substance-m7u-boredigger]

What community???

[@peterwebb8732]

It is a magnificent piece of writing. I have read it several times and will do so again - or listen to it - but I will not be watching those useless movies again. Tolkien knew and respected fighting men... Jackson, not so much.

[@gmansard641]

It's good to see JRRT getting recognition from at least some academic circles. When I went off to university 40 years ago I was appalled at the disdain some professors had for him. Yet I maintain, who has brought more joy to more readers, Tolkien or James Joyce? Who else has evoked more emotion through such moments as the death of Turin, or Sam's resolve to enter Mordor alone, thinking Frodo dead? And respect for the fighting man, my favorite moment of persistence in the face of despair is Hurin's last stand. Day shall come again!

[@substance-m7u-boredigger]

Tolkien was an Anarchist, guys. And if you want to truly apprieciate his work you should also read the Silmarillion at the very least.

[@folofus4815]

He was not an anarchist Lol dude supported Franco against the anarchists in the Spanish civil war

[@substance-m7u-boredigger]

@@folofus4815 From a letter to Christopher in 1943: "My political opinions lean more and more to Anarchy (philosophically understood, meaning abolition of control not whiskered men with bombs) - or to ‘unconstitutional’ Monarchy. I would arrest anybody who uses the word State (in any sense other than the inanimate realm of England and its inhabitants, a thing that has neither power, rights nor mind); and after a chance of recantation, execute them if they remained obstinate! If we could get back to personal names, it would do a lot of good. Government is an abstract noun meaning the art and process of governing and it should be an offence to write it with a capital G or so as to refer to people."

[@substance-m7u-boredigger]

@@folofus4815 Tolkien only voiced support for the Nationalists upon hearing that Soviet-trained Republican death squads were destroying churches and murdering large numbers of priests and nuns.

[@peterwebb8732]

In the same letter that JRRT called himself an “anarchist”, he also wrote that he would support a King. Taking all of his writings on the subject into consideration, it seems most likely that he was referring to a King like Alfred, serving the people and restrained by custom, tradition and his own good nature.... but a King, nevertheless. The Sil is not a political treatise, other than in the “put not your faith in Kings” sense. No matter how brave and brilliant they are, they are inevitably fallible. Contrast that with his ideal, The Shire, in which order (hardly an anarchist concept) is restored by the people acting together with leaders devoid of ambition. His wife said that he was a Conservative.

[@substance-m7u-boredigger]

​@@peterwebb8732 Agree to disagree

[@thegameisforeveryone3539]

The Shawshank Redemption > Every other movies

[@marcuscaballarius2159]

Great movie, but not on the same level as LOTR.