J.R.R Tolkien Documentary - On wraiths and the Ring

Interesting excerpt from a biographical Tolkien documentary. From the Special Extended DVD Edition of the LOTR films.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• tolkien
• documentary
• lord
• of
• the
• rings
• wraiths
• ring
• nazgul
• spiritual
• corruption
• power
• special
• extended
• edition
• dvd
• lotr

[Nihm420]

If folks watch this: watch?v=9SU8ZfA-wM4&feature=re­lated

You will know what the Ring was to Tolkien... no interpretations are necessary.

[PersianPaladin]

@Nihm420

Tom Shippey is in my video, and he is also in the video documentary that you have linked to. I think people can pick up information about LOTR from both (albeit there is a lot more content in the full documentary, of course).

[iheartchocolate198]

Please, people, refrain from assuming any allegories based on the text. Tolkien himself stated that he hated allegories, and tried to elude them as soon as he noticed them. It is also stated by the professor that the Lord of the Rings trilogy is "...neither allegorical nor topical." "The real war does not resemble the legendary war in its process or its conclusion". He didn't intend for the trilogy to be anything but a fairytale. Of course, it is much more to me, but do consider my words.

[PersianPaladin]

@iheartchocolate198

Tolkien did not like allegory, but he did allow room for "applicability" and therefore different people can interpret the film in different ways.

[iheartchocolate198]

@PersianPaladin Yes, of course. However, he hated it when people assumed the One Ring was a substitution for nuclear weapons, or Sauron a replacement for Hitler. By "applicability" he meant people interpreting the events as per their own lives.

[PersianPaladin]

@iheartchocolate198

Indeed. There are general themes that can be applied to certain aspects in Tolkien's creation - which allow for a large variety of personal interpretation, but also do have specific connotations to them.

[anlindale]

Philosophy professors can make their classes so much more interesting by using Tolkien's works.

[jakesbrain]

If I'm not mistaken, the gentleman in the red pullover is Tom Shippey, who's written two EXCELLENT books on Tolkien. His mini-lecture about Wraiths is right out of the pages of his "The Road to Middle-earth".

[andrewdrury1]

Let me just listen to a guy who calls Sauron Soron

[octoberfire13]

THE FAT CATS ON WALL STREET = WRAITHS OF 2011

[firax456]

huh?

[Nihm420]

@PersianPaladin

Oh don't mistake me... I love this clip - this was more of a response to the person who thought the ring was symbolic for porn or sumsuch... I love what Tom Shippey said here, in fact I think he was speaking more about the nazghul and how the ring twisted people... and less on what the ring meant to Tolkien.:)