Thread: Lord of the Rings and the Wisdom of Samwise Gamgee

Frodo: I can't do this Sam.

Sam: I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.

Frodo: What are we holding on to Sam?

Sam: That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for.

That was a great part of the movie. As Samwise spoke those words, the same analogy ran across my mind. Great posting, W.

I'm watching the trilogy again and I've just finished the first two films. I saw each movie twice in the theater. It was very nice for me to actually have films coming out each December that I was truly excited to see.

When I was about 12 years old I became an avid reader. The first works I read on my own were the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, Watership Down, and the Hobbit / Lord of the Rings Trilogy by JRR Tolkien.

I've read the four books Hobbit+Trilogy about 4 times through in my life.

This recent viewing of the films one after another has been very important to me. Rockfish and I have both noticed that the films are full of very applicable quoates and analogies to our situation.

Here's a good quote for our next Troll.

Gandalf: [To Grima] Be silent. And keep your forked tongue behind your teeth. I did not pass through fire and death to bandy crooked words with a witless worm.

I haven't seen the last film of the trilogy even though I own all three on DVD. Its been sitting on my coffee table for about a year waiting for me to get around to watch it. I almost never go to a theater to watch a movie, and wait until it gets released to the home movie market. Which version of the film you like best William? The extended or theatrical cut?

I've never seen the movies but I LOVE the quote you cited for the next troll!! I will write it down and keep on hand!

Brian,

I like both versions since I grew up on the books. If you have not read the books, I would recommend starting off on the theatrical version since the movies are long as it is.

Even without the extra footage, I think each move is around 2.5-3 hours long.

W

I got the 4 disc extended versions of all three films of the Lord of the Rings. I'm a sucker when it comes all the supplemental and extra materials that are released with many of the movies today. Probably the one reason I haven't watched the last film in the trilogy is because it is very time consuming to get through the movie and all of the extras on the DVD. I'm going to make it a priority to view it before the end of the year.

Why do y'all want to force yourself to watch movies that seem to be such a CHORE???!!!!! I bet y'all LOVE Star Trek like both of my sons!!!

Star Trek rules!

I FIGGERED!!!!!!! MEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!