Favorite Lord of the Rings character? (book or movie)
 

personally i like the nazgul as they are basically invincible and everyone is scared out of their skin by them but as they are bad guys i usually say my fave is legolas

Smeagol, or I think that's what his name is. He's just so odd, and I'm usually drawn to odd characters the most in any franchise. The heroes are okay, but they seem run of the mill. I sometimes choose Legolas too, but that's just my fangirl side kicking in.

I love all of the elves, including Legolas. Also, the ring wraiths are very awesome. <3

Well, I've yet to read the series, but based on the movie, I'm really fond of Sam. <3 He's such a good friend to Frodo even when he's "PMSing" and whatnot. ;D

Well, in the books, it's definitely Glorfindel. Don't ask why; I just love elves, and he's the bestest.

I also really love Eowyn, but I hate how whiny they made her in The Two Towers movie. She got better in The Return of the King, but still pretty whiny until the end. She was just awesome in the books, though.

Clarise, I know what you mean. The Eowyn of the movies is terrible. I think in the movies, she'd have to be my least favourite character.

In the movies I really love Eomer, just because he's really badass. I don't really know what it is about him that rocks so much, but I love him. His helmet is amazing, and his beard just rocks.

Books, my favourite is Tom Bombadil, because he just makes no sense. I never figured him out, so he's fascinating.

Hmm... Well this belongs in either the Books or Media forum, since it's about a book or movie.

I think I'm going to move it to Media for now.

sorry Sizzla i have fouled up ;) anyway...i didnt really get into the rohan people very much...i frankly prefer the elves over the other races but rohan seemed a bit backwater compared to Gondor or Numenor

and really i think Sam was probably one of the best heroes of the book because unlike aragorn or legolas or gimli he wasn't a warrior but he followed his best friend into hell because he loved him like a brother

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@ Clarise yeah Glorfindel was pretty awesome i just wish he had more page time because apparently he was so powerful that the nazgul were terrified of him and i feel that like most elves he has class and manners above and beyond the class of men and others

Everyone always says Rohan is so much more backward than Gondor. I think they're just different. I mean, they have all the same technology and such, they're just nomadic.

i mean i can see your point but...they were taken down by a slimeball and a quick tongued man whereas gondor held out for centuries against sauron's might...oh btw just an interesting question here

why is the ring such a huge temptation? all it really does is make you invisible and call sauron to where you're at so what is the huge thing about it that makes everyone want it?

Because that's not "all it really does"

Yeah, it does a lot more than that, just that's the obvious stuff. It actually like, affects your mind. You know in the movie how they sort of refer to the ring as a person, like in how it chooses where it wants to go and such? Take Gollum. It influenced him to kill his friend to get the Ring. Gollum was a dick, but not enough to kill his friend. Then when he loses the ring he has that whole obsessive withdrawal thing.

As to Rohan, Theoden was possessed by Saruman, not just influenced by Wormtongue. And the only reason he was so easily influenced was that Saruman had always been Rohan's friend, until the Sauron fucked him up through the seeing stone in Orthanc.

My favourite character... hmmm... I know! that girl from rohan! The one who likes aragorn and who's name I can never remember. Anyway, she has the awesome "I am No Man!" quote :)

All of this is a movie invention. In the book Grima was an agent of Saruman, but Saruman played no part whatsoever in his leechcraft. Grima bent the King's will to Saruman's purpose, but not through any wizardry on his behalf. Simply through whispered words, bad council and probably drugs.

Also, Sauron did nothing to Saruman "through the seeing stone." Saruman's machinations from well before the first word of the LotR books was to find the one ring for himself. He simply saw that the best way to do this was to tell Sauron he was seeking it on his behalf, so that Sauron wouldn't concentrate so hard on finding it himself. Saruman was the one who was well studied in ring lore, he knew that Isildur lost the ring in the river after the attack at Gladden Fields and was looking there for it, hoping that it hadn't washed down to the sea and become lost forever. He then also found out through Gandalf's counsel, after the fact, that the ring went to Gollum, then Bilbo, and on to Frodo, hence why he moved the orcs (and wolf riders) of Isengard against them after Elrond and Gandalf managed to take the Nine out of the picture at the fords of Isen. He decided wrongly that the of two halflings the Rohirrim had rescued, one of them had the ring, so he marshalled all of Isengard against the Hornburg to get them back.

I've digressed substantially, but the main point is that Saruman was always out for his own ends. He wanted the ring in order to challenge the Dark Lord, not to join him.

If you're up for a little light reading that will help you bridge the gap between the books and movies, the Encyclopedia of Arda (great resource) has put up what they call the "movie goers guide" to the books.
Fellowship of the Ring
The Two Towers
The Return of the King

well even people who never even touched the ring just lust after it and i dont know why i mean can the ring reach out and touch people's minds or...anyway everybody says it has great power and could be used as a mighty weapon but for anyone other than sauron it just bends the mind makes you invisible and makes it so that sauron knows exactly where you are

I bow before a superior intellect. D: I wish I knew as much about Lord of the Rings as I want to and you do.

Favorite Character is Aragorn, always has been and always will be. I also love the elves.

Hermes- as well you should!!! for i am Morchant the ringwraith fanboy!!!!
Lixlaria-why so? please elaborate...i mean aragorn i know why you love the elves cause they are just awesome that way

I always loved "Ranger" type characters. I believe that Tolkein wrote him well. He is the strong, kindhearted, and brave. honestly if you think about it at first he was like a teenager running away from his problems, being as he left his kingdom and wasn't going to claim the throne, and then he does a 180 and ends up as king. I also think he gets some great lines. Can't put into words all my thoughts....

You could probably make a strong case that Aragorn is the major protagonist of the books. The prevailing theme seems to be the waning of the Elves and the beginning of the age of men, vis-a-vis the return of the king.

I always felt like the theme of the decline of the elves and the rise of men was more of an extremely important undertone/backdrop to the story of Frodo and the ring etc, but then again, there are entire sections of the stories that don't involve the ring directly at all. Lord of the Rings doesn't have a real main character I guess.

I suppose it comes primarily down to one's own personal interpretation of the material (which is why books rock) but in my own opinion, Frodo's quest was a backdrop for the ascension of the King and the prelude to the fourth age. If Aragorn hadn't personally, directly intervened at a few key points (revealing himself in the palantir and marching on Morannon spring immediately to mind) the ring wouldn't even have come close to Orodruin.

Another perfectly good interpretation, however, could be that when the chips are down, you can look to the least likely candidate to save the day. After all, the elves wanted nothing to do with the One Ring, the Dwarves would've horded it and Men would've attempted to use it and failed, so the largest task went to the smallest people. I personally don't jive with this interpretation simply because that was, part and parcel, the entire point of The Hobbit.

I just don't think that Lord of the Rings is one thing. If it was, it would be a lot shorter, and it would be one part not like 7. =P
To me, Lord of the Rings is the real like, definition and first exploration of the world Tolkein created. Middle Earth is the most defined literary world I've ever heard of, and Tolkein is brilliant for creating it. It's just got so much to it, and I think Lord of the Rings is the explanation of a certain part of that world and its history. Lots of parts, lots of important parts.
Come to think of it, it's almost like a history. The most in depth and realest history.

Obviously it's a many themed work, I was simply discussing the main (or perhaps central would be more accurate) theme.

Also, all of the Middle Earth books are written as history. Personal accounts of history, but history nonetheless. The Lord of the Rings is only a very small portion of the Third Age of Middle Earth, as told from Frodo's perspective. The Hobbit is also a very small (earlier) part, told from the perspective of Bilbo. The book that we call The Silmarillion is made up of lays, tales and songs that Bilbo translated/transcribed while he lived in Rivendell between when he left the Shire on his 111th birthday until he went into the west with Gandalf (and Shadowfax), Elrond, Galadriel and Frodo.

Originally all of those tales were bound together (with others) and is referred to as the Red Book of Westmarch.