On Wed, Nov 7, 2012 at 6:54 PM, Wayne Morrison <tewok@storm-monkeys.com> wrote:
It makes for a great sequence in which the Trolls are perfectly comprehensible characters. One could argue whether Tolkien giving them Cockney accents was a way of putting down the poor of his time, or whether it was meant to make us sympathise with the trolls . . . just poor working blokes out of the hills looking for something that isn't mutton to eat.
In Tolkien's sources--the Elder Edda, I believe, though it's been a while--Gandalf was a dwarf's name, so in the first drafts he may actually have been a dwarf, not a wizard at all.
I'm re-reading The Hobbit. It's been a looong time since I last read it.
I don't remember when, but it was many years prior to the Jackson LotR.
I've only gotten as far as The Gang getting to the goblin cave and there
are few things that have struck me so far.
- Most books with trolls would name them things like Shnurnk, Waggfrump,
and Grfnozul. JRRT avoided the obvious and named his trolls William,
Bert, and Tom. I think those are fantastic names for trolls.
It makes for a great sequence in which the Trolls are perfectly comprehensible characters. One could argue whether Tolkien giving them Cockney accents was a way of putting down the poor of his time, or whether it was meant to make us sympathise with the trolls . . . just poor working blokes out of the hills looking for something that isn't mutton to eat.
- Gandalf doesn't seem to be as knowledgable as in LotR. He also seems to
be a bit more of a comical character than he becomes in the later books.
In Tolkien's sources--the Elder Edda, I believe, though it's been a while--Gandalf was a dwarf's name, so in the first drafts he may actually have been a dwarf, not a wizard at all.
- There seems to be a slight implication that Elrond isn't an elf.
- The elves themselves give a different impression than in LotR -- less
serious and more like happy hippies.
These are definitely kids' elves, not the epic warriors that we meet later. But then, the Hobbits are really just glorified kids at this point.
Those are just some impressions, maybe things will change as it goes along.
Wayne
It does get a lot darker, and Gandalf shows hidden depths by the end.
Randall (this *is*, though, the book that has led to millions of people misspelling the plural of "dwarf")
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