I'd really like to track the intervention of Illuvatar and the Valar. What a neat idea DA! Afterward we could publish a book on all the stats we collect.
Illadria
The first time I read the books, I was very puzzled by the references made to things from the Silmarillion. I did not even know of its existence or what stories and legends it contained. It would like to track anything that deals with the ancient histories as told in the Silmarillion.
Stormrider
Illadria: Gee, I thought I had you pegged for the height and weight tracking! But, sure, your special concept to track can be the intervention of the Valar. You'll have a thread of your own called FotR: The Intervention of the Valar. Other people will be allowed to post comments to it, but you'll be responsible to keep track and post. Perhaps, boldface the references in your posts, for easy finding. If you have any questions, feel free to EM me.
Stormy: Wow! That is a great thing to track! References to Sil! You, too, will have your own thread. FotR: References to Silmarillion. And the same thing goes as with Illadria: people will be allowed to comment on these but, you'll be responsible to keep track and post.
DaleAnn
Our read through the Silmarillion heightened my awareness of prophesy in Tolkien's work, and I would like to track this idea through FOTR.
Prophesy is different from foreshadowing. Foreshadowing is the narrator or storyteller letting the reader (or listener) know in advance what is coming. The characters in the story know nothing about it. Prophesy is something the people in the story know about, though they do not know how it will be fulfilled - or if it will.
Going strictly from memory, I don't think that there is as much prophesy in LOTR as in Sil. But we'll find out!
Megan1
What I would like to track is the references to ancient history in FOTR that come from the Silmarillion and possibly the Lost Tales...These works sometimes seem to smooze and mesh together. However, my big question is: If we go into this now, will this be something that we will cover in your Mock History study coming up later? I don't want to mess with that study unless we just touch lightly on the references during this study.
Stormrider
i want to track the words FEAR and COWER and HIDE especially when they are talking about the Nazgul and their ability to strike fear in all life.
Shelob
Megn1: Great! You have Prophesy to track and I'll repeat myself again by saying that you have the responsibility to track it but others will be able to comment.
Stormy: Ok, we'll call yours References to ME History. And no, this will not interfere with The Mock History at all.
Shelob: Go for it! The words FEAR, COWER and HIDE are yours. Do you want a thread or will you keep track then post once (or once for each) like I will for the word DWINDLE?
We will, also be tracking the character development of some of the characters. So far, Glor has expressed an interest in Frodo, Jerseyshore in Sam and Stormrider in Pippin and Merry. Stormrider would like us all to be responsible for posting to the threads. I haven't heard back from Jerseyshore or Glor. I am ok with doing either way, but, I myself will not have time to be the one to keep the threads going. I'll create the threads, but from there I will need lots of help.
Also, are there any more characters we want to track the development of?
DA
As I mentioned to you in Chat recently, I would like to trace the word "HOPE", especially as it relates to Aragorn. I became aware of this while reading ROTK and have become very curious about how and when this word is used. Because I will be paying closer attention to Aragorn, I'd like to track a character development, too.
You've also got me hooked on "DWINDLE" and have encountered it three times so far. I wasn't looking for it. It just just jumped out at me. Very interesting.
Annie
I seem to see a similarity between tracking the word dwindle, and the theme Algamesh brought up of decline. Perhaps there is a correlation? Not sure though. Have to keep an eye out.
Fallohide
i'll look out for those words and themes i have taken on earlier, and put my *findings* in a thread somewhere appropriate at the end. it shouldn't be that long, as i noticed this theme is more prevalent in the later books, but might prove interesting still...
~Shelob
As I'm reading, the color grey seems to take on significance. One of protection? I'm not sure yet. Of course, when it's foggy and misty it's grey; no big revelation there! But what if, as happens during their stay at Tom Bombadil's home, the grey rain veiled the forest and delayed their departure -- maybe giving the Black Riders, who probably don't feel the rain, an extra day or more to get ahead of them and miss the companions altogether? Then there's Gandalf the Grey. Old Man Willow's thirst is grey. If memory serves, the cloaks given to the Fellowship by Galadriel that help camouflage them were also grey.
I'll take this one on, DA, but would be glad of any help :-)
Diana
Fallohide, are you still tracking "dwindling"? Once it was mentioned, I've been noting every time a form of "dwindle" comes up, but just that word. It comes up more often in TTT than in FotR. I think Algamesh's theme of Decline would encompass dwindling. I'm sorry I haven't been keeping tracking of that; it's central to the entire LotR saga.
Diana
Ok, at the risk of sounding silly… what I'd personally like to track is Legolas's 'aerial'/'ethereal' nature, how it contributes to his character, how it helps the Fellowship, how and when and why it clashes with Gimli's 'earthly' nature. Elves' bonds with nature are exceptionally strong (eg with trees, stars, sea etc.) - it fascinates me to see how well they fit in, how nature perceptibly reacts to them. I realize I shall have to go back a few chapters, but if you don't mind, I won't either…
PS By the way, it seems that the Fellowship can be divided into three groups ('high, middle and low'), each containing three characters, and each corresponding to an area of the (human) body – or so I have read in a book on symbolism in LotR. Perhaps it would be interesting to discuss this some time? DA, this is the book I told you about just before the FotR started
Pearl
Er - I meant, "FotR study". Sorry. Guess I got a little distracted by the trees and stars in the Elven music I'm listening to at the moment...
Pearl
Pearlbloom- that doesn't sound silly at all. Facinating! Particularly I think we could spend some more time discussing Legolas
Amarath - no, I'm afraid that I am falling behind with the study, and had atually forgotten about this theme! lol! sigh.... In any case, I would be interested in anything you've found along the lines of dwindle or decline. However, it seems you have a lot to track already so if you are busy, we could always come back to this later.
Fallohide
Amaranth and Fallohide, I am tracking the word dwindle, not as part of the theme decline, but it does have obvious connections. I have a very specific reason to track this word which will become apparent soon.
DA
