FotR Book 2 Chapter 7 Reactions

Jul 22, 2020 20:45

So it's been 38 years since Aragorn's last visit to Lothlorien? I initially misheard that and reversed the number and my eyes bugged out a little. Even though I think 83 years would still be possible within his total age.

I absolutely love Galadriel's interaction with Gimli. He comes before her all surly and with his back up because of all the species profiling he's had to endure, no matter how Aragorn's decree that the whole party go blindfold evened the playing field. And then she speaks to him fairly and uses Dwarven words for Dwarven places, and then he melts immediately. Gimli is an absolute sweetheart.

Boromir's reaction is kinda tragic. He must not have liked what he saw or felt when she was looking into his soul, if he was so quick to suspect her of nefarious purposes. (That might be too obvious to really be worth mentioning, but of all the Fellowship, he stood out to me more than anyone but Gimli.)

Pippin teasing Sam for blushing makes me wonder what Pippin saw himself, because I do believe Sam that he only blushed because he felt naked the way she was staring into him like that.

It looks like every part of the journey is longer in the book. In the movie it never seems like they're in any one location for long, but they've spent days in Lothlorien? Quite a nice reprieve after Moria. The song Frodo composes in tribute to Gandalf is easily my favorite of the songs so far. Apparently when they were doing the audiobook, they tried to make the songs sound like actual medieval songs. Maybe that's not my genre most of the time, but I love the tune they picked for this one.

Galadriel is an excellent mysterious figure. I think the movie does a pretty good job of capturing how difficult she is to pin down. Benevolent and wise, but definitely dangerous and alien. Now if only Cate Blanchett had been able to speak at a non-glacial pace while playing her. (That's gonna be my sticking point on the elf portrayals forever.) She shows up just when Frodo and Sam are talking of her, kinda like Goldberry, which is cool. She has a bit of philosopher to her that is more in the book than the movie. Not sure "philosopher" is exactly the word I'm after, but she's more measured and talks through things. (I get that there has to be a certain economy of phrasing in film dialogue, so I wouldn't necessarily call that a flaw of the movie, but it does prevent this layer of her character from coming through quite so clearly.) I especially like the way she treats Frodo and Sam basically as equals, with the only disparity being that Frodo is the Ring-Bearer. They both get to look in the pool, and she doesn't ignore Sam while conversing with Frodo, even when the topic turns to the rings! She's very fair to everyone who comes before her, it seems. And we're getting more lore about being a Ring-Bearer too. I totally forgot that Nenya wouldn't be visible to anyone but Frodo. That's fascinating, and it definitely raises the stakes.

fotr book 2 ch vii, lord of the rings, lotr reread, fellowship of the ring

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