Spyke
lemmy.world

He's obviously fibbing, if he read it he would know that Gollum destroys The Ring.

52

Eru.

He doesn't like to intervene, but between a few things like Gandalf being sent back and the oops he gave to the finale, he was like...okay, free will and whatever but the song needs to progress to the next movement. We can't keep repeating this.

19
lemmy.world

Frodo carried it all the way there. Frodo spared Gollum’s life when he wanted sooo bad to kill him instead. He had remembered Gandalf’s words: “it was pity that stayed Bilbo’s hand.” It was Frodo’s mercy in sparing Gollum’s life that destroyed the ring. Had he chosen to kill Gollum then the ring would’ve survived and the cycle of violence would’ve continued.

Frodo was a hero not only because he was courageous in the face of overwhelming odds. He was a hero because he was merciful. By sparing Gollum’s life, he never allowed himself to be tainted by the ring’s dark logic: that ends always justify means.

10
Delta_Vreply
lemmy.world

its still probably a mistake to be merciful to those who want to hurt you, on the off chance that the way they hurt you might end up bypassing the defenses of some cosmic horror

2
lemmy.world

That sort of thinking is why we have people like Putin in this world. If you want to build a peaceful society you’re going to have to take risks and trust people without all the information.

Everyone for themselves bunker mentality is the way of the jungle, not civilization.

2
bainesreply
lemmy.cafe

please don’t mix up fiction and reality

game theory and human nature studies show reality shits on constantly turning the other cheek

2
lemmy.world

Tolkien’s lesson was not “turn the other cheek every time.” By all means, restrain Gollum from hurting you. Drive him away and ostracize him. But to justify killing him is a different matter entirely.

2
bainesreply
lemmy.cafe

putting golem in solitary isn't a mercy

you just took his most precious possession, he’s not exactly going to stop coming after you and in real life he doesn't instead decide to help you and kill himself

stories like this are important as they inspire better behavior but making decisions like this should be done with a clear understanding you’re gonna fuck yourself

1

I didn’t say anything about solitary! Don’t put words in my mouth.

We as a society have laws. People who break those laws go to jail. This functions as a method of restraining them from harming us. We could decide to just kill them instead!

But we don’t!

And of course I feel the need to remind you that my original point was in regards to Frodo’s status as a hero. Most people aren’t heroes and never will be. Tolkien believed that society needs heroes to look up to for moral guidance.

At the same time, he was redefining what it means to be a hero. He believed that the old idea of a hero, one who seeks glory and honour, was a bad ideal. In response he created the modern ideal of a reluctant hero who is selfless, not glory-seeking.

1
lemmy.ca

All he has to do is whisper to a moth and the eagles would have helped with that

9

My favorite part is when Eowyn feeds 5000 people at helms deep with just one bowl of bad fish soup.

34

Depends how good a signer they are when reading... It may also be the worst part of the book 😵

1
lemm.ee

Thanks. Not sure they would have gotten the joke without the correction. Your a gym.

0

Oh wow, an unironic "thanks" for this. I legitimately couldn't work out what "gym" was supposed to mean.

2

You also have an edit function at your disposal in case you wish to make it easier to recognize for further readers.

3
fedia.io

"Have you ever read the Greatest Story Ever Told?"

Not all of the additional ones or all the appendixes, but yes, the main parts.

Reminded me of a post I read long ago talking about the Greatest Story line that is often used for the Bible. "THIS??? THIS is the greatest story ever told? WTF?" It's really not that great overall. Quotable, sure...but the plot and characters suck.

16

"Have you ever read the Greatest Story Ever Told?"

Yes, and the (old) Bible's authors have too (Gilgamesh and Atrahasis Epics).

4
lemmy.world

Btw, I'm currently reading The Hobbit to my 5yo before bed and she fucking loves it.

Now she want a Smaug teddy... If anyone have this somewhere, I'm interested.

10
Gloomyreply
mander.xyz

You can get pattern for making a plush smaug yourself of etsy for relative little money. If you don't know how to use it you might have somebody in your social circle who could help you out.

Generic plush dragons should be easy to find in the Internet, I saw at least ons of Amazon (tough there hopefully are better options).

5

When I was a child (5ish) my mum and I sewed a little dragon plush together. It was too cute to be smaug and I hadn't read the Hobbit yet but I love it. Making it was fun too, I have no idea how my mum figured it all out. The suggestion I saw with a pattern seems good but I also wanted to add that for me personally being involved in making my cuddly toy was great and if your child is interested in sewing or just generally being creative (which seems likely) that could be a great experience for your child.

4
lemmy.world

I don't remember reading about this in the Toki Pona book.

9

That's a really weird way of spelling The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

(I should learn toki pona so I could at least translate the holy book's title)

4
shokireply
lemmy.world

I liked the part where the one jan soweli unpa'd the other jan soweli more

4

tawa is being used as a preposition, not as an adjective. Like in "jan soweli li pona tawa mi"

also, the "a" right after is toki Inli, not toki pona

1
Zorquereply
lemmy.world

Nah, that's Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe

17

You reached the end