Happy Birthday, J. R. R. Tolkien

[filkertom]

On this date in 1892.

Been awhile since we discussed it, so: What are some of your favorite scenes from any of the books, or any of the various media adaptations? Yeah, I know, I know. I could just say "pretty much everything" and not be far off. But:

• In The Hobbit, I really love:
  • the dwarven-song at The Unexpected Party, especially in Nicol Williamson's incredible reading
  • Gandalf tricking the trolls
  • Every version of the Riddle Game
  • The goblin attack, with "Fifteen Birds In Five Bird-Trees", in the Rankin-Bass animated adaptation
  • Bilbo rescuing the dwarves from the Mirkwood spiders
  • the death of Thorin and the aftermath of the Battle of the Five Armies
  • And I've always had a very specific welcome party scene in my head when they get to Rivendell "and [find] its doors flung wide."
• And in The Lord of the Rings:
  • That one beautiful, beautiful shot in the movie, the first time we see Bag End -- I was holding my breath for that one, the same way we all did in The Princess Bride hoping they didn't screw up the fight on the Cliffs of Insanity, and when I saw that lovely hill with the beautiful bright green door, I started crying with relief and pleasure
  • The one plot point I truly feel the Peter Jackson movies seriously improved -- Gandalf didn't wait seventeen years before figuring out that Bilbo's ring, now given to Frodo, was indeed Sauron's Ring of Power -- he hied his ass to Minas Tirith, pulled an all-nighter, and got back to Frodo as quickly as possible
  • Again, in the movie, the reunion of Frodo and Bilbo in Rivendell touched my heart
  • The Moria sequence, book and movie
  • The betrayal and redemption of Boromir
  • the Dead Marshes
  • Grima seducing/menacing Eowyn in the movie
  • Gandalf freeing Theoden from Wormtongue's influence
  • the lighting of the beacons -- it hardly registers in the book, but it's a huge, dramatic, way cool thing in the movie
  • And I'm leaving out so many scenes that it really does come down to "pretty much everything", including my absolute favorite, "The Scouring of the Shire".

So maybe I'll just go watch the Rankin-Bass Hobbit and the LOTR Trilogy once more.