h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

the Peter Jackson films did some things wrong that it causes conflict in my head when I read the books now (Frodo - so young! for example)

But in General I really like the look of his Middle Earth so it's not a hardship, for example, to have Boromir looking (and sounding) an awful lot like Richard Sharpe . Eomer is perfect for me, but I think out of everything they did in the films Rohan and everything to do with Rohan was the best. Even down to the pale beauty of Eówyn. And hot on its heels is the look of Minas Tirith (although I would have preferred the lower levels to have been a lot more ramshackle and run-down.

I visited a place in Austria once called Hochosterwitz (the locals call it Niederweihnachtsernst) and it was like a mini White City. Totally fantastic.

http://www.hirterbraukeller.at/tl_files/hirterbraukeller/bildergalerie/ausflugsziele/Hochosterwitz.jpg

The Folio Society produced a very nice edition of The Lord of the Rings in English with the Danish queen's illustrations.

Frodo was in his 50s, but that was probably the equivalent of about 30 in human years. Whereas Sam, Merry and Pippin were much younger.

Rohan in the films was a sort of barren place, like Northern Europe, but it should have lots and lots of grass - waist-deep, lush green grass.

I have a book with drawings by JRR Tolkien and I msut say a lot of what they did in the films looks justt like these drawings. Rivendell for instance, or also Minas Tirith, although the drawing is only a rough sketch as far as I remember.

well, Pippin was not yet 33, but nearly as far as I remember.

There are parts of the North German plane that are exactly as I imagine Rohan (but probably Rohan needs less heather). Totally gorgeous.

re 20:

I believe Daisy wanted to shrowd the nazgul in ominous mystery by withholding as many details of their looks as possible, just like Tolkien never tells very much about neither them nor the necromancer/Sauron

Jackson shows Sauron full frontal but in full battle array that hides his looks so he is still a mystery to us. I believe Jackson may have gone a little too far, but it's only seconds of the films and those are "historical" (from the battle in which Sauron loses the great ring)

as far as that goes, we were watching FOTR the other day (testing our relatively new, ginormous TV) and #1 Gruesome asked me why when Sauron was wearing the ring, he wasn't invisible.

And I don't have an answer for her.

Because Sauron was already a spirit (ditto Tom Bombadil, perhaps?)

http://scifi.stackexchange.com/a/12746/403

Good grief, I had some of those Pauline Baynes posters on my bedroom wall Bilbo's Last Song for sure, and I think the map of Middle Earth too. A friend had some different Middle Earth posters which I thought were just the way I imagined it at the time (mid-70s when I was in my late teens/early20s). I've no idea who illustrated them and I don't think I've ever seen them since then but they were similar in their... I'm not sure how to explain it. They definitely had that 1960s/70s fairytale influence that's evident in Pauline Baynes' posters, but that doesn't really do them justice. They (and Pauline Baynes' images) were the way I imagined Middle Earth though, and it really wasn't until I saw the films for the first time that it really dawned on me that Middle Earth would have been a 'normal' place with all the geological and ecological features that this planet has

Now, while we're on the subject of how Middle Earth looked, can we talk about the cover of Bo Hansson's LP? http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3036/3025644832_270a3cbcc0_o.jpg

Is that Elrond in the top right hand corner? I see Minas Tirith, and I reckon that's the Stone of Erech behind it. The flying creatures are supposed to be Nazgul, presumably, but there are more than nine of them. What's going on with the tug of war on the right hand side of the cover and what's that strange (rock?) formation directly in front of it? The figure lying down in the bottom left hand corner. Is that Frodo when he was in the tower of Cirith Ungol? Who's the bloke with the codpiece immediately above him, and could that green face be Tom Bombadil, as in the Green Man of pagan legends (and multiple pub names)?

Good answer, Trig

re 30:

I'm afraid that is not Elrond, but Sauron spewing out nazguls - but unfortunately there are at least 13 of them...)

The tug of war is between Smeagol and his brother

The body in the lower left corner could be one of the dead in the marshland near Mordor

I agree about the white city Minas Tirith

oh cool picture.

as for the more than 9 - the nazgul aren't the flying beasts though, are they? so there's no reason to suppose that there can't be more than 9 of the flying things.

I don't think these are Smeagol and Deagol as there are more of those figutes at the other side of the 'rock formation' half covered by the hand. They may be the four Hobbits of the Fellowship? Behind them the one with the high hat could be Gandalf, the other one on the horse Aragorn and the dead one Boromier? Although it looks like they killed him. And it also means that the other two at the left would be Legolas ('grean leaf', the one looking like a cabbage?) and Gimli...

If they aren't flying nazguls what are they? There is no other mentioning of flying creatures except for and eagles

Yeah, the beasts aren't the Nazgul but I usually refer to them that way, so I wasn't accurate there

The Dead Marshes... could be, but I wouldn't have though those were prominent enough in the story to warrant inclusion, but that could go for the Stone of Erech too. I don't think that's Sauron - doesn't look evil enough, although we had some discussions about that in the sixth form common room at school and someone said the same thing about him spewing out flying beasts. The tug of war could be Smeagol and Deagol, or maybe Smeagol and Gollum? I never thought of that, but there's more than one figure tugging on each side, and Gollum never wore trousers.

The two horsemen and the figure on the ground could be the killing of the Captain of the Nazgul on the Pelennor Fields perhaps?

... on a second thought the 'cabbage' may also be Treebeard.

If you ask me, that illustrator was unfamiliar with his subject but not unfamiliar with psilocybin.

That may not be an unfair asumption, Baron

I tried to track down the artist to ask herself - now I'm waiting for an answer