Tolkien discussion ideas

[Sister Golden Hair]

Welcome to the Lord of the Rings book forum.

In an effort to promote discussion of the Lord of the Rings, we would like to invite you to post your ideas in this thread. List any topics you would care to discuss. Even topics that you feel may have been overdone or recently posted are welcome. Please feel free to make suggestions as to how you think we can improve our Tolkien community and its forums. We especially wish to invite and strongly encourage all newbies to join in.

We look forward to reading your topic ideas and suggestions.

Thank you for your participation.:)

[Elanor the Fair]

This is a great idea (from a "newbie" perspective :D ). I'm sure there are lots of topics to discuss. Some things I am interested in are:

1.The wide variety of published material on LOTR such as various editions of books including collector's editions, books that support the reader eg. published maps, illustrations, glossaries etc

2.Chronology - what was happening and when. For example, plotting the journey by date - what were all the characters doing.

3.Discussions on what is great about the LOTR and why it is special to the reader.

4.Character analysis - what motivated each of the characters - even the minor characters are worthy of discussion. What were their strengths and weaknesses, what did you like or dislike about them or why you feel ambivalent towards them etc - we could analyse one character at a time!!

I could probably think of some more things that I am interested in, however, I will leave some room for other suggestions!! :D

[Beren3000]

I second point 4. I've been doing it by e-mail with some Tolkien fans and it was quite successful. It's bound to be even more interesting on the moot. I'd suggest a sub-forum for character discussions and analyses; it'd really be great! Thanks for bringing that up, Elanor :)

[Bombadillo]

Those are some pretty good ideas, for a newbie. ;) :)

Character analysis threads would be great! Some have been speculated on in their own threads, like Boromir and Bombadil already; I don't know why no one else has thought of that.

I don't have any new thread ideas (when one hits me, I post it then and there). But perhaps we should encourage more speculation as a good thing around here. Most mooters' excuses for not posting in this forum is because many threads are just speculation, anyway, and won't pregress anywhere. (ie What is Tom Bombadil, What would happen if____ got the Ring...) So!? It's still fun discussion, even if it can't end on a clear note.

[Telcontar_Dunedain]

How about a nice and simple one like 'Who's your favourite character and why?'

Just get people do discuss who they like and dislike and why?

[Telcontar_Dunedain]

I've got another one.
Was the destroying of the Ring lucky?
People could discuss whether they thought it was lucky that Gollum fell off the edge.

[The Gaffer]

Responding to criticisms of Tolkien.

[Elanor the Fair]

How about a nice and simple one like 'Who's your favourite character and why?'

Just get people do discuss who they like and dislike and why?

That sounds great. Why don't you start up a thread, Telcontar? :)

[Telcontar_Dunedain]

I've started it up today.

[Aphanuzîr]

Here are some topics from my own future topics list. It may be that some have been discussed before.

Had Aragorn (and Boromir) not seen Argonath before?
Sam's hair colour
Who was mightier: Elrond, Galadriel or Denethor?
The 'dark forests of the South'
The Shire as a place of lore
What became of all the Rings of Power after the destruction of the One?
Miruvor
Did Tolkien have a point in naming both the pony and Ferny Bill?
The black swans
What became of Saruman's body?
Why 'the Grey company'?
The slaves of Saruman
Why did Aragorn and Arwen plight their troth upon Cerin Amroth?

[BeardofPants]

Noooooo!!! Not Leggie's hair colour! :eek:

Yeah, it might've been done before.;)

Welcome! :)

[Lizra]

Legolas's hair color...heh!.... :D

[Aphanuzîr]

Removed.

[Radagast The Brown]

Aphanuzir... most of these ideas weren't discussed while I've been here, I think. But the Mirror of Galadirel has.
I'm pretty sure Aragorn states he's already seen Argonath, and Boromir says he hasn't somewhere (I think Boromir didn't leave Gondor before he had gone to Rivendell).
And I don't really see what do you mean by 'mighty'... in what way? Denethor is, obviously IMO, not nearly as strong as Galadriel or Elrond.

[Aphanuzîr]

In this case, by 'mighty' I mean influence or power over people.

At another Tolkien board there is a thread where people may post their topic suggestions for anyone to create threads of them, but noone there has created threads for any of them (yet), and there are a lot of good topics. It will be interesting to see if this method is more successful at Entmoot. I wonder if there is any point at all in doing it; you might have to start the threads yourself.

[azalea]

Well, I think we were trying to see what new people were interested in discussing. I think we wanted to try to encourage discussion of a variety of topics, even those that have been "done to death." We want to encourage newbie participation, and it's hard when all the oldbies shoot down their discussion idea because "it's been done." So that was our thinking. I can't remember what, if any, further action we were going to take (I'll bring it up again), so please do start threads about anything you want to discuss. The only exception would be stuff that already has a recent thread (and by recent I mean that it was just opened a couple of months ago). Just do a search. Part of the thinking is that some threads are so long for newbies to have to read through before getting to post. We don't really have a concrete plan, we're just trying to get ideas. :)

[azalea]

Okay, how about this -- I'm going to try an experiment that I think was tacitly approved in the mod forum. If I wait to do this until everyone has weighed in down there, it would get done by next year. :p
Certain threads that have been "done" (Legolas' hair color) can be started, but refered to as "newbie friendly" threads. That is, we are allowing an old topic to be started in the interest of allowing newbies to have their say on stuff, but also to include comments from long time members who wish it, understanding that the goal is to encourage newbies to feel welcome and encouraged to post. That means that IN THOSE THREADS (only), oldbies should refrain from making posts that would make the newbies feel dumb or insignificant. To put it rather bluntly. :) (Okay, we shouldn't make newbies feel dumb or insignif in ANY thread, but I hope you catch my meaning on this -- if not, refer to the discussion we had in GM about it). Thanks. guys! So, Aphanuzir -- start away! :) I'll designate the appropriate ones as newbie friendly threads (or Valandil will if I'm not on -- or any mod/ admin, really).

Okay, wait, to clarify something -- anyone may designate his thread as a newbie friendly one, but also we may do so at our discretion. We may also take that designation away if we get too heavy on newb friendly stuff. It'll be an adventure guys, just go with it! :D
BTW, I meant 2 MONTHS in that last post, not 2 weeks! I'll go edit it.

[Elanor the Fair]

Great idea, Azalea. Thank you for your efforts in encouraging new members, like myself, to enter into discussions. :) Aphanizur had some pretty good ideas and I'm sure they would generate some interesting discussions. :) Well done, Aphanizur!!

[Haradrim]

What I think might be cool is to create a new forum called-
weekly discussions.

In that forum would be the following sub-forums-
character analysis
Lotr chapters
Hobbit Chapters
Silmarillion(whatever they use to mark off sections havent read yet)
Other Books chapters
Races analysis
Kingdom Analysis
Ring Analysis
Wars Analysis

Each week you would change the topic for each sub-forum ie-
new character
Next Lotr chapter
Next Hobbit chapter
Next Silmarillion thing
Next Other Books chapter
New Race Analysis
New Kingdom Analysis
New Ring Analysis
New War Analysis

In each of these sub-forums would be threads pertaining to that character alone. Anything could be discussed. After that week no more discussion would be allowed in the forum about it. (Maybe you could make a place to put all of it if people really wanted to continue talking about their topic) Each week you would erase (or move) every thread in the sub-forums and change the titles of the sub-forums.

I think this would really help bring new people into the Entmoot. I think old members and new members would be drawn to it because it offers an oppurtunity for everyone to discuss their opinions without reading through lenghty threads to understand what is going on. This way we could discuss almost everything having to with Tolkien and it would take a long time to reach a point where we couldn't continue. (Maybe for the race sub-forum it could be every month or two months since there aren't very many races.)
In the characters and wars subthreads there could be a place where it notifys people of where they can find that character or war in the books and therefore read up on it. Also in each sub-forum there should be a place where the Moot will notify people of the next topic so people can prepare. I really like the idea and I hope you, my fellow mooters, enjoy the idea as well.


I also have another idea which might make the moot a little more fun. Instead of having one group of titles ie- Hobbit, Sapling, Enting, Elven Warrior, Elf Lord/Custom maybe we could also have evil titles ie- orc, troll, Uruk-hai, Barrow Wight, Balrog/Custom. Tell me what you think.

Haradrim

[Valandil]

What I think might be cool is to create a new forum called-

weekly discussions.

That may turn out to be a good idea. However, for now, we're still pretty early in a LOTR Book Discussion Project - with new assignments due every two weeks. I suggest you first try getting involved in that.

One of the intents of the Project is that it lends itself easily to 'spin-off' threads on specific topics that come up as we work through the story. :)

[Haradrim]

I have tried to get in that and am waiting for a response. Also what if you wait till there done with the LOTR discussion thing is done then add it on. There is plenty other stuff that could go in weekly discussions though. Many boards have it (different names and such) and I think it would work great on this board. I think this would be a great idea. But what do you think about the titles.

Also I wouldnt call it weekly discussions. Call it something fun ie- The Green Dragon or The White Council or something of the sort and describe it as Weekly Discussions.

[Valandil]

Also I wouldnt call it weekly discussions. Call it something fun ie- The Green Dragon or The White Council or something of the sort and describe it as Weekly Discussions.

Oh - I don't want to reject your idea outright. Just thought you might want to see for a few weeks how things worked with what we've got. ;)

BTW - I'm sure azalea will work you in on the DP assignments (I assume the one you asked for was still open - besides, I won't be totally surprised if some who took assignments won't still be around when their turn comes up to post). Meanwhile, join in on the discussion of other chapters as they're posted.

[Haradrim]

I didnt think you were. Actually I have been here before when I was younger and a lot more aggresive. I used to be Thrain (the insane as some people called) and very briefly Groin. I didnt reqally know how things were back then and while I wasnt flamin I was acting obnoxious and rude. I changed my name because I simply forgot my password and my email accounts changed so.

But what do you think of the evil titles?

[Valandil]

But what do you think of the evil titles?

Oh... evil titles are BAD! ;)

[Haradrim]

Why????? I think the evil titles are cool. I mean as a Haradrim I wouldnt mind an evil title also people who take evbil names lieke the shadow or Melkor, or Morgoth look really odd with the title Elf Warrior. I mean its just a little off... :)

[Valandil]

Why????? I think the evil titles are cool. I mean as a Haradrim I wouldnt mind an evil title also people who take evbil names lieke the shadow or Melkor, or Morgoth look really odd with the title Elf Warrior. I mean its just a little off... :)

OK - you just be an Evil little Elf then. Olmer will love it! :p

Besides, once you reach Elf Lord with 500 posts (what - about a week from Tuesday? ;) ) - you can request a 'custom title' from one of the all-powerful admins... and THEY might even let you have an evil one. :eek:

:D

[Haradrim]

I know you can do the custom. I just thought it might be a littl emore fun if we could have two sets of titles cuz I dont want those for my custom title but they would be cool for the prelims. Im trying to get 500 befroe Sept. But I will never spam. GOd I hate spammers those smelly orcs. Also would it be too hard on the admins if they did that or is there some other reason. Also could you pm me if you think the admins will like the weekly thing. Id like to know how that works out.

[Telcontar_Dunedain]

That would be quite cool and you could choose whether you wanted an evil or good one.

[Haradrim]

Thanks for the back up. If we can get lots of people intrigued maybe the admins will get on board

[Telcontar_Dunedain]

They could be related to their user names so someone with an evil user name doesn't end up being an elven warrior or a hobbit.

[Haradrim]

well I figured that when people register there could be an option for good or eviil. And then on it will use the evil ones. For old members you could jsut make a thread and ask for anyone whowants an evil one to put their name down and nothing mroe. I think that would work and it would be wicked cool.

[Telcontar_Dunedain]

How about some character trivia. Every week we pick a character and have trivia on that character during that week. Whoever gets the last trivia question right on one character chooses the next?

[Valandil]

well I figured that when people register there could be an option for good or eviil. And then on it will use the evil ones. For old members you could jsut make a thread and ask for anyone whowants an evil one to put their name down and nothing mroe. I think that would work and it would be wicked cool.

Nope, nope, nope... the 'evil' ones would always be trying to live up to that reputation. Couldn't have that on a civilized message board now, could we? :p

[Haradrim]

Thats not true. And besides people already do that because of their names. Evil titles wouldnt change a thing it would just maybe look a little better. Oooh what if their were several sets of titles. Like me titles, hobbit ones, evil ones, orc ones, good ones, elf ones, dwarf ones. That way their would be variety and it would just be a lot of fun.

[azalea]

A lot of things you're suggesting are fundamental changes to the structure of the board, which is not our goal here. We were really just wanting suggestions for making the Tolkien forums more newbie-friendly, as well as getting some ideas from everyone about how to revitilize the Tolkien forums. [EDIT: I copied and pasted your original post in the mod forum, Haradrim, to get feedback from the staff at large.]

I left the character trivia open, but I am making this the FINAL one that will be allowed, because we already have five others, four of which are active, and three of which are on the first page. Trivia threads are fun and nice to have, but having too many is redundant, and it doesn't usually foster discussion, which is our aim.

Frankly, I think that the project is going very well, and there have been a lot of threads opened lately that have been sustaining some meaningful discussion. Thanks, guys! :)

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

for my Key Skills Communications,
I have to create an essay on
'The film was good but the book was better'
and i have chosen LotR, and i am using Bakshi and Jackson for my films,
so i thought maybe an area for threads of this nature might be helpful, even just for people to chat about this... :)

[azalea]

That is fine, but it needs to be in the movies forum, as per board policy. Probably just one thread, and we probably have one that could be dredged. I'd love to see your essay, in any case. :)

[Last Child of Ungoliant]

That is fine, but it needs to be in the movies forum, as per board policy. Probably just one thread, and we probably have one that could be dredged. I'd love to see your essay, in any case. :)

if i can find the time to type it out onto a computer at college,
i'll send it to you if you like?

I finished it last week, and i have to hand it in today, but i have it saved on my home computer

[azalea]

You can PM it to me and I can post it in a thread for you. Or if you feel like it, you can look in the movies forum and find a suitable thread (or start your own if the ones there are very old).