Peter Jackson mispronounces Isildur?

[IronParrot]

I couldn't help but nitpick. This is in the interview videos, responding to the question about whether anything from the Second Age will be shown. Peter Jackson pronounces it "ISildur" - however, recall from the pronounciation guide:

"In the following examples the stressed vowel is marked by a capital letter: isIldur, ..." (Appendix E p.498 )

Interesting. Oh well... as long as they get Sauron (SOUR-on) right, no big deal... :p

[Eruve]

I, for one, would love to hear how JRRT himself pronounced a lot of his names, and Isildur in particular. I can never remember it's is-IL-dur, and usually think "IS-il-dur" when I read. I think JRRT's intended pronunciation is hard to say and somehow doesn't jibe with the way most English speakers are used to pronouncing... Palantir (with the stress on the second syllable) is another one I can't get used to. It'll be interesting to see how the actors handle these pronunciations.

[bmilder]

I pronounce it IS il dur. But I guess the proper pronounciation would give it more of an air of authenticity

("Seleborn" in the cartoon was laughable :p )

[Fat middle]

well, in Spain most people pronounces isilDUR and palanTIR, but some have learned to say iSILdur and paLANtir.

God, i hope they don't say Isildur and PAlantir in the movies :p

[IronParrot]

Uh oh. I pronounce it "palanTIR". Must have skimmed over that by accident.

[Eldoran LFD]

In an interview with Tolkien I saw once he stated that he doesn't know best on how to pronounce (elvish) words properly.

I pronounce it ISildur and paLANtir/PAlantir (depending on howI'm using it in a sentence). I have lived in Spain and thus my pronunciations are part spanish, part dutch and part english.
LEgolas, MITHrandir, gaLAdriel, minas TIrith

yeah it's all quite sketchy

oh yeah and tolkien also said it's KEleborn, if I remember well he pronounced it that way while reading out a piece of his work. (for proper pronunciations get the audio tapes of LoTR spoken by tolkien himself)

[dunedain lady]

It has to be pronounced IsILdur for it to scan right in Bormomir's prophesy.

There shall be shown a token,
That doom is near at hand.
For Isildur's Bane shall waken,
And the halfling forth shall stand.

It just doesn't have the right rhythm with the accent on the first syllable...unless I'm putting the wrong meter on it?

[Film Hobbit]

I don't see the big deal with this.

If he has only read the books, how would he know how it is supposed to be pronounced? As long as he is fairly close, which he was, what is the big deal? Its not like PJ has time to sit and analyze the setence structure of each poem to figure out name pronounciations the way you guys do.

And sometimes, once you read something and pronounce a name a certain way in your head, even if you later find out the correct way to pronounce it, you still find yourself saying it the way you first thought it in your head as your read the book... I know I do that all the time.

[Eruve]

There is a pronunciation guide in the appendices, so if PJ did his homework properly, he should know how such words are pronounced. Personally, I don't care if PJ says it wrong; it makes more of a difference to me if the actors mis-pronounce things, though.

[Inoldonil]

It might be noted PJ has thankfully never said "Bormomir" in any of his interviews, so he's not all that off.

j/k

[Film Hobbit]

Eruve... take a look at that apendice... you are telling me you expect PJ to memorize EVERYTHING in there? No thanks, I'd rather see him spend the time doing some serious directing.

[Michael Martinez]

Peter Jackson doesn't have to get the pronunciation correct, but his actors do. He hired a couple of people to work with the actors to hopefully get the pronunciations right. So far, only Christopher Lee had any complaints about the language coaches. :)

If it makes anyone feel better, one of the most accomplished Tolkien linguists in the world, David Salo, was giving them advice behind the scenes as well.

[Inoldonil]

What were Lee's complaints?

[Michael Martinez]

Very minor. I merely meant that he had reportedly corrected them on a couple of things. Everyone associated with the movies who had direct contact with Christopher Lee has said the same thing about him: his knowledge of Tolkien's story is impeccable, and he even corrected the experts a couple of times. Lee has read the book once every year for 25 years (perhaps 26 years now). He even met Tolkien or knew him to some degree.

I wouldn't recommend anyone try to argue much with Christopher Lee about Middle-earth. It might prove to be very difficult to trip him up, although clearly none of us is infallible.

[Film Hobbit]

Well that is cool :) Its nice to know he cares so much about what he is doing.

Whoever said it is right... all that matters is that the Actors get it right, not PJ... and I doubt that PJ is responsible for making sure the actors get it right anyway, they hire someone for that purpose.

[DopefishJustin]

I always pronounce it

[Inoldonil]

I don't mean to seem prideful or anything, but I've heard Lee say "Gandalf's not just a Wizard....he's an Istari" in interviews. I don't know how many times I have used plurals when it's singular (such as Dunedain and Dunedan), and most of us have made the mistake so it's not worth nit-picking about really.

[The Dagda]

It's here where my study of Irish has helped, as the plurals are made in much the same manner.

[Inoldonil]

Really? I suppose that makes sense. Tolkien modeled the structure of Sindarin off of Welsh. (Sindarin and Quenyarin reflected two sides of his linguistic taste)