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I know I'm the exception, especially among fellow conservative evangelical and Reformed Christians, but I didn't really like the LOTR film trilogy all that much. At best, I liked Fellowship of the Ring well enough, and I thought there were some standout scenes in each of the movies, but overall the movies as a whole as a single story were less than their parts. And indeed one of the many reasons I think this way is because I didn't like how Aragorn was portrayed by Viggo.

In general, though, I liked the books more than the movies. But I still didn't like the books as much as most people (especially fellow Christians) liked the books. In other words I think they're good stories, but not great stories. I suppose I sit somewhere between W.H. Auden's "At the End of the Quest, Victory" review as well as C.S. Lewis's <a href="https://epistleofdude.wordpress.com/2018/11/24/c-s-lewis-roundup/">raving reviews</a> (e.g. "The gods return to earth: J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring" and "The dethronement of power: J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers") and Edmund Wilson's "Oo, Those Awful Orcs!" review.

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Jan 20·edited Jan 20Liked by M.A. Franklin

Magic the Gathering tried giving us an Aragorn for mOdErN aUdIeNcEs. https://media.mtgsalvation.com/avatars/296/767/638229498519596737.png

May the Lord award them according to their works.

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Also a travesty. But at least the LOTR movies, mediocre as they were, saves us from worse, as the Magic adaptation proves.

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Also, I think something else greatly separating Jackson from ROP is sentiment and intent. True, Jackson greatly misunderstands authority, hierarchy, and sovereignty, and seeks to make Strider "relatable." But he doesn't do it from a position of hate. Though he misunderstands, he still is fond of the source material. I believe he was a fish swimming in the waters of liberalism, all but oblivious to his post-modern assumptions. I don't judge too harshly, because I've only come to grips with my own internalized liberal assumptions since 2020 or so (thank you covid regime).

In stark contrast, ROP was a direct assault on truth and goodness. They are nothing more than orcs gloating inside the shattered spires of Osgiliath, declaring they are so much stronger and smarter than the beauty they stole and destroyed.

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Lmao it's so grotesque

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I'm all for holding the banner of Story high, but if the stuff that's come out in the last five years would have met Jackson's LOTR halfway the world would be a better place for it.

Seriously though, I had to dig into the books again to remember why I didn't like aragorn in the movies when I first saw them. The inferiority complex is completely contrived.

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