Recent content by Ray Burns

  1. Ray Burns

    Did Sauron have a body during the events of 'The Lord of the Rings'

    We're told that Sauron could never assume his fair form again, it having been destroyed in Numenor. He must have had some physical form because Isildir is said to have cut the Ring from his finger. And Gollum does say that Sauron only has nine fingers. Does this mean that he had other forms...
  2. Ray Burns

    A new Hunt for Gollum

    As I read this thread, I can't help but notice the similarities between Gollum and Hurin. I know that's quite a statement to make, but when Morgoth released Hurin, he did so to sew dissension and mistrust among his enemies and as a nice little bonus, managed to narrow down the location of...
  3. Ray Burns

    Questions: The moon is a Harsh Mistress

    Being an avid Heinlein fan, I've read all of his books several times over. But one of the things that happened as Heinlein got older was that he developed what he called the "world as myth" theory. Simply put, he opened up his entire literary universe, and several other literary universes, to...
  4. Ray Burns

    Session 3.01 and 3.07 - Season Overview

    Ah, it's good to be back. The need to bring the audience up to speed on what's been happening in Beleriand is going to be difficult, regardless of how it is handled. I think this is the one time where we have the frame do the heavy lifting and implicitly say "but before we continue with the...
  5. Ray Burns

    Sauron's Morgoth Moment

    I have a suggestion if you're looking to include Sauron as taking part in the Fall of Gondolin. Gondolin is a closed society, so having someone new appear would be noticed immediately. So there has to be a way to incorporate Sauron into the society of Gondolin without raising suspicions. My...
  6. Ray Burns

    Orcs

    We can have a cutaway toward the end of Season 2 when Gothmog visits Mairon and asks, snarkily of course, how things are going. And Mairon, being a bit distracted, truthfully answers instead of dissembles. "I can't seem to get them to think of themselves as anything other than Elves. They hate...
  7. Ray Burns

    Sauron's Morgoth Moment

    The key moment is when he goes from passive acceptance of evil to active participant and initiator of evil. I think that if we show Sauron as, for most of the First Age, operating under the dual self-conceit of 'just following orders' and 'for the greater good', we can, at least in Sauron's...
  8. Ray Burns

    Sauron's Morgoth Moment

    We have to be careful because we run the risk of becoming perilously close to saying that Sauron isn't a bad guy because he was 'just following orders'. I think that we can reasonably construct an argument that, in his own mind, Sauron does not believe he is evil well into the Second Age. He...
  9. Ray Burns

    Tom Bombadil

  10. Ray Burns

    Worldbuilding in Valinor

    Not to be THAT guy (but I totally am). If we're dealing with a flat-earth cosmology, then we really don't have to adhere to the normal rules of climatology (although I think we should keep them in mind). So it can be said that prior to the earth being made round, there was no real...
  11. Ray Burns

    Elves - a whole lotta white people?

    The issue for me, and I didn't realize it until this thread popped up, is that while I love Tolkien and think that the Silmarillion is one of the greatest works of fiction ever... in a very fundamental way, as a person of color, I am invisible in Tolkien's worldview except when I am seen as...
  12. Ray Burns

    Elves - a whole lotta white people?

    My two cents worth: I think that when Tolkien wrote his works, he was not being racist, he was just reflecting his times, which were very much race based. I also think that if Tolkien were writing today, and if given the chance to revise (which we all know that he would most certainly do), he...
  13. Ray Burns

    Casting Draft for Beren and Luthien

    I want to put this out while I have the chance. I think Ashley Callingbull would be a great idea for Luthien. She's the former Ms. Universe but also has a small but impressive acting resume. She also competed in Canada's version of the Amazing Race where her team came in 3rd so she's no...
  14. Ray Burns

    Finwë

    I would like to nominate Timothy Dalton. We might have to CGI his younger for part of the season, but his charisma and charm as well as his underlying dark side would serve him well as king of the Noldor. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001096/?ref_=nv_sr_5 6' 2", 70 years old
  15. Ray Burns

    Some of the Frame Narrative can be a spoiler for Season 22, Epi. 5. Action takes place off...

    Some of the Frame Narrative can be a spoiler for Season 22, Epi. 5. Action takes place off screen, but tune in 20 years from now and WOW!
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