seppukudkurosawa wrote:I like him. He's like one of your granddad's long-winded, rambling stories in humanoid form. And you could say that he was the epitome of the words "salt of the earth"; he's how Tolkien wished man really was- a minstrel who lives in the forest. Instead of these overly-political, urbane socialites, who are riding the gnarly wave of encroachment. Which is pretty much why the hippies clung onto Lord of The Rings in the first place- to escape what they saw the world was turning into.
See, if he had been in The Hobbit, I probably would have liked him. The Hobbit is very cute, for lack of a better word. It's a more innocent and sweet book, which only hints at the decay and darkness of Middle Earth.
LOTR is a darker story (to me) and he never fit in well with that. I liked the hints he gave to the wider world of magic and mystery that permeated Middle Earth...but it was still a bit too sing-songy. If he'd been a little more Gandalf and a little less Ren Faire carnie, I would have liked him.
Oddly, I really like Goldberry...she's the only thing that saves the detour for me. If it had just been her, and none of the dilly-dilly-do schmaltz, I would have adored those chapters.
If there IS a weak point in Tolkien for me, it's that he was never very consistent in his tone. I get needing lighter moments to break up the drama, and that the hobbits were very child-like people who didn't understand the seriousness of their mission for some time. But it was always jarring to me how they would escape a Ringwraith and then the hobbits would sing a silly song, with Aragorn clapping the beat...it was hard to take the danger seriously when the characters blew it off.