LOTR ( was Who really killed DD - The real story)

[justcarol67]

Alla wrote:
<snip> 
> I last read LOTR couple of years ago, and I could not find **one** 
> word to get rid of, literally. The whole book is like music to my 
> ears, like highly enjoyable poetry.
> 
> I don't know, call it magic, I guess :)

<snip> I love this book. <snip>

> I do not read LOTR for the characters for example, I certainly do 
> not feel as emotionally attached to them, as I feel about HP 
> characters, but I do feel emotionally attached to the whole world, 
> including characters in it, if it makes any sense.
> 
> I also have to say that no matter how much I love JKR's characters, 
> I can see more and more occurrences when the characterisation in her 
> books IS sacrificed in order to move the plot.
> 
> I cannot spot **one** false note in Tolkien's characterizations. IMO 
> of course.

Carol responds:

That's an interesting perspective, Alla, and I think you may have hit
on something important. JKR planned out her books, all seven of them,
before she began writing and then plotted the individual books before
she began her drafts, carefully putting in clues and red herrings and
knowing in advance that she had to get certain important characters
(say, Harry, Snape, and Draco) from point A to point B or C or G with
a few key stops on the way. Parts could be rewritten, characters or
subplots eliminated, two unplanned deaths and one unplanned reprieve
added into the last book, but the main plot could not be greatly
altered or the whole series would be derailed. Characters could (and
indeed had to) change and develop along the way, but characterization
could be trumped by plot if need be. (I don't think this has occurred
in as many places as you seem to think, but I do agree that, for
example, Dumbledore had to die and Snape had to kill him, and that
could not be changed however the relationship between those two
characters and the characters themselves evolved along the way.)

Tolkien, in contrast, started with a handful of Hobbits (two of whom
were merged along the way), a ring that had to get to Mordor, Sauron
(a being from the Silmarillion), Gandalf, and not much else. The book
had to be "rewritten backwards," as Tolkien put it, but there were
also many false starts and many revisions along the way, including
important characters like Strider/Aragorn, who appeared from nowhere.
(Strider, as you may know, started out as a Hobbit called Trotter, and
even retained that nickname long after he became a man, when Tolkien
finally realized that his long-legged man would more appropriately be
nicknamed Strider.)

So I think, for Tolkien, character always came first, above all, the
growth and suffering of Frodo, but also friendship, loyalty, courage,
and similar character-related themes or motifs. And the plot was
always episodic, structured around the hero's journey and consequently
flexible, rather than being structured by the combination of a school
year and a mystery to be solved in each book within the larger
structure of the conflict between Harry and Voldemort interlaced with
other conflicts, such as Harry/Snape and HRH/Draco, that continue, and
perhaps escalate, within the framework of the books. I don't think
that Tolkien's plot suffers at all from the emphasis on character. The
episodic structure enables him to back off from the intense action for
some comic (or tender or tense but not dangerous) moments so that we
see the characters interacting (Frodo, Sam, and Gollum or Merry and
Pippin or Gandalf and Denethor, to give just a few examples.) Also,
the pov is very different, and whole sections shift away from Frodo
and the Ring to focus on a different set of characters in the vast
world of Middle Earth, which feels entirely real with its well-thought
out geography and physical features, very different from the confined
microcosm of Hogwarts, which despite talking portraits and moving
staircases (seldom mentioned after the first two books) is really not
very carefully delineated. If you try, as I did, to figure out how the
kitchen can be reached from the doorway across from the great hall,
which sits above the kitchen, you'll only give yourself a headache.
Tolkien would have planned it out and made sure it made sense. JKR
isn't even sure which floor Moaning Myrtle's bathroom is on.

Carol, noting that JKR, though not a genius of Tolkien's caliber, is
also a very good writer whose work can be enjoyed on different levels
and for different reasons than his