![\"oakentoon_logo_by_peckishowl-d6ljafp\"](\"http:\/\/www-images.theonering.org\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/oakentoon_logo_by_peckishowl-d6ljafp-300x125.jpg\"){kind=logo}
Over the last week I’ve had the pleasure of chatting with PeckishOwl about her hilarious Oakentoons. \u00a0 We discussed where she gets her inspirations for the various toons and which one she loves the most. \u00a0I hope you enjoy the interview as much as I did doing it. \u00a0 So without further ado, over to PeckishOwl \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
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PeckishOwl:<\/b>\u00a0Book-firster with a family tradition for Tolkien-loving! My mum had read Tolkien when she was an academic student, so I\u2019m proud to say I\u2019ve inherited one of the first Polish editions of \u201cThe Lord of the Rings\u201d! That book is older than I am. Since then, I\u2019ve acquired four more versions of the trilogy \u2013 two Polish ones, one English and one French. Why so many? They all have their own wonderful stories to tell. The French one for example was a present from my high school French teacher, who knew how much I adored Middle-Earth. It makes me smile till this very day because of its literal and funny-sounding translations \u2013 Bilbo Baggins is Bilbon Sacquet, he doesn\u2019t live in Bag End but in Cul-de-Saq and la Terre du Milieu is forced to stand against a common l\u2019Ennemi! Since I\u2019ve told you my dark secret already, I\u2019ll tell a dirty one as well \u2013 I\u2019ve been trying to buy \u201cAn Unexpected Journey\u201d in French since \u201cThe Hobbit\u201d came out on DVD but failed to get it shipped here, to Poland. Ohhh, I\u2019d give anything to hear his #majesty speak in French! And yes, I know – it\u2019s probably some form of deviation I\u2019m only semi-conscious of! (laughs)<\/p>\n I\u2019ve read Tolkien before I\u2019ve encountered his books in primary school. And a good thing too! We\u2019ve only read some very short fragments then and without any context behind them it was a total disaster \u2013 most of my friends thought that Tolkien\u2019s dwarves were the same kind of dwarves as the ones from \u201cSnow White\u201d! But high school\u2026 ah, high school! The golden years! Apart from PJ\u2019s movies and people finally understanding what a hobbit is, I\u2019ve met some really wonderful teachers, great Tolkien fans. My philosophy teacher was a member of Lo\u017ca Tolkienowska (Polish Tolkien Society) \u2013 I used to write my notes from that subject in tengwar and all of my essays always received top grades, because \u2013 no matter what the topic was \u2013 I\u2019ve always managed to include a good portion of Middle-Earth along the way! My Polish teacher allowed me to conduct several lessons about Tolkien for my class-mates; I also remember she gave me an A on \u201cMacbeth\u201d analysis, because I was the only student in class who was able to name another book in which the forest is storming a castle! (laughs) We also had this annual \u201cFirst Day of Spring Celebrations\u201d during which you could go to school dressed as whoever or whatever you like. I\u2019ve won two contests for the best costume in a row with my humble Nazg\u00fbl outfit, which was quite an interesting achievement in a catholic school! (laugh) Though I must add that my sword \u2013 even though it was plastic \u2013 always got confiscated by the headmaster before the day was through. Perhaps he was fooled by the elven runes I\u2019ve painted on the blade and thought the sword was authentic or \u2013 more likely \u2013 he just enjoyed starting his history lessons by laying a sword across his desk! (laughs) I\u2019ve always thought it was a pity he didn\u2019t join the contest himself \u2013 he was a monk, you see, and he had this really cool, black, billowing cloak and, grasping my sword as he walked through the school corridors, he\u2019d make a pretty good Ringwraith himself!<\/p>\n So as you can imagine, I\u2019ve grown up in a Tolkien-loving family, in a Tolkien-friendly school, also in a very Tolkien-enthusiastic city, with numerous Tolkien-events. And Gandalf\u2019s words \u2013 \u201cAll we have to decide is what to do with the time that that is given to us\u201d \u2013 were and forever shall remain my single life credo.<\/p>\n PeciksOwl:<\/strong> \u00a0It all started 15 years ago\u2026<\/p>\n (laughs)<\/p>\n Seriously! I was a high school student then, I\u2019ve read the books some time earlier and PJ\u2019s movies were about to hit the screens. There was an unforgettable sense of excitement in the air and I was a notorious doodler with more than enough free time to spare. That is when my first Middle-Earth comic was created. Like the Oakentoons, it was also a parody, but it focused purely on the plot of \u201cThe Lord of the Rings\u201d. \u00a0I\u2019ve been drawing it for about four or five years – more than 100 pages, over 2000 images and I only got as far as the battle of Helm\u2019s Deep. It became very popular with my friends and with their encouragement I\u2019ve decided to publish it on the Internet.<\/p>\n I was working voluntarily for a Polish website about \u201cThe Lord of the Rings\u201d then, www.wladca-pierscieni.pl. It belonged to a large movie portal which wanted this site to be purely \u201cLord of the Rings\u201d movies-orientated, but me and two of my colleagues found this concept too limited for our liking. We\u2019ve managed to turn it into one of the biggest Polish Tolkien websites of that time, with over 2 million views per month. You probably won\u2019t remember but we used to exchange news with TheOneRing.net quite regularly! And said site became the first kind publisher of my Middle-Earth cartoons.<\/p>\n When I\u2019ve heard that PJ was going to film \u201cThe Hobbit\u201d, I was overjoyed – it was like going back to all of these wonderful years when the greatest Christmas present you were expecting to receive was another 3,5-hour ticket to Middle-Earth! Sadly, a lot of things changed in my life since the last \u201cLord\u00a0of the Rings\u201d movie premiere – growing up being the worst of them all. Since fate decided to push me into the welcoming though rather throttling arms of medicine, free time became quite a luxury and I was forced to limit my favorite hobbies \u2013 writing, sketching and playing RPG. But when I\u2019ve finally re-visited Middle-Earth in December 2012 my imagination lit up like a supernova again.<\/p>\n The problem (or a blessing perhaps) is that there\u2019s a very limited number of things your brain can remember and when it\u2019s already full of 1000-page medical books your thoughts tend to overflow. The Oakentoons became the outflow of what started to stir in my head after seeing \u201cAn Unexpected Journey\u201d and my DeviantArt account\u2026 have you read \u201cHarry Potter\u201d? Well, I wanted to use it in the same manner Dumbledore used his Pensieve – to store away some ideas I didn\u2019t want to loose but had no place left for them between my ears.<\/p>\n As for the comic itself, I had no time to doodle this time, but the Internet was full of \u201cThe Hobbit\u201d photos, so\u2026<\/p>\n <\/p>\n PeckishOwl:<\/strong>\u00a0It began as some random ideas – mixing quotes, movies and situations. Some of the first episodes were inspired by the blog \u201cThe Magnificent Home of Thorin the Majestic\u201d at thorinissomajestic.tumblr.com. It made me highly aware of the fact that Thorin Oakenshield – clad in a troll sac, mauled by a warg or covered in the Goblin King\u2019s spit – was, is and forever shall remain a very majestic dwarf! (laughs) You should also thank its authors for the majestic hashtag, which regularly appears in my Oakentoons – or blame them if you prefer.<\/p>\n I\u2019d also like to turn your attention to a very merry gathering of Tolkien fans running an endlessly creative role-playing society on Facebook \u2013 fans who, for over a year now, had successfully managed to portray Tolkien\u2019s chief characters in a very authentic and lovable manner. But the real fun about their undertaking is the fact their characters interact with each other \u2013 and you can join in! The dialogues between the Company members – Thorin, Fili, Kili, Dwalin, Oin, Gloin, Ori, Nori, Bofur and Gandalf the Grey – were and remain a great source of my inspirations. If you\u2019ve read the Oakentoons you\u2019d have surely noticed that some of the episodes were created especially for them \u2013 in Oakentoons #8, #24 and #42 for example Thorin celebrates his milestones of 10 000, 15 000 and 20 000 followers (told no one of his quest, eh? the liar!)<\/p>\n A lot of fans had been asking me about my other than DeviantArt blogs and accounts, so I\u2019ve decided to create a Peckish Owl facebook page where I publish links to all of my DeviantArt submissions and a lot of owl photos (come on, who doesn\u2019t like small, fluffy owls, ha?). Funnily enough, thrown into the role-playing society, Peckish Owl began a life of her own \u2013 as the chief ambassador of the Mirkwood birds, who observes The Impressive Adventures of Thorin the Majestic as he enters her domain and is more than sceptical about them!<\/p>\n To sum up, the Facebook Company is tons of fun and you should definitely check it out. Just look for the Thorin Oakenshield\u2019s page with the biggest ego\u2026 I mean: army! (laughs) More than 40 000 followers already and still – they just won\u2019t give up!<\/p>\n Some Oakentoons are my own private responses for rumors and trends surrounding \u201cThe Hobbit\u201d movies. For example: there\u2019s gossip that Kili\u2019s going to have a romantic relationship with an elf. Why discuss Tauriel when he could have met Arwen during his stay in Rivendell? And there you have it \u2013 Oakentoon #18. Thorin hugs Bilbo and a >1000 fanfic stories bearing the tag \u201cBagginshield\u201d come alive. Shippers! \u201cThey strike in the wee small hours, when everyone\u2019s asleep\u2026\u201d says Oakentoon #20, #57 and #58. \u00a0And why does Galadriel have a soft spot for Gandalf all of the sudden, eh? Why does she, when you get right down to it, support Thorin Oakenshield\u2019s quest? How come nobody noticed that Azanulbizar lies on the doorstep of Lothl\u00f3rien? Thrain got lost\u2026 or did he? (suggestive cliffhanger) The horror continues in Oakentoons #15, 46, 47 and 48.<\/p>\n I usually write about my inspirations in the descriptions under each episode, so if you\u2019re curious be sure to check them out!<\/p>\n Kelvarhin:<\/strong>\u00a0Do you have a favourite toon?<\/p>\n PeckishOwl:<\/strong> \u00a0Mwahaha! The answer is: YES! So far it\u2019s Oakentoon #34 \u2013 \u201cWhy he came back\u201d, in which Thorin asks Bilbo a serious and important question and receives an answer far from his liking. According to the number of views, likes and downloads however, the three most popular Oakentoons among my fans would be #10 (\u201cThey\u2019re taking the hobbit\u201d), #16 (\u201cBlades of Gondolin\u201d) and #27 (\u201cThe only one he ever loved\u2026\u201d). \u00a0 PeckishOwl:<\/strong>\u00a0Since the DVD and the Blue Ray came out it\u2019s a matter of an hour or so. Before that, it was a struggle. There were many \u201cAn Unexpected Journey\u201d photos on the Internet, that\u2019s true, but apart from the promo and the trailer ones most of them had terrible quality. You can still see them among the first Oakentoons – perhaps I\u2019ll make a re-edition of these episodes one day, if I have the time. I\u2019ll be probably facing the same problem before \u201cThe Desolation of Smaug\u201d and \u201cThere and Back Again\u201d get released on DVD as well.<\/p>\n The Oakentoon headlines appeared around episode #17, in January 2013. The unexpected support I was receiving made me think of continuing the whole idea as a weekly-updated comic series, so I wanted to make it look more official.<\/p>\n But not too official! I find myself thinking, again and again, about changing the font \u2013 from the good-old Comic Sans to a more individual one, but so far I have restrained from doing that. I think Comic Sans keeps the Oakentoon atmosphere at a cosy and not-entirely-serious level. I reserve the individual fonts purely for the punchlines or words I want to emphasize.<\/p>\n PeckishOwl:<\/strong>\u00a0Since the greatest joy of the whole OakenEnterprise comes from reading the comments of my fans, I\u2019d say I prefer working on the Oakentoons. It may seem that the Oakenstills are easier to create than the toons, but that\u2019s not true. The idea for the Oakenstills is that they\u2019re supposed to be just one image with a catchy punchline. Therefore it has to be a very good punchline and a well-chosen image because you don\u2019t have the space for a build-up that you\u2019re allowed to have in both the Oakentoons and the Oakencrossovers.<\/p>\n I\u2019m actually thinking of creating another House-themed Oakencrossover in the future. I mean \u2013 why was Thorin just lying there, flat on a stone before Azog, unable to reach for his sword, yet still fully conscious and without any apparent signs of concussion or head trauma, eh? Why would he faint later on? And believe me \u2013 I\u2019m not the only one asking such inquisitive questions! I organize annual viewings of the extended \u201cLord of the Rings\u201d for my friends, most of them medical doctors, and last year we had this half an hour discussion about which of the three arrows Boromir was shot with was the fatal one. A team of cardiologists, transplantologists and internal diseases specialists agreed it was the third one\u2026 although the sneaky cardiosurgeons did try to convince us it was the arrow number one.<\/p>\n Kelvarhin:<\/strong>\u00a0Did you ever expect them to become as popular as they are?<\/p>\n PeckishOwl:<\/strong>\u00a0I would never have guessed that they\u2019d become a regular comic series, nor have I ever dreamt of such publicity! I am deeply honored by your interest and, honestly, I feel I really don\u2019t deserve it. There are dozens of fantastic artists out there, who spend many hours drawing, painting and sketching their unique and beautiful Middle-Earth creations \u2013 Anita Schmidt-Pabst (aminawolf), Jian Guo (breathing2004), KnightJJ, Kinko-White, evankart, Niken Anindita (megatruh), SceithAilm, Fabio Leone \u2013 just to mention some of my favorites. These are the people you should worship for their talent! Me? I\u2019m just a humble scriptwriter. And \u2013 quoting my beloved genius of irony, Woody Allen \u2013 I don\u2019t want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to achieve it through not dying!<\/p>\n Kelvarhin:<\/strong>\u00a0Do you plan to continue them when DoS and TABA come out?<\/p>\n PeckishOwl:<\/strong>\u00a0The journey continues! I\u2019ll probably have to stop for a moment at Beorn\u2019s house or in Thranduil\u2019s dungeons to finish my Ph.D. but apart from that\u2026 (laughs)<\/p>\n I create most of my Oakentoons at the only moment of the day when I have some free time \u2013 when I\u2019m eating my supper. And since I do have to eat sometimes you shouldn\u2019t be worried about the upcoming episodes! \u00a0 Kelvarhin:<\/strong>\u00a0Which are your favourite characters from The Hobbit and LOTR, besides #Majestic Thorin?<\/p>\n PeckishOwl:<\/strong>\u00a0Are you unarmed? Good! Here\u2019s a dark little secret \u2013 I absolutely loathed Thorin Oakenshield from the book. Same goes for Boromir.<\/p>\n Why? Firstly, because I hate conceitedness. Respect for one\u2019s authority should stem from one\u2019s actions and J. R. R. Tolkien failed in convincing me that these two very proud characters had more than their royal lineage to admire. Secondly, the original \u201cHobbit\u201d story is told from Bilbo Baggins\u2019 point of view. He\u2019s the character we\u2019re supposed to relate to and befriend. Quoting my favourite YouTuber, Jeremy Jahns, \u201cas much as I would love to say that I would probably be a wizard in \u201cThe Lord of the Rings\u201d or a bad-ass warrior, I\u2019d probably be a hobbit\u201d. It\u2019s the same with me – I sympathized with Bilbo very deeply and for me Thorin\u2019s leadership skills in the book were an utter disaster. Some years of teamwork, especially when you\u2019re forced to make life-changing decisions, have taught me that a good leader doesn\u2019t have to be very amiable but \u2013 unlike Thorin from the book \u2013 he brings out the best in other people. That\u2019s the leader I\u2019d be willing to follow! And Bilbo Baggins from the original \u201cHobbit\u201d becomes a courageous hero on his own, without any help of either Thorin or his Company, shaped by the events he has to face. Considering someone to be nothing more than a burden proves your opinion is narrow, subjective and biased \u2013 and these are the biggest sins a person who people are supposed to trust may commit. Thirdly, Thorin\u2019s quest was all about the gold. And – I bet you know that yourself, without me telling you – nobody likes a person who just wants his money back! (laughs)<\/p>\n My most favourite Middle-Earth hero from the book was and forever shall remain Faramir. Faramir! I believe he was the first fictional hero I\u2019ve actually fell in love with and even though \u201cI\u2019m not the same hobbit I once was\u201d he still holds a very special place in my heart. I could write on and on about my choice, but I bet most of the TOR\u2019s visitors have already fallen asleep reading this interview, so let me say this: I\u2019ve met a lot of would-be Thorin Oakenshields in my life but not a single Faramir! Undisputed kindness along with unparalleled wisdom, like a dragon in the Shire, have not been seen in our bitter reality for over a thousand years. If ever.<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Over the last week I’ve had the pleasure of chatting with PeckishOwl about her hilarious Oakentoons. \u00a0 We…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":82,"featured_media":79692,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[198,197,7,4,35,5,2008,148,1636,1911,1912,149,159],"tags":[2911,221,2898,2909,2014,1309],"class_list":["post-79691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fans-creations","category-fans","category-hobbit-book","category-hobbit-movie","category-lotr-books","category-lotr-movies","category-parodies","category-hobbit","category-the-hobbit-an-unexpected-journey","category-the-hobbit-the-desolation-of-smaug","category-the-hobbit-there-and-back-again","category-lotr","category-torn-community","tag-oakentoons","tag-the-hobbit","tag-the-hobbit-an-unexpected-journey","tag-the-hobbit-the-desolation-of-smaug","tag-the-lord-of-the-rings","tag-thorin"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/01.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1tLoH-kJl","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/82"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79691"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79691\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79732,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79691\/revisions\/79732"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"10\"](\"http:\/\/www-images.theonering.org\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/10-225x300.jpg\")
Kelvarhin:<\/strong>\u00a0How did you discover Tolkien? Are you a book-firster or a movie-firster?<\/p>\n![\"01\"](\"http:\/\/www-images.theonering.org\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/01-241x300.jpg\")
Kelvarhin:<\/strong> \u00a0What first inspired you to start the Oakentoons?<\/p>\n![\"02\"](\"http:\/\/www-images.theonering.org\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/02-253x300.jpg\")
Technically that comic was far from being perfect. I\u2019ve drawn it in a notebook using nothing more than a pen and a pencil. But the ironic, sometimes abstract sense of humour which sprang out of the speech bubbles was enough to make my readers forget about its imperfections originating from the fact that I was writing it on my knee, between lunchbreaks and homework. Hmm\u2026 I bet some of that ancient lunch is still between the pages somewhere! Nevertheless, publishing it on the web turned out to be a good decision. It made a lot of people laugh and I gained a wonderful group of loyal readers – they even hacked our server once to get to the upcoming episodes. I also got interviewed about my work for a popular computer magazine, so d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu et v\u00e9cu you might say!<\/p>\n![\"03\"](\"http:\/\/www-images.theonering.org\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/03-300x198.jpg\")
Kelvarhin:<\/strong> \u00a0Where do you get the ideas for each Oakentoon?<\/p>\n![\"04\"](\"http:\/\/www-images.theonering.org\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/04.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"05\"](\"http:\/\/www-images.theonering.org\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/05-300x173.jpg\")
Lastly but most importantly, I pay a great deal of attention to what my fans are writing about each episode. They\u2019re responsible for the Troll Joke (comments containing the word \u201ctroll\u201d but describing, in fact, mostly elves) which originated from a comment stating that Elrond should be called Trollond \u2013 for trolling poor Thorin on numerous occasions. They\u2019ve invented Smirkwood, they\u2019ve been asking for a Valentine-themed Oakentoon and for an explanation how did the dwarves manage to ruin Bilbo\u2019s bathroom\u2026 It may seem a bit ceremonious to say, but I love my OakenWatchers! I regularly invent some funny contests for them to join \u2013 to name their favorite movie or TV series for an Oakencrossover, to pick an elf from the trilogy forced to face his #majesty (poor Haldir\u2026) or to imagine that Thorin Oakenshield reappears in \u201cThe Lord of the Rings\u201d and where, when and what would he be doing there. Their best ideas are put into my cartoons – OakenSpecials. Some of my fans even create their own artwork based on my mischievous undertaking. So the whole idea of the Oakentoons continues thanks to them, both metaphorically (heart-warming support) and literally (a premium DeviantMembership granted me quite unexpectedly by an anonymous fan).<\/p>\n
\n<\/em><\/p>\n![\"06\"](\"http:\/\/www-images.theonering.org\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/06.jpg\")
Kelvarhin:<\/strong>\u00a0You seem to be able to marry up the perfect facial expressions for each toon, with this in mind, how long does it take to create each toon?<\/p>\n![\"07\"](\"http:\/\/www-images.theonering.org\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/07-300x193.jpg\")
Kelvarhin:<\/strong>\u00a0Which do you prefer working on, the Oakentoons, Oakenstills or Oakencrossovers? \u00a0Are any of them easier to create than the others?<\/p>\n![\"08\"](\"http:\/\/www-images.theonering.org\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/08-255x300.jpg\")
The easiest OakenArt to make so far was the Oakencrossover with \u201cHouse MD\u201d, because it was the very first submission based on \u201cThe Hobbit\u201d which came into my head after seeing \u201cAn Unexpected Journey\u201d (though it waited in line before I\u2019ve decided to publish it). You see, I wasn\u2019t entirely convinced about Thorin\u2019s unexpected change of character at the end of the movie and about the hobbit-hug, however adorable it was. Being a medical doctor I just couldn\u2019t stop myself from explaining his #majesty\u2019s strange behaviour with the aid of science \u2013 and that\u2019s why Gregory House himself supplies you with a medically valid diagnosis of this interesting case of a 195-year-old, previously healthy dwarven king!<\/p>\n
\n<\/em><\/p>\n![\"09\"](\"http:\/\/www-images.theonering.org\/torwp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/09-197x300.jpg\")
And the funny thing is that these two characters \u2013 Thorin and Boromir \u2013 became my number one heroes in PJ\u2019s movies. This only proves how PJ\u2019s interpretation of Middle-Earth differs from the book \u2013 or at least from my vision of what the book was trying to portray. His Thorin remains equally proud but this time his purposes seem far more acceptable \u2013 he wishes to reclaim his kingdom (though it does look he cares more about this concept than his actual, exiled people) and its wealth is just a perk (though an important one, that\u2019s true). All of the dramatic events in his life, especially the noble deeds he performed for his kin, are underlined with heavy exclamation marks, mostly for cinematic reasons I guess, but the message they\u2019re trying to pass on has convinced me far more than the subtle suggestions of their existence from the book. Same goes for Boromir \u2013 I\u2019m not ashamed to say that each time I watch the extended \u201cThe Two Towers\u201d I shout along with the soldiers as he makes his inspiring speech in Osgiliath. For Gondor! In the books, Thorin\u2019s and Boromir\u2019s backgrounds are very limited and are supposed to be their assets. In the movies, their backgrounds are a heavy burden, making them damaged rather than privileged characters. When you see them struggle, when you see them fall\u2026 you can\u2019t help but offer them your sympathetic hand of redemption. Or at least that\u2019s my opinion – there\u2019s a great essay on this topic titled \u201cLegacy of the People: The Burdens of Thorin Oakenshield and Boromir of Gondor\u201d written by Dark Jackal, published on one of my favourite Middle-Earth websites – thorinoakenshield.net, among numerous other, equally interesting articles, which I heartily invite you to read.<\/p>\n