tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post486250775673468713..comments2024-03-28T18:35:54.237+09:00Comments on BigHominid's Hairy Chasms: on Peter Jackson's GandalfKevin Kimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01328790917314282058noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-54543010324993039512015-02-22T22:55:49.377+09:002015-02-22T22:55:49.377+09:00Or Gandalf was just high. After all, Saruman did b...Or Gandalf was just high. After all, Saruman did berate Gandalf, telling him: "Your love of the halflings' leaf has clearly slowed your mind."Charleshttp://www.liminality.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-40821550386524889192015-02-22T09:16:45.307+09:002015-02-22T09:16:45.307+09:00It's a point I never really considered notwith...It's a point I never really considered notwithstanding multiple readings of the trilogy. Some sort of wizardry may have indeed hid his construction work from prying eyes, which I suppose is as good an explanation as any.<br /><br />I do seem to remember that Gandalf berated himself for not noticing Saruman's traitorous intent sooner. I think he blamed it on being distracted by the serious undertakings in which he'd recently <br />been engaged.John (I'm not a robot)http://www.mccrarey.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-88287770320837870772015-02-22T01:39:16.330+09:002015-02-22T01:39:16.330+09:00Whoops—let me be more specific about what I mean. ...Whoops—let me be more specific about what I mean. The movie does indeed agree with the novel (or with your memory of the novel) that Saruman doesn't begin ripping down trees until after Gandalf is defeated and imprisoned atop the tower, but the digging of the huge, deep pits around Isengard would have taken years to accomplish, and there's no way Gandalf could have missed those pits—or their purpose—as he rode toward the tower. Even without the smoke, there would have been the pits and the noxious fumes of the charnel to alert any good guys to Saruman's enormous project. It's not as though Saruman were secretly growing weapons-grade pipeweed on a 400-square-foot plot of land, such that he could just throw a tarp over it right before Gandalf arrived.<br /><br />Or maybe Saruman called upon his mad skilz as a White Wizard and performed some sort of concealment magic? A "glamour," as they say? The magical equivalent of throwing a ten-square-mile Elven cloak over the works?Kevin Kimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01328790917314282058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-64935104397439795002015-02-21T23:42:56.566+09:002015-02-21T23:42:56.566+09:00That may be another way in which the book and the ...That may be another way in which the book and the movie differ: the chronology of Saruman's army-building.Kevin Kimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01328790917314282058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5541500.post-47834050546714761492015-02-21T22:48:10.012+09:002015-02-21T22:48:10.012+09:00As I recall (from the book, not the movie) Gandalf...As I recall (from the book, not the movie) Gandalf had just confirmed that Bilbo's ring was indeed "the one" and he wanted to consult with Saruman as the head of the Wizard's Order about the ramifications. Saruman had fallen under the sway of Mordor by peering into the Palantir one time too many, but I don't recall that he had actually started building his army of Urak-hai orcs at the time of the meeting. I think it was later in the story that Saruman denuded the surrounding forests to fire his furnaces. <br /><br />It's been awhile though and I'm old and my memory may not be what it once was. John (I'm not a robot)http://www.mccrarey.comnoreply@blogger.com