Tuesday's Dwarf of the Day here is Dwalin, brother of Balin. In the movie, Dwalin is the real warrior of the bunch, with runes spelling out the Dwarf battle cry (Baruk Khazad! Khazaid ai-menu! -- The axes of the Dwarves! The Dwarves are upon you!) on his knuckles and so forth. He is one of the larger Dwarves, coming in at about 5'1'' or so. Yeah, not very short for a Dwarf. Thorin is supposed to be 5'2''. Dwalin is also bald on top, even more so than Bombur, so he'll be recognizable for that.
Predictions are being made that he will say some epic line that will become a meme, just like the infamous, "They're taking the hobbits to Isengard!" and, of course, "One does not simply walk into Mordor."
In other Hobbity news, the soundtrack for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey can be previewed online a month in advance. Yay! Here's the link, if I can get Blogger to work: http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=35757 Happy listening!
I have a new Middle-earth related theory to state. I have outlined in a previous post about my reasons for picking Eomer as my favorite character, most of them due to the alarming extremist tendencies of Legolas's fangirls. (I have even found Elrond fangirls. Yes, Elrond fangirls. The Hugo Weaving guy. With fangirls. The mind boggles. And I thought Legolas fans were scary... then I saw what the Haldir fans were saying about him. YIKES!!!)
Anyway, this new theory of mine is somewhat related to the Eomer preference. We were watching the second disk of The Two Towers Extended Edition Sunday when I came up with it. My theory goes like this: King Theoden almost completely ignores Eomer in the movies due to lingering, selective amnesia caused by Saurman possessing him.
This is Theoden:
Theoden's Saruman-induced amnesia was total at first, but memories gradually returned. This is why he says to Eowyn when he sees her: "I know your face... Eowyn." He's just now recognizing her again. Further proof is that it takes him a few minutes to think of his son (and then they have to break the bad news to him...).
However, Eomer was not around to remind him of his existence, and so the memories of Eomer as his nephew and his Third Marshal of the Riddermark were not triggered and thus returned. However, his men talked about Eomer being gone with most of their best Riders, so he was able to deduce that Eomer was one of his important military guys. He was probably also told that Eomer was his nephew, but without his previous memories of him Theoden had no emotional attachment to him.
Thus, by the time Eomer does arrive on the scene, it is too late and Theoden's memories of him are gone forever. Theoden is grateful to Eomer for saving his hide, but cannot bring himself to act as fatherly towards him as he does to Eowyn. Eomer, therefore, goes off to console himself with people who actually appreciate him, like Legolas and Gimli (and Aragorn- in the book, they became quite good friends, the four of them). He even referees their drinking contest.
Any flaws with this theory can be ascribed to lingering black magic from Saruman's possession of Theoden. It makes perfect sense. I'm going to believe this from now on and chant it to myself in order to assuage my righteous indignation on Eomer's behalf whenever I see him being ignored on screen from now on.
Poor Eomer. At least he gets to look awesome in battle. (I positively adore his armor!)
Why am I putting so many pictures on my blog today? I don't really know. I am trying to learn more about Blogger, however. Learning how to put pictures on my blog is a big achievement for me. If I have indeed managed the hyperlink above, I shall be very happy. I want to know how to do this kind of stuff on Blogger so that at the end of the semester when we have to video ourselves and upload it to our blogs I shall not be totally ignorant.
See? It's all for a good purpose!!!! I swear it is, precious!
Leaving all Tolkien stuff, I have a few things to say about UNA. One is that the Jesus people were at it again today. When I came out of Stevens, one was orating from the amphitheater and the other was revolving like a top at the end of the bridge, practically throwing literature at everyone who passed by. They don't get the picture. They insist on preaching to us that we are all going to Hell unless we throw ourselves at their feet, repent of all our wicked ways, and accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior.
Y'know, that old adage about catching more flies with honey rather than vinegar holds true. It really does, folks. Yelling about the pains of Hell isn't going to get too many jaded college students to repent. Nor is stuffing literature full of the same going to get you anywhere. And for Heaven's sakes, if someone doesn't want to take it, don't stand there in front of them holding it out for so long that it becomes really awkward and the student is forced to take it. Because you did that to me today, and I wasn't happy about it.
Also, you Jesus people Fail Logic Forever! I have noticed that logic is not a popular concept nowadays, but these Jesus people have simply defenestrated it (i.e., thrown it out the window). One does not simply defenestrate logic and not suffer the consequences. One of the consequences is me then mocking you on my blog.
For example, in one of the two pieces of Jesus people literature foisted upon me today, it said that not even Baptism can save a person from Hell. What? Seriously, what? They fling Bible verses around with abandon- usually from their beloved St. Paul- but they've apparently forgotten that whole bit about being "born again of the water and of the Spirit".
However, I'm not gonna march up to them and remind them. They'd probably zero in on the crucifix I wear and start screeching about how I, a heathen papist, am going to burn in the flames of Gehenna for my idolatry and my Mary-worshipping and my statue-worshipping, my calling priests "Father", etc., ad nauseam.
I tell you, it's these annoying people that give Christianity a bad name. *sigh* How about what a saint said: "Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words." These people seem to believe: "Preach the Gospel at all times with as many words as possible. If necessary, hit people with Bibles."
Yes, I'm annoyed. Can you tell?
In Pace Christi,
Elyse
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