Star Wars vs Lord of the Rings - thoughts about Theoden and Palpatine

[lord of the mark]

So in SW, Palpatine is evil, and turns Anakin. So theres a pair of evil guys running the empire. Then Anakin/Vader's son Luke, turns Anakin back to the good side, destroying the power of Palpatine. But not before Palpatine tries to turn Luke to the dark side. Without success.

In LOTR, Theoden is not evil, but hes weak and in his dotage, under the influence of Grima Wormtongue. Grima is a pal of the evil Saruman. Theoden, but not Grima, is turned back to life and the defense of good, by Gandalf. Whom, much earlier, Saruman had attempted,without success, to turn to evil.

Grima ends up killing Saruman. Anakin/Veder ends up killing Palpatine.

Anakin, before dying, is reconciled to his son, Luke. Theoden, well before dying, is reconciled to his nephew and heir, Eomer.

Other thoughts on the Lord of the Mark, and the Emperor, are welcome.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

The politcal winds of the day obviously influenced the development of both these sets of characters.

Theoden represented the dangers of weakness and appeasment in Tolkeins era. Lucas's aprehension of an imperialistic US and erosion of civl rights formed his basis for Palpatine.

The redemption of Theoden and Annakin are classic religious themes.

[Impaler[WrG]]

SW is more fantasy then Sci-fi, it should be no suprise that it is stylisticaly similar to TLOTR. Both works take inspiration from the take of King Arthur. Vader-Luke are very much like Arthur-Mordrid (that makes Obi-wan and later Yoda equivilent to Merlin). Every classic architypal theme found in Arthur and countless other heros is repeated in Luke. The hinted at Insestus relationship between Luke and Laya also parrelels the Arthurian tale. The bigest difference is that the Original StarWars trilogy ends Triumphantly ware Arthur ends tragicaly, much more like the pre-trilogy infact.

[lord of the mark]

bump

[lord of the mark]

bumped for the last time - if you dont get it, you dont get it.

[Straybow]

The classical themes of tragedy and redemption are enduring. A movie that uses those themes, however stiffly acted, will have a degree of compelling emotional impact.

Episodes I and II were vacuous special effect vehicles. No classical character development, only tangential story line development. Episode III has finally incorporated the classical elements of tragedy and doesn't suck so badly.

[:) Smiley]

Now, when will this son redeeming father thing ever work with the Bush family?

[GePap]

Originally posted by Ogie Oglethorpe
The politcal winds of the day obviously influenced the development of both these sets of characters.

Theoden represented the dangers of weakness and appeasment in Tolkeins era. Lucas's aprehension of an imperialistic US and erosion of civl rights formed his basis for Palpatine.

The redemption of Theoden and Annakin are classic religious themes.

I disagree.

Tolkien's main experience with modern technological war was WW1. Did Tolkien himself ever say much about WW2 or any influence it might have had on his tales?

Lucas created Palpatine in the late 1970's, so the whole errosion of civil rights in the late 70's does not make much sense.

[MarkG]

there is zero political talk in the first trilogy. it's a bad galactic empire and the rebels fight it, end of story

it's the second trilogy that has all the lines about politicians and how good they are, the importance of saving democracy over giving powers to the cancellor, etc...

[oedo]

just a sidenote

Originally posted by lord of the mark
Then Anakin/Vader's son Luke, turns Anakin back to the good side, destroying the power of Palpatine. But not before Palpatine tries to turn Luke to the dark side. Without success.

Not exactly. Palpatine's soul survived his death. There are still three more Episodes to come.
Boba Fett survived as well, BTW.

[MarkG]

do we have a full new fight on ghost-level: yoda, anakin and kenobi vs palpatine??

[Ted Striker]

What's Lando doing?

Still drinking that Colt 45?

[oedo]

From what I read, Palpatine will find a new body.
And Leia will have three children with Han. The name of one of them will be Anakin Solo.

[Ted Striker]

What about Lando dammit???

[oedo]

Lando will realize an old childhood dream and will moderate the "Other Games" forum at Apolyton. He'll never make it to the HOF, though.