Who is your favorite bad guy in the Lord of the Rings? - Page 3 - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

TolkienGurl · 10-20-2002, 06:17 PM

The Lord of Morgul. Definitely. [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img]

10-22-2002, 08:53 PM

As completely un-original as it sounds, I would have to say Gollum. He's my favorite character anyways. I wanted to play him when I was in a stage production of the Hobbit (which was my favorite of the books), but I was the only one tall enough to play Gandalf, so the director gave me that part.

avarrogion · 10-25-2002, 07:25 AM

this is a tough one...errmm its gotta be either The Witch King of AngMar or Gollum...hmm let me think in awhile.
Ahhh right i will pick Gollum!!!
[img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img] [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img]

Ringannunwen · 10-25-2002, 08:06 AM

gollum.

fish, nice fish. my precious. no, no precious, bad hobbits, gone and left us, yes, taken precious. fish, good fish, make us strong, let us throtle them if we gets the chances to! bad hobbits, they will give precoius to men! bad men . . . gollum

Demloth of Dol Amroth · 10-25-2002, 11:16 AM

sauron. coolest servants, the nazgul (second favorite bad guys-would've been one if it weren't for the whole ring-dependency/ultimate failure thing). i laugh at morgoth. balrogs-firey funny-looking ninnies who can't tell that an istari slamming down a staff isn't doing so just to make a loud noise. oh yeah, I REALLY REALLY LIKE sauron's mace from the movie-it would've done better, though, in the hands of the last alliance, sending orcs to the hall of mandos, or wherever dead orcs go.

TolkienGurl · 10-25-2002, 01:39 PM

Well, a lot of people certainly like Gollum around here! I don't! [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

Sapphire_Flame · 10-25-2002, 02:25 PM

Oh, too many choices!!!!!!! I love the Bad Guys (not to sound messed up or anything [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img] ) but they seem much more complex and (in all honesty) are cooler characters. But, over all I'd have to say my fave bad guy is Sauron; I mean come on, that Eye is too cool not to love!! My next favorite would prob'ly be Shelob, then The One Ring (yes, it is a character), and then...Gollum, just for the whole split personality dealie (yesss, my preciouss...) [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img] [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img]
I FORGOT THE NAZGUL!!!!!!!!!!!!! [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] Dude, they sooooooo kick butt, especially in Return of the King. [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img] I wanna be a Nazgul!!! [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img] ::starts crying hysterically::

[ October 25, 2002: Message edited by: Sapphire_Flame ]

Saurreg · 10-26-2002, 08:09 AM

Gothmog. He partaked in the whacking of Feanor, cleaved Fingon and perished with Ecthelion of the waterhole.

Give that dude a tiger! [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

Meela · 10-26-2002, 01:48 PM

sauron

[img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

i rock at being evil

Alassë Estel · 07-02-2023, 04:12 PM

Old-Man Willow!

'Tis nothing but sheer horror I feel when reading that chapter

...

Though I still love and admire willow-trees, I can never see them in the same light.

Galadriel55 · 07-02-2023, 05:07 PM

Of late, one of my favourites has been Grima. Resourceful schemer in Rohan, pitiful underling in the Shire. I find his character in the Shire particularly interesting.

Snowdog · 07-02-2023, 11:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alassë Estel

Old-Man Willow!

'Tis nothing but sheer horror I feel when reading that chapter

...

Though I still love and admire willow-trees, I can never see them in the same light.

I always saw Old Man Willow more as a grumpy old treeish ent than a 'bad guy'.

My fav baddie is the Witch King of Angmar.

Formendacil · 07-03-2023, 02:30 PM

In terms of satisfyingly creepy evil, I'm going to have to go with the Barrow-wight (no, no, not the High Admin!).

Morthoron · 07-03-2023, 03:21 PM

I'll have to go with my favorite Moriquendi menace, Eöl. Who else gets the nom de guerre "Dark Elf" (capitalized and singular)? More malovelent and unlike any other Elf in the legendarium, Eöl was both an abductor and murderer, yet accomplished in both the dark arts (weaving webs of deceit to ensnare Aredhel Ar-Feiniel in the woods of Nan Elmoth), and an accomplished smith (forging the enchanted swords Anglachel and Anguirel, and fashioning armor from the meltal Galvorn) -- a wholly despicable yet fascinating character, more so than his son Maeglin, who was cowardly and a traitor.

Lord Denethor · 08-02-2024, 09:21 PM

Hi fellow Tolkien lovers,
Saruman is my favorite "bad guy" and, ultimately, he is one of my top favorite characters of all time in The Lord of the Rings. I collect statues and figures of Mr. Many Colors. The only other character I collect so feverishly is Frodo. I'd collect my Barrow-Downs namesake, the misunderstood-by-the-general-populace Denethor (not a bad guy), but not Sideshow, nor Weta, nor Prime1, have paid any heed to the Lord of Gondor.

***Mithadan*** · 08-03-2024, 07:42 AM

Welcome to the Barrow-Downs, Lord Denethor!

I am surprised that your namesake has been ignored by the major designers of figurines. Do you attribute this to the manner that Denethor was presented in the movies as contrasted to how he was presented in the books?

Lord Denethor · 08-04-2024, 10:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mithadan

Welcome to the Barrow-Downs, Lord Denethor!

I am surprised that your namesake has been ignored by the major designers of figurines. Do you attribute this to the manner that Denethor was presented in the movies as contrasted to how he was presented in the books?

Thank you! I used to be active here around 2006 or so. I rediscovered this site and figured a new start would be nice.

I do think Denethor’s been ignored because of PJ’s depiction of him in the films, yes. I don’t blame John Noble at all, I think he was great as the Lord of Gondor. But PJ and co. disregarded almost all of the good descriptors of Denethor that Tolkien wrote, both in the book and letters, such as the noble personality, and the fact that Denethor was stronger in mind than Boromir and more akin to Faramir. The movies rendered Denethor into a meme with the tomato-eating, degraded his character by betraying his noble, strong personality in favor of a weak-willed suicidal maniac. His suicide fell flat on screen, it’s supposed to be a very sad fate for such a man. But the general audience never picked up on that because of how he was portrayed on film. Alas.

***Mithadan*** · 08-04-2024, 02:24 PM

Agreed. As portrayed in the books, Denethor was wise, dedicated and focused upon his obligations to Gondor, if perhaps not to the crown, which at that point was theoretical at best. Some say he fell, influenced by Sauron. In my view, he was broken by the weight of the times and his duties, which, based upon what he saw in the palantir, were hopeless.

The movies, unfortunately, portray him as petty, cowardly and self-centered, bordering upon evil. I suppose that the movie Denethor was not a good candidate for a WETA figurine.

Snowdog · 08-06-2024, 07:18 PM

Is it wrong to say 'Peter Jackson' is the ultimate bad guy?

Lord Denethor, along with Faramir and Aragorn, were some of the many atrocities PJ did to characters in Lord of the Rings. I respected Lord Denethor in the books. He was a strong Dunedain man who was worn down primarily by wrestling with Sauron through the palantir, but also the death of his wife. The weight that finally broke him was the death of Boromir, and that allowed his mind to be overrun by Sauron after that.

I can't stand watching those movies anymore. The only love I have for them is because of their making, I met my wife and soulmate.

Ok... bad guys ... along with the witch-king I mentioned earlier, another favorite 'bad guy' for me in the books was Grima Wormtongue. Now the whole Saruman/Theoden bewitching scene I pictured in my head from reading the books, and what I hold to is much different that how PJ portrayed it. Saruman didn't directly 'possess' Theoden from Isengard, but used Grima as his extended vassal embedded in Meduseld as Theoden's trusted advisor. Saruman gave Grima the power to enchant Theoden with his smooth-talking slick tongue that slyly let his believable, but deceiving words into Theoden's head, wearing him down over the years. It was more subtle than the outright Saruman possession of Theoden that PJ gave us. Grima was wonderfully portrayed by Brad Dourif in the movie, but it was sad that his excellent portrayal and performance was wasted by the crappy screenplay.

William Cloud Hicklin · 08-30-2024, 08:42 AM

Tolkien's dragons are some of his best villains. Smaug, Glaurung and Chrysophylax are all deliciously wicked in their own ways.

Bêthberry · 08-30-2024, 01:38 PM

If we move out of book territory into other media, I nominate Frank Frazetta for his gross depictions of Eowyn not dressed in disguise as a man that moved the fantasy way outside Tolkien territory.

10-20-2002, 06:17 PM	#81
TolkienGurl Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Michigan, USA Posts: 637	The Lord of Morgul. Definitely. [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img] __________________ Hopes fail. An end comes. We have only a little time to wait now. We are lost in ruin and downfall and there is no escape. -Frodo My Livejournal

10-25-2002, 07:25 AM	#83
avarrogion Wight Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Malaysia Posts: 120	this is a tough one...errmm its gotta be either The Witch King of AngMar or Gollum...hmm let me think in awhile. Ahhh right i will pick Gollum!!! [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img] [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img] __________________ I might have been a slasher but I never killed children, only real men!...A mistake cannot make right by another mistake... ~Kenshin Himura~

10-25-2002, 08:06 AM	#84
Ringannunwen Animated Skeleton Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: round here Posts: 39	gollum. fish, nice fish. my precious. no, no precious, bad hobbits, gone and left us, yes, taken precious. fish, good fish, make us strong, let us throtle them if we gets the chances to! bad hobbits, they will give precoius to men! bad men . . . gollum __________________ I am going now . . . if i return before i get back, please ask me to wait.

10-25-2002, 11:16 AM	#85
Demloth of Dol Amroth Wight Join Date: Apr 2002 Posts: 105	sauron. coolest servants, the nazgul (second favorite bad guys-would've been one if it weren't for the whole ring-dependency/ultimate failure thing). i laugh at morgoth. balrogs-firey funny-looking ninnies who can't tell that an istari slamming down a staff isn't doing so just to make a loud noise. oh yeah, I REALLY REALLY LIKE sauron's mace from the movie-it would've done better, though, in the hands of the last alliance, sending orcs to the hall of mandos, or wherever dead orcs go. __________________ One by one the Free Lands of Middle Earth fell to the power of the Ring-but there were some, who resisted...

10-25-2002, 01:39 PM	#86
TolkienGurl Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Michigan, USA Posts: 637	Well, a lot of people certainly like Gollum around here! I don't! [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] __________________ Hopes fail. An end comes. We have only a little time to wait now. We are lost in ruin and downfall and there is no escape. -Frodo My Livejournal

10-22-2002, 08:53 PM	#82
Faramir Took Guest Posts: n/a	As completely un-original as it sounds, I would have to say Gollum. He's my favorite character anyways. I wanted to play him when I was in a stage production of the Hobbit (which was my favorite of the books), but I was the only one tall enough to play Gandalf, so the director gave me that part.

10-25-2002, 02:25 PM	#87
Sapphire_Flame Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: The World That Never Was Posts: 1,232	Oh, too many choices!!!!!!! I love the Bad Guys (not to sound messed up or anything [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img] ) but they seem much more complex and (in all honesty) are cooler characters. But, over all I'd have to say my fave bad guy is Sauron; I mean come on, that Eye is too cool not to love!! My next favorite would prob'ly be Shelob, then The One Ring (yes, it is a character), and then...Gollum, just for the whole split personality dealie (yesss, my preciouss...) [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img] [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img] I FORGOT THE NAZGUL!!!!!!!!!!!!! [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] Dude, they sooooooo kick butt, especially in Return of the King. [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img] I wanna be a Nazgul!!! [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img] ::starts crying hysterically:: [ October 25, 2002: Message edited by: Sapphire_Flame ] __________________ The Hitchhiking Ghost

10-26-2002, 08:09 AM	#88
Saurreg Shade of Carn Dûm Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: In self imposed exile... Posts: 465	Gothmog. He partaked in the whacking of Feanor, cleaved Fingon and perished with Ecthelion of the waterhole. Give that dude a tiger! [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] __________________ "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. " ~Voltaire

10-26-2002, 01:48 PM	#89
Meela Denethor's True Love Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Mirkwood. With Thranduil... swoon Posts: 2,049	sauron [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] i rock at being evil __________________ 'The Hobbit' 1st impressions: 1. Thorin is hot... Oh god, I fancy a dwarf. 2. Thranduil is hotter. 3. Is that... Figwit! 4. Does Elijah Wood never age? 2nd: It's all about Fili & Kili, really. 3rd: BARD! OMG, Bard.

07-02-2023, 04:12 PM	#90
Alassë Estel Wight Join Date: Jun 2023 Location: Treading the Narrow Way Posts: 198	Not one mention of the wickedest heart in The Old Forest... Old-Man Willow! 'Tis nothing but sheer horror I feel when reading that chapter... Though I still love and admire willow-trees, I can never see them in the same light. __________________ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16

07-02-2023, 05:07 PM	#91
Galadriel55 Blossom of Dwimordene Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: The realm of forgotten words Posts: 10,382	Of late, one of my favourites has been Grima. Resourceful schemer in Rohan, pitiful underling in the Shire. I find his character in the Shire particularly interesting. __________________ You passed from under darkened dome, you enter now the secret land. - Take me to Finrod's fabled home!... ~ Finrod: The Rock Opera

07-03-2023, 02:30 PM	#93
Formendacil Dead Serious Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Perched on Thangorodrim's towers. Posts: 3,326	In terms of satisfyingly creepy evil, I'm going to have to go with the Barrow-wight (no, no, not the High Admin!). __________________ I prefer history, true or feigned.

07-03-2023, 03:21 PM	#94
Morthoron Curmudgeonly Wordwraith Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Ensconced in curmudgeonly pursuits Posts: 2,509	I'll have to go with my favorite Moriquendi menace, Eöl. Who else gets the nom de guerre "Dark Elf" (capitalized and singular)? More malovelent and unlike any other Elf in the legendarium, Eöl was both an abductor and murderer, yet accomplished in both the dark arts (weaving webs of deceit to ensnare Aredhel Ar-Feiniel in the woods of Nan Elmoth), and an accomplished smith (forging the enchanted swords Anglachel and Anguirel, and fashioning armor from the meltal Galvorn) -- a wholly despicable yet fascinating character, more so than his son Maeglin, who was cowardly and a traitor. __________________ And your little sister's immaculate virginity wings away on the bony shoulders of a young horse named George who stole surreptitiously into her geography revision. Last edited by Morthoron; 07-03-2023 at 03:25 PM.

08-02-2024, 09:21 PM	#95
Lord Denethor Newly Deceased Join Date: Aug 2024 Posts: 2	"Time?" Hi fellow Tolkien lovers, Saruman is my favorite "bad guy" and, ultimately, he is one of my top favorite characters of all time in The Lord of the Rings. I collect statues and figures of Mr. Many Colors. The only other character I collect so feverishly is Frodo. I'd collect my Barrow-Downs namesake, the misunderstood-by-the-general-populace Denethor (not a bad guy), but not Sideshow, nor Weta, nor Prime1, have paid any heed to the Lord of Gondor.

08-03-2024, 07:42 AM	#96
*Mithadan* Spirit of Mist Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Tol Eressea Posts: 3,374	Welcome to the Barrow-Downs, Lord Denethor! I am surprised that your namesake has been ignored by the major designers of figurines. Do you attribute this to the manner that Denethor was presented in the movies as contrasted to how he was presented in the books? __________________ Beleriand, Beleriand, the borders of the Elven-land.

08-04-2024, 02:24 PM	#98
*Mithadan* Spirit of Mist Join Date: Jul 2000 Location: Tol Eressea Posts: 3,374	Agreed. As portrayed in the books, Denethor was wise, dedicated and focused upon his obligations to Gondor, if perhaps not to the crown, which at that point was theoretical at best. Some say he fell, influenced by Sauron. In my view, he was broken by the weight of the times and his duties, which, based upon what he saw in the palantir, were hopeless. The movies, unfortunately, portray him as petty, cowardly and self-centered, bordering upon evil. I suppose that the movie Denethor was not a good candidate for a WETA figurine. __________________ Beleriand, Beleriand, the borders of the Elven-land.

08-06-2024, 07:18 PM	#99
Snowdog Emperor of the South Pole Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: The Western Shore of Lake Evendim Posts: 625	Is it wrong to say 'Peter Jackson' is the ultimate bad guy? Lord Denethor, along with Faramir and Aragorn, were some of the many atrocities PJ did to characters in Lord of the Rings. I respected Lord Denethor in the books. He was a strong Dunedain man who was worn down primarily by wrestling with Sauron through the palantir, but also the death of his wife. The weight that finally broke him was the death of Boromir, and that allowed his mind to be overrun by Sauron after that. I can't stand watching those movies anymore. The only love I have for them is because of their making, I met my wife and soulmate. Ok... bad guys ... along with the witch-king I mentioned earlier, another favorite 'bad guy' for me in the books was Grima Wormtongue. Now the whole Saruman/Theoden bewitching scene I pictured in my head from reading the books, and what I hold to is much different that how PJ portrayed it. Saruman didn't directly 'possess' Theoden from Isengard, but used Grima as his extended vassal embedded in Meduseld as Theoden's trusted advisor. Saruman gave Grima the power to enchant Theoden with his smooth-talking slick tongue that slyly let his believable, but deceiving words into Theoden's head, wearing him down over the years. It was more subtle than the outright Saruman possession of Theoden that PJ gave us. Grima was wonderfully portrayed by Brad Dourif in the movie, but it was sad that his excellent portrayal and performance was wasted by the crappy screenplay.

08-30-2024, 08:42 AM	#100
William Cloud Hicklin Loremaster of Annúminas Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 2,319	Tolkien's dragons are some of his best villains. Smaug, Glaurung and Chrysophylax are all deliciously wicked in their own ways. __________________ The entire plot of The Lord of the Rings could be said to turn on what Sauron didn’t know, and when he didn’t know it.

08-30-2024, 01:38 PM	#101
Bêthberry Cryptic Aura Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 5,996	Eowyn, where's yer trowsers If we move out of book territory into other media, I nominate Frank Frazetta for his gross depictions of Eowyn not dressed in disguise as a man that moved the fantasy way outside Tolkien territory. __________________ I’ll sing his roots off. I’ll sing a wind up and blow leaf and branch away. Last edited by Bêthberry; 08-30-2024 at 02:29 PM.