LOTR TV Series coming to Amazon!

[DigiFluid]

Well... your knowledge puts my love of LOTR to shame haha!

A life well-wasted

I watched (and loved, still do) the films as a kid then read the LOTR trilogy and the additions at the end and The Hobbit,

Yep me too...my sixth grade English teacher had us read The Hobbit and I loved it. The LOTR films came out when I was in high school -- I was actually working at the local movie theatre at the time

knew about the Silmarillion but never started them as they kinda daunted me, reading your summary Im quite glad I didnt as I would be so lost!

Nah, I'm sure you'd be fine. The Silmarillion itself is really just divided into three unequal parts:
1) The Genesis story, that Music stuff I was talking about above. Even as a Tolkien nerd, I find it a bit dry and am not too upset if I skip it
2) The Elves in Valinor and the First Age. This is by far the bulk of the book, and is written kind of as a series of interconnected short stories in mostly chronological order until the end of the First Age.
3) A mini-short story about Numenor.

That's it. For my two cents, the stories told in the main part of the book are far more epic and tragic than anything else in the whole history of the Legendarium.

All that business about the Second Age? That's pieced together from the Numenor part of The Silmarillion, backstory in LOTR, the Appendices in LOTR, and the book of Unfinished Tales. There's no single book or series of books that details all of it, you kind of have to do the work yourself (or else hit up the Wikia), because Tolkien never took the time to assemble it into a single narrative.

Question though, didnt Sam leave Middle Earth? Im sure I read he left after Frodo but I might have read a fan fic... Also didnt Legolas and Gimli go off somewhere?

You know what...you are absolutely right. For Sam, once he gets back to the Shire and starts a family with Rosie, I tend to think of that as the end of his story because he has his family, becomes Mayor, and finishes Bilbo's Red Book. But you're right -- decades later, he's also granted leave to go into the West, because he had also been a Ringbearer (however briefly).

Legolas and Gimli hung out together a lot after the War of the Ring, going exploring and sightseeing throughout Middle Earth. As an Elf, the standing invitation to return to Valinor included him, so ultimately he went into the West as well--and brought Gimli with him.

So, two things I forgot. Whoops

[Teddybrown]

I would love a road trip style show of Gimli and Legolas touring Middle Earth together, really liked their story in the films of gaining respect for eachother!

Shame John Rhys-Davies cant stand the make up due to allergic reactions, the main reason he didnt appear in The Hobbit despite being invited.

[Chaka-Z0]

So, two things I forgot. Whoops

Also the movies didn't show the uprising of the Hobbits and Sarouman who had taken over control of the Shire, after the Ring was destroyed. Frodo killed him right?

[DigiFluid]

Also the movies didn't show the uprising of the Hobbits and Sarouman who had taken over control of the Shire, after the Ring was destroyed. Frodo killed him right?

Yeah the Shire was conquered by Saruman after his defeat as Isengard, and the 'scouring of the Shire' is what the Hobbits came home to after Mordor and the celebrations in Gondor. It makes a certain logical sense, but I always thought it felt a little tacked-on.

Saruman was murdered by Grima Wormtongue though (slit his throat), not Frodo. If I remember right, I believe it happened either inside or just outside the door of Bag-End.

[Chaka-Z0]

Yeah the Shire was conquered by Saruman after his defeat as Isengard, and the 'scouring of the Shire' is what the Hobbits came home to after Mordor and the celebrations in Gondor. It makes a certain logical sense, but I always thought it felt a little tacked-on.

Saruman was murdered by Grima Wormtongue though (slit his throat), not Frodo. If I remember right, I believe it happened either inside or just outside the door of Bag-End.

Wormtongue was shot by arrows then, I know one of them died at the hands of the hobbits.

[Gatefan1976]

Wormtongue was shot by arrows then, I know one of them died at the hands of the hobbits.

Not in return of the king, the book. Wormtongue was still his advisor/stoolie in the shire.

[DigiFluid]

Not in return of the king, the book. Wormtongue was still his advisor/stoolie in the shire.

Presumably Chaka meant after Wormtongue murders Saruman. (And he’s right - book Grima was shot with an arrow by a Hobbit, rather than by Legolas as in the film)

[Gatefan1976]

Presumably Chaka meant after Wormtongue murders Saruman. (And he’s right - book Grima was shot with an arrow by a Hobbit, rather than by Legolas as in the film)

Just trying to clarify the timeline.
Saruman was not killed in Isengard, but in the shire.

[DigiFluid]

Looks like it IS going to be in the Second Age after all!

[Chaka-Z0]

The Gods are pleased.