Re: TTT EE is a fantastic improvement

<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> In rec.arts.books.tolkien cassandras morgan mair fheal greykitten tomys des
anges <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> :> They knew far more about it than Merry and Pippin did.  Why
> :> did Treebeard not act before the hobbits arrived?   Why did
> :> he act after the hobbits arrived?  It all seems somewhat random.
>
> : didnt gandlaf point out that it only take one small stone to start an
avalance
>
> : the stone isnt the avalanche
> : just the trigger
>
> Why were they a stone?  That is my question.  They did not tell
> the Ents anything they did not know before.  Why would the
> appearance of two Hobbits suddenly motivate them to go to war?

Mainly they act as nothing but the catalyst to start Treebeard discussing
and therefore thinking about Saruman. The more he talked about him,
the more he realized something had to be done, and therefore wakes
from his complacency.

The rise of the Ents is often paralleled with an awakening in the book --
Gandalf explicitely says "The Ents are going to wake up and find that
they are strong."

So... no new knowledge, just an opportunity for Treebeard to wake up
and have him rally up the rest of them...

I can understand that the movies could wish some more relevancy
given to the Hobbits at this point -- my own suggestion would have
been for the Hobbits to offer the knowledge of Saruman's alliance
with all those orcs that hacked and burned through Fangorn forest...

It's more plausible for Treebeard not to know that Saruman himself
is leading this devastation, than have him not know anything about the
devastation at all.

Aris Katsaris