How would the world look today if Mary and Joseph had taken Jesus to Egypt only to find the Governor of Egypt was a Republican?
A question worthy of being a response to the proposed question: “Huh?”
A question worthy of being a response to the proposed question: "Huh?"I tried just posting a question mark, but it wouldn't let me. The birth narrative is already about a repressive government forcing a family to travel without providing any support.
Regardless, point understood.
Regardless, point understood.I'm still in the dark.
Regardless, point understood.I'm still in the dark. Ok, I checked the Biblical history. So Joseph and Mary took Baby Jesus to Egypt to escape the infanticide plans of Herod. So the question must be about refugees. I think I get the point of the question, now. If the governor of Egypt had been a Republican, then Jesus would have had to stay in Palestine, and would have been killed as a baby. Then there would never have been a Christian religion, or an Islamic religion, either, for that matter, as it evolved to great degree from Christianity. The world might be a better place without those 2 religions ever having existed. So maybe Republicans do have a function. Like Gollem. If Frodo had not kept Gollem alive, Sauron would have eventually won. Even the most pathetically distorted persons, like Republicans, may have their part in the grand story.
If Gandolf wasn’t such a lazy, shitty wizard Sam could have killed Gollem, abandoned Frodo to die like the loser he is, ridden a giant eagle to Mt Doom, tossed in the ring and been home in time for second breakfast.
Or, if Elrond wasn’t such a pussy he could have just shoved Isildur into the fires of Mount Doom, ring and all, and prevented the whole thing from happening in the first place.
EDIT
Fixed a punctuation error that had been bothering me.
The greatest army ever assembled in Middle Earth couldn’t have taken on one wizard and a birdie? Don’t think so. Not to mention the power of the ring itself. If Gandalf touched it, he may never have been able to drop it.
I’m talking about how right from the start he should have just summoned those stupid birds to simply fly them to Mt Doom, in like an afternoon. Which far faster than the ring is ever depicted corrupting someone. Then they could have just walked in, tossed it in and been done with it. But no. Gandolf had to push them along on some stupid quest because he’s too damn lazy to summon a parakeet.
I’m still unsure whether Gandolf or Dumbledore is the shittier wizard though.
EDIT
Fixed some errors.
Regardless, point understood.I'm still in the dark. I just took it as it's not the Christian thing to do.
If Gandolf wasn't such a lazy, shitty wizard Sam could have killed Gollem, abandoned Frodo to die like the loser he is, ridden a giant eagle to Mt Doom, tossed in the ring and been home in time for second breakfast. Or, if Elrond wasn't such a pussy he could have just shoved Isildur into the fires of Mount Doom ring and all and prevented the whole thing from happening in the first place.You're right, of course, but that would have spoiled a great story.
I'm talking about how right from the start he should have just summoned those stupid birds to simply fly them to Mt Doom in like an afternoon. Which far faster than it's ever depicted corrupting someone. Then they could have just walked in, tossed it in and been done with it. But no. Gandolf had to push them along on some stupid quest because he's too damn lazy to summon a parakeet. I'm still unsure whether Gandolf or Dumbledore is the shittier wizard.I have a poster behind me in my cubicle. There's this big tower and it has a giant eye on it, scanning everywhere. No bird of any kind was within a 100 miles of Mt. Doom. Not a living one anyway. Some sort of undead bird or a dragon, sure, but no parakeets. You need to re-watch the scene of the council of Elrond where they decide who carries the ring. It's the central element of the story.
I'm talking about how right from the start he should have just summoned those stupid birds to simply fly them to Mt Doom in like an afternoon. Which far faster than it's ever depicted corrupting someone. Then they could have just walked in, tossed it in and been done with it. But no. Gandolf had to push them along on some stupid quest because he's too damn lazy to summon a parakeet. I'm still unsure whether Gandolf or Dumbledore is the shittier wizard.I have a poster behind me in my cubicle. There's this big tower and it has a giant eye on it, scanning everywhere. No bird of any kind was within a 100 miles of Mt. Doom. Not a living one anyway. Some sort of undead bird or a dragon, sure, but no parakeets. You need to re-watch the scene of the council of Elrond where they decide who carries the ring. It's the central element of the story. If there is a hell, Dead Monkey is no doubt going there for slandering and bad-mouthing Gandalf, but he is not wrong. As soon as Gandalf figured out what the ONE Ring was, he could have gotten his eagle friends to carry him and Frodo to Mt. Doom to drop in the Ring.
I'm talking about how right from the start he should have just summoned those stupid birds to simply fly them to Mt Doom in like an afternoon. Which far faster than it's ever depicted corrupting someone. Then they could have just walked in, tossed it in and been done with it. But no. Gandolf had to push them along on some stupid quest because he's too damn lazy to summon a parakeet. I'm still unsure whether Gandolf or Dumbledore is the shittier wizard.I have a poster behind me in my cubicle. There's this big tower and it has a giant eye on it, scanning everywhere. No bird of any kind was within a 100 miles of Mt. Doom. Not a living one anyway. Some sort of undead bird or a dragon, sure, but no parakeets. You need to re-watch the scene of the council of Elrond where they decide who carries the ring. It's the central element of the story. If there is a hell, Dead Monkey is no doubt going there for slandering and bad-mouthing Gandalf, but he is not wrong. As soon as Gandalf figured out what the ONE Ring was, he could have gotten his eagle friends to carry him and Frodo to Mt. Doom to drop in the Ring. Having thought further about this, I feel I should correct my last assertion, above. It occurred to me that Gwaihir, King of the Great Eagles, and the other Great Eagles, would probably not have made it to Mount Doom, prior to Sauron's disintegration, as Sauron's focused attention and power, along with the presence of the Nazgul, essentially made Mordor a no-fly zone. So I now think that Dead Monkey's assertion about this, was wrong, after all.
Maybe I am. But, if they can’t fly in, Sam and Frodo should have starved to death in Mordor. It’s not exactly depicted as a land of plenty.
But I stand by my hate for Gandalf. He’s a crap wizard. He’s a freaking Maiar and he uses his power to do what? Parlor tricks? Screw that noise. Shoot some fireballs or lightning or something. Boil the eyes out of the uruk-hai’s heads. Levitate people. What a useless wizard.
Sorry about all this, but Tolkien drives me up the wall. His insipid good vs evil moralizing, the not so subtle racist undertones, the painful amountbof deus ex machina and plot contrivances, the way he seems to almost celebrate stagnation, and Tom Dieinafire Bombadil. I think out of all the characters in all the books I have ever read that Tom Bombadil is the one I hate the most. He’s annoying, creepy, largely useless, it’s clear Tolkien liked him way too much.
I actually sympathize far more with Sauron and Mordor. Say what you will about him, but Sauron ruled the only truly multi-ethnic, multi-racial society in all of Middle Earth and was the only one willing to drag them out of thousands of years of cultural and technological stagnation. Yeah he’s bad guy and a shitbag, but at least he tried to push people out of the rut they’d dug for themselves.
Worst of all though, is how ever since Tolkien the fantasy genre in general seems to so desperately cling to his shirttails. Like the idea of straying too far from Tolkien’s tropes is anathema. It’s grating.
P.S.
Sorry I got so ranty. I had an awful morning and I’m in a foul mood right now.
Maybe I am. But, if they can't fly in, Sam and Frodo should have starved to death in Mordor. It's not exactly depicted as a land of plenty. But I stand by my hate for Gandalf. He's a crap wizard. He's a freaking Maiar and he uses his power to do what? Parlor tricks? Screw that noise. Shoot some fireballs or lightning or something. Boil the eyes out of the uruk-hai's heads. Levitate people. What a useless wizard...Sam and Frodo had lembas for part of the way, in Mordor, didn't they? And Hobbits are a hardy folk. Re: Gandalf's power as a Maiar: It was restricted when he was chosen to come to Middle Earth. We don't know whether that restriction on his powers was hard wired or if he was simply following his "rules of engagement", so to speak. But we do know that he understood the danger of the unintended consequences of taking on and using too much power, else he would have taken and used the One Ring, himself, when he first suspected what it was.
Not really reading this anymore, can’t handle it when you have to remind people about lembas. But really, it’s a story, full of the usual tropes. I do however think it is very unique in it’s presentation of the moral dilemma of having extreme power at your fingerprints and the ability to resist using it or letting it turn you into a gollum or doing nothing which leaves the power available to the enemy.
I’m not so bothered by the lack of consistency from a wizard as I am by the classic stupid soldiers. I haven’t found this in TVtropes database but it should have a name, I see it everywhere, from old Westerns to the latest sci-fi. There is some impenetrable army of super soldier that no one has ever faced and come out alive, but our little band of heroes walks in, slips past the massive lines, okay that’s easy, but then they bump into one or a handful or a lone sniper or someone who is supposed to be guarding a road or door or whatever. They just tip toe up to them and do a judo chop on the neck and they drop like a fly. In LOTR, Sam does the old, “look my shadow is huge trick” and takes on a dozen or more Orcs.