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Post by hengest on Jan 10, 2022 11:54:36 GMT -5
A general discussion thread. What is the origin of the notion of the wizard's tower? Why is this image attractive? How would you alter the wizard's tower?
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jan 10, 2022 16:04:08 GMT -5
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Post by hengest on Jan 10, 2022 16:16:07 GMT -5
Of course! Shows what I know. Observing the stars...and then it continues in literature and is present in modern fantasy. I will look through those threads more for material. Thank you, The Perilous Dreamer. I suppose my other questions can stand...why is it attractive and how would or could you revamp it for your setting? |
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jan 10, 2022 18:03:23 GMT -5
Of course! Shows what I know. Observing the stars...and then it continues in literature and is present in modern fantasy. I will look through those threads more for material. Thank you, The Perilous Dreamer . I suppose my other questions can stand...why is it attractive and how would or could you revamp it for your setting? I am thinking about your other questions, but at the links you will find out that the literature references do not go back very far at all, hard to find any wizard tower before Tolkien. And the astronomy reference is rather a guess. What would really be interesting is to know where Tolkien got the idea from. Here is an article that has a take on that: The English towers and landmarks that inspired Tolkien's hobbit sagas Faringdon Folly may have been the inspiration for Saruman’s dark tower in The Lord of the Rings. Photograph: keenbean/Alamy |
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Post by hengest on Jan 10, 2022 19:18:56 GMT -5
The book mentioned in that article looks like it could be really cool, just ordered it from the public library. Thanks for the link, The Perilous Dreamer. Maybe there will be material in there for talk on Tolkien's creative process. LOTR is so huge that I almost think of it as a real world or at least as the "postulates" from which modern fantasy comes, but of course it has its own creative roots and I am interested to see someone explore them. |
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Post by hengest on Jan 10, 2022 19:24:22 GMT -5
And yes, it is a guess, but a guess that makes a bit of sense. Or one could imagine that the high ground (or a tower) is so useful for spying out what's going on in the surrounding terrain that came to be associated with greater knowledge, power, mastery, and then was somehow ripe for Tolkien to stick the major egomaniacs of LOTR into such towers: Saruman, Sauron, Denethor...
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Post by El Borak on Jan 11, 2022 0:51:51 GMT -5
And yes, it is a guess, but a guess that makes a bit of sense. Or one could imagine that the high ground (or a tower) is so useful for spying out what's going on in the surrounding terrain that came to be associated with greater knowledge, power, mastery, and then was somehow ripe for Tolkien to stick the major egomaniacs of LOTR into such towers: Saruman, Sauron, Denethor... If Gandalf had had a tower, what would it have been like? |
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jan 11, 2022 11:07:59 GMT -5
The book mentioned in that article looks like it could be really cool, just ordered it from the public library. Thanks for the link, The Perilous Dreamer . Maybe there will be material in there for talk on Tolkien's creative process. LOTR is so huge that I almost think of it as a real world or at least as the "postulates" from which modern fantasy comes, but of course it has its own creative roots and I am interested to see someone explore them. When you get the book, you should start a thread and share your comments about the book, be as verbose as you have time to be. Be pithy!  |
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Post by hengest on Jan 11, 2022 22:41:30 GMT -5
The Perilous Dreamer The book is already in transit, and I may have a little time for it this weekend, I will start a thread over in Inspiration Fiction if I have anything to say, which I expect to. El Borak That is a great question. Hard to imagine Gandalf in a tower (except as a prisoner) because he is a wanderer at heart, if I am not mistaken. There is a quote to that effect...well, even his name means "gray wanderer," although I do not remember the quote within the book, probably in the Appendices. But if he had to have a tower, I can see it only as a base of operations and not a home. I think it would be largely used for gathering astronomical and meteorological data (as on the other thread), not as a place to store many objects. A kind of stationary Shadowfax--useful and maybe loved but ultimately not a thing to be master of.
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Post by El Borak on Jan 11, 2022 23:46:42 GMT -5
The Perilous Dreamer The book is already in transit, and I may have a little time for it this weekend, I will start a thread over in Inspiration Fiction if I have anything to say, which I expect to. El Borak That is a great question. Hard to imagine Gandalf in a tower (except as a prisoner) because he is a wanderer at heart, if I am not mistaken. There is a quote to that effect...well, even his name means "gray wanderer," although I do not remember the quote within the book, probably in the Appendices. But if he had to have a tower, I can see it only as a base of operations and not a home. I think it would be largely used for gathering astronomical and meteorological data (as on the other thread), not as a place to store many objects. A kind of stationary Shadowfax--useful and maybe loved but ultimately not a thing to be master of. I thought that Gandalf's tower would be hundreds of little huts scattered all over Middle Earth. |
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Post by hengest on Jan 11, 2022 23:53:26 GMT -5
Ha, I think you nailed it there, El Borak. I was being too literal. |
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Post by hengest on Jan 14, 2022 11:14:27 GMT -5
The book mentioned in that article looks like it could be really cool, just ordered it from the public library. Thanks for the link, The Perilous Dreamer . Maybe there will be material in there for talk on Tolkien's creative process. LOTR is so huge that I almost think of it as a real world or at least as the "postulates" from which modern fantasy comes, but of course it has its own creative roots and I am interested to see someone explore them. When you get the book, you should start a thread and share your comments about the book, be as verbose as you have time to be. Be pithy!  Just to follow up, I got the book (my thanks to everyone everywhere who works in a public library). Book looks somewhere between great and awesome. But it will take me a bit of time. However, I am sure this book has a lot to say about creativity and I think it is relevant to this board, so I will surely start a thread when I can. |
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jan 14, 2022 11:51:50 GMT -5
When you get the book, you should start a thread and share your comments about the book, be as verbose as you have time to be. Be pithy! Just to follow up, I got the book (my thanks to everyone everywhere who works in a public library). Book looks somewhere between great and awesome. But it will take me a bit of time. However, I am sure this book has a lot to say about creativity and I think it is relevant to this board, so I will surely start a thread when I can. Cool, I look forward to hearing about it. (Funny I always write hear, when I mean read) |
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Post by mao on Jan 14, 2022 18:15:24 GMT -5
Mysantia had small specialized towers. Each of 8 magic schools (Divanation, Necromacy etc.) In addition to any ability built individually, each provides a bonus to offencive casting of that schools spell from the roof based on shape of structure.
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Post by hengest on Jan 22, 2022 18:19:08 GMT -5
Well, a mini-generator can be found here. |
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Post by The Semi-Retired Gamer on Jan 22, 2022 18:48:42 GMT -5
Well, a mini-generator can be found here. Well worth looking at! |
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jan 24, 2022 17:03:04 GMT -5
When you get the book, you should start a thread and share your comments about the book, be as verbose as you have time to be. Be pithy! Just to follow up, I got the book (my thanks to everyone everywhere who works in a public library). Book looks somewhere between great and awesome. But it will take me a bit of time. However, I am sure this book has a lot to say about creativity and I think it is relevant to this board, so I will surely start a thread when I can. Any comments from this book? |
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Post by hengest on Jan 24, 2022 17:15:59 GMT -5
Just to follow up, I got the book (my thanks to everyone everywhere who works in a public library). Book looks somewhere between great and awesome. But it will take me a bit of time. However, I am sure this book has a lot to say about creativity and I think it is relevant to this board, so I will surely start a thread when I can. Any comments from this book? I started this thread here. I plan to post more. |
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Post by The Perilous Dreamer on Jan 24, 2022 17:18:29 GMT -5
Any comments from this book? I started this thread here. I plan to post more. Ha! I saw that thread, but for some reason did not realize it was this book. |
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Post by hengest on Jan 24, 2022 17:21:28 GMT -5
I started this thread here. I plan to post more. Ha! I saw that thread, but for some reason did not realize it was this book. I could have been clearer and should have posted here to direct any interested parties there. The book is really good but hard to review. I need to think a bit about how to address the next chapter. |
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