Lord of the Class
If the Elven kings have 3 rings, the Dwarf Lords have 7 Rings, mortal men have 9 rings, and Sauron has one ring, how many rings does it take to rule them all?
This is why Balrogs need solid math fundamentals.
While not mythological, Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings is pretty legendary amongst fantasy enthusiasts and authors. Nearly everything about it has been ripped off, altered, or outright copied by later authors due to its success and widespread appeal. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but as far as books go, I’ve always preferred the Hobbit to the Lord of the Rings. There’s something about a good solid story with a strong character and plot arc that I find vastly superior to a sort of rambling epic designed as an exploration of a created world. That’s not to say that Lord of the Rings is bad, just that its predecessor is a better work of narrative fiction.
I am both hopeful and terrified at the prospects of the Hobbit movie.
Anyway, Balrogs are pretty neat. William helped come up with this idea and I had to do it. It took me a while to figure out how to do it well and I still feel like this would make a better animation than it does a comic, but I’m happy with it.
I haven’t got time to animate happle tea anyway.
Oh yeah, the Happle Tea iPhone game is hitting the iTunes store on Saturday I believe. It’s a very simple little pixel-art game that I made for school last semester, coded by Lajos Kamocsay and with music by William. I think its working pretty well now and if it isn’t, well, it’s free.
It is also on par with that bike race in Battle Toads in terms of difficulty. Savor it.
Discussion (41) ¬
Cool. I suppose you need an iphone to check out the game though, right?
That part in battle toads is EFFING IMPOSSIBLE. I played it for like a week straight and I don’t know if I even ever beat it. UGH. can’t wait to play it thought! But I think this weeks comic is one of the funniest yet. I read it at work and laughed out loud and got a bit embarassed.
Oh god…. The bike race in Battletoads was borderline impossible. X_X I’m an Android owner though so it’s a moot point. I wonder how hard it’d be to port? Hmm… quick google search doesn’t turn up anything definitive.
There’s something called jailbreaking where you can change the OS, or make the device think it’s a different OS.
I agree that The Hobbit is a much better book. For one thing, it describes more food. For another, there are no random, completely avoidable battles. As you said, it’s a proper story, wheras Lord of The Rings is just sort of stupid about the “plot” thing.
….Sauron was ruling Mordor at the time of the Hobbit’s Holiday, though, wasn’t he? Why didn’t he cause any problems for anyone then?
I stopped reading it right when that dude killed Smaug. The plot got kinda boring from there. Then again, I was eight when I read it.
K,
I love your comic. It is awesome…
The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are written for two different audiences. The Hobbit was written for Tolkiens kids as a kind of bedtime story. That’s why it’s a lot simpler, without all the darkness and fuss over the evil power of the ring.
Lord of the Rings is more of a modern Epic, following many of the rules mythological epics follow. It’s characters are a lot more dynamic and darker, not a good story for your kids.
I love both stories a lot. They characterize my childhood. I really loved the animated hobbit movie. We’ll see how this one goes.
I don’t think he was planning on Lord of the Rings when he wrote the Hobbit.
And, I agree, I prefer the Hobbit. Everyone I know thinks it’s boring, which I don’t understand. I try to read the first Lord of the Rings book and it’s so miserably difficult to get through that I still haven’t finished it. I’m sick of the forest. ):
I thought the end of the Hobbit, with the dragon, was pretty great.
Shadow ⨍(a)=(x)
Why aren’t my comments getting posted?
Wow, pretty cool.
Then I saw that it was on par with the bike race in Battletoads.
Mother of God. No. NOOOO!!!
OMG I laughed so hard with this one. Good thing no one was around.
Happle Tea on iTunes? Guess I’ll have to steal my wife’s iphone then.
Hahah nice one. Stumble likes to bring me here!
You shall not pass, you shall not collect 200 dollars.
I Found this site just the other day, and in one sitting (ignoring my friends >_> ) i read the entire archive, and i am really impressed with your work and your originality. In the vast majority of your entries i actually laughed which is tough to do in the span of 3-6 panels. So again, Great job.
-Steve
Cool.. and yea, i agree that the Hobbit is a better read than LOTR..
The game…is so hard and i hate you so much cause now im determined to beat it.
“If the Elven kings have 3 rings, the Dwarf Lords have 7 Rings, mortal men have 9 rings, and Sauron has one ring. How many rings does it take to rule them all?
This is why Balrogs need solid math fundamentals.”
It SHOULD read:
If the Elven kings have 3 rings, the Dwarf Lords have 7 Rings, mortal men have 9 rings, and Sauron has one ring, how many rings does it take to rule them all? ^
This is why Balrogs need solid math fundamentals.
The first sentence has not only been cut into two sentences where it makes no sense, but you’ve even started it as a question and somewhere decided to end it in the middle with a period.
This is why you need solid literary fundamentals.
Also, to be a predecessor, a book has to be written before the others. The Hobbit is just a prequel.
the Hobbit was written before The Lord of the Rings was Published.
@Dude I have fairly solid literary fundamentals, however, I also write the news post at 1am and sleep very little thanks to work, school, and the strip. Thanks for pointing it out.
Also, the Hobbit was written before The Lord of the Rings. As far as I know, it was published in 1937, the year Tolkien began writing LotR.
Yeah, LotR was originally supposed to be more hobbit adventures (as demanded by the fans of the book) but Tolkien was working on the Silmarillion and I think the books just sort of got away from him. It happens to the best of us.
And that’s why LotR has bits of back-pedaling, like how Sauron was actually the Necromancer mentioned in the Hobbit even though that doesn’t really make sense.
I’m here for the battle toads.
Also, The Hobbit.
Battletoads…NOOOOO!!!!! The nightmares….they return!!!
by the way, AWESOME comic here
Not sure if this was stated yet, but did you know that almost everything TOLKIEN uses was stolen from stories from the middle ages or before? :0 So it’s funny that other people steal things from him, ’cause he stole stuff from other things. xD He was a scholar in…old english, perhaps? Or was it middle english…either way, he thieves!
Lol i sense some MLIA cliches happenin here. but FUNNY!
Amazing!! LOL!!!
Perfect! Love it.
Did he died?
More like BEST. MATH CLASS. EVER.
What did Gandalf say when he cast his constipation spell on Frodo?
“You Shall Not Pass!!”
I wish Gandalf was my math teacher.
” While not mythological, Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings is pretty legendary amongst fantasy enthusiasts and authors. Nearly everything about it has been ripped off, altered, or outright copied by later authors due to its success and widespread appeal. ”
Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings is an almost direct rip-off from Norse mythology. Saying that it isn’t mythological isn’t quite correct. All Tolkien really did was take all that mythology and give it a face more recognisable to the modern public. For example:
-Alfar –> Elves
-Dvergar –> Dwarves
-Varg –> worg
-Stories and sagas of Rings of Power –> The One Ring to…
I mean, for Odin’s sake, over half the names in the LotR are directly from the Edda or some saga or other.
PS
Tolkien’s plagiarism obviously applies in the case of The Hobbit as well.
I’m very much aware of Tolkien’s liberties with mythology, as I’m sure many other people are. What I was saying was that it isn’t mythology. There’s a difference between using mythology as a basis or a wellspring for a work of fiction, and mythology as applied to ancient cultures and religions.
I don’t think I was unclear about that.
I shudder to think of the rippling effects that would be implicit in including anything that draws upon mythology or includes components from mythology under the mythology label.