The book, being Tolkien's own creation will have to stand at the correct version. in the book he had already slipped and was falling when he cried out. Now doubt, the movie version was to add suspence, I suppose.
I think also there is the added interpretation is a personal thing factor to involve here. Sometimes a shout goes unheaded and a whisper echoes through time. What do you think would have been more impacting at the time? Visually the whisper from a doomed wizard is very powerful in the face of doom. In the book and as a mental picture Gandalf's voice echoing back from a bottomless ravine in a sharp command to flee is pretty powerful, too. I like them both and can't decide.
I guess the close up and the whispering of the words does make an impact. But in the books when he falls and shouts, I feel that it is more genuin. A man about to plummet to his death does not whisper.
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The Third and final batch clues of the C-session In the Tolkien Do You KnowThisgame has been posted. ______________________________
I've ridden many rollercoasters and on every big hill I am sure I'm plummeting to my death. I have yet to be able to scream until I hit bottom. I figure by then it's too late. lol
All, I guess one must ask who was Gandalf shouting or whispering too. If he was shouting "Fly you fools!" part of my reasoning would go to his telling the company a few paragraphs earlier that this was a foe beyond them and that they were supposed to keep moving. As he fell and saw they weren't moving I think shouting "Fly you fools!" is the perfect fit. If he was talking to himself, or reasoning that he was doomed, seeing the rest of the Fellowship staring in horror at his fall, whispering aloud to himself "Fly you fools!" makes more sense.
So who was he talking to?
-- Edited by Bear on Monday 24th of August 2009 05:53:40 AM
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Vocatus atque non vocatus, Deus aderit Called or uncalled, God is present