Lord of the Rings

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 29 Nov 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

ros	29 Nov 2003
Am I being too picky? I wish this deck could have been done in a more mystical way after seeing the movies.I like the deck but was disappointed.

galadrielsphial	29 Nov 2003
I've seen the entire deck online, and I also feel it could've been done a lot better because I am such a Tolkien fan. I had it down on my list of must-haves until I saw how it was designed. I thought it was very disappointing. Now that the movies are so popular I think someone should have the deck completely redone - the subject has such potential to be a wonderful and beautiful tarot deck.

WolfyJames	29 Nov 2003
I saw the scans on the Internet and I didn't like it. I saw it for real last month and I was even more disapointed. Most of my decks are large, and this deck is such a tiny deck. It confimed to me that I prefer large decks. Besides, I'm totally satisfied with the Lord Of The Rings Oracle, and that deck is large.

mercenary30	29 Nov 2003
This was actually the first deck I bought. I am a huge fan of JRR Tolkien. I could not relate at all, so I bought a RWS. Then I bought Visconti Gold and gave LoTR to my daughter.

aqua	29 Nov 2003
Ive read alot of negative reviews of these cards, but then I've been a huge Tolkein fan from my teenage years. So for me i just had to have a deck and check it out for myself. Another ebay purchase, and more reasonable than i would have been able to get them from a local bookstore. Altho I find the cards abit busy, I find it makes me take my time and really study the pictures. So for me it seems to work really well and Ive been able to connect with them and I do love them at least for now. now if i was more artistic I would love to make a Hobbit deck ! think ive come up with a great idea :) thanks ros !!!!!

Shade	30 Nov 2003
I have wanted to be enthuised about this deck for a long time now and I just can't. My main issue is with the little captions written for most of the cards. Most of them have either nothing to do with the card or nothing to do with the character. In most theme decks there are one or two cards that you feel aren't the right match for a deck but this one is chock full of them. Saruman for the Hierophant?!? The caption discusses how he is corrupted by dark power. Wha? This is a Hierophant? Maybe Treebeard would have been a better choice. As has been said Hobbits in the deck occasionally wear shoes which is an unforgivable oversite for a Tolkien deck. The image of Eowyn slaying the Nazgul is completely wrong. In it she is wearing a revealing, flowy gown with her hair down. As anyone who read the book knows she dressed as a man to be able to join the battle. I'm not a Tolkien purist by any stretch, I understand that editorial decisions must be made (such as changes made in the films) but the errors in this deck are just glaring.

Kiama	01 Dec 2003
I feel many of the characters and situations chosen for the cards were very shallow and badly-chosen for starters... I can see so many better choices. I also think the cards are far too busy and the 'game' attached is just... boring. (And confusing.) I would dearly love to see LOTR done justice in a Tarot deck, one day... *Sigh* I've discussed all this with my LOTR fan friend, and we spoke about what we'd put in each card... It was interesting. (Won't reveal what we've thought of here though.) Kiama

Kyrielle	01 Dec 2003
I like the Lord of the Rings Oracle better than I like the Tarot deck. The art is nicer. Also, since it is its own system and not a Tarot deck, there isn't a problem of uncomfortable assignment of roles. And the hobbits don't wear shoes in this one -- but their feet aren't hairy enough. -- Kyrielle

CompassRose	02 Dec 2003
Ugly, poorly rendered, cash-in-on-the-wave piece of junk by someone who didn't care, and got most Tolkien knowledge from the blurb on the back of the book. My... ahem... completely unbiased opinion! Surely, though, there are enough people out there who are fanatical about these books, that even IF a publishing company just wanted to get a piece of the money, it could've found a really good artist who knew the works to do a worthwhile job. Sad waste.

The Lord of the Rings thread was originally posted on 29 Nov 2003 in the Tarot Decks board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Decks, or read more archived threads.