Lord of the Rings Cover Tier List
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ส.ค. 2024
- My tier list of lord of the rings covers from the original to kinda new. What is your favorite lord of the rings book cover?
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If you take a shot every time I say “appreciate” you’ll fucking die.
Is this a challenge...?
@@TheGamerITA1 do it
It’s 7AM
DANIEL GREENE SAYS THE FUCK WORD UNCENSORED (OUT OF CHANGES REVIEW) CONFIRMED
Would love to see this turned into a series of book cover rankings, maybe Dune next.
"Treebeard looks like he found out his house burned down while he was at work". Well, in a way that is kinda what happened.
That might be my favorite cover set. Had I need to rebuy the Trilogy I'd seek them out. Indeed, a sad Treebeard makes perfect sense.
came here to say this haha
I can think of a couple acres why treebeard might be sad...
I mean... his friends burned down... I think is kinda worse idk
Plus his wife is missing.
You should do this with foreign covers, some of them are works of art.
yeah the swedish covers are especially beautiful
@@fdmct wich ones
Yes
Yes. Tove Jansson's cover of The Hobbit is amazing.
@@fdmct yeah, the new covers by Johan egerkrans are probably my favorite
Daniel: "I don't think gothic vibes are the correct kind of tone for a LotR cover"
Also Daniel: "I actually really like the nightmarish quality to these"
Nightmarish is different from gothic I think lol, idk maybe I'm just weird
@@cifge_404 no I agree I can see the difference
Huge difference between the two imo
Anti goblin propaganda is one of your best lines
Alan Lee and John Howe have forever set the imagery of LOTR for me.
I’m sure most people know this but both Alan Lee and John Howe directly worked on the LoTR movies and their art was the main inspiration for the design of the films.
Yup, they have several books of illustrations out between them and are featured in the documentaries on the LOTR EE discs
I would add Ted Nasmith for me as his art is just absolutely stunning.
Paul Gregory, Ted Nasmith, and Tolkien himself are my favorite artists.
*Paul Raymond Gregory
Well, there is quite a lot for Treebeard to be sad about.
He lost the entwives...
No Entwives!
Many of those trees were his friends, you heartless Goblin, creatures he knew from nut and acorn! They had voices of their own.
Danielman! A Fantasy Booktuber should know better! *BRAWWLLLLLLLOOOOOOOONG!*
He has stubs for limbs
10:20 People who have watched only the movies be like, "Why is Shelob on the Two Towers cover?"
And hopefully that confusion/curiosity will encourage them to read the books and find out! ;)
Also kind of a spoiler?
@@robertdullnig3625 Tolkien famously complained that the book names were spoilers... Compared to that; what's a bit of art?
@@maetrixxx The last title is a big ass spoiler but in retrospect become a great title by itself.
Hey Daniel, I have the gandalf-naughty-hobbit-spanker book, its even better in person.
Parents used to read that one to me every night :) It has to be my favourite
That was my first edition for lotr. It was used but man, I don't know why I bought that one instead of the other copies. 🤣
Does one say "in person" when it's not a person?
It’s similar to saying “in the flesh” meaning _you_ are experiencing it in the present in your physical body.
@@SheWhoWalksSilently I know what it means, it just sounds a bit odd, that's all.
"Treebeard looks like his house burnt fmdown while he was at work" I mean... isn't that basically what happened?
The ones at 7:19 are probably so well-loved because they actually use art by Tolkien himself.
Same with the covers at 8:13
Right, but the nerd in me is slightly bothered that those are very much drawings from The Hobbit, not LOTR.
Huh. I'd always thought the covers at 8:15 were the ones Tolkien did himself, not those ones. The version of The Hobbit that is usually paired with the 1970s US Ballantine paperback edition of the LotR edition I'm referencing does have Tolkien's artwork, I do know that. (Shows Bilbo riding a barrel after escaping the Wood Elves.)
Edit: As the meme goes, "Why not both?" Which is the case here. Both sets of covers used Tolkien's own artwork.
Cocaine covers are S-tier, fight me!
Stephen King should design his own covers.
This the season to let it snow.
I
My family actually has a copy of the "motivated Gandalf" cover. I was surprised and pleased to see it here.
That was a really common paper-back omnibus edition in bookstores in the 90’s and early 00’s. I have it and I’ve seen it in a lot of friends bookshelves as well. My copy was published by HarperCollins, printed in 1995. The art is by John Howe.
The red, blue, green you put in C were the one's I bought in my teens and read for the first time. They'll always have a special place in my heart.
Darrel Sweet's covers. It's what I have and they do the same for me.
It's the edition that my parents first read to me. Objectively, I don't love the art, but it hits my every nostalgia button, and I love them anyway lol
There are four different sets in C that are red, blue, and green 😂 , which ones do you mean?
Mine were the ones in C with the small circular illustrations on them. They had been bought by my grandmother but never read, and I remember being so excited when I noticed them on my dad's shelf for the first time.
"Why does Treebeard look like his house burned down? Whys he so sad?"
Did Saruman not chop down his friends in the books?
Tons of them.
The first "peephole" covers you showed are Tolkein's own watercolors he did so I guarantee that's why they get such high praise
Edit: just finished the video. The covers at the top of B are also Tolkien's watercolor are. Besides the first covers you mentioned, I believe that is all of his own artwork for book covers.
Ah I wasn’t aware! I did know they were Canadian editions.
@@DanielGreeneReviews as much as Tolkein surprises me being a pretty competent artist as well as a genius writer, I agree with you that Alan Lee has my favorite middle earth artwork I've ever seen. It feels like Peter Jackson leaned a bit more into John Howe's designs a vision but Alan Lee's are more beautiful and far more faithful in my opinion
You are correct
Some of them are artwork he did for The Hobbit.
Daniel you and your videos helped me with me depression and for this I’m thankful so much so keep it going and thanks for the help you giving me
Daily reminder that the phrase: “Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread” implies that there was a time when people had to chomp into that loaf.
Not to be a kill joy but i think it refers to the time where you manually had to slice bread whereas now u can get it presliced...however it is an amusing thoughts aha
Bish I live to chomp the whole ass loaf
@@Calebgoblin YOU! You get it!
Daniel claims that Treebeard looks sad but he doesn't comment about the fact that Frodo just looks plain depressed
Peter Jackson drew virtually all his conceptions from pre-existing art, especially the Brothers Hildebrandt Calendars of the 1970s. The colossal statues of the two kings is a case in point. Perhaps a tier list for the major Tolkien artists.?
I actually do like the first set of covers you put in A Tier. I didn’t know ppl hated them, I think they have an old timey fantastical look that fits the books great!
Don't apologize for putting the Remington covers into A tier. I'd have put them in S! They were the first covers when the LOTR series appeared in paperback and reflect the times as well as the story. Love how they bleed into the horror of Mordor from book to book. She was asked to illustrate the covers without being given a copy of the books, so I think she captured the feel pretty well.
Those were the ones on the first three volume set of The Lord of the Rings that I had in the mid-sixties. I also have the poster with all three covers together.
The covers at 4:30 are like what someone would say they think fantasy is without knowing anything about fantsy
Alan Lee, John Howe and Ted Nasmith God level Tolkien art
I didn't know I really wanted this video until now.
"Treebeard looks like his house burned down when he was at work" - I mean it did kinda
The Two Towers cover at 10:50 reminds me of book covers that I'd hold a specific section of the book at an awkward angle to avoid touching the monster lol
6:50 Treebeard is sad about the deforestation around Orthanc.
And about the Entwives.
The printings at 8:15 my dad owned and read in a submarine during the Cold War, by Russian Waters. They are now my sole copies on my book shelf. And hopefully my kids someday.
that's awesome dude
I really love Tolkien’s original The Two Towers illustration.
My favorite covers are for the hardbacks I bought, in England, in the mid-1950s. "First edition," but not first impression--I think the first volume is something like 17th impression (printing)! They are simple and classic--very similar to the ones you start your video with, which you call first editions, but I think must be first AMERICAN edition. They are all three on the same gray matte paper, with Tolkien's lettering and the motif of the Ring plus the elven characters. No pictorial representations. The only colors are red and black for the lettering. and Ring on the gray background. If you look at the title page of a hardcover that uses that style, you'll get an idea. Very understated and British! I do like the ones you show at about 16:02 with the artwork that I note is by Tolkien--I recognize it from a calendar I bought probably back in the 1980s or even 1970s. The illustration for "Fellowship" showing the view of Bag End and Hobbiton across the Water is his original artwork for "The Hobbit," the frontispiece, I think.
I love Tolkien's art; it's very Arts and Crafts (William Morris) era and not great art but very appealing. (Kipling's art for "Just-So Stories" is of the same kind and quality.)
Other than that, I think the proliferation of art for new editions of Tolkien, as with any classic author, is a bit ridiculous. Cover art is useful to draw readers to a NEW book, but by now the LOTR is shelved with science fiction/fantasy, not on display up front for the casual bookstore browser, and I really doubt anyone nowadays browsing that category is unaware of the book and thinks "Oh, what a fabulous cover, let me see what that book's about." And I doubt that even avid readers (except those who collect cover art or have a TH-cam channel!) keep spending a lot of money on new "editions" of hardcovers and trade paperbacks. I have a big three-volumes-in-one trade paperback I got when auditing a college course, and it's heavily annotated and underlined, and I sometimes read that, but mostly I reread my very much loved ones, about 65 years old and still holding up!
Not trying to sound snarky; I enjoyed the video and the views of various artwork. Thank you!
“Anti-Goblin propaganda series” 😂
4:21 - Those are the covers of the UNAUTHORIZED US edition. Due to a loophole in copyright law at the time (mid 1960s) Donald Wollheim was able to print and distribute them with zero compensation to Tolkien. Once this came out bookstores refused to stock them until a deal was struck with between Tolkien and Wollheim. Tolkien actually preferred these covers to the first authorized US paperback ones.
As an aside, Donald Wollheim's daughter Betsy is Patrick Rothfuss' editor. She's the one who wrote and then deleted the Facebook post about never having seen a single world to Doors of Stone.
I think there is a German version of Fellowship that is so hauntingly beautiful, it shows Frodo and Gandalf on a cliff overlooking a castle, in a storm and it’s just excellent. Saw it as a kid somewhere and it just stuck with me. Great video as usual Dan, keep em coming
On of the sets that were ranked is Finnish.
The top one you ranked is also the one that I own. Got it for my birthday last year and I absolutely loved the illustrations.
I have the 'nightmarish' ones in a boxset and I always found them lovely! They have a slightly surrealistic edge but in a way that almost reminds me of celtic knots in the complexities of the design. They're good at a glance but even better for sitting and pouring over the details and I love that in a book cover!
I would love to see a tier list for the Harry Potter covers and also comparing ones from different countries, they're all so different, I find it always so interesting to see
The last one with Gandalf was the first copy of LOTR I owned and I read it till it fell apart (it was paperback)and I duck taped it back together till it fell apart again. It holds a special place in my heart I'm happy you approve of Gandalf in motion lol
7:36 That's because there _is_ more art and they only show a small section of it on these covers!
Believe it or not, these illustrations were drawn by Tolkien himself! They're pretty famous. I've got the Great Eagle one on a postcard.
I don't know why this publishing company chose to cut out such small parts of the respective art pieces - I feel like the full illustrations would've made for some very lovely book covers in their own right. I'm pretty sure they'd all be the right format for it, too!
Just FYI Alan Lee is one of the most Tolkien obsessed human beings on earth. I'm pretty sure he only paints from Tolkien's works
I just bought the 99 prints at 12:32. I really like the classic/modern feel to them.
I honestly think my favourite LOTR cover is the simplistic 'red book' cover, with all three volumes & the homage to Tolkien's original Fellowship design. Every time I see that book on a shelf I'm just like, damn I wish that was the copy i had
Me: I should do some productive work today. Daniel uploads a cover ranking of lord of the rings. Ah I have time
No one:
Dan: Ok, bois, what if I made a tier list of the cleaning products I have in my bathroom?
Give him a break, Christmas is coming up and presents are expensive!
@@phen0menos i got it
Man, seeing those 50th anniversary prints at 6:47 brought me back to 2005. I instantly recognized that iconic depressed treebeard.
Opening line tier list when?
I love the pulpy red yellow and blue ones you put in a tier. I just love that old school d&d style art.
I've got a hurried Gandalf copy. One of the most beautiful books I own
The covers that you are talking about at 5:10 are actually art prints done by Matt Ferguson. I'm not aware of any licensed printings of the books that use this art but they are quite popular in the AMP (alternate movie poster) communities. They go for a couple hundred bucks each.
Hurried Gandalf is illustrasted by John Howe. He also made beautiful covers in the 2000s. But this editions I have only foundation in Swedish! On a beige cohesive background, with beautiful illustrations for Hobbit, Lotr and all the appendix books
Allen Lee is just the overall man when it comes to LOTR art for me. There is a reason him and John Howe were asked to come on board to help design the films. In my mind one of the if not the best decisions Peter Jackson made when creating those films. Design the films after the amazing art of two of the best artists to tackle the series.
Alan Lee is such a phenomenal artist. You can check out art he did for the movies in the special features of the extended editions. It was such a brilliant move on their part to have him on the project.
Barbara Remington did the cover art for Ballentine's 1965 first edition paperback release. She was working under time constraints and therefore didn't have time to read the books. In an interview, she said that she tried to talk to a few people, in order to get some ideas, but there were so few people in the U.S. who had read it, that she finally just had to proceed. I absolutely love these covers. There are emus, lizards, strange trees, and some creatures I'm not even sure what they are. I recently found a fairly pristine set of these editions in a used bookstore. I paid $3.50 each. Tolkien was less than thrilled with these covers, so the next Ballentine release featured Tolkien's own illustrations. That's the first set I owned and I still have them, although I've had to scotch tape them together.
That last one with Gandalf was my first time reading the lord of the rings and it's epic
I was hoping I’d see the covers I own in here, but no such luck. Even so, there’s so many cool covers I had no idea of.
Idk who did the covers for my series, but it comes in a little box which contains the illustrations on its three outer sides. It also has a red eye of Sauron on the top which appears on the spines of the books too.
It also comes with the hobbit (without the eye on the spine), which shows Gandalf walking up to Bilbo’s house with Bilbo smoking on his porch.
Fellowship shows the river flooding, and there’s a definite change in artistic tone from the Hobbit. It’s incredibly dramatic, and even the horses in the waves of the river look muscular. And standing on the riverbank is Frodo’s horse with Frodo on its back pointing his sword at the Riders.
The Two Towers has a really cool depiction of a Nazgûl flying up to what I believe is Minas Tirith.
And The Return of the King shows Sam and Frodo on a rocky outcrop surrounded by lava under an ash-clouded sky with molten rocks raining down. And one of the hobbits is waving to a giant white eagle that is approaching.
5:17 I got that one from my school library when I first read fellowship in middle school, so they’re real covers
i’ve got three versions of the lotr. one of them being a hard back edition with illustrations by alan lee that my grandma got for me and i have yet to read, i have however looked at each other of the illustrations many times, they’re gorgeous and i get the feeling that encountering them throughout reading the book would just add a whole new level of experience to the story
I actually really love the covers at 8:13, with Tolkien's own drawings. I'd put them straight into S tier honestly
Which ones are these?
Fun fact: The first covers in both your B and C tiers are actual Tolkien artwork. And the covers at 2:37 are the first ones that I owned, so they will always be special to me.
I agree for the most part. I've seen people bash Lee and Howe for being "Jackson-esque" but I don't get it. They worked on the movies, of course it'll look similar.
The cover with Gandalf is John Howe's. I would kill for an illustrated edition of LotR, Hobbit or Silmarillion with the mix of art from Lee, Howe and Nasmith.
I just completed my set of the covers you put in the D tier. They’re available at every used book store near me and I’m reading through for the first time so I don’t really mind what the covers looked like. I actually kinda like the 80s vibe they have.
7:19 The main thing that irks me with those covers is that the third book has a completely different font and heading from the others. The two first have "the Lord of the Rings" proudly displayed, and in smaller font underneath "Part One/Two" and "The Fellowship of the Ring"/"The Two Towers". The Third one... well, you can see for yourself. It's like it's from a different set. Hey, even the logo in the lower left is different. Maybe it _is_ from a different set?
Alan Lee best artist, but I just like the original cover art. They feel exactly like the sort of book found battered and worn in the back of a secondhand bookshop on holiday, or given to you from an older family member that they got from one too.
I have the Alan Lee covers as 12:34, and I love them, blocky squares aside. Happy the see them represented here. Any chance for a sequel with international covers? I’d love to hear your thoughts on the 1980s Polish set, ha.
I love the black covers, mainly because I don’t see them as gothic, I see them as classy.
Same, it's minimalism done right (unlike the other minimalist one he showed). It makes the books feel important, like a bible or something. I also really love the Silmarilion cover in this series, as you said its classy
The Harper Colin's ones are my all-time favorite, but the new Swedish covers by Johan Egerkrans is a close second.
Just ordered the box set with the art from Johan Egerkrans. 🤩🤩
Thank you!!
8:13 This was my father's edition of LotR - must have been printed in the 60s or 70s based on how much the paper had yellowed - and the ones I fell in love with. I'm glad you found and showed them.
The Alan Lee and Ted Nasmith illustrated editions covers are the GOAT for me, just straight up. Otherwise, wow are you generous to a lot of these covers man. 😆 I'd have such a heavy D tier with this list. 😂 One thing I absolutely HATE with book covers is precisely one of the things you didn't put in D tier: the same exact image/design with different colour filters. I loathe that. My least favourite from your selection is definitely that abstract/post-modern monstrosity though - because that's just NOT LOTR to me.
10:05 I have this edition, it’s absolutely wonderful! Highly recommend!
this is the kind of content that convinced me it’s worth waking up every morning
Oh man that last Gandalf cover is my childhood copy. It's the best for me 😂
alan lee worked on the films, he was one of the concept artists they brought in, yeah he was a massive fan
I think the ones at 9:35 are also Alan Lee. I have these in a trade set with The Hobbit, but can't get to them right now to confirm the artist.
15:16 A lot of UK single volume editions have this cover. Before the movies it was pretty much the standard for a decade.
the harper collins illustrated versions are so pretty that they were my uncle's housewarming gift just so i can literally use them as decoration
You don't even know how long I wished for thin video!!!😍
Dear god you’re succumbing more to the tier lists than Gollum to the ring!
It's crazy that the ones at 4:05 are only depicting buildings, yet they convey so much. I think nobody has created as many iconic landmarks and buildings through literature as Tolkien.
I prefer the covers done by Alan Lee. They are *Chef's kiss* magnifique :)
The one tier list to rule them all ;)
I definitely want last one on a tier it looks so good with the transition
Thank you so much! I love your Lord of the Rings content!
Another great video.
My favourite cover for lord of the rings ever was the Gandalf one that Harper Collins did back in the 90s. It’s similar to your last book with a different text design. It’s the first one I got. I’ve got it both in paperback and hardback. It’ll always be special to me. I also love the 50th anniversary hardback edition that depicts Frodo, Sam and Sméagol outside the black gate and I also love the 90s Harper Collins version of all three books - they were really neat
Dang. That "nightmare" cover is really awesome. And I had no idea it existed. I think I need to try and find a copy of them to add to my collection. haha
13:50 Did anyone else notice that the first book has 'part one' above the title, while the other two have them below the titles? As a graphic design student that frustrates me...
The ones you put in the 'D' tier are the covers I got as a kid when I was first introduced to the series. They are horrifically bad but have strong nostalgia for me.
8:16 is what I grew up with so I have a fondness for them. I also have the box set with Ted Nasmith art that came out while the movie was still in pre-production. I tend to prefer covers that depict scenes from the book over abstract and minimalist.
8:13 are my favorite because they're original Tolkien art. 12:35 is my second because it's the version I had growing up and also I think it has the best art (real shame about the rectangles tho...).
I have mass market paperbacks that have covers that are concept art from the movies and I love them very much. The fellowship cover is the one you really liked with the statues but the other two aren't the same
That paddle joke at the end killed me man holy
The second to last covers are really weird in that they contain both of the titular "Two Towers", but NEITHER is on the cover of.... The Two Towers. What a weird decision.
8:43 These are the copies of Lord of the Rings you'd bring to a rave.
I enjoyed seeing the covers but they need to be discussed with the dates they were designed to give them historical context rather than just based on personal design aesthetic. Some very cool covers i have never seen though. Great to see them.
Lol I sought out the “memed on” colorful covers. Didn’t know people didn’t like them. I’m with you Daniel!
The Alan Lee ones are S tier for me
Perfect timing! I want to read the LoTR for the first time next year and I’ve been having trouble picking which covers I like the most. I think I’m going with the ones you put at the top of A tier. They have a nice, classic feel to them but also stand out from the rest in my opinion.
Just when I thought I couldn't love you any more, you hit me with This gem of a line - "Like he's on his way to paddle a naughty hobbit" 😂😂😂 ... Please never change Daniel, you are amazing! Xxx
“Paddling a naughty hobbit” isn’t something I thought I’d hear in this video
I think the covers you put in the D tier were the ones on the books I had in my house when I was little😂 The covers ended up falling off and ngl I'm not upset about that.
11:46
you: It's not horrible.
me: Yes, yes it is.
The last Gandalf cover was actually the first one I ever saw. It was a little before the movies come out in Brazil.
I remember vividly picking it up in the bookstore, staring at this cover for a long time. And it was a cover for ALL 3 BOOKS as 1 edition. So the book size was massive.
I had second thoughts on the book size AND Gandalf expression. I judge it by the cover and though it would be a too dark and long story, so I passed it.
Yeah, I passed LotR because of that cover.
But it always hunted me and after the first movie I went back to the same book store and grabbed the books separately (in different art cover).