Domain: tolkiengateway.net
Stories and comments across the archive that link to tolkiengateway.net.
Comments · 21
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Re:Boo hoo
You're thinking of modern golf. That's not how golf got invented.
;)Golf was a game played by Hobbits, similar to that of modern-day golf. According to Hobbit folklore, it was invented when Bandobras Took charged at Golfimbul during the Battle of Greenfields and knocked Golfimbul's head off. The head flew through the air for 100 yards and went down a rabbit hole.
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If Hobbits live on Endor, you must acquit
Not only Ewoks but also Hobbits live on Endor.
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Re:What?!?!?
Tolkien's cover for the Hobbit was used in the original and many more recent editions:
http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki...
He also did the maps, endpapers and what I think are still by far the best illustrations for The Hobbit. These were in the edition I first read as a child, and it's always disappointing to pick up a version that doesn't have the painting of Smaug on the hoard, or the drawings of the mountain path, Laketown and Beorn's hall. There's a nice selection of Tolkien's art, including the Hobbit illustrations, here:
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Re:What?!?!?
Tolkien's cover for the Hobbit was used in the original and many more recent editions:
http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki...
He also did the maps, endpapers and what I think are still by far the best illustrations for The Hobbit. These were in the edition I first read as a child, and it's always disappointing to pick up a version that doesn't have the painting of Smaug on the hoard, or the drawings of the mountain path, Laketown and Beorn's hall. There's a nice selection of Tolkien's art, including the Hobbit illustrations, here:
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Re:Plot Hole
"It seems that nobody noticed this alleged plot-hole during Tolkien's lifetime, as there is no surviving letter where Tolkien is inquired so." To quote from here: http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki...
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Re:Plot Hole
Tolkien was human. Humans make mistakes and oversights.
Indeed. He could also have kept Aragorn as a hobbit named Trotter instead of a human and now we would be debating a number of different inconsistencies.
Who's the eldest being in Middle Earth, Tom Bombadil or Treebeard?
It would seem pretty obvious that Treebeard cannot be older than Tom Bombadil (who claims to remember "the first raindrop and the first acorn"). I would hardly consider this a "most noticeable inconsistency"
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Re:Plot Hole
Just a few more. Who's the eldest being in Middle Earth, Tom Bombadil or Treebeard? Is mithril "supple as linen", and if so why did Bilbo hurt himself when slapping Frodo's mithril coat? So Galadriel knows Sauron's thoughts that concern the elves, but didn't know of Saruman's betrayal, or never saw relevant to mention it to Gandalf? Why does Gandalf warn people against using devices "of an art deeper than we possess ourselves" when talking about the palantir and yet have no problem with with the fellowship using all sorts of magical items of arts deeper than they possess (glowing elvish swords, daggers from the barrow, the Phial of Galadriel, Galadriel's box of earth, etc)? Is "Sauron" (lit. "abominable") a name that he despises and does not permit his underlings to speak, and if so, why does he have his messenger refer to him as "Lord Sauron the Great" and a servant refer to himself as "the mouth of Sauron"? Are Thranduil's favorite gems emeralds, or white-colored gems? Did Sauron prohibit the Nazgûl to traverse west of the Anduin, and if so why did one fly over the Fellowship at Hollin? Etc.
Tolkien was human. Humans make mistakes and oversights.
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Re:Plot Hole
Short version: why didn't they just ask the Eagles to fly them to Mordor? Or over the mountains?
Short (prevalent) answer: Eagles would be extremely easy to spot over the skies of Mordor, and thus would be stopped before they got to Mount Doom. They were willing/able to pick up Frodo at the end because Sauron had already been defeated.
More discussion here
Oh, yes, there are lots of possible answers we can make up to rationalize it, but at the end of the day we know we're rationalizing it. Like rationalizing Han Solo's discussion of making the Kessel Run in a number of parsecs is because he skirted closer to a black hole so technically he was crossing less space. As an author if you mean something like that you have to "hang a lantern" on it and either demonstrate your knowledge of the plot hole or have somebody share the reason it's not a hole.
Besides, Nazgul were on horses until they were unhorsed.
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Re:Plot Hole
Short version: why didn't they just ask the Eagles to fly them to Mordor? Or over the mountains?
Short (prevalent) answer: Eagles would be extremely easy to spot over the skies of Mordor, and thus would be stopped before they got to Mount Doom. They were willing/able to pick up Frodo at the end because Sauron had already been defeated.
More discussion here
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Re:The feminists want you to find a way!
I'm not an Uruk-hai, those are a different breed. I'm an orc captain. I enjoy slaughtering men! But I really hate Ents...
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Re:The Hobbit didn't take the material seriously
Actually, Tolkien collaborated on sheet music w/ Donald Swann:
http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki...
actually humming out tunes which Swann adapted when Swann's take on things didn't match his.
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How about...
Let's go with Tolkein's Shire Calendar instead. Twelve 30 day months and the leftover days are split evenly between summer and winter, with leap days coming after Mid-summer's Day. It has the added bonus of new and strange month and weekday names. What more could you ask for?
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Re:First
Nah...it's not me, maybe you're thinking of Sauron.
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According to the mode of Beleriand
you can tell the entire text lacks vowel diacritics
So did the writing reform that came out of Beleriand, where vowels were promoted from tehtar (points) to full letters. Remember Durin's gate on the west side of Moria, noted for the weak default password that Narvi set and Celebrimbor leaked? The inscription on that was written with vowels as letters.
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Re:Moo
Gravity is not the (only) problem with what is wring on LotR
Fellowship
Two Towers
Return of the KingAnd if you want to talk about the story itself, there is Mistakes and inconsistencies in Tolkien's works
That all does not make the books any less interesting, nor the movies any less enjoyable.
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Re:How big was the hobbit?Oh boy, a real live knowledgeable person.
Would you happen to know why they filmed the Hobbit at 5K when most theaters are 2K (are they still?), and (more to the point) the better theaters project 4K? It seems like 5K dowscaled to 4K would be worse quality than just shooting 4K in the first place.
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Re:Bah.
IIRC it was shite.
On the contrary, it had the hugest hair-styles of any of the LOTR adaptations: Saruman
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Re:He's a moron.
... the Eldar Scrolls and Bethesda
...wow Bethesda infringes on Tolkien now?!?!?!?!?!??!
And those shameless pricks talk about an indie company stealing from them?
God Darnit, I always do that. Too much time painting Warhammer 40k stuff.
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Re:He's a moron.
... the Eldar Scrolls and Bethesda
...wow Bethesda infringes on Tolkien now?!?!?!?!?!??!
And those shameless pricks talk about an indie company stealing from them?
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Re:April 1st already?
Oh, so it's April First in The True West, outside of the Circles of the Earth.
How do you say "April Fools!" in Quenya?
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Re:And then it becomes self-awareAlso:
Tevildo was a Maia in the Tale of TinÃviel who was called the "Lord of Cats". He appeared in the form of a great black cat, captured Beren during the Quest for the Silmaril, and was defeated by Huan and LÃthien.
Later he was replaced in the legendarium by Thà (later renamed Sauron), the "Lord of Werewolves". The cat-versus-dog theme prominent in the Tale of TinÃviel was thus eliminated in later writings.Too bad it was cut. There is almost nothing in Tolkien's works about cats at all, as opposed to many dogs and wolves. Also interesting:
Especially in the case of BerÃthiel and Tevildo, cats in Middle-earth are portrayed in a negative light. It could be argued that Tolkien was not a cat-person. When a cat-breeder asked permission to use names from The Lord of the Rings for her cats, Tolkien replied to them:
"I fear that to me Siamese cats belong to the fauna of Mordor, but you need not tell the cat breeder that."