I suppose that is fair but I mean in terms of like all non-mythology or language based world building he is kind of...questionable. Well, I guess his history is ok too especially where it pertains to shifts in how texts are written over the years because that was literally his job. but the potato in the shire which is in england far, far before the english ever lived and before anyone there knew what the fuck a potato was HE NEVER EVEN PROVIDED AN EXPLANATION AS TO HOW IT WAS A TRANSLATION CONVENTION EITHER. So I just have to assume it is literally the potato.
maybe the hobbits loved potatoes so much that they ate the species to death but if that were the case then all species of edible fungus would be dead and unknown by now
As far as I know, there's no official "hell" in any of Tolkien's worldbuilding; you're getting close to the Balrog stuff, so I won't add too much more, but eternal damnation with fire and brimstone and demons with pitchforks isn't really Tolkien's style. Spoiler: Lore context, if you want it The reason the balrog was down there is because the balrogs were captains in Morgoth's army back when he was trying to take over the world; when the other Valar finally stepped in and smacked Morgoth down, the Moria balrog probably fled and either hid or was trapped way down under the mountain. Then a few thousand years later the dwarves breached whatever it was napping in and hello naughty children, it's murder time. Re: hell, the closest I think Tolkien ever gets to an equivalent is the Void, and that's less fire and brimstone and more endless darkness with the occasional spider-god-monster created by discords in the music of creation.
I've read somewhere that he knew, but just kinda ran with it anyways. Same with the tomatoes. Informative, thank you! I basically just went off Steven Colberts rant/smackdown about the difference between the Balrog and the Devil.
that is somehow even more irritating you at least admitted dwarves was bullshit and it should be dwerog you motherfucker
The Fellowship of the Ring - Book 2 - Chapter 17/V: The bridge of khazad-dûm So Balin's group managed to survive there for a few years, enough for Balin to take the title and get a grave, until they were finally overrun. Also accurate description of what you can glean from a messed-up book, although I've had similar experiences with regular handwriting. (to be fair, Kurrentschrift...) So what riled the orcs up? There was no helmet falling down a well here and that had a really weird choreography/timeframe as well. One loud clang and suddenly orc drums. It'd make more sense if the orcs were tipped off (Gollum?) or the Fellowship spotted. ... Maybe that was the case in the film as well and the orcs arriving just coincided with the helmet falling, hm. For such an aggressive species, the orcs sure run quickly after only 13 dead, with their quarry holed up. You could probably pincer the Fellowship and let the archers sort them out, or hunger them out. Like, I have maybe three drops of leadership skills and even I figured that out. Gandalf. Met his match. Against an orc. Suuuuuuuure. Ah. Not an orc tgen, but something else, and the recalcitrant old gabber refuses to elaborate again. At least the orcs had the right idea to smoke them out, I'm beginning to think the shrieking was a) rage for their fallen clansmen, and b) plan chanfes, but none of the Fellowship speak orcish or care. I want some orc fic. Huh, so the mithril shirt does not get revealed here, unlike in the film iirc. (For the record, because I don't know if I've mentioned it: I binged the Director's Cut once, 10 years ago. It's been a while. I need to rewatch them and do Legolas-watching, I'm told Orlando Bloom rarely knew what was actually going on and just made weird faces in the background.) If the lower levels are on fire, how is not everything smoked up? "Wisps of black smoke" my entire arse, you oughtn't be able to see shit through the thick smoke clogging everything. Much less breathe. There's a reason for the phrase and practice "to smoke something out"! The dropping oxygen levels and the smoke are far more dangerous to breathing creatures than the fire itself, and the smoke gets you before the lowered oxygen level, espc when there's ventilation. "A Balrog is come" There's a grammar thing here that confuses me, and that's the use of "is" in stead of "has". Can someone with more grammar knowledge expound on that, please? "You cannot pass" versus "You shall not pass", interesting. The effect is the same, but the why is different. Cannot puts the focus on the Balrog's inability, whereas shall not puts the focus on Gandalf not letting it. RIP Gandalf's staff RIP Gandalf
"is come" vs "has come" -- the "is come" construction is older, because english used to require a form of "to be" as an auxiliary verb with the past tense [edit: sorry, meant perfect tense] of "come." but along the line we started using "have" instead of "be" as the auxiliary. i'm pretty sure even in Tolkein's day we were using "have", so he's deliberately sounding olde-timey there. etymology man, OUT
He's definitely using it to sound olde-timey. A lot of his works are like that and in a variety of ways. Man was crazy knowledgeable about how English looked writing wise over the years because, again, that was his actual job. Studying the history of the English language through texts.
It's implied something heard Pippin drop a pebble down the well back when they stopped at the fork in the path. There were tapping noises way down below afterward that Pippin thought sounded like a signal, Gimli said it sounded like a hammer, and Gandalf yelled at him for it. (The helmet from the movie is pretty much just an exaggerated version of that bit, moved later in the story.)
Hmm. You can certainly have underwater air pockets, trapped in the highest local point - but if the air has a route 'upwards' it will escape due to relative densities. So... I guess, yeah, you can have an underwater cave, so long as the 'exit' is lower than the bulk of the cave itself.
Liveblogging on a phone i can barely touch due to the heat. joy. The Fellowship of the Ring - Book 2 - Chapter 18/VI: Lothlórien Aragorn I don't think this is the correct time to say "I told you so". I can kind of understand why Gimli wanted to take the quick detour to take a proper look at the mirrormere, might as well be a once in a lufetine opportunity, and if you're there already... but on the other hand, Aragorn is right and you don't have the time. Aragorn pls your class gives you a speed bonus not everyone has. At least you kept some of the healing weeds. Boromir has a point with his doubt, but so does Aragorn with his "Do you have a better idea? No? Then shut it and deal with the fact that our best option is not all guns and roses" What is it with all this mixing of silver and gold? Yes, I know, beauty and riches. But the aesthetic weeps. Weeps! You don't mix silver and gold tones unless you know what you're doing, and considering how much of a done thing I fear there will be those who don't. You ruined a perfectly good metal is what you did. Look at it, it's got an alloy! The meeting with the Lórien elves is a lot nicer than in the film, less "I'ma shoot your face off, intruder" and more snarky peanut gallery hollering. And the remark is aimed at Sam, not at Gimli. ...They're still assholes about him. Gits. And no one says anything about it! Does that adequately relay my opinions and feelings about this? Gimli has been nothing but dependable and kind! He does not deserve this treatment by sone snooty elf gits. Is Gollum still creeping about? Thank you, Aragorn. I'm certain you could've said sonething last night, though. #salt Go cry me a river, Legolas you bitch. ...Come to think of it, if the roads are that good, what use is blindfolding them in the first place? Just follow the damn road in the forest! Might want to turn them around some when there's forks in the path. This is just a humiliation tactic isn't it ::/ Also considering the reactions to Lothlórien, you can't tell me the air isn't so full of cannabis smoke that travellers get stoned from merely breathing it in.
elves are such good people and my favorites for being dickish party fiends with severe clinical depression
You know that feeling when you read a really good fanfiction, and after that canon just doesn't cut it anymore? Because that's me, Sansûkh (last update a year ago but the author mentioned rl being a beach on their blog and it will continue once things have calmed down a bit), and LOTR. But I shall prevail. The Fellowship of the Ring - Book 2 - Chapter 19/VII: The mirror of Galadriel Insert Snow White joke here. I am, for sone reason, incredibly uninterested in Lothlórien. Blah blah trees blah blah silver blah blah elves blah blah elves being assholes blah blah the local nobility would like to host you blah blah beautiful beyond compare. Give me a craft and call me a dwarf. How big is that damn tree, and, if it's so big, how come it isn't bloody obvious where the city is? Also, a house the size of a big hall just chillin around the trunk. How big is this damn tree. More elf councils? Yawn. Oh, so now that the shit is steaming you deign to accept a dwarf in your city? Wise and just my entire left arsecheek. (What? I don't like the elves? Whatever gave you that impression.) Galadriel seems content to sit on her throne and play good cop. For some reason, I keep being reminded of "She died, and we did nothing", from Gunnerkrigg Court, and I can't quite put the finger on why. Ecxept maybe that regret is worth little if it isn't accompanied by change. If I encountered Galadriel anywhere else, I wouldn't trust her like. At all. Very affable lady, but I'm smelling a glamour and mental influence there. And her husband likes to rugsweep the shit he pulled. Ah, somewhat weaponized mindreading. The Fellowship stays for a while and the Galadhrim continue being snobby and not speak to them. Couldn't someone function as translator? Legolas could, but he's out and about. Often with Gimli. Frodo deals with his grief by singing. Sam tries to add something, and messes up both rhythm and rhyme scheme. Prophetic mirror, yay. Galadriel can somewhat conymtrol what it shows, and I have the feeling that she did just that when she's been using it for a great long time. Sam receives a dreadful vision of the Shire. I recall someone mentioning that Tolkien saw the effects of the industrial revolution first-hand, and... yeah. Frodo has a couple of visions, some of which I can't place yet. Sauron plays "I can't see you but I know you're there". Galadriel has one of the rings without a back door, and Lothlórieb is doomed either way, either by destruction through Evil Eyeball or because they olly outy because either way the worls has changed too much and the elves can't deal. Galadriel's ring form reminds me of the discworld's queen of the elves. "Power according to the measure of each possessor" aah. I recall being confused about wtf the damn thing even does and someone explaining that it depends on who/what you are, and here's where tgat gets explained. Also, "and to train your will to the domination of others" -- I read a tumblr post about that, that comes up later with Gollum "_" I like Galadriel a little better now, she knows her limits.
i love people either adore the fuck out of the elves like i do or live for hating them and all that they are then you get those people who love them and want to be an elf, and you get people like me who realize that they'd be an elf and know that This Would Be The Literal Worst Thing To Be In Arda Ever
I assume there is but people who are just eh on the Elves don't have reason to talk about them much I suppose. Since they're just kind of eh. The people who talk about them tend to either furiously hate them or passionately love them from what I see.
::D My personal stance is somewhere between "absolutely unimpressed by their antics" and "oh my fucking god can u not" (empathy is not my strong suit)
Those are entirely fair assessments to have on the Elves. ONLY THOSE WHO ARE UNIMPRESSED WITH THEM LOVE THEM PROPERLY. elves <3 alas i cannot much go into why i love them so right now to you BUT IN THE FUTURE perhaps
i love legolas' family of drunk idiot bitch elves. Those are good elves. Everyone else is pompous douches. ... Is it obvious that really I'm just kind of eternally a hobbit
