Ezboard stuff
Well, they're still recovering after the hacking a few days ago and the messages are still missing on my board. They think it will be at least another seven to ten days, before posts are restored even partially, which might be the best I get.
I'd love to have the messageboard on the server the site is, which would mean no advertising etc. I've seen software for doing it, I just don't know if the server is set up to be able to run it.
Anyway, I'm working on a list of the post topics that were lost, so something similar can be posted again once things are fixed, if Ezboard is unable to restore all the missing topics. Some of the initial posts I made for threads, I can recover from the Lord of the Rings Fanatics Forum, where I posted many topics for alternate opinions.
If you can think of any of the lost topics, please let me know, Thanks.
These are the posts made to the LOTR Fanatics Forum:
Elf Friend - More than a Title
We know that Frodo was referred to as an elf-friend by Goldberry, but that same passage made me wonder if it was more than a title of respect. Her words in "In the House of Tom Bombadil":
"But I see you are an elf-friend; the light in your eyes and the ring in your voice tells it."
Thing is, I can't think of anythink like that with any of the others called 'elf-friend'.
Werewolves
We know there are/were werewolves in Middle-Earth, but they don't seem to have anything in common with the modern werewolves in horror stories. Are there older stories that have more in common with Tolkien's werewolves?
Related question: Are the wargs werewolves? Given Gandalf's words (nicely translated by the Plaza's own Taramiluiel) when they were trapped by the wargs in the FOTR, it seems possible. But, if so, why not just call them that?
Tolkien's werewolves seem to be more regular wolves, perhaps more evil than that, but certainly more intelegent and larger than normal.
The Istari
Do you think the Istari were limited in some way? Not just by mutual agreement, but actual restrictions. Otherwise, it would seem that they, as Maiar, would be much more Sauron's equals.
Instead, Gandalf says in the Fellowship that he had trouble keeping off four of the Nazgul at Weathertop. A Maia struggling with four beings that once had been Men, though powerful men and possibly sorcerors once. And the most powerful of them wasn't even there.
And then, later, he says "I am Gandalf the White, but Black is mightier still."
In the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, Gandalf can face down the most powerful of the Nazgul, the Witch-king successfully.
A Possible Bombadil Theory This was one of several Bombadil threads, though the only one I started that I remember.
I had an idea about a possible origin for Tom Bombadil. Some of it doesn't exactly fit with Tolkien's own writing, I'll admit that right off, but most of it does, and it seems to make a good solution.
One of the usually accepted explanations is that Tom is a Maia. However, that leaves some problems with some of what he says. I'm going to say no to this one.
Tolkien says in Letter 19 that Bombadil is "the spirit of the (vanishing) Oxford and Berkshire countryside", so why can't he be just that and not fit into one category or another.
I got the feeling that the only one who knew everything about Arda when it was created was Illuvatar, and that even though they participated in it's creation, the Ainur didn't know everything.
What I think then, is that Bombadil was something created by Illuvatar with Arda. That would fit with his words of being the Eldest. Also with his words of being there before the rain and the acorns. It also works with his claim of being in Arda before "the Dark Lord came from Outside" (FOTR. In the House of Tom Bombadil). It works, because Arda was created shortly before the Valar and Maiar descended into it.
This is where we hit the point at which my idea departs from the published Silmarillion. It doesn't quite seem to work with the Ainulindale. However, it doesn't explicitly not work with it either.
The Mouth of Sauron (Obviously, from the content of this thread, there was more than one thread on the topic)
Thanks to a thread on my messageboard I have ended up with more questions than answers regarding the Mouth of Sauron. Mostly regarding dates.
According to the ROTK, he is said to be of the race of the Black Numenoreans, yet that term refers to the Kings Men corrupted by Sauron which puts that time-frame to be within the rule of Ar-Pharazon. Yet he is said to have come from the years of Sauron's domination of Middle-Earth, which seems to pre-date Ar-Pharazon. Afterwards Sauron was involved with the war on Elendil and company and only lasted a few years. So, it would have to be after that time.
The next contradiction is that the Mouth of Sauron is said to have entered the service of the Dark Tower when it rose again. That happened some two thousand years later. The thing is, according to the appendices, the Black Numenoreans didn't last that long as a race. So what about the time in between?
Radagast
Ok, it's pretty strongly suggested that Radagast did not return to Valinor due to his 'failure'. So, what do you think happened to him? As he was a maia, I doubt that he would have been subject to the same fading effect that the Eldar were, although it is possible that his form as one of the Istari was. So, what could his fate (and for that matter that of the Blue Wizards) have been?
Barrow-Wights
I've been wondering for a while if the Barrow-Wights are corporeal or not.
The evidence I can find suggests both incorporeal and corporeal.
Incorporeal, because in the appendices, they are called evil spirits. 'Spirits' suggests the lack of a solid body, though it doesn't give that definition specifically, it is grouped in with ghosts and apparitions.
However, when we see them in the Barrow Downs, the hand seems to be quite solid. I'm assuming that the hand was of the Barrow-Wights, though I don't know for sure.
The Ring: Self Willed?
There are some interesting suggestions about the Ring in the LOTR. Is it intelegent? Self-willed? The implications are there.
Gandalf says in the Shadow of the Past that "[i]the Ring itself was to blame[/i]" (Shadow of the Past) for Bilbo's state of mind.
There is also the way that the size and the weight of the Ring seemed able to change unexpectedly. We see an example of this in the same chapter, when Frodo handed the Ring to Gandalf:
"It felt suddenly very heavy, as if either it or Frodo himself was in some way reluctant for Gandalf to touch it"(The Shadow of the Past).
And again, once the Ring had been removed from the fire, it seemed to be heavier still.
Also, the Ring seems to pick and choose it's bearers. "It was not Gollum, Frodo, but the Ring itself that decided things." Again, the impression that the Ring had some amount of self-will.
It can't be entirely on the will of Sauron, because a similar thing happened to Isildur: "He lept into the waters, but the Ring slipped from his finger as he swam..."(The Shadow of the Past)
At the time when that happened, Sauron had just been defeated and needed to regain his strength enough to form a new body and begin searching for the Ring again. Besides, how would Sauron be able to detect someone such as Gandalf touching the Ring? And then, there is the impression of reluctance in the quotes about Gandalf touching the Ring.
Sting sensing evil/orcs and range
I was trying to figure out the range from within which Sting could sense orcs, along with a related question: was it just orcs that lit Sting up, or was it evil?
In every example where we see Sting glowing, it seems to me that there were orcs nearby.
It's not said for sure in Cirith Ungol with Shelob, but it is probable that there were orcs within range.
Aragorn suggested that the range included across the Anduin at Parth Galen, but how wide was the river? Anyway, it was a moot point as the Company discovered later. The orcs were on the western shore.
I would estimate the range as under a kilometer, myself, given the events in Lothlorien. It was only a few minutes between Sting flaring, and the orcs passing by. However, we don't know if Frodo had drawn the sword before the orcs were in range, or after they were already within range.
Aragorn, healing, Gondor, Numenor etc. One of several threads on the healing abilities of the Line of the Kings.
Given the statement made that "The hands of the King are the hands of a healer"(LOTR.897) and Aragorn's statement that Elrond had the greater share of the power, I was wondering if the healing gifts that the kings of Gondor had were also had by the Kings and Queens of Numenor. After all, both the rulers of Gondor/Arnor and the rulers of Numenor were descended from Elrond, so it makes sense.
Opinions?
Orc Breeds
It's clear in the Lord of the Rings that there were many different breeds of orcs, some of whom had specialized in one thing or another, for example, extreme night sight, or an enhanced sense of smell. Do you think that they were bred for this on purpose?
Now, over the various periods of time when Morgoth or Sauron was indisposed, how do you think that these lines were preserved? Surely given the close quarters that orcs seem to have lived under, these attributes would have been bred out over the thousands of years of no supervison.
Chapter Summaries 1-5 of The Hobbit Safe on my computer and on the website itself.
Other Threads currently missing (Not backed up, just a list of the topics)
- The Age of the Mouth of Sauron (? Forum)
- Character Qualities of Leaders (LOTR Forum), (Silmarillion Forum)
- Elven Reincarnation in the Book of Lost Tales (HoME Forum)
- Something on the Healing Touch (? Forum)
- Tolkien as an artist (Hobbit Forum)
- Prophecies (General Middle-Earth)
I know there are a ton of others. These are just the ones I can remember. If you think of others, please let me know.
Topics I'd like to start
- A comparison of Melkor's time in Aman and Sauron's time in Numenor
- Did Isildur steal only the one fruit of Nimloth? (Triggered by the latest in the Conversations in Minas Tirith series)
- What are the best books on Tolkien's Middle-Earth (Secondary Sources)?
I'd love to have the messageboard on the server the site is, which would mean no advertising etc. I've seen software for doing it, I just don't know if the server is set up to be able to run it.
Anyway, I'm working on a list of the post topics that were lost, so something similar can be posted again once things are fixed, if Ezboard is unable to restore all the missing topics. Some of the initial posts I made for threads, I can recover from the Lord of the Rings Fanatics Forum, where I posted many topics for alternate opinions.
If you can think of any of the lost topics, please let me know, Thanks.
These are the posts made to the LOTR Fanatics Forum:
Elf Friend - More than a Title
We know that Frodo was referred to as an elf-friend by Goldberry, but that same passage made me wonder if it was more than a title of respect. Her words in "In the House of Tom Bombadil":
"But I see you are an elf-friend; the light in your eyes and the ring in your voice tells it."
Thing is, I can't think of anythink like that with any of the others called 'elf-friend'.
Werewolves
We know there are/were werewolves in Middle-Earth, but they don't seem to have anything in common with the modern werewolves in horror stories. Are there older stories that have more in common with Tolkien's werewolves?
Related question: Are the wargs werewolves? Given Gandalf's words (nicely translated by the Plaza's own Taramiluiel) when they were trapped by the wargs in the FOTR, it seems possible. But, if so, why not just call them that?
Tolkien's werewolves seem to be more regular wolves, perhaps more evil than that, but certainly more intelegent and larger than normal.
The Istari
Do you think the Istari were limited in some way? Not just by mutual agreement, but actual restrictions. Otherwise, it would seem that they, as Maiar, would be much more Sauron's equals.
Instead, Gandalf says in the Fellowship that he had trouble keeping off four of the Nazgul at Weathertop. A Maia struggling with four beings that once had been Men, though powerful men and possibly sorcerors once. And the most powerful of them wasn't even there.
And then, later, he says "I am Gandalf the White, but Black is mightier still."
In the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, Gandalf can face down the most powerful of the Nazgul, the Witch-king successfully.
A Possible Bombadil Theory This was one of several Bombadil threads, though the only one I started that I remember.
I had an idea about a possible origin for Tom Bombadil. Some of it doesn't exactly fit with Tolkien's own writing, I'll admit that right off, but most of it does, and it seems to make a good solution.
One of the usually accepted explanations is that Tom is a Maia. However, that leaves some problems with some of what he says. I'm going to say no to this one.
Tolkien says in Letter 19 that Bombadil is "the spirit of the (vanishing) Oxford and Berkshire countryside", so why can't he be just that and not fit into one category or another.
I got the feeling that the only one who knew everything about Arda when it was created was Illuvatar, and that even though they participated in it's creation, the Ainur didn't know everything.
What I think then, is that Bombadil was something created by Illuvatar with Arda. That would fit with his words of being the Eldest. Also with his words of being there before the rain and the acorns. It also works with his claim of being in Arda before "the Dark Lord came from Outside" (FOTR. In the House of Tom Bombadil). It works, because Arda was created shortly before the Valar and Maiar descended into it.
This is where we hit the point at which my idea departs from the published Silmarillion. It doesn't quite seem to work with the Ainulindale. However, it doesn't explicitly not work with it either.
The Mouth of Sauron (Obviously, from the content of this thread, there was more than one thread on the topic)
Thanks to a thread on my messageboard I have ended up with more questions than answers regarding the Mouth of Sauron. Mostly regarding dates.
According to the ROTK, he is said to be of the race of the Black Numenoreans, yet that term refers to the Kings Men corrupted by Sauron which puts that time-frame to be within the rule of Ar-Pharazon. Yet he is said to have come from the years of Sauron's domination of Middle-Earth, which seems to pre-date Ar-Pharazon. Afterwards Sauron was involved with the war on Elendil and company and only lasted a few years. So, it would have to be after that time.
The next contradiction is that the Mouth of Sauron is said to have entered the service of the Dark Tower when it rose again. That happened some two thousand years later. The thing is, according to the appendices, the Black Numenoreans didn't last that long as a race. So what about the time in between?
Radagast
Ok, it's pretty strongly suggested that Radagast did not return to Valinor due to his 'failure'. So, what do you think happened to him? As he was a maia, I doubt that he would have been subject to the same fading effect that the Eldar were, although it is possible that his form as one of the Istari was. So, what could his fate (and for that matter that of the Blue Wizards) have been?
Barrow-Wights
I've been wondering for a while if the Barrow-Wights are corporeal or not.
The evidence I can find suggests both incorporeal and corporeal.
Incorporeal, because in the appendices, they are called evil spirits. 'Spirits' suggests the lack of a solid body, though it doesn't give that definition specifically, it is grouped in with ghosts and apparitions.
However, when we see them in the Barrow Downs, the hand seems to be quite solid. I'm assuming that the hand was of the Barrow-Wights, though I don't know for sure.
The Ring: Self Willed?
There are some interesting suggestions about the Ring in the LOTR. Is it intelegent? Self-willed? The implications are there.
Gandalf says in the Shadow of the Past that "[i]the Ring itself was to blame[/i]" (Shadow of the Past) for Bilbo's state of mind.
There is also the way that the size and the weight of the Ring seemed able to change unexpectedly. We see an example of this in the same chapter, when Frodo handed the Ring to Gandalf:
"It felt suddenly very heavy, as if either it or Frodo himself was in some way reluctant for Gandalf to touch it"(The Shadow of the Past).
And again, once the Ring had been removed from the fire, it seemed to be heavier still.
Also, the Ring seems to pick and choose it's bearers. "It was not Gollum, Frodo, but the Ring itself that decided things." Again, the impression that the Ring had some amount of self-will.
It can't be entirely on the will of Sauron, because a similar thing happened to Isildur: "He lept into the waters, but the Ring slipped from his finger as he swam..."(The Shadow of the Past)
At the time when that happened, Sauron had just been defeated and needed to regain his strength enough to form a new body and begin searching for the Ring again. Besides, how would Sauron be able to detect someone such as Gandalf touching the Ring? And then, there is the impression of reluctance in the quotes about Gandalf touching the Ring.
Sting sensing evil/orcs and range
I was trying to figure out the range from within which Sting could sense orcs, along with a related question: was it just orcs that lit Sting up, or was it evil?
In every example where we see Sting glowing, it seems to me that there were orcs nearby.
It's not said for sure in Cirith Ungol with Shelob, but it is probable that there were orcs within range.
Aragorn suggested that the range included across the Anduin at Parth Galen, but how wide was the river? Anyway, it was a moot point as the Company discovered later. The orcs were on the western shore.
I would estimate the range as under a kilometer, myself, given the events in Lothlorien. It was only a few minutes between Sting flaring, and the orcs passing by. However, we don't know if Frodo had drawn the sword before the orcs were in range, or after they were already within range.
Aragorn, healing, Gondor, Numenor etc. One of several threads on the healing abilities of the Line of the Kings.
Given the statement made that "The hands of the King are the hands of a healer"(LOTR.897) and Aragorn's statement that Elrond had the greater share of the power, I was wondering if the healing gifts that the kings of Gondor had were also had by the Kings and Queens of Numenor. After all, both the rulers of Gondor/Arnor and the rulers of Numenor were descended from Elrond, so it makes sense.
Opinions?
Orc Breeds
It's clear in the Lord of the Rings that there were many different breeds of orcs, some of whom had specialized in one thing or another, for example, extreme night sight, or an enhanced sense of smell. Do you think that they were bred for this on purpose?
Now, over the various periods of time when Morgoth or Sauron was indisposed, how do you think that these lines were preserved? Surely given the close quarters that orcs seem to have lived under, these attributes would have been bred out over the thousands of years of no supervison.
Chapter Summaries 1-5 of The Hobbit Safe on my computer and on the website itself.
Other Threads currently missing (Not backed up, just a list of the topics)
- The Age of the Mouth of Sauron (? Forum)
- Character Qualities of Leaders (LOTR Forum), (Silmarillion Forum)
- Elven Reincarnation in the Book of Lost Tales (HoME Forum)
- Something on the Healing Touch (? Forum)
- Tolkien as an artist (Hobbit Forum)
- Prophecies (General Middle-Earth)
I know there are a ton of others. These are just the ones I can remember. If you think of others, please let me know.
Topics I'd like to start
- A comparison of Melkor's time in Aman and Sauron's time in Numenor
- Did Isildur steal only the one fruit of Nimloth? (Triggered by the latest in the Conversations in Minas Tirith series)
- What are the best books on Tolkien's Middle-Earth (Secondary Sources)?