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geordie
Tol Eressea
Oct 7 2012, 8:34am
Views: 949
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let's think this through - I've just woken up, so bear with me... Smaug wouldn't have smelled the dwarve's lavatory, because they were camped outside at the time the cup was stolen. the Dwarves' plight became desperate later on, when Smaug attacked their camp and smashed the mountain-side, trapping them inside. IIRC, they took tools and supplies into the tunnel with them.
Now Tolkien didn't mention toilet facilities in his stories, as was not uncommon until recently - though here and there in LotR we hear of 'orcs and their filth'. Obviously JRR must have had some experience of life without loos; in the trenches during WWI for example. Lots of men, stuck in crowded conditions - awful. I suppose not many old soldiers thought this sort of thing worth talking about, except as part of a shared experience, kept from outsiders. And it doesn't just apply to soldiers - I've heard of life underground from my uncles, who were all miners. There are no loos underground; well, not at the coal-face. The mines we're talking about extended to about a mile or so under the sea. miners have picks and shovels; they had to make a ledge to put their 'bait' boxes onto, in order to keep them out of the way of the rats. (Miners in our pit village called their sandwiches their 'bait;. Not sure of the spelling; it doesn't sound like the usual pronounciation).
So - dwarves; practical underground folk. I guess the first thing they'd do, now that the jig was up and there was no further need for concealment. was to organise their new camp at the top end of the tunnel; and one of the first things to do would be - to carve out a series of suitable nooks, which could then be filled in when things got too ripe! That's my thinking, anyhow. Now - breakfast time!
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Subject
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User
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Time
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"Not at Home" delayed?
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Elizabeth
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Oct 5 2012, 6:39pm
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How bad does it smell in that tunnel?
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N.E. Brigand
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Oct 7 2012, 3:13am
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Probably as bad as it smelled in the barrels.
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dernwyn
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Oct 7 2012, 3:24am
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hang on
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geordie
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Oct 7 2012, 8:34am
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You're right, that was an earlier occurrance!
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dernwyn
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Oct 7 2012, 7:17pm
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Life without a loo in LotR? Oh yeah, Shelob baby, shovel it.
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squire
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Oct 8 2012, 3:08am
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Now that was a classic thread.
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dernwyn
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Oct 9 2012, 12:03am
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"But not an apple!"
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sador
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Oct 9 2012, 2:20pm
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That might explain
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dernwyn
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Oct 10 2012, 1:36am
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