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squire
Valinor
Jan 21, 1:50am
Views: 175
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"...and so for a whole mile or more."
[In reply to]
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Can't Post
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Gee, in the book that Tolkien wrote, Gandalf tells Bilbo he has just ten minutes to get to the Green Dragon, and Bilbo runs the entire distance, "a mile or more", in just that time. I should think that any map drawn to match the text would either show the distance as about a mile, or be judged a bad map - whether it was drawn by Karen Fonstad or Tolkien himself.
Fonstad's map of the Shire in her Atlas simply copies and extends Tolkien's that appeared in Fellowship of the Ring, and her added scale (which Tolkien omitted) does seem to show the distance as five miles, relative to the distances the hobbits later cover to get to Buckland. But that does not mean the text in The Hobbit is wrong and that Gandalf magically sped Bilbo on his way! It's far more likely that Tolkien stretched the scale of his map at the center, to show both Hobbiton and Bywater more clearly; Fonstad herself cites the Hobbit text given above when she states that Bywater was just a mile from Hobbiton (or why would Hobbiton not have an Inn of its own?), without a word about the discrepancy this makes with her own map and Tolkien's.
And there's always the added problem that there are other discrepancies in the geography of the two books (most notably the distance from the Last Bridge to the Trolls' lair) - leading us to the best practice of not using any "facts" from one book to explain or justify questions in the other.
squire online:
RR Discussions: The Valaquenta, A Shortcut to Mushrooms, and Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit
Lights! Action! Discuss on the Movie board!: 'A Journey in the Dark'. and 'Designing The Two Towers'.
Footeramas: The 3rd (and NOW the 4th too!) TORn Reading Room LotR Discussion; and "Tolkien would have LOVED it!"
squiretalk introduces the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: A Reader's Diary
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Subject
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User
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Time
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Referring to the incident with the dragon
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Al Carondas
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Jan 19, 5:39pm
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I never thought of that
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squire
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Jan 19, 7:39pm
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Squire said it perfectly--agree with all points.//
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CuriousG
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Jan 19, 9:42pm
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Good points, Squire
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Al Carondas
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Jan 23, 12:28am
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Beautifully said, and afterall -
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One Ringer
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Jan 23, 7:30pm
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Incident with the dragon
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Eowyn3
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Jan 20, 10:38pm
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"...and so for a whole mile or more."
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squire
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Jan 21, 1:50am
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Magic mile
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Eowyn3
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Jan 21, 3:37am
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inspiration
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Daughter of Nienna
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Feb 7, 7:27pm
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Cool
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Al Carondas
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Feb 11, 1:49am
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