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GAndyalf
Valinor

Mar 25 2010, 3:25pm

Post #26 of 149 (3326 views)
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Very "British"... [In reply to] Can't Post

Well done! For my part I've always enjoyed the Foreword and especially since I've grown old, and wary enough to detect its brilliance. (smile) The classic British ascerbic wit is underscored by such things as your points in bold, "...or at any rate have reviewed it,..." Wonderfully hilarious! It is my opinion that Tolkien is chafed but responds beautifully in classic British fashion by undercutting his detractors with a cutting courtesy that we Americans haven't seen since John Cleese or, of our own writers, the late Erma Bombeck. As for your musings on confidence, by the time the Professor is writing this he is some 74 years old or so (as this is a "new" foreward written especially for the Ballentine paperback edition released, I believe, around 1966?). I believe you'll find by that time most people are VERY 'comfortable in their skins' as it were, and so he would be quite confident of himself and his opinions by then.
Your second quoted paragraph is among my favourites because it is the essence of writing. You will please some with what you write and displease others and many times the same passage with do both to different readers. The genius of the late JRRT is not his story, but the telling. The universal emotions and themes that touch people regardless of most of the things that separate us in our lives rather than the smaller, unimportant things that separate us.

"Even the very wise cannot see all ends."



GAndyalf
Valinor

Mar 25 2010, 3:27pm

Post #27 of 149 (3428 views)
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GREAT ELEPHANTS! [In reply to] Can't Post

I apologize, my Lord! I mis-remembered what screen name belonged to whom! Do forgive me, old chap?

"Even the very wise cannot see all ends."



Rosie-with-the-ribbons
Forum Admin / Moderator


Mar 25 2010, 3:27pm

Post #28 of 149 (3186 views)
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R is for Rosie [In reply to] Can't Post

Ros(i)e doesn't get mentioned that often in the book. So I'm going to give you almost all of them in which she herself features:

Our first real encounter with Rosie:
‘It’s me!’ shouted Sam as he trotted up. ‘Sam Gamgee! So don’t try prodding me, Nibs. Anyway, I’ve a mail-shirt on me.’
He jumped down from his pony and went up the steps. They stared at him in silence. ‘Good evening, Mrs. Cotton!’ he said. ‘Hullo, Rosie!’
‘Hullo Sam!’ said Rosie. ‘Where’ve you been? they said you were dead; but I’ve been expecting you since the Spring. You haven’t hurried, have you?’
‘Perhaps not,’ said Sam abashed. ‘But I’m hurrying now. We’re setting about the ruffians, and I’ve got to get back to Mr. Frodo. But I thought I’d have a look and see how Mrs. Cotton was keeping, and you, Rosie.’
‘We’re keeping nicely, thank you,’ said Mrs. Cotton. ‘Or should be, if it weren’t for these thieving ruffians.’
‘Well, be off with you!’ said Rosie. ‘If you’ve been looking after Mr. Frodo all this while, what d’you want to leave him for, as soon as things look dangerous?’
This was too much for Sam. It needed a week’s answer, or none. He turned away and mounted his pony. But as he started off, Rosie ran down the steps.
‘I think you look fine, Sam,’ she said. ‘Go on now! But take care of yourself, and come straight back as soon as you have settled the ruffians!’
Just notice that The Shire really had no idea what happened to the four Hobbits and their Fellowship.

Happiness returns to The Shire
And so it was settled. Sam Gamgee married Rose Cotton in the Spring of 1420 (which ws also famous for its weddings), and they came and lived at Bag End. And if Sam thought himself lucky, Frodo knew that he was more lucky himself for there was not a hobbit in the Shire that was looked after with such care.

And back again
At last they rode over the downs and took the East Road, and then Merry and Pippin rode on to Buckland; and already they were singing again as they went. But Sam turned to Bywater, and so came back up the Hill, as day was ending once more. And he went on, and there was yellow light and fire within; and the evening meal was ready, and he was expected. And Rose drew him in, and set him in his chair, and put little Elanor upon his lap.
He drew a deep breath. ‘Well, I’m back,’ he said.
The end of the story, but we know that Sam and Rosie still lived happily ever after.

And really the end
1482, Death of Mistress Rose, wife of Master Samwise, on Mid-year’s Day. On September 22 Master Samwise rides out from Bag End. He comes to the Tower Hills, and is last seen by Elanor, to whom he gives the Red Book afterwards kept by the Fairbairns. Among them the tradition is handed down from Elanor that Samwise passed the Towers, and went to the Grey Havens, and passed over Sea, last of the Ring-bearers.
But this is truly the end. It gives me tears, even this short part. I read a fanfiction once about this, but I can't find it anymore (so if anybody knows where to find it, please let me know)


And a very important word with R that I couldn’t keep unmentioned
Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.



Darkstone
Immortal


Mar 25 2010, 3:46pm

Post #29 of 149 (3215 views)
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E is for Emission Theory [In reply to] Can't Post

Your (and Tolkien's) belief put you among 50% of American college students.

http://en.wikipedia.org/...sion_theory_(vision)

******************************************
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Sometime hours and hours hence:
In The Green Dragon two ales could buy
And drank the one less filling I
And that has made all the difference.
- The Ale Less Filling, by Robert Frostymug


NottaSackville
Valinor

Mar 25 2010, 3:53pm

Post #30 of 149 (3327 views)
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No problem - it's a common mistake [In reply to] Can't Post

As N.E. Brigrand pointed out here, I unwisely and unwittingly chose a name with a feminine "a" sound.

NottaSackville



NottaSackville
Valinor

Mar 25 2010, 3:54pm

Post #31 of 149 (3216 views)
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Interesting - good to know I wasn't alone... [In reply to] Can't Post

 



Istari68
The Shire


Mar 25 2010, 4:16pm

Post #32 of 149 (3184 views)
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Tolkien - word pictures. [In reply to] Can't Post

These are really interesting questions. The relationship between word and picture form an image. To me, an image can be comprised of both text and pictures. Your examples clearly show that Tolkien used pictures (drawn and painted) to inform the final textual imagery in the Lord of the Rings. It has long been recognized that Tolkien was a skilled visual artist, and it seems when he got 'stuck' in writing the MS he relied on thumbnail sketches to work things out.

Thank you for this interesting post!


GAndyalf
Valinor

Mar 25 2010, 4:54pm

Post #33 of 149 (3345 views)
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I think.... [In reply to] Can't Post

NottaSackville: With Gollum and Smaug you’re dealing with some of the highest forms of magic in Middle-earth. In Gollum’s case, he had possessed the One Ring at that point for nearly 500 years. Remember that the Ring gave power to its possessor “according to his stature”, hence Gollum never really acquired a high degree of what the Ring was capable of bestowing, especially as hobbit-kind were particularly resistant to it. However, given that Gollum had probably spent more than three centuries inside of the Misty Mountains it seems to follow that the Ring would react to a very constant, recurring need of his: to be able to make his way in the utter dark of the vast labyrinth of underground caverns and passages. Further, this effect is partially borne out by Gollum’s aversion to both the Sun and the Moon – as all the followers of Sauron and Morgoth before him are – by use of the power of the Ring to see in utter dark he is similarly averse and even hurt by the “pure” light of the Sun and Moon which come directly from the Maiar Arien (Sun) and Tilion (Moon). I concur that it is written as a definite “light” but I disagree that it is incompatible “ray vision” but rather a magical effect that is replete in the story(ies).
For Smaug the Golden one has to consider the origin of Dragons in Middle-earth. They are much like the Balrogs in that they are spirits that gravitated early to Morgoth and evil. Because of their other-worldly spirits that inhabit the bodies Morgoth chose to corrupt to hold them (remember, Morgoth could not make anything, only mock, so a dragon’s body is SOMETHING he found that he could corrupt, enhanced by the fell spirits of the Maia who followed him into ruin). These spirits, being Maiar of old, had tremendous Power within them (such as when Bilbo feels the strong urge to run out and reveal himself to Smaug and tell him everything) and their eyes in particular appear to be conduits for much of their power. It is my opinion that the red glow of Smaug’s eyes is a function of the fell spirit within being able to “leak out” to the world.
I believe the dwarves’ shining eyes was the westering sun reflecting in them and nothing more. The reason being partially that they are wearing armor of another age that might be part of the reflection and that Dain’s people are not so described.
I suspect that for dramatic/storytelling effect is why the phenomena is described as “light” to begin with when it seems to me to be clearly a magical effect and not true ‘light’ in the non-magical world sense. As for Bilbo and others being able to see it, magic often is described in more neutral terms than just being useful to the being casting/using it but is often a general effect that is both helpful and detrimental. Therefore the effect is to help Gollum see, but also for Bilbo to “see the magic” and be guided and helped by it as well.
Answers or guesses or me blathering:
1) No one, but I don’t think he was blinded – he sure didn’t act like it! (smile)
2) Because Smaug’s “spirit” was like a Maia and there’s lots of stuff on dragons’ eyes to be wary of.
3) Poetic license, methinks (actually ‘heroic license’ which is related, imo)
4) Not in the least.
5) Nope. Everyone should question what they don’t understand, especially when they care for the story.
6) Yes, the horses of the Nazgul. That, I believe, further solidifies my theory of the “fell spirits within” such creatures, or at least evidence of the effect of the will of Sauron once it enters a creature.
7) I don’t. Strongly disliked that effect as to me it was unneeded and appeared cheap. If it had to be done I would have preferred that the air of Mordor appear much more hazy and the beam have an effect more similar to a lighthouse beam piercing the gloom with a halo effect than a sharp, crisp “flashlight” effect. I think rather than the camera’s still spot and the beam searching, perhaps a panoramic of the places Sauron was actually looking and giving a visual type of red-light dread when it pierced exactly the spot and doing that for random seconds and spots would have been a MUCH better effect. Just my opinion.
8) Yes, but I don’t believe Tolkien drew on them so much as he drew upon the mysteries of magic in literature.

"Even the very wise cannot see all ends."



GAndyalf
Valinor

Mar 25 2010, 4:56pm

Post #34 of 149 (3234 views)
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But you did so... [In reply to] Can't Post

With a clearly literary purpose (or at least a good pun for one). In any case I plan on apologizing as many times as Bilbo did to Thorin at the Unexpected Party. I'm sorry!

"Even the very wise cannot see all ends."



GAndyalf
Valinor

Mar 25 2010, 5:20pm

Post #35 of 149 (3260 views)
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Give or Took... [In reply to] Can't Post

Thank you, fairelvenlady. Peregrin Took is, in my estimation, a much more fun character in the book. With all due respect to Billy Boyd, he should have taken a cue from Sean Astin and gained weight for his role. My reasoning doesn't come out in the movie, but in the book Pippin explains to Beregond that he is considered very strong among hobbits and is an excellent wrestler. I look at Pippin and Merry as a rather Abbott and Costello type pair. Pippin the curious, troublesome Lou and Merry the more pragmatic Bud. I too, love the growth of these two hobbits in the story - though even Sam grows admirably and he appeared to me the least-affected of the hobbits.
I think the character of Pippin lent himself beautifully to this scene because his nature was already one of rules-bending and curiousity and that, to me, is why the palantir ensnared him, by playing upon a characteristic already in him. I don't believe it was the palantir itself, however, but the fact that Sauron already had bent his Will upon it in order to ensnare Saruman and corrupt him so there was a certain amount of Sauron's power imbued in that particular palantir to begin with. I think that Sauron had set it so that anyone who touched it would be drawn to it so that he could ensnare their mind and with Pippin it just so happened that he was inclined towards that sort of thing but once he touched it he really and honestly could not help himself, being ensnared by the power of Sauron.
Yes, I believe the similarities are both were dominated by Sauron's power at that point in the story. The differences between this and the Mirror are that the Mirror was guided by a benevolent Power (Galadriel) and both the Ring and palantir were not guided but dominated by a malevolent one (Sauron). The Mirror showed some things that would never come to pass while Sauron deliberately showed the strongest points to instill despair and did not allow any other vision.
The story is rife with Sauron out-foxing himself and this is one, which appears to touch on a theme of Tolkien's from the Sil throughout: that no matter what evil manages, even in 'victories' that it only goes to further glorify the good. Effectively, that evil fights not only good, but itself as well.
Pippin usually exasperated me and I gravitated much more towards Merry, but as Gandalf said, "you can know all about their ways in a week. Yet in a HUNDRED years they can still surprise you." and for me no hobbit better exemplified that than Pippin.
Hmmm, favourite Pippin moment? In the movies it had to be singing for Denethor as the use PJ made of imaging what was going on was truly heart-wrenching. In the books it was the fun he provided at many points - from the bath scene at Crickhollow to his apparently air-headed questions of Gandalf it was both frustrating AND fun for me in the same breath.

"Even the very wise cannot see all ends."



GAndyalf
Valinor

Mar 25 2010, 5:32pm

Post #36 of 149 (3268 views)
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Wow! [In reply to] Can't Post

Cool research, Magpie! I am sure I'm at your service for such insight!

"Even the very wise cannot see all ends."



Modtheow
Lorien


Mar 25 2010, 5:49pm

Post #37 of 149 (3174 views)
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through a high window [In reply to] Can't Post

I like Alan Lee's illustration because he provides a frame around his picture that seems right for how Frodo's vision is described: "It seemed to him that he had stepped through a high window that looked on a vanished world." Lee's picture looks like a window on another place, giving us the sense that we have to step over or go through some kind of boundary in order to enter this land.

I don't understand why so many illustrations have dark blues and night skies. As Sam says, "It's sunlight and bright day, right enough....I thought that Elves were all for moon and stars: but this is more Elvish than anything I ever heard tell of." Alan Lee's illustration has bright grass or flowers -- so bright they look like lights -- but even in his picture the skies behind the trees look dark. Maybe that's supposed to be the world beyond Lothlorien. Tolkien's picture has no trace of moon and stars.



Modtheow
Lorien


Mar 25 2010, 5:56pm

Post #38 of 149 (3230 views)
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worthy of study [In reply to] Can't Post

Tolkien writes with such charm and liveliness in his Beowulf essay, it's a delight to read. He makes a great case for Beowulf as worthy of study as a poem, but sometimes you get the feeling that Tolkien is writing about his own work as much as he is writing about Beowulf. But what the heck -- both worthy of study!



Nerdanel
Rivendell


Mar 25 2010, 6:01pm

Post #39 of 149 (3231 views)
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G is for Gandalf [In reply to] Can't Post

From RotK, Minas Tirith, as Pippin and Gandalf return to their lodgings after meeting Denethor the Steward of Gondor:

Quote
"Are you angry with me, Gandalf?" he said, as their guide went out and closed the door. "I did the best I could."

"You did indeed!" said Gandalf, laughing suddenly; and he came and stood beside Pippin, putting his arm about the hobbit's shoulders and gazing out of the window. Pippin glanced in some wonder at the face now close beside his own, for the sound of that laugh had been gay and merry. Yet in the wizard's face he saw at first only lines of care and sorrow; though as he looked more intently he perceived that under all there was a great joy: a fountain of mirth enough to set a kingdom laughing, were it to gush forth.


I've always been struck by this passage: in a work where it seems that every major character fends off or endures excruciating hopelessness, the wisest of them all reveals "a fountain of mirth enough to set a kingdom laughing." What is the source of Gandalf's joy, and what is the role of laughter in Tolkien's work?

Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting


GAndyalf
Valinor

Mar 25 2010, 6:01pm

Post #40 of 149 (3290 views)
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Scholarly... [In reply to] Can't Post

SirDennisC: Elegantly said. Along with the compilations in “Tree and Leaf” this may well be Tolkien’s most powerful scholarly work – I KNOW it is for me! From its very beginnings, literature WAS art. For more than a millennium reading was a rare gift that few possessed so the written word was an art form that was worked and re-worked and changed by cultures and travel.
I differ with you on the notion that Tolkien “despised” allegory. To use his own words from the 1966 Foreword to the Ballentine edition of LotR: “I cordially dislike allegory, and have always done so, since I grew old, and wary enough to detect its presence.” There are two salient points in that quote: first that while Tolkien preferred the freedom of the reader as opposed to the “domination of the author”, he apparently – at least by his choice of words, was not averse to others using such a device or at least tolerated it. Secondly, “since I grew old, and wary enough to detect its presence.” To me signifies that he very probably did use the device liberally when he was younger (remember he was probably about 74 when he wrote that foreword) until he honed his craft enough to be more subtle in his work so that such a thing would not be intended to elicit a particular experience but rather a general emotional response (“applicable” as opposed to an obvious event/response).
The allegory of the stone tower is a clear picture that Tolkien viewed language not as a tool, but a living thing that had beauty in its own right, independent of the function it performs. That his own languages should have a mythology to “live in” is a profound link between this essay and his later works (or his earlier ones as the legendarium was begun long before this essay). I believe that Tolkien had the gift you admire because he understood that language had beauty and did not need to use fanciful language to illustrate points because he understood “how the stones fit together” better than many before or since. The sheer number of fans his works have would seem to indicate that perhaps he was right in that the beauty of language could be appreciated independent of the stories that language tells? Or perhaps is it the quality of language to touch us on a more primal level that accomplishes this?

"Even the very wise cannot see all ends."



Evernight
Rivendell


Mar 25 2010, 6:08pm

Post #41 of 149 (3287 views)
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S is for Smith of Wootton Major. [In reply to] Can't Post

Then his mind turned back retracing his life, until he came to the day of the Children's Feast and the coming of the star, and suddenly he saw again the little dancing figure with its wand, and in shame he lowered his eyes from the Queen's beauty.

But she laughed again as she had laughed in the Vale of Evermorn. "Do not be grieved for me, Starbrow," she said. "Nor too much ashamed of you own folk. Better a little doll, maybe, than no memory of Faery at all. For some the only glimpse. For some the awaking. Ever since that day you have desired in your heart to see me, and I have granted your wish.”

  • Appart from literature, are there “glimpses” around us, in this modern world, of Faery?

  • Do people pay attention to them or, as Nokes, just consider them a childish thing?

  • Why is Faery important? How important is it to you?


P. S.: Thank you very much N. E. Brigand for this wonderful idea, and thanks also to Magpie for these awesome footers!

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit...



GAndyalf
Valinor

Mar 25 2010, 6:39pm

Post #42 of 149 (3220 views)
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In pity for Feanor... [In reply to] Can't Post

'But Feanor spoke then, and cried bitterly: "For the less even as for the greater there is some deed that he may accomplish but once only; and in that deed his heart shall rest. It may be that I can unlock my jewels, but never again shall I make their like; and if I must break them, I shall break my heart, and I shall be slain, first of all the Eldar in Aman."
"Not the first." said Mandos, but none knew what he meant. . . . "This thing I will not do of free will. But if the Valar will constrain me, then I shall know indeed that Melkor is of their kindred."' (The Silmarillion, ch. 9)

Though he did greater evil than any of the Eldar of old or since, still there is this also:
Well, I'm at work and the search engines are failing me, but it's close to, 'Of all the works of Melkor the marring of Feanor was the most evil.'

Rather like Turin later on among men, Feanor is tragic beyond the measure of any other character. Brilliant and horrifying at the same time. The first passage above to me is a grave failing in the Valar, to press Feanor despite this plea shows a remarkable lack of pity. I understand their need, but they are the great Powers of the world and should have more wisdom, in my opinion, than to push this brilliant, fragile genius over the edge like that.

"Even the very wise cannot see all ends."



entmaiden
Forum Admin / Moderator

Mar 25 2010, 6:53pm

Post #43 of 149 (3265 views)
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A is for Arkenstone! [In reply to] Can't Post

I'm a big sparkle girl, and the Arkenstone is something that caught my attention the first time I read The Hobbit in the 1970s.

Here’s where we first learn of the greatest gem of the Dwarves, the mighty Arkenstone:

‘But fairest of all was the great white gem, which the dwarves had found beneath the roots of the Mountain, the Heart of the Mountain, the Arkenstone of Thrain. “The Arkenstone! The Arkenstone!” murmured Thorin in the dark, half dreaming with his chin upon his knees. “It was like a globe with a thousand facets; it shone like silver in the firelight, like water in the sun, like snow under the stars, like rain upon the Moon!” ’

The intrepid Bilbo, by chance or good fortune, manages to find this coveted Arkenstone.

‘It was the Arkenstone, the Heart of the Mountain. So Bilbo guessed from Thorin’s description; but indeed there could not be two such gems, even in so marvellous a hoard, even in all the world. Ever as he climbed, the same white gleam had shone before him and drawn his feet towards it. Slowly it grew to a little globe of pallid light. Now as came near, it was tinged with a flickering sparkle of many colours at the surface, reflected and splintered from the wavering light of his torch. At last he looked down upon it and he caught his breath. The great jewel shone before his feet of its own inner light, and yet, cut and fashioned by the dwarves, who had dug it from the heart of the mountain long ago, it took all light that fell upon it and‑changes it into ten thousand sparks of white radiance shot with glints of the rainbow.’

I once saw the Crown Jewels in England, and the diamond in the scepter made me catch my breath, so I have a small idea of how Bilbo felt upon seeing the Arkenstone in that dark, smelly hall.

What to you imagine when you think of the Arkenstone? How big is it?

Thorin says the Arkenstone is like silver in the firelight , like water in the sun. We can all imagine the prism of colours from his description, but what is rain upon the Moon supposed to look like?





GAndyalf
Valinor

Mar 25 2010, 6:57pm

Post #44 of 149 (3148 views)
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Denethor, son of Ecthelion [In reply to] Can't Post

When people remember Denethor, they should remember that Saruman by his greed and his knowledge of craft fell swiftly to Sauron. Denethor probably strove with Sauron for YEARS before finally beginning the slow descent into madness that finally claimed him. And what man survives of his sanity when his sons that he loves most in the world are claimed by the growing Darkness?

"Even the very wise cannot see all ends."



GAndyalf
Valinor

Mar 25 2010, 7:17pm

Post #45 of 149 (3215 views)
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(Soft, benevolent smile for Frodo) [In reply to] Can't Post

Yes, Frodo did indeed 'fail' and as you suggest, 'succeed' by his mercy. The common theme throughout all of Tolkien's works, from The Hobbit through HOME is that the singular strength of good over evil is the interconnectedness of all. That good prevails not because of an individual but because of the whole. That even evil cannot prevail because it fights not only good, but itself as well, as Illuvatar remarks to Melkor in the beginning of the Ainulindale that despite his efforts of discord that all his works only glorified Illuvatar in the end. It is that interconnectedness of purpose that is why Frodo really could not fail in the end; because Sauron deceived himself until it was too late and because of Bilbo's pity and Frodo's afterward, and because of Samwise's wisdom and selflessness, and Galadriel's gentle guidance and Sight. The list goes on and on, but throughout is the theme that ultimate strength comes from a Purpose in the universe that ultimately does not brook the failure of "good" because evil is actually a part of that Purpose.

"Even the very wise cannot see all ends."



GAndyalf
Valinor

Mar 25 2010, 7:23pm

Post #46 of 149 (3185 views)
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Roverandom? [In reply to] Can't Post

To me it strikes quite strongly of the dark side of the moon in Roverandom. I think that Tolkien probably abandoned it because to him it was too close to "making fun of the magic" as he put in "On Faerie Stories", at least in the legendarium it might appear to be and he loved the tales too much to endanger them so, even remotely.

"Even the very wise cannot see all ends."



GAndyalf
Valinor

Mar 25 2010, 7:29pm

Post #47 of 149 (3155 views)
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(laughs) Getting two in at once? [In reply to] Can't Post

Sixty-three years of marriage. At my age and with two failed ones behind me I should have to live nigh as long as Mr Bilbo to match such a feat!

(smile) I remember in high school translating that rhyme into Spanish...

"Even the very wise cannot see all ends."



GAndyalf
Valinor

Mar 25 2010, 7:35pm

Post #48 of 149 (3195 views)
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At a guess... [In reply to] Can't Post

I should say it is the joy of Aman as Gandalf had very recently returned that after his bout with the Balrog and his purpose re-clarified there. Laughter is very prevalent as healing to the Spirit in Tolkien. The passage you cite, and even Turin was for awhile healed by the power of laughter on the shores of the pool of Ivrin, long ago, and his middle-sister Urwen was called "Lalaith" which is 'laughter' and it is VERY significant when the ill wind of Morgoth blew a pestilence into Dor Lomin and infant Urwen was slain. It should also not be overlooked that fey laughter was equally a harbinger of Doom as was portrayed many times throughout the books from Feanor to Denethor.

"Even the very wise cannot see all ends."



Darkstone
Immortal


Mar 25 2010, 7:38pm

Post #49 of 149 (3164 views)
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Hmmmm.... [In reply to] Can't Post

Q1: Who are the "they" accompanying Quickbeam? (1pt.)

Kate Moss, Mos Def, and the entire Moss F.K.


Q2: What kind of fruit did these trees bear? (3 pts)

Fruit Loops.


Q3: Name the Anui who is said to have planted the first seeds of all the plants in Arda. (3pts)

Yavanna Appleseed.


Q4: Who is the tree-killer? (2 pts)

He Who Prints Before Proofing!

******************************************
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Sometime hours and hours hence:
In The Green Dragon two ales could buy
And drank the one less filling I
And that has made all the difference.
- The Ale Less Filling, by Robert Frostymug


GAndyalf
Valinor

Mar 25 2010, 7:44pm

Post #50 of 149 (3223 views)
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(Daubs tears) [In reply to] Can't Post

Thank you, Evernight. Better indeed a little doll than no memory of Faerie at all.

Yes, I believe there are. There are still forests in the world with an "eldritch" feeling about them, an ancient but palpable prescience. There are rainbows and the universal feeling of hope that they evoke. There is the feeling that is thick when a newborn is viewed. There are the voices still heard in waters running over stones. There is the resonance of The Sea that some cultures even have a special phraseology for (in Spanish, the sea is "el mar" except to those that are mariners who love the sea it is changed from masculine to feminine "la mar").

I believe that just as in the story that many if not most pass them by, but that for a few the star might be found in something that the child finds un-looked for. Further I think that some get a glimpse and remember it fondly, but very few actually get to go there.

I believe that Faerie is an essential connexion to what makes us a species apart from bird and beast. I think it is both Primal and Essential to our Race. I do not believe that humanity could survive without it, even the ones that deny it most.

"Even the very wise cannot see all ends."


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