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dernwyn
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Aug 6 2012, 12:00pm
Views: 137
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You're right, somehow I glossed over the words "the ruin of" when re-reading that quote! So it would have been within the previous 200 - or more accurately, 170 - years that Elrond travelled out there, but he must also have been there previously in order to give the comparison between the ruined and unruined town.
The Tale of Years shows that in 2210 Thorin I left Erebor and went to the Grey Mountains, but I had always assumed that some Dwarves stayed behind and kept up the Kingdom, since there was no indication that all of them had to leave. I guess it just seemed odd to me that a place like that would be totally abandoned.
But you're right, the text does indicate that Dale was not actually established until that return to Erebor. And with the return of the Dwarves being 2590, and the attack of Smaug being 2770, then the town was in existence for at most 180 years. So Elrond would have visited it at least once in that time period.
That's interesting, I just realized that at the time of Bilbo's journey, Dale had been in ruins for about as long as it had been active!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I desired dragons with a profound desire"
"It struck me last night that you might write a fearfully good romantic drama, with as much of the 'supernatural' as you cared to introduce. Have you ever thought of it?"
-Geoffrey B. Smith, letter to JRR Tolkien, 1915
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