Recent content by Ash Nazg

Do we think that this is consistent with the idea that, in general, "to try to" is more formal, and "to try and" is more colloquial, as others have suggested? (And which is also my understanding, being British myself). Perhaps characters in more desperate situations tend more towards formality...

I like this inference quite a bit! The reference to Saruman's watching the stars from the pinnacle of Orthanc was, I think, supposed to make us consider Saruman as Gandalf used to think of him in times past. Gandalf is the one reporting this to us, and it would make sense for him to be thinking...

Ah, okay, I see where you're coming from now. What I would say to you is: pay attention to where the commas are in the lines. Where those commas are situated indicates that the line skips a beat in our 4/4 time signature -- if we think of it as a chant which has a musical arrangement, rather...

Hi Flammifer. I've been enjoying your contributions to the class while I've been catching up! It sounds like you're suggesting that it was the Black Speech itself which was defective. Which, on the one hand, is an appealing suggestion. However I would offer the counter argument that, if...

In the latter half of session #151 (and a little bit of session #152) we spent quite a bit of time breaking down the black speech ring inscription which Gandalf recites to the council: Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul. Our analysis showed...