Recent content by SteveR

I'm not sure I understand why the singular-use case would be awkward in either situation, but I may be mistaking your meaning. If everything shifts to singular and is clarified in context, it would go something like this: Cash toll, singular, is "But the toll they charge is high." Lost lives...

I don't get the sense that anyone at the high table is seated with their back to the others in the hall though...? And it wouldn't be LOTR if it weren't a blend of medieval and modern. ;)

My apologies if this has been covered. I am still catching up on Episode 111, but... re: Frodo's conversation with Gloin in Episode 110... "'But their tolls are high," he added with a shake of his head. Is it possible that Gloin is referring not to payment required by the Beornings, but the...

I like the Gollum-fear reading but this is good too.

Thank you for your thoughtful response Timdalf. I think we're looking at the text in different ways, and perhaps that's the source of our differing opinions. My inclination is to regard the wraiths as still holding some vestige of their former humanity: they are only mostly evil beings, and...

I like this analysis, but at the risk of arguing semantics I would say that what you describe the wraiths feeling is shame, not guilt. There are two important ways in which these feelings differ: Shame is focused internally, while guilt is focused externally. One way of describing this is...

Do we see that eventually? I don't recall.

Apologies for not getting to this before session 82, but I have another idea regarding the cry heard when the party cross the road: perhaps the road, despite a long period of limited use, retains a spirit that the wraiths can sense. We are told that the wraiths are more sensitive to the...

Am I getting too nit-picky to wonder why, if the clothes that Bilbo and Frodo wear disappear when they put on the ring, the wraith's cloaks do not also disappear? Gandalf says that they wear the cloaks "to give form to their nothingness", but shouldn't said cloaks, if worn as a garment, also...

I think the question then becomes, though: who do you chase if you're going to keep the band together? Option 1 - keep the band together, let Gandalf run off, and stay focused on the primary objective. In this case the Witch King runs the rather serious risk that Gandalf, who has already...

Not sure how I did not find those before, but thank you Haerangil! It strikes me that Tolkien tends to sing much like a Catholic priest will occasionally sing a few lines of the liturgy, and that it does, in fact, become quite repetitive in that sense, so maybe I'm looking in the wrong...

With awareness of Tolkien's dislike for allegory, perhaps this discussion should include some thoughts on how Tolkien wresteled with the concepts we now describe as psychological wounds such a PTSD? We've discussed how the power of Sauron and the Nazgûl is as much about psycho-spiritual battle...

This post looks both ahead and behind, and was spurred by the discussion in the last session where Corey suggested that The Fall of Gil-galad translated entirely in rigid iambs would get stale pretty quick. For obvious reasons, I have thought a lot about what some of these songs and poems sound...

Before adding those dashes, I copied it straight from the book, so hopefully it's all right except for those! For composing, I use a combination of MuseScore for straight composition and notation, and GarageBand and handwritten notes for a more organic way of working out harmonies. I was a...

Yes, Lincoln is right we had talked about that before, with the conclusion being that he'd be the equivalent of roughly 16-17, and that reads about right to me. I think there's a danger here in that the concept of what constitutes an "adult" is (like words, in another post) constantly evolving...