Recent content by Tony Meade

SESSION 343 The notched blade: Note: The passive voice emphasizes the sound, rather than the active hearing by the Company. Striking the hard, unyielding surface of the troll’s arm is consistent with hitting an immovable object, creating vibrations that can rattle bones and cause the implement...

SESSION 342 No hope of escape that way: This incident is the first in which having multiple people in leadership capacities is beneficial. While there has been some tension between the three, Gandalf, Aragorn, and Boromir up to this point, they have worked together for the most part, and at...

SESSION 341 Another harsh horn-call: Note: While alliteration is often more obvious in Tolkien’s poetry in The Lord of the Rings, it is often denser in the prose sections, which gives the text a musical quality not found elsewhere. This seems to be an outgrowth of both his study of alliterated...

SESSION 340 A hurrying sound of many feet: From the evidence of their journey, the Orcs did enter by the main gate in the east and have only occupied the eastern part of Moria since, coming towards the Company from there. The Book of Mazarbul reveals that the Dwarves had believed that they...

SESSION 339 There came a great noise: The sound of the drums interrupt Gandalf’s speech by revealing what is really coming for them. Having read the story at the end of the Book of Mazarbul creates dread of it being repeated. The onomatopoetic sounds words are given more impact by being...

SESSION 338 So ended the attempt to retake Moria: There is a modulation in Gandalf’s rhetorical tone throughout his speech, including beginning the pronouncement with the conjunction “so”, giving the statement a sense of performance. Gandalf begins by connecting what they have read in the book...

SESSION 337 A sudden dread and a horror: The name of the Watcher in the Water is given in the context of having read the passage in the Book of Mazarbul, after which Gimli repeats as if that is the proper term for that creature. Before, the Company had no idea if it was one creature or many...

SESSION 336 We cannot get out: Note: The writing of the year five page is designed to look consistent, as it is only Ori’s hand, while the clarity of the sixth-year page seems designed to allow readers to decipher the Cirth. Contrasted with the first page of Cirth, which is a mix of different...

SESSION 335 Ill tidings in a fair hand: Unlike other modes, the one that Ori is writing uses full letters for the vowels rather than marks. It’s possible that Ori uses the Tengwar because he intends for it to be read by others outside of Moria, as opposed to the earlier sections of the book...

SESSION 334 After some stars: The word “fifth” is obscured by the blood stain, and it seems to point to this being a date reference, and it is probably in the autumn, as the month name ends with the “ber” element. The word before “we found truesilver” appears to be “today”, meaning the fifth...

SESSION 333 The next line or two: The word “came” is on the published page, but in drafts the words are “but more came”. This is a reference to the first battle in which Flói was killed but was remembered heroically. It’s possible that Flói was buried under grass and not stone because of the...

SESSION 332 The Book of Mazarbul: It’s clear that Tolkien wanted his readers to be able to piece together an understanding of his scripts so that they could read them for themselves, evidenced by using English with the scripts. Tolkien could have written in Elvish and kept it mysterious, but...

SESSION 331 Poor Balin: Just as all the names of the dwarves in The Hobbit came from the section of the Völuspá called the Dvergatal, these new dwarves named in Ori’s entries are also from that same source. The exception is Balin, which could possibly have come from Le Morte d‘Arthur by Sir...

SESSION 330 Ori’s hand: It seems that Ori has chosen to write in an Elvish script instead of the Cirth because it is faster and easier to write with a pen, since the Cirth is all straight lines and better for carving in stone. This choice is most likely completely pragmatic rather than...

SESSION 329 Listen to this: Gandalf only reads part of the text, with the rest being his interpretation of unreadable parts. Note: Since Tolkien had prepared a visual aid, being the copy of the page from the book, he is allowing the readers to look at the text that Gandalf doesn’t read aloud...