Search results

What are those 7 stars they brought from Numenor? They are on the banner I know but the poem focuses on the stars and not on the banner. How about the stone of Erech being a meteorite put into shape and brought over from Elendil together with 6 others whose location went into oblivion?

At the council Elrond is against sending the Ring to the shores as that is the way that Sauron expects and the roads will be strongly guarded. Do we get any indication that it was de facto so? Why didn't Sauron destroy the Grey Havens and the White Towers?

What I found very helpful to get a realistic impression of how much metaphysics really is in LotR was to read the three volumes of History of ME that cover the writng of LotR. There you can see where different elements of the story came from. It is difficult to make clear judgements, therefore I...

I agree, Boromir is such an interesting character. I wish amazon would make a series on the Lord of the Rings where they tell the same story from different perspectives. Every meber of the company with his own backstory could fill an episode or even a season.

Thanks for this post! I was at first sceptical but then I came to agree with most of it. I also can't picture Boromir as a solely rational being who is not believing in Eru, the Valar and providence. He is too much noble and numenorian and faramirish in my mind. Your description of Boromirs...

What does Dwarvish sound like for you? I want to elicit the sound of the Dwarvish tongue without influence from PJs interpretation. "they could not conceal their voices. Phonetically they were acute and could pronounce learned languages well, but their voices were very deep in tone with...

Agree but what does it tell us about their Dignity? Elbes/Men vs Ainur vs Dwarfes vs Beasts vs Ents vs Plants. Do they all have the same Dignity bcs none is made in the image of Eru?

In Judeo-christian tradition man is made in the image of God. This is the basis for human dignity and was the anchor for human rights movements and the reason why their declarations were developed in the western world. I wonder where in Middle-Earth we have a parallel. Elves and Men are called...

Why did noone bring this up during live class? Or did I miss it somehow. For me it is an obvious parallel. Even more, I believe that Ósanwe-kenta is a direct explanation of the passage at the end of FotR (and of the three wise at the end of RotK): "He knew that it had become aware of his gaze...

A footnote to "Nothing can penetrate the barrier of Unwill" in Ósanwe-kenta in NoME it says: "No mind can, however, be closed against Eru, either against His inspection or against His message. The latter it may not heed, but it cannot say it did not receive it." I find it fascinating that the...

My guess is that Sauron indeed made the rings in order to enter the minds of their bearers and circumvent their unwill. But at the same time entering the an unwilling mind is an únat. I guess that he didn't know that it was an únat, or maybe he didn't care and could not do other than try...

Thanks for your effort. But I agree with flammifer that it would be better if you would have made a chart for all other options as well. Tolkien tried so many different Elf aging variations. A chart visualizing this would be super cool. At least one line for every chapter in NoME. Maybe there...

In MR and especially NoME we find that one of the main differences of the two Eruhin is that Men do inherit original sin (a tendency to evil) while Elves dont. But it is clear that Elves do sin. So I wonder what makes the first elvish sin to be not as devastating as the first human sin. The...

I dont think that JRR would be happy with the published Silmarillion. Even Christopher regretted some decisions and to have it published in a rush. Additionally JRR wouldnt ever be happy with any published version as he wanted the perfection of his ideas. That is also why he never published it...

If by entering time the Valar can sin/fail then logically Melkor conversely must be able to repent. Right? Also the Valar muste have asumed this when chaining Melkor only for some time. I guess here is a big difference to catholic theology (Satan cannot repent). Except if I err and Melkor...

Most of those texts date from 1959 so they have been produced within a couple of months. I guess for us Tolkien readers every paragraph first feels like having been produced over a long time as we are acustomed from LotR. But those chapters are brainstorming drafts so there is not as much time...

I have a problem of understanding the first part of NoME: Why did Tolkien make himself such a hard time finding the correct aging ratios in order to be congruent with the Tale of Years and Annals of Aman and Beleriand. He simply could have changed and revise those dates instead. Nothing of that...

A new age starts after a Eucatastrophe is my guess. In On Fairy Stories Tolkien says that the Incarnation is the Eucatastrophe of world history and the Resurrection is the Eucatastrophe of the Incarnation. So I am puzzled as well like the prof. My guess would be that Easter Sunday is dependant...

No, certainly not, of course. What that letter shows is that T and L had different views on marriage and divorce. Tolkien was quite keen on pointing this out. He strongly disapproved of Lewis making "propaganda" for a separation of legal and Christian marriage. He calls non-Christian marriages...

Last week I read a passage in Morgoth's Ring that reminded me so much of the John Prologue. There Eru says to Varda: Though shalt take into Eä a light that is holy, coming new from Me, unsullied by the thought and lust of Melkor, and with thee it shall enter into Eä, and be in Eä, but not of...