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After our discussion about different versions using either "masters" or "makers" when referring to who can't find the doors of Durin, I decided to check my Japanese copy to see which they translated. The paragraph in Japanese is...

A thought occurred to me during Tuesday's class while discussing the claim that Boromir's proposed route could take a year or more. How much of the time would be devoted to getting food? Foraging would be very season-dependent, and could take a long time to gather enough to feed everyone, and...

I understand that for many of the more poetic among us, the poetry is the most interesting piece of the poems in Tolkien's works. However, so many of them are described as songs, or are mentioned as being sung by the characters. I know we have examples of Tolkien himself singing Sam's Troll...

(This post relates to content seen during our field trips within LotRO, and not directly to book canon.) In our LotRO field trips, we recently visited Barad Morlas (the "water slide" place), and saw some small statues of elves among the ruins. According to the game, these are memorials placed...

One of the most controversial questions we've encountered in class, I think, regards the identity of the Prancing Pony's stablehand, Bob. Is he a man, a hobbit, or something else? The text doesn't say...or does it? While the text does not explicitly state Bob's race, it does provide us with...

I was reading some stuff about Tom Shippey, and apparently he co-authored an alternate history trilogy under a pseudonym. Is anyone familiar with this trilogy? Hammer and the Cross trilogy on Amazon

Based on discussions at Mythmoot of games and stories, I thought it might be fun to actually play through some games and not only examine their lore, but examine how the games present and unfold their stories. I would start with the Legend of Zelda series, as not only is there a fair bit of...

Forgive me if this has been discussed elsewhere, but I've just started listening to the older Silmfilm podcasts and didn't hear it talked about in any of the episodes I've yet heard. My question is, why and how did Ungoliant fall? In the podcasts, she's mentioned as an alternative villain to...

In the discussion tonight, the topic of the Blue Wizards was brought up. Though it sounds like they probably won't appear yet, (and won't get their full story told for many seasons yet), it did get me wondering what that story is. I think this is important to at least think about, as it could...

In Bree, the poem first shows up in Gandalf's letter to Frodo. It is placed between two postscripts, and isn't even directly tied to Aragorn until Aragorn himself quotes two lines from it. The first four lines read as a proverb warning against judging things by their appearance, while the last...

It occurred to me that Tolkien's Song of Earendil seems like it could fit well with the tune of I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General from Pirates of Penzance. Clearly, the movies should have been made by Gilbert and Sullivan, rather than by Peter Jackson.

I know this is a couple years down the road from where the course is currently, but I'm rereading the book and noticed something rather interesting about the Moria chapters. Has anyone else noticed that Gandalf trying to read the burned, stained Book of Mazarbul is very similar to Christopher...

I've been thinking a bit about the collapse of the barrow after Tom's arrival. It was mentioned that normal barrows (such as, say, those in which Rohan's kings were buried) would not likely be as spacious and labyrinthine as those in LotRO. Could it be, however, that the wight's power has made...

I came up with this during one of the History of Middle Earth classes. I'd like to hear if anyone has any feedback on what can be improved, either in the poem itself or just generally in future attempts. Errantry Anew There was a merry Professor A possessor of Tolkien lore Who dreamt of...

When we heard the wraiths in the Shire, it was pointed out that they're actually singing! I believe I've managed to translate their baleful words, which run thus in the common tongue: To the Shire to find a Baggins! Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la! He will fear us worse than dragons...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/13/arts/television/lord-of-the-rings-series-amazon.html Anyone heard any more about this? I'm cautiously hopeful about it, but we'll have to wait to see how it turns out, I guess. Sorry if this is in the wrong place. I wasn't sure what sub-forum would be best...