Tollers
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[PART 1]
The Passage
"Legolas watched them for a while with a smile upon his lips, and then he turned to the others. 'The strongest must seek a way, say you? But I say: let a ploughman plough, but choose an otter for swimming, and for running light over grass and lead or over snow - an Elf.'
With that he sprang forth numbly, and then Frodo noticed as if for the first time, though he had long known it, that the Elf had no boots, but wore only light shoes, as he always did, and his feet made little imprint in the snow."
Why post on this passage?
I am shy to post on the new stuff as I started listening at both ends once I hit Session 100, but I have been so fascinated by this scene my entire LotR lifespan that it urges me to contribute a few thoughts. I do not pretend to be correct as there are many more wise among the Authorities of Mythgard.
I'd like to start by beginning with my specific fascination of this scene as one of the chief Elf-spots (others being: the dreaming/sleeping sequence, Loth rope, and fading are others like it) that came right to my mind when I first found Mythgard during Morgoth's Ring. I still recall the essence of the statement Professor Olsen made when those scenes came flooding in to my head. His statement was one I had long pondered.
It went something like this:
After all of the words in The Lord of the Rings (and even The Hobbit) we know very little about Elves, Morgoth's Ring is really the first time we get more of their Nature.
(This of course is picked up quite a bit in Nature of Middle Earth as well.) I was immediately drawn into Dr. Olsen's passions as this was one of many shared thoughts and the sort of thing of which I'd always loved sitting down and talking over a cup of tea.
Therefore, "Otter thoughts" will be my pun to discuss the passage in the following chunks: (a) What is it telling us about Elves/Legolas, (b) Why do we not get anything from Sam (or others), and (c) How should we think about Tolkien's Shift to Worldbuilding with this untouched.
The Passage
"Legolas watched them for a while with a smile upon his lips, and then he turned to the others. 'The strongest must seek a way, say you? But I say: let a ploughman plough, but choose an otter for swimming, and for running light over grass and lead or over snow - an Elf.'
With that he sprang forth numbly, and then Frodo noticed as if for the first time, though he had long known it, that the Elf had no boots, but wore only light shoes, as he always did, and his feet made little imprint in the snow."
Why post on this passage?
I am shy to post on the new stuff as I started listening at both ends once I hit Session 100, but I have been so fascinated by this scene my entire LotR lifespan that it urges me to contribute a few thoughts. I do not pretend to be correct as there are many more wise among the Authorities of Mythgard.
I'd like to start by beginning with my specific fascination of this scene as one of the chief Elf-spots (others being: the dreaming/sleeping sequence, Loth rope, and fading are others like it) that came right to my mind when I first found Mythgard during Morgoth's Ring. I still recall the essence of the statement Professor Olsen made when those scenes came flooding in to my head. His statement was one I had long pondered.
It went something like this:
After all of the words in The Lord of the Rings (and even The Hobbit) we know very little about Elves, Morgoth's Ring is really the first time we get more of their Nature.
(This of course is picked up quite a bit in Nature of Middle Earth as well.) I was immediately drawn into Dr. Olsen's passions as this was one of many shared thoughts and the sort of thing of which I'd always loved sitting down and talking over a cup of tea.
Therefore, "Otter thoughts" will be my pun to discuss the passage in the following chunks: (a) What is it telling us about Elves/Legolas, (b) Why do we not get anything from Sam (or others), and (c) How should we think about Tolkien's Shift to Worldbuilding with this untouched.