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PotbellyHairyfoot
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Post QS 11 - Of the Sun and Moon.
on: June 05, 2016 10:08
Sorry for the delay- Shingles really sucks. Still in pain but its almost tolerable now.

1)Laurelin bore a single fruit of gold. Don't fruit contain seeds? Wouldn't those seeds be able to solve a Morgoth induced problem.
I admit that you can't do much with a silver flower, so why not just send the flower around for light and plant some seeds.

2)Menegroth gets girdled and Valinor gets the Pelori and Enchanted Isles. What is wrong with these types of solutions? We are told that anyone that lands on the isles become entrapped and are stuck there, asleep, until the change of the world. Who got stuck there?

3) When I was a pre-school child I remember wondering where the sun came down at night and how it got back to the other side. How did you rate Tolkien's method of handling day night and the phases of the moon?

[Edited on 06/14/2016 by PotbellyHairyfoot]
Lord_Sauron
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on: June 06, 2016 08:45
Just a thought if the fruit of laurelin became the sun then could we say that it was Eru’s plan that Melkor destroy the two trees
If Melkor hadn’t would men still awaken?, more importantly would there have been a sun. This may prove that everyone's destiny may already have been pre determined by Eru. Although every being may still have had the right of free will it may have had no effect on Eru's plan. Again this is just a thought
Elfeawen Lomiondil
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on: June 21, 2016 10:54
Although every being may still have had the right of free will it may have had no effect on Eru's plan.

I was wondering when someone would bring this up. It's mind bending to think about.


1. Did fruit of Laurelin contain seeds? Why not plant a new Tree?

Wouldn’t that be simple? I know of no reason why the Valar could not make new Lamps after the first ones were destroyed, but they did not. There are fruit, such as bananas, which contain no seeds, but bringing up this biological fact feels irrelevent. Just as Yavanna could not make the like of Laurelin again, perhaps the child of Laurelin would not be its equal. Whether or not Laurelin’s fruit had seeds, my feeling is that there was a “reason” things happened as they did. The Valar may have felt it was time to share what light remained with the world, lest it all be lost. I like this decision, if decision it was.

2. What is wrong with Pelori and the Girdle as solutions?

Putting up barriers may be a reasonable short term solution, but the problem with “walls” is that they don’t do anything about about the source of the problem. By removing the immediate threat, “walls” deincentivize taking action. This may allow the problem to keep growing until it is too great to be contained by the wall. Barriers also isolate people from the rest of the world, permitting them to become dangerously ignorant.

Around the world, countries have built walls to keep people in, and other walls to keep people out. They usually didn’t do much good because they didn’t change the reasons people were so determined to cross them. The barriers are often costly to build and maintain, using resources and people power that could have been better used elsewhere. Regretably, putting up a wall once more has become a popular political idea in my country. There is a place for protective barriers, I just think they are often misused or should not be the only strategy used. For example, barriers may be a good way to protect endangered species from invasive species.

3. How do you rate Tolkien’s explanation for day, night, and moon phases?

It is beautiful and poetic. Like all cosmologies, it explains the world in terms of meaning.
"There shall be war between the Children of Iluvatar and the Ainu Melko. What if we perish in our quest? The dark halls of Vê be little worse than this bright prison" ~ Fëanor
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