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Trignifty
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on: April 24, 2003 05:39
This is the promised thread for any quick question you may have on the assigned reading. Generally, I would like only quick questions that require one explanation and not much debate...However if your question does involve some sort of debate, it may be turned into a topic for everyone to take a go at. If you know you have a question like this, it's probably a better idea to go ahead and pm me with the question.

Please do not post a question here that does not pertain to what we are reading. Along with this, do not post a question that occurs later in the book than what we are reading NOW. For example..if we're on chapter 5...only questions from chapter five and BEFORE are allowed. Other questions WILL BE DELETED.
PotbellyHairyfoot
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on: May 01, 2003 06:40
This isn't a big question but it is something simple to ponder and to start things rolling. As Gandalf had no home or permanent location- Just where did the fireworks come from?
Eowyn_Touched-By-Frost
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on: May 01, 2003 08:58
The fireworks came from the Dwarves, I beleive. Thorin's folk in the Lonely Mountain, maybe?
NenyaGold
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on: May 01, 2003 09:51
“The fireworks were by Gandalf: they were not only brought by him, but designed and made by him; and the special effects, set pieces, and flights of rockets were let off by him. But there was also a generous distribution of squibs, crackers, backarappers, sparklers, torches, dwarf-candles, elf-fountains, goblin barkers and thunder-claps. They were all superb. The art of Gandalf improved with age.” And the descriptions go on... This doesn't answer PBH's question exactly, but it is the only indication of where they came from.

It was the toys that were “all beautiful and some obviously magical. Many of them had indeed been ordered a year before, and had come all the way from the Mountain and from Dale, and were of real dwarf-make.”

"He had a ring, a golden ring, a precious ring." ~ from The Hobbit
Figwit
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on: May 01, 2003 11:33
as Gandalf had no permanent location, PbHf, he had a great lot of locations to order and have sent fireworks from
k
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on: May 02, 2003 06:03
i assumed that gandalf just kept them in rivendell.. the firewords seemed more inspired by elvish history than the dwarves... ships, swans, birds, trees and the spears that sounded like an army (spears always seemed more elvish than dwarvish to me) perhaps gandalf drew inspiration from rivendell while making his fireworks
PotbellyHairyfoot
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on: May 02, 2003 07:18
I've been trying to picture Gandalf mixing powders in a lab someplace but I could never picture just where his "Lab" was.
Firstbourne
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on: May 02, 2003 08:00
Wow, now you got me thinking.. hm.. I wonder... It could have been anywhere. Gandalf is pretty much all over the place, from what I understand.

:dizzy:
NenyaGold
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on: May 02, 2003 08:12
I always had the image that he just conjured them out of thin air, kind of like the replicator on the Star Trek series.

"He had a ring, a golden ring, a precious ring." ~ from The Hobbit
Eowyn_Touched-By-Frost
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on: May 05, 2003 08:34
I have a new question. Was Gollum wicked before he found the Ring, or did It change him from the first second? He seemed different than the other River-people, though it's hard to tell because Tolkein said so little about that race.

thanks
PotbellyHairyfoot
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on: May 06, 2003 12:58
Hm- Let's see- Smeagol strangled his friend Deagol to get possession of the ring He was already more interesed in the ground and tunnlels at that point but there is no evidence that he was wicked before he was influenced by the ring.
He must have had some tendency wickedness in his character though . He found that he could use the ring for spying and sneaking and immediately put it to use in that way. He became so good at it that he was finally shunned by his family and neighbours.
In all the time Bilbo had the ring he never became the evil little pest that Gollum became, so there must have been that little bit of wickedness already there in Smeagol's character for the Ring to work on..
Eowyn_Touched-By-Frost
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on: May 27, 2003 04:58
Here's a new question I wanted to bring up:
How, if in any way, does the geography of the Shire resemble Tolkein's England? Dou you think it was loosely based on Europe?
Elenisil
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on: May 27, 2003 11:03
that´s not difficult to see, in my opinion

shire - northwest of middle earth = england northern-northwest of europe, with the green fields and charming countryside... *sighs*

rivendel, misty mountains, lothlorien, fangorn = cover the region of the alps, the dreamful cities around them, and the forests of northest like in germany, hungary, and belgium (dunno know if those countries are accurate examples... Figwit can correct me there )

The Aduin.... reminds me somehow the Wall in Berlin... although i´m not sure it was already up by the time tolkien worked in the trilogy (yeah, I´m bad at keeping hystorical events in mind :blush: ) but it does divide west and east

Mordor = east germany/the old Soviet Union (no matter how Tolkien hated apollogies and denied any link, war was upon him at the time and I don´t think that certain things were only coincidence)

Yeah, I know that if you put europe over a ME map places won´t coincide... but they´re very much alike...
Eowyn_Touched-By-Frost
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on: June 14, 2003 01:57
I never could find an answer to this one in the book, and I've heard both sides, so:
Is Goldberry Tom Bombadil's daughter or his wife?

I always assumed she was his daughter, and she seemed younger than him, too. But I've noticed a lot of people seeming to refer to her as his wife lately. Anyone shed some light on my stupid question?
NenyaGold
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on: June 14, 2003 02:27
E_T-B-F ~ The only stupid questions are the ones not asked...

Actually, CoE's Elrond's Library Encyclopedia has this information on Goldberry, which is what I remember:

*Goldberry was the wife of Tom Bombadil and the daughter of the River-woman of the Withywindle. She was fair with golden hair, and beautiful like the elves.*

Yeah, she is young, but look at Aragorn vs Arwen...:love:

"He had a ring, a golden ring, a precious ring." ~ from The Hobbit
Trignifty
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on: June 14, 2003 06:22
Well consider elves in general...they're portrayed (or so it seems from Tolkien's writing) as 20 year olds in the prime of youth...and yet they're thousands of years old. Goldberry is probably the same way, she may age, but not really physically.
AEvenstar
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on: June 28, 2003 12:29
that´s not difficult to see, in my opinion

shire - northwest of middle earth = england northern-northwest of europe, with the green fields and charming countryside... *sighs*

rivendel, misty mountains, lothlorien, fangorn = cover the region of the alps, the dreamful cities around them, and the forests of northest like in germany, hungary, and belgium (dunno know if those countries are accurate examples... Figwit can correct me there )

The Aduin.... reminds me somehow the Wall in Berlin... although i´m not sure it was already up by the time tolkien worked in the trilogy (yeah, I´m bad at keeping hystorical events in mind :blush: ) but it does divide west and east

Mordor = east germany/the old Soviet Union (no matter how Tolkien hated apollogies and denied any link, war was upon him at the time and I don´t think that certain things were only coincidence)

Yeah, I know that if you put europe over a ME map places won´t coincide... but they´re very much alike...


Wow!!! And yeah the Berlin wall was up when he was writing after WW2. It was put up after WW2, to seperate the soviets and the free people. The Communists wanted Communism to be contained whereas the rest of the world wanted to extinguish it (communism). The Wall was a way to seperate these two different types of peopl. In East Germany life was very much run by the Communists and life was terrible. The Rouble sank into a decline, so much so that it was worthless.
Oh my god!! I've just read what I've written it sounds like a history lesson!! :blush: Well, I always did love history.
ArwenLegolas
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on: June 28, 2003 03:22

:love:Since Gandalf is a Wizard (somebody who can perform magic) maybe he could have conjured those firworks up with a command and since he is also a maia and one step under the ainur, beeing something of a lesser god, I am sure he could have made those in a building somewhere casting spells and putting a visual spell on the building so that nobody but him could see it. :heart:
ArwenLegolas
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AEvenstar
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on: June 28, 2003 09:57
I think that gandalf although not having a permenant home would probably have made those fireworks in Rivendell as they seem most influenced by the Elves, and it also seems that he spent a lot of time there
atalante_star
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on: September 22, 2003 05:21

shire - northwest of middle earth = england northern-northwest of europe, with the green fields and charming countryside... *sighs*

The Shire is particularly based on the countryside of Warwickshire (middle of England). Bag End is named after Tolkien's aunt's farm


rivendell, misty mountains, lothlorien, fangorn = cover the region of the alps, the dreamful cities around them, and the forests of northest like in germany, hungary, and belgium

I suspect that the mountains were based quite a lot on Switzerland as that was the only Alpine country Tolkien visited.....
ElranSonOfElladan
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on: November 02, 2003 04:17
Now what I do not get is that why Boromir had joined the Fellowship. Can anybody tell me why??? I think for the fame and the glory to say I was part of the fellowship.
Figwit
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on: November 02, 2003 11:06
Well, Boromir doesn't exactly 'join' the Fellowship, he is just going to Minas Tirith with Aragorn, and they are travelling together for a while.
Miril
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on: November 03, 2003 03:26
Alright, I've heard Deagol as being Smeagol's cousin not friend, but I thought he was just a friend... I'm not positive where I heard about it but I know I have. So if anyone could help me out, I'd be happy Thanks...
Anteruion
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on: November 04, 2003 04:00
OK i herd(for the FEoTR EE) some one say that elves don't fell cold and heat ( then i read that they do feel heat) dose any one know if elves do feel cold and heat???
Figwit
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on: November 05, 2003 04:19
OK i herd(for the FEoTR EE) some one say that elves don't fell cold and heat ( then i read that they do feel heat) dose any one know if elves do feel cold and heat???


They do feel it, but they aren't affected by it like mortals are: in FOTR when the Fellowship is trying to climb Caradhras, Legolas just sort of runs around, unaffected by the cold.
Roheryn
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on: November 05, 2003 08:06
Miril: Deagol was Smeagol's friend not his cousin. FOTR - Shadow of the Past chapter has the story of Smeagol killing his friend Deagol and taking the ring.
Alquatari
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on: November 20, 2003 02:09
I have a question.
May be some one knows…
Creating Rohan culture, was Tolkien inspired of some particular people - such as vikings or may be skives?
Figwit
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on: November 20, 2003 02:48
I'm going to drag atalante over here, she'll know but I suspect he was, because the Rohirrim remind me of the pre-British Danes a lot
atalante_star
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on: November 20, 2003 02:59
:dizzy: what's going on? I see my name!

Oh, the Rohirrim? Anglo-Saxons I think ......
Figwit
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on: November 25, 2003 12:59
well, thinking again about this question, I suddenly remembered that Meduseld is the name of the Great Hall in Beowulf which is an old Danish poem - so there you go
HermioneFrodo
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on: January 05, 2004 04:33
I have a question regarding Theodon. Was Saruman actually in his body, or what? I didn't get that part to begin with, Then the movie threw me off even more:dizzy:
Figwit
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on: January 06, 2004 08:08
No, I don't think Saruman was - Gríma was Saruman's spie and servant and had to manipulate Théoden. But it's an interesting point - I'll include it in the chapter's discussion.
Shirefolk
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on: January 31, 2004 11:35
i have a few questions: What are the Grey Havens? are they some sort of heaven that immortals go to (like the elvs)? I've read the books and love them so! But every time, i seem never to find my answer. I have other questions too..and they might seem dumb. Thanks a lot.
Shirefolk
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on: January 31, 2004 11:36
ahhh, i remembered some of my older questions.....in FOTR, Frodo, sam, merry and pippin come incounter with the barrows. (ahhh, sry, i'm too lazy to look up their proper name).
I've read this part of the book over and over and still don't have a good understanding of what they are. Are they living? Dead? and why does Gandalf worry that that part of their journey (so far) was probably the most dangerous?
I saw an artists painting of frodo and a barrow. That helped a lot, and freaked me out, not to mention. (haha).
But if someone else could kind of create a mental vision of what a barrow looks like, that'd be awsome!:heart:
Figwit
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on: January 31, 2004 11:51
The Grey Havens are the harbour of the Elves to the West of the Shire, from where the Elves set sail to Valinor.

As for the Barrow-wights, this Book Club has a thread where we've discussed just that question, you can find it here

For a possible image, I'm going to refer to k's Illustrations thread.

If you have any more questions, feel free to post them in the Chapter Thread!
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