Is there weather in Middle Earth?

[jsc1953]

This may be the result of faulty memory (it's been a few years since the last time I read LOTR), but is it always sunny and mild in Middle Earth?

I don't recall any scenes in which it's scorching hot, or rainy, or snowing (other than snow on the pass of Caradhras, which is at least partly attributable to being in the mountains). This is somewhat eyebrow-raising because the book is set in a span of a few months in the dead of winter (the Fellowship leaves Rivendell on Dec 25) in what is roughly northern Europe.

If this is the case, I don't think it's particularly significant -- just a blind spot in Tolkien's skills as a story-teller. Just a bit odd.

(In the movie, the hobbits arrive at Bree in a rainstorm, but I think that was license on PJ's part)

[cjepson]

Sure there's weather. Rain kept the Hobbits an extra day at Bombadil's. And don't forget "Fog on the Barrow-Downs".

[Who_me?]

Originally Posted by cjepson

Sure there's weather. Rain kept the Hobbits an extra day at Bombadil's. And don't forget "Fog on the Barrow-Downs".

Then there's the snowstorm on Caradhras that tried to kill them.

[CalMeacham]

The hobbits go through plenty of weather just getting out of the Shire. And Bilbo encountered plenty of foul weather in The Hobbit, in particular when crossing the Misty Mountains, where they had to take shelter in the cave.

[Alka Seltzer]

Tolkein spent more time describing the landscape, but Middle Earth certainly has weather. A few examples that spring to mind:
- The day of Bilbo's farewell party was fair and clear.
- A southerly wind dissipates Sauron's darkness and bring Aragorn's fleet to the pelennot fields.
- When Frodo sees Bilbo at Rivendell in the mirror of Galadriel, it is raining hard.

[What Exit?]

Many rainy days on the journey to the lonely mountain too. Even in Mirkwood under the oppressive leaves.

[Mrs. Cake]

Just re-reading "Fellowship" - lots of weather. It is brought up as a significant factor in the misery of long stretches of travel. Very rainy between the Shire & Rivendell and nasty cold winds & snow between Rivendell and Moria. Less important after that as they have moved into a more southerly climate and the time frame shortens up considerably.

[jsc1953]

Originally Posted by Mrs. Cake

Just re-reading "Fellowship" - lots of weather. It is brought up as a significant factor in the misery of long stretches of travel. Very rainy between the Shire & Rivendell and nasty cold winds & snow between Rivendell and Moria. Less important after that as they have moved into a more southerly climate and the time frame shortens up considerably.

I apparently stand corrected. Maybe the core assertion still works, that the only weather-related items between the Fellowship leaving Rivendell on Dec 25 and the Fall of Sauron (April?) was a nice southernly breeze, and snow in a mountain pass. Perhaps I'd forgotten some.

[XT]

When the Hobbit's arrived at Bree in the night it was raining as well. I think there were several instances of fogs playing various roles too (at the Barrow Downs as another poster mentioned...maybe at or during the battle of Helms Deep). When Sam and Frodo were wandering the trackless wastes just before Golum caught up with them and they captured him there was a particularly nasty storm IIRC.

Like others have said...lots of weather.

-XT

[shantih]

Further, when the hobbits take off the clothes the barrow-wight had put on them and put on their extra clothes from their packs, they feel uncomfortably warm because those clothes had been intended for when it grew colder later on in their travels.

[Skald the Rhymer]

Others have already answered the OP's question, but I'll add that Middle-earth is not on an extraterrestrial in another universe, like, Narnia; it is pre-historic Europe of several thousand years ago. Pick a time between glaciations that suits you, but don't think Tolkien meant to be talking about anything but the orb we all call home.

[jsc1953]

Originally Posted by Skald the Rhymer

Others have already answered the OP's question, but I'll add that Middle-earth is not on an extraterrestrial in another universe, like, Narnia; it is pre-historic Europe of several thousand years ago. Pick a time between glaciations that suits you, but don't think Tolkien meant to be talking about anything but the orb we all call home.

I agree; that's why I thought it odd that they were traipsing around in January and never ran into any serious storms -- except on Caradhras, which may have been more than just natural weather: either inherently evil or under the influence of Saruman.

[OttoDaFe]

There is also an historical reference to a particularly ghastly winter* when wolves made incursions into the Shire. And ISTR that the weather when Bilbo returned to Bag End was pretty vile, which was considered normal considering that it was in November.

*The Fell Winter? I don't have the books close at hand.

[smiling bandit]

The books gloss over many of the longer portions of the journey, y'know. It focuses on the good bits.

[Arnold Winkelried]

They definitely had weather. The one thing they did not have was toilets. In those days Men, Elves, Dwarves, Ents and Hobbits never needed to eliminate bodily waste. Even flatulence had not been invented yet.

[Darth Nader]

I'm nearly (mumble) years old, and up until right now, I had never thought about what it would be like for an Ent to take a dump. Thanks for planting that seed in my head.

I bet it takes a while.

[Steophan]

Originally Posted by Darth Nader

I'm nearly (mumble) years old, and up until right now, I had never thought about what it would be like for an Ent to take a dump. Thanks for planting that seed in my head.

I bet it takes a while.

Did they eat, or just live on the Ent draught water that made the hobbits grow a bit? They may actually not have needed to remove much waste.

Elves taking a dump is a much weirder mental image for me...

[mbh]

Originally Posted by Steophan

Elves taking a dump is a much weirder mental image for me...

Whenever my friends and I used to discuss whether or not Tolkien's elves had pointed ears, my response was always, "The only difference between Elves and Men is that Elf shit doesn't stink. Everything the Elves do is grand and noble and glorious. Even when they turn evil, it's always cosmic, Darth Vader-style evil. They would never just rob a liquor store. That would be tacky."

[Arnold Winkelried]

Originally Posted by mbh

Elf shit doesn't stink.

The converse is probably also true. How would you like to be the guy in charge of digging latrines at the campground for an orc army?

[Chronos]

Latrines are, I think, a couple of levels of sanitation above what orcs would use.

[Balance]

Originally Posted by Arnold Winkelried

Even flatulence had not been invented yet.

In the new production video for The Hobbit, Sir Ian makes a quiet crack about being in a small room with 13 dwarves. Jackson took it as a comment on heat, but I think he meant that dwarves were a bit ahead of the curve on this matter.

[Mrs. Cake]

I would imagine that Ents would not need to shit in the woods. Instead they would fart pure oxygen.

[SCSimmons]

I guess adventures aren't all pony rides in the May sunshine after all.

[Oy!]

Sindarin elves' shit probably doesn't stink. But the Sylvan Elves we saw in The Hobbit? The ones over whom Thranduil (Legolas' father) ruled? The ones whose drunken guards allowed Bilbo to break out the dwarves? Admittedly their shit probably doesn't stink as much as Human shit does, but I'll bet you it doesn't smell like strawberries or roses.

And I can definitely see a campfire scene like the one in Blazing Saddles on Bilbo's journey with Thorin Oakenshield's gang. In fact, if Brooks hadn't already done it, I could easily see Jackson having such a scene in The Hobbit. Tolkien never mentioned it, but you just know dwarves fart. And don't get me started on Orcs and Trolls!

[BrotherCadfael]

Grey-Elves poop poop. Non-stinky poop, but poop.

The Elves of the LIght (the Caliquendi) poop rainbows.

[dzeiger]

A slightly related question--does Middle Earth have tides? As I recall, the Sun and the Moon are, in fact, just pieces of fruit so I'm not sure there's going to be any real gravitational pull to speak of.

[mac_bolan00]

only lorien, rivendell and (i suppose) mordor have weather control.

[cjepson]

Originally Posted by BrotherCadfael

Grey-Elves poop poop. Non-stinky poop, but poop.

But what do the Grey poop on?

[Tanbarkie]

Originally Posted by Steophan

Did they eat, or just live on the Ent draught water that made the hobbits grow a bit? They may actually not have needed to remove much waste.

Aaaaaaand now I have an unpleasant image of where that Ent draught actually comes from.

[Chimera]

Originally Posted by Darth Nader

I'm nearly (mumble) years old, and up until right now, I had never thought about what it would be like for an Ent to take a dump. Thanks for planting that seed in my head.

I bet it takes a while.

Imagine this in Treebeard's voice and cadence from the movies.

"Barum Harum......I went up into the mountains.....in winter.....to take (sigh, pause) a dump"