# LOTR Inconsistencies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 20, 2002, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-inconsistencies/143974 "2002-12-20T04:14:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![emarkp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3be4f8/32.png) [@emarkp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emarkp)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-inconsistencies/143974/61 "2002-12-28T19:12:01Z")
Just started rereading LotR and noticed that tobacco is mentioned by name in the prologue (at the beginning of “concerning pipe-weed”) and the Gaffer himself refers to potatoes: > [@](#): > > _From page 22 of FotR, or second page of Chapter 1_ > ‘A very nice well-spoken gentlehobbit is Mr. Bilbo, as I’ve always said,’ the Gaffer declared. With perfect truth: for Bilbo was very polite to him, calling him ‘Master Hamfast’, and consulting him constantly upon the growing of vegetables - in the matter of ‘roots’, especially **potatoes** , the Gaffer was recognized as the leading authority by all in the neighbourhood (including himself). ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-inconsistencies/143974/62 "2002-12-28T23:01:14Z")
On another note: when/how did Gandalf get his staff back? I seriously doubt that Sauraman sent it on to Rivendell _poste restante_. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-inconsistencies/143974/63 "2002-12-28T23:12:33Z")
Ah…probably after he fell in Moria…the entity who sent him back to earth gave him a shiny new staff…wizards need to go around with staffs! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-inconsistencies/143974/64 "2002-12-28T23:15:56Z")
Well most of the constraints on Gandalf about not using his powers had been removed after he was sent back as Gandalf the White. It would be no big deal for him to just cause one to come into being. He is one of the Ainur, after all. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-inconsistencies/143974/65 "2002-12-29T00:47:34Z")
Sorry, should have been more specific. When he jumps off the top of Orthanc onto Gwaihir’s back, he does not have his staff; but when the Fellowship departs Rivendell, he does have it. (Maybe he crafted a new one? Unlikely, IMHO, but . . .) ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-inconsistencies/143974/66 "2003-02-02T00:56:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sqweels \* > **Tolkein uses artistic license to bring tobacco (if that’s what pipe-weed is) to Middle Earth, but the word is never used sinsce it’s Native American in origin.** Funny, I seem to recall that the very last word of _The Hobbit_ is “tobacco-jar”. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-inconsistencies/143974/67 "2003-02-02T01:22:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by OttoDaFe \* > \*\*Sorry, should have been more specific. When he jumps off the top of Orthanc onto Gwaihir’s back, he does not have his staff; but when the Fellowship departs Rivendell, he does have it. > > (Maybe he crafted a new one? Unlikely, IMHO, but . . .) \*\* Bah, who cares what the movie shows. Tolkien makes no mention of Gandalf’s staff being taken when he is imprisoned by Saruman, and it wouldn’t have been any problem to bring it along for the ride on Gwaihir. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2003, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-inconsistencies/143974/68 "2003-02-02T04:50:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gorsnak \* > \*\*Bah, who cares what the movie shows. Tolkien makes no mention of Gandalf’s staff being taken when he is imprisoned by Saruman, and it wouldn’t have been any problem to bring it along for the ride on Gwaihir. \*\* He also doesn’t say how Gandalf was held captive. It might have been as simple as Saruman locking Gandalf in a room somewhere. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lotr-inconsistencies/143974.md?page=3)