Gandalf didn’t know what had happened in Moria. He was afraid of what might have happened. I know what Saruman says that Gandalf knew what the Dwarves had awakened (the Balrog), but I’d say that’s bullshit. Rather, it’s that he, Gandalf, knew that the Balrog might be awake.
Then again, it might not. And certainly he didn’t know about the Watcher (the horrific octopus thing that tried to eat Frodo).
Try not thinking in modern terms. The story’s set in a time of medieval technology, at best, for most people. There was no email, text messages, newspapers, etc; there isn’t even what we’d consider much mail service. It’s not going to be uncommon for people to be out of contact with friends & relatives for long periods of time if they move away.
I’m sure others have already touched on this, but there’s no teleporting in Tolkien at all. I can’t recall any summoning of elementals either. And Gandalf and Saruman were required to cast off much of their native power & knowledge to come to Middle-earth. In their proper forms, they’d have been much more powerful, though I still doubt they could have teleported the Fellowship anywhere.
Teleporting’s a horrible storytelling device anyway. It introduces more plot problems than it solves unless it is very tightly restricted.
This has been explained many times before… of course if you hold your staff in the middle, as if it were a regular old walking stick, you’re gonna block out the signal! You need to grip it at the top and bottom; then you’ll see your signal improve quite a bit.:smack:
arghhhh! you swine! That is seared into my brain now.
Actually, much as I loved the films and books I reckon there is mileage in redoing it as a musical.
Or…bloody hell, how about a blaxploitation version? “The Brotherhood of the Bling”
Morgan Freeman as Gandalf? Samuel L. Jackson as Saruman? Prince as Gollum?
“I’m gonna git 2nd age on your ass”
“I would have followed you, my brother, my captain, my pimp”
come on! this thing writes itself.
My god I’m a genius. Where’s Michael Bay’s number?
It’s worse than you think. According to scholars more obsessive than I, the dwarves of Balin’s expedition had actually been out of touch (because they were all dead) for more than twenty years at the time of the Council of Elrond.
Some relevant dates in the Third Age of Middle-earth:
Dwarven mithril-mining operations awaken the Balrog which slays King Durin VI (hence “Durin’s Bane”) and others.
Following further battles with the Balrog and the slaying of another king, the remaining dwarves flee. Later Moria becomes populated by orcs and trolls who worship and follow the Balrog.
Battle between dwarves and orcs in the Dimrill Dale outside the East-gate, but the Balrog is seen at the gate and the dwarves do not attempt to enter.
Events of The Hobbit.
Balin’s expedition enters Moria (a thousand years after the abandonment!) and takes control of some areas.
Balin and his followers are wiped out.
Beginning of the central events of The Lord of the Rings (“The Shadow of the Past”). The Council of Elrond.
The Fellowship passes through Moria. Gandalf battles the Balrog. End of the central events of The Lord of the Rings (“The Scouring of the Shire”).
The one that gets me is “O Elbereth Gilthoniel” to “O come o come Emmanuel”.
Well, you might argue that the water-horses in the flood at the Ford were elementals, I suppose. And the Maia associated with particular elements (the Balrogs for fire, for instance) might also be called elementals, though you wouldn’t summon those.
Seriously? The entire goal of Gandalf’s actions were to keep the Balrog from advancing, and his strategy was to lure the Balrog to a point where he could use gravity as a weapon.
Better question, why was the bridge a narrow piece of rock? You’d think in the untold thousands of years in which the dwarves held Moria, they would have built a bigger, more sturdier bridge
IIRC, the narrowness and fragility was the point. It was a defensive tactic at the entrance to the caves; an invading army would have had to cross one by one.