The Gondor plaques include “Last Gas Before Barad Dur” and “Osgiliath, Garden of Gondor, This Exit–Lots Available.”
I keep seeing your user name and thinking Samwise Gamgee. Truly a humble servant.
Jim
I actually think Sam was quite the prick at times. I change my mind daily on whether I like him as a character or not.
I see that what I was going to say has already been said. I really ough to learn to refresh the tab more often.
“If you invaded here, you’d be pillaging now.”
“Caution: Watch out for falling Stewards of Gondor”
“Fell Beast crossing”
“You must be at least >this< high to wield this sword”
“Please keep off the Argonath”
“Welcome to the Grey Havens. This is a no-wake zone.”
“Welcome to Imladris. No loitering. Elderly Hobbits: This means you.”
“You are now approaching Minas Morgul. Torment and enslavement in 10km”
Presumably they’d be “fully functional” in that case. 
Li’l baby goblins are mentioned in The Hobbit - one of the ways Gollum used the Ring was to creep into the goblin caves and strangle baby goblins - m’mm - them’s good eatins!
This thread has certainly gone all over the place. Oh, hell, why not keep it going.
I have always been curious about what the dining situation was like in Middle Earth. Was it exactly the same as Ye Olde England, or was it a little different? Judging from all the food they ate on the adventure, things seemed very similar to a real-life camping trip, but I’ve never been sure.
Were all the farm animals and plants exactly the same as Modern Earth? For example, there were no chicken-lizards or fish-frogs or things like that?
Hope this question makes sense.
Middle Earth was a mythical realm that represented Europe back in the days of pre-history, especially pre-cataclysm. The Shire represented a portion of England. As such, most of the animals and plants were akin to those found in the modern European world.
Dragons and mallorns are two exceptions that come to mind, but they had their origins in the creation myth which upheld JRRT’s tales.
Also the fell-beasts which the Nazgul rode, which may or may not be related to dragons and/or pterodons, and also the Watcher in the Water, which may or may not have been related to giant squid, and may or may not have been supernatural and thus not an “animal” at all. Wargs and the Giant Eagles are also not found (at least, not very easily) in the modern world, but they do have strong resemblences to modern creatures. The giant spiders, though, probably don’t count, since they’re strongly implied to be of fey ancestry (from Ungoliant via Shelob and possibly her sisters).
If I may ask a question: what happened to the dragons? I know there were a few well-known ones, like Smaug and Ancalagon, but did any survive, perhaps to later attack London?
Yes, some dragons did survive if you take the assumption that Farmer Giles of Ham takes place several ages later. That and the fact several smaller dragons probably inhabited the Grey Mountains and Withered Heath.
Jim
What Exit? You say the Valar only numbered 15? I always assumed that they were vast in number. Did they all have names?
Why do you think the Ring chose to fall off of Isildur’s finger causing him to get killed? Was it just pure revenge? It seems to me that the ring may have been better off staying with Isildur and corrupting him. Would the elves have gone to war with Isildur if he went the way of Ar-pharazon?
Every Valar had a name. There were large numbers of Maiar however and their numbers included Gandalf, Sauron, Sauraman, Radagast, the Two Blue Wizards, Ossë, Uinen, Melian {Luthien’s Mother and thus the ancestor of both Arwen and Aragorn}. **Arien ** who guided the Sun and a darn fine poster, 
Tilion who guides the moon and loves Arien too much and thus tried to catch up to her and got badly burnt and scarred. Etc.
Here are the Valar:
To save time, the wiki entry looks like a good summary:
The Lords:
Manwë (Súlimo) - High King of Arda, and chief of the Valar.
Ulmo - Lord of Waters
Aulë - the Smith
Oromë - Aldaron, the Great Rider
Námo - Judge of the Dead. Referred to more commonly as Mandos, after his dwelling place.
Irmo - Master of Visions and Dreams. Referred to more commonly as Lórien, after his dwelling place.
Tulkas (Astaldo) - Champion of Valinor
The Queens:
Varda Elentári (Elbereth Gilthoniel), Queen of the Stars, spouse of Manwë
Yavanna Kementári (Palùrien), Giver of Fruits, spouse of Aulë
Nienna, Lady of Mercy
Estë the Gentle
Vairë the Weaver
Vána the Ever-young
Nessa the Dancer
and finally **Melkor ** - He is only referred to by his real name when he is in Valinor. In Middle-earth, he is only referred to as Morgoth Bauglir, Lord of Shadows. He is the brother of Manwë, Leader of The Valar. Morgoth was taken back to Valinor in chains at the end of The War of Wrath, where he remained for several Ages.
Together the Valar & Maiar were both numbered among the Ainur which and can be thought of as orders of Angelic beings.
Not just revenge, but seeking to go home to Sauron would probably be more accurate. It is possible that a stronger power than the Ring encouraged that betrayal. As you are rightly thinking Isildur armed with the ring would have been a truly terrible tyrant. There is little doubt that Isildur would have been corrupted and probably have brought about a very dark age. I would not be surprised if in the end, he would have been able to force the Ring Wraiths into his service.
Jim
He was taken back in chains after being taken captive shortly after the elves awoke. He was kept in the fastness of Mandos for 3 ages (3000 years of the sun, or 300 years of the Trees), then released.
After the War of Wrath, he was taken back in chains, then thrust beyond the Walls of Night.
BTW, in earlier versions, there were a few other Valar hanging around, like Makar and Meassë, Salmar, Omar-Amillo, and a few other shadowy characters. They didn’t make it into the Sil. Which is too bad in the case of the brother/sister Makar/Meassë team, they were pretty badass, yet held their allegience to Manwë.
You missed Pete the Drummer, who left the Valar before they became famous. :eek:
Is the Walls of Night a poetic way of saying Sheol? Oblivion? Does this mean Melkor was permanently destroyed, or is he just chilling out by himself in the endless void?
Is there any possible way he could come back to wreak havoc again?
How much more powerful was Melkor than Sauron? I’m guessing a lot more powerful, judging from what I’ve glimpsed about the early wars in the Encyclopedia of Arda.
Also, why didn’t Melkor create a Ring of Power like Sauron did? Can Sauron come back even though he apparently lost his bodily form permanently?
Ack, sorry for asking too many questions! Anything people want to answer is fine.
The Walls of Night separate the World that Is from the primordial void without. Morgoth will presumably return at the Dagor Dagorrath, the Battle of Battles, at which it is prophesied that he will be killed permanently by Turin wielding the Black Sword. And he did create a Ring, of a sort, but on a much grander scale: The entire World was corrupted by Morgoth into a sort of Ring, which is why it had to be so devastated at the end of the War of Wrath.
As for the Valinor, those are just the ones who came into the World to guide it. There are an untold number of beings of similar power who chose to remain without the World.