Ok, Tolkien revised The Hobbit to more closely tie it into LotR (like rewriting the “Riddles In The Dark” chapter, for one). I’m reading the revised version. But I’ve got some questions about it.
- Elrond’s not an Elf in The Hobbit. Point blank says so in the text. “He was noble, wise and fair in the face as any elf-lord”. Um. Ok, granted it’s possible to twist that sentence another way, but by making the statement that Elrond is as fair as an Elf-lord implies he’s not one (or what’s the point?). Obviously things changed between The Hobbit and LotR. Anyone know what was Tolkien’s intent was back then?
1a) I’m also having troubles reconcilling the elves in
The Hobbit with the same elves in LotR. Can you picture Glorfindel sitting in a tree singing “Tra-lil-lil-lil-lolly”?
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What was Beorn? A human? A Were-bear? Something like what Tom Bombadil was? Something else entirely? Isn’t there a line in LotR about Bjorn’s kids (Beornlings?) doing something?
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How does “dark” “come first, then follow after” in the riddle? That clue seems to make no sense.
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So…what was Thrain doing in the dungeons of the necromancer, anyway?
5a) And the necromancer=Sauron, right?
5b) And Gandalf managed to sneak into Mordor, into the tower of Barad-dur? And escape with a deranged dwarf? Security was lax then.
5c) And what was Sauron up to at the time?
- (More of a general LotR question/comment) What was up with the Eagles-Ex-Machina device Tolkien kept using? The Eagles show up whenever it’s convienient for the plot. Trapped in the burning trees with goblins and wargs surrounding you? Eagles show up. Losing a big battle? Eagles show up. Trapped on top of Isengard? Eagles show up. Need to be reunited with your buddies after fighting a Balrog? Eagles show up. Need to rescue your buddies from the top of a volcano? Eagles show up.
But…your buddies need to cross a mountain range and…what? 1500 miles(?) of hostile territory to get to the volcano? No eagles to be had.
What was up with that? If the eagles are so willing to be used as a taxi service, why not have 'em carry the Fellowship over the Misty Mountains and…hell, right up to Mount Doom for that matter. It’s not like Saron can do anything about it. He’s limited to sending his armies and the Nazgul out, right? It’s not like he has comic-book wizard powers (yet). Put Frodo on the back of an eagle. Have the eagle fly to Mordor (put other Hobbits on other eagles if you want a distraction). Have eagle strafe the Crack of Doom. Frodo drops ring in (the ring wouldn’t have had months to work on him, so presumably he could. And if he couldn’t, well…it’s pretty easy to < cough > accidentally get dropped off the back of an eagle, right? < /cough > I find the (over) use of Eagles-ex-machina a major flaw in Tolkien’s otherwise fantastic work.
- They had guns, why didn’t they use them at any point? Remember the conceit of The Hobbit is that we’re actually reading Bilbo’s memoirs and Bilbo references guns on several occasions. I mean, fine, Nazgul are probably bullet-immune but I doubt that the hordes of orcs are.
Fenris