Well, what you have to keep in mind here is that Hobbits don’t believe in doing work in the traditional sense. Therefore, nobody would dream of becoming a butler or a maid to Bilbo.
Oh, my. We must all go back and read more carefully. The dwimmerlaik was the reptilian beast flown in battle by the Lord of the Nazgul. Yes, lots of zombie-like critters roaming around, most especially the Army of the Dead recruited by
Aragorn, without which the Battle of the Pelennor Field would have been lost. Speaking of which, go to this link (http://ymarkov.livejournal.com/280578.html) for an interesting alternative history of Middle-Earth, the War of the Ring, and the explicitly zombie army.
I always thought of the Nazgul as being something like liches.
I thought when Zombies bit or whacked you, you became a zombie yourself.
I thought that the Dead recruited by Aragorn were more ghost-style-- It’s not even clear whether their swords were capable of inflicting wounds. The barrow-wights, though, were definitely corporeal.
Apparently most of them farm, which certainly is “work in the traditional sense.”
“No machines more complicated that a garotte or a Luger.”
Oh, my. Read more carefully yourself. Eowyn addresses the Lord of the Nazgul as “dwimmerlaik”, and no more talks to his winged beast than he wastes words on her horse.
I’ll give your piece of self-advertisement a miss, thanks.
Tolkienians being snarky with each other!
Been gazing into a palantir to closely, have we?
Now we’re getting into George Romero territory. I’m talking more Val Lewton.
Gone With the Wind and Cat People have zombies?
He was. I can’t find the full text of Andy Duncan’s “Senator Bilbo” but here’s a podcast reading. I think your best chance is to find a copy of Year’s Best Fantasy 2.
There is this guy, already mentioned somewhere.
Can’t see his feet in the picture.
I was thinking about the classic, I Walked With a Nazgul.
No, but I doubt the sincerity of a total stranger who pops up to tell us all that we’re wrong, and coincidentally provides a link to where there is an ebook for sale. :dubious:
The Last Ringbearer is a real book.
“Dwimmerlaik - An archaic name representing a word in the language of the Rohirrim. It comes from the Old English for ‘magical art’, implying a spectral being, with the same first element also appearing in Dwimordene (‘vale of phantoms’, a name for Lórien) and Dwimorberg (the ‘Haunted Mountain’). Éowyn defiantly granted this title to the Lord of the Nazgûl during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields.” From the Encyclopedia of Arda
Well, I’ll be damned. I’ve read LOTR a dozen times, and missed that every time. As for thinking I’m Kirill Yeskov, here to advertise my book, thanks, but no. It doesn’t need any promotion. And it’s not for sale, it’s a free PDF. Yeskov would get hammered by the Tolkien estate if he tried to sell it. They’re very touchy about such things.
Of course, you would have known that if you’d gone and looked at the link rather than get all antsy and proprietary about your SDMB! LOL!
Guilty. Been a Tolkien geek since the age of 10. I keep it well hidden at work. In preparation for the release of the first movie several years ago, I pulled down my dusty copy of The Silmarillion and read that f#@ker through from cover to cover. It was a hard slog, like reading the Book of Leviticus over and over.
Damn, I’ve never made it through the Silmarillion. I’ve never made it past the point where I realized the story was repeating.
No, by the Ballhog.
“You dieth, GI!” screamed the faggot.