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It is descriptive in the sense of "Hell" or the "Underworld," but Udun is also the Sindarin name for Utumno, Morgoth's first(?) stronghold in Arda. I always assumed that when Gandalf confronted the...

Putting aside any criticism of the type of internal contradiction that writers of a certain quality think is so clever, it's a play on a proverb - "A burden shared is a burden halved, but a joy...

What I'm reading is that you're not concerned whether a Director of the Tolkien Estate taking on the role of Creative Consultant has the competence and grit to do the job.

That said, I don't envy...

What, specifically, has Simon Tolkien published that displays his expertise of his grandfather's work? His father certainly has plenty to his credit, as do Tom Shippey and Corey Olsen. What has...

Do you have evidence to suggest that Simon Tolkien is an expert on his grandfather's works? If not, you're just compounding the fallacy.

I don't think it's a bold claim at all. Amazon itself helped frame the controversy as "good guys" vs "racists" with their initial press releases, not to mention the "selectivity" of deletions, bans...

Those hobbit feet, though...

(take that how you will)

Do that with any work, and it stops being the original work. At that point, the more honest move would be to give it a new name and throw in the phrase "inspired by" somewhere. Granted, the...

This line, from the Lenny Henry article, kills me:



The Harfoots were not "prececessors" of the Hobbits, they weren't ancestors of the Hobbits. They were Hobbits. Their only distinction is...

1) I'm not sure that Frodo or the rest of the Fellowship would have described Sauron's downfall as "quick and easy." (I say "downfall," because, as has been repeated here a few times, Sauron did not...

He actually may have ruled them out, in some of the letters he wrote, anyway. I've "lent out" (i.e., probably lost for good) my copy of The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, so I can't confirm the wording...

As long as you can back up what you say, more power to ya.

I learned long ago that "dealing with nuance" usually just sinks you deeper into the pig wallow. Though I'll confess that I'm continually surprised at the number of people who seem to enjoy it. ...

Nope. "Whataboutism" is about diverting personal responsibility by pointing at the mistakes, flaws, or failures of others. The relative degree of the offenses of either side are immaterial. ...

"Whataboutism" is also cynical. But, yep, the superfans thing did give me a chuckle...

A deliberate mis-attribution is a lie. Period. If we're in the right, we can do better.


The part I put in bold is about as cynical a statement as I've heard any politician make. You're...

The problem is, using a lie (even a "white" one) tends to mark people as cranks and weirdos. Well intended or not, it's a false attribution that (IMO) mis-uses and misconstrues Tolkien's actual...

It was expressed so poorly that it's easy to pick apart. Even more so when it's presented as an actual quote from Tolkien. If we need to lie (even accidentally) to make a point, then the point isn't...

But, again, all the Valar also lacked the power of true creation. They were given substantial power to shape the material of the world, but they could not create de novo, any more than Melkor could....

As much as I dislike Amazon's treatment of "The Rings of Power" (or at least what I've seen of it so far), I would like to see a citation where Tolkien specifically said the above.

Keep in mind...

Thanks, Harvain, but it doesn't seem to be working for me. Is there a "trust level" sort of thing that would prevent it, or is it something only available to subscribers?

The One Ring's inscription, in OG Norse:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD8ANtV6UbY

I kicked in a few as well. Will throw in some more with each paycheck until you reach your goal.

Not to be "that guy," but the more I read, the more I get a sinking feeling about the show. Starting to wonder if it's going the way of Jackson's "The Hobbit," where random things are changed or...

As they say, "art is completed by the viewer" (though i forget who "they" are), and Tolkien himself seemed to want to leave room for interpretation ("The cycles should be linked to a majestic whole,...