Image from The Hobbit an Unexpected Journey
"Well, well, well! Look who it is; Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror, "King under the Mountain". Oh, but I'm forgetting; you don't have a mountain, and you're not a king, which makes you... nobody, really."
The Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien
Image from The Hobbit an Unexpected Journey
Whether Tolkien was thinking about the Roc when he wrote the Hobbit Tolkien referred to his creatures’ great eagles.
’Farewell wherever you fare, till your eyries receive you at journey’s end!’
‘May the wind under your wings bear you where the sun sails and the moon walks’
The Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien
Image from The Hobbit an Unexpected Journey, Thorin’s Orcrist sword
The Dwarfs and company came upon the Trolls cave and found that it was full of plunder including several swords that had been fashioned in Gondolin and used in the last goblin wars. These swords were ancient and were made skillfully. Thorin, Gandalf, and Bilbo had each acquired one of these swords. They glow blue when anywhere near a goblin.
Two of three swords were given names, once by the maker and again by the goblins. Thorin’s sword was named Orcrist or Goblin cleaver which the goblins called Biter. They hated this sword and anyone who carried it.
Gandolf’s was named Glamdring the Foe-hammer. This sword was adeptly named Beater by the goblins. If it were possible, the goblins hatred for Beater was worse than for that of Biter.
The Guardian has published an interesting article “How Tolkien created Middle-Earth”, which tells of the opening of an exhibit “Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth”. The article goes on to mention the many items that are being exhibited within the exhibit.
"Bones will be shattered, necks will be wrung! You'll be beaten and battered, from racks you'll be hung! You will die down here and never be found! Down in the deep of Goblin-Town!"
The Great Goblin's song in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The Hobbit, the Unexpected Journey
"Well, well, well! Look who it is; Thorin, son of Thrain, son of Thror, "King under the Mountain". Oh, but I'm forgetting; you don't have a mountain, and you're not a king, which makes you... nobody, really."
The great goblin king, taunting Thorin Oakenshield.
"They are not all accounted for, the lost seeing stones. We do not know who else may be watching." —Gandalf to Saruman, in The Fellowship of the Ring
The Palanlri were seeing stones. There were seven in all and were used to communicate in Middle Earth and beyond.
“The lore of the Stone’s has since been forgotten and can only be partly recovered by conjecture and from things recorded about them. They were perfect spheres, appearing, when at rest, to be made of solid glass or crystal deep black in hue. At their smallest, they were about a foot in diameter, but some, certainly, the Stones of Osgiliath and Anon Sul, were much larger and could not be lifted by one man.”
Unfinished Tales, J.R.R. Tolkien, pg. 472
The Drúedian are a race of peoples mentioned in Tolkien’s Unfinished Tales. The Drúedian were unattractive in appearance; “they were stumpy (some were only four feet high), but very broad, with heavy buttocks and short thick legs; their wide faces had deep-set eyes with heavy brows, and flat noses. They typically grew no hair below their eye brows (with the exception of a few) a small tail of black hair in the midst of their chins.” Those who were to grow these tails were highly favored and held in high esteem.
Unfinished Tales, J.R.R. Tolkien
This is the first in a series of three posts of interesting quotes from J.R.R. Tolkien’s, Unfinished Tales. The posts will highlight three obscure facets of Middle Earth.
“Wizard is a translation of Quenya istar (Sindarin ithron): one of the members of an “order” (as they called it), claiming to possess, and exhibiting, eminent knowledge of the history and nature of the World. The translation (though suited in its relation to “wise” and other ancient words of knowing similar to that of istar in Quenya) is not perhaps happy, since the Heren Islarion or “Order of Wizards” was quite distinct from the “wizards” and magicians of the later legend.”
During the Third Age of Middle Earth there were five wizards:
Saruman |
the White |
Gandalf |
the Grey |
Radagast |
the Brown |
Morinehtar |
the Blue |
Rómestámo |
the Blue |
Hobbit-The Battle of the Five Armies
“During the Third Age Galadriel became filled with foreboding, and with Celeborn she journeyed to Lorien and stayed there long with Amroth, being especially concerned to learn all the news and rumors of the growing shadow in Mirkwood and the dark stronghold in Dol Guldur.” (J.R.R. Tolkien’s Unfinished Tales, 256)
The Hobbit-The Battle of the Five Armies
"Anon Lana, “Naked Hill” was the highest point in the highland at the south-west corner of Greenwood, and was so called because no trees grew on its summit. In later days it was Dol Guldur, the first stronghold of Sauron after his awakening.” (J.R.R. Tolkien’s Unfinished Tales, 292)
The Hobbit-The Battle of the Five Armies
Dol Guldur- “Hill of Sorcery” was the treeless height in the south-west of Mirkwood, where the Necromancer dwelt until he was finely revealed as Sauron (The Dark Power). He would eventually be banished by Galadriel and the other members of the White Council.
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Dol Guldur, the place where Sauron dwells was visted first by Gandalf and then by the rest of the white council in order to drive Sauron from his place.
“That seething, half-luminous cloud background held ineffable suggestions of a vague, ethereal beyond-ness far more than terrestrially spatial, and gave appalling reminders of the utter remoteness, separateness, desolation, and aeon-long death of this un-trodden and unfathomed austral world.”
Chapter 3, Mountains of Madness, H.P. Lovecraft
Intelligence |
5 |
Dexterity |
4 |
Movement |
1 |
Stealth |
3 normal; |
Armaments: |
Short sword |
Abilities scale is on a scale from a 1 to 5.
And of Tuor a son of Huor and kin to Hurin, a lord of Man traveled abroad during the first-age of middle earth.
“Tuor went on now in great hope and delight, finding a path beneath the southern wall…
…thus Tuor journeyed slowly for three days, drinking the cold water, but desiring no food though there were many fish that shone as gold and silver, or gleamed with colors like to the rainbow in the spray above.”
Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin, Unfinished Tales-The Lost Lore of Middle Earth, J.R.R.Tolkien.
Unfinished Tales, like the Silmarillion was published posthumously by J.R.R. Tolkien’s son. The mass marketed paperback edition contains 493 pages including a 59 page index. Unfinished Tales includes lore from the first, second and third ages of Middle Earth. The text includes maps from three locations of Middle Earth; Númenórë, Far Harad, and Dagorlad.
Although many topics are discussed within this text the publisher has featured three topics at the preface of the text. They are:
Unfinished Tales will bring depth to many topics that are mentioned only briefly in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. I have started my reading of Unfinished Tales at, Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin. This is one of those texts where I can see myself jumping around a bit.
Screenshot is from the opening of The Hunt for Gollum.
The Hunt for Gollum is a thirty minute unofficial Lord of the Rings prequel that is based on the appendices of J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. This is a very impressive short film depicting a time toward the end of the third age of Middle Earth. It was a time when the forces of darkness were encroaching upon the lives of everyday people and where rangers of the good patrolled the wilds to counter these forces of evil.
Another scene that I thought was remarkable was the scene where giant hawks swept the Orcs and their Warg’s off the face of the mountain. One by one they were plucked up and dropped to the valley floor below. Once this was complete the hawks plucked Gandalf, the hobbit, and the dwarfs up in their talons and flew them all to safety.
Although there were so many great scenes in this movie, the scene with the Hobbit and character Gollum sparring each other with riddles. If the Hobbit won then Gollum was to see the Hobbit out of the cave. I do remember this situation from my reading of the book. This scene helped help me to realize just how demented Gollum was.
Google has collected four maps of Middle Earth and this featuring these on their Google Maps Mania page. Maps Mania tracks websites, mashups, and tools being influenced by Google Maps. One of these maps has already been mentioned in an earlier post.
I am making another post on maps. I believe that I have referenced this site once before. io9 features many interesting articles. “The Most Incredible Fantasy Maps You've Ever Seen” page features some of the most incredible fantasy maps from popular culture, games, books (including another map of middle earth.), and the cinema.
Some of the maps listed here are:
There are many other maps listed here.
This source was found on the Tolkien Gateway and features ten specific locations in Middle Earth with links to dozens of variations of these specific locations.
