Where did the Entish women go? That one has really bothered me for a long time. Why did they leave?
We never learn this. It's one of the great mysteries of Middle Earth.
Or, assuming that he was aware but not aware that Bilbo's ring was the big one, why wasn't he in the least bit curious as to what sort of magic ring he had found? How did he not connect the dots since clearly he had been alive during the last big battle, which was only 3,000 years ago.
(to be continued!) In the books, it's made very clear that Gandalf had suspicions about Bilbo's ring from the start. This is played out in detail in the first book during the council hosted by Elrond after Frodo arrives in Rivendale. Each of the attendees have some bit of history or information that creates the big picture. This was glossed over quite a bit in the movie.
Lots of the animals in The Hobbit talked and stuff. What happened in the eighty years or so since Bilbo went off on his adventure to make all the animals stop talking? I'm aware that The Hobbit was originally meant more for children, but still. If the animals talked before, and were aware of what was going on in their world, why were the eagles the only ones to show up?
Hmmm... you mean like the dragons and what else? I'm thinking that horses, etc never talked in The Hobbit (certainly not in the book). But I think that there are two things going on here: some animals are magical -- those were GIANT eagles capable of carrying a man; and some folks (like Radagast the Brown, a wizard that I don't recall being in the first movie but he might have been) can communicate with animals. If you're referring to one of the Hobbit movies, well, they're not "canon" as the hardcore fans like to say ;-)
Where are the dwarves?
Which dwarves specifically are you looking for? In the LotR books, two show up for the council (see above): Gloin and (his son?) Gimli. The dwarves who ventured into the Misty Mountains (? the moutain where Gandalf falls with the balrog) with Balin were killed off by the orcs and/or the balrog. The rest of the dwarves (as so many of the different peoples of middle-earth are prone to do) keep to themselves for the most part.
Okay, so the Elves are off to the Undying Lands, leaving the problems of Middle Earth to the men. Okay, fine. But.. this is a big one. If Sauron is going to destroy the world, and his power extends across the earth, which they mention many, many times... then how exactly will the Elves be safe somewhere else? Wouldn't it just be a matter of time until the battle was on their front doorstep, too?
I'm pretty sure that the answer is "no", that the Undying Lands are off limits to Sauron (who was exiled from the Undying Lands perhaps) and that the answer is probably in the Silmarillion.
If Elrond was there the day that Isildur chose not to cast the ring into the fires of Mt. Doom, why the bloody hell didn't he just take the ring and do it himself, killing Isildur if necessary? (I don't remember if this happened in the books, so if it was a theatrical flourish, disregard the question.) If it is true, though.. how can you try to retain that smug superiority after not making that choice? Isn't it also kind of your fault that mankind is facing this big shebang now?
Good question. One explanation might be that Men and Elves at those time were pretty enstranged. In fact, until right before the Ring gets destroy, Men and Elves don't really do much of anything together for the most part. So I suppose that "ethically" or what have you, Elrond didn't find it acceptable to forcibly take the Ring from Isildur. Also, I would add that Elrond's obnoxious behavior/attitude in the movies differs a lot from the impression I got of him when reading the books. A lot of stuff like that (Faramir being tempted by the Ring, Elrond so adamatly opposed to Aragorn and Arwen's relationship and Aragorn's own hesitation regarding his destiny) were all mangled in the movie to create "drama" ;-)
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Date: 2004-11-21 07:14 pm (UTC)We never learn this. It's one of the great mysteries of Middle Earth.
Or, assuming that he was aware but not aware that Bilbo's ring was the big one, why wasn't he in the least bit curious as to what sort of magic ring he had found? How did he not connect the dots since clearly he had been alive during the last big battle, which was only 3,000 years ago.
(to be continued!)
In the books, it's made very clear that Gandalf had suspicions about Bilbo's ring from the start. This is played out in detail in the first book during the council hosted by Elrond after Frodo arrives in Rivendale. Each of the attendees have some bit of history or information that creates the big picture. This was glossed over quite a bit in the movie.
Lots of the animals in The Hobbit talked and stuff. What happened in the eighty years or so since Bilbo went off on his adventure to make all the animals stop talking? I'm aware that The Hobbit was originally meant more for children, but still. If the animals talked before, and were aware of what was going on in their world, why were the eagles the only ones to show up?
Hmmm... you mean like the dragons and what else? I'm thinking that horses, etc never talked in The Hobbit (certainly not in the book). But I think that there are two things going on here: some animals are magical -- those were GIANT eagles capable of carrying a man; and some folks (like Radagast the Brown, a wizard that I don't recall being in the first movie but he might have been) can communicate with animals. If you're referring to one of the Hobbit movies, well, they're not "canon" as the hardcore fans like to say ;-)
Where are the dwarves?
Which dwarves specifically are you looking for? In the LotR books, two show up for the council (see above): Gloin and (his son?) Gimli. The dwarves who ventured into the Misty Mountains (? the moutain where Gandalf falls with the balrog) with Balin were killed off by the orcs and/or the balrog. The rest of the dwarves (as so many of the different peoples of middle-earth are prone to do) keep to themselves for the most part.
Okay, so the Elves are off to the Undying Lands, leaving the problems of Middle Earth to the men. Okay, fine. But.. this is a big one. If Sauron is going to destroy the world, and his power extends across the earth, which they mention many, many times... then how exactly will the Elves be safe somewhere else? Wouldn't it just be a matter of time until the battle was on their front doorstep, too?
I'm pretty sure that the answer is "no", that the Undying Lands are off limits to Sauron (who was exiled from the Undying Lands perhaps) and that the answer is probably in the Silmarillion.
If Elrond was there the day that Isildur chose not to cast the ring into the fires of Mt. Doom, why the bloody hell didn't he just take the ring and do it himself, killing Isildur if necessary? (I don't remember if this happened in the books, so if it was a theatrical flourish, disregard the question.) If it is true, though.. how can you try to retain that smug superiority after not making that choice? Isn't it also kind of your fault that mankind is facing this big shebang now?
Good question. One explanation might be that Men and Elves at those time were pretty enstranged. In fact, until right before the Ring gets destroy, Men and Elves don't really do much of anything together for the most part. So I suppose that "ethically" or what have you, Elrond didn't find it acceptable to forcibly take the Ring from Isildur. Also, I would add that Elrond's obnoxious behavior/attitude in the movies differs a lot from the impression I got of him when reading the books. A lot of stuff like that (Faramir being tempted by the Ring, Elrond so adamatly opposed to Aragorn and Arwen's relationship and Aragorn's own hesitation regarding his destiny) were all mangled in the movie to create "drama" ;-)