Quite often we receive a post from a new member introducing themselves to the site, who then ask a series of LotR related questions. Frequently these questions are easy to answer, but the introduction thread is not the best place to answer them. Unfortunately, if there is more than one question, it is often difficult to then direct that new member to the relevent thread where their questions are answered.

To solve this, then, I have opened this thread where such questions can be pasted and answered. If any of you come across such questions and feel you know the answer, feel free to paste them here with your answer, but please remember to leave a link in the relevent post so that the new member can find their way here.

I shall begin with a series of questions posted today by Obsessed......



Before the beginning of time, Eru, the one god, created the Valar and the Maiar. These were powerful, deity-like spirits who helped create Ea, the earth. The Maiar tended to serve the more powerful Valar but some were very powerful in their own right. Sauron was one such Maiar spirit.



The wizards are what are known as Istari. Like Sauron, they too are Maiar spirits who have been sent to Middle Earth by the Valar to help the Free People of Middle Earth combat Sauron. They are under instruction to assist the Free People, however, and are not supposed to become tyrants in their own right as Saruman eventually did. Also, so that they can better understand the hearts of Men, they have been cloaked in the flesh of old men. There are five named wizards (Saruman, Gandalf, Radagast, Alatar, and Pallando), but there may have been more.



This has been discussed at great length in the various Tom Bombadil threads, and for a full answer you are best seeking your answer there. Basically, Tolkien did not explain what Tom was, beyond that he was an "enigma". Personally I believe he was another Maiar spirit, but others have different theories, including some who feel that Tom is actually Eru.

Goldberry is said to be the River Daughter. I think she is another Maiar spirit, in this case a water spirit.



Tolkien did not say so specifically, but I believe Old Man Willow was a Huorn. He certainly had the characteristics of one.



This one really is too long for here. Two thirds of the Silmarillion are concerned with this age.



Several reasons really.
1) Glorfindel was needed for the defence of Rivendell.
2) He may have felt he had already done his bit during the first two ages.
3) Legolas represented the Wood Elves, and as they greatly outnumbered the surviving Noldor Elves, it was felt they should be involved in the affairs of Middle Earth.
4) Legolas volunteered. Glorfindel did not.

Errrr. Should I post my questions here?

Thanks for the starter info. I have read LOTR, and The Hobbit mutiple times, but I am new to The Silmarillion and History of Middle Earth. I was wondering if there is an order that is best to read them. Or if I should just go in order?
Thanks!

If I may add to that, elfy, I would say read the Sil, then Unfinished Tales, and then go back and re-read LOTR. You will be stunned by what you missed the first time, and will enjoy the books on a far different level.

Thanks Elf, I am going to start The Silmarillion tomorrow.

what happened with Melkor and Sauron. Wasn't Melkor part of the Maiar and he tried to become the top dog or something?

Yeah, if you're religious, he's basically Satan. NOT a nice guy. But he could've been nice. Ah, so sad... *tear tear*

Narya was originally entrusted to Cirdan, Lord of the Grey Havens, but he gave it into Gandalf's safekeeping as he may well have recognised Gandalf as being more than just a wise old man and Cirdan knew that Gandalf may well have need of the Red Ring's power to' rekindle hearts to the valour of old in a world that grows chill.'

This bit about the rings is also in Appendix A of the LOTR. (where we learn that the 3 rings were originally bestowed with Gilgalad, Galadriel, and Cirdan. Gilgalad gave his to Elrond, and Cirdan did as Vee noted. ) I strongly recommend reading the appendices before the Sil. or UT if you haven't already. I read the LOTR before the Sil was even published, and they were all I could get. I consumed them. My impression from these threads is that people tend to skip them these days. But there is a lot about the Third Age that isn't anywhere else, or is not as well developed. There are also cultural aspects (especially, of course, the languages) that aren't told anywhere else.

I personally don't consider HOME part of the ME canon. Most of it is preliminary versions of other stories, and it frequently contradicts the more polished final versions. That isn't to say there is not some good reading there.

From the Silmarillion :

To make this easier to understand (Unlike my Name 2, Name 3 post) I have decided to list the order in which I saw the movies and read the books:
Watched FOTR
Read the Hobbit
Read the Two Towers
Read ROTK
Watched the Two Towers
Watched ROTK
Watched the Hobbit
Discovered this Site
Read FOTR
*Is Now Reading the Sil.
**Note that I only marked the first time I saw and read them.

So anyways, I just watched all three movies recently, and was astounded by how much more sense things made to me! I mean, I understood what Galadriel meant by the "light of E’rendil" being their "most beloved star". And what the scene with the 'light of the Eldar is fading' actually meant, and the Blade that was Broken, and a lot of other stuff. It's just so ... amazing. And now I read the Fellowship of the Ring (which I hadn't before because I thought the movie was close enough to work) and I'm surprised by it. I mean, some people make it out to be exactly like the movies, and others say that the movies are completely off target, and I was actually surprised at how close it was to what I thought it would be like...

Yeah ... so ... I haven't seen Virumor around lately, where'd he go?

If you are on a tight budget, I'd recommend you skip a few of them and make it a priority to buy Books 10 and 11, Morgoth's Ring and The War of the Jewels. Whereas the earlier books in the HOME series are taken from some of Tolkien's very early drafts of the Silmarillion, or LotR, these two are fairly recent material (post LotR). They contain quite a lot of very interesting material which Christopher did not put in the Silmarillion.

To put you out of your misery... Virumor is now Miruvor. There was a problem a while back and some members lost their identity and posts. We are still hoping to put that right.

HTH

So that's what happened to our dear old friend! Hey welcome back Miruvor!!!

Nah, Miruvor did something else entirely. He changed himself into a virus and invaded old Virumor's computer, then took everything of Virumor's into his own account....

Naw, Vee wouldn't do that to you. She is like a toothless fairy godmother, type whose bark tastes better than her bite: sort of a dark simi-sweet chocolate flavor.

"Grindy"? That reminds me of someone green and grouchy who tried to steal Christmas...now who was that again??

No, that was Oscar, moonlighting as Mister Gronch.

Hey Miruvor!!! You're BACK! I had wondered if you had lost your account again...

I think that is mainly down to their dexterity. As well as having more acute senses than Men, Elves are far more agile and dextrous. They also have that well known ability to die of grief, which I imagine takes a bit of doing.

I don't know where I got this but I have always assumed that the elves were especially agile and comfortable in their bodies due to their long life.

With 3000 years of practice I'd probably be able to leap lightly and nimbly in precarious situations. Look at Jackie Chan - he's only been practicing for 40 years!

DId every one else just assume that elves are born with the ability?

If Elves grew in bodily form more slowly, but in mind quicker, I wonder what raising and elf-child would be like. Are there any portrayals of elf-children anywhere in tolkien's work? Everything I've come across so far -- even in the sil when the elves were younger -- seems to be about adult elves. I realize that when you live to be thousands of years old or more that you won't have quite so many children running around: I wonder if elves have an age past which they cannot bear children, or if that's only for us who get old and die.

during times of peace, I see.... and that would of course be why they would wait to have kids till after Sauron was vanquished, if they hadn't done it already.

Hi ,

does anyone have any further clues on what happened to Alatar, and Pallando... did they become corrupted and practice black magic and start cults in the east?

did the Ungoliant eat herself or get slain? if she ate herself why?

are there any Tolkien stories or books specifically about Dragons(not the hobbit) where the dragons are the main characters