Questions tagged [tolkiens-legendarium]
For questions about any works in J.R.R. Tolkien's Legendarium - The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, and other works set in the same universe - or about that universe as a whole. Questions about movies, games, or other media set in the same universe should also use this tag. Questions about Tolkien himself or works by him which are not part of the Middle-earth universe should NOT use this tag use [j-r-r-tolkien] instead.
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Why is Tom Bombadil not included in the films?
Is there any reason, that we know of, that Tom Bombadil was left out of the films by Peter Jackson?
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Do the beacon lighters really live on top of the mountains?
Following this image I found online:
Do the beacon lighters really live on top of the mountains?
It seems really cold on top of some of these mountains and there are no villages or whatsoever.
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How did Gandalf get each of his various names?
Gandalf goes by many names in Tolkien's works. Gandalf himself says in The Two Towers:
"Many are my names in many countries. Mithrandir among the elves, Tharkûn to the dwarves; Olórin I was in my ...
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What did Frodo and Sam eat when they crossed Mordor on foot?
If Sauron had trouble getting enough food for a large army, then maybe Sam and Frodo had problems finding food in Mordor too.
Where did Sam and Frodo find food and water along the journey through ...
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How could Saruman lose the battle of Helm's Deep?
Saruman isn't stupid. In fact, he's called Saruman the Wise, so he must have known a thing or two about strategy. In the Battle of Helm's Deep/Battle of the Hornburg, according to this wiki, 10 000 ...
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Why was Boromir allowed to join the Fellowship of the Ring?
Why was Boromir allowed to join the Fellowship of the Ring after the Council of Elrond, where he succumbed to the Ring moments after first seeing it, and explicitly said that he wanted to use it ...
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Why don't Merry and Pippin seem taller than Frodo and Sam, even after drinking ent-draught?
I believe that in the 2nd movie, Merry and Pip meet Treebeard and drink ent-draught from Fangorn. They didn't appear any taller when we see them in ROTK though, very strangely they are the same ...
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How did Gandalf not lose his ring?
After the fight with the Balrog Gandalf says to his fellows "Naked I was sent back - for a brief time, until my task is done." (The two towers, ch. The white rider).
The three rings (and the one ring)...
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What happened to Gandalf the Grey's body when he was sent back as Gandalf the White?
So Gandalf and the Balrog of Moria have a little fisticuffs and they both died. Presumably dead bodies lie on the mountain side somewhere.
Gandalf "strayed out of thought and time", gets a can of ...
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Did Tolkien think about language evolution when the speakers are immortal?
Tolkien, being a linguist, designed his fictional languages rather carefully. Quenya and Sindarin were closely related, having both descended from the primordial speech of the elves. Tolkien, of ...
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When Frodo claimed "The One Ring" for himself, did he become a new Dark Lord?
From Letter 131:
But to achieve this he had been obliged to let a great part of his own inherent power (a frequent and very significant motive in myth and fairy-story) pass into the One Ring. While ...
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Could Gandalf not have made his own One Ring?
Sauron created The One Ring to gain control over the other ring-bearers, but it also amplified his power. Since it's a bad idea for anyone to claim The One Ring, wouldn't it be possible for Gandalf to ...
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What exactly happened during Gandalf’s fight with the Balrog?
When Gandalf fights with the Balrog they begin by falling through an abyss. After reaching an underground lake, they seem to fight their way on top of a tower.
Is there a description of the events ...
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What is the purpose of the "Good Morning" dialogue from The Hobbit?
In the novel The Hobbit, towards the start of the story Bilbo wishes Gandalf a good morning:
"Good Morning!" said Bilbo, and he meant it. The sun was shining, and the grass was very green. ...
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Why did Sauron react the way he did when Frodo put the Ring on inside Mount Doom?
As I have mentioned before, I am only reading the LotR books for the first time right now, and I am only halfway through the second book at the moment, so my knowledge of the third book is based ...
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Why was the Balrog unconcerned with the fate of Middle Earth?
In an answer to the recent question Why was Gandalf Afraid of the Balrog of Morgoth?, it was stated that
A Balrog is a terror of the First Age. And something that was a threat in the First Age would ...
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How did Gandalf get his staff back after being captured by Saruman in Orthanc?
In the books, it doesn't explicitly describe Gandalf's staff being taken or broken during his imprisonment in/on Orthanc, but in the film, Saruman is shown with Gandalf's staff, and Gandalf is shown ...
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Why aren't the Valar considered gods?
As an avid Tolkien fan and an increasingly active member of this site, I cannot count the number of times I've seen people refer to the Valar or Maiar as gods, only to be corrected by other members (...
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Can the Elves do magic?
It's mentioned many times throughout Tolkien's work that the Elves (High Elves mostly) are in some way more powerful than Men. We hear many times, for example, that Rivendell and Lórien are mostly ...
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When does Gandalf learn the nature of Durin’s Bane?
Durin's Bane, the Balrog of Moria, was unearthed at some time in the Third Age.
Shortly afterwards, the city was abandoned, and no one with any sense came that way again for a long time.
As stated ...
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Lord of the Rings written to support constructed languages or the other way round?
I've heard the claim that Tolkien wrote, or at least started writing, The Lord of the Rings to support (with a history providing cultural depth) the artificial languages he was creating at the time.
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Why did Caradhras not want the Fellowship to pass?
I haven't read the books in a long while, but when I was re-watching the movies recently, I remembered that even though it is depicted as Saruman causing the avalanche/storm on Caradhras, the book ...
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Did Frodo and Gimli ever discuss the adventures of Bilbo and Glóin with each other?
Bilbo and Glóin journey to the Lonely Mountain together in The Hobbit, and share in many adventures including battling a dragon.
Considering that Bilbo recounted his adventures to Frodo, and ...
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What age group did Tolkien write The Hobbit for?
Tolkien wrote The Hobbit as a story for children. However, I've never seen a specific age mentioned. Did Tolkien intend the story for young children or for teens?
What reading level should a child ...
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Can the Valar or Maiar die?
In The Lord of the Rings and the The Silmarillion some Maiar (Sauron, several Balrogs, Saruman) are defeated. But did these Maiar actually die and if they did, do they go to Halls of Mandos or what ...
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Why was Frodo "wise" and Samwise a "half-wit"?
According to the sources I’ve found (for example this one), “Frodo” comes from the Old English “fród”, meaning wise. (Apparently in “Hobbit Language” Frodo’s name is “Maura”, but I don’t know if this ...
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Why do Sauron's servants sometimes use the name "Sauron"?
Why do some of the Dark Lord's servants refer to him as "Sauron", such as his emissar, The Mouth of Sauron, and some of his agents sent to the dwarves:
"'As a small token only of your friendship ...
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How was Smaug's treasure actually divided?
If I recall correctly:
The agreement was that each dwarf would receive 1/14 of the treasure.
Bilbo takes the Arkenstone, and though unspoken, is willing to give up his share for it.
Bard demanded 1/...
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Did the Nazgûl retain their Rings of Power?
In The Fellowship of the Rings, Frodo sees the true appearance of the Nazgûl:
He was able to see beneath their black wrappings. There were five tall figures: two standing on the lip of the dell, ...
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Is Goldberry a regular mortal woman?
Having read The Lord of the Rings a number of times I was always curious about the significance of Goldberry. I have not managed to find any reference to her origins within the other Middle-earth ...
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Why was Sméagol affected by the ring so fast, while both Frodo and Sam could handle it without immediately trying to choke each other?
I was reading this question and I noticed Daniel Roseman's comment:
Point of clarification: Smeagol wasn't "hobbit-like", he was actually a hobbit. "I guess he was of hobbit-kind" ...
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What special powers did the Dwarf rings give their users? [duplicate]
I think it's fairly well explained what powers were given to the One Ring, Elves, and Humans, but the dwarf rings are little explained in the series. Why were these rings important, or what kinds of ...
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Did Shadowfax go to Valinor?
I seem to recall that Shadowfax was taken with Gandalf to Valinor, but I have not been able to find a clear reference in the Lord of the Rings. Is there any writing by Tolkien adressing this question?
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Do dwarf women have beards?
In light of Amazon's recent depiction of a non-bearded dwarf woman, and some of the recent controversy around this, the question is what exactly did Tolkien say about bearded dwarf women?
Popular ...
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What unit system does Middle-earth use?
I was just reading The Fellowship of the Ring, chapter 'The Ring Goes South' when I noticed this:
"...But your road and our road lie together for many hundreds of miles." - Aragorn
I don't ...
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Why does Gollum address himself as "we"?
When talking to himself or talking to other people, Gollum likes to address himself as "we," e.g.: "we likes you".
There is only one Gollum, so why does Gollum talk as if there are many Gollums? And ...
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What monetary system did Hobbits use in the Shire?
In Book I, Chapter 3 of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien wrote, "Just why Mr. Frodo was selling his beautiful hole was even more debatable than the price."
After appreciating this example of (...
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How were hobbits created?
How were hobbits created? I can't find any reference in The Silmarillion about this. Are they just men who have shrunken over generations or what?
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Was it reckless to allow Wormtongue to go free?
When Grima Wormtongue is evicted from Theoden's court in The Two Towers he is given free leave to go wherever he wants. Gandalf, Theoden and the whole company are in no doubt that he is a plant of ...
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How is it that Legolas always has a quiver full of arrows?
In the movie version of The Lord of the Rings, Legolas is seen many times shooting arrow after arrow, yet he never seems to run out.
For example, after the long battle at the end of The Fellowship of ...
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Is the One Ring sentient?
This question about the Ring's betrayal of Isildur brought up many different interpretations of the nature of the Ruling Ring and the extent of its ability to influence or even directly control events....
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Do we know anything about Aragorn's first time in Moria?
When the Company is forced to abandon their attempt to cross the Misty Mountains via the Redhorn Gate (the pass of Caradhras), Gandalf proposes they go "neither over the mountains, nor round them,...
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Why did Aragorn let Frodo keep the One Ring after Weathertop?
After Frodo is stabbed with a Morgul-blade on Weathertop, a shard of the blade remains inside the wound, slowly turning him into a wraith.
Aragorn knows that Frodo as a wraith would be enslaved under ...
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Do Balrogs Have Wings?
Apparently there is controversy over whether a Balrog has wings, either literal or figurative.
Do Balrogs have working, usable wings?
NOTE: I prefer an answer based on LOTR canon, meaning the books or ...
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What is the relationship between Beleriand in the Silmarillion and Middle-earth in Lord of the Rings?
I've read both The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings. Both take place in the 'west' of Arda, and Beleriand (where most of The Silmarillion takes place) is destroyed. So where is the Middle-earth ...
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Is Lembas (Elven bread) magical?
I always had the feeling that Lembas bread was magical and that's what helped it be so fulfilling; however I've recently started to think that it was most probably just highly nutritious, and I had ...
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Why did Thorongil warn Ecthelion against the White Wizard?
I'm rereading The Lord of the Rings. Appendix A, "Annals of the Kings and Rulers", tells us that Aragorn son of Arathorn spent part of his youth in Minas Tirith under the assumed name "Thorongil" ...
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Why did Sauron die when the Ring was destroyed in Mount Doom?
When Isildur cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand, he returned again. But when Frodo went to Mount Doom and accidentally Gollum cast the Ring along with himself, Sauron was defeated and never came back ...
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How tall was the Balrog of Moria?
I've read the relevant passages in the books but can't get a handle on just how tall Balrogs are meant to be. Specifically, how tall is the Balrog that Gandalf faces in Moria? The closest grasp I ...
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What happened to Radagast The Brown?
The Maia Radagast The Brown disappeared from Arda after the first book The Fellowship of the Ring. What happened to him?
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