Middle-earth Journeys

TOR.n calls our attention to this article from Forbes:

http://www.forbes.com/pictures/mlg45jffl/1-smaug/

which names Smaug at the top of the list of the top 15 richest characters in fiction. Leave it to Forbes!

TOR.n has a nice little article on the line from LOTR that we have sometimes wondered about: how Galadriel threw down the walls of Dol Guldur--

http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2013/04 ... cil-fails/

Good use of the entire legendarium!

Merry, thanks so much for posting the link to this article. I have always imagined that Galadriel took down Dol Guldur in the same way that Luthien destroyed Sauron's stronghold to liberate Beren and the other captives. Although, it is a delicious image to picture Galadriel assaulting the walls of Dol Guldur with a jackhammer!

Or like Samantha on 'Bewitched'!

You ladies crack me up. Thanks for that article Merry I'm going to look at it tonight.

Or I Dream of Jeanie?

I thought this little article at TOR.n was very interesting:

http://www.theonering.net/torwp/2013/05 ... he-hobbit/

It's about translating proper nouns from Tolkien into other languages, trying to preserve both the sound and the meaning.

Merci Merry pour cet article intéressant; je reviens de la boutique FNAC où j'ai découvert un livre de David Day( le connaissez-vous?) c'est un album parlant de l'anneau dans toutes les légendes connues: carolingiennes, arthuriennes, germaniques, celtes, la mythologie scandinave( Volsunga saga) l'opéra de Wagner( le Nibelungen/ Siegried) ,illustré par Alan Lee, intitulé ''L'anneau de Tolkien''; il est assez onéreux: 41euros. C'est un très beau recueil

I have that book, Michka, although I'm sure I bought it from a 'bargain' table--I wouldn't have paid that much for it! I think the illustrations are the best part. If memory serves, Tolkien didn't think that his ring was related in any way to Wagner's ring, except that they were both round and gold! I guess we could disagree with him about that, but I tend to take him at this word.

Je vous remercie d'avoir donné votre avis,et je suis d'accord , fidèle à Tolkien, à l'esprit de création pure, inspirée sans doute par d'anciens textes ou récits contés depuis des centaines d'années, voire des milliers!

I wasn't sure where to put this however I wanted to share it with you. I've been following this blog, Sweating to Mordor for awhile now and wanted to show you this blog post entitled The Origins of Tolkiens Gaffer Gamgee. It really is amazing how the names and place names origins change no matter what you read about them. I think I like the original story of how the gaffer got his name. Though the second story of cotton wool made me chuckle.

Thanks, Philipa. I knew this about the cotton wool. But what caught my eye this time was that JRRT toyed with naming Sam 'Goodchild', but didn't, since CT was already attached to 'Sam Gamgee'. I noticed last night as I was studying the Gamgee family tree in the Appendices that Sam's mother's maiden name was 'Goodchild'. So it appears he got it in there anyway!

lol and so he did. All these twists and turns with his story line. I'm surprised anyone could keep them straight. I'd have to give up all my hobbies and interactions with the immediate family to track them all.