127-540: Trolls are fictional characters in J. R. R. Tolkien 's Middle-earth , and feature in films and games adapted from his novels. They are portrayed as monstrously large humanoids of great strength and poor intellect. In The Hobbit , like the dwarf Alviss of Norse mythology , they must be below ground before dawn or turn to stone, whereas in The Lord of the Rings they are able to face daylight. Commentators have noted
254-465: A Catholic , realised he had created a dilemma for himself , as if these beings were sentient and had a sense of right and wrong, then they must have souls and could not have been created wholly evil. Dragons (or "worms") appear in several varieties, distinguished by whether they have wings and whether they breathe fire (cold-drakes versus fire-drakes). The first of the fire-drakes ( Urulóki in Quenya)
381-557: A balrog in Moria – made that journey "a descent into hell ". Attebery writes that Trolls thus moved from being grim Norse ogres to more sympathetic modern humanoids. In her view, Tolkien's trolls are based on the ogre type, but with two "incarnations": ancient trolls, "creatures of dull and lumpish nature" in Tolkien's words, unable to speak; and the malicious giants of strength and courage bred by Sauron with "enough intelligence to present
508-762: A tightrope unaided. Their eyesight is keen. Elves are immortal, unless killed in battle. They are re-embodied in Valinor if killed. Men were "the Secondborn" of the Children of Ilúvatar: they awoke in Middle-earth much later than the Elves. Men (and Hobbits) were the last humanoid race to appear in Middle-earth: Dwarves, Ents and Orcs also preceded them. The capitalized term "Man" (plural "Men")
635-576: A Chilly Night". He comments that Tolkien sings in a major key , like Cecil Sharp 's "southern English melodies" for the song. Bratman finds this "appropriate", noting Tolkien's comment that the Shire "is in fact more or less a Warwickshire village" of around 1897. In short, Bratman concludes, Tolkien intended readers to imagine Hobbits as "English country folk singing English folk songs ." The poem appears also in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil ; in
762-699: A bow is the main weapon of Legolas, the Elf-member of the Fellowship of the Ring . When the Fellowship meet Galadriel , she gives Legolas a new bow. He later uses it to shoot all the way across the great river Anduin and bring down an airborne Nazgûl. The Lord of the Rings film trilogy assigns a bow to Aragorn and crossbows to the Uruk-hai. However, in Tolkien's writings Aragorn is armed only with
889-793: A catastrophic transition from a flat to a spherical world, known as the Akallabeth, in which Aman became inaccessible to mortal Men. Tolkien described the region in which the Hobbits lived as "the North-West of the Old World, east of the Sea", and the north-west of the Old World is essentially Europe , especially Britain . However, as he noted in private letters, the geographies do not match, and he did not consciously make them match when he
1016-424: A little glorified by enchantment of distance in time. ...if it were 'history', it would be difficult to fit the lands and events (or 'cultures') into such evidence as we possess, archaeological or geological, concerning the nearer or remoter part of what is now called Europe; though the Shire , for instance, is expressly stated to have been in this region...I hope the, evidently long but undefined gap in time between
1143-574: A long white horse-tail panache that trailed in the wind. The Crown of Gondor was a jewelled battle-helmet; Aragorn received it at his coronation. Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee use Orc-helmets as part of their disguise in Mordor. In the First Age, Dwarves made dragon-helms, which were said to protect against Dragons . The most famous of these was the Dragon-helm of Dor-lómin . The Second Age
1270-631: A moral dilemma , so he made the trolls in The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings darker and more bestial. They were supposedly bred by the Dark Lords Melkor and Sauron for their own evil purposes in mockery of ents, helping to express Tolkien's combination of "fairy tale with epic, ... bonded with the Christian mythos". "Mutton yesterday, mutton today, and blimey, if it don't look like mutton again tomorrer", said one of
1397-550: A pale light. This was the sword with which Fingolfin wounded Morgoth seven times, causing the first dark lord to limp forever afterward. In Tolkien's early writings, Ringil was the name of one of the two pillars supporting the Two Lamps of primeval Middle-earth. Sting is a large Elvish dagger in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings . It functioned well as a sword for the hobbits Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. Bilbo named
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#17327973986431524-492: A power, which in our world (probably) connotes the possession of a 'soul'." Fawcett distinguishes the approach of Tolkien's narrator, who treats trolls as "wholly monstrous", from his "translator's notes" which take "a slightly more balanced view". She states that Tolkien adopts a similar multiplicity of viewpoints on the in-fiction creation of trolls: Frodo tells Sam that the Shadow cannot create "real new things of its own", but all
1651-709: A real danger". The scholar of English Edward Risden agrees that Tolkien's later trolls appear far more dangerous than those of The Hobbit , losing, too, "the [moral] capacity to relent"; he comments that in Norse mythology, trolls are "normally female and strongly associated with magic", while in the Norse sagas the trolls were physically strong and superhuman in battle. Christina Fawcett, a scholar of English, writes that Tolkien synthesises materials from different eras, so his writing and his creatures can take on different qualities, from playful to monstrous; his hill-trolls "while still threatening, are primarily comic and slow-witted". On
1778-477: A rival to Sauron for absolute power in Middle-earth. Other races involved in the struggle against evil were Dwarves , Ents and most famously Hobbits . The early stages of the conflict are chronicled in The Silmarillion , while the final stages of the struggle to defeat Sauron are told in The Hobbit and in The Lord of the Rings . Conflict over the possession and control of precious or magical objects
1905-462: A scholar of English, states that the stone trolls in The Hobbit "signify the uncouth ". 'My lad,' said Troll, 'this bone I stole. But what be bones that lie in a hole? Thy nuncle was dead as a lump o' lead, Afore I found his shinbone. Tinbone! Skinbone! He can spare a share for a poor old troll, For he don't need his shinbone.' —from "The Stone Troll" in The Fellowship of
2032-520: A single language, unlike the varied tongues of Tolkien's orcs. Critics including Fawcett and Hartley note that by making all the beasts in The Hobbit talk, Tolkien, a devout Roman Catholic , had created a serious problem for himself: if trolls and other monsters were supposed to be sentient, they would in Christian terms have souls and be redeemable rather than wholly evil . Tolkien acknowledged this keenly-felt question: "Of course ... when you make Trolls speak [Tolkien's emphasis] you are giving them
2159-720: A troll-hoard, Thorin Oakenshield carries the sword through the Misty Mountains and Mirkwood before being taken prisoner by the Elves ; it was laid on his tomb after his death in the Battle of Five Armies. It is the mate of Glamdring. Ringil (Sindarin: Cold-Star / Cold-Spark ) is a sword wielded by Fingolfin in The Silmarillion and The Lays of Beleriand . It bit with chilling cold, and glittered like ice with
2286-668: Is 23 inches (580 mm) long (24 while in scabbard ) and 3 inches (76 mm) wide at the hilt. Its scabbard is made of brown leather and reinforced with metal. Belthronding (Sindarin/Ilkorin: Intractable Bow ) is the bow wielded by Beleg Cúthalion (Strongbow) in The Silmarillion and The Lays of Beleriand . The black arrow was used in Esgaroth by Bard the Bowman; he mentions that it has been used many times, always successfully, and always recovered. An heirloom from many generations of Bard's family, that he believed had been made in
2413-577: Is a recurring theme in the stories. The First Age is dominated by the doomed quest of the elf Fëanor and most of his Noldorin clan to recover three precious jewels called the Silmarils that Morgoth stole from them (hence the title The Silmarillion ). The Second and Third Age are dominated by the forging of the Rings of Power , and the fate of the One Ring forged by Sauron, which gives its wearer
2540-533: Is called Khuzdul , and was kept largely as a secret language for their own use. Like Hobbits, Dwarves live exclusively in Middle-earth. They generally reside under mountains, where they are specialists in mining and metalwork. Tolkien identified Hobbits as an offshoot of the race of Men. Another name for Hobbit is 'Halfling', as they were generally only half the size of Men. In their lifestyle and habits they closely resemble Men, and in particular Englishmen, except for their preference for living in holes underground. By
2667-526: Is performed by William Kircher , and William is performed by Peter Hambleton . In The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies , trolls appear in Azog's army as shock troops. Some of the trolls have catapults mounted on their backs while others have bladed shields and other strange weaponry, such as one troll who had flails sutured to its limbs. Behind the scenes, Peter Jackson's design team added trolls to
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#17327973986432794-579: Is taken by his lieutenant Sauron , a Maia . The Valar withdrew from direct involvement in the affairs of Middle-earth after the defeat of Morgoth, but in later years they sent the wizards or Istari to help in the struggle against Sauron. The most important wizards were Gandalf the Grey and Saruman the White . Gandalf remained true to his mission and proved crucial in the fight against Sauron. Saruman, however, became corrupted and sought to establish himself as
2921-584: Is the setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien 's fantasy. The term is equivalent to the Miðgarðr of Norse mythology and Middangeard in Old English works, including Beowulf . Middle-earth is the oecumene (i.e. the human-inhabited world, or the central continent of Earth ) in Tolkien's imagined mythological past . Tolkien's most widely read works, The Hobbit and The Lord of
3048-476: Is the known world, "recalling the Norse Midgard and the equivalent words in early English", noting that Tolkien made it clear that this was " our world ... in a purely imaginary ... period of antiquity". Tolkien explained in a letter to his publisher that it "is just a use of Middle English middle-erde (or erthe ), altered from Old English Middangeard : the name for the inhabited lands of men 'between
3175-530: Is the sword forged by Eöl the Dark Elf, similar to Anglachel which was given to Thingol of Doriath in The Silmarillion . It was the mate of Anglachel, was made of the same meteoritic iron, and had the same physical properties and capabilities as Anglachel, but there is no evidence of sentience in Anguirel. Anguirel was kept by Eöl until it was stolen by his son, Maeglin. Aranrúth (Sindarin: King's Ire )
3302-613: Is the sword that belonged to Théoden . Narsil ( Quenya : roughly, Red and White Flame ) is a sword in The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion , influenced by the legendary Arthurian sword Excalibur and by Sigurd 's sword Gram, as described in the Old Norse Völsunga saga . The sword was forged during the First Age by the Dwarf Telchar of Nogrod, a famous weaponsmith and artificer who also made
3429-592: Is the sword wielded by King Thingol of Doriath in The Silmarillion . Later the sword of the Kings of Númenor. Glamdring (Sindarin: Foe-hammer ) is a sword in The Hobbit , The Lord of the Rings and Unfinished Tales forged in the First Age by the High Elves of the hidden city of Gondolin. It belonged first to Turgon , the King of Gondolin. Thousands of years later, in T.A. 2941, Gandalf discovered it among
3556-543: Is used as a gender-neutral racial description, to distinguish humans from the other human-like races of Middle-earth. In appearance they are much like Elves, but on average less beautiful. Unlike Elves, Men are mortal, ageing and dying quickly, usually living 40–80 years. However the Númenóreans could live several centuries, and their descendants the Dúnedain also tended to live longer than regular humans. This tendency
3683-748: The Elder Edda and Gram in the Völsunga saga . The items illustrate the passage of time and the transfer of power or fate to their future bearers. Anglachel ( Sindarin : Iron of the Flaming Star ) was a sword forged of meteoritic iron by Eöl the Dark Elf , given to Thingol King of Doriath as a fee for leave to dwell in Nan Elmoth. It could cleave all earth-delved iron. Later wielded by Beleg Strongbow and ultimately Túrin ; Anglachel
3810-509: The Elder Edda of Norse mythology , where in the Alvíssmál , the god Thor keeps the dwarf Alviss (not a troll) talking until dawn, and sees him turn to stone. Tom Shippey , a Tolkien scholar, writes that The Hobbit 's audience in 1937 were familiar with trolls from fairy tale collections such as those of Grimm , and Asbjørnsen and Moe 's Norwegian Folktales ; Tolkien's use of monsters of different kinds – orcs, trolls, and
3937-509: The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia , states the precise origin of trolls "perhaps from giant apes but possibly from Men, Orcs, or 'Spirits'" is not given by Tolkien, but like Orcs, trolls were bred by Melkor and Sauron for their own evil purposes. The Inklings scholar Charles A. Huttar writes that the trolls' presence, alongside orcs and the Balrog , means that "Moria not only houses inert obstacles but active monsters". Burns notes that with
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4064-665: The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, the Red Arrow is omitted and its role is conflated with the Beacons of Gondor . Hobbits "shot well with the bow". The Shire sent archers to the battles of the Fall of Arnor. Body armour in Tolkien's fiction is mainly in the form of mail or scale shirts, in keeping with Ancient and Early Medieval periods of history. In contrast, the Lord of
4191-742: The Ainur entered Arda, following the creation events in the Ainulindalë and long ages of labour throughout Eä , the fictional universe . Time from that point was measured using Valian Years , though the subsequent history of Arda was divided into three time periods using different years, known as the Years of the Lamps , the Years of the Trees and the Years of the Sun . A separate, overlapping chronology divides
4318-1230: The Ancient and Early Medieval periods of history. His depiction of weapons and armour particularly reflect Northern European culture as seen in Beowulf and the Norse sagas . Tolkien established this relationship in The Fall of Gondolin , the first story in his legendarium to be written. In this story, the Elves of Gondolin use the mail armour , swords , shields , spears , axes and bows of Northern European warfare. In Tolkien's writings, such Medieval weapons and armour are used by his fictional races , including Elves , Dwarves , Men , Hobbits , and Orcs . As in his sources, Tolkien's characters often gave names to their weapons , sometimes with runic inscriptions to show they are magical and have their own history and power. Tolkien devised several constructed languages with terms for types of weapons. Swords symbolized physical prowess in battle for Tolkien, following Northern European culture. Tolkien writes that Elves and Dwarves produced
4445-703: The Battle of the Pelennor Fields , and Aragorn fights an armoured troll in the Battle of the Morannon , a departure from the book; Jackson had at one stage intended Aragorn to fight the Dark Lord Sauron in person, but "wisely" reduced this to combat with a troll. In The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey the three stone trolls appear as in Tolkien's book. The trolls are portrayed through voice and motion capture with Bert performed by Mark Hadlow , Tom
4572-710: The Black Speech (Burzum) for his slaves (such as Orcs ) to speak. In the Third Age , five of the Maiar were embodied and sent to Middle-earth to help the free peoples to overthrow Sauron. These are the Istari or Wizards , including Gandalf , Saruman , and Radagast . The Elves are known as "the Firstborn" of Ilúvatar: intelligent beings created by Ilúvatar alone, with many different clans . Originally Elves all spoke
4699-605: The First Age of Middle-earth . They were strong and vicious but stupid; as in The Hobbit , they turned to stone in sunlight. During the wars of Beleriand , Gothmog (the Lord of Balrogs ) had a bodyguard of trolls. During the Nírnaeth Arnoediad , the Battle of Unnumbered Tears, in which Morgoth defeated the united armies of Elves, Men, and Dwarves, the great warrior Húrin , a Man , faced Gothmog's trolls to protect
4826-765: The First Age . Other notable axe-bearers were Tuor (the wielder of the axe Dramborleg), the Men of the White Mountains who marched to the defence of Minas Tirith in The Lord of the Rings movie (replacing the axe-wielding men of Lossarnach from the book), and a contingent of Easterlings among the besiegers of Minas Tirith. Bows of different sizes and construction are featured in Tolkien's works. Elves of Lothlórien , Men, and Uruk-hai used longbows , while Elves of Mirkwood and Orcs of Mordor used smaller ones. These bows are said to be made of wood, horn and even steel. The most famous bowman in Tolkien's stories of
4953-434: The Riddermark in The Lord of the Rings . The name is found in the Old English poem Beowulf , where the hero uses the word as an epithet for the sword Hrunting, lent to him by Hrothgar 's thane Unferth for the fight with Grendel's mother . Hadhafang is the sword invented for Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, where it was wielded by Arwen , although she is never actually seen using it in combat, as
5080-421: The Ainur entered Eä, and the greatest of these were called the Valar . Melkor , the chief agent of evil in Eä, and later called Morgoth , was initially one of the Valar. With the Valar came lesser spirits of the Ainur, called the Maiar . Melian, the wife of the Elven King Thingol in the First Age , was a Maia. There were also evil Maiar, including the Balrogs and the second Dark Lord, Sauron . Sauron devised
5207-399: The Black Speech. That Sauron bred them none doubted, though from what stock was not known... Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race, strong, agile, fierce and cunning, but harder than stone. Unlike the older race of the Twilight they could endure the Sun, so long as the will of Sauron held sway over them. They spoke little, and the only tongue that they knew
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5334-403: The Crebain, evil crows who become spies for Saruman , and the Ravens of Erebor , who brought news to the Dwarves. The horse-line of the Mearas of Rohan, especially Gandalf's mount, Shadowfax, also appear to be intelligent and understand human speech. The bear-man Beorn had a number of animal friends about his house. The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings , both set in Middle-earth, have been
5461-433: The Fall of Barad-dûr and our Days is sufficient for 'literary credibility', even for readers acquainted with what is known as 'pre-history'. I have, I suppose, constructed an imaginary time, but kept my feet on my own mother-earth for place. I prefer that to the contemporary mode of seeking remote globes in 'space'. In another letter, Tolkien made correspondences in latitude between Europe and Middle-earth: The action of
5588-401: The First Age of Middle-earth is the Elf Beleg ; his bow was named Belthronding , and his arrow Dailir . Infamously Curufin, a lord of the Noldor , attempts to shoot the Elf-princess Lúthien with the bow of his brother Celegorm . His first arrow is intercepted by Huan ; Beren attempts to intercept the second shot, and is wounded. In The Lord of the Rings , set in the late Third Age ,
5715-451: The Ring As Aragorn and the four hobbit companions made their way towards Rivendell through the Trollshaws, they came upon the three trolls that Bilbo and the dwarves had encountered many years earlier, and had seen turned to stone at daybreak. Sam Gamgee recited a comic poem , "The Stone Troll", on the supposed dangers of kicking a troll, who has a "seat" which is "harder than stone", to cheer everyone up. Olog-hai they were called in
5842-418: The Ring , Bilbo Baggins recounts his altercation with the three stone-trolls and later on, the four hobbits and Aragorn are shown resting in the shelter of the petrified trolls. The location used was Piopio, Waitomo District , in New Zealand. In the mines of Moria, a single cave troll, animated in software, is among the attackers and is depicted with two toes. In The Return of the King , trolls fight in
5969-405: The Rings , are set entirely in Middle-earth. "Middle-earth" has also become a short-hand term for Tolkien's legendarium , his large body of fantasy writings, and for the entirety of his fictional world. Middle-earth is the main continent of Earth (Arda) in an imaginary period of the past, ending with Tolkien's Third Age , about 6,000 years ago. Tolkien's tales of Middle-earth mostly focus on
6096-460: The Rings and The Hobbit film adaptations, Sting is depicted as leaf-shaped, with gentle curving edges. Engraved on the blade and cross-guard are letters in Sindarin that read phonetically, Maegnas aen estar nin dagnir in yngyl im . Translated into English, they read, " Maegnas is my name, I am the spider's bane." According to the Appendix of The Silmarillion , the element maeg in Sindarin means "sharp" or "piercing". The film version of Sting
6223-446: The Rings film trilogy features later medieval plate armour suits. These kinds of plate armour are not found in Tolkien's writings, but plate does appear in the form of individual pieces such as vambraces (forearm guards) or greaves (leg and shin guards). As with other items of war, Elves and Dwarves produced the best armour. The mail shirt forged by Dwarves from the fictional metal mithril appears in The Hobbit and The Lord of
6350-411: The Rings film trilogy, Legolas possessed twin fighting knives carried in sheaths near his quiver. There are some special types of knife in Tolkien's fiction which do not have formal names, but nevertheless play important roles in the plot. The Witch-king of Angmar , leader of the Nazgûl , used a magical dagger called a " Morgul -blade" to wound Frodo Baggins at Weathertop . The dark magic of
6477-404: The Rings follows the book faithfully in its depiction of the encounter with the cave troll in the Chamber, though the cave troll's foot has toes. Glenn Gaslin, reviewing the film on Slate , describes a clip from the film as "of ravenous trolls, [which] does no justice to Tolkien's darker elements". Trolls appear in Peter Jackson 's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy . In The Fellowship of
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#17327973986436604-432: The Rings for George Sayer to record, and sang Sam Gamgee 's song of the Stone Troll, unaccompanied and in a "rough and untrained" voice; but as Bratman comments, "but surely so was Sam's." Sayer states in the liner notes of the LP album of the recordings that Tolkien sang the song to "an old English folk-tune called The Fox and Hens." Bratman states that this is a variant of "The Fox and the Goose" or "The Fox Went Out on
6731-514: The Rings , Tolkien writes: "Those days, the Third Age of Middle-earth, are now long past, and the shape of all lands has been changed..." The Appendices make several references in both history and etymology of topics "now" (in modern English languages) and "then" (ancient languages); The year no doubt was of the same length,¹ [ the footnote here reads : 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 46 seconds.] for long ago as those times are now reckoned in years and lives of men, they were not very remote according to
6858-454: The Rings , worn in turn by the protagonists Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. In Letter 211 of The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien , the author compared the war-gear of the Rohirrim to the Bayeux Tapestry , made during the Norman Conquest of Anglo-Saxon England. Battle helmets are commonly used by virtually all races in Tolkien's writings. The Rohirrim were partly modelled on the Anglo-Saxons , who wore elaborate helmets ; Éomer 's helmet had
6985-509: The Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II , The Lord of the Rings: The Third Age , and The Lord of the Rings: Conquest . In The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth II: The Rise of the Witch-king , the Angmar faction has a hill-troll hero named Rogash (voiced by Gregg Berger ), and an Olog-hai named Brûz the Chopper (voiced by Gideon Emery ) is important to the plot of Middle-earth: Shadow of War . Middle-earth trolls have appeared in tabletop role-playing games ; for example,
7112-1008: The Rings: The Return of the King received 11 Academy Award nominations and won all of them, matching the totals awarded to Ben-Hur and Titanic . Two well-made fan films of Middle-earth, The Hunt for Gollum and Born of Hope , were uploaded to YouTube on 8 May 2009 and 11 December 2009 respectively. Numerous computer and video games have been inspired by J. R. R. Tolkien 's works set in Middle-earth. Titles have been produced by studios such as Electronic Arts , Vivendi Games , Melbourne House , and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment . Aside from officially licensed games, many Tolkien-inspired mods , custom maps and total conversions have been made for many games, such as Warcraft III , Minecraft , Rome: Total War , Medieval II: Total War , The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim . In addition, there are many text-based MMORPGs (known as MU*s ) based on Middle-earth. The oldest of these dates back to 1991, and
7239-443: The Sceptre ", Jason Smith in " Doomed to Die ") who allies with Adar's forces. Damrod is described by Adar to be the "Eater of Dragon Bones" and "Slayer of the Stone Giants". After bringing back the head of an orc messenger sent to persuade him to ally with Adar, Damrod asks "Where is Sauron"? Trolls have featured in many video games set in Middle-earth , including The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth , The Lord of
7366-407: The Sword of Elendil, Aiglos and Narsil, none could withstand." The Dragon-helm of Dor-lómin, also called the Helm of Hador , is the fabulous helmet of the lords of the House of Hador, including Húrin and Túrin. The helm was made of heavy steel, decorated with gold and runes ; a gold likeness of Glaurung the Dragon was set upon its crest. It was made for the Dwarf-king Azaghâl by Telchar ,
7493-441: The Sword that was Broken , remained an heirloom of Isildur's heirs throughout the Third Age, and were thus inherited by Aragorn. Elvish smiths re-forged the sword for Aragorn before the Fellowship of the Ring began their quest; Aragorn renamed it Andúril (Quenya: Flame of the West ). The reforged Andúril is described as very bright, shining red and white with the light of the sun and moon. The Silmarillion further states that
7620-430: The Tolkien critic Paul H. Kocher 's words, it achieves a certain "grisly slapstick". Trolls are replaced by "Groans" in Gene Deitch 's 1967 animated short film adaptation of The Hobbit . In Rankin/Bass 's animated 1977 adaptation of The Hobbit , the trolls were voiced by Paul Frees , Jack DeLeon , and Don Messick , who all also voiced other characters. Ralph Bakshi 's 1978 animated version of The Lord of
7747-420: The Witch-king. Battle axes are especially favoured by Dwarves in Tolkien's writings; Gimli uses the battle cry : Axes of the Dwarves! The Dwarves are upon you! ( Khuzdul : Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mênu! ). For The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Gimli the Dwarf was assigned various axes of different makes during the course of the films. The Sindarin Elves of Doriath favoured axes as weapons during
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#17327973986437874-540: The ability to give conscious life to things. The precise origins of Orcs and Trolls are unclear, as Tolkien considered various possibilities and sometimes changed his mind, leaving several inconsistent accounts. Late in the Third Age, the Uruks or Uruk-hai appeared: a race of Orcs of great size and strength that tolerate sunlight better than ordinary Orcs. Tolkien also mentions "Men-orcs" and "Orc-men"; or "half-orcs" or "goblin-men". They share some characteristics with Orcs (like "slanty eyes") but look more like men. Tolkien,
8001-461: The best swords (and other war gear) and that Elvish swords glowed blue in the presence of Orcs . Elves generally used straight swords while Orcs generally used curved swords. Both races have exceptions: Egalmoth of Gondolin used a curved sword and the Uruk-hai of Isengard used short, broad blades. Tolkien often mentions the use of shields together with one-handed swords. Knives are mentioned in Tolkien's works, sometimes as backup weapons—such as
8128-407: The blade's design was for main use on horseback, and footage of Arwen at Helm's Deep was ultimately cut. The name is derived from Tolkien's etymological word list written in the 1930s; here Tolkien provides the word hadhathang (dissimilated: havathang, hadhafang ), which he translates as "throng-cleaver", though he never used this name in his writings. Herugrim (Old English: Fierce Sword )
8255-418: The book for the benefit of readers, despite the expense involved. The definitive and iconic map of Middle-earth was published in The Lord of the Rings . It was refined with Tolkien's approval by the illustrator Pauline Baynes , using Tolkien's detailed annotations, with vignette images and larger paintings at top and bottom, into a stand-alone poster, " A Map of Middle-earth ". In Tolkien's conception, Arda
8382-415: The core book for Middle-earth Role Playing , published by Iron Crown Enterprises , included rules for Normal Trolls, Olog-hai (or Black Trolls), and Half-Trolls, and the publisher released an adventure module called Trolls of the Misty Mountains . Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game includes trolls, while Games Workshop produce a selection of troll miniatures. Middle-earth Middle-earth
8509-400: The death of Beleg at the hand of his friend Túrin by Anglachel itself. Túrin asked the sword whether it would slay him swiftly if he cast himself on its point, and it responded at length (the only instance of Gurthang speaking with voice). The depiction of the sword was influenced by that of the sword of the Finnish character Kullervo in the Kalevala . Angrist (Sindarin: Iron-cleaver )
8636-405: The death of the Witch-king . The daggers had varying fates. The Witch-king broke Frodo's blade at the Ford of Bruinen. Sam Gamgee left his beside Frodo in Cirith Ungol ; it was returned to Gandalf , along with Frodo's mithril mail-shirt, by the Mouth of Sauron . Pippin Took used his dagger in the Battle of the Black Gate to slay a Troll . Merry's blade is destroyed during his attack on
8763-526: The destruction of Sauron, trolls, like the rest of Sauron's minions, were scattered in defeat, though some survived by hiding in the hills. In Burns's view, this makes Tolkien appear both optimistic, since evil can be defeated, and pessimistic, as that defeat is never absolute. The Tolkien scholar David Bratman writes that even though there is no sheet music in Tolkien's Middle-earth writings, we do "surprisingly" have "a very good idea" of how some of it should sound. In 1952, Tolkien recited part of The Lord of
8890-447: The different uses Tolkien made of trolls, from comedy in Sam Gamgee 's poem and the Cockney accents and table manners of the working-class trolls in The Hobbit , to the hellish atmosphere in Moria as the protagonists are confronted by darkness and monsters. Tolkien, a Roman Catholic , drew back from giving trolls the power of speech, as he had done in The Hobbit , as it implied to him that they had souls – confronting him with
9017-515: The events in Tolkien's stories take place in the north-west of Middle-earth. In the First Age , further to the north-west was the subcontinent Beleriand ; it was engulfed by the ocean at the end of the First Age. Tolkien prepared several maps of Middle-earth. Some were published in his lifetime. The main maps are those published in The Hobbit , The Lord of the Rings , The Silmarillion , and Unfinished Tales , and appear as foldouts or illustrations. Tolkien insisted that maps be included in
9144-508: The existence of evil creatures, as he believed that while good could create, evil could not. So he considered whether his evil creatures could have been corrupted from sentient beings, and whether they could breed, writing various and contradictory explanations of their origins. In The Two Towers , the leader of the Ents , Treebeard , remarks that trolls were "made ... in mockery of Ents", as Orcs were of Elves . Friedhelm Schneidewind, writing in
9271-478: The first big screen adaptation of the fictional setting was introduced in Ralph Bakshi 's animated The Lord of the Rings . New Line Cinema released the first part of director Peter Jackson 's The Lord of the Rings film series in 2001 as part of a trilogy; it was followed by a prequel trilogy in The Hobbit film series with several of the same actors playing their old roles. In 2003, The Lord of
9398-617: The forges of the King under the Mountain ; Bard recites its history, urges it to "go now and speed well", and shoots Smaug. It was lost with the Dragon's corpse in the Long Lake . Dailir is the arrow favoured by Beleg, the great bowman of the First Age of Middle-earth. Beleg was always able to retrieve this arrow for reuse. The Red Arrow is a black-feathered arrow barbed with steel; its tip
9525-458: The gift of life but under the condition that they be taken and put to sleep in widely separated locations in Middle-earth and not to awaken until after the Firstborn were upon the Earth. They are mortal like Men, but live much longer, usually several hundred years. A peculiarity of Dwarves is that both males and females are bearded, and thus appear identical to outsiders. The language spoken by Dwarves
9652-478: The great battering ram Grond to shatter the gates of Minas Tirith . They fought using clubs and round shields at the Battle of the Morannon . Sauron bred mountain and cave trolls, and developed the more intelligent Olog-hai that were not vulnerable to sunlight. Snow trolls are mentioned only in the story of Helm Hammerhand . When Helm went out during the Long Winter clad in white to ambush his enemies, he
9779-548: The great Dwarf-craftsman of Nogrod. Azaghâl ruled the neighbouring city of Belegost; he gave it to Maedhros , who gave it to Fingon. Fingon then gave it to Hador, along with the lordship of Dor-lómin. The Axe of Tuor, called Dramborleg (Gnomish: Thudder-Sharp ) in The Book of Lost Tales , is the great axe belonging to Tuor, son of Huor in Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth that left wounds like "both
9906-586: The history into 'Ages of the Children of Ilúvatar'. The first such Age began with the Awakening of the Elves during the Years of the Trees (by which time the Ainur had already long inhabited Arda) and continued for the first six centuries of the Years of the Sun. All the subsequent Ages took place during the Years of the Sun. Arda is, as critics have noted, "our own green and solid Earth at some quite remote epoch in
10033-500: The hoard of the three trolls in The Hobbit , and he carried it throughout his journeys with Bilbo Baggins and the Fellowship of the Ring. It was the mate of Orcrist , and like Orcrist would glow blue whenever orcs were nearby. Glamdring was nicknamed " Beater " by the goblins of the Misty Mountains . See Anglachel Gúthwinë ( Old English : gúð-wine Battle Friend ) is the sword wielded by Éomer, third marshal of
10160-584: The imagined history, the peoples other than Men dwindle, leave or fade, until, after the period described in the books, only Men are left on the planet. Tolkien's stories chronicle the struggle to control the world (called Arda ) and the continent of Middle-earth between, on one side, the angelic Valar , the Elves and their allies among Men ; and, on the other, the demonic Melkor or Morgoth (a Vala fallen into evil), his followers, and their subjects, mostly Orcs , Dragons and enslaved Men. In later ages, after Morgoth's defeat and expulsion from Arda, his place
10287-639: The knife Angrist (which cut a Silmaril from the crown of Morgoth) and the Helm of Hador (later used by Túrin Turambar ). By the end of the Second Age Narsil was borne by Elendil ; during the Last Alliance of Elves and Men it was broken in two pieces in the war against Sauron . Isildur used the hilt-shard to cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand. The two shards, acquiring the additional name
10414-457: The knife gravely affects Frodo's well-being, threatening to turn him into a wraith, especially because its detachable point migrated in Frodo's body for more than two weeks before it could be extracted, thus causing great damage. Recurring ill effects from the wound contribute to Frodo's eventual departure to Valinor . According to the J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia , the weapon may owe something to
10541-653: The latitude of ancient Troy . In another letter he stated: ...Thank you very much for your letter. ... It came while I was away, in Gondor ( sc. Venice ), as a change from the North Kingdom, or I would have answered before. He did confirm, however, that the Shire , the land of his Hobbit heroes, was based on England , in particular the West Midlands of his childhood. In the Prologue to The Lord of
10668-654: The memory of the Earth. Both the Appendices and The Silmarillion mention constellations, stars and planets that correspond to those seen in the northern hemisphere of Earth, including the Sun, the Moon, Orion (and his belt), Ursa Major and Mars . A map annotated by Tolkien places Hobbiton on the same latitude as Oxford , and Minas Tirith at the latitude of Ravenna , Italy. He used Belgrade , Cyprus , and Jerusalem as further reference points. The history of Middle-earth, as described in The Silmarillion , began when
10795-597: The middle-earth sent unto men. This is from the Crist 1 poem by Cynewulf . The name Éarendel was the inspiration for Tolkien's mariner Eärendil , who set sail from the lands of Middle-earth to ask for aid from the angelic powers, the Valar . Tolkien's earliest poem about Eärendil, from 1914, the same year he read the Crist poem, refers to "the mid-world's rim". Tolkien considered middangeard to be "the abiding place of men",
10922-484: The name "Trollshaws" is derived from troll + shaw , an archaic term for a thicket or small wood. Last of all Húrin stood alone. Then he cast aside his shield, and wielded an axe two-handed; and it is sung that the axe smoked in the black blood of the troll-guard of Gothmog until it withered... —from "Nirnaeth Arnoediad" in The Silmarillion Morgoth , the evil Vala , created trolls in
11049-517: The north-west of the continent. This region is suggestive of Europe, the north-west of the Old World , with the environs of the Shire reminiscent of England , but, more specifically, the West Midlands , with the town at its centre, Hobbiton , at the same latitude as Oxford . Tolkien's Middle-earth is peopled not only by Men , but by Elves , Dwarves , Ents , and Hobbits , and by monsters including Dragons, Trolls , and Orcs . Through
11176-621: The orc army, saying that they were a "natural extension of the orcs' forces". The trolls appear in the Amazon Studios series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power . The first episode of season one featured a snow-troll that attacked Galadriel's group at the abandoned fortress at Forodwaith. She was able to slay the snow-troll. Season two features a hill-troll named Damrod (voiced by Benjamin Walker in " The Eagle and
11303-484: The original Narsil already shone in such a manner, but its light was extinguished when it was broken. The reforged blade had "a device of seven stars set between the crescent Moon and the rayed Sun, and about them was written many runes". Orcrist (Sindarin: Goblin-cleaver ), a sword in The Hobbit . was originally forged in Gondolin and was nicknamed " Biter " by the goblins of the Misty Mountains. After finding it in
11430-400: The other hand, when Gandalf outwits them, these same trolls are seen as "monstrous, a warning against vice, captured forever in stone for their greed and anger." All the same, Fawcett cautions that Tolkien uses tradition selectively, transferring the more positive attributes of Norse trolls, including being rich and generous, to hobbits . Shippey criticises Tolkien's class -based depiction of
11557-467: The past." As such, it has not only an immediate story but a history, and the whole thing is an "imagined prehistory" of the Earth as it is now. The Ainur were angelic beings created by the one god of Eä, Eru Ilúvatar . The cosmological myth called the Ainulindalë , or "Music of the Ainur", describes how the Ainur sang for Ilúvatar, who then created Eä to give material form to their music. Many of
11684-490: The physical reality of creation as a whole. In careful geographical terms, Middle-earth is a continent on Arda, excluding regions such as Aman and the isle of Númenor. The alternative wider use is reflected in book titles such as The Complete Guide to Middle-earth , The Road to Middle-earth , The Atlas of Middle-earth , and Christopher Tolkien 's 12-volume series The History of Middle-earth . Tolkien's biographer Humphrey Carpenter states that Tolkien's Middle-earth
11811-428: The physical world in which Man lives out his life and destiny, as opposed to the unseen worlds above and below it, namely Heaven and Hell . He states that it is "my own mother-earth for place ", but in an imaginary past time, not some other planet. He began to use the term "Middle-earth" in the late 1930s, in place of the earlier terms "Great Lands", "Outer Lands", and "Hither Lands". The first published appearance of
11938-498: The power to control or influence those wearing the other Rings of Power. In ancient Germanic mythology , the world of Men is known by several names. The Old English middangeard descends from an earlier Germanic word and so has cognates such as the Old Norse Miðgarðr from Norse mythology , transliterated to modern English as Midgard . The original meaning of the second element, from proto-Germanic gardaz ,
12065-646: The rest of the physical world), which itself was part of the wider creation he called Eä. Aman and Middle-earth are separated from each other by the Great Sea Belegaer , though they make contact in the far north at the Grinding Ice or Helcaraxë. The western continent, Aman, was the home of the Valar , and the Elves called the Eldar . On the eastern side of Middle-earth was the Eastern Sea. Most of
12192-614: The resulting "rich, curious roles" that trolls and other beasts play in Middle-earth would not have existed without it. Fawcett suggests that Tolkien's "roaring Troll" in The Return of the King reflects the Beowulf monster Grendel 's "[fiery] eye and terrible screaming." Noting that Tolkien compares them to beasts as they "came striding up, roaring like beasts ... bellowing", she observes that they "remain wordless warriors, like Grendel", although they are sentient, with intelligence and
12319-607: The retreat of the Elven king Turgon. Morgoth's order to Gothmog to capture Húrin alive allowed Húrin to kill all the trolls. Many trolls died in the War of Wrath , but some survived and joined Sauron , the greatest surviving servant of Morgoth. In Germanic mythology , trolls are a kind of giant, along with rísar , jötnar , and þursar ; the names are variously applied to large monstrous beings, sometimes as synonyms. The idea that such monsters must be below ground before dawn dates back to
12446-562: The road / And flung his cobweb cloak on me..." C. S. Lewis 's 1938–1945 Space Trilogy calls the home planet "Middle-earth" and specifically references Tolkien's unpublished legendarium; both men were members of the Inklings literary discussion group. Within the overall context of his legendarium , Tolkien's Middle-earth was part of his created world of Arda (which includes the Undying Lands of Aman and Eressëa , removed from
12573-541: The same Common Eldarin ancestral tongue, but over thousands of years it diverged into different languages. The two main Elven languages were Quenya , spoken by the Light Elves, and Sindarin , spoken by the Dark Elves. Physically the Elves resemble humans; indeed, they can marry and have children with them, as shown by the few Half-elven in the legendarium. The Elves are agile and quick footed, being able to walk
12700-452: The same, she writes, the "stone-bred mockery" seems very much alive. This is, Fawcett writes, in contrast to Tolkien's intelligent dragons , which are straightforwardly a created species with the power of speech, but certainly monsters; and in contrast to orcs which, if they are corrupted elves, do have souls. She concludes that Tolkien's linking of souls to speech "complicates these monstrous races". Tolkien had another conceptual problem with
12827-525: The seas'." There are allusions to a similarly- or identically-named world in the work of other writers both before and after him. William Morris 's 1870 translation of the Volsung Saga calls the world "Midgard". Margaret Widdemer 's 1918 poem "The Gray Magician" contains the lines: "I was living very merrily on Middle Earth / As merry as a maid may be / Till the Gray Magician came down along
12954-522: The story takes place in the North-west of 'Middle-earth', equivalent in latitude to the coastlands of Europe and the north shores of the Mediterranean. ... If Hobbiton and Rivendell are taken (as intended) to be at about the latitude of Oxford , then Minas Tirith , 600 miles south, is at about the latitude of Florence . The Mouths of Anduin and the ancient city of Pelargir are at about
13081-493: The subject of a variety of film adaptations. There were many early failed attempts to bring the fictional universe to life on screen, some even rejected by the author himself, who was skeptical of the prospects of an adaptation. While animated and live-action shorts were made of Tolkien's books in 1967 and 1971, the first commercial depiction of The Hobbit onscreen was the Rankin/Bass animated TV special in 1977 . In 1978
13208-550: The sword Andúril, and crossbows are only mentioned in connection to hunting by Númenoreans in their lost homeland of Númenor. Sometimes individual arrows are given special mention in Tolkien's works. In The Hobbit , the Black Arrow was a royal heirloom used by Bard the Bowman to kill the dragon Smaug . In The Lord of the Rings , the Red Arrow was a token used by Gondor to summon its allies in time of need. In
13335-440: The three trolls combines Bilbo's fear of being eaten with the temptation of the "fine toothsome smell" of roast mutton. The critic Gregory Hartley notes that while in The Hobbit , Tolkien's trolls were still much like those of Norse mythology, "archetypal, stereotypical ... basking in unexamined sentience", in The Silmarillion and Lord of the Rings , "Tolkien undertook the difficult task of melding fairy tale with epic , which
13462-440: The time of The Hobbit , most of them lived in the Shire , a region of the northwest of Middle-earth, having migrated there from further east. The Ents were treelike shepherds of trees, their name coming from an Old English word for giant. Orcs and Trolls (made of stone) were evil creatures bred by Morgoth . They were not original creations but rather "mockeries" of the Children of Ilúvatar and Ents, since only Ilúvatar has
13589-621: The tradition of the " elf-shot " found in Old English medical texts and charms, where it denotes illnesses of presumed supernatural origin. Tom Bombadil recovers four magical daggers, forged by the Men of Westernesse to fight the powers of Angmar , from a tomb guarded by the Barrow-wight . After opening the barrow and freeing the hobbits, Tom Bombadil gives them the weapons, saying "Old knives are long enough as swords for hobbit-people". One of these "Barrow-blades" – that given to Merry Brandybuck – proves instrumental in bringing about
13716-405: The trolls and goblins in The Hobbit , writing that the trolls were too close to labourers, just as the goblins were to munitions workers . Shippey notes, too, Tolkien's storytelling technique here, observing that making the troll's purse (which Bilbo attempts to steal) able to speak blurs the line between the ordinary and the magical. Marjorie Burns , a scholar of English literature, writes that
13843-456: The trolls' tiredness with eating mutton every day matches the fantasy writer and designer William Morris 's account of his travels in Iceland in the early 1870s, one of many Middle-earth features that follows Morris, including the existence of trolls: Morris mentioned visiting places called Tröllakirkja ("Trollchurch") and Tröllahals ("Trollneck"). Burns notes, too, that the adventure with
13970-899: The trolls. "Never a blinking bit of manflesh have we had for long enough", said a second. — from "Roast Mutton" in The Hobbit In The Hobbit , Bilbo Baggins and the Dwarf company encountered three stone trolls on their journey to Erebor . The stone trolls captured the Dwarves and prepared to eat them, but the wizard Gandalf managed to distract them until dawn, when exposure to sunlight turned them to stone. They had vulgar table manners , constantly argued and fought amongst themselves, in Tolkien's narrator's words "not drawing-room fashion at all, at all", spoke with Cockney accents, and had matching English working-class names: Tom, Bert, and William. Jennifer Eastman Attebery,
14097-400: The unnamed long knife of Legolas the archer. However, some individual knives are given more significance through naming (e.g. Sting , see below). In " The Scouring of the Shire ", Saruman attempts to stab Frodo with a knife, but is foiled by the mithril shirt worn under his jacket. Shortly afterwards Saruman's throat was fatally cut with a knife borne by Wormtongue . For The Lord of
14224-554: The weapon after using it to fend off the giant spiders in Mirkwood forest, then later passed it on to Frodo to use in his quest to destroy the One Ring. Sting glows blue when orcs are nearby, as in Moria . In Europe, bilbo blades were exceptionally fine swords, named after the city of Bilbao which made them. It is possible that Tolkien connected Bilbo's name with his acquisition of this weapon. In Peter Jackson 's The Lord of
14351-428: The word "Middle-earth" in Tolkien's works is in the prologue to The Lord of the Rings : "Hobbits had, in fact, lived quietly in Middle-earth for many long years before other folk even became aware of them". The term Middle-earth has come to be applied as a short-hand for the entirety of Tolkien's legendarium, instead of the technically more appropriate, but lesser known terms "Arda" for the physical world and " Eä " for
14478-526: Was "enclosure", cognate with English "yard"; middangeard was assimilated by folk etymology to "middle earth". Middle-earth was at the centre of nine worlds in Norse mythology, and of three worlds (with heaven above, hell below) in some later Christian versions . Tolkien's first encounter with the term middangeard , as he stated in a letter, was in an Old English fragment he studied in 1913–1914: Éala éarendel engla beorhtast / ofer middangeard monnum sended. Hail Earendel, brightest of angels / above
14605-663: Was Glaurung the Golden, bred by Morgoth in Angband , and called "The Great Worm", "The Worm of Morgoth", and "The Father of Dragons". Middle-earth contains sapient animals including the Eagles , Huan the Great Hound from Valinor and the wolf-like Wargs . In general the origins and nature of these animals are unclear. Giant spiders such as Shelob descended from Ungoliant , of unknown origin. Other sapient species include
14732-580: Was a knife made by the great weaponsmith Telchar of Nogrod, and borne by Curufin. Beren, who had taken it from Curufin, used it to cut a magical Silmaril jewel out of Morgoth 's Iron Crown; as Beren attempted to remove another, the knife snapped. In the earliest version of Beren's story in The Book of Lost Tales , he uses an ordinary household knife; the element of Curufin's involvement in Beren's affairs came later. Anguirel (Sindarin: Iron of Eternity )
14859-517: Was created specifically as "the Habitation" ( Imbar or Ambar ) for the Children of Ilúvatar ( Elves and Men ). It is envisaged in a flat Earth cosmology, with the stars, and later also the sun and moon, revolving around it. Tolkien's sketches show a disc-like face for the world which looked up to the stars. However, Tolkien's legendarium addresses the spherical Earth paradigm by depicting
14986-512: Was described as looking like a snow-troll. The Trollshaws is a wooded region, lying north of the East Road between the rivers Hoarwell and Bruinen , where Bilbo encountered the trolls. It is not named in the text of either The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings , but appears on the latter's map of Middle-earth drawn by Christopher Tolkien . Described as "the Trolls' wood" in the main text,
15113-787: Was dominated by Númenor. The Númenórean helmet, the karma , reached particularly elaborate forms. Those of the Uinendili , a guild of mariners, were "made of overlapping plates of metal, the 'fish-crest' of leather embossed and coloured". Tolkien's coloured drawing of the karma of a Uinendili captain features on the cover of Unfinished Tales . Tolkien emulated his Northern European mythological and literary sources in having his characters give names to their weapons , marking these out as important aspects of character and sometimes as ancient heirlooms. Named weapons in Medieval literature include Hrunting and Nægling in Beowulf , Tyrfing in
15240-695: Was forthcoming from Rohan. The Red Arrow has a historical antecedent in the Old English poem Elene in which Constantine the Great summoned an army of mounted Visigoths to his aid against the Huns by sending an arrow as a "token of war". Aeglos (Sindarin: Snow Point , i.e. icicle; also spelt Aiglos ) is the spear wielded by the Elf-King Gil-galad . It was said that "the Spear of Gil-galad and
15367-437: Was in turn bonded with the Christian mythos. Characters and creatures began functioning on a multiplicity of registers." The entertainingly "light-hearted informality" of The Hobbit ' s Cockney-speaking trolls thus gave way to the "more bestial trolls" of the later works. Hartley comments that the redaction effort that Tolkien threw himself into for his legendarium was driven by the way he had composed The Hobbit ; and that
15494-482: Was known as Middle-earth MUD , run by using LPMUD . After the Middle-earth MUD ended in 1992, it was followed by Elendor and MUME . Sting (Middle-earth) The weapons and armour of Middle-earth are all those mentioned J. R. R. Tolkien 's Middle-earth fantasy writings, such as The Hobbit , The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion . Tolkien modelled his fictional warfare on
15621-487: Was painted red. It was a token used by Gondor to summon Rohan in time of dire need. In The Return of the King , the Red Arrow was presented to Théoden by Hirgon with the message: "...the Lord Denethor asks for all your strength and all your speed, lest Gondor should fall at last." Théoden pledged his assistance, but Hirgon was killed during the ride back to Minas Tirith, leading Denethor to believe that no help
15748-563: Was reforged and renamed Gurthang (Sindarin: Iron of Death ). Túrin used Gurthang to kill Glaurung, the Father of Dragons , and later used the sword to take his own life in recompense for the accidental slaying of Beleg and the unjust slaying of Brandir. The stories endow the sword with a personality; Melian the Maia perceived malice in it as it was given to Beleg Cúthalion, and the elf Gwindor observed that Anglachel (so named then) seemed to mourn
15875-626: Was the Black Speech of Barad-dûr. Tolkien's description of the trolls in Appendix F "Of Other Races" in The Return of the King Cave trolls attacked the Fellowship in Moria . One had dark greenish scales, black blood, and a hide so thick that when Boromir struck it in the arm his sword was notched. However, Frodo was able to impale the "toeless" foot of the same troll with the enchanted dagger Sting . Mountain trolls wielded
16002-477: Was weakened both by time and by intermingling with lesser peoples. The Dwarves are a race of humanoids who are shorter than Men but larger than Hobbits. The Dwarves were created by the Vala Aulë, before the Firstborn awoke due to his impatience for the arrival of the children of Ilúvatar to teach and to cherish. When confronted and shamed for his presumption by Ilúvatar, Eru took pity on Aulë and gave his creation
16129-478: Was writing: As for the shape of the world of the Third Age , I am afraid that was devised 'dramatically' rather than geologically , or paleontologically . I am historically minded. Middle-earth is not an imaginary world. ... The theatre of my tale is this earth, the one in which we now live, but the historical period is imaginary. The essentials of that abiding place are all there (at any rate for inhabitants of N.W. Europe), so naturally it feels familiar, even if
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