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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What happened to the "other" Rings of Power?
In The Lord of the Rings it is said
"In Eregion long ago many Elven-rings were made, magic rings as you call them, and they were, course, of various kinds: some more potent and some less. The ...
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If Galadriel had claimed the One Ring, would Sauron have become her servant, or would have Galadriel become his servant?
This question was inspired by the Andres F answer to another question. In his answer he stated
"we are told that if she ever took the One Ring, she would become way
more powerful than Sauron ...
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Is there more to Arwen than her obsessive love for Aragorn?
It's me again — still reading my way through The Lord of the Rings, but quite familiar with Peter Jackson's trilogy, which I really like.
It occurs to me, though, that Arwen is almost the Lord of the ...
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Was Harry Potter inspired by The Lord of the Rings?
It seems like many parallels can be made between Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings. Firstly between Sauron and Voldemort:
They both crafted magical items so that they could transcend death. They ...
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Did Sauron survive?
According to Tolkien himself Sauron had a physical form in the third age:
...in a tale which allows the incarnation of great spirits in a physical and destructible form their power must be far ...
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How do Middle-Earth Elves age (if they age at all)?
This is coming from someone who has only briefly read the books a while ago and mostly remembers the film.
Elves are immortal. But they are depicted at different stages of aging. Do they just age up ...
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Are Ringwraiths the only Wraiths in Middle-earth?
After reading this answer to my question about wraiths, ghosts, and wights in Middle-earth, I understand that Ringwraiths are the result of people who have been corrupted by using the rings, but that ...
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What Is the Difference Between a Wraith, a Wight, and a Ghost?
I always heard the terms "ghost" and "wraith" used interchangeably, until I read Lord of the Rings. Clearly the Ring Wraiths are not ghosts, since they interact with the physical world.
I also know, ...
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Were there ever any "good" Orcs?
I never made it through Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien, but it may have the answer. We know there were good men and bad men in Middle-earth and there were good Wizards and bad Wizards there too...
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What were the fell beasts the Nazgûl flew on?
What were the fell beasts the Nazgûl flew on called?
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Are the Nazgûl Harmed by Water? [duplicate]
So I'm watching the LOTR trilogy and I'm on Fellowship of the Ring. It seems as if the Nazgûl actively avoid water, such as at the Bucklebury Ferry and the river at Rivendell. Does water harm the ...
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Did Peter Jackson ever explain why he left out the Scouring of the Shire?
In the book, while Frodo and the Fellowship were on their quest, the Shire was exploited and almost ruined by Saruman and his cronies. Jackson left this and the triumphant return of Frodo, Sam, and ...
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How did the Witch-king break Gandalf's staff in the movie?
In the movie, the Witch-king breaks Gandalf's staff. How did this happen and why (since it's not in the book)?
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How long had the Dwarves in Moria been slain before they were discovered by the Fellowship?
How long had Balin and the other Dwarves been slain before they were discovered by the Fellowship when they entered Moria?
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What was in the One Ring that made it so powerful?
In the movie version of Fellowship of the Rings, at the beginning of film, we're shown all the rings being forged, including Sauron's One Ring of power. However, there's no indication as to what ...
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Is there any evidence that Lucas' "Willow" was a "Lucas-remake" of "The Hobbit"?
Citing cracked.com "5 Pop Culture Classics Created Out of Laziness":
Lucas later repeated the same trick after failing to get the rights to The Hobbit: He made Willow, a film about short people in ...
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How old is the Mouth of Sauron, and is he a ring bearer?
The Mouth of Sauron is referred to as being of great age, so great he has forgotten his own name, but not a ringwraith.
How is this possible?
How does he evade the Doom of Men?
Does that imply ...
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Were the Middle-earth Wizards born as Wizards?
In Middle-earth, Elves were born as Elves, Hobbits as Hobbits, and so on. Were the Wizards born as Wizards, or were they young men that somehow evolved as they matured into Wizards?
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When and where did Gollum start following the Fellowship?
Gollum follows the Fellowship from a distance in a desperate hope to get the Ring back. I don't know when or where he actually started following them, so that's my question.
In the first movie (FOTR),...
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Why does Frodo appear in Peter Jackson's The Hobbit?
Why do Frodo and other characters that don't appear in The Hobbit appear in the cast of Peter Jackson's film?
Frodo turns 33 when Bilbo turns 111, so Frodo was born the day Bilbo turned 78. In FOTR, ...
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How did Éowyn slay the Witch-king of Angmar if he wasn't alive?
In The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Aragorn, as Strider, tells the four Hobbits about the Nazgûl, and describes them as "neither living nor dead." Gollum later tells Sam ...
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Why Does Samwise Gamgee Call Frodo Baggins 'Mr. Frodo'?
I haven't finished my re-read of the Lord of the Rings trilogy (I just finished The Two Towers), but, at least in the movies, Samwise Gamgee consistently refers to Frodo Baggins as "Mr. Frodo."
Why ...
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Can Sméagol's family tree be tracked all the way to the hobbit families at the time of Bilbo?
When Gandalf explains to Frodo how come the Ring came to his posession, he introduces the tale of Gollum with these words, making it clear that Gollum was related--however distantly--to hobbits:
...
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Why was Dale rebuilt?
Why was Dale (the city ruined ages ago by the dragon Smaug), featured in Tolkien's The Hobbit, rebuilt after the events of the aforementioned story?
As far as I can remember, the dragon laid not ...
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Who's older: Treebeard or Tom Bombadil?
Tom Bombadil says this to the hobbits, in reply to the question "who are you?":
(...) But you are young and I am old. Eldest, that’s what I am. Mark my words, my friends: Tom was here before the ...
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What's the origin of "One does not simply Telnet into Mordor"?
While I realise that it's a parody on "One does not simply walk into Mordor!" (I believe it's a statement made by Boromir), I was wondering where that particular meme comes from. The connection (no ...
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How tall was Barad-dûr?
Can someone calculate, from books description or from movies, the height of Barad-dûr?
I've found this on FB but it sounds too small to me!!
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Are Tolkien Elves taller or shorter than Men? [duplicate]
Are Tolkien Elves taller or shorter than Men?
In general fantasy, elves are frequently smaller than humans. But I seem to recall that in Tolkien they aren't.
Based on this SFF.SE comment
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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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Why were the Elves so great at archery?
It seems that there is an underlying assumption (I don't know of an explicit quote to confirm) that Elves in Middle-earth are exceptional archers, compared to other races.
Am I correct in that ...
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Could Maiar ever take non-humanoid form?
Could Maiar ever take non-humanoid form?
All 3 forms that I'm aware of were human/humanoid (5 Council Wizards, Sauron, and Balrogs).
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Why are elves and humans so much alike?
Why are elves and humans so much alike (physically speaking)? Except for the pointy ears, there are no other major (physical) differences, am I right?
Do they have a common ancestor? Or does one of ...
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How long could we expect Eldarion to live?
Elrond (who was 50% Elven) lived well over 6,000 years before departing Middle-earth.
Because of his distant Elven lineage Aragorn lived over 200 years before he died. As a 3/4 Elf Arwen was immortal ...
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What Is the Significance of the Cyclonic Beam of Light in Minas Morgul in LOTR: ROTK?
In LOTR: ROTK, as Frodo, Sméagol, and Sam approach Minas Morgul to make their climb to the Cirith Ungol pass, Frodo is somehow drawn to Minas Morgul and stumbles a few paces up the road leading to ...
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Could the One Ring be destroyed in any manner besides Mount Doom?
Was there something more mystical about Mount Doom that meant another volcano wouldn't work and no matter how much energy was put into it, it would not be destroyed? A comment mentioned that not even ...
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Were there two elves named Glorfindel?
In the Silmarillion, an elf named Glorfindel is killed in a duel with a Balrog at the battle for Gondolin. (He kills the Balrog as well.) Then in The Fellowship of the Ring, an elf named Glorfindel ...
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What is a "goblin-imp"?
This answer: Why did Gollum ever take off the ring in the first place? - had a quote related to how Gollum lost a ring that said
Only a few hours ago he had worn it, and caught a small goblin-imp.
...
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How many elves were there in Middle Earth by the time of LOTR events?
When answering " What are the main reasons the elves did not show up in force to defeat Sauron? " I tried to find some info but nothing was easily googlable.
How many elves were there in Middle Earth ...
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What are the main reasons the elves did not show up in force to defeat Sauron?
During The Great Battle of the Last Alliance, there were an estimated 100,000 elves that fought with the armies of Isildur. This was one of the first scenes in the first LOTR movie. However, in the ...
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Why doesn't the chain around Frodo's neck disappear?
I was reading this answer and remembered the scene in one of the Lord of the Rings movies where Frodo slips the Ring on. He vanishes the second the tip of his finger enters the ring and doesn't ...
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Why did Gollum ever take off the ring in the first place?
Bilbo was able to take the ring because Gollum had taken it off.
If you had the ring, and were accustomed to wearing it, why would you ever take it off anyway?
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In LOTR, are the Dead Men of Dunharrow invincible?
These were the soldiers that abandoned Isildur in this war against Sauron. But it seemed in the movies during the battle of Pelennor Fields and the attack on the corsairs they could not be killed. ...
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Why was a hobbit "the most unlikely creature imaginable" to pick up "The One Ring"?
(The One Ring) abandoned Gollum. But then something happened that the
Ring did not intend. It was picked up by the most unlikely creature
imaginable. A hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, of the Shire.
...
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Why was the balrog so mad?
When Gandalf is forced to confront the Balrog in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, it seems especially mad (I am most familiar with the movie-version of events, having not read the ...
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What is 21st-century Middle Earth like? [closed]
There are some suggestions that the Lord of the Rings is meant to take place in our own distant past, or rather in a fictionalized version of our past.
But see this question and its answers, for ...
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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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What is the place that Gandalf falls to after the battle with the Balrog?
I was wondering; what is the name of the place Gandalf falls to when the Balrog drags him down, after the fight in Moria?
What information from the Legendarium is there available about this place?
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Why did the Nazgûl start on horseback?
If the Nazgûl had access to the fell beasts - why did they ride on horseback to hunt the ring bearer?
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What does Morgoth look like?
Is Morgoth, the original enemy in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth ever visually described? I envisage him as a bigger, meaner version of the physical Sauron, but I cannot find any reference in The ...
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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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