The Hall of Fire

I’m surprised no-one’s mentioned Roger Zelazny’s Nine Princes in Amber series (sometimes referred to as the Chronicles of Amber). I honestly think that these books rival Tolkien for sheer inventive freshness at the time they came out. The magical motifs of the Trumps and the Pattern are those kind o...

I think this Busoni piano transcription of one of Bach’s organ pieces is incredibly moving. But it doesn’t have to be sad; the emotion comes from the beauty of the music itself.

Great performance by Lisitsa helps as well.

The version I’m listening to is Audible’s 2015 release. It’s worth listening to for Malkovich’s performance alone; laden with world-weariness, dripping with “well, what did you expect?”. Outstanding.

Very different from our own dear JRRT.

I was given a boxed set of all the Bronte novels when I was 12, so quite a while ago. :D I'm embarrassed to say that I only ever read Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. All the others have sat unread. So a few days ago I set out to read them all. Currently about halfway through Villette. I'm enjoying ...

So your interpretation to that, scirocco, is that Gandalf made quite a mistake not searching through archives properly. Well, an error of judgement, anyway. It's just the way he words it at the Council of Elrond. `What those marks were he had not said. Who now would know? The maker. And Saruman? Bu...

narya wrote: ↑Wed Jul 12, 2023 3:28 am It's more meta to say that Gandalf made the error. Or the author of the Red Book.

True, but I'm suggesting there was no textual error, and Gandalf's strange actions (or lack of action) are explainable within the story.

Either Gandalf went to Minas Tirith to search archives for information about The One (therefore, he should have found Isildur's scroll), or he was there to look for other stuff about Sauron, ringwraiths etc. Why does it have to be either / or? Just because the Ring was his main concern, doesn't mea...

Ironically, the story of Gandalf finding the Isildur-scroll in 3017 suggests that he was not searching particularly hard in the archives for information about the Ring before that time. Put yourself in his shoes; he knows that Isildur had held the Ring for a year or two (Boromir tells us it's common...

So in my previous discussion, I was wondering about Gandalf's knowledge about the One. This quotes above suggests Gandalf went to archives of Minas Tirith after Bilbo found the Ring. Therefore, it probably means Gandalf suspected Bilbo found the One and went to archives to look for some proofs? Way...

..double post..

But later in that chapter, he says all Great Rings are accounted for. It doesn't make sense to me. I think it's worth remembering that the story of Middle-earth is told from a "north-western" point of view, centred on the Shire, Gondor and Arnor. From early in the Second Age, well before ...

The only thing that I can think of that implies that the bearers of the Three Rings sense the One is Galadriel's statement that "I perceive the Dark Lord and know his mind, or all of his mind that concerns the Elves." When Sauron forged the One Ring, apparently Celebrimbor "was aware...

You would have to assume that it will contain the full text of Letter 131 to Milton Waldman, the one that is a kind of a synopsis of the whole history of M-E. It's a fantastic read. Only an abridged version of this letter was published in the various editions of The Letters of JRR Tolkien . The comp...

Saruman's comment about the Rings and their gems was most likely made during the White Council meeting of III.2953, the one in which he "feigns that he has discovered that the One Ring has passed down Anduin to the Sea" ( LOTR , Appendix B). During the Council of Elrond, Gandalf doesn't m...

I suppose we could assume that Gandalf, who was not a specialist in Ring-lore like Saruman, was previously unaware that all the Great Rings save the One bore a gem, since otherwise that knowledge combined with his belief that Bilbo's ring was a Great Ring would've left only one possibility as to it...

You know the walking song, "Upon the Hearth the Fire is Red"? The narrator says the words were by Bilbo, but the tune was as old as the hills. Presumably Tolkien had an actual folk song in mind - like Sam's Troll Song was based on The Song of the Fox. Does anyone know what song "Upon...

Andante , I would imagine. It’s an interesting thought. The Donald Swann original is at about 110, which is at the very top end of what could be considered andante . The sort of tempo you would associate with a marching song, which I’m not sure I agree with. The metric rhythm is iambic, unstressed ...

This "problem" just bothers me more than it should. If dealing with a Great Ring, shouldn't Gandalf do something about it? And not wait 60+ years? Why didn't he ask Elrond for advice? I understand that Bilbo seemed fine with the ring and knowing its location was probably for the best, but...

Copy of the original here. Apologies for the quality; it's recorded off LP. Let it download fully before listening; OneDrive does weird things when it tries to stream audio files.
Noticeable on re-listening how much Elvin rolls his R's.

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Apv8T67IXwDUgfNCyFA ... A?e=VZGJ3F

What was the original performance like? It's actually quite close; the performer has obviously listened to the original and is doing his best to imitate it. His voice is similar to Elvin's. Tempo and phrasing are also similar. Elvin was a professional, so the accuracy was better. ..but to me the rh...