The Hall of Fire

Yes, that’s the original, Voronwë. Quite funny to hear Tom and Maggot having a joking dig at each other. This poem makes sense of Gandalf’s statement about Tom having a great regard for Maggot. Sorry, as a new pair of eyes to the game, I had assumed that the scope was M-E, and thus that if non-stric...

Tolkien never names the pub in Rushey, so I can’t tell you what it is. But the hobbit and the other person drive straight past it despite the temptation of going in (perhaps due to the other person’s lack of money). The Marish referred to in both the original and the translation is the one and only ...

No, I think not. Despite the tone, the speaker is joking, and the recipient is not really a beggar in the usual sense, and sems unlikely to really have been shot at. Although there is some evidence that he may have been just previously. It's not clear whether this past is truth or legend or jesting ...

Okay then. Another hobbit speaking:

"Hey! You're a beggar who stepped on Marish! What are you doing here? There's an arrow in your hat!"

So if not "The" Hobbit, then "a" hobbit. The Gaffer having a moan:

"There’s some not far away that wouldn’t offer a pint of beer to a friend, if they lived in a hole with golden walls."

Hello! As I am reading Unfinished tales, I found this passage about Istari: Wizard is a translation of Quenya istar (Sindarin ithron): one of the members of an "order" (as they call it), claiming to possess, and exhibiting, eminent knowledge of the history and nature the World. So in my e...

Voronwë the Faithful wrote: ↑Thu Aug 10, 2023 1:11 pm I think it is very likely that the line in the film that Jude referenced is based on this line.

You're saying that Jackson and Walsh used Translation Party? That would explain the quality of some of the movie script.

The funny thing is that the translation would actually work for Saruman to Gandalf, if Saruman had taken a disapproving parent tone and said “that super-potent weed you are smoking will wipe out your brain cells.”

Thanks. Here's a nice easy one, pretty recognisable from the original.

"Earned or unearned, you may give me the death penalty, but I do not intend to strip you of the name of vile birth, spy, or slave."

The original text is:

'That we do also,' said Faramir.

Is it Faramir and Frodo comparing customs of grace before meals? I haven't checked the exact text but it sounds like it. (So do we).

That’s it!

How on earth the translator got to its equilibrium phrase I do not know.

Fire and death.

Which very major character goes through fire and death in the course of the War of the Ring? (And yes, it’s Balrog-related).

The next hint is that the original word “crooked” has been translated as “twisted”.

Oops! (Smacks head). I forgot about Denethor.

It’s the other one.

Further hint: in the original, the “lightning” reference comes at the end of the statement, not the beginning. I have no idea why the translator put it on the front.

First hint: “fire and death” - there’s only really one major character from that era that it can be. It is that character.

Yes, during the War of the Ring.

I would say it’s a well known and memorable statement by a major character, not at all obscure, just horribly jumbled by the translation.

Thank you, Voronwë. This looks like fun. :) Hopefully no-one's done it before. I haven't read over all 374 pages. It really got itself confused with this one. The right words are in there to trigger peoples' memories, but it didn't grasp the meaning properly: "Until the lightning bolt fell, I h...

It must be Eöl to Turgon once he's been exposed as a traitor revealing the secret entrance to Gondolin, after Turgon gave him the choice of living permanently in the Hidden Kingdom or else death: 'The second choice I take and for my son also! You shall not hold what is mine!' The Silmarillion, Of Ma...

I love these books, but they're perhaps a bit in the category of "things one reads/sees once but is oddly reluctant to read/see again." It is good sometimes to read things written by the Slightly Unhinged. Counteracts the glossy formulae to which we've all become numb. Quite agree. I read...

So is "My Name is Legion" the first in the series? No, the first one is Nine Princes. I just happened to have My Name is Legion and This Immortal on the shelf next to them. Both are worth reading but the first four Amber novels proper (Nine Princes to The Hand of Oberon) are the pinnacle ...