September 17, 2003

The Ainur, Gnomes, and Some Others
Jarrickon Half-elven

Lee, what the Valar witnessed was merely a fast forwarded version of a glimpse of future history. They were allowed only brief glances at some of the events that occurred, and were not complete knowledge of the future. As to the Maiar, they are of the same race as the Valar, known as the Ainur (i.e. the Ainulindalë, the Song of the Ainur. The fifteen Valar were a much more powerful breed of Ainu, however, than were the Maiar. I believe Tom Bombadil, and also the fell and ruined Ungoliant and her mates to be numbered among these Maiar.

Mae govannen, Fallongirl. The Gnomes you speak of were Tolkien's original name for a sect of the Eldar (High Elves): the Noldor. Fëanor was one, and also Galadriel. He had chosen this name because of its ancient linguistic meaning of knowledge and intellect, for the Noldor were to be the wisest of all Elves. He eventually discarded the name on account of it being too misleading (the rest of us had already figured that part out; it seems more like a dwarf than the highest of all natural races).

Tomas, I just want to say that I find your take on the Eagles quite interesting, and that your English is without flaw (what is your native tongue, anyway?).
Here's a question for you, Matthew: what happened to my last post?? I typed up a rather lengthy article about a week ago, and it has not yet appeared (I apologize if I have just carelessly missed it). It was about several things, as many of mine are, and the only part of it I clearly remember was a justification for the pointed hobbit ears, which I shall restate here:
I believe PJ & Company probably decided to give the hobbits prosthetic ears in order to distinguish them more clearly as a separate race. Also, they are said by Tolkien to possess far superior hearing ability to our own, and the ears may have been done to represent this (ironically, the foam latex they were made of actually absorbed sound, making it hard for the actors to hear!). Interesting bit you threw in there, Tiniowen, about the pointed ears of Elves and pheriain. Where did you see that?

Lastly, I thought I'd mention that I watched the old Rankin/Bass rendition of the 'Return of the King' last night. . . . I'm still screaming from the mangling and mispronunciation of names alone (Sirith Uhn-gol instead if Kirith Oongol, Soaron instead Sowron, argh. . .), not to mention that awful, bearded, haloed Elrond, the complete neutering of Aragorn (he's got like two, completely flat, nearly irrelevant lines), the high-pitched reverberating voice of the Witchking, the constipated frog we see in the place of Gollum, and the Orc's most awful, horrendous, and utterly wretched song, "When There's a Whip, There's a Way." Pardon me whilst I continue to scream.


Namárië!