October 7, 2003

Olog-hai (Breed of Trolls) and (Sigh) Figwit
Bob Praz

Figwit, our dear, famous Figwit, has become a cult celebrity because of his single-second appearance as an elf in the Council of Elrond in FOTR. Why he has become such a famous figure with a large cult following is beyond me; one of the great mysteries of LOTR fandom, I suppose (apparently he is gorgeous to women). The elf-smith in the trailer does bear a resemblance to him, but I don't think it is him. I could be wrong though, as he could be a member of the council as well as a smith (or maybe PJ simply wanted to please his fans). If you want to know more about him, there's a few fan sites you could certainly check out (especially the "Figwit Lives!" site, which started it all).

Niphredil brought up a very good question about how much sunlight is required to turn trolls into stone. Now, it was mentioned that PJ added trolls at the Black Gate who walked in plain sunlight. I would just like to mention the existence of the Olog-hai, which are a race of huge, terrible trolls that Sauron bred and which can endure sunlight. The trolls at the Black Gate could very well have been part of this breed, as the Olog-hai were described to be great hill-trolls from northern Mordor, so it is plausible they were used to man to Gate as well as to fight.
As for the Cave Troll in Moria; the shaft of light in Balin's Tomb seemed to be made of daylight, not necessarily directly from the sun (just bear with me a second). The way I always saw it, which is open to argument, is that the trolls needed direct and unhindered rays of sunlight to be turned to stone. Why do I think this? Because if even mere daylight on a cloudy day or right before dawn could turn them into stone, than trolls would have little to no chance of survival whatsoever; even in caves and in the hour before sunrise or after sunset there is always some daylight, and yet the trolls never turned into stone in those conditions. Example: the Trolls in The Hobbit turned to stone only when the first rays of the sun crept over the horizon, therefore all light ere then had no effect.
Ok, sorry about this huge response on this subject, but I hope I got my point across.

P.S.: One thing, however; I have found the name "Olog-hai" in many LOTR references and guides (including Robert Foster's guide), but I can't actually seem to find it in the book. The last two pages or so of the chapter "The Black Gate Opens" feature a description of these trolls, but it never mentions their name. Does anyone know where the actual name comes from? I know it's black speech for "troll-people".