January 24, 2004

Valinor and
Tuor

Yeah, yeah, I know this is two articles, but this one just doesn't fit with the other. Valinor was originally just an island, the westernmost island in the world. But, due to the greediness or whatever of Ar-Pharazon, the last king of Numenor, it was removed permanently from the circles of the world. Originally, elves could (I assume) come and go freely between Valinor and Middle Earth, as the Eldar such as Galadriel did. But, when King Ar-Pharazon of Numenor, under the influence of Sauron, decided to invade Valinor in order to obtain immmortality, it incurred the direct intervention of Iluvatar, the supreme being of Tolkien's world. He therefore separated Valinor from Middle Earth and destroyed Numenor, therefore making the east-west journey irreversible and reducing Sauron to his less inviting evil fiery spirit form. See, Sauron was then the prisoner of the Numenoreans, but he seduced them into doing his bidding in order to incur the wrath of the Vala. But, he didn't reckon Iluvatar himself would interfere, leading to more trouble for himself than he intended.

NO, the Havens certainly are NOT on an island. If you have a map of Middle Earth, the Grey Havens are located almost exactly west of the Shire, or on the river leading out of the Gulf of Lune on the NW coast, if you don't know where the Shire is, or west of the Tower Hills if you do know where the Shire is. In fact, the realms of Forlindon and Harlindon are all that remain of the ancient realms of Beleriand, if you've read the Silmarillion. Oh, and I think it is totally possible to leave the havens whenever you wish. Legolas and Gimli didn't even leave through the Havens. They built a grey ship on the Anduin and sailed west from the mouths of said river the same year Aragorn died (120 F.A.). However, at the time of Frodo and Sam, it was a one-way only trip due to the preceding section.

And more elaboration in The Bruce's article about the charge of the Rohirrim in the Two Towers. Not only was the pike thing made up in Braveheart, but there are certain other things to consider in TT. First off, no way are the pikes of the orcs even thick enough to stop the horsemen. I mean, they aren't even braced against the ground, let alone thick enough to stop 1000+ cavalry. The very front line of horses MIGHT be stopped, but every single line after that would break right through because it isn't easy to pull a pike out of a horse, and that's if you're just holding it in your hands like the Uruk-hai. The whole point of the cavalry charge was that the enemy would still be crushed by the tumbling horses, not to mention that not all the consecutive riders could possibly be stopped unless they were as dumb as rocks. Really, the machine gun wasn't the downfall of cavalry. It was more the introduction of armored cavalry, or tanks if you prefer that name. Horsed soldiers could outrun machine gun rounds, but they had no offensive capability against tanks.

Tuor