February 3, 2004

To: Araneldar and Bob Praz
Elendur

To Araneldar: The Unfished Tales CLEARLY STATES that the Blue Wizards are called ALATAR and PALLANDO and they arrived in Middle-Earth AFTER Saruman. Of course it is possible(even probable) that Tolkien wasn't sure about their names or time of arrivel.
I agree with Everett about Gandalf-Valinor-Halls of Iluvitar.

To Bob Praz: About the Orcs. First, that Weapons and Warfare book is pretty cool but it's based on the movies, not the books so I would trust anything it says. When Shagrat and Gorbag talked about "old times" they most likely meant before THEY had "big bosses. Orcs tend to think about themselves. This could mean any time before they came to Mordor, meaning they didn't have to have been around before Sauron came back.

-Elendur