Joined: Jun 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 215 Location: Greenlawn, NY Karma: 4
Re: On the Balrog « Reply #30 on Aug 23, 2012, 9:06am »
Tolkien also loved to backfit connections into his stories. He didn't just revise The Hobbit, he turned the first edition into the version that Bilbo told publicly, while the second edition was the true version, and characters in The Lord of the Rings talk about this. I guess that, having seen that he had reused the name Glorfindel, he decided to backfit the later Glorfindel into the first one's resurrected self, returned from Mandos.
If Glorfindel was indeed the only elf who ever returned to Middle-earth from death (the stories never actually confirm this), then this is probably due to his complete awesomeness in defeating a balrog. "Hey," says some Valar to him as he emerges from Mandos, "You're pretty awesome. Wanna go on a quest?" His arrival in Middle-earth is never described. Did he come with one of the wizards? Separately? His conversation with Cirdan must have been pretty interesting.
Re: On the Balrog « Reply #31 on Aug 23, 2012, 9:10am »
Quote:
Did he come with one of the wizards?
I wish I could remember were I read about this. I seem to remember that yes he did come at the same time as the Istari. I don't know if he came with any certain one of them. I agree with you that I think his battle with a Balrog is what made him chosen.
Didn't Beren and Luthien get to be resurrected and allowed to dwell somewhere in Middle Earth for awhile? But then they didn't interact in the affairs of ME. Hmmm now looking at my guide there are two Berens mentioned, the other was a Steward of Gondor in the TA.
« Last Edit: Aug 23, 2012, 9:18am by Otto Harkaman »
Falconer Level 9 Sorcerer Cleric of OD&D member is offline
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Re: On the Balrog « Reply #32 on Aug 23, 2012, 11:04am »
It’s in The Peoples of Middle-earth where Tolkien contemplates the idea of Glorfindel coming back with the Wizards.
Beren DID have a hand in destroying the Dwarvish host on their way back to the Blue Mountains from the Ruin of Doriath. Beren himself fought Naugladur, king of Nogrod, hand to hand (and would have lost, were it not for the Curse of Mîm).
Although it’s true that The Silmarillion was ever a work in progress, for some reason, Tolkien throughout his life expressed a reluctance to ever contradict “The Fall of Gondolin” in any significant way (i.e., such as renaming Glorfindel). It is the first thing he ever wrote of his Legendarium, and, well, it is just plain awesome. Tolkien read it aloud to the Exeter College Essay Club in the spring of 1920, which event possibly cemented the work’s canonicity in its author’s mind.
A man may do both. For not we but those who come after will make the legends of our time. The green earth, say you? That is a mighty matter of legend, though you tread it under the light of day! —J.R.R. Tolkien
Falconer Level 9 Sorcerer Cleric of OD&D member is offline
OD&D, Middle-earth, Star Trek TOS
Joined: Sept 2007 Gender: Male Posts: 1,338 Location: Chicago, IL Karma: 51
Re: On the Balrog « Reply #33 on Aug 23, 2012, 11:11am »
Let me prepare an electronic copy of Tolkien’s essays on Glorfindel in The Peoples of Middle-earth, and send them to whoever wants them. I could possibly do the same for his essays on Orcs from Morgoth’s Ring, but I’m currently kind of tired of that subject.
A man may do both. For not we but those who come after will make the legends of our time. The green earth, say you? That is a mighty matter of legend, though you tread it under the light of day! —J.R.R. Tolkien
Let me prepare an electronic copy of Tolkien’s essays on Glorfindel in The Peoples of Middle-earth, and send them to whoever wants them. I could possibly do the same for his essays on Orcs from Morgoth’s Ring, but I’m currently kind of tired of that subject.
I would enjoy the one on Glorfindel, sounds like you are a true Tolkien scholar!
Re: On the Balrog « Reply #35 on Aug 23, 2012, 9:59pm »
Quote:
Tolkien read it aloud to the Exeter College Essay Club in the spring of 1920
I foolishly started to look through my folder of Tolkien audio files, thinking by some stray chance I might have it. Then I really looked at the date and I laughed at myself thinking that a recording could have been made. What are the chances? Is there one?
I think I might have some from at the earliest in the later 1950s. I collected the BBC dramatization ones, and of course some unabridged.
« Last Edit: Aug 23, 2012, 9:59pm by Otto Harkaman »
A man may do both. For not we but those who come after will make the legends of our time. The green earth, say you? That is a mighty matter of legend, though you tread it under the light of day! —J.R.R. Tolkien
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I foolishly started to look through my folder of Tolkien audio files, thinking by some stray chance I might have it. Then I really looked at the date and I laughed at myself thinking that a recording could have been made. What are the chances? Is there one?