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The Nature of Middle-Earth
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The Nature of Middle-earth > Part One: Time and Aging

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message 1: by Michael (last edited Aug 30, 2021 01:03AM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

Michael | 455 comments Mod
Discussions and observations about the XXIII chapters in Part One of the book, together with the Introductory materials. May contain spoilers 🙂


Michael | 455 comments Mod
I'm up to page 96, part way through the chapter, "Key Dates".
There's been a lot of mathematical lists in previous chapters as Tolkien straightens out chronologies in his head, which, depending on your tastes, will be either fascinating or dry - I was midway on that spectrum, I think - but plenty of other juicy stuff in between.
Spoiler next...

Anyway, I came here to say that in "Key Dates" there's a little comment which changed my feeling about the Avari (those elves who chose not to accept the invitation of the Valar to find sanctuary in Valinor from the growing strength of Melkor), who I'd imagined as less adventurous or more timid, perhaps simply a more settled and conservative people, but the entry on the First Sundering presents it as (also?) a generational divide, with the first-created elves and their immediate descendents feeling their authority slighted by the younger elves who had travelled to Valinor as ambassadors, and who return as almost religious zealots, which was an unfortunate outcome of their visit which Ulmo had warned against.
It's amazing how through these little comments Tolkien adds to the depth and richness of his work.


message 3: by Michael (last edited Dec 22, 2021 02:34AM) (new) - rated it 4 stars

Michael | 455 comments Mod
Another great "reveal" in Key Dates is the quenya names for all of the Istari! Tolkien had elsewhere only given Gandalf's quenya name, °¿±ôó°ù¾±²Ô, but here he also gives (view spoiler). Hostetter gives their English meanings in his notes, which adds tiny morsels to the sparse information Tolkien gave about the wizards.


message 4: by Max (new) - rated it 3 stars

Max (crabbymaxie) | 24 comments I really found this an interesting part! I haven't really thought about the aging process of the elves (I'm not a Tolkien scholar or something, more of a casual reader but I do like all the background). And of course I knew Tolkien thought it trough, I was still surprised about the depth of it. And the maths! I did not expect that.
What a work must have gotten into writing this book, looking at all the paper Tolkien wrote and all his thought processes!


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