From: "S. McLaren" Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien Subject: Bones of a Mighty man - Haunted Mountain Return of the King Lines: 40 Organization: www.totalwar.com X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 04:01:46 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 144.132.18.235 X-Complaints-To: news@bigpond.net.au X-Trace: news-server.bigpond.net.au 1037851306 144.132.18.235 (Thu, 21 Nov 2002 15:01:46 EST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 15:01:46 EST Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.mailgate.org!newsfeed.stueberl.de!newsfeed.vmunix.org!uio.no!news.tele.dk!news.tele.dk!small.news.tele.dk!intgwlon.nntp.telstra.net!news.telstra.net!news-server.bigpond.net.au!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.arts.books.tolkien:100245 Hi, One thing that has been bugging me is this: Who was the dead warrior whose skeleton and golden armor Aragorn discovered at the unopenable stony door in the Haunted Mountain? "Nonetheless he drew near, and saw Aragorn kneeling while Elladan held aloft both torches. Before him were the bones of a mighty man. He had been clad in mail, and still his harness lay there whole; for the cavern's air was a dry as dust. amd his hauberk was gilded. His belt was of gold and garnets, and rich with gold... He had fallen near the far wall of the cave.. and before him stood a stony door closed fast: his finger bones were still clawing at the cracks." (ROTK, Passing of the Grey Company) Who was he and what was behind the stony door? The passage can be found in 'Passing of the Grey Company', The Return of the King (Harper Collins 1991 single volume edition, page 818) Aragorn said, "Hither shall the flowers of simbelmyne come never unto world's end. ... Nine mounds and seven there are now green with grass, and through all the long years he has lain at the door that he could not unlock. Whither does it lead? Why would he pass? None shall ever know!" Was the answer to Aragorn's questions ever alluded to any of Tolkien's other works? Cheers, Sarah -- __________________________________ I worship a God who justifies the ungodly. The Bible, Romans 4:5 ###### From: "pawn" Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien References: Subject: Re: Bones of a Mighty man - Haunted Mountain Return of the King Lines: 11 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2002 23:12:25 -0500 NNTP-Posting-Host: 24.141.149.78 X-Complaints-To: abuse@cogeco.ca X-Trace: read2.cgocable.net 1037851948 24.141.149.78 (Wed, 20 Nov 2002 23:12:28 EST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2002 23:12:28 EST Organization: Cogeco Cable Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.mailgate.org!fr.usenet-edu.net!usenet-edu.net!proxad.net!proxad.net!newsfeed.news2me.com!feed.cgocable.net!read2.cgocable.net.POSTED!53ab2750!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.arts.books.tolkien:100134 "S. McLaren" wrote in message news:KUYC9.24158$nK4.65151@news-server.bigpond.net.au... You might want to skim back a few chapters. Although it's never *clearly* tied together, the allusion is that the bones belong to Baldor, son of Brego, who entered the paths on a quest of ego and spirits. ###### From: "Bill Silvey" Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien References: Subject: Re: Bones of a Mighty man - Haunted Mountain Return of the King Lines: 25 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 04:38:11 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 65.33.106.28 X-Complaints-To: abuse@rr.com X-Trace: twister.tampabay.rr.com 1037853491 65.33.106.28 (Wed, 20 Nov 2002 23:38:11 EST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2002 23:38:11 EST Organization: RoadRunner - Central Florida Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.mailgate.org!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!newsfeed1.cidera.com!Cidera!cyclone.tampabay.rr.com!news-post.tampabay.rr.com!twister.tampabay.rr.com.POSTED!53ab2750!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.arts.books.tolkien:100229 "pawn" wrote in message news:M2ZC9.17756$L47.2843017@read2.cgocable.net... > "S. McLaren" wrote in message > news:KUYC9.24158$nK4.65151@news-server.bigpond.net.au... > > > You might want to skim back a few chapters. Although it's never *clearly* > tied together, the allusion is that the bones belong to Baldor, son of > Brego, who entered the paths on a quest of ego and spirits. The Arda website states it as fact that the bones are Baldor's. (I'm not sure how well or poorly folks regard that web-resource; for me, it's very useful for role-playing info). -- http://home.cfl.rr.com/delversdungeon/index.htm Remove the X's in my email address to respond. Me: "What you have to understand, dear, is that the internet is a global community...a village!" My Wife: "And you're the village idiot, right?" I hate furries. ###### From: LITTLE LOCUS Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien Subject: Re: Bones of a Mighty man - Haunted Mountain Return of the King Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 10:29:27 +0100 Organization: Telefonica Data Espagna Lines: 46 Message-ID: <3DDCA776.A3A6DB4A@worldconquer.org> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: 217-127-202-87.uc.nombres.ttd.es Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: nsnmrro2-gest.nuria.telefonica-data.net 1037871086 318 217.127.202.87 (21 Nov 2002 09:31:26 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@nsnmrro2-gest.nuria.telefonica-data.net NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 09:31:26 +0000 (UTC) X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.77C-CCK-MCD {C-UDP; EBM-APPLE} (Macintosh; U; PPC) X-Accept-Language: en Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.mailgate.org!newsfeed.icl.net!newsfeed.fjserv.net!iad-peer.news.verio.net!news.verio.net!newsfeed.cwix.com!nsnmpen1-lo.nuria.telefonica-data.net!nsnmrro2-lo.nuria.telefonica-data.net!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.arts.books.tolkien:100114 I now realize I've posted a few things without introducing myself... well, since this is my first post actually /ASKING/ something, it seems a good moment to politely correct my impoliteness :) skip if not interested... "Hello, I've been lurking this group for a few months and I've finally decided to join more actively. I'm not a native English speaker, so please excuse any mistake. I'm a LotR fan since the 80's and if anyone is actually interested to know, I've read (several times) the core books (LotR, Hobbit, Silmarillion), both translated and untranslated, and part of Unfinished and Lost (in process) as well as other works, seen all movies to date (including the Rankin/Bass ones) and read a certain ammount of information written by others". OK. Now to get with it... pawn wrote: > > "S. McLaren" wrote in message > news:KUYC9.24158$nK4.65151@news-server.bigpond.net.au... > > You might want to skim back a few chapters. Although it's never *clearly* > tied together, the allusion is that the bones belong to Baldor, son of > Brego, who entered the paths on a quest of ego and spirits. I humbly believe that's not what he was asking... I quote again from him, > Aragorn said, "Hither shall the flowers of simbelmyne come never unto > world's end. ... Nine mounds and seven there are now green with grass, and > through all the long years he has lain at the door that he could not unlock. > Whither does it lead? Why would he pass? None shall ever know!" > > Was the answer to Aragorn's questions ever alluded to any of Tolkien's other > works? I think McLaren /knows/ it's Baldor's body, and that he means if Aragorn's rethorical questions ("Whither does it (the door) lead? Why would he pass?") are actually answered. And I would be VERY glad to know myself :) for they certainly aren't in any book I've read, but I admit I haven't read /everything/ (yet) and maybe they are answered somewhere (given Tokien's compelling habit of tying loose ends). L.L. -- "We must. We can. We will". (Christopher Reeve) ###### From: mair_fheal@yahoo.com (coyotes rand mair fheal) Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien Subject: Re: Bones of a Mighty man - Haunted Mountain Return of the King Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 01:58:54 -0800 Organization: dis mariposa Message-ID: References: <3DDCA776.A3A6DB4A@worldconquer.org> X-Complaints-To: abuse@supernews.com Lines: 10 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!snoopy.risq.qc.ca!newsfeed.news2me.com!sn-xit-05!sn-xit-01!sn-post-01!supernews.com!corp.supernews.com!c47.ppp.tsoft.com!user Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.arts.books.tolkien:100197 > And I would be VERY glad to know myself :) for they certainly aren't in any book > I've read, but I admit I haven't read /everything/ (yet) and maybe they are > answered somewhere (given Tokien's compelling habit of tying loose ends). remember sam and frodo talking about stories while resting in cirith ungol after the stairs? all stories are incomplete even in niggles country the stories were still incomplete ###### From: LITTLE LOCUS Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien Subject: Re: Bones of a Mighty man - Haunted Mountain Return of the King Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 13:36:19 +0100 Organization: Telefonica Data Espagna Lines: 30 Message-ID: <3DDCD342.8860E469@worldconquer.org> References: <3DDCA776.A3A6DB4A@worldconquer.org> NNTP-Posting-Host: 217-127-202-87.uc.nombres.ttd.es Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: nsnmrro2-gest.nuria.telefonica-data.net 1037882298 348 217.127.202.87 (21 Nov 2002 12:38:18 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@nsnmrro2-gest.nuria.telefonica-data.net NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 12:38:18 +0000 (UTC) X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.77C-CCK-MCD {C-UDP; EBM-APPLE} (Macintosh; U; PPC) X-Accept-Language: en Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.imp.ch!news.imp.ch!fr.clara.net!heighliner.fr.clara.net!news.stealth.net!news.stealth.net!in.100proofnews.com!in.100proofnews.com!nsnmrro1-lo.nuria.telefonica-data.net!nsnmrro2-lo.nuria.telefonica-data.net!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.arts.books.tolkien:100100 coyotes rand mair fheal wrote: > > > And I would be VERY glad to know myself :) for they certainly aren't in > any book > > I've read, but I admit I haven't read /everything/ (yet) and maybe they are > > answered somewhere (given Tokien's compelling habit of tying loose ends). > > remember sam and frodo talking about stories > while resting in cirith ungol after the stairs? > all stories are incomplete > > even in niggles country the stories were still incomplete I know and I love that Tolkien used to tell only part of the "tales" to give the reader the impresion of them being part of a greater tale (which they are, after all). But also I know that he used to write them down anyway for his own sake :) (Queen Beruthiel(sp?) comes to mind...), the question is if it has come to light somewhere the above (snipped) tale of what was actually behind the haunted door. In other words: I'm not asking "What was behind the doors?", I'm asking "Was it actually written or was it left to imagination?" Of course, a "no" is a valid answer :) but only if it's a definite "no, in no published work" (a simple "not in the core books" or "I don't think so" I already know both!) L.L. -- "We must. We can. We will". (Christopher Reeve) ###### Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien Subject: Re: Bones of a Mighty man - Haunted Mountain Return of the King References: X-Newsreader: trn 4.0-test70 (17 January 1999) From: sbjensen@midway.uchicago.edu (Steuard Jensen) Lines: 39 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.135.12.7 X-Trace: news.uchicago.edu 1037888845 128.135.12.7 (Thu, 21 Nov 2002 08:27:25 CST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 08:27:25 CST Organization: The University of Chicago X-SessionID: h36D9-9011-P4-6290@news.uchicago.edu X-Hash-Info: post-filter,v:1.4 X-Hash: 1dcdf87b a7d8571a 0e4ca342 ddd422db 2e3e3b6d Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2002 14:27:25 GMT Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.mailgate.org!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!news-hog.berkeley.edu!ucberkeley!128.135.12.170.MISMATCH!news.uchicago.edu!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.arts.books.tolkien:100061 Quoth "S. McLaren" in article : > Who was the dead warrior whose skeleton and golden armor Aragorn > discovered at the unopenable stony door in the Haunted Mountain? He was Baldor, eldest son of Brego who was the second King of Rohan (and who built the great hall of Meduseld). (The white flowers that Aragorn refers to are those that grow on the burial mounds of the Kings of Rohan.) Bits of his story are scattered through LotR. > ...and what was behind the stony door? Tolkien seems to have thought it was the entrance to an evil temple hall of the Men of Darkness. Baldor was apparently allowed to get to the door, but it "was shut in his face, and enemies that had followed him silently came up and broke his legs and left him to die in the darkness, unable to find any way out." All the information in this paragraph comes from Tolkien's essay "The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor", published in the journal _Vinyar Tengwar_ #42. (Back issues of VT are available from www.elvish.org for $2-$4, depending on where you live in the world. I also _very_ highly recomment VT #39, which includes the fantastic essay "_Osanwe-kenta_: Enquiry into the Communication of Thought".) It's not entirely clear to me just how firmly Tolkien had settled on this explanation, but I believe it's the only one he ever gave. > Aragorn said, ...he has lain at the door that he could not unlock. > Whither does it lead? Why would he pass? None shall ever know!" > Was the answer to Aragorn's questions ever alluded to any of > Tolkien's other works? I've shared the answer to his first question, as far as we know it. As for _why_ Baldor wanted to pass through the door, I have no idea. Maybe the temple contained treasures that he could see before the door was shut. Maybe he thought it would eventually lead him out. We really don't know. Steuard Jensen ###### From: LITTLE LOCUS Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien Subject: Re: Bones of a Mighty man - Haunted Mountain Return of the King Date: Fri, 22 Nov 2002 10:57:14 +0100 Organization: Telefonica Data Espagna Lines: 29 Message-ID: <3DDDFF7A.BC315571@worldconquer.org> References: <3DDCA776.A3A6DB4A@worldconquer.org> <3DDCD342.8860E469@worldconquer.org> <3DDD4ACF.5AC300E8@MOVEcgey.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 217-127-202-87.uc.nombres.ttd.es Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: nsnmrro2-gest.nuria.telefonica-data.net 1037959187 25231 217.127.202.87 (22 Nov 2002 09:59:47 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@nsnmrro2-gest.nuria.telefonica-data.net NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 22 Nov 2002 09:59:47 +0000 (UTC) X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.77C-CCK-MCD {C-UDP; EBM-APPLE} (Macintosh; U; PPC) X-Accept-Language: en Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.mailgate.org!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!feed2.news.rcn.net!rcn!news-out.cwix.com!newsfeed.cwix.com!nsnmpen1-lo.nuria.telefonica-data.net!nsnmrro2-lo.nuria.telefonica-data.net!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.arts.books.tolkien:100111 Kristian Damm Jensen wrote: > > LITTLE LOCUS wrote: (snip) > > In other words: I'm not asking "What was behind the doors?", I'm asking "Was it > > actually written or was it left to imagination?" Of course, a "no" is a valid > > answer :) but only if it's a definite "no, in no published work" (a simple "not > > in the core books" or "I don't think so" I already know both!) > > A couple of month ago this was posted: > > In the c. 1969 essay "The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor" (published > it _Vinyar Tengwar_ 42), Tolkien writes: > > The special horror of the closed door before which the skeleton of > Baldor was found was probably due to the fact that the door was the > entrance to an evil temple hall to which Baldor had come, probably > without opposition up to that point. But the door was shut in his face, > and enemies that had followed him silently came up and broke his legs > and left him to die in the darkness, unable to find any way out. Thank you very much. L.L. -- "We must. We can. We will". (Christopher Reeve) ###### From: Stan Brown Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien Subject: Re: Bones of a Mighty man - Haunted Mountain Return of the King Date: Fri, 22 Nov 2002 09:42:45 -0500 Organization: Oak Road Systems Message-ID: References: X-Newsreader: MicroPlanet Gravity v2.60 X-Complaints-To: abuse@supernews.com Lines: 19 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.mailgate.org!news-spur1.maxwell.syr.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!sn-xit-03!sn-xit-01!sn-post-01!supernews.com!corp.supernews.com!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.arts.books.tolkien:100172 Steuard Jensen wrote in rec.arts.books.tolkien: >As for _why_ Baldor wanted to pass through the door, I have no idea. >Maybe the temple contained treasures that he could see before the door >was shut. Maybe he thought it would eventually lead him out. We >really don't know. He was drunk, wasn't he? Didn't he go into the mountain after "a great feast"? -- Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Cortland County, New York, USA http://OakRoadSystems.com Tolkien FAQs: http://Tolkien.slimy.com (Steuard Jensen's site) Tolkien letters FAQ: http://users.telerama.com/~taliesen/tolkien/lettersfaq.html FAQ of the Rings: http://oakroadsystems.com/genl/ringfaq.htm Encyclopedia of Arda: http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/default.htm more FAQs: http://oakroadsystems.com/tech/faqget.htm ###### From: Michael@xenite.org (Michael Martinez) Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien Subject: Re: Bones of a Mighty man - Haunted Mountain Return of the King Date: 23 Nov 2002 02:14:46 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com/ Lines: 18 Message-ID: <3b26e128.0211230214.62f7d026@posting.google.com> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: 65.69.223.87 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: posting.google.com 1038046486 28029 127.0.0.1 (23 Nov 2002 10:14:46 GMT) X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com NNTP-Posting-Date: 23 Nov 2002 10:14:46 GMT Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.mailgate.org!newsfeed.icl.net!newsfeed.fjserv.net!logbridge.uoregon.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!postnews1.google.com!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.arts.books.tolkien:100397 "Bill Silvey" wrote in message news:... > "pawn" wrote in message > news:M2ZC9.17756$L47.2843017@read2.cgocable.net... > > "S. McLaren" wrote in message > > news:KUYC9.24158$nK4.65151@news-server.bigpond.net.au... > > > > > > You might want to skim back a few chapters. Although it's never *clearly* > > tied together, the allusion is that the bones belong to Baldor, son of > > Brego, who entered the paths on a quest of ego and spirits. > > The Arda website states it as fact that the bones are Baldor's. (I'm not > sure how well or poorly folks regard that web-resource; for me, it's very > useful for role-playing info). If you're talking about the Glyphweb site, it's not a very reliable source of information. You pretty much have to do the research yourself to figure out whether their information is correct. ###### Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien Subject: Re: Bones of a Mighty man - Haunted Mountain Return of the King References: <3b26e128.0211230214.62f7d026@posting.google.com> X-Newsreader: trn 4.0-test70 (17 January 1999) From: sbjensen@midway.uchicago.edu (Steuard Jensen) Lines: 23 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: 128.135.12.7 X-Trace: news.uchicago.edu 1038089955 128.135.12.7 (Sat, 23 Nov 2002 16:19:15 CST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 23 Nov 2002 16:19:15 CST Organization: The University of Chicago X-SessionID: D9TD9-28104-P4-21654@news.uchicago.edu X-Hash-Info: post-filter,v:1.4 X-Hash: 2d982a3c 54f1dcd1 389e9773 5d5c4dfe 08cb2c77 Date: Sat, 23 Nov 2002 22:19:15 GMT Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.mailgate.org!cyclone.bc.net!news-hog.berkeley.edu!ucberkeley!128.135.12.170.MISMATCH!news.uchicago.edu!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.arts.books.tolkien:100307 Quoth Michael@xenite.org (Michael Martinez) in article <3b26e128.0211230214.62f7d026@posting.google.com>: [Regarding the Encyclopedia of Arda:] > If you're talking about the Glyphweb site, it's not a very reliable > source of information. You pretty much have to do the research > yourself to figure out whether their information is correct. Really? I haven't ever really tried to go through it carefully; most of what's there I can find just as easily and more canonically in the books (at least when I'm at home). Still, I haven't noticed that many glaring errors when I have looked aroud there, and many of its more detailed discussions have seemed quite well done. What sorts of things are you thinking of? (I _have_ had an ongoing but good-natured argument with its creator about the origin of Saruman's Uruk-hai. I'm reasonably convinced that they were one result of Saruman's Orc-Man breeding program, while he's reasonably convinced that they were the same race as the Uruk-hai of Mordor. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the issue, actually; a summary of the discussion as I see it can be found in the "Natures and Origins of the Races" section of my Tolkien Meta-FAQ, at http://tolkien.slimy.com/.) Steuard Jensen ###### From: Michael@xenite.org (Michael Martinez) Newsgroups: rec.arts.books.tolkien Subject: Re: Bones of a Mighty man - Haunted Mountain Return of the King Date: 23 Nov 2002 21:22:26 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com/ Lines: 33 Message-ID: <3b26e128.0211232122.1623f379@posting.google.com> References: <3b26e128.0211230214.62f7d026@posting.google.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 66.137.105.118 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: posting.google.com 1038115346 20033 127.0.0.1 (24 Nov 2002 05:22:26 GMT) X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com NNTP-Posting-Date: 24 Nov 2002 05:22:26 GMT Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news.mailgate.org!cyclone.bc.net!newsfeed.stanford.edu!postnews1.google.com!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch rec.arts.books.tolkien:100386 sbjensen@midway.uchicago.edu (Steuard Jensen) wrote in message news:... > Quoth Michael@xenite.org (Michael Martinez) in article > <3b26e128.0211230214.62f7d026@posting.google.com>: > [Regarding the Encyclopedia of Arda:] > > If you're talking about the Glyphweb site, it's not a very reliable > > source of information. You pretty much have to do the research > > yourself to figure out whether their information is correct. > > Really? I haven't ever really tried to go through it carefully; most > of what's there I can find just as easily and more canonically in the > books (at least when I'm at home). Still, I haven't noticed that many > glaring errors when I have looked aroud there, and many of its more > detailed discussions have seemed quite well done. What sorts of > things are you thinking of? It has some errors, but largely the information is incomplete. On certain controversial topics, they have misrepresented views with which they disagree. I've seen enough people say, "Well, I found X on the Encyclopedia of Arda and that seems to answer the question thoroughly" when, in fact, the EoA barely scratches the surface. The project has always been ambitious but has disappointed me repeatedly. What it has done which no other Web has done, and for which it deserves recognition, is to assemble a huge index of names from many books. But I couldn't give it better than a C+ on accuracy and completeness. I've seen certain people -- whose efforts I have ridiculed in the past -- do far better at covering topics in depth than the EoA site. Opinions vary, of course.