Lord of the Rings...a few questions

[blues008]

Hi all,

I recently watched the extended version of the 'Fellowship of the Ring', and had a few questions...

1) Why are the elves leaving and where are they going?

2) Where did Gandalf learn to use a sword? I remember him having one in 'The Hobbit' that he was very proficient with, but I didn't think wizards could use swords as they are heavy and require a lot of training.

3) What's up with the dwarves and elves...why are they so hostile towards each other?

Thanks!

 

[Kelvrick]

Originally posted by: blues008
Hi all,

I recently watched the extended version of the 'Fellowship of the Ring', and had a few questions...

1) Why are the elves leaving and where are they going?

2) Where did Gandalf learn to use a sword? I remember him having one in 'The Hobbit' that he was very proficient with, but I didn't think wizards could use swords as they are heavy and require a lot of training.

3) What's up with the dwarves and elves...why are they so hostile towards each other?

Thanks!

Kami should be here shortly to reply with your 3 simple questions with several hundred words. ANyway..

1: The elves are just leaving because their time is up, they don't really belong in middle-earth anymore. They're going west across the sea to apparently some fantasy land where they all strip naked and turn into Arwen look-a-likes. (I hope)

2: You're thinking of other AD&D books like DragonLance and Forgotten Realms and such where wizards are humans or dwarves or elves or whatever. In LOTR, think of Wizards as sort of their own race, they're not human, not elves, not nothin. THey just plain whoop your ass.

3: Dwarves and elves just have generally different cultures, hence one lives with trees, one lives with mountains. THey're all good thoguh and would much rather kill orcs.

<== monkey dance

 

[blues008]

So Gandalf isn't human, elf, etc?

What the heck is he?

 

[Kelvrick]

Originally posted by: blues008
So Gandalf isn't human, elf, etc?

What the heck is he?

He's not from middle-earth exactly. I forgot the names since I read it so long ago, but some super in-charge guy somewhere else sent a bunch of say angels to come to middle-earth and guide the populace. This included gandalf, saruman, the balrag, even sauran and some others I think. But yea, Gandalf isn't human or nothing.

<== monkey dance

 

[Wallydraigle]

Back before men were even around the elves were made and the Valar brought them all to Valinor to protect them from the wars that would be fought later. Not all the elves went to Valinor, and some later came back to Middle-Earth. Even years later the Valar still gave them a chance to come to Valinor of they wanted to.

Gandalf os thousands of years old, and in that time he would have learned to do a great many things. He is actually one of the Maiar, like Sauron and the Balrog. Think "angel".

There's a lot of bad blood between the Dwarves and Elves. The dwarves killed Thingol back in the day, and woke up the sleeping Balrog, among other things, and the elves basically blamed them for all their problems.

 

[NesuD]

Originally posted by: Kelvrick

Originally posted by: blues008
So Gandalf isn't human, elf, etc?

What the heck is he?

He's not from middle-earth exactly. I forgot the names since I read it so long ago, but some super in-charge guy somewhere else sent a bunch of say angels to come to middle-earth and guide the populace. This included gandalf, saruman, the balrag, even sauran and some others I think. But yea, Gandalf isn't human or nothing.

<== monkey dance

A Maia, one of the Istari (Wizards); see Mithrandir; also Gandalf; for definition see LOTR
Dictionary
Maiar likely of pre-Elven derivation; perhaps connected with AYAN- holy [Etym], aina holy [appx]; a
Valrin root such as m&aacute;ya 'good' would be suggested; also related might be MA3- hand ... ON mo plur
mai [Etym] - in the sense of the Maiar being the 'hands' of the Valar; the -ar ending forms a plural; one
source [The Peoples of Middle Earth, Part Two, Chapter 11, note #45] offers a different form of
G&Aacute;YAS- fear, dread [Etym], as GAYA - 'awe, dread', from which the Q forms &aacute;ya, awe and aira 'holy'
derive; this form - aira - parallels the Q word aina / ainu [see Ainur], where the 'r' and the 'n' are used
interchangably; the term maia is simply translated as 'spirit'; the concept is cameoed as 'willful angelic
servants'; Sauron was a Maia, a 'fallen angel'; Ainur of lesser degree than the Valar

Basically He was a demigod. All the background can be found in the Silmarillion. this information was taken from the Silmarillion Dictionary

 

[LuNoTiCK]

Wow this is all so complicated. Wheres Valinor? Whose Valar? Who is the war fought between exactly?

 

[Martin]

Originally posted by: LuNoTiCK
Wow this is all so complicated. Wheres Valinor? Whose Valar? Who is the war fought between exactly?

You guys need to read the Silmarillion

Anyway, Valinor is to the west of middle earth, across an ocean. In acient times it used to be connected to middle earth, but after the end of the second age, it was removed from middle earth altogerther. Now only those chosen by the valar can find the "straight path" to valinor.

The Valar are the guardians of the world. The god of middle-eartgh is named Illuvatar, called Eru by the elves. The Ainur are the children of his thought. The Valar are the Auinur who chose to devote their lives to building Middle-earth and guarding it. Gandalf and Sauron are "Maiar", servants of the Valar.

There were too many wars in the history of middle earth to say. Here is a short list

1. Elves and some Men vs Melkor (first age)
2. Elves, men and dwarves vs. Sauron (second age)
3. Men vs Sauron (third age, events in LotR)



as for the original quesitons:

1. The elves are leaving middle earth for Valinor, where they will join the other Elves. They are doing this because their power and dominon over middle earth is waning.
2. Gandalf, being a demi-god, can do lots of things. he only appears as an old man, but is in fact strong enough to challenge Sauron by himself.
3. Ancient rivalry. The elves look down upon the dwarves, the dwarves don't like the elves. There is no strong hate, as they worked togerther and were good friends during the mid-second age.

 

[kami]

Well they've already been answered...I'm too late!

 

[xSauronx]

some of this extended stuff really is for the true fans of the books
and if you havent read the books, you should, much much better than the movies could ever be (though, FotR was great, and TTT looks even better)

then read the silmarillion, slow start but really answers your questions better than the Lord of the Rings would, a very good read i think

 

[NesuD]

The Silmarillion is the Mythology of middle earth. A definite must read for anyone who seriously wants to know the complete story.