The Hall of Fire

Just a wee bit scattered :D and it's taken a long time but for what it's worth, here's part two: And then there are the Elves....... Yes, there are. To me the Elves are Tolkien's most important creation. I know for many it is the Hobbits, and that the Hobbit-centric LOTR is his masterpiece, but for...

I am reading your fascinating story in Bag End, Voronwë, and wanted to ask.... what is your perception of the mingling of Islam and indigenous Animist religions? Is there any contradiction there, (many spirits vs. one deity) or are the faiths complimentary? Do the majority of the Malinke people for...

soli, you beat me to it, I was going to say basically the same thing. Tolkien did point to those other factors that Sassy mentioned (as well as the "war-like nature" of the early Jews! :shock: ), but as is almost always the case with Tolkien (as I am particularly reminded of by reading Shi...

Sassy, that is a really great question. It's going to take some time for me to compose an answer, though, and I didn't want you to think I was ignoring you.

I'll be back!

Here is an interview with Tolkien (either from 1964 or 1971): http://youtube.com/watch?v=9-G_v6-u3hg&feature=related Here is a transcript from the interview: http://www.tolkienlibrary.com/press/804-Tolkien_1971_BBC_Interview.php Here is Tolkien reciting Riddles in the Dark: http://youtube.com/wa...

solicitr wrote:Let's get this straight- you're asserting that US citizens have been detained under the PA without charge?

I would like to hear more about that myself.

I don't know enough about the Mayfield case to comment conclusively, but I suspect that there is a good chance that worry over reaction by Muslin activists was a factor in the decision to give him a settlement. I'll try to look into the case some more and perhaps comment further. Turning back to the...

Most emphatically not!

(soli, I'll address your previous post later.)

soli, the survelliance included monitoring emails, as well as infilitrating the group with young agents posing as activists. As for protesters being imprisoned, I know that members of ELF (the Earth Liberation Front, I believe) have been imprisoned for long terms under provisions of the Patriot Act....

In point of fact, there have been groups designated as "terrorist groups" that have only engaged in property damage, or even just simply non-violent protests, not killing or attempting to kill (or even harm) any people at all. I'm talking about animal rights and environmental groups, as we...

I think Huckabee has as good a shot as anyone in the Republican field, particularly if he wins South Carolina and does well in Florida. And unfortunately, from what I know of him, I'm not sure that quote that Eru cited really is taken out of context. There is an outside chance that the Republican co...

Indeed! One of the best episodes, and that is saying an awful lot!

I just saw this thread for the first time. What a great thread, tm!

I'll be back with some recommendations at some point.

You are right, of course. It is QS I and QS II that I was referring to, not A and B. Serves me right for not referring back to either The Lost Road or my own manuscript. I wonder how many times we will have this same discussion, in different forms. :P I would certainly be interested in what CT had t...

That's not really true, soli. In fact, Christopher did quite a bit of combining of different versions to form the narrative included in the published book. More to the point, he actually included MORE detail than his father intended. Tolkien initially began what Christopher calls version "A&quo...

That could well be. I've often wondered about Christopher's relationship with his mother. I have long had the impression (I don't know whether it is justified) that he particularly assimilated his father's idealized vision of Edith as Lúthien. Lúthien is virtually the only female character in the Si...

I think that the resemblence may be mostly accidental. In order to see what Tolkien is really talking about, one has to look at the full story of Míriel and Finwë, including the discussion in the essay Laws and Customs of the Eldar, rather than just the extremely abbreviated story that Christopher i...

That's an interesting thought, Ax. Can you expound further on that?