LOTR: Appendices

[lorien]

Since this will be my second time through LOTR I thought I might want to read more backgrounder material before we start our discussion of LOTR March 3. After much badgering (oops! suggesting) by Fan, I have settled down to reading all the appendices at the end of The Return of the King. However, these topics will mean nothing to first-time readers and may be of little interest to rereaders so I thought they should go in their own thread. If any seem of a particular importance or interest we can break out a more specific thread.

[lorien]

Last night I started with "The Numenorean Kings", (i) Numenor, (ii) The Realms in Exile, (iii) Eriador, Arnor, and the Heirs of Isildur, (iv) Gondor and the Heirs of Anarion. All I can say is that if you suffer from insomnia, this is the perfect cure! I was listening to the audio and actually fell asleep in my chair so I'm not quite sure where I left off!

Tolkien put these in because he felt they were important to fill out aspects of the story that did not fit in to the telling of the story. Right now, though, I feel like I'm mining for mithral in the Mines of Moria.

There is a lot of genealogy, history and geography in these sections that is totally meaningless to me. But the material is not without merit. When I looked at a map I wondered what was the significance of all the named lands that didn't seem to come up in LOTR. I see now they were an important part of the history, and I now know a bit about where the named places are and their significance. This was valuable for map orientation, which does become important. I also understand, but just superficially, the significance and difference in the half-elves. This does in its own way, have a bearing on how some things in LOTR unfold and becomes more apparent as I read further into the appendices and probably as I reread the books. I will try these first few chapters again later, probably by reading with yellow marker in hand and when I might be more alert and attentive, and address some of my questions here. Some of the other chapters are more interesting and easier to see the significance to the telling of the story of LOTR.

[lorien]

Witch-King

I meant to add in here the Witch-King. In this section we also get some information on the rule and early problems with the Witch-King--and also later on in other sections. This I consider very important and will specifically look for references to him in other sections. He was a pretty busy and troublesome fellow even before the events of LOTR. (I bet the Hobbit II movie will address this.)

He is hard to search for on google as he is the subject of many games and products. I wonder why Tolkien used "witch" as his title. Maybe this has to do with the old notion that "wizards" are good magic people and "witches" are bad magic people, something I think Rowling tried to change by just making them different sexes of the same thing in Harry Potter.

[TiggerBear]

He is hard to search for on google as he is the subject of many games and products. I wonder why Tolkien used "witch" as his title. Maybe this has to do with the old notion that "wizards" are good magic people and "witches" are bad magic people, something I think Rowling tried to change by just making them different sexes of the same thing in Harry Potter.
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Witch is the proper term for male or female. Tolkien used it correctly. The use of witch for female and warlock for male is a Christendom miscommunication. Wizard is for those that get their power through knowledge. Sorcerer is for demon practitioners. Summoners aren't specific who they call. Necromancer, well that ones self explanatory. Mage is just a non english word for wizard.

[lorien]

What a difference a month makes! When I read this section exactly a month ago, it totally bored me and meant nothing. I am rereading it now because I am researching Stryder for the next couple of chapters and now things are starting to "click" into place. This looks like a thumbnail summary of what is in Silm so maybe that won't be so bad after I have gotten through LOTR this time through. The difference is that I'm thinking specifically of Stryder and where he is coming from and that made it more interesting. Also some of the names are now becoming more familiar to me. So all I can say to the newer readers is to hang in there--it does start to make a lot of sense.

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lorien wrote:
Last night I started with "The Numenorean Kings", (i) Numenor, (ii) The Realms in Exile, (iii) Eriador, Arnor, and the Heirs of Isildur, (iv) Gondor and the Heirs of Anarion. All I can say is that if you suffer from insomnia, this is the perfect cure! I was listening to the audio and actually fell asleep in my chair so I'm not quite sure where I left off!

Tolkien put these in because he felt they were important to fill out aspects of the story that did not fit in to the telling of the story. Right now, though, I feel like I'm mining for mithral in the Mines of Moria.

There is a lot of genealogy, history and geography in these sections that is totally meaningless to me. But the material is not without merit. When I looked at a map I wondered what was the significance of all the named lands that didn't seem to come up in LOTR. I see now they were an important part of the history, and I now know a bit about where the named places are and their significance. This was valuable for map orientation, which does become important. I also understand, but just superficially, the significance and difference in the half-elves. This does in its own way, have a bearing on how some things in LOTR unfold and becomes more apparent as I read further into the appendices and probably as I reread the books. I will try these first few chapters again later, probably by reading with yellow marker in hand and when I might be more alert and attentive, and address some of my questions here. Some of the other chapters are more interesting and easier to see the significance to the telling of the story of LOTR.

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