Trivia Question

Well, I can't find my copy of the Sil But I believe his name was Irmo (Unless that was Lorien...)

I can't find the "brave heart" reference in ROTK but I'm fairly sure now it refers to Eowyn. Irmo was Lorien.

Thought so :P It's Namo then...

Now you've got it!

"Brave heart" is found in ROTK, p82ish, when Faramir is fleeing the Dark Rider.

I've got a question for you all here... Tolkien corresponded with a reader who shared the namesake of a major character in LOTR. What was his/her name? (Character or person, doesn't matter - same anyway)

Sam Gamgee!!! Saw that when I was skimming through Letters the other day! Good question!

Actually, I also read somewhere - I don't know where - that after corresponding with the real Sam Gamgee, Tolkien joked that he feared receiving a letter from an "S. Gollum".

cool! About the tunnels: the 7 gates alternated between two corners of the city, and the people had to go back and forth across that side of the city between gates. There was a spur of the mountain jutting out right in the middle, so the main road was built through it in tunnels. Actually, now that I think about it, there were probably only 6. It describes this at the beginning of RotK. Not to offend anyone, but that's why I like LotR better than Sil--it's amazingly descriptive, and the story seems much more real.

Yeah, sometimes I think of the Sil as a history book - just the facts, few details or "fleshing out" of characters. LotR is more of a story. It was very good, though, of course

Eruve, which Letters are you referring to? Letters from Father Christmas or The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien? Have you heard of the latter book? Has anyone? I gave that book to someone a long time ago, and I have been looking for it ever since....

I meant The Letters of JRR Tolkien. Never lend books! I learned the hard way in high school, when I convinced a friend to read LOTR. I leant her my copies and only got Fellowship back. I never saw the other two volumes again!

Yeah, I lost my first copy of LOTR the same way....but I did not lend The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, I gave it as a gift. You wouldn't happen to know where to get a copy? I have checked and I don't believe it is in print anymore.

anduin, you're the second person who's told me that (about Letters being unavailable). That surprises me because I only bought my copy around 3 years ago. I got it in a regular bookshop. But I live in Canada; maybe it's no longer available in the US... My edition is published by Harper Collins and comes direct from London. Have you tried Amazon? If not, I think Chapters has a website where you can order books. Chapters is a Canadian bookstore. I think the url is something like <A HREF=http://www.chapters.ca >http://www.chapters.ca </A>. Good luck! Edited to add: I just checked the Chapters site and it's available here in Canada and can be ordered from their site.

Yeah, I have tried amazon.com. I even signed up to be emailed if it ever becomes available at auction, but I haven't heard anything yet. I may just ask if my friend still has the book, and if he would be interested in selling it to me or something...

Books about Tolkien and Middle-earth Don't accidentally order Bored of the Rings...

Is that a comment directed towards the book? I mean, is it worth even bothering about?

I haven't read it but I heard it's fairly funny.

Bored of the Rings had authentic humor for some portions. But the *comedians* may have just as well used the HTML tags [we'retiredofwritingthisdamnbookwepromiseddammit,ju ststopreadingandgiveusyourmoney] and [/we'retiredofwritingthisdamnbookwepromiseddammit,ju ststopreadingandgiveusyourmoney] for the sections where they ran out of Actual Wit™. I chuckled for some portions, but it required effort. You can always borrow it from a friend.

Sorry, what I meant is, is The Letters of JRR Tolkien worth trying to track down?