History Fridge / TheLordofTheRings

** Throwing an ArmyOfTheDead against Sauron, a ''necromancer'' would be a terrible idea that would have gotten everyone killed at the Black Gate should they fall under his influence.

* It makes some sense that the One Ring's default set of powers were invisibility and long life. Its greatest fear isn't being found by an Elf or Maia...such a powerful being would eventually be twisted into challenging Sauron, so it'd get back to Sauron that way. It's ending up in the hands of a nobody who'd keep it hidden yet never use it, preventing Sauron from finding and recovering it. Invisibility and long life are two things most mortals would want, but they're also two powers that people would eventually talk about...just like Hobbiton was talking about Bilbo at the beginning of ''Fellowship''. That way, all the Nazgul have to do to find the Ring is to scour the land for any rumors about unusually old people with a tendency to vanish into thin air and hunt them down.
** Another possible explanation: The Ring was made by Sauron to be used by Sauron alone, and the greater part of his essence is bound into it. Now, two of the most defining traits of the Valar and Maiar are that 1) They can assume or discard physical form at will, and 2) that they alone of all the beings within Middle-Earth are truly unaging (even Elves are affected by the flow of time, if not in the same way as humans). When a mortal wears the Ring, the essence of Sauron within it transfuse him to the tiniest degree, causing him to take on certain of the properties of a Maiar.

* It makes some sense that the One Ring's default set of powers were invisibility and long life. The greatest threat to the Ring isn't being found by an Elf or Maia...such a powerful being would eventually be twisted into challenging Sauron, so it'd get back to Sauron that way. Its greatest threat is ending up in the hands of a nobody who'd never use it to command anybody, so Sauron would have no way to find it. Invisibility and long life are two things most mortals would want, but they're also two powers that people would eventually talk about...just like Hobbiton was talking about Bilbo at the beginning of LOTR. That way, all the Nazgul have to do to find the Ring is to follow rumors about unusually old people with a tendency to vanish into thin air.

** The book specifically states "Sam saw the rivals with other vision. A crouching shape, scarcely more than the shadow of a living thing, a creature now wholly ruined and defeated, yet filled with a hideous lust and rage; and before it stood stern, untouchable now by pity, a figure robed in white, ''but at its breast it held a wheel of fire. Out of the fire there spoke a commanding voice.'' 'Begone, and trouble me no more! If you touch me ever again, you shall be cast yourself into Mount Doom.'" In other words, it wasn't ''Frodo'' who cast the curse that sent Gollum to his death, but ''the Ring itself''- it'd ''long'' grown tired of him because his six centuries spent doing nothing but hiding in the Misty Mountains prevented it from rejoining its master, and it knew he'd go ''right'' back to hiding if he ever got it back! In the end, the Ring's own evil (with the help of Eru ex Machina) destroyed itself!

* As you read the series, you come to realise that almost all the good races have at least one twisted, corrupted counterpart - Orcs, if you go with the published version of the Silmarillion, are Elves ruined by Morgoth, or at any rate were made in envy and mockery of the Elves; the Nazgûl are the evil counterparts of men, Trolls those of Ents, the Balrog is an evil Maia and therefore the ruined counterpart of Gandalf, and Gollum is a corrupted Hobbit. Dwarves are the only race that don't have an evil counterpart. In ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' it's revealed that Dwarves weren't designed by Eru in a time before evil, but by the lesser being Aule who knew he was sending his mortal creations into a world with TheCorruption and built them spiritually as well as physically tough.

** The book specifically states "Sam saw the rivals with other vision. A crouching shape, scarcely more than the shadow of a living thing, a creature now wholly ruined and defeated, yet filled with a hideous lust and rage; and before it stood stern, untouchable now by pity, a figure robed in white, ''but at its breast it held a wheel of fire. Out of the fire there spoke a commanding voice.'' 'Begone, and trouble me no more! If you touch me ever again, you shall be cast yourself into Mount Doom.'" In other words, it wasn't Frodo who cast the curse that sent Gollum to his death, but ''the Ring itself''- it'd ''long'' grown tired of him for hiding in the Misty Mountains for millennia and preventing it from rejoining its master, and knew that Gollum would go ''right'' back to hiding if he ever got it back! In the end, the Ring's own evil (with the help of Eru ex Machina) destroyed itself!

* It makes some sense that the One Ring's default set of powers were invisibility and long life. The greatest threat to the Ring isn't being found by an Elf or Maia...such a powerful being would eventually be twisted into challenging Sauron, so it'd get back to Sauron that way. Its greatest threat is ending up in the hands of a nobody who'd never use it to command anybody, so Sauron would have no way to find it. Invisibility and long life are two things most mortals would want, but they're also two powers that people would eventually talk about...just like Hobbiton is talking about Bilbo at the beginning of LOTR. That way, all the Nazgul have to do to find the Ring is ask around about rumors about unusually old people with a tendency to vanish into thin air.

** Alternatively, a big part of the Ring's power is the way it corrupts your mind, making you desire to keep it to yourself and hide it away from other people. What's the best way of hiding something? Turning it invisible. While wearing the Ring, you vanish from sight, not necessarily to keep YOURSELF safe, but to keep the RING safe, by making it literally impossible to find

** Gollum's fall into Mount Doom serves as a fitting character arc for him. On one hand, he's an intensely tragic character who does show some hints at redemption and loyalty towards Frodo. At the same time, his obsession and corruption from the Ring are central to his character and he can't simply redeem himself due to its irrevocable damage. Thus, his final fall manages to fulfill both purposes; his reuniting with the ring manages to satisfy his base desire, while his inadvertent sacrifice to destroy the ring maintains at least some form of redemption. Gollum "possessing" the ring in any other fashion would've clashed with Frodo's wishes.

** The book specifically states "Sam saw the rivals with other vision. A crouching shape, scarcely more than the shadow of a living thing, a creature now wholly ruined and defeated, yet filled with a hideous lust and rage; and before it stood stern, untouchable now by pity, a figure robed in white, ''but at its breast it held a wheel of fire. Out of the fire there spoke a commanding voice.'' 'Begone, and trouble me no more! If you touch me ever again, you shall be cast yourself into Mount Doom.'" In other words it was not Frodo who cast the curse that sent Gollum to his death but the Ring itself having tired of him as Gandalf said it did. In the end the Ring with the help of Eru ex Machina destroyed itself!

* Why, when Frodo offered Galadriel the One Ring, did she mention about becoming "beautiful and terrible as the dawn"? What's terrible about dawn?
** Ask a Troll that same question... With Galadriel as a Dark Queen, all the Races of Middle-Earth may come to feel the same way a Troll feels about the morning rays. According to the backstory in ''The Silmarillion'', Galadriel was older than the Sun, and actually saw what the first sunrise did. The light of the sun transforms everything that it touches - ''everything.'' The fact that it's nice happy sunlight doesn't lessen the impact.
** It is noted in The Silmarillion that while Men, awoken by the first rays of the sun, see sunrise as a symbol of new hope and a reason to rejoice, the Elves, who first saw only the stars, see it as a symbol of the end of their domain.
** This is probably also a case of the way characters in Middle Earth speak in archaic language. The original use of the word "terrible" meant awe-inspiring, begetting a feeling of insignificance and/or terror in those who see it. Being an amazing spectacle of nature, dawn can indeed be quite "terrible."

* The ThrowItIn of Gandalf's hitting his head on a ceiling beam in Bag End was a happy accident that managed to achieve three things:
** It was funny.
** It reinforced the size difference between humans and hobbits by showing that humans don't fit comfortably into spaces designed for hobbits.
** It suggested that Gandalf is not all-knowing and that he can be taken by surprise. Thus, it's all the more believable that he is completely blindsided by Saruman's betrayal and that he doesn't see it coming when the seemingly defeated Balrog uses his whip to pull Gandalf off the Bridge of Khazad-dûm.

* After reading ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'', suddenly the whole sequence with Shelob, already horrifying, becomes both a hundred times more intense and very symmetrical. The draining, total darkness in Shelob's lair isn't an absence of light, but Shelob is quite literally excreting darkness as its own material, just like her mother Ungoliant. Also, the light of Eärendil, which is the light of a Silmaril, shines through that darkness. When Ungoliant devoured the first trees, Fëanor refused to allow the use of the Silmarils to restore them. At one point, Tolkien was considering adding a chapter to ''The Silmarillion'' in which Eärendil ''kills'' Ungoliant, which would have made "Shelob's Lair" even more symbolic.

** Earlier, when Frodo orders him with the power of the Ring, his exact words are: "Begone, and trouble me no more! If you touch me ever again, you shall be cast yourself into the Fire of Doom." Gollum touches Frodo again - and guess what happens. So in a way, Frodo did cast the Ring down himself - if not in a way that he, and likely Gandalf, intended.

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* Once you know a little about Middle-Earth cosmology, the reforging of Andúril becomes an even bigger deal than it is at first glance. In Tolkien's universe, great works of art, magic, and craft [[LostTechnology cannot be made more than once,]] as the skills needed to make them [[TheMagicGoesAway fade over time.]] Even in our world, [[ReforgedBlade reforging a blade]] tends to [[RealityEnsues make it weaker along the joints]] than one made whole from scratch, as the fill material is different than the metal that went into the original blade. That the elves of Rivendell not only reforged Narsil (a sword made in the First Age whose original smith is long gone) into Andúril, but made it arguably ''[[CameBackStrong better]]'' than before (Narsil was broken by Sauron, while Andúril survives the rest of the story), is something special.

* It makes perfect sense as to why the lava bombs from Mount Doom can kill the Nazgul: they were born from the One Ring's power, and if that volcanic lava is capable of melting the source of their power, they're just as vulnerable. Furthermore, their master just got destroyed/depowered a short while ago, so they're likely on their dying throes anyway.

!!The Books

* Gimli being permitted to make the trip to Valinor with Legolas parallels the scene in the ''Silmarillion'' where Illatvur blesses Aule's prototype dwarves with the Secret Fire, and makes them a true race. In both cases, by divine grace and love dwarfkind is permitted entry to a blessing that was not originally intended for them.

* The change of the One Ring being destroyed from Gollum's accidental fall into molten pit to Frodo and Gollum fighting over the Ring puts a greater emphasis on [[EvilWillFail the folly of evil]] that Sauron counted on to preserve his powers. Sauron didn't realize that impulse of greed that prevents a person from destroying the One Ring only works with one person corrupted. If there are two corrupted persons, then they are more interested in killing their rival rather than protecting the Ring from harm. And this consequently causes them and the Ring to fall into the Crack of Doom due to their blindness of greed. HoistByHisOwnPetard, anyone?

* The change of the One Ring being destroyed from Gollum's accidental fall into molten pit to Frodo and Gollum fighting over the Ring puts a greater emphasis on [[EvilWillFail the folly of evil]] that Sauron counted on to preserve his powers. Sauron didn't realize that impulse of greed that prevents a person from destroying the One Ring only works with one person corrupted. If there are two corrupted persons, then they are more interested in killing their rival rather than protecting the Ring from harm. And this consequently causes them and the Ring to fall into the Crack of Doom due to their blindness of greed. HoistByHisOwnPetard, Sauron has.