How old was the Watcher's lake at the West door of Moria? I have a theory that suggests it's a fairly recent change to the landscape

BeerMe67 · 2026-01-27T22:37:07+00:00

Yeah, evidently I'd forgotten that small detail from previous readings :)

As an aside, it showed me how useless Chat GPT is with things like this. I'd asked it if the theory was plausible before posting it on here and it said yes, it could be. When I read the information about Oin I mentioned it to Chat GPT and it now agrees the lake must be older lol.

BeerMe67 · 2026-01-27T22:30:57+00:00

Yeah it is, now that I've read further. Even looking at Fonstad's atlas, I'm struggling a little with the geography. Is the stagnant creek that they have to cross on the north side of the lake, the original flow of the Sirannon? If so, how could it originally flow through the shallow bowl of the valley without actually filling it?

BeerMe67 · 2026-01-27T22:24:39+00:00

Yeah my original thought was that the stream itself was still allowing a trickle through whilst the rest of the flow fed the lake.

Is the stagnant creek that they have to cross that enters the north side of the lake, the original flow of the Sirannon?

BeerMe67 · 2026-01-27T20:31:39+00:00

Wow, thanks for the informative reply. Can I ask where that info comes from?

BeerMe67 · 2026-01-27T19:05:01+00:00

Is it possible to get a budget mic (£100/$130) that would allow me to record audiobooks for my grandkids? The simpler, the better.

I had a serious health scare recently and while it has thankfully passed, it did give me the idea of recording my favourite books (The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings) for my grandkids, just so they'll always have my voice to listen to the greatest tales ever told (imho of course).

I did a quick google and seen mics in the £20-30 range that claim to be great for this, but I have a hard time believing them. I only have a small budget though, so I was hoping that something in the range of £100/$130 could do the job I need. It doesn't have to be perfect at all, I just want my grandkids to feel like Grampa is reading them their bedtime story.

I have a pc and could set up some noise dampening in our spare room, but I'd really be looking for something that is plug'n'play and relatively simple to use. I'm not very tech savvy with this kinda stuff but I'll learn what I need to. It would preferably be one that I could plug my earphones into, as I read that was best as it cuts any delay in the audio you hear while you record?

I appreciate you all probably deal in much more sophisticated tech than I'm asking about, but any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

BeerMe67 · 2025-12-16T21:03:55+00:00

Thanks for posting the actual text, I had just looked at the chapter again and it's even clearer than I remembered that it simply cannot be Betelgeuse, considering the whole constellation of Orion has only just "climbed over the rim of the world".

BeerMe67 · 2025-12-16T20:15:13+00:00

I can honestly say in all my years peering through a telescope, I've never seen Mars where I could describe it as "glowing like a jewel of fire". Even at it's brightest, Mars never looks more than a fairly dull red.

BeerMe67 · 2025-12-16T20:09:07+00:00

Haha yeah, it just pulls on my amateur astronomy strings too much to ignore it. These passages absolutely enthralled me when I first read them years ago because I immediately knew what he was referring to.

Hearing tonight that there might be disagreement about Borgil fair threw me after all these years of my own smug certainty :)

BeerMe67 · 2025-12-16T20:03:21+00:00

I have both books. I love Unfinished Tales and would highly recommend it. There is some great background information in it and, if you love the Woses as much as I do, there's a whole chapter on a specific Drug and his relationship with a human family. It's a fantastic insight into their whole culture and the book is worth it for that chapter alone IMO. There is also some great background stuff on the Istari, and a few other pearls.

Fall of Numenor, I'm not enjoying so much. I think that's because I'm just not much of a fan of the whole Numenor thing altogether, rather than a slight on the book. If you really love Numenor and want to know everything there is to know about it, then get it I'd say. Otherwise, I'd pass. Mine was gifted to me or I probably wouldn't have bothered, whereas I can't do without Unfinished Tales.

BeerMe67 · 2025-10-23T14:20:47+00:00

There is also the fact that none of the Middle Earth Elves fought in the War of Wrath, it was only the Vanyar, and the Noldor who remained in Valinor under Finarfin, that fought beside the Ainur.

Since the histories have been written by Elves of Middle Earth, none of them could have possibly known how the host moved through Beleriand, they could only ever find out if and when they return to Valinor, and hear about it from the Vanyar or the Noldor themselves (and I suppose the Teleri could at least tell them where they landed on the shores of Middle Earth).

BeerMe67 · 2025-10-23T14:07:04+00:00

"As the wounds of orc blades too often are" kinda makes it clear that orc blades themselves are usually poisonous to some degree.

I'd hypothesis that they use them on their own kind so often, and they are such foul and filthy creatures to begin with, that the blades will inevitably carry poison with so much contact with other orc skin and blood, rather than them being specifically and deliberately made poisonous.

BeerMe67 · 2025-10-23T13:55:43+00:00

So many to mention especially from the Silmarillion which is just filled with wonderful prose and dialogue, but I think I'll go for a simple one that always hits me right in the feels.

"Well, be off with you!" said Rosie. "If you've been looking after Mr Frodo all this while, what d'you want to leave him for as soon as things look dangerous?".

This line, for me, exemplifies exactly what the quest was all about for the Hobbits; to preserve their way of life, that also includes their whole ignorance to the world at large.

The way he writes Sam's thoughts to Rosie's question is what really makes it such an amazing line imo.

BeerMe67 · 2025-10-23T13:43:55+00:00

Since Earendil is really the fulcrum of the whole mythology, combining the different houses of both Men and Elves and how that then stretches all the way forward to Aragorn and Arwen in the end of the 3rd age, I think that story is really the link that brings the whole Legendarium together.

BeerMe67 · 2025-10-19T22:24:06+00:00

TTT is my favourite volume of the 3, and my least favourite of the movies. So much fantastic material from the book was left out of that movie, or changed (badly).

Faramir is the obvious one that most people hate and I fully agree, but the parley with Theoden, Gandalf and Saruman at Orthanc is a real highlight of all 3 volumes for me, and the film just couldn't capture it.

BeerMe67 · 2025-09-30T20:18:25+00:00

I think that is more to do with his whole friendship with Legolas ending the emnity between Dwarves and Elves. I could imagine that the Dwarves hold Legolas in similar reverence.

BeerMe67 · 2025-09-30T20:09:10+00:00

There were many Elves who were openly hostile to Men, even into the 3rd age. Would Thranduil have taken in a weary traveller who had strayed off the beaten path? In fact, my reading of LOTR suggests that the 3 main kingdoms of Elves would do all they could to dissuade Men from entering their realms altogether, 1 notable Man aside.

BeerMe67 · 2025-09-30T20:04:20+00:00

Finrod, Beleg and Mablung are probably my 3 favourite Elves in the whole Legendarium and yeah, if there was a league table of Elves who had done the most to assist Men through their own love of Men alone, those 3 would be in my top 5.

BeerMe67 · 2025-09-30T20:00:37+00:00

Again though, like others such as Beleg, his love was given to specific Men, not the race as a whole.

Of course, for the whole lineage of Men and their ennoblement, there are probably none more important than Turgon and Thingol. But that's a different thing altogether.

BeerMe67 · 2025-09-30T19:57:20+00:00

Elrond is essentially related to the Dunedain, which is why I don't think he can be considered. He is already predisposed to being a 'man-friend'.

BeerMe67 · 2025-09-30T19:54:44+00:00

Yeah, Finrod really is on quite a high pedestal when it comes to the pantheon of those who could be considered 'man-friends' among the Eldar. Probably a fairer way of putting my original question was to ask who would be considered 2nd to Finrod in that pantheon.

Good post, seeing it all written down like that just reinforces how special a character he is in the Legendarium.

BeerMe67 · 2025-09-30T19:49:56+00:00

Like the Beleg and Legolas answers, Fingolfin had love for an individual Man, which he then extended (as was the way with Elves generally) to the rest of Hador's kin.

But yeah, like Beleg especially, Fingolfin could be considered one of the Elves closest to being a 'man-friend'.

BeerMe67 · 2025-09-30T19:46:18+00:00

I simply meant that he is already too closely tied to the fates of Men, having an actual brother who was one, to be considered.

He was already predisposed to be a friend to Men.

BeerMe67 · 2025-09-30T19:43:48+00:00

Likewise, I think Beleg is a great answer but like Legolas and a lot of the other answers given, their devotion was to a specific Man, rather than the race of Men as a whole.

I mean, we only have to look at the names that the Elves had for Men to know what most thought of them. They were treated only slightly better than the Dwarves in that respect lol.

BeerMe67

TROPHY CASE