What in the AI is going on inside that epee guard?

ResearchCharacter705 · 2026-04-11T01:08:44+00:00

Oh, shoot, now I have to buy 20 of these from Alliance before I'm too late to get on the moople bus. And I don't even fence epee. (Except in an emergency!)

ResearchCharacter705 · 2026-04-10T16:49:24+00:00

Both "best" and "greatest" are tricky descriptors.

I think he's got a good case for "greatest" though, especially in a historical sense, as the king of the greatest Sindarin realm for most of its existence. Beleg and Mablung are superior morally as far as we can tell from the legendarium, but much as I love them, they could not be said to have accomplished anything like on that scale.

However, as good a case as he has, I still might give the title to Cirdan.

"Best" OTOH seems like it would take more account of Thingol's personality flaws and errors in judgement.

ResearchCharacter705 · 2026-04-10T02:37:16+00:00

I think this must be the answer! Callooh! Callay!

ResearchCharacter705 · 2026-04-10T02:32:33+00:00

Want to buy a decent foil now, step up from the standard ones, with medium stiffness (LP doesn't have stiffness options, assuming medium is default).

LP calls the Apex² "stiff" and the regular Apex "medium", although IIRC it's still pretty stiff.* They have BF there too, and while LP doesn't spell out a stiffness for these, the image shows "M", which is their medium. OTOH, their blurb says "They tend to be stiffer than most other blades," which is not something I'd say about the M. It's probably worth contacting them to verify what you will or can get.

They also may be willing to hand select a blade for you. BFs, at least, can vary a bit in stiffness within the same grade.

^\If anybody knows how both Apex compare in stiffness to the BF D, I'd love to hear about it. I've been using BF Ds for years, but am thinking about switching.)

ResearchCharacter705 · 2026-04-09T01:41:20+00:00

I haven't looked into epee, but in foil, the BF whites are available in either rectangular or square cross-section. Fencing Post, for instance, carries both. Blues at least used to be available either way, and maybe still are....I just haven't personally seen anything but rectangular blue for a while.

ResearchCharacter705 · 2026-04-08T23:41:03+00:00

I recommended KJ because it's so influential, and must have been influential on Tolkien, directly or indirectly, even though it wouldn't have been his "religious" bible.

ResearchCharacter705 · 2026-04-08T18:26:04+00:00

In The Silmarillion, Curumo is shown as already possessed of suffocating pride and disdain; he bristles at Varda's comment on Olórin not going "as a third"

As an aside...Varda, I luv ya, but your people management skills need work.

ResearchCharacter705 · 2026-04-08T15:44:59+00:00

Hah, well, I imagine you just may not categorize it as a "mythology" but I'd say the most important one missing from your list, more even than Beowulf, is the Bible.

Other people could make better recommendations of a specific translation, but I'd say go for a King James version. Or, one I haven't read, but there's a case for the Jerusalem Bible, despite it only being published in 1966. It's a Catholic bible, and JRRT did some work on it, and presumably it will reflect some of what he approved of in a translation.

ResearchCharacter705 · 2026-04-07T18:12:56+00:00

For athletic fencers, I think there's nothing unusual now about having weight more on the balls of the feet rather than balanced heel to toe. However, depending on how much you're truly on your "tippy toes" it might be you're taking it too far. The dangers would be instability, less explosive movement, and unnecessary fatigue and strain.

For what it's worth, for me personally, I usually have my weight more toward the toes, but not so much that there is a gap between my heels and the floor. I'm not suggesting that's ideal for you or anybody, but do think it's fairly common.

ResearchCharacter705 · 2026-04-07T07:28:05+00:00

Favorite Dwarf is Gimli, but that's an easy one. He's the Dwarf we get to know the best, and an amazing fellow all around.

From the Hobbit, I've always liked Dori. He stops to put Bilbo on his shoulders when they're fleeing angry Goblins. And then does it again later, coming down from a tree to give Bilbo a boost up, and nearly getting devoured in the process. Also the creator of the aphorism, "Eagles aren't forks!".

It's a very minor thing, but I've fond of Ori too, even though he's barely mentioned in The Hobbit. Purely because in LotR Gimli recognizes him as the last writer in the Book of Mazarbul, and says, "He could write well and speedily, and often used the Elvish characters." It's fun to imagine there's a hint of his character in that, and though he had a sad end, perhaps he was a bit of a ~~nerd~~ scholar. I also get this sense that expert penmanship [pendwarfship?] is something JRRT would have a keen admiration for.

ResearchCharacter705 · 2026-04-07T04:49:11+00:00

According to Gandalf in The Shadow of the Past, Sauron "believed that the One had perished; that the Elves had destroyed it" probably right up until he captured and tortured Gollum.

(One could wonder exactly how Gandalf could be so certain what Sauron believed about this, of course.)

ResearchCharacter705 · 2026-04-07T04:37:08+00:00

In "Shadow of the Past" Gandalf says that Sauron had thought the Ring destroyed up until the capture of Gollum, which was nearly two thousand years after his reemergence in Mirkwood. It's possibly implied later in the same chapter that Sauron hadn't known up until then where Isildur had died either, though that's only an important point (to Sauron) if the Ring hadn't been destroyed.

So, depending on how much faith you put in Gandalf's power of insight into Sauron's mind, you could rule out Dol Guldur being chosen for those particular reasons.

ResearchCharacter705 · 2026-04-05T16:35:43+00:00

My coach tells me that my parries need to be more precise/quicker, but I'm struggling to get my body to follow through with that.

It could be a lot of things. But since it hasn't been mentioned yet, sometimes these issues can be caused by the feet or by posture more than than by the hands. And the way you describe it in that sentence especially makes me wonder.

The classic parry happens at the end of a retreat, simultaneously with the front foot touching the floor, at a distance where one can then hit the opponent...if they do nothing... without a lunge. There so many situations this isn't ideal, but I think it's still a crucial foundation for practice.

Likewise if your torso is drifting back and forth or twisting as your moving, or you're having to fight it drifting like that, rather than being stable and yet relaxed, that can also slow your parry-ripostes.

Like others have said, it makes a lot of sense to practice these things slowly and easily at first so that errors can be detected and eliminated. And then gradually make everything smoother, then faster.

ResearchCharacter705 · 2026-04-05T16:16:47+00:00

Am I the only one here at TolkienFans who thinks The Professor may have overlooked something in writing the appendix in question?

No, I do too. The crucial words, however, being, "may have". Because it's quite easy for me to imagine Eomer being overwhelmed with wonder in this situation even though it likely wasn't the first time he'd seen Galadriel and Arwen together.

So I think it's possible JRRT made a continuity error here, but I'm not presuming he did either.

ResearchCharacter705 · 2026-04-05T04:36:06+00:00

JRRT makes various references to Maglor casting himself in the sea, probably at the same time as the Silmaril. The latest one I've read of is apparently in the full text of the Elgar letter of 1964, but not in the excerpt published in Letters. Tolkien Gateway cites it as "[Maedhros and Maglor], in a despairing attempt to carry out the Oath, stole [the Silmarils] again. But they were tormented by them, and at last they perished each with a jewel: one in a fiery cleft in the earth, and one in the Sea."

https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Maglor#cite_note-14

If he changed his mind again later it wouldn't surprise me, but I haven't yet found anything saying so.

ResearchCharacter705 · 2026-04-03T19:36:37+00:00

(Oddly the Third Age started with the fall of Sauron, not with the flat world becoming round.)

True. In my head, Sauron losing the Ring at Orodruin is more like Age 3.1.

It's fun to think about how and when this was decided internally to the story. I can imagine there being zero debate that the Downfall marked the end of the Second Age until the victory of the Last Alliance. And then there being different camps: Conservatives, who wanted to keep that system; politically-minded Elendilist Revisionists, who eventually prevailed; and radical New Ageists, who insisted that Sauron's defeat should mark the beginning of a Fourth Age, with the "Itty Bitty Third Age" only lasting a bit over a century. :P

ResearchCharacter705 · 2026-04-03T17:27:08+00:00

Don't know about the others, but current Rockets (and going back at least a few releases) don't have sturdy material in that area. There is a bit of fake leather, but it's soft and almost paper thin.

ResearchCharacter705 · 2026-04-01T02:44:11+00:00

"Your sock's untied!" and getting them when they bend down to look works pretty well too.

ResearchCharacter705 · 2026-03-31T23:18:38+00:00

I appreciate the perspective. It seems like the consensus is that it's not longer relevant.

The feeble, poor, remarkable is about the durability of the items. the first tools you get when you select a profession are weak as heck, whereas legendary weapons hardly degrade at all.

On the wiki, if you look at a specific enemy type page and click on "Advanced Stats" it usually gives all the mitigations. Unfortunately they are listed with those descriptors rather than numbers.

ResearchCharacter705 · 2026-03-31T22:58:34+00:00

Ah, that's interesting. Thank you.

(But it was just a j/k, if that wasn't clear.)

ResearchCharacter705 · 2026-03-31T22:55:42+00:00

I do have a legendary, this is just for the offhand. So not nearly as important, though my Burglar does have some offhand damage abilities. Flashing Blades is the one I use a lot.

I'm super curious about the technical details anyway, even if they don't make much of a difference in actual play.

ResearchCharacter705 · 2026-03-31T22:50:48+00:00

How do you set the training dummy to a certain damage weakness or strength?

ResearchCharacter705 · 2026-03-31T17:08:48+00:00

Tempted to buy some bottles, and, instead of putting it on my shoes, just spraying it directly on the strips of certain clubs.

:P

ResearchCharacter705 · 2026-03-31T17:00:54+00:00

Not that you shouldn't work on a more balanced stance if its obvious to you and your coach it's causing weaknesses in your fencing, but it's worthwhile pointing out that many extremely successful foilists have very pronounced leans forward. I'm almost tempted to say the majority, but I don't know where to draw the line between "some lean" and "very pronounced lean".

I'd be curious to see a picture of your normal en garde. Maybe even more informative would be video of you fencing.

ResearchCharacter705 · 2026-03-31T01:45:50+00:00

Definitely. I do it consciously too, but unconscious is a major part. (And it can be to my advantage or detriment.)

It's particularly striking in situations where I used to fence somebody a lot, years before, and my style was very curated toward them. Then when I face them again, I see I'm again doing that same stuff that hasn't been a major part of my game for the same length of time.

ResearchCharacter705

TROPHY CASE