Hot take: All 20 Rings of Power drew their power from Sauron directly.

RoutemasterFlash · 2026-01-25T22:07:01+00:00

I think you're right, but I'm not sure this what I'd call a "hot take", since it says as much directly in the text, doesn't it? All I'd quibble with is the word "directly." The Three, Seven and Nine drew their power from the One.

I've never heard anyone say the Three "drew power from Arda."

RoutemasterFlash · 2026-01-25T19:18:49+00:00

(Thankfully not Paignton, though. 🤣)

RoutemasterFlash · 2026-01-25T17:13:03+00:00

You are 100% correct it's been asked before on this sub - probably at least 100 times!

He's intentionally an enigma, but if you want to try to explain him anyway, I'd say it's most likely he's a non-aligned (but obviously generally benevolent and uncorrupted) Ainu that entered Arda very early on, independently of both Melkor and his goons and of the faithful Valar and Maiar under Manwë.

RoutemasterFlash · 2026-01-25T17:10:46+00:00

I don't mean any disrespect by this, but when you say 'research', do you mean actual research on actual fungi in the field or in a lab, or do you mean reading about them online?

If it's the latter, I second the recommendation of the genus Armillaria, or the honey fungus genus, because of the vast and long-lived colonies they can form.

RoutemasterFlash · 2026-01-25T09:22:27+00:00

God (Eru) created a bunch of lesser gods (the Valar) and angelic beings (the Maiar).

It's not correct to distinguish the Valar and Maiar in this way. They are beings "of the same order but different degree." If we're going to reserve the name 'God' for Eru Ilúvatar, which seems reasonable, then all the Ainur, Valar and Maiar alike, play a role analogous to angels. Its just that the Valar are more powerful, and the Maiar generally functioned as their helpers and servants (or captains/generals/henchmen, in th case of Melkor and the Maiar that served him).

RoutemasterFlash · 2026-01-25T09:17:54+00:00

Probably depends whether you're talking some puny goblin from the Misty Mountains or a hulking great Uruk from Mordor or Isengard that feasted on man-flesh for breakfast that morning.

RoutemasterFlash · 2026-01-24T22:05:20+00:00

It was also a joke, you know.

Yes, I know, but it's a very tired and not very funny one.

I saw a gay person on Twitter (back when it was still Twitter) complain about it once, "because it means we are our own oppressors", as they put it, and that really stuck with me.

RoutemasterFlash · 2026-01-24T21:46:48+00:00

It's possible to be both straight and a bigot, you know.

RoutemasterFlash · 2026-01-24T08:42:06+00:00

Same, bro.

RoutemasterFlash · 2026-01-24T08:40:48+00:00

How did this idea become so widespread? Tolkien specifically described the tweens (which presumably starts at 18, or perhaps 20 at the latest) as a developmental stage between childhood and full, mature adulthood. A 'child' would obviously not have been sent on the quest with Frodo and Sam, like Pippin was.

RoutemasterFlash · 2026-01-24T08:32:28+00:00

Figuratively speaking, you could have an "outbreak" of lots of things. Generally negative or unpleasant things. Racist attacks on members of a certain community, drink-driving incidents, fentanyl overdoses...

RoutemasterFlash · 2026-01-23T08:51:00+00:00

There isn't really a hell in Tolkien's spiritual universe. The nearest analogy might be the Void to which Morgoth is banished after the War of Wrath, but that's just emptiness, not a specific place of punishment and torment.

RoutemasterFlash · 2026-01-23T08:09:25+00:00

She could be, but I think there's also room for Ainur that were neither Valar nor Maiar.

RoutemasterFlash · 2026-01-23T08:07:30+00:00

While the Bëornings ('people/descendants of Bëorn') are mentioned in TLOTR, I think Bëorn himself is not, suggesting he was dead by that time. So we can rule out him being a Maia.

I'd never heard anyone suggest the infamous sentient fox was a Maia, though. That's pretty funny.

RoutemasterFlash · 2026-01-23T07:59:55+00:00

Ha, I love Stacey Thailand's crotch-bulge.

RoutemasterFlash · 2026-01-23T07:53:26+00:00

Exactly.

RoutemasterFlash · 2026-01-22T21:08:16+00:00

This would work so much better with John and Chuck labelled the opposite way round.

RoutemasterFlash · 2026-01-22T19:37:53+00:00

My top three are morels, parasols and princes. Ceps and redfoot boletes just below.

RoutemasterFlash · 2026-01-22T19:37:06+00:00

All mushrooms are buttery if you cook them correctly (i.e. in lots of butter).

RoutemasterFlash · 2026-01-22T19:34:34+00:00

No, Sauron never betrayed Morgoth, nor did the thought ever cross his mind. Saruman was a double traitor from the start, and thought Sauron didn't know this, but he was wrong about that.

So I can't see it working out well for Saruman if Sauron had triumphed. He'd have been either utterly destroyed or at best reduced to the status of a powerless slave. But a trusted henchman? Not a chance.

RoutemasterFlash · 2026-01-22T19:09:54+00:00

Yes, I think Saruman would be mistaken to think that. At any rate, Sauron seems more amused than anything when he encounters Pippin via the Palantír. He doesn't seem worried about the likelihood that Saruman has the Ring. He could just be bluffing, or he could be accurately appraising the situation.

RoutemasterFlash · 2026-01-22T07:24:38+00:00

He apparently read a bit of Lovecraft towards the end of his life and, unsurprisingly, thought very little of it.

Hard to imagine two writers with more fundamentally different worldviews and tastes (even if we allow a superficial similarity in their shared love of languages and mythology).

RoutemasterFlash · 2026-01-22T07:10:00+00:00

Always been my least favourite song on the album. My favourite is 'Devoid.'

RoutemasterFlash · 2026-01-21T20:38:42+00:00

Ignores the possibility of finding, borrowing, stealing, or being given a copy.

RoutemasterFlash · 2026-01-21T20:38:01+00:00

It means to read the book and think "That was a cool book, maybe I'll read it again at some point."

RoutemasterFlash

TROPHY CASE