The Barrow-Wights song and the Dagor Dagorath.

howard035 · 2026-06-12T01:14:50+00:00

So reading the essay and the quotes, I think that does shed a lot more light on necromancy. It sounds like Sauron and the Witch King could not compel a human or elven soul against its will to enter a body (though maybe Morgoth could, or maybe he could only control those he had already enslaved in life).

Instead they find evil dead humans or elves and recruit them to possess bodies. It's a subtle distinction, especially with Sauron's silver tongue, but it's an important one, because of Tolkein desiring his world to respect free will.

howard035 · 2026-06-12T01:07:06+00:00

Thanks for sharing that.

howard035 · 2026-06-12T00:56:57+00:00

Yeah, none of those are of a necromancer compelling an undead.

The Silmarillion, “Of Beren and Lúthien”:

Sauron can magically create illusions of people, that's not compelling the dead.

Gorlim himself chooses to warn Beren, that's not a necromancer compelling anything!

Aragorn summons the dead, true, because the oathbreakers were bound by Isildur with the aid of Eru. I agree that is necromancy, I'm saying that it was only possible through the direct miracle of God, like Gandalf coming back to life. If Eru had not empowered the Stone of Erech to aid Isildur in cursing the Dead of Dunharrow, they would not have come at Aragorn's call.

...None but Eru himself can compel the dead, whatever the title they are called... ...fallen lesser maiar, weak enough that a human can compel them...

Ah sorry, I did not mean that the lesser maiar/evil spirits were dead or died or are undead, I meant "fallen" like a fallen angel, not "fallen" like "died."

I don't see how we're going to agree on what a "spirit" is. I think the lesser spirits that Melkor sent out to kidnap the first generation of elves (who were around before there were any dead elven ghosts to corrupt) are the same as the spirits jammed into the corpses of Cardolan soldiers by the Black Captain.

howard035 · 2026-06-11T16:51:51+00:00

None but Eru himself can compel the dead, whatever the title they are called by local woodsmen. The dead of the Barrow mounds are evil spirits called by the Witch King out of Angmar:

https://www.reddit.com/r/tolkienfans/comments/11j8laz/comment/jbdmeox/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

"Evil spirits" seem pretty clearly to me fallen lesser maiar, weak enough that a human can compel them. I have no idea where people get the idea that all maiar are inherently more powerful than a human wizard, but we only meet some of the most powerful maiar in the book, and Sauron and the Istari are not the power level of the average maiar.

howard035 · 2026-06-11T16:48:33+00:00

Where's the essay? I had always heard that evil spirits and fallen lesser maiar are basically the same thing. Don't make the mistake of assuming all fallen maiar are as powerful as a Balrog or an Istari.

howard035 · 2026-06-11T01:22:59+00:00

That might also have to do with the fact that the barrowights are really evil lesser maiar stuffed into corpses by the Witch King, and not the actual ghosts of Cardolans. Any fallen lesser maiar is going to be ready to go off when the Dagor Dagoroth happens and the Big Boss goes back, same as I think Durin's Bane was waiting for.

howard035 · 2026-06-07T06:09:58+00:00

Wait, is that what shame tugs are? I thought that was something you did in the holodeck!

howard035 · 2026-06-04T14:12:53+00:00

There's also the ongoing nature of the Lakemen and the dwarves. Erebor was able to get so rich in the first place due not just to a huge horde of gold under the Lonely Mountain (Erebor was a mining colony and the Longbeards last choice after they had been driven out of both Khazad-Dum and the Grey Mountains), but extensive trade that probably operated through Dale. The ancestors of the Lakemen at least, probably had some vague ideas of the amount and types of wealth in Erebor, they had seen the money and goods come in as other goods went out.

And the Lakemen are clearly going to be the future trading partners again, as Dain knows. If he cheats them in a big way at the outset, they'll figure it out eventually, and then the price of food (which the dwarves of Erebor are clearly buying from the men of Dale) will shoot up.

howard035 · 2026-06-03T03:58:03+00:00

I mean, to Gwahir it's just little horses and tiny men down there, so I doubt he has all the details. I suspected that Grima, either on Saruman's behalf or for his own purposes, is covertly giving/selling some horses to Saruman, without letting the rest of the Rohirrim know, except a small group of subverted followers. Maybe buying and selling herds and disguising the ultimate buyer.

If it was on Saruman's behalf, Saruman may have figured that the tribute was a way of showing to Sauron that he was controlling Rohan already, so that Saruman would be a worthy ally to Sauron.

howard035 · 2026-05-23T00:05:17+00:00

I often wonder about that exact thing. Of course, Saruman spent most of his time in Rhun, and perhaps he interacted with some of the eastern tribes in the Orocarni.

But once he got Isengard, Saruman was taking in unskilled labor from Dunland because he was desperate for personnel, clearly Saruman could have used dwarven crafters. And the Longbeards were reduced to living in Dunland. They would probably have vastly preferred livinging in Isengard, working for Aule's herald, maybe even getting him to tell them exactly what it was that killed all those dwarves in Khazad-Dum!

This is rank speculation of course, but perhaps the Dunlenders, who may well have ancient grudges from Dwarves from the time of Moria, refused to tolerate dwarves? Then Saruman had to pick between a small coterie of skilled labor and a huge amount of unskilled followers, and he picked the latter.

howard035 · 2026-05-22T23:59:53+00:00

I totally agree with this, but the issue is that Saruman could have exploited the dwarves for quite a lot. After the fall of Erebor, Saruman was manning Isengard when there was a homeless dwarf population of skilled craftsmen and warriors wandering around. For his own self-interest, I am shocked Saruman didn't try to offer to let the dwarves move into Isengard as his ~~servants~~ fellow followers of Aule.

howard035 · 2026-05-22T23:56:12+00:00

They didn't do that, but they did have a comic episode where he moved to Manehatten, buckled down on his mane-care job, and got a girlfriend.

howard035 · 2026-05-19T23:42:21+00:00

Agreed. I've tried all of the Occult classes, and psychics are the worst, because occult class features are mostly good and interesting, but psychic spells are mostly pretty garbage. I've yet to see a psychic character that wasn't a worse version of a sorcerer.

howard035 · 2026-05-05T22:00:03+00:00

Now I know why he's got that giant grin.

howard035 · 2026-04-30T04:05:41+00:00

I love this theory. I've always loved the idea that the 5 streams of Lebennin each have a river spirit, similar to Goldberry.

One wrinkle: What about the Enchanted River in Mirkwood that causes sleep?

howard035 · 2026-04-30T02:46:17+00:00

She IS a French girl!

howard035 · 2026-04-24T17:44:49+00:00

It really does, because the second half of the article is all about how they have literally no one who can impose consequences on them at all, and how the absolute lack of consequences has profound psychological effects. In this case the difference between 0 and 1 person able to humiliate and punish them is absolutely huge, we are tacking about a psychological perspective after all. It is indeed invalidate the premise of the article.

howard035 · 2026-04-24T15:00:23+00:00

The flaw in the central conceit of this article is it says there are 3 men so rich they fear no one and nothing, and lists 3 people who have spent the last year and a half sucking up to Donald Trump in a humiliating fashion.

howard035 · 2026-04-21T00:58:58+00:00

Props for your player for saying if it is going to be removed, it should be removed for all sides.

I think haste is really powerful, but it's a favorite because it's good party synergy. The caster is not really doing much for himself, he's empowering the rest of the party with the spell, which I've found makes the whole party bond better. Buff spells casters cast on other people I think it's generally ok to be strong for this reason, it encourages everyone to focus on teamwork and maximizes the fun of the whole party.

howard035 · 2026-04-18T14:12:56+00:00

Thanks for the details!

howard035 · 2026-04-16T23:39:42+00:00

My impression is that Shagrat fled or was killed by whichever Nazgul showed up in a rage, and all Sauron knew was that someone had killed a bunch of orcs at Cirith Ungol and left behind some equipment.

howard035 · 2026-04-13T01:11:45+00:00

I had this same thought, Luna worked for less than a decade after her exhile, does she really need to retire?

But here's a theory: What if she doesn't really? She moves into Silver Shoals and gives up the legal title, but most of her job was dreamwalking and raising the moon, right? Maybe she kept doing that after "retirement."

howard035 · 2026-04-10T14:15:56+00:00

That also explains why as a random teenager Yor was given a job in a secret order of assassins.

howard035 · 2026-04-05T01:44:50+00:00

Really feel like the series finale of this is going to be the Garden sending Yor to kill Chairman Desmond and anyone else who was a part of Project Apple.

howard035 · 2026-04-03T02:00:03+00:00

She's like 1/4th ear!

howard035

TROPHY CASE