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-   -   The Straight Stair (http://forum.barrowdowns.com/showthread.php?t=11891)

Elianna 05-01-2005 02:48 PM

The Straight Stair
 
Question: If the Straight Stair was built by the Gondorians, or even maybe by Sauron's orcs, why was it chiseled out to be barely big enough for little Hobbits to crawl up it?

Azaelia of Willowbottom 05-01-2005 07:01 PM

Good question. Perhaps someone more experienced than I can provide a more satisfactory answer, but here's my shot at it.

Perhaps the stairs had eroded over time...They were built a very long time before LOTR took place. They can't have been easy to carve in the first place: going almost straight upwards. Maybe they were only able to carve thin steps.

A simpler answer would be that it makes for dramatic movie shots. The sense of vertigo during those scenes in the movie was pretty strong, and I doubt that it would have been quite so strong had the stairs been shown as larger.
I can't remember exactly how they were described in the book, but I *think* that the stairs being so thin may have been a PJ addition.

Gurthang 05-03-2005 05:27 PM

Yes, I agree with Azaelia. Does it ever say in the books that the stairs were narrow? I would also wonder if the stairs themselves were actually of Gondorian make. Minas Ithil was, of course, a city of Gondor, but why would/did they build a pass into Mordor? Do you have a quote to back that up? It would be most helpful.

mormegil 05-04-2005 08:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gurthang
Yes, I agree with Azaelia. Does it ever say in the books that the stairs were narrow? I would also wonder if the stairs themselves were actually of Gondorian make. Minas Ithil was, of course, a city of Gondor, but why would/did they build a pass into Mordor? Do you have a quote to back that up? It would be most helpful.

No from what I read about it the other night, it doesn't say that they were particularly narrow. However, I would imagine that they were due to the fact the the climb a steep mountain and go nearly straight up. But without more conclusive evidence this is just my imagination at work.

Elianna 05-05-2005 03:10 PM

I asked here on the movies' thread because I couldn't remember any exact description in the books.

Beanamir of Gondor 05-18-2005 11:10 AM

I don't really remember a specific description of them in the movie, either, but I got the impression that they were built by orcs rather than Gondorians. (I willingly accept criticism on that subject.) At any rate, when Sam and Frodo were climbing those mentioned steps in ROTK, it looked to me as if they were having the same problems as Merry and Pippin did in Moria in FOTR--as if the steps were built for longer legs and bigger feet than they possessed.
Ideas on that, anyone?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There's not a joy the world can give like that it takes away...

Nimrodel_9 05-18-2005 05:06 PM

My best guess is that they wanted them to be 'secret' and thus made them as unnoticeable as possible. (Yes, unnoticeable is a word. I looked it up to be sure.) :p;)

Holbytlass 05-31-2005 04:23 PM

I noticed that, too, about the trouble the hobbits were having on the Moria steps. Interesting when those steps were made by dwarves for dwarves who weren't much taller than hobbits.


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