Quote:
Originally Posted by Inziladun
Then again, Sam Gamgee laid eyes personally on the mumakil:
TTT Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit
So Sam's standard of size comparison is qualified; still, the beast did have an actual tower on its back, as well as a "giant" warrior (7 feet tall, maybe?), clinging to its neck and looking very small.
With that, I don't think a shoulder height of 20 feet is out of the question.
|
Very good. However remember it is seen through the eyes of a hobbit who loved these creatures and just might exaggerate them and if i am not mistaken, in the letters of Tolkien this is just what Tolkien said of Sams description. I will look for it. But even so He said
"Big as a house, much bigger than a house,
it looked to him, a grey-clad moving hill.
Fear and wonder, maybe, enlarged him in the hobbit's eyes,but the Mûmak of Harad was indeed a beast of vast bulk."
So we can see from the text it is
not saying the beast was bigger than a house, only that "it looked to him" and that "fear and wonder" enlarged the beast
in the hobbits eyes. But that it was indeed a very large creature.
This also brings up the question of the size of a house, we would assume sam would use his typical hobbit hole size house. I am unsure of the size of a hobbit hole, but would they be 30 feet high? if the oliphaunt is 20 at the shoulder like you suggest, i dont think so. Maybe.