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Aiwendil · 02-13-2004, 12:08 AM

My thinking is that "tallest of all the Children of the World" can be interpreted either as "tallest of all the Children of the World that ever lived" or as "tallest of all the Children of the World at that time". You interpret it in the first way, and I see no reason not to. But I also don't see any reason not to interpret it the second way - and when it's interpreted that way, it's not a lie.

I really do think that "tallest of all the Children of the World, save Thingol and Argon" sounds somewhat silly. I can't help but think of Monty Python (Tallest of all the Children of the World. Save Thingol. Second tallest of the Children of the world, after Thingol - oh, and Argon. Third - third tallest of all the Children of the World, save Thingol, Argon, and . . .)

Obviously this is not justification for changing a fact, but given the ambiguity in the sentence, I think we are at liberty to omit Argon.

If the general opinion is that we do not have that liberty, then I think the sentence will have to go. Tolkien has a lot of "greatest X"s and "greatest X save Y"s but I can't think of a single "greatest X save Y and Z".

02-13-2004, 12:08 AM	#20
Aiwendil Late Istar Join Date: Mar 2001 Posts: 2,224	My thinking is that "tallest of all the Children of the World" can be interpreted either as "tallest of all the Children of the World that ever lived" or as "tallest of all the Children of the World at that time". You interpret it in the first way, and I see no reason not to. But I also don't see any reason not to interpret it the second way - and when it's interpreted that way, it's not a lie. I really do think that "tallest of all the Children of the World, save Thingol and Argon" sounds somewhat silly. I can't help but think of Monty Python (Tallest of all the Children of the World. Save Thingol. Second tallest of the Children of the world, after Thingol - oh, and Argon. Third - third tallest of all the Children of the World, save Thingol, Argon, and . . .) Obviously this is not justification for changing a fact, but given the ambiguity in the sentence, I think we are at liberty to omit Argon. If the general opinion is that we do not have that liberty, then I think the sentence will have to go. Tolkien has a lot of "greatest X"s and "greatest X save Y"s but I can't think of a single "greatest X save Y and Z".