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Old 12-14-2017, 08:18 AM   #74
Galadriel55
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Huinesoron View Post
Does it include toilets? I don't recall Tolkien mentioning them, so I assume people in Middle-earth don't possess bowels? And I guess all grain is imported from Gondor or the Shire (since nowhere else has farms mentioned), and the orcs of Moria have no need of food (their food source isn't mentioned, so must not exist)... and if we want to take this to its logical extreme, there are no women in the Elvenking's Halls, since none are ever mentioned as being there!

Tongue obviously firmly in cheek for the above (and please don't take offence - my forceful tone isn't reflected by a forcefulness of spirit), but the point is that any reading of Tolkien has to include gap-filling. To take it to truly ludicrous extremes: did Barliman Butterbur serve drinks to anyone except on the days Gandalf or the hobbits visited him? Obviously so - but it's not specifically described, so to assume he's actually doing his job is an inference. An ironclad logical one, but an inference all the same.

That said... no, Tolkien didn't put female Ringwraiths into Middle-earth.

(Or toilets.)
It's one thing to fill in gaps. It's connecting the dots by following a pattern. One day we see Frodo and Sam on the Anduin, amd another they are far from it, and we fill in the gap and do not assume they teleported. But we don't assume they got there with the help of a fairy who wore polkadotted clothes and shouted in Greek.

If all you say is that it's up to us to fill in the gaps, then gaps can be filled with whatever we want. That's how you get Jackson movies. I would augment your argument with that the fillers must also fit the pattern of the overall picture. Do toilets make sense given all that we know? Do colourful Greek fairies on the Eastern bank of the Great River?

And as far as patterns go, you'd need to trace one that would support a female Nazgul to pull it off. Female warriors with power, who could be corrupted by Sauron. Sauron himself - would he pick this woman and why. So far most patterns I see point in the other direction.
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