Quote:
Originally Posted by R.R.J Tolkien
Good post. I think that quote fits into tolkiens “A large elephant of prehistoric size.” But i am not sure it demands a "significantly" larger beast.
...the Mûmak of Harad was indeed a beast of vast bulk, and the like of him dors not walk now in Middle-earth; his kin that live now in latter days are but memories of his girth and majesty.
Is this quote saying that the mumakil seen by sam is a smaller version of older descendants? than that would not tell us its size compared to a modern elephant. Since it reads that now walk on middle earth, thus its hard to conclude a comparison with modern elephants. Plus a mumakil the size of my op would be 161% times the size of an Asian elephant.
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No, the "now" is from the perspective of a later time (than that of "Lord of the Rings"), and the Mûmak described as "a beast of vast bulk" is what Sam saw (or its kind). That really seems to me the only natural reading. The entire point of that passage is to tell the reader, "hey, this thing was even bigger than modern elephants"
Here's the whole thing together:
Quote:
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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, and the like of him does not walk now in Middle-earth; his kin that live now in latter days are but memories of his girth and majesty.
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Not very helpful for a precise estimate of size, though: "It was really, really big... in fact it was bigger than really really big... OK maybe it wasn't *that* big... but then again, it actually was really, really big..."