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Old 05-14-2012, 04:28 PM   #5
Tuor in Gondolin
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Southeast Pennsylvania
Posts: 3,651
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There are several interesting notes in Chapter 2 of the
Annotated Hobbit.

1)
Quote:
It is traditional in fairy tales for the sight of the sun
to be fatal to trolls. In the Norse folk tales collected by Peter Christen
Anbjornsen and Jorgen Moe, translated into English by George Webbe
Dasent as Popular Tales from the Norse (1859), trolls caught in
the sunlight burst into pieces.
2) [QUOTE]In 1977, Tolkien's second son Michael told the Tolkien Society in
Great Britain that as children, he, his two brothers, and his sister had each,
at some point in their development, thought that the Troll chapter was the
best chapter in the book. He continued, "We thought there was something
rather nice about Trolls, and it was a pity they had to be turned to stone
at all."/QUOTE]

It's also noted that Tolkien's having the trolls use lower class speech is akin to
that of Chaucer using the Middle English northern dialect as a source of humor for his
southern English audience, in a 1931 paper presented to the Philological Society
of Oxford, entitled "Chaucer as a philologist: The Reeve's Tale."
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The poster formerly known as Tuor of Gondolin.
Walking To Rivendell and beyond 12,555 miles passed Nt./Day 5: Pass the beacon on Nardol, the 'Fire Hill.'

Last edited by Tuor in Gondolin; 05-14-2012 at 04:34 PM.
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