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11-30-2010, 04:17 AM
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#19 |
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A Voice That Gainsayeth
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: In that far land beyond the Sea
Posts: 7,431
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Indeed, I'm with G55 and Puddleglum about this one - Khamul's words really sound like the basic way in which the villains of old in 19th-century books offer a bribe. The point is that Khamul is not saying "I will give you 500 gold pieces if you tell me about Baggins", but he is simply saying "gold", leaving it open for Maggot to say the actual price. It is like "here, I am giving you an offer, and you can see for yourself how generous I am". Of course, Khamul's only mistake was indeed that he bumped into a rather incorruptible person, and the whole race, for that matter...
On the other hand, I agree with Inzil about the Mordor part - I don't think that Sauron would have any reason to use currency "inside" Mordor, and no reason to make his own coins. Nobody will buy anything from anybody inside Mordor, you either have slaves, or you are a boss, but you get everything you ought for your work by the system which divides stuff among people according to Sauron's, and only his, plans. It's a classic centrally controlled society, if you can even call it a society in the proper sense.
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"Should the story say 'he ate bread,' the dramatic producer can only show 'a piece of bread' according to his taste or fancy, but the hearer of the story will think of bread in general and picture it in some form of his own." -On Fairy-Stories |
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