Thuringwethil

[Huinesoron]

Originally Posted by Nerwen

But what is the source for incarnates not being able to change their hröa under any circumstances? This is directly contradicated in a number of places, including published material, so if Tolkien said that at a later stage, he certainly wasn't taking everything he'd written into account.

Concur. From the Lay of Leithian (technically quoted earlier, but I had a lot of quotes up there):

Originally Posted by Lay of Leithian: Canto VIII

The poisoned spears, the bows of horn,
the crooked swords their foes had borne
they took; and loathing each him clad
in Angband's raiment foul and sad.
They smeared their hands and faces fair
with pigment dark; the matted hair
all lank and black from goblin head
they shore, and joined it thread by thread
with Elvish skill. As each one leers
at each dismayed, about his ears
he hangs it noisome, shuddering.

Then Felagund a spell did sing
of changing and of shifting shape;
their ears grew hideous, and agape
their mouths did start, and like a fang
each tooth became, as slow he sang.

That's genuine shapeshifting, and in the same source as Luthien's transformation. (I'm curious, though, Nerwen: what published material are you thinking of? Nothing springs to mind, assuming you mean 'published in Tolkien's lifetime'.)

As to the Numenorean airships and missiles (and Ironclads!), I've loved those since the moment I found out about them. ^_^ They're an early (late? I think early) exploration of the themes of industrialisation that Tolkien delved into with Saruman and Orthanc.

But... they're also based on a single passage, in a story which was rejected in other particulars (I believe it's the one that features pro-Pharazon Isildur), and shown as a late flowering of Numenor. So projecting them back to the First Age would be highly problematic. You could maybe argue that they were introduced by Sauron, but in that case, why didn't he do the same in the War of the Ring?

... and this is the point where I remember the existence of the Mordor Special Mission Flying Corps Emblem, which means Sauron did have an air force. But the point still stands: where were they during the fighting in Gondor? Either it was just a term for the Nazgul, or they were unable to move around during daytime - which suggests that the Flying Corps were actually vampires/vampire bats. We know bats are part of the forces of darkness from The Hobbit, and Nerwen's note that 'vampire' can be short for 'vampire bat' suggests the possibility that these were in fact the debased vampires of the Elder Days.

In which case... could they shapeshift?

hS