Who knows their trolls? - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

***Mister Underhill*** · 10-18-2000, 11:29 PM

<font face="Verdana"><table><TR><TD><FONT SIZE="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Wight
Posts: 124</TD><TD></TD></TR></TABLE>
<img src="http://www.barrowdowns.com/images/posticons/redeye.jpg" align=absmiddle> Re: Who knows their trolls?

I hate to seem like a dog with a bone... but I think that interpreting the letter to mean that "stone-trolls" are the only ones susceptible to sunlight and that there are several other varieties which are not contradicts what is written and common sense.

I looked at the Aragorn ref you mentioned. Aragorn doesn't mince words -- "You are forgetting not only your family history, but all you ever knew about trolls. It is broad daylight with a bright sun, and yet you come back trying to scare me with a tale of live trolls waiting for us in this glade!"

Appendix F also contradicts your interpretation. It says of the Olog-hai, "Unlike the older race of the Twilight they could endure the Sun, so long as the will fo Sauron held sway over them." The inescapable inference is that the older race couldn't endure the sun. The entry doesn't say anything about a different breed or breeds that didn't have this weakness. If, as you suggest, Tolkien implies that such breeds exist in his letter, why is there no mention at all of any of them -- <u>especially</u> considering that it was written concurrently with the final drafting of the Appendices? Furthermore, why would Sauron waste time and energy to develop the sun-resistant Olog-hai (and sun-resistant only when they were under the sway of his will) if "naturally" sun-resistant trolls already existed? Wouldn't that sort be easier to soup up?

Don't get me wrong. I dig the new input. But I'm still convinced that the prof didn't fumble on this one.

P.S. - The Aragorn reference is a gem! Have any more like that?

</p>Edited by: <A HREF=http://www.barrowdowns.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_profile&u=00000005>Mister Underhill</A> at: 10/19/00 1:32:10 am

10-18-2000, 11:29 PM	#1
*Mister Underhill* Dread Horseman Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Behind you! Posts: 2,744	<font face="Verdana"><table><TR><TD><FONT SIZE="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Wight Posts: 124</TD><TD></TD></TR></TABLE> <img src="http://www.barrowdowns.com/images/posticons/redeye.jpg" align=absmiddle> Re: Who knows their trolls? I hate to seem like a dog with a bone... but I think that interpreting the letter to mean that "stone-trolls" are the only ones susceptible to sunlight and that there are several other varieties which are not contradicts what is written and common sense. I looked at the Aragorn ref you mentioned. Aragorn doesn't mince words -- "You are forgetting not only your family history, but all you ever knew about trolls. It is broad daylight with a bright sun, and yet you come back trying to scare me with a tale of live trolls waiting for us in this glade!" Appendix F also contradicts your interpretation. It says of the Olog-hai, "Unlike the older race of the Twilight they could endure the Sun, so long as the will fo Sauron held sway over them." The inescapable inference is that the older race couldn't endure the sun. The entry doesn't say anything about a different breed or breeds that didn't have this weakness. If, as you suggest, Tolkien implies that such breeds exist in his letter, why is there no mention at all of any of them -- <u>especially</u> considering that it was written concurrently with the final drafting of the Appendices? Furthermore, why would Sauron waste time and energy to develop the sun-resistant Olog-hai (and sun-resistant only when they were under the sway of his will) if "naturally" sun-resistant trolls already existed? Wouldn't that sort be easier to soup up? Don't get me wrong. I dig the new input. But I'm still convinced that the prof didn't fumble on this one. P.S. - The Aragorn reference is a gem! Have any more like that? </p>Edited by: <A HREF=http://www.barrowdowns.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_profile&u=00000005>Mister Underhill</A> at: 10/19/00 1:32:10 am