Tolkien's Funny Bone

[Tuor of Gondolin]

What sort of sense of humour did Tolkien have? Why is so little of it displayed in the Legendarium?

Did he leave it out so legions of fanfiction writers in later ages could supply it?

Aren't you forgetting about when Aldarion brought back from
northern Middle-earth a Norwegian Blue Parrot for
Erendis? Sadly, it turned out the parrot was dead, not
resting, and the relationship headed south.

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Tuor of Gondolin

Aren't you forgetting about when Aldarion brought back from
northern Middle-earth a Norwegian Blue Parrot for
Erendis? Sadly, it turned out the parrot was dead, not
resting, and the relationship headed south.

Are you suggesting that there is a lost Pirates of the Haradrim text which CT has not included in HoMe?

Originally Posted by Warg Fancier

This creation myth is just so......high; and comedy would bring it back down.

You aren't suggesting a rank order to Tolkien's creation are you? I think that, if the elves had had more of a sense of humour, perhaps they wouldn't have become so nostalgic. It was Frodo's tragedy, as an elf-friend, to become enmeshed in this perspective and so be unable, as Sam, Merry and Pippin, to reintegrate with the Shire society.

[Tuor of Gondolin]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tuor of Gondolin
Aren't you forgetting about when Aldarion brought back from
northern Middle-earth a Norwegian Blue Parrot for
Erendis? Sadly, it turned out the parrot was dead, not
resting, and the relationship headed south.

Are you suggesting that there is a lost Pirates of the Haradrim text which CT has not included in HoMe?

CT wanted to give all the credit to JRRT and none to his hitherto
unknown literary collaborator.

It can be found in the chapter
Middle-earth's Most Outrageous Out-takes ,
by G. Smeagol in his tell-all book: How an Oxford
Academic misrepresented my adventurous life

[Oddwen]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

It was Frodo's tragedy, as an elf-friend, to become enmeshed in this perspective and so be unable, as Sam, Merry and Pippin, to reintegrate with the Shire society.

Art thou saying...that Frodo lost his sense of humor somewhere on the road to Mordor?

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Oddwen

Art thou saying...that Frodo lost his sense of humor somewhere on the road to Mordor?

Not quite. I think Frodo sounds "whole" in the Field of Cormallen. He is certainly capable of laughter and joy. Perhaps it was the Scouring of the Shire that was the final nail in the coffin of his depression.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Oddwen

Art thou saying...that Frodo lost his sense of humor somewhere on the road to Mordor?

I think he lost something else. He still had his humour, as is shown with the encounters with Ruffians et al in the scoured Shire. But he lost his carefree-ness. Silliness, if you will. And he *did* take over some of the Elves' nostalgia and brooding.



Honestly, I can't see anything in the Sil and COH that would make people laugh. Most of the time, if it's humour, it's quite dark and makes you unable to decide whether to laugh or to cry, which makes me laugh at myself and the brilliance of the book (rather than the text itself). Even the funnier parts mentioned earlier in ths thread are not that funny; they lighten the mood somewhat but they are still not comedy. Personally, if I laugh while reading these two books it's probably some victory or great success (but again, nothing funny) and I just can't keep my emotions under control.


There was this passage in COH where Turin runs out of the woods making lots of noise, like he has an army behind him, to help the Halethrim, and all the orcs oanic and scatter. And then the halethrim ask where are Turin's men and he answers they all walk with him as one man. I've always smiled a bit at this passage, but I'm not sure if it's because of the victory or the small bit of humour.

Originally Posted by Aiwendil

But it seems to me that Tolkien had two more or less distinct modes of literary thought - the high and the comedic. And though he sometimes combined these (e.g. in TH and LotR), he never synthesised them.

Originally Posted by Eomer

The Silmarillion (and these are only my thoughts, mind you) is not meant to be life-affirming. It's meant to be awe-inspiring.

I entirely agree with the above statements.

[radagastly]

The only deliberate humor in the Silmarrillion that I can think of is Aule's line here:

But Manwe rose also, and it seemed that he stood to such a height that his voice came down to Yavanna as from the paths of the winds.

"Nay," he said, "only the trees of Aule will be tall enough. In the mountains the Eagles shall house, and hear the voices of those who call upon us. But in the forests shall walk the Shepherds of the Trees."

Then Manwe and Yavanna parted for that time, and Yavanna returned to Aule; and he was in his smithy, pouring molten metal into a mould. "Eru is bountiful," she said. "Now let thy children beware! For there shall walk a power in the forests whose wrath they will arouse at their peril."

"Nonetheless they will have need of wood," said Aule, and he went on with his smith-work.

[Kuruharan]

Pirates of the Haradrim

With cat-like tread,
Upon our prey we steal...

Sorry...

Anyway, obviously, given Tolkien's well-known disdain for cats...he would obviously consider it appropriate to refer to such unsavory characters as Haradrim pirates as "cat-like."