Middle-earth Bad Popularity Cup

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Andsigil

He even has a surname of Huggins. Interesting, I'll bet, the study of hill troll genealogy.

Yes, that's another interesting thing. I always forget about it - mainly because in my translation, it's for some reason left out. I wonder what made them not to translate it...

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc

I always forget about it - mainly because in my translation, it's for some reason left out. I wonder what made them not to translate it...

I wonder more why Tolkien decided to give William that surname in the first place! Why a surname? And of all the possibilities he comes up with Huggins! Now really...

It would be reasonable to stand against the tide again and vote for the Great Goblin, but he's just not... well, votable.

I think he was always the mere nobody standing for a role there had to be. A goblin king living under the mountains could have been a formidable character but GG is not.

++ William

[Aganzir]

The Great Goblin was mean to Thorin.

++William

Hmm, William was mean to the dwarves, too. But less so. And he didn't eat their ponies.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Nogrod

I wonder more why Tolkien decided to give William that surname in the first place! Why a surname? And of all the possibilities he comes up with Huggins! Now really...

Well, and why not? You could ask the same way, why a name, in the first place? This, if nothing else, implies the reoccurance of first names among Trolls. One was Bill the Goat-Eater, another was Bill Two-Tooth, another one was Bill Huggins. It does not necessarily imply a family name, although... hmm... a Huggins clan... "Clan of the Red Claw!" "Clan of the Stone!" "Clan of Huggins!" Now, really...

Well, at least you can be glad he wasn't called Bill Noggins

Oh, and actually... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Huggins

I think the time of his life implies that Tolkien might have been well informed about him...

I think he was always the mere nobody standing for a role there had to be. A goblin king living under the mountains could have been a formidable character but GG is not.

Well, it's not that bad... he has one or two interesting quotes, like "Murderers and friends of Elves!" and "Throw them into the pits full of snakes!", which beats Legolas from the movies, but

[Durelin]

++The Great Goblin

I've always liked the goblins, especially as portrayed in The Hobbit (if they're really portrayed anywhere else). They're more interesting than other orcs to me, as they are more independent. And I like how they're kinda buddy-buddy with the wargs, without the wargs being subject to them. They also, from what I remember, seem to be possible to reason with. They seem to have protocols.

I like Bert, Tom, and Bill plenty, but...meh, there's three of them.

Originally Posted by Nogrod

I think he was always the mere nobody standing for a role there had to be. A goblin king living under the mountains could have been a formidable character but GG is not.

Well, they're goblins...in The Hobbit, a children's story...they have to be a little silly and thus their leader largely incompetent...to avoid gruesome torture and death scenes and such... As if Bert, Tom, and Bill are especially formidable.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Durelin

And I like how they're kinda buddy-buddy with the wargs, without the wargs being subject to them. They also, from what I remember, seem to be possible to reason with. They seem to have protocols.

Ah yes, true. Actually, it looked like that under some circumstances, Thoring could have talked himself out of the situation... true. A pity, really. Hmm, I should have re-read that before voting. Perhaps I would have reconsidered. Well, but still. William is a nice guy.

[Tuor in Gondolin]

William-6 The Great Goblin-1

Next: Gorbag vs. Shagrat
A tragic brother against brother (sort of) struggle, perhaps
somewhere between Damon and Pythias and Cain and Abel,
okay, probably the latter.
To hear what they might well select as their theme song
try a Google search for

Two heads are better than
one Power Tool

. (I can't post directly an http link,
due no doubt to my very limited computer savvy. I could get
links on my old PC but not with my new laptop).

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Now, I think this match could at last be interesting, and I am really interested in seeing the preferrences people have.

For me, it is Gorbag, because... I just like him. To me, he seems a bit nicer, a bit more clever, in some way, he is more "independant" (though Shagrat is also, but in his own, rather nasty way). I mean, Gorbag looks like more of a relaxed-type guy to me. And he has far cooler coat of arms, dwells in a far cooler place (and probably has a regular talk to the Nazgul).

And, he was the only known Orc with an apparent interest in philosophy of metaphysics. Hmm, perhaps he would have became a good philosopher, had he had the time and not be too burdened by his duties as a commander (or again, if he was "free", then if he had enough other Orcs to take care of supplying the food and all necessary things... hmm, now where I have heard this...). Or he had metaphysics as his hobby. (Stimulated, no doubt, by his living is such a proximity to the Ringwraith - as it is even implied by the text itself.)

++Gorbag

I really disliked Shagrat in the beginning, to be honest, although in the end, nowadays I don't mind him anymore, in fact, I could perhaps sort of like him as well. But Gorbag is still far in the lead.