"Osanwe-Kenta" is an interesting though somewhat confusing essay. Christopher
Tolkien believes it was composed at the same time as "Quendi and Eldar" (circa
1959), most of which was published in The War of the Jewels. "Quendi and Eldar"
is a collection of short essays providing the etymological development of
certain words the Elves [...]
ANSWER: To the best of my knowledge J.R.R. Tolkien left no definitive
explanation of his choice for this name in any of the published texts. It is
conceivable, I suppose, that some unremarked note buried in the Marquette
archive may provide some insight into Tolkien's thinking about the [...]
Q: Did J.R.R. Tolkien Write Music for any Songs in The Lord of the Rings?
ANSWER: The usual response to this question is that "Donald Swann put the poems
to music with Tolkien's approval" (or some variation on that). Swann's music was
published in The Road Goes Ever On. The music has been performed [...]
Q: Were All Easterlings and Haradrim in Middle-earth Evil People?
ANSWER: A criticism often leveled at J.R.R. Tolkien (and The Lord of the Rings
in particular) is that "all the bad guys come from the south and east". In truth
there are plenty of bad guys who live in the northwestern lands (including Orcs,
men [...]
ANSWER: People ask about Gondor's armies but I don't recall anyone ever asking
about Arnor's armies. Technically, Gondorian and Arnorian armies would not have
been organized like modern 20th century armies with regional commands. There
would have been royal forces with specific divisions of responsibility and
possibly [...]
There will probably never be a "Half-days of Thunder" movie, celebrating the
wild cart-races between Hobbiton and Bywater. Hobbits by nature are a
stay-at-home folk whose wildest risks tend to be along the lines of stealing
mushrooms and getting in and out of boats. Sure, the occasional Took goes off to
Sea, but [...]
ANSWER: The Beornings are about as non-descript a tribe in Middle-earth as any,
receiving even less attention than the Southrons whom Faramir's company attacked
in Ithilien. Virtually all that we know about the Beornings is derived from less
than five sentences in both The Hobbit and The Lord of [...]
