Congratulations on your new addition to your family Eluadin.

I completely understand your predicament regarding posting. I have two pre schoolers and it seems to take me about ten times as long to string together a post these days.

Eluadin, thanks for your post. It sparkled dark thoughts in me...

And congratulations. As a fellow new-father I understand your predictment

Halbarad, Corvo thanks for the sentiments and sympathy! It seems these days not even a bracing cup of tea can bolster my flagging Endurance. There's little time for Rest and Recovery to stave of the affects of being Weary, so that all I can say is thank The One for Hope! Oh, wait, am I speaking about my TOR campaign...? Talk about being tired!

Regards,
E

Elaudin,
Have you not noticed the average length of my posts? And, to be frighteningly candid, you're seeing them after editing. Besides it was well written and informative. Just enough facts and citations without getting bogged down.

As to the article... The only question that immediately came to mind about the Durin, Celembrimbor and Sauron situation is whether Durin thought that attacking from the rear of Sauron's forces would be a more effective strategy. (However, I have not read this material so my question is essentially out of context.) I'm not sure if I was Durin I would want to fight a battle on my doorstep, which I would have to keep open to allow retreat, when otherwise I'm in a cul-de-sac (surface terrain wise). While on the one hand it is eminently defensible, it is also completely untenable if anything goes wrong. And in battle, things are known to go wrong. Particularly with doors / gates.

"Going back to the original question of the dwarves"... A portion of that is similar to my original post in this thread about how the taint of Morgoth's evil affected everything in Arda (ie, my "nothing was wholly good or evil" comment).

Congratulations to you also Corvo.

It's really hard work being a Gamer Dad.........

This is true! Mine has made it all the way to five & she's dorking up quite well (already been read "The Hobbit"). Contrats all, and enjoy!!!

My little one is just shy of two, and currently being read The Hobbit by her daddy. I'm the gamer in the family, but my husband loves Tolkien also. He wanted to read her the Silmarillion, but I convinced her that The Hobbit was slightly more age appropriate.

Oh, my! Perhaps at her age, this would be a good way to put her to sleep at night

I just realized a small typo in my initial post. I wrote, "I convinced her that The Hobbit was more age appropriate." Should read, "I convinced him that The Hobbit was more age appropriate," i.e. I convinced my husband, not my daughter

Personally, the Silmarillion is my favourite Tolkien. I would take it over either The Hobbit or LoTR.

Totally agree on The Hobbit being more age appropriate. I found myself chuckling at times as it reads a bit like A. A. Milne (Pooh, of course).

That was our aim, but there were times where everybody was into it enough to loose some sleep. That's OK!

Daddy/daughter reading time is an essential part of our little one's bedtime ritual. She actually looks forward to bedtime, because that's when daddy reads to her.

I read both the Hobbit and LotR to my daughter as bedtime stories. LotR is a long novel to read aloud!

Great memories though.

Really, that's what it's all about.

James, if this question still stokes your curiosity, I came across an interesting bit of information that sheds lights on the topic.

While researching the knowledge of Iluvatar among Men, I came across an interesting passage referring to Dwarves. This is in the The Book of Lost Tales, Part II. From the fourth Tale, The Nauglafring, we learn that Tolkien's first conception of Dwarves is a race wholly aligned to the love of gold above all else. And, in fact, this alignment drew them closer "in friendship to the kin of Melkor." For the amassing of gold, Dwarves were more prone to evil; and impelled by greed to traffic in common cause with Orcs. This early conception of Dwarves imagined by Tolkien in The Lost Tales dates to no earlier than 1917. After this but before the writing of The LotR, Tolkien publishes The Hobbit. And, still at this time it seems he held to a notion that the history of the Dwarves was stained by a propensity for evil, I.e., the part they played in The Lost Tales. For it is not until the later composing of The Silmarillion and the publishing of The LotR that Dwarves progress from their primeval propensity for evil to become numbered among the Free Peoples.

Ultimately, the passage you question with curiosity from The Hobbit is a direct reflection back on The Lost Tales and the role played by Dwarves in those writings. And, this came before their reformation into the Dwarves of The LotR's era and later writings. What to do with that becomes the stuff or TOR legends...

Amusing how searching out something in Tolkien's writings always leads to another wholly unrelated but inextricably linked question, and on and on in a dizzying dance of layered and interconnected imagining. The man must have had a mind like a labyrinth methinks at times...

Regards,
SWH

I'm suitably impressed by the many erudite entries in this thread. I want to find the time to read and digest them all.
To save some the dilemma of whether Dwarves could be as evil/corrupted as some adventure plots may require, I wanted to throw my 2cents worth in ....
I would not rule out using a Petty-Dwarf where a wicked or miscreant dwarf is required.

ICE MERP products (either Arnor or The Shire - I can't recall) suggest that Petty-Dwarves are rumoured to live in the hills/highlands spurring off the Misty Mtns, near the Ettenmoors. This is close enough to the orcs of GoblinGate to allow that they may be in cahoots.
Being solitary and antipathic to community - they likely could subsist in this remote terrain without inducing many stories or sightings.

I know that MERP is not canon, but hey - I don't think this breaks canon either.
I have no PhD in Tolkien studies, but I do have a great love of his works - they have proven to be some of the greatest inspirations in my life. I do my best to honour Tolkien's work & their spirit in my game, and I try to stick to canon as best I can. That said - my highest priority is to make it fun, interesting and rewarding fro my players & I. If it also educates the players in Tolkien-lore then that's a bonus in my eyes.
My point is - it's your game so you can be as conscious of canon as you like.
Personally - I like that many folks DO consider upholding Tolkien's spirit in their games.


Watch out for dastardly elusive Nibin-Noeg!

Thank you Eluadin! All of this is very helpful research for an adventure project I have in mind. And I have not forgotten about creating suggestions for helping another recover Corruption.

Hi:

Wait, I thought those sho' look like 'em teepahtiers & flip-flopping Reps...



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