Tumblr User Explains Why Elves’ Eyes In Lord Of The Rings Shouldn’t Look The Way They Do
J. R. R. Tolkien is, of course, known for his enormous contribution to the fantasy books genre, especially with the epic The Lord of the Rings series that became a sort of staple when talking about high fantasy. Not only did Tolkien put the groundwork for generations of fiction writers (and consumers) to come, he also created some of the most memorable fantasy characters to represent the many different aspects of the genre. We definitely think of the Lord of the Rings character named Gandalf when someone brings up the topic of wizards. The elven world is hardly imaginable without the presence (and shenanigans) of prince Legolas Greenleaf. Throughout Tolkien’s books, this Middle Earther acts as one of the main channels to the elven world and culture that the writer has carefully constructed (he even created a fictional language, just for this race, Quenya).
By following the famous characters on their adventures, we find out that Tolkien’s elves are tall, immortal supernatural beings with much keener senses than the common men. One of the more memorable moments of the series, when Legolas uses his elf eyes to see that “[The orcs are] taking the Hobbits to Isengard,” recently became a subject of a Tumblr post that attracted a lot of attention. One user, colonelmagpie, posted their physics homework, where they had to reason how could Legolas see what’s five leagues away. The user soon added their results, and from there… hilarity ensued!
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Share on FacebookThis was just the talk we get in our boardgaming group every meeting, nothing out of normal
Just for the record, Tolkien created TWO main elvish languages -- Quenya (which is spoken by the High Elves like Galadriel) and Sindarin, which is spoken by most other elves. Quenya is also used in ceremonies, a bit like Latin was for Catholic masses for centuries. It's not so much that I'm a huge Tolkien geek, but my son is, and Tolkien's creation of languages was the catalyst that resulted in my son becoming a linguist.
Correct - but I can't give you a point because you didn't start with 'Um, actually...' :D
Load More Replies...The curvature doesn't need to matter either if middle earth is drastically bigger than our earth. Bigger globe = bigger distance to horizon.
Somebody mentions LOTR, and goodbye, off to go have a movie marathon in a dark room with a tub of ice cream
Nah. Elves are not humans. So to apply human biology understanding to an alternative race to explain how they are able to see is absurd. It would be like saying we have two legs and an ostrich has two legs... ostriches are very fast...our legs have more muscles - therefore we should be much faster than an ostrich. Of course this is wrong because we are different kinds of creatures. But even humans have different levels of eyesight, which is why some people wear glasses, some people can see well in the dark, etc. Also he's using physics for a biology question. This is also middle earth and not necessarily earth! Plus he could use a third eye or a minds' eye to extend his 'vision'.
Hahah xD same as: why didnt the eagles, that saved Frodo from the mountain, just fly them to the mountain - drop the ring and fly home ?? XDDDD
The Nazgul exist - the winged predators are the rulers of the sky, not to mention Sauron’s constant attention and security. You can sneak a couple of Hobbits in, especially if they go in through Cirith Ungol (Shelob’s caverns) but a fleet of Eagles flying over your walls is harder to miss. Side note on Shelob, she didn’t betray them to Sauron because she cares nothing for him, and he keeps her around for amusement. The two have no allegiance to each other. Anyways, the Eagles were only able to fly into Mordor to save Frodo after Sauron’s power had crumbled and the Ringwraiths had gone with it. If they had tried it earlier, they would have fallen and Sauron would have been able to claim the Ring.
Load More Replies...Maybe I am wrong, but I think 15 miles is "only" 25 kilometres. Definitely not far enough for Earth curvature to be significant. C'mon, guys, how far you saw from mountain?
According to wiki(and some maths which I technically could do on my own but was too lazy:P) a person of 1.75m height(assuming standing on completely flat ground) will see horizon at 4.7 km away, so it is actually quite noticeable ;) If you look from higher ground like a hill(like I believe they did) or a mountain, the distance changes obviously.
Load More Replies...Nice picture. Exactly what I got when I visited my opthalmologist last time. IMG_201810...3581af.jpg
This was just the talk we get in our boardgaming group every meeting, nothing out of normal
Just for the record, Tolkien created TWO main elvish languages -- Quenya (which is spoken by the High Elves like Galadriel) and Sindarin, which is spoken by most other elves. Quenya is also used in ceremonies, a bit like Latin was for Catholic masses for centuries. It's not so much that I'm a huge Tolkien geek, but my son is, and Tolkien's creation of languages was the catalyst that resulted in my son becoming a linguist.
Correct - but I can't give you a point because you didn't start with 'Um, actually...' :D
Load More Replies...The curvature doesn't need to matter either if middle earth is drastically bigger than our earth. Bigger globe = bigger distance to horizon.
Somebody mentions LOTR, and goodbye, off to go have a movie marathon in a dark room with a tub of ice cream
Nah. Elves are not humans. So to apply human biology understanding to an alternative race to explain how they are able to see is absurd. It would be like saying we have two legs and an ostrich has two legs... ostriches are very fast...our legs have more muscles - therefore we should be much faster than an ostrich. Of course this is wrong because we are different kinds of creatures. But even humans have different levels of eyesight, which is why some people wear glasses, some people can see well in the dark, etc. Also he's using physics for a biology question. This is also middle earth and not necessarily earth! Plus he could use a third eye or a minds' eye to extend his 'vision'.
Hahah xD same as: why didnt the eagles, that saved Frodo from the mountain, just fly them to the mountain - drop the ring and fly home ?? XDDDD
The Nazgul exist - the winged predators are the rulers of the sky, not to mention Sauron’s constant attention and security. You can sneak a couple of Hobbits in, especially if they go in through Cirith Ungol (Shelob’s caverns) but a fleet of Eagles flying over your walls is harder to miss. Side note on Shelob, she didn’t betray them to Sauron because she cares nothing for him, and he keeps her around for amusement. The two have no allegiance to each other. Anyways, the Eagles were only able to fly into Mordor to save Frodo after Sauron’s power had crumbled and the Ringwraiths had gone with it. If they had tried it earlier, they would have fallen and Sauron would have been able to claim the Ring.
Load More Replies...Maybe I am wrong, but I think 15 miles is "only" 25 kilometres. Definitely not far enough for Earth curvature to be significant. C'mon, guys, how far you saw from mountain?
According to wiki(and some maths which I technically could do on my own but was too lazy:P) a person of 1.75m height(assuming standing on completely flat ground) will see horizon at 4.7 km away, so it is actually quite noticeable ;) If you look from higher ground like a hill(like I believe they did) or a mountain, the distance changes obviously.
Load More Replies...Nice picture. Exactly what I got when I visited my opthalmologist last time. IMG_201810...3581af.jpg
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