(no subject)

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

Am I the only one a little bothered by Dumbledore? Not only with the fact he could end up in the Guinness Book Of World Records for "Most Incompetent Headmaster of All Time" (though I'm sure there's worse. :P), but also because...he just bugs me. I know JKR was trying to write him as the "flawed Yoda", so to speak (and to be fair, he's nowhere near Yoda. XD), but it's also how...preachy he gets. Towards Fudge, for example. You know, in Goblet of Fire, with, "You place too much importance on purity of blood, yadda yadda et cetera et cetera" -- which considering how he treated Tom Riddle and the Slytherins is...slightly hypocritical isn't it? Probably bad writing on JKR's part, though. :/

Anyways, sorry 'bout the rambling. Thoughts?

Comments

[sunnyskywalker]

And Saruman wanting to learn too much about light and prisms and new uses for metals. Clearly this can only lead to control freakiness and treeless wastelands. (Where did the Dwarves put all the waste rock and dirt from their mining, anyway?)

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

True. :)

Honestly, I have no idea where they put the waste rock and dirt. A garbage disposal? :/ *Is shot*

[sunnyskywalker]

Maybe the Lonely Mountain is lonely because it used to be a perfectly flat plain until they started dumping all their tailings from everywhere in Middle Earth there. And, er, any mining in it was thanks to improved techniques that helped them get more out of the tailings. Yeah.

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

*This*, just this. :D

Dwarfs

[urbanman1984.livejournal.com]

Dwarfs were supposed to have a supernatural affinity with metals and rocks weren't they? Gimli says something of the kind.

Re: Dwarfs

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

Ah, gotcha. Thanks for the heads-up. :)

Re: Dwarfs

[sunnyskywalker]

Yes, but surely there would still be some waste? Especially from hollowing out all those giant halls in Moria?

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

Dwarves were created by Aule, Vala of the earth, so probably learned from him how to mine responsibly. They probably used parts of it for decorations, sculptures, or defensive works. And on the subject of Saruman (and Sauron, and Morgoth) - lots of people in Middle-Earth wanted to be great, including Aragorn and Galadriel. And for generic ambitions that didn't involve ruling people, pretty much everyone with a name in the First Age had some great ambition or other. Tolkien recognised that ambition causes evil when followed without care for the harm it does others, not of itself.

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

Ah. Gotcha. :)

Seriously, Tolkien could teach Rowling a great many things. :P

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

That indeed. I think it also says something that his main heroes (the hobbits) are average people.

[sunnyskywalker]

They probably have magic, non-toxic substances they can use to separate out the gold etc. instead of cyanide and such. That's one of the big RL causes of mining pollution. Still hard to see how all the waste rock could have been turned into statues or defensive works I don't remember seeing (though I might have just missed them, or maybe they were on another part of the mountain), given the size of those halls, but that's something I guess I'll let Tolkien slide on.