Lord of the Rings - Aragorn's Horse

Lord of the Rings - Aragorn's Horse

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Halmyre

Original Poster:

11,562 posts

146 months

Tuesday 23rd December 2014
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OK, in 'The Return of the King', Rangers from the north come to help Aragorn and they bring his HORSE with them. Why the frell has Aragorn, who is known as 'Strider' because he BLOODY WELL WALKS everywhere, got a horse he never uses? Imagine how useful that horse might have been while slogging their way from Bree to Rivendell!

Everyone harps on about "why don't they use the eagles to take the ring to Mordor" but nobody ever asks about Aragorn's fecking horse kicking its hooves back in the stables at Rivendell.

In fact, I've just realised - why are the Rangers dragging this sodding horse, probably grossly unfit because its owner can't be arsed to ride it, all the way to Rohan, a land famous for, wait for it, its HORSES! Talk about coals to Newcastle (or lembas to Lorien).

Never mind your deus ex machina, this is more eqqus ex machina. Poor show Mr Tolkien.

Liokault

2,837 posts

221 months

Tuesday 23rd December 2014
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I assumed that as a "ranger" he was trying to pass as a vagrant. It would be unlikely that a vagrant would have a horse.

Halmyre

Original Poster:

11,562 posts

146 months

Wednesday 24th December 2014
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Did they have vagrants in Middle Earth? I've never really thought about how Aragorn is perceived by the people of Bree, who make Norfolkers look like cosmopolitan sophisticates.

jmorgan

36,010 posts

291 months

Wednesday 24th December 2014
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He was known as such for his long shanks (and had many other names around the lands). And rangers were decedents of the Dunedain.


Its in the book.

Edit. I think.

Edited by jmorgan on Wednesday 24th December 10:32

MagneticMeerkat

1,763 posts

212 months

Thursday 1st January 2015
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Errm, I shall have to say this very softly to avoid upsetting you further. It's not real....

JRR made the whole thing up, in his head, and wrote it down for the purposes of entertainment. Nothing about the book makes sense: the Shire is deemed perfect yet appears to have no viable economy, someone on the evil side clearly invents the steam engine then does nothing much warlike with it, why are they fighting with swords when they seem to have invented gunpowder?

It's not going to make sense in a real world context, because it's fantasy. And so what if there are a few holes, it's a massive book and we can't expect everything to slot into place perfectly owing to that. Just enjoy the ride while it lasts.

Liokault

2,837 posts

221 months

Saturday 3rd January 2015
quotequote all
MagneticMeerkat said:
Errm, I shall have to say this very softly to avoid upsetting you further. It's not real....

JRR made the whole thing up, in his head, and wrote it down for the purposes of entertainment. Nothing about the book makes sense: the Shire is deemed perfect yet appears to have no viable economy, someone on the evil side clearly invents the steam engine then does nothing much warlike with it, why are they fighting with swords when they seem to have invented gunpowder?

It's not going to make sense in a real world context, because it's fantasy. And so what if there are a few holes, it's a massive book and we can't expect everything to slot into place perfectly owing to that. Just enjoy the ride while it lasts.
Meh,

The flaw in your argument is that the steam power was invented a long long time before it was used for anything really useful.

Same with gunpowder. Also people fought with swords well after gunpowder was invented. In fact, bows were more powerful than early guns, they just took much much more training to become useful.

Liokault

2,837 posts

221 months

Saturday 3rd January 2015
quotequote all
MagneticMeerkat said:
Errm, I shall have to say this very softly to avoid upsetting you further. It's not real....

JRR made the whole thing up, in his head, and wrote it down for the purposes of entertainment. Nothing about the book makes sense: the Shire is deemed perfect yet appears to have no viable economy, someone on the evil side clearly invents the steam engine then does nothing much warlike with it, why are they fighting with swords when they seem to have invented gunpowder?

It's not going to make sense in a real world context, because it's fantasy. And so what if there are a few holes, it's a massive book and we can't expect everything to slot into place perfectly owing to that. Just enjoy the ride while it lasts.
Meh,

The flaw in your argument is that the steam power was invented a long long time before it was used for anything really useful.

Same with gunpowder. Also people fought with swords well after gunpowder was invented. In fact, bows were more powerful than early guns, they just took much much more training to become useful.

voyds9

8,489 posts

290 months

Sunday 4th January 2015
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Probably not the right thread but

The Professor

Late with his birthday toast I apologise.

Halb

53,012 posts

190 months

Tuesday 20th January 2015
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Halmyre said:
Did they have vagrants in Middle Earth? I've never really thought about how Aragorn is perceived by the people of Bree, who make Norfolkers look like cosmopolitan sophisticates.
laugh
Bree are a spesshial lot.