h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

We are drifting from Tolkein- it was his book, after all! Legolas... we have had this argument before... as a female, it is not my fault that I think he's fit... that's just the way it is.

Has anyone else read the Simarillion?

yup. read it twice....which reminds me i must get it back off my mate!

& it IS ur fault ur delusioned enuff 2 find Legolas fit!

Ah well. I'm afraid the whole blonde-arrow-firing-all-jumping-pointy-ears-immortal-ELF thing is just... well... . Who knows. Anyway.

I'm trying to get to grips with the runic alphabet at the moment. A bit sad, I know, but it makes Physics more interesting!!

So that you can scrawl down an allocution of your love of Legaolas in true writing?

u talking bout Elvish script or Dwarvish runes?

Are you trying to learn it, or just understand it?

Both the elvish script and runes were invented by the elves (Feanor to be precise) but the dwarves preferred the runes as they were more adapted to engraving in stone and metal. I prefer the script, it's much prettier.

It's amazing how I find Tolkien historians much more interesting than any actual historians

And yes, I've read The Silmarillion several times, though not often in the right order...

Is that the historians, or just the history?

i love Middle-Earth history! is soooo interesin

It does have more in the way of wars, swashbuckling rescues, world-shaking magic and the like than our real world. And more races. We have enough trouble here with just humans. Imagine what it would be like if we had all the nations of dwarves, elves, hobbits, ents, orcs, etc. to contend with. Diplomacy would be a nightmare.

Imagine the student protesters yelling "Hobbits are Elves, too!"

Not bearable. Anyway what bit of real history do you find boring?

Hey fellas... check out the newest Tolkien-related guide entry by Shazz... A672022

They've done pretty well with it, I'd say. It's far from complete, but that's to be expected from a Guide entry. In fact, I have a copy of the Tolkien Encyclopaedia, and it is pretty massive.

I don't know where to get hold of a copy of the Elvish Scrip alphabet- I have the runes in the back of the LOTR, of course, but I don't know where to find the script- and it is so much prettier, but, I should imagine, much harder.

I love the history of the LOTR- it's the mystery and legend that attracts. It is written so to sound like ancient stories, passed down from generation to generation, and that's it's appeal, even if it does make it a little hard to undertstand late at night!

u have a Tolkien Encyclopaedia? my mate said shed get me 1 4 xmas (from cheap bookshop) but she lied & dint so now i dont have 1! i was bit miffd cuz woulda bought 1 meself if shed said & they dont av em now

oh, & theres the 'elvish alphabet' in 1 of the appendices at the back of LOTR

I thought there was but I cannot find it. Grr. Have to look harder. No, I don't have an encyclopedia. What does it have in it?

It's divided into sections of, basically, 'people', 'animals', 'places', and 'others'. In each section, everything is placed in alphabetical order, with a brief description of what the thing isd about. It also has quite a few pages, many of which do not appear to bear any relation to the rest of the page. I have a backlog of books to read, so I haven't got round to cover-to-covering it yet, but I have flicked through.

any chance of steal.........i mean *borrowing* it?