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Second-guessing and Misunderstanding Tolkien
LaurelinBearsFruit said:
Astrophage? Ok yeah... what does that one even mean?
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I had to look it up. Apparently it's a [fictional] organism that lives on suns.
I'm sure that I read further about what it does, or about its characteristics.
I'm equally sure I forgot all that as soon as I finished reading it or, more likely, even before I finished. 🙄
 
LaurelinBearsFruit said:
Astrophage? Ok yeah... what does that one even mean?
Click to expand...
I thought it was another name for the Sun-Eater, a huge blob of gas that was fought against by the DC Comics 30th-century Legion of Super-Heroes, "assisted" by the supervillain group Fatal Five. First published 1967, no idea when I read it.
 
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Olorgando said:
I thought it was another name for the Sun-Eater, a huge blob of gas that was fought against by the DC Comics 30th-century Legion of Super-Heroes, "assisted" by the supervillain group Fatal Five. First published 1967, no idea when I read it.
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Or "star eater". It's a term from a 2021 book called Project Hail Mary which I only know because I looked it up. I guess the book popular enough that the questioner would assume people would just know what they were referring to.
 
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Considering Bilbo needs to know a great deal about the history of Middle Earth to have written the poem about Aragorn, to have written the sung regarding Eärendi, how did he aqquire this information in the 70 years between his return and the Quest?

"Um, yeah, because there is no, like, an app for that, you know, so umm, how could he, like, learn all that without, umm , like , you know..."

(Yes, you intellectual wonder, you... and I'm sure you are allowed to not only vote but also to reproduce... more's the pity.)
 
Radaghast said:
Because 70 years is not enough to learn the history of something? 🤨🙄
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Well, Elrond was 58+3,441+3,018=6,517 years old when the four Hobbits and Aragorn showed up in Rivendell. So Bilbo in 70 years could learn only 1.07% of everything Elrond had learned, obviously ... 🤓

... but hang on, Bilbo left the Shire on his 111th birthday, in 3001 Third Age. As he probably visited Erebor before settling down at Rivendell, that was probably only in 3002 TA. That only leaves him 16 years to learn stuff from Elrond there.
Then again, Bilbo returned to the Shire from his first "visit" to Erebor in 2942 TA. That' 78 years before 3018 TA. What's with the 70 years? 🤔🤨
 
Yeah, the 70 years seems iffy. But it could be only four years and I would still think it an odd question. How long does it take to read The Silmarillion, or, heck, even just the chapter about Eärendil? Isn't that what Bilbo's poem is about, and is there anything in his poem that isn't in The Silmarillion? And how long would he need to learn about Aragorn? It's just such an odd question that I have to wonder if I'm missing something.
 
Well, there's assumptions and then there's asSUMPtions ... or a variant highlighting only the first three letters ...
 
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