| Books-Commentary - J.R.R. Tolkien |
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How come everyone on Middle Earth had so little knowledge of the world around them?
The Rohirrim were shocked to learn about what went on in Lorien; the Gondorians had no idea what went on in Fangorn forrest; nobody in the Shire had ever been to the nearby elf-towers to the west, and so on and so forth. In effect, nobody seemed to know what was going on just outside their borders. Didn't anyone ever travel, or go for a walk? People seemed startlingly ignorant of their neighbors around them.
You may say that the elves kept men out, so they couldn't see what was going on in their forests. But Galadriel didn't seem to know about Treebeard; and Legolas didn't seem to know about Galadriel or Treebeard. If this sort of narrow provincialism is to be believed, then most peoples of the Middle Earth stayed within their own small habitat and never had the curiousity, or the drive, to move around. If true, isn't that a bit surprising?
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Rose
posts on 1/21/2007 3:31:33 PM
the answer to your question is simple: no telephones. Ya think the kings could email each other? If so,gimme Aragorn's.
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alphonse
posts on 11/8/2005 8:05:19 PM
Because the verizon guy said do you here me now and the network was down
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Lady
posts on 6/20/2005 7:05:57 PM
and to build on what burrahobbit said, there is no magic in this world. in middle-earth, there were scary trees and witches and bad guys and dead people on a mountain-- i think that puts up a few walls right there.
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aliciaskywalker
posts on 6/20/2005 2:39:40 PM
It is a bit like medieval times in ur own world - all people knew was their village and the surrounding farmlands. After that...nothing. And what do you care what they knew anyway? It's a great story, that's all there is to it.
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