Hello people,
I am currently playing a second time through the campaign on hard difficulty and since for my first go I got very frustrated from times to times and shared some (I think Helms Deep and Minas Tirith) in this sub and got questions I couldn't really answer since it was too long ago, I thought I recollect my impressions from my second playthrough as some things have changed (at least it feels like). In general: It got easier.
Moria: Very straight forward. Seperated hobbits and actual heroes into 2 groups and started clearing out goblins and skipping level ups. Once an actual hero got to lvl 2 I picked up a level-up getting them to lvl 3. Fittingly there are 5 hidden level ups and 5 actual heroes. So by the end of the level everyone who matters was lvl 3. Yes I hate the hobbits go sue me.
Lorien: Cloak the hobbits, proceed with heroes. Kill the Lumber mill in the bottom left corner, bring the hobbits. Enter Lorien and build 2 Archery Ranges. The hobbits are send to collect the treasure while everyone else is gathering at the north-western bridge. The hobbits naturally arrive at the norther bridge where they will cross and kill the lumber mill. Constantly produce elven archers and keep an eye on gimli, aragorn and boromir as they tend to get themselves isolated at the front without archer support. just get them back and heal if nessesary. between waves the hobbits go and kill the third lumber mill in the north and then run from chasing lumber jacks and orcs. Either kite them to your archers (go back around, don't try to get past a wave) or just enaugh so you can cloak them. once cloaked/save cloak them and forget about them. Southern bridge will be attacked next, so reposition to the south, after which reposition to the north. Freewin.
Rohan:
Your priorities should be: +Command, +Special, +Resources. Use the early missions, which are very easy, to max out on Rohirrim and get all upgrades asap. You should be able to train new units after every mission (as you get +command) which lets you recruit rohirrim archers and sell them at the main building to level your stables to get shields. At around Fangorn the missions will get more tricky as the enemy will have large numbers of spears with improved weapons. Don't charge them if possible. Kite them to a base with towers or just outrun them. You are usually not in a hurry. You are in a hurry tho in 2 missions where "Isengard will arrive in X minutes" - you don't want that. The army that arrives is strong and has wargs and spears which will decimate your Rohirrim. You want your Rohirrim to level from mission to mission as lvl 2 Rohirrim will not be sufficient.
Helms Deep:
There is no use in defending the lower Wall. I sell everything, archers and peasants in the main building and build Elves exclusively (unlucked once the elves arrive). Station them on the third ring at the very top. Leave all gates open, don't close them. Gather as much resources as possible while upgrading your elves with standards and fire arrows. Ignore improved weapons. Use the Rohirrim and Theoden and Eowyn to safe the peasents, let them gather the treasure and sell them. Defend the right gate on the 3rd wall with gimli, aragorn and boromir. Keep them close so they always have archer support.
The enemy will attack soon and flood the first wall (the one you're supposed to protect) but some of them will be diverted to the open gate. Your elves will kill a constant but slow stream of enemies as they trickle through. Close the lower gate from time to time to waste the enemies time as they will walk towards the ladders to climb them. Just open the gate again when rams arrive. The rams will walk through the opened gate and kill the farmsteads on the lower leve. Your archers will take care of them.
At some point ladders will gather up infront of the game unable to pass through. At that point keep the gate open at all times as ballistas will appear. They wont be able to get past the ladders and get stuck. Like this your losses are kept to a minum. From here on out it's basically just holding out. Once Eomer is ready to be called wait. Another wave will trigger shortly after. Once that has passed/reached your first gate call Eomer. Mount Gandalf and charge the first base with Eomers "For the King" ability. your losses will be minimal. After that turn around and charge whatever is left inside the keep and reunite with Theoden. Heal up on a well, maybe wait out another wave and then ride out. Eomers and Theodens abilities make your riders very tanky so you can charge the second base. After that's done retreat into the keep. No more waves will be spawned. Use your heroes to clear up the map like this you can level them up some more.
Isengard:
Became irrelevant, total cake walk. Before fire arrows where a real issue as they just DELETED ents so you had to cheese the Mission. But now, you are so strong no cheese needed. Defend the first attack, clear the goblins and the troll cave, build up ents. Walk around the base and bombard the urukhai pits and any fire-archer troops you can find while 2-3 ents defend while standing in the puddle outside the gate. Then just go in and kill everything. manouver burning ents into puddles and use heal at your own disgretion. Keep Treebeard alive and mount the Hobbits or cloak them.
Ithilien: Build only rangers and equip them with fire arrows. Try to keep everyone alive, you don't want to lose entire battalions. In the south there are a few rangers and a catapult. You can clear a big deal of the enemy camp on the middle plateau with that catapult. Aswell as the Oliphaunt in the top right corner. It will try to attack your catapult but the invisible wall makes it impossible. You can reach the Oliphaunt with your catapult from a cliff spot on the right side of the walkable map. Just area bombard where the oliphaunt stands it will return after charging you after each hit. Once that is done and the middle plateau is cleared position in front of the ramp and use the Terrain ability (that green circle where your units get boni) as close to the top right base as possible. This will trigger the orcs and trolls to attack you. Then proceed to bombard the bottom right base with your catapult and take it down with your rangers. Just take them to the topright base you cleared already and raze it to the ground. this should work ideally before mordor arrives so you can save most of your rangers.
After that you can pick missions again, and again: Command->Special->Resource.
Be careful in Dunharg, there are a lot of spears on that map and it is rather small. Striking fast is the key to victory although I lost some riders.
Osgiliath:
Then the defence of Osgiliath. This mission got a lot easier but is still tricky.
Right at the start move 2 catapults south aswell as the tower guard. Retreat with your rangers so they don't die to the attacking catapult (your otwer guard in the south will most likely be dead already). Build up the base in the south and kill the catapult with towerguard and your own catapults. Focus on Smithies only, build a well in the southern base. Man the towers with rangers and keep towerguard in defensive formation as a meatshield. Don't advance over the bridges. Maybe I got lucky but the Ai ignored the southern bridge from there on and only send waves down the middle and north. The north can easily be defended with 3 Ranger battalions and 1 towerguard.
From there on build your army up: A few tower guard are enaugh (I guess 6-8 batallions) rest Rangers. Get all upgrades from all buildings. Once your army is maxed call faramir, not earlier. You'll need the additional firepower. I used that time to upgrade the ithilien rangers that haven't been upgraded yet and leveled Faramir on the middle bridge to 5 for the +50% armor leadership bonus. I attacked the catapults one by one luring them into death while I also started building all towers in the southern base. Then I gathered everything except for 2 Ranger battalions and 1 Towerguard which stayed north and crossed the river. This will trigger nazgul to attack. Kill them asap. Establish a footholt on the other side and start taking down the base right across the river. Mount Faramir so he can dispatch any catapults quickly. Once that base is fully destroyed a large and very powerful (lvl 4+ Trolls, Oliphaunts and Orcs) will spawn. This is true for every base the enemy has. Therefor I gather all of my troops around the center of the base, once it's cleared I build a base of my own. the entrance will be to the southwest where I will build Towers at the entrance and on each spot while building a statue and a well in the back. The towers in the front will be cleared almost instantly, just rebuild them that gives your rangers till to kill anything that moves. Expect some heavy losses. Rebuild your army and kill everything but one small tower in the bottom right base. then go topside and do the same for the north base. Kill the manned towers with your catapults. Then kill both bases simultaneously and the mordor army will not spawn for base 2 and 3.
Kankra's Lair: Just walk around with Sam and kill all spiders. Don't free any soldiers. In the top left there is a troll which is too strong for Sam. So you let him throw rocks at it, until he is one hit away from death. use heal and wait until his health drops below half (after his health turns yellow one more hit) then activate the light. Once the troll flees just cloak. Wait for Sam to heal up and heal come off cooldown. Repeat this once and on your third fight with the troll sam should win. Proceed to clear everything with sam until you can only move south-east. Go and free all soldiers. Proceed with sam, kill spiders and free soldiers with soldiers. In the south there is a large arena. Gather all soldiers and tank Kankra with Sam. You will need to heal here so Sam doesn't die. Kankra runs and small spiders swarm. Your soldiers will take care of them. Kankra returns and who she focuses is random afaik so try to kite soldiers she targets away so your losses are not too big. After kankra is defeated clear the rest of the caves, gather treasure and free soldiers and gather at the exit. There is a small base in the bottom right corner guarded by some orcs. Kill them. Build the base and build 3 Smithies and a Farmstead where the Lumber Mill stood. Wait until your smithies reach Lvl 2 then research all upgrades. After the upgrades went through demolish 2 Smithies. Build an archery range and a barracks. Recruit 3 swordsmen battalions from the baracks so it reaches lvl 2. Take them and the rescued soldiers and let them die at the enemy base. They're all worthless. Recruit 12 batallions of Tower guard and 12 batallions of Archers. Fully upgrade them. Delete the archery range and build another Smithy. Throw your army against the enemy base. Once you breach the walls mordor will send a strong army so your first army is most likely lost. I managed to kill a lot by positioning towerguard wisely but in the end it wasn't enaugh. The army wont cross the bridge tho so you can just save up and build 12 Tower guard. Demolish the barracks and build an Archery Range. Build 12 Archer Battallions, full upgrade everyone. This force should be enaugh to overwhelm the defenders.
After that is Minas Tirith. That's where I am right now and I will update in the coming days once I complete it.
General: So far I feel like my troops survive more easily, the enemy armies aren't as punishing as before but I had to resort to cheesy strategies in Helms Deep and expect to cheese Minas Tirith aswell. This playthrough is therefor less challenging and usually I prefer more challenging games even or especiall when it frustrates me. But the changes just made me cheese less and restart less because I accidentally wiped 8 batallions of Rohirrim on a single urukhai spear batallion.
Mistakes I made so far: I didn't really level Gandalf in Fangorn or Helms Deep so I wont have access to lvl 10 in minas tirith. Wihch might be an issue.
I lost some Rohirrim in Dunharg which I couldn't really replenish.
(Maybe) bought the Rohirrim special power and am at 11 Special points with Anduril and Army of the dead missing.
Speaking of which: Special abilities, which I took and why:
Heal: Best ability in the game.
Bonus dmg for heroes: Worth the 1 point.
Gandalf the White: Grey is just useless.
Green-Land-Thingy: Handy in some missions.
Rohirrim: Helped me out at some later missions as fodder to throw into dangerous troops like spears and keep them occupied.
Anduril (not bought yet): Stronger Aragorn is always good, but it is a prereq for Army of the Dead.
Army of the Dead: Is good.
Eagles and Ents are not worth the points you can't use them in most missions. Elves were always underwhelming for me, they deal little to no damage, their range is kinda meh and their melee capabilities suck as in those missions you can use them the enemy has leveled and upgraded orcs/urukhai which delete the elves. Upgraded Peasents: The same reason I don't level Hobits. Sure you can take your time to do so but what's the point?

I feel like I dont hear a lot of praise for Tolkien in writing romance, there's always been criticism of the fact Arwen barely features in the books even though she's the love interest of one of the main characters. But I always felt that Faramir's words to Eowyn surpass even Shakespeare in terms of passion and elegance. In terms of lore the human-elven romances are given a lot of attention but Eowyn and Faramir's relationship just outshines any other of Tolkien's romances for me.
""Do not scorn the pity that is the gift of a gentle heart, Eowyn! But I do not offer you my pity. For you are a lady high and valiant and have yourself won renown that shall not be forgotten; and you are a lady beautiful, I deem, beyond even the words of the Elven-tongue to tell. And I love you. Once I pitied your sorrow. But now, were you sorrowless, without fear or any lack, were you the blissful Queen of Gondor, still I would love you. Eowyn, do you not love me?' Then the heart of Eowyn changed, or else at last she understood it. And suddenly her winter passed, and the sun shone on her. 'I stand in Minas Anor, the Tower of the Sun,' she said, 'and behold! the Shadow has departed! I will be a shieldmaiden no longer, nor vie with the great Riders, nor take joy only in the songs of slaying. I will be a healer, and love all things that grow and are not barren.' And again she looked at Faramir. 'No longer to I desire to be a queen,' she said. Then Faramir laughed merrily. 'That is well,' he said; 'for I am not a king. Yet I will wed with the White Lady of Rohan, if it be her will. And if she will, then let us cross the River and in happier days let us dwell in fair Ithilien and there make a garden. All things will grow with joy there, if the White Lady comes.' 'Then I must leave my own people, man of Gondor?' she said. 'And would you have your proud folk say of you: "There goes a lord who tamed a wild shieldmaiden of the North! Was there no woman of the race of Numenor to choose?"' 'I would,' said Faramir. And he took her in his arms and kissed her under the sunlit sky, and he cared not that they stood high upon the walls in the sight of many."
Maybe its just because both Faramir and Eowyn are such well-developed and admirable characters in themselves but this passage just hits so much harder than any of the other romance-oriented passages for me.

Last week we looked at Gondor's military during the War of the Ring. Today we'll look at the full timeline of the war between Gondor and Mordor. I am including best estimates by analyzing Appendix B and the text of LOTR
Phase 1: Sauron tests Gondor's border, Boromir holds him back
By our valour the wild folk of the East are still restrained, and the terror of Morgul kept at bay
1.1: Circa 3000 - May 2018: minor engagements
Appendix B has Sauron gaining power around 3000. He immediately pressured Gondor When the Enemy returned our folk were driven from Ithilien ... we kept a foothold there and strength of arms (Company of Ithilien under Faramir)
However, Sauron only attacked in force in 3018 this very year, in the days of June, sudden war came upon us out of Mordor. We can therefore infer that from 3000 - May 3018 the Southern Front was a series of minor Skirmishes to small scale battles. The fighting presumably escalated in more recent years (3015-3018)
Besides Ithilien, Gondor's borders remained intact implying that Gondor had the upper hand in the fighting. This was probably by leveraging fortified positions as force-multipliers.
Boromir was 22 when Sauron returned. By 2018 he attained the rank of Captain-General and a reputation as the best man in Gondor ... no heir of Minas Tirith has for long years been so hardy in toil, so onward into battle. His impressive reputation further supports that Gondor won the early clashes
However, Sauron was likely just testing Gondor's defenses. Victories could grant an advantage to press, while defeats would have no long term impact. While Gondor had to win these early fights, Mordor could afford to lose them
Territorial Losses: Ithilien
1.2: June 20 3018: First battle of Osgiliath
The first battle mentioned in the tale of years. Boromir mentions it at the Council of Elrond, and Beregond again covers it in the ROTK, underlining its importance
By this time Sauron had two aims: reclaim the Ring and capture Minas Tirith. The Ring would give him overwhelming power. Gondor was his only substantial opposition. Much like the Byzantines in 1453, the fall of Minas Tirith would mean the fall of Gondor, reducing the West to isolated pockets of resistance (Galadriel, Tom Bombadil, Rivendell)
Sauron dispatched a force under the Witch-King to Osgiliath. Getting the nine past Gondor's defense would aid the Hunt for the Ring while the capture of Osgiliath would put Minas Tirith within reach. With one decisive victory, Sauron could put both his goals within reach
The Witch-King's army included Easterlings and the cruel Haradrim. Gondor was initially routed the Fell Riders, less than a year ago they won back the crossings and many of our best men were slain. Gondor was on the verge on being pushed out of Osgiliath, having lost the Eastern Bank, Bridge, and mostly likely a significant portion of the Western fortifications. Minas Tirith herself was becoming vulnerable
Recognizing the desperate situation at Osgiliath, it seems other forces were called on for relief. We know Faramir was at the battle implying that the Company of Ithilien arrived to reinforced the garrison. While Faramir's division was the closest unit, his company lacked the strength to turn the tides
At long last, the Captain-General personally intervened, bringing significant reinforcements (possibly even pulling men from the Garrison of Minas Tirith) Boromir it was that drove the enemy at last back from this western shore
but it was not by numbers that we were defeated. It seems that Boromir was able to briefly reclaim both banks, but the presence of all 9 Nazgul, especially the Witch-King, made the position impossible to hold Only a remnant of our eastern force came back. Boromir instead destroyed the bridge denying Mordor the crossings at the cost of many men Four only were saved by swimming: my brother and myself and two others
The loss of the far shore was a clear defeat for Gondor as it brought Sauron 1 step closer to Minas Tirith. While the destruction of the bridge slowed Mordor it also prevented Gondor from any significant counter offenses. Trapped on the defensive, Boromir made the Council of Elrond his top priority
The 9 were also able to assail Eriador, only for the King of Gondor himself to repulse them at Weathertop
While the battle was a loss, reclaiming the Western bank averted total disaster. Minas Tirith was still out of Sauron's grasp. Faramir would be able to continue harassing Mordor's forces in the Ithilien region
Territorial Losses: Eastern Bank of Osgiliath
Phase 2: Sauron strikes at Minas Tirith; Faramir's defense in depth
we will not sit idle and let Him do all as He would
I strongly recommend this series by a military historian which includes an analysis of the defense in depth
2.1 July - March 3018 - Guerilla Warfare
Boromir's departure for Rivendell left Faramir as Gondor's de facto Captain-General (he reports directly to Denethor in ROTK)
Unable to launch serious counter offensive, Faramir instead chose to harass Sauron's forces. Powerless to prevent an attack, Faramir wisely chose to instead delay and weaken it
Territorial Changes: Faramir eventually withdraws from Ithilien, but inflicts significantly disproportionate losses
2.2 March 11-13 3018: Second battle of Osgiliath
Sauron was finally ready to take Minas Tirith itself. The main force marched from Minas Morgul on March 10, with reinforcements departing from the Black Gate
Denethor had already called the levies using the Beacons of Amon Dim (probably using intel from the Palantir). The Red Arrow was also sent to Theoden
Faramir re-deployed to Osgiliath the Lord Faramir had gone forth again, and had taken with him such strength of men that could be spared While he could not conceivably hold the position, Gondor could at least inflict significant casualties. His strategic aim was to buy time for Rohan to break the siege
They have paid dearly for the crossing, but less dearly than we hoped. Partly successful in his first objective of inflicting significant casualties, Faramir focus shifted to getting his units intact to Minas Tirith (The Rammas would offer only very light resistance)
Faramir's orderly withdrawal was just as crucial to Gondor's war effort as Boromir's relief of the Western shore. Despite being outnumbered 10:1, he got his men close enough to the gate for a sortie by Imrahil to not only secure their safety but also inflict further casualties Like thunder they broke upon the enemy on either flank
However, Faramir was badly wounded in the process, leaving Minas Tirith now missing her two best captains. Fortunately, Imrahil and Gandalf were able to take command
Territorial losses: Osgiliath
2.3 Circa March 3018: Corsairs assault the southern coast
The walls of Minas Tirith represented a massive force-multiplier. Recognizing the strength of the fortifications, Sauron sent Corsairs against the Southern fiefs. This forced ~90% of Gondor's levies to stay on the coast
Acting on his own initiative, it seems Angbor took operational command of the theatre. While the other Lords made due haste to Minas Tirith, he kept essentially all of Lamedon's forces near the coast
Gondor's navy was no match for the fleets. It is possible some vessels retreated downriver or made for the safety of ports like Pelargir. Aragorn later sent men in any craft they could gather ... several ships have already come to the Harlind - possibly meaning a mix of naval and fishing vessels survived. Their naval units perhaps hoped to strike any Corsair vessels that over extended
Tolkien gives few details on this front. Angbor's strategy was probably to contest the Corsairs on land, attacking foraging parties (so close to the Bay of Belfalas the river water may have been brackish). Perhaps a Fabian strategy could force the Corsairs far inland in search of food where they would be vulnerable to Lamedon's levy troops. Arvedui's loss of 3 Palantir 1,000 years earlier severely limited Angbor's ability to contest the fleet
While Sauron's strategy was initially successful in draining troops from Minas Tirith, Angbor's organized resistance gave Aragorn a window
Phase 3: Aragorn turns the tide; Sauron defeated
Renewed shall be the blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king
3.1 March 12 3018: Aragorn Routs the Corsairs
Aragorn took the Path of the Dead on March 8, securing the aid of the men of Dunharrow.
Angbor's men were contesting the fords, one the few places the Corsair would be force to disembark. defenders and foe alike gave up the battle and fled. Sauron's greatest weapon was fear. Yet the Heir of Elendil, wielding Narsil reforged, used that same tactic against Mordor as the King of the Dead broke enemy morale
Meanwhile, the main fleet of Umbar, fifty great ships had beset Pelargir, Gondor's stronghold in the south. By the Black Stone I call you!
With the Haradrim fleet destroyed, Aragorn filled the captured vessels. Many levies were likely garrisoned at Pelargir - even after filling the ships Aragorn was able to send 4,000 by foot with Angbor
I assume readers are already very familiar with Pelennor Fields and the Black Gate, so no need to elaborate on those details beyond the basic timeline
3.2 March 15 3018 (dawn): Theoden Arrives
3.3 March 15 3018 (midday): Eowyn slays Witch-King, Aragorn Arrives
3.4 March 18 3018: March to Black Gate
3.5 March 25 2018: Battle of Morannon
Note: Sauron overcommitting to Aragorn's force of 6,000 may seem foolish. However, at the Battle of Waterloo, Wellington reckoned that Napoleon's presence was worth "10,000 men". The presence of Eomer, Imrahil, Gandalf, and Aragorn (assumed to wield the Ring) was more than enough to realistically bait Sauron

Many of us are familiar with those "stained glass" LOTR art works that occasionally get posted. Did you know that there are over 75 such LoTR works of art by Jian? And he's added new ones since you last looked. When you consider all the variants the count gets well into the hundreds.
Presented here is (what I think is) a complete itemisation of his artworks (only his LOTR artworks, he paints a lot of other fandoms). It's organised as a list with each work having an artwork number JGn, a description, and every known variant. The number is meaningless outside this guide, it's just to reference for discussion. Variants range from wholesale replacement of a work's color theme to occasionally Jian would rework part of an artwork. My original submission of this guide to this forum had an embedded link for every artwork and variant. Reddit will not allow posting this guide with links (even with the moderator's help) so in addition to the "non-linked" guide below, I've put a copy on Github with full linkage. The GitHub repo is linked at the bottom of this guide. There will likely be work here listed that you haven't seen.
The two main repositories where Jian keeps his work are Deviant Art and INprnt. These hold some works in common, but often have unique variants. INprnt tends to add white margins around his work. His works can be purchased from either of the two sites. A few sundry sites are also linked for rare works that have no example on INprnt or Deviant Art.
On Deviant Art, a larger view of each artwork can be had by clicking on the artwork. For INprnt you have to right-click on the artwork and select "open image in new window".
Enjoy!

JG1: A Sudden in Love

Captures the meeting between Beren and Lúthien. Beren saw Lúthien dancing under moonrise in her father's forest, and fell in love with her, captivated by her beauty. There are two versions of this work. This version, with no heraldic devices. Another version (JG32) appears to be a commission for a book called “Heraldry in Tolkien,” in which the artwork features the heraldic devices of Melian and Thingol, next to their depictions in the piece. JG1: INprnt (non-heraldic version) For heraldic version see item JG32 below Other works in the aforementioned book appear in this list as JG30 and JG31

JG2: Assurance from Faramir

Depicts Frodo’s meeting with Faramir where Faramir refuses the Ring. Gollum’s betrayal at Henneth Annûn is also depicted, as well as the attack of the Oliphaunts. JG2: INprnt

JG3: Bard with Black Arrow

Depicts a burning Laketown with Bard aiming his fateful shot. JG3: INprnt

JG4: Battle of Five Armies

Depicts the participants in this famous battle squaring off against orcs. Two versions were created, one with orcs in blue, and another with orcs in red. JG4: INprnt (blue version) JG4: Deviant Art (red version)

JG5: Fate of Beren and Lúthien

A set of 3 artworks, each depicting an event related to Beren and Lúthien. JG5a: Blogspot (panel 1, dancing) JG5b: Blogspot (panel 2, stealing the Silmaril) JG5c: Blogspot (panel 3, death) JG5: Deviant Art (all 3 panels combined with additional titles) JG5: INprnt (all 3 panels combined with no titles)

JG6: Bilbo Baggins Birthday Party

Depicts that fateful night in the party field. JG6: INprnt JG6: Deviant Art

JG7: Birth of Two Trees

Depicts Telperion and Laurelin in Valinor. JG7: Deviant Art

JG8: Captive of Hurin

Gothmog Lord of Balrogs brings Hurin to Morgoth's fortress, Angband. JG8: Deviant Art

JG9: Cities of Glory

A square aspect ratio work depicting Middle Earth's legendary cities. Intended to be design for a silk scarf. JG9: Deviant Art.

JG10: The Council of Elrond

Depicts the council in Rivendell. JG10: Deviant Art. JG10: INprnt.

JG11: Deep Into Moria

Depicts the events befalling the company in Moria. JG11: Deviant Art.

JG12: The Story of Gondolin

A three panel set featuring the lifecycle of Gondolin with individual versions and combined version with titles. JG12a: Deviant Art (panel 1, The Dream of Gondolin). JG12b: no source (panel 2, Flower Over the Plain). JG12c: no source (panel 3, Eligiac). JG12d: Deviant Art (all 3 panels combined with additional titles). JG12d: INprnt (all 3 panels combined with no titles).

JG13: Earendil and Elwing

Another square silk scarf work featuring the boat that sailed the sky. JG13: Deviant Art. JG13: INprnt.

JG14: Eight Legs Nightmare

Featuring the events with Shellob. JG14: Deviant Art.

JG15: End of Hurin

Depicts Hurin in chains. JG15: Deviant Art.

JG16: Door of Night (also Gate of Night, Exile)

Depicts the Valar judging Morgoth. Two versions, one with blue details and another with red details. The red version is generally referred to as "Exile". JG16a: Deviant Art (blue version). JG16a: INprnt (blue version). JG16b: Deviant Art (red version).

JG17: Farewell Frodo

A square work that depicts Frodo and company leaving Lothlorien. JG17: Deviant Art.

JG18: Fate of the Ring

Depicts events concerning the Ring at the last alliance of elves and men. Two versions were produced, one featuring a blue fish and another having a red fish. JG18a :INprnt (red fish version) JG18b: Deviant Art (blue fish version)

JG19: Feanor and the Silmarils

Depicts Feanor crafting the Silmarils. A roughly square artwork. JG19: Deviant Art.

JG20: Fellowship of the Ring Art Number Set

A set of art numerals from 0 to 9. To be used possibly for chapter numbering. JG20: Deviant Art.

JG21: Fifteen Birds in Trees (Fire in Forest)

Depicting the Hobbit scene with Gandalf, dwarfs, and a Hobbit in a tree. Depending on the image host, the title can be either Fifteen Birds in Trees, or Fire in Forest. JG21: Deviant Art (Fifteen Birds in Trees). JG21: INprnt (Fire in Forest).

JG22: Fighting the Balrog

Depicts the fall from the bridge in Moria. JG22: INprnt. JG22: Deviant Art.

JG23: Final Battle of Unnumbered Tears

Depicts this battle including large balrogs. This artwork was done in two versions, one with a grey sky and one with a red sky. JG23a: Deviant Art (red sky version). JG23b: INprnt (grey sky version).

JG24: Forest King

Showing Thranduil in the forest with a young Legolas. JG24: Deviant Art.

JG25: Gates of Argonath

Depicts the pair of giant statue guardians. Two versions exist, one with grey statues, and another with blue statues. The variants have many other subtle differences in texture, shadow, and colour. JG25a: Deviant Art (grey version). JG25b: INprnt (blue version).

JG26: Glory and Fall of Numenor

Depicts a stately Numenorian with details of Numenor. JG26: Deviant Art.

JG27: Go West

Depicts the journey of a group elves leaving middle earth. Closely resembles the scene in the movie where Frodo and Sam witness a travelling band of elves heading for the Havens. Two subtle variants exist, one with "Go West" text in the work, and the another with text. JG27a: Deviant Art (with "go West" lettering). JG27b: INprnt (no "Go West" lettering).

JG28: Sun and Moon (Narsilion)

Narsilion is the "Song of the Sun and Moon", telling of their creation. The Deviant Art offering is titled Narsilion while the identical INprnt offering is titled Sun and Moon. JG28: Deviant Art JG28: INprnt.

JG29: Grey Havens

Depicts the departure of the ring bearers at the Grey Havens. This work appears in two variants with radically different colour ways. One has distinctive red sails on the boats and the other has golden sails. There other other vast differences in colour and texture between the two versions. JG29a: Deviant Art (gold sails and bold blue textures) JG29b : Blogspot (red sails and green textures).

JG30: The Heraldry in Tolkien (Book Cover)

A book cover for what was apparently a commission requested by Deviant Art member "Aglargon." The cover features many LOTR characters amidst many heraldic devices of Middle Earth. See also JG31 and JG32 for other artwork in this book. JG30: Deviant Art (Aglargon's gallery). For an image of this artwork (and companion pieces) hanging in Aglargon's home, see here. If Tolkien heraldry interests you, visit Aglargon's Deviant Art galleries for extensive and very detailed works on all Tolkien's heraldic devices.

JG31 The Heraldry in Tolkien (plate 2)

Another commission work done with JG30. Depicts many heraldic devices of Middle Earth along with scenes at the siege of Gondolin. See also JG30 and JG32 for other artwork in this book. JG31: Deviant Art (Aglargon's gallery). For an image of this artwork (and companion pieces) hanging in Aglargon's home, see here.

JG32: The Heraldry in Tolkien (plate 3)

The third and final commission along with the previous two works. This is identical to work JG1 except it has heraldic devices of Beren, Luthien, Melian, and Thingol placed in the corners. my assumption is that this commission was done first, then the devices were removed (JG1) for general sale or display on Deviant Art/INprnt. JG32: Deviant Art (Aglargon's gallery). For an image of this artwork (and companion pieces) hanging in Aglargon's home, see here.

JG33: Hobbits

A CD or DVD cover featuring Gandalf, dwarfs, and Bilbo. Probably designed for printout and placement in your movie or audio disc. JG33: Deviant Art.

JG34: Horn of King Helm Sounded

Depicts the horn blowing and events at Helm's Deep. Also titled "Hornburg." JG34: INprnt. JG34: Deviant Art.

JG35: House of Beorn

Depicts Beorn and the gathering at his house. JG35: Deviant Art. JG35: INprnt.

JG36: I Am No Man

Depicts Eowyn's stand against the Nazgul on the Pelennor fields. This work was done in two colour ways: a blue version and a red version. JG36a: Deviant Art (red version). JG36b: INprnt (blue version).

JG37: Lament of Evenstar

Depicts Arwen's dream scene where she visits Aragorn's stone tomb. JG37: INprnt. JG37: Deviant Art.

JG38: Light of Earendil

Depicts Earendil sailing on his ship. JG38: Deviant Art. JG38: INprnt.

JG39: Logo of Hobbits

A printable disc cover with circular elvish script and ring imagery on a green background. JG39: Deviant Art.

JG40: Logo of LOTR

A printable disc cover with circular elvish script and ring imagery on a brown background. JG40: Deviant Art.

JG41: Long Long Adventure

A serpentine scroll in wide format showing Frodo's adventures in the Hobbit. There are two distinct versions of this artwork, a colourful version and a "newer" gold version. JG41a: Deviant Art (colourful version). JG41a: INprnt (colourful version). JG41b: Deviant Art (gold version).

JG42: Melian's Forest

Depicts Melian, Thingol, and baby. JG42: Deviant Art.

JG43: Mount Doom

Depicts Frodo and Sam shortly after Gollum fell into the fire. JG43: Deviant Art. JG43: INprnt.

JG44: Music of the Ainur

Depicts the Ainur during creation of the elves. JG44: Deviant Art.

JG45: Nauglamir

Depicts dwarfs presenting the Nauglamir necklace. JG45: Deviant Art. JG45: INprnt.

JG46: Nest of Smaug

The scene from the Hobbit where Bilbo confronts Smaug. JG46: INprnt. JG46: Deviant Art.

JG47: Night of Planning Adventure

Portrays the dwarf company around Bilbo's kitchen table. JG47: Deviant Art.

JG48: Palace of King Theoden

Depicts Theoden's release from Wormtongue's spell. JG48: INprnt. JG48: Deviant Art.

JG49: Paths of the Dead

Features the perilous journey through the haunted mountain. JG49: Deviant Art.

JG50: Prancing Pony

Depicts events at the Prancing Pony in Bree. JG50: INprnt. JG50 Deviant Art.

JG51: Quests to Bag End

A square work showing the dwarfs visit to Bilbo. Shows an overhead view of the various rooms in Bag End. This work has two variants: a green colour way and a blue colour way. JG51a: Deviant Art (green version). JG51b: INprnt (blue version).

JG52: Rebel of Numenor

Depicts a Numenorian king causing strife. This is listed as being a commission. Similar in concept to JG26. JG52: Deviant Art.

JG53: Rest in Gildor's Forest

Depicts the meeting of the Hobbits with Gildor in the Shire. JG53: Deviant Art.

JG54: Riddles

Depicts Bilbo's first meeting of Gollum under the mountain. JG54: INprnt. JG54: Deviant Art.

JG55: River of Bruinen

Portrays the unleashing of the flood that unhorsed the 9 riders. JG55: Deviant Art. JG55: INprnt.

JG56: Road to Gondor

A square storybook plate that depicts various scenes from the Fellowship's journey. This work has two colour ways: black with blue scroll work, and white with gold scroll work. The white gold version seems to have replaced the black/blue version. JG56a: INprnt (white/gold version). JG56a: Deviant Art (white/gold version). JG56b: Blogspot (black/blue version).

JG57: Shadows of Middle Earth

Depicts Morgoth, Sauron, and other Middle Earth bad guys. JG57: Deviant Art.

JG58: Shepherd of the Forest

Depicts the events relating to the ents. There are two versions of this work each with very different colouring. Scheme B seems to have been deprecated. JG58a: Deviant Art (color scheme A). JG58b: Blogspot (color scheme B).

JG59: Song of Helmet and Bow

Túrin made and sang the Laer Cú Beleg, the Song of the Great Bow. JG59: Deviant Art.

JG60: Story to East (Adventure of the Ring)

A möbius type design with the LOTR story encapsulated in an angular folded banner. Adventure of the Ring appears to be the newer title of this work. JG60: Deviant Art. JG60: INprint.

JG61: Fellowship of the Ring Book Cover

A printable book cover for FoTR. The design is a monotone green and features a golden central ring. Three variants of the work are known and they are distinguished by the content of the ring. Variant 1 has Chinese logograms in the ring: 魔戒 ("Lord of the Rings") 護戒同盟 ("Fellowship of the Ring") Variant 2 has a colourful scene of Bag End within the ring. Variant 3, presumed the latest, has an empty ring. JG61a: Blogspot (variant 1: Chinese title). JG61b: Deviant Art (variant 2: ring with Bag End scene). JG61c: INprint (variant 3: empty ring) Note the other companion book covers below for a complete set: JG62 and JG63.

JG62: The Two Towers Book Cover

A printable book cover for TTT. The design is a monotone maroon and features a golden central ring. Three variants of the work are known and they are distinguished by the content of the ring. Variant 1 has Chinese logograms in the ring: 魔戒 ("Lord of the Rings") 双塔珠途 ("Twin Towers Special Path") Variant 2 has a colourful scene of Barad Dur within the ring. Variant 3, presumed the latest, has an empty ring. JG62a: Blogspot (variant 1: Chinese title). JG62b: Deviant Art (variant 2: ring with Barad Dur scene). JG62c: INprint (variant 3: empty ring). Note the other companion book covers for a complete set: JG61 and JG63.

JG63: The Return of the King Book Cover

A printable book cover for RoTK. The design is a monotone dark blue and features a golden central ring. Three variants of the work are known and they are distinguished by the content of the ring. Variant 1 has Chinese logograms in the ring: 魔戒 ("Lord of the Rings") 王者归来 ("King's Return") Variant 2 has a colourful scene of citadel guard within the ring. Variant 3, presumed the latest, has an empty ring. JG63a: Blogspot (variant 1: Chinese title). JG63b: Deviant Art (variant 2: ring with citadel guard scene). JG63c: INprint (variant 3: empty ring). Note the other companion book covers for a complete set: JG61 and JG62.

JG64: The King Crowned

Also titled "Return of the King." Depicts the crowning of Aragorn at Minas Tirith. JG64: Deviant Art. JG64: INprnt.

JG65: The Ring

Depicts the Three, the Seven, and the Nine and their bearers. JG65: Deviant Art.

JG66: The Wizards

Depicts the 5 Istari within a wreath. This work is done in a square scarf format. There are 3 known variants which differ by the background colour of the wreath: blue, violet, and green. JG66a: Deviant Art (blue version). JG66b: Blogspot (violet version). JG66c: INprnt (green version).

JG67: Thranduil King of Mirkwood

Depicts Thranduil in Mirkwood with scenes of his life. JG67: Deviant Art

JG68: Tolkien Lord of Middle Earth

Depicts Tolkien smoking a pipe surrounded by scenes from his lengendarium. JG68: Deviant Art

JG69: Tom, Bert, and William

Depicts the three trolls as they are turned to stone. There are two variants of this work: a version with one of the trolls in an aqua colours, and a version with the same troll in blue. JG69a: Deviant Art (aqua version). JG69b: INprnt (blue version)

JG70: Tom Bombadil

Depicts the scene of Tom hosting the hobbits. There are two variants. In one Tom's house is green. In the other, Tom's house is brown. JG70a: INprnt (green version). JG70b: Deviant Art (brown version)

JG71: Turin and the Fall of Nargothrond

Turin and a large dragon. JG71: Deviant Art

JG72: Voyage of Earendil

Depicts a top view of Earendil's ship. JG72: Deviant Art

JG73: Welcome from Lothlorien

Depicts the Fellowship at Lothlorien with Galdriel. There are two versions of this work with the bottom portion of the design being radically different. In the original version, the bottom of the work features Galdriel standing over her bowl with arms outspread. In the later version, she has been replaced by Frodo staring into the bowl. JG73a: Deviant Art (with Galadriel over bowl) JG73b: Blogspot (with Frodo over bowl)

JG74: Wound in Weathertop

Depicts Aragorn and the hobbits' fight on Weathertop. JG74: Deviant Art JG74: INprnt

JG75: You Cannot Pass

Depicts Gandalf's fight on the bridge in Moria. See also JG22 for similar content. JG75: INprnt JG75: Deviant Art
Version of the above guide with hyperlinks to each image: https://github.com/tenephoJG-LoTR-Art

The amount of detail is exactly what I want, the callbacks, the tying up of loose ends, the connections between every piece of the story
Frodo warning Gollum at the black gate that he revealed himself by asking for the ring and warning him of the danger of attempting to take it, and then telling him just outside of Mt. Doom if he ever touched Frodo again he would be cast into the fire
Gimli telling Eomer that if he sees Galadriel and doesn't declare her the most beautiful he will bring out his axe, and the follow-up discussion
Eomer and Aragorn promising to fight together at Helm's Deep and again at Pelennor and doing it!
Theoden saying he doesn't think he will ever see Aragorn again after he goes to the paths of the dead, and then Theoden dying before Aragorn can come
The wild men guiding the riders of Rohan, and then having Aragorn fulfill the promise to them on his way to the kingdom of Rohan
The sword Merry finds in the Barrow Downs in the supposedly unnecessary chapter of book 1 being the very weapon designed to smite the Witch King
Galadriel's box saving the nature of the Shire after the scouring
Frodo seeing The Undying Lands in his dreams in the house of Bombadil, and then departing for that very place in the last book
The speech at Theoden's funeral 'He rode, singing in the sun!'
Sam having all of his wishes come true after waking up after destroying the Ring 'Frodo of the nine-fingers and the ring of doom!'
Don't you leave him Samwise Gamgee, and I don't mean to!
Frodo providing the ultimate sacrifice for Middle Earth, and the fact that there are in fact wounds that don't heal
This really was the hour of the Shire folk, who's deeds shaped the fate of Middle Earth
Eowyn laughing at the Witch King
The Ride of the Rohirrim
The true and complete suspense of the four hobbits escaping from the Shire
Frodo challenging the nine at the river before Rivendell
The last march of the ents
Gimli describing the beauty of the glittering caves
The fact that no matter how many times I read it, I tear up with relief and joy every time the Ring is finally cast into the fire
Gandalf showing Saruman that he is now superior
Gimli and Legolas' friendship
Aragorn and his moments of badassery..... Gimli: Did you reveal anything to him (when Aragorn uses the palantir)........ Aragorn: You forget to who you speak!
Pippin and Merry truly fulfilling their duties as knights of the realm
Just everything about Faramir
The fall and redemption of Boromir
The respect shown to each and every character throughout the series from Barliman all the way to Ioreth
The fact that the deeds of Earendil, ages ago, influenced the success of Sam in the cave of Shelob showing that Sam was right, and the great tales never really end
Things like the Oliphaunts, showing a vague connection to our world
The subtlety of magic
The power of fear
The power of hope
GAWD DAMNIT IM GONNA BACK TO PAGE 1 AND READING IT AGAIN

Note: I used google translate to translate a lot of the Swedish sources that I link to. Apologies for any translation errors, but I have 0 talent for languages.
Hello everyone, I am back again with another weird post. My last writeup was very, very, heavy, but I have a funnier, lighter, story for you all today. Enjoy!
What is the Lord of Rings? And who is J R R Tolkien?
The Lord of the Rings (or LOTR) is a series of fantasy novels by J R R Tolkien. It was published from 1954-1955. In total, it has sold over a 150 million copies and has been translated into over 50 languages. There is also a prequel, The Hobbit, published in 1937, a collection of stories/spinoff/am unsure what it is exactly, The Silmarillion, published in 1977, and a bunch of other books.
I am not going to explain the plot or lore of LOTR. If I did, this writeup would be fifty times as long. I am only going to stick to explaining relevant things.
The author, J R R Tolkien, was a very, very, smart man. He was a professor at the University of Oxford for many years. He was also a noted philologist (someone who studied languages). He created all of the languages in LOTR. It was actually something of a personal hobby for him.
So, Tolkien knew his shit. Therefore, any translation of LOTR that came out during his lifetime would be subject to his careful scrutiny…and disappointment if it did not meet his standards. Oh boy.

Part 1: 1959-1972: The Fuckup of the Ring

LOTR in Sweden
In 1947, The Hobbit was translated into Swedish. This was notable because it was Tolkien’s first book to ever be translated into another language.
The book was called Hompen. Yes, Hobbit=Hompen.
Tolkien did not like it:

I wish to avoid a repetition of my experience with the Swedish translation of The Hobbit. I discovered that this had taken unwarranted liberties with the text and other details, without consultation or approval; it was also unfavourably criticized in general by a Swedish expert, familiar with the original, to whom I submitted it.
May I say now at once that I will not tolerate any similar tinkering with the personal nomenclature. Nor with the name/word Hobbit. I will not have any more Hompen (in which I was not consulted), nor any Hobbel or what not.

In addition to Hompen, Bilbo became Bimbo, elf became älva, and goblin became svartalf.
Tolkien also hated the illustration of Gollum:

the picture of Gollum in the Swedish edition of The Hobbit makes him look huge.

Here is the illustration.
Personally, I think it looks pretty cool, but it’s not Gollum. It’s more of a ghost/nightmare demon.
Tolkien also hated the first ever translation of LOTR, into Dutch, published in 1956.
But the worst was yet to come.
In 1959, it was announced that LOTR would be getting a Swedish translation. The translator was a man named Åke Ohlmarks. Like Tolkien, he was also a philologist. He was an experienced translator. He had had translated many prestigious works into Swedish before LOTR. Among them were the works of Shakespeare, Dante, and the Qur'an.
So, he sounds like the perfect person to translate LOTR, right? WRONG!
Instead of doing a straight translation, Ohlmarks decided to take some creative liberties with the text:

Never have I undertaken such a tribulation and more scrupulously entered into an interpreting task than here. I first made a careful smooth translation of the entire book and then radically rewrote it, all the while guided by an aspiration to seek to portray a living fairytale world [...]

The irony was that he disliked the hobbit and had come very close to disliking LOTR too:

..from the first fifty-sixty pages "The Fellowship of the Ring" seemed to be written in the same spirit [i.e. of The Hobbit]: a pure nonsense-fairy-tale to suit the little ones, with an endlessly long account of a boring birthday party... I gave up even before the end of the long-drawn-out chapter about "A Long-expected Party"...

But he continued reading it (he did have a job to do!) and fell in love the trilogy. He became a massive fan of Tolkien, and decided there was no higher praise than butchering ahem reimagining his magnum opus.
The translation
Ohlmarks awful translation came in two flavours: nonsensical names and mangled mistranslations.
There are too many fuckups to list here, but I will note some of the major ones.
Nonsensical names, (directly quoted from here):

Rivendell becomes "Vattnadal" [Waterdale], probably because Ohlmarks thought that "riven" had something to do with "river"
Esgaroth becomes "Snigelöv" [archaic: Snail leavings], most likely because Ohlmarks was thinking of the French word "escargot" which means "snail". Nobody in Middle-earth speaks French of course.
The ent Quickbeam becomes "Snabba solstrålen" [Swift Sunbeam] because Ohlmarks did not make the connection that all ents have names relating to trees. Sometimes he uses a short form, "Snabbis" [Swiftie], for which there is no support in the original text.
Shelob's Lair becomes "Honmonstrets lår" [the She-monster's Thigh]. The only explanation I can come up with is that the Swedish word for "thigh" is "lår" (pronounced "lawr"), which bears an extremely superficial resemblance to "lair".
But the name problem does not end there. In his eagerness to come up with ingenious Swedish versions of the names, Ohlmarks more often than not forgot what version he had used earlier in the book. The record-holder, in terms of greatest number of alternatives in the smallest space, is Isengard, which in the first volume is rendered as "Isengard", "Isendor" and "Isendal" within the space of four pages! Indeed, the first two of them occur within the same paragraph! And by the way, in the second volume a fourth term, "Isengård", is introduced, which is then used in the rest of the text in an uncharacteristic display of consistency. It should be noted, however, that this error has been corrected in the latest reprint; now it is "Isengård" throughout.
The inconsistent translation of names also seems to suggest that Ohlmarks did not read all three volumes before starting to translate them. The river Entwash is named "Slamma flod" [approximately: Muddy River] on the map in the first volume, while Celeborn later on calls it "Bukteån" [approximately: Bendy Stream]. Only in the second volume, where the reader is introduced to the word "ent", do we get the more correct translation "Ente älv" [Ent River].

Mangled mistranslations (directly quoted from the same link):

Ohlmarks also wreaked havoc with Tolkien's style. Tolkien's style is very laconic and simple compared to, say, Lovecraft - one of Sweden's leading fantasy critics, John-Henri Holmberg, compares it to that of the Icelandic sagas. This, evidently, did not suit Åke Ohlmarks. Ohlmarks preferred a more poetic, hyperbolic style, laden with adverbs, adjectives and unusual and archaic synonyms. Where Tolkien preferred words of Old English origin over Latinisms, Ohlmarks used foreign loan words that were stylistically out of place. Where Tolkien used "inn", Ohlmarks wasn't above using "corps-de-logi" (French again!) instead of the far more appropriate, all-Swedish "värdshus". Where Tolkien in one instance used "lost", Ohlmarks used "biltog", which is so archaic it appears in no modern dictionaries; it actually means "outlawed" and thus is a very bad translation for "lost".

Compare the following examples, from the original vs Swedish (translated back into English):

For morning came, morning and a wind from the sea; and the darkness was removed, and the hosts of Mordor wailed, and terror took them, and they fled, and died, and the hoofs of wrath rode over them. (The Lord of the Rings 871)
For it was the morning that came, the morning and the breeze from the sea, and the darkness failed and the armies of Mordor whimpered and wailed as terror took them and they fled and fell and the many thousand hooves of galloping wrath trampled them and rode over them. (Sagan om konungens återkomst 130)
'Slam the doors and wedge them!' shouted Aragorn. (The Lord of the Rings 341)
Close the doors and wedge them! thundered Aragorn's commanding voice. (Sagan om ringen 383)
OT: "'Ha! ha! What does we wish?' he [Gollum] said, looking sidelong at the hobbits. 'We'll tell you,' he croaked. 'He guessed it long ago, Baggins guessed it.'" (The Lord of the Rings 645f).
ST: "'Ho ho ho, yes! What is it that we want?' he [Gollum] asked and looked from the side at the hobbits. 'We will tell you that,' he croaked. 'He guessed it long ago, Baggins here guessed it.'" (Sagan om de två tornen 263).
OT: "According to the Red Book, Bandobras Took (Bullroarer), ... was four foot five and able to ride a horse." (The Lord of the Rings 14).
ST: "According to 'the Red Book', the 'bullroarer' Bandobras Took, ... was between four and five foot tall and was even said to be able to ride a normal horse." (Sagan om ringen 15).

There are hundreds more mistakes in the text. But by far the most egregious one came at the end of the third book, when Eowyn killed the Witch King.

OT: "Then tottering, struggling up, with her last strength she [Éowyn] drove her sword between crown and mantle, as the great shoulders bowed before her."
ST: "Staggering he [Merry] straightened up and summoning his last strength he drove with an incredible chop his sword right between the crown and the mantle as the broad shoulders bowed down toward her." (Sagan om konungens återkomst 135)

Yes, in a weird alternate Swedish universe, Merry kills the Witch King.
Full list of translation errors here and here.
Ohlmarks did get some things right. For instance, Middle Earth became Midgard and Marigold (Sam’s daughter) became Majagull Ringblom (keeping the reference to flowers and the colour gold). He also changed Hobbits to “Hobs” and “Hober”, a vast improvement from Hompen. Tolkien approved of all of these minor changes, but not much else.
Also, Ohlmarks translation did receive an initially positive reception in Sweden. Critics lavished praise upon it, calling it “magnificent” and “inspirational”. Tolkien may not like it, but Swedes did (for now).
Don’t piss off the author
Tolkien made his feelings about Ohlmarks translation very clear in numerous letters to his publisher:

A letter in Swedish from fil. dr. Åke Ohlmarks, and a huge list (9 pages foolscap) of names in the L.R. which he had altered. I hope that my inadequate knowledge of Swedish — no better than my kn. of Dutch, but I possess a v. much better Dutch dictionary! — tends to exaggerate the impression I received. The impression remains, nonetheless, that Dr Ohlmarks is a conceited person, less competent than charming Max Schuchart (Dutch translator) , though he thinks much better of himself. In the course of his letter he lectures me on the character of the Swedish language and its antipathy to borrowing foreign words (a matter which seems beside the point), a procedure made all the more ridiculous by the language of his letter, more than 1 / 3 of which consists of 'loan-words' from German, French and Latin.
It seems to me fairly evident that Dr.O. has stumbled along dealing with things as he came to them, without much care for the future or co-ordination, and that he has not read the Appendices† at all, in which he would have found many answers. ...

-Letter 204

Dr Ohlmarks, for instance, though he is reported to me to be clever and ingenious, can produce such things as this. In translating vol. i p. 12, 'they seldom wore shoes, since their feet had tough leathery soles and were clad in a thick curling hair, much like the hair of their heads', he read the text as '... their feet had thick feathery soles, and they were clad in a thick curling hair . . .' and so produces in his Introduction a picture of hobbits whose outdoor garb was of matted hair, while under their feet they had solid feather-cushion treads! This is made doubly absurd, since it occurs in a passage where he is suggesting that the hobbits are modelled on the inhabitants of the idyllic suburb of Headington.
Who is Who is not a safe source in the hands of foreigners ignorant of England. From it Ohlmarks has woven a ridiculous fantasy. Ohlmarks is a very vain man (as I discovered in our correspondence), preferring his own fancy to facts, and very ready to pretend to knowledge which he does not possess.

-Letter 228
Tolkien also hated the awful foreword that Ohlmarks added to the first book. In it, Ohlmarks got basic facts about Tolkien’s life wrong, as well as the themes of LOTR. My favourite part is that he thought Sauron was an allegory for Stalin:

Here the personification of satanic power, Sauron (perhaps read, in the same 'partial' way: Stalin) rules. From here, the magic rings are distributed as rewards to great men, who have sold themselves to the darkness (the nine black horsemen, read: Paulus, the German atomic experts and 'the missing diplomats'). From here come the terrifying nocturnal terrorists on their black horses, merciless masters of the art of cold torture, the 'third degree' (read: GPU and Gestapo). From this abode of darkness, the unwilling creatures under the power of Mordor, a Bill Orb, a Skeletøgat (read: home Bolsheviks and World War II fifth columnists) are ruled.

Yeah WTF.
If you want read a proper takedown of the foreword, Tolkien himself wrote a scathing one in 1961. He eventually got it removed from Swedish copies of LOTR.
But Tolkien’s anger didn’t stop there. He was so, so, so, upset by the horrible Swedish and Dutch translations of LOTR, that he wrote a book called “Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings” in order to ensure that future translators did not mess up his work.
Despite his terrible translation, it’s clear that Ohlmarks had great affection for LOTR and respect for Tolkien as a writer. He was severely devastated by the authors harsh rejection. Even so, he continued translating Tolkien’s works into Swedish (I don’t know if it was because of a contract or if Tolkien couldn’t stop his Swedish publishers, but Ohlmarks ended up translating another 6 books).
But the worst was still yet to come.

Part 2: 1972-1984: The Two Translators

The Wrath of Christopher Tolkien
In 1972, Ohlmarks published a biography on Tolkien called Sagan om Tolkien (Swedish: The Fairy-tale of Tolkien or The Tolkien saga). I haven’t been able to find much information about it, but I don’t think it was authorized by Tolkien or his estate. I wouldn’t be surprised if, just like the earlier foreword, it was full of mistakes about Tolkien’s life.
In 1973, J R R Tolkien died, leaving his son, Christopher Tolkien, as his literary executor to publish his remaining works. This included The Silmarillion, which was published in 1977. In 1974, Ohlmarks went to England and visited Christopher. Overall, the meeting went well. Christopher graciously complimented Ohlmark’s translation of LOTR and even showed him some of the then-unpublished The Silmarillion.
Ohlmarks left the meeting feeling inspired. He went home and started work on a new unauthorized book, a preview of The Silmarillion based on the material Christopher had kindly shown him. He even wanted Christopher to write an introduction about his family and home.
After a while, he sent a preliminary copy of the book to Christopher. Christopher wasn’t too enthused by this and replied with a disapproving letter telling him to stop.
Ohlmarks found this letter “insulting”. In his eyes, he had done much for Tolkien’s legacy in Sweden and was a therefore a true LOTR fan. His translation was a tribute, not an insult. Although, he abided by Christopher’s wishes and did not publish his preview of The Silmarillion.
I think that it’s likely a miscommunication arose between them, because of the language barrier.
But Christopher’s harsh words did not diminish Ohlmark’s love for Tolkien or LOTR. In 1976, he published a “Tolkien Lexicon” in Sweden. Another Swedish writer, Ingvar Svensson, claimed that it had over 6,000 errors. In 1977, he published his own lexicon in response to Ohlmark’s version.
In 1977, Humphrey Carpenter published “J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography”. Unlike Ohlmark’s book, it had been authorized by the Tolkien family and was thus a much more faithful account of the authors life. It mentioned Tolkien’s distaste for Ohlmark and his translation, as well as Christopher’s anger at the unauthorized Silmarillion book.
Ohlmarks responded:

What is the real purpose of Christopher Tolkien, via Carpenter's typewriter, emptying a bucket of slops over my head? Is this happening only because I sent him a small well-meant manuscript, or part of it, in a photostat copy in order for him to give his opinion about it, to send word whether he thought I could print it or not? Is it really possible to show greater respect? Had I sent him a finished copy I could probably sympathize with him. But now? Ohlmark’s fury grew when it was announced in 1977 that The Silmarillion was getting a Swedish translation, and that Christopher had only authorized it on the condition that Ohlmarks was not involved in it in any way.

In the end, The Silmarillion was translated into Swedish by Roland Adlerberth. By all accounts, he did a fantastic job. He did retain many of Ohlmark’s names but handled the text and flow of language much better. He also translated many of Tolkien’s other works into Swedish until the end of the 1980s.
Ohlmarks love for Tolkien turned to hatred. He had to take action, make Chrisopher pay, So, what did he do?
Write another book.
In 1978, he published “Tolkiens arv” (Swedish: The Legacy of Tolkien). The back of the book is pure gold:

ÅKE OHLMARKS has spent twenty years of his life introducing Tolkien in Sweden, translated nine works by and two on him, and also written the first biography on Tolkien in the world and created the only Swedish lexicon on Tolkien. On top of that, he has given lectures and established the national Tolkien Society.
After the death of Tolkien in 1973, Ohlmarks has been given a shameful treatment, to say the least, by Christopher Tolkien, the literary executor of his father's unpublished writings. The whole history, and especially the relation to the son of Tolkien, is here given an account which nearly amounts to a detective novel.

He also insulted The Silmarillion:

One thing a god-given fiction writer of Tolkien's high class must not be: boring. "The Silmarillion" is definitely a boring book. If I had it translated, I would have had to, in the name of loyalty, beat myself up in order to mask this boringness as far as possible in the Swedish translation. I had sought to vary the stereotypical style of declamation and did my very best to develop the small approaches to excitement there are.

Arson and black magic
In 1982, Ohlmark’s house burned down. Instead of accepting it as an accident, he claimed it was arson and blamed fans of Tolkien and LOTR.
What did he do to take revenge? Write another book of course!
Published in 1982, it was called called “Tolkien och den svarta magin” (Swedish: Tolkien and the Black Magic). Again, the back of the book was gold:

It has come to attention that, especially during the last years, the multitude of Tolkien societies (thousands in America, and not a few in Sweden) have degenerated to a kind of KU-KLUX-KLAN with a worship of open violence, crude orgies, alcohol and drug abuse. Murders have been committed, recurrent cases of assaults, kidnapping and desecrations of churches and sacraments.
Åke Ohlmarks, the man responsible for the translation and introduction of Tolkien in Sweden and who is also internationally recognized as one of the foremost experts on Tolkien, reveals in this uncanny book how far it has evolved even in our country.

Y-I-K-E-S
This description did not even scratch the surface of the delusion and paranoia in the book. For one, it was dedicated to Edmund Wilson, one of Tolkien’s harshest critics. In the foreword, Ohlmarks also referred to LOTR as “Tolkien’s trash” and “the damned thing”.
In his eyes, the first book of LOTR was now just as bad as The Hobbit:

The first book [Book 1 of LOTR] is poor rubbish for children and tells almost exclusively of a lengthy, tiresome birthday party among the 'creatures' called hobbits... These hobbits... make pretty boring reading... Tolkien invented his hobbits in a miserably bad fairy-story as early as 1937 ... [LOTR] is the naive folk-tale, painted in black and white, at its worst...

One chapter was called “The half-witted old man Tolkien” He also insulted Tolkien’s philology skills:

The old man John Reul was in many respects an odd character and by no means without faults. He believed he had mastered practically every language in the world, including... Swedish. Sure enough, with the help of dictionaries he could passably spell his way though a Swedish text... But he lacked every sense of the nuances of Swedish words, which did not stop him from tyrannically dictating what everything was going to be called in Swedish...
However, he regarded my independence as an insolent criticism of his omniscience and never forgave me. The fact that I have given nearly forty lectures about him and his work and ... that for twenty years I have done more than anyone else to spread Tolkienism in the whole of the Nordic area did not bother him at all.

Other outrageous things he claimed:

Tolkien was a closet Nazi sympathiser, at least before the war. The basis for this erroneous claim was that many leading German philologists had been members of the Nazi Parti during the war, and Tolkien was a philologist. Also, the character Saruman, who had been on the side of good but turned to evil, was "obviously" based on Hitler. And the name "Saruman" was obviously the same as "SA man" with a Germanic "Ruhm" in the middle meaning "honour". (Ohlmarks does not, however, mention that he himself spent the years 1941 to 1945 teaching Swedish at the university of Greifswald. Which, by the way, is in Germany.)

Side note: Ohlmarks had actually been accused of being a Nazi earlier in his career but denied the allegations.

The Tolkien Society is a huge international conspiracy or mafia bent on world domination, and anyone who tries to go up against them will be quietly "silenced".
Tolkien fans are degenerate people who are contemptuous of the noble working class, abuse alcohol and drugs, indulge in kinky sexual orgies, beat up old people, sacrifice children, and worship Satan.
Tolkien was a bad writer and the good parts of The Lord of the Rings must have been written by C. S. Lewis.

He thought that LOTR was a forgery. Chiefly that the Hobbit and The Fellowship of The Ring were written by Tolkien, while a different, better, author aka Lewis wrote the rest of the books:

.. because it could definitely not be him [Tolkien]. If it were, the entire academic exercise of "philological determinance of authorship" would be worthless. ... there are fundamental discrepancies in style, vocabulary, syntax, narrative technique, story-telling, visionary power - everything

In addition to the book, Ohlmarks also ran a campaign of harassment against LOTR fans and the Tolkien family. He did numerous interviews with various newspapers and radio shows, further insulting Tolkien and his legacy.
Åke Ohlmarks died in 1984. Sweden wouldn’t get a new translation of LOTR for another 20 years.
2002-2005: The Retranslation of the King
By the early 2000s, the reception to Ohlmark’s translation had become much more negative:

In 2000, the author Leif Jacobsen [sv] of Lund University's Institute of Linguistics, noting among other things the confusion between Eowyn and Merry in the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, wrote that "There can be no doubt that the Swedish translation is defective and in many ways a failure". Jacobsen argued that where Tolkien was writing for adults, Ohlmarks translated for children. Further, in his view Ohlmarks seemed to be trying to make the text his own, supplanting Tolkien rather than directly translating him. In 2004, Malte Persson wrote in Göteborgsposten that the translation was "so full of misunderstandings, misconceptions, inconsistencies, and arbitrary additions that it must mean that Ohlmark was either significantly worse at English than Icelandic, or that he had not taken the assignment seriously". Also in 2004, Anders Stenström, known as Beregond, stated that the translation contains numerous factual errors, mistranslations of idiomatic expressions, and non-sequiturs.

In 2002, it was announced that LOTR would be getting a new Swedish translation. The translators were Erik Andersson and Lotta Olsson. Andersson would handle the prose while Olsson would handle the poetry. Notably, neither of them had read the books. Of course, they used Tolkien’s guide, but they also had help from a group of twelve Swedish LOTR fans to act as fact checkers.
The project drew a lot of attention. The translators were invited to numerous talk shows and interviews with newspapers.
As for what they thought of Ohlmarks translation, Anderrson was very forthright:

As a creation in its own right it is excellent, even if it does not always follow Tolkien; you have to be modest when you criticise careless mistakes and such. And many people will probably be disappointed in my version. It is like the Bible: you’ve got used to older editions and even if the translation is wrong you don’t care.

The new translation came out in 2005. It received a very positive reception. It was seen as a massive improvement on Ohlmark’s mess. Andersson and Olsson did use a few of Ohlmark’s names for certain subjects, such as the well-received Midgard for Middle Earth, but redid most of the text. Their translation was much more faithful to Tolkien’s original style. Some Swedish LOTR fans were so thrilled that they invited Andersson to a 3 day celebration, dubbed him a knight of Tolkien, and awarded him prizes.
It did receive some criticism. Full breakdown here by Charlotte Strömbom of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. She goes much more into the nuances of the translation and highlights some of its flaws.
Here are some of the differences between all 3 translations. More of them are on Wikipedia.
In 2007, Erik Andersson worked on a Swedish translation of The Hobbit, which was published that same year. He also published a diary about his experiences translating LOTR, called Översättarens anmärkningar (“Translator’s notes”). Here are some excerpts from it.
Meanwhile, Dutch fans of LOTR are still waiting for a new translation.
Thanks for reading!

Preface:
I am a huge Lord of the Rings fan; I re-read the books typically once a year. I also adore the movies, and find all of Tolkien's legendarium absolutely awesome. Truly one of my favorite hobbies so I'd like to offer some critiques and excitement of flavor gems from Tales of Middle Earth. I won't do every card, but I'll comment on some individual cards and how WOTC did on it. I will comment on the cards abilities but only insofar as it impacts the flavor; i.e. what the card is doing not power level, etc.
To be clear: I understand there are sacrifices you need to make for the greater game, and sometimes those come first. For these articles: I am looking at each card in a vacuum, so if I seem harsh it's because I am using a single lens.
Next up: Ioreth of the Healing House!
​
https://preview.redd.it/opnn97epe86b1.png?width=400&format=png&auto=webp&s=f8ee9c3ae0d80a984a4c8bd5a0c018eb8fe2c5b9
Flavor Preface
Ioreth is a minor character we meet in the chapter titled: the Houses of Healing. After the Battle of Pelennor Fields our heroes recuperate for a while. Many are injured including Faramir, Eowyn and Merry. While in the films Aragorn almost immediately takes charge, in the books he holds back. Declining to declare himself openly and allowing Gandalf and Prince Imrahil to rule in his stead. Ioreth is, in many ways, the final prophet. Her famous line being:

"Would that there were kings in Gondor, as there were once upon a time, they say! For it is said in old lore: The hands of the king are the hands of a healer. And so the rightful king could ever be known."

Well, Aragorn does come to the city quietly and heals the wounded. Thus, Aragorn does not just win his city in battle, but earns it by winning the peace as well. Aragorn is not interested in fighting over who's in charge. Who leads Gondor, at the edge of ruin, while the Dark Lord hangs imperiously across the River is irrelevant. Actions to further protect Minas Tirith and lead the men matter more than titles.
Color
Ioreth is a learned lore master who knows healing. She's Blue as can be.
Abilities
But her abilities don't feel 'healing' at all. I know 'prevent damage' is unpopular, but here would have been a perfect spot to make a white-blue character to prevent damage. Or put +1/+1 counters on a creature. Untapping a creature does not feel like a master of healing to me at all.

There are several passages that show the resilience of Ainur bodies. At the beginning of the creation of the Universe-Eä, the Ainur begin to order the laws of physical reality (gravity, temperature, matter, energy) without having bodies, that is, they were spirits interacting with primordial/chaotic matter:

"So began their great labours in wastes unmeasured and unexplored, and in ages uncounted and forgotten, until in the Deeps of Time and in the midst of the vast halls of Eä there came to be that hour and that place where was made the habitation of the Children of Ilúvatar".

Then comes the planet Earth at the beginning of its geological/cosmic formation:

"When therefore Earth was yet young and full of flame Melkor coveted it, and he said to the other Valar: ‘This shall be my own kingdom; and I name it unto myself!"

Interesting is that in a pre-biotic period - on an Earth hostile to any form of life and in adverse conditions of temperature and pressure (volcanism, formation of continents, atmosphere, etc.)

"Now the Valar took to themselves shape and hue; and because they were drawn into the World by love of the Children of Ilúvatar, for whom they hoped, they took shape after that manner which they had beheld in the Vision of Ilúvatar, save only in majesty and splendour".

And:

"In that time the Valar brought order to the seas and the lands and the mountains, and Yavanna planted at last the seeds that she had long devised. And since, when the fires were subdued or buried beneath the primeval hills, there was need of light, Aulë at the prayer of Yavanna wrought two mighty lamps for the lighting of the Middle-earth which he had built amid the encircling seas."

In other words, it implies that the bodies of the Ainur really have a high tolerance for nature's violence and destructive primordial forms. Remember that Melkor, when taking shape, caused a series of planetary cataclysms impossible to be resisted by any living being, such as: - Geological formation with volcanism, earthquakes, abiotic atmosphere - titanic battle for dominance of Arda:

"Yet it is told among the Eldar that the Valar endeavoured ever, in despite of Melkor, to rule the Earth and to prepare it for the coming of the Firstborn; and they built lands and Melkor destroyed them; valleys they delved and Melkor raised them up; mountains they carved and Melkor threw them down; seas they hollowed and Melkor spilled them; and naught might have peace or come to lasting growth, for as surely as the Valar began a labour so would Melkor undo it or corrupt it. And yet their labour was not all in vain; and though nowhere and in no work was their will and purpose wholly fulfilled, and all things were in hue and shape other than the Valar had at first intended, slowly nonetheless the Earth was fashioned and made firm."

• The absolute zero of the Space Void of the Universe. Melkor assumed a dark form and roamed through space "growing in distant darkness" and "retreated and departed to other regions, and there he did as he pleased":

"So came Tulkas the Strong, whose anger passes like a mighty wind, scattering cloud and darkness before it; and Melkor fled before his wrath and his laughter, and forsook Arda, and there was peace for a long age. And Tulkas remained and became one of the Valar of the Kingdom of Arda; but Melkor brooded in the outer darkness, and his hate was given to Tulkas for ever after."

• 1st Mass Extinction. A form of radiation that killed the fauna and flora initially imagined/concretized by Yavanna in a global reach, also generating mutant forms and monstrous creatures, in addition to starting the cycle of ecosystems and dispute between herbivores x carnivores:

"And though the Valar knew naught of it as yet, nonetheless the evil of Melkor and the blight of his hatred flowed out thence, and the Spring of Arda was marred. Green things fell sick and rotted, and rivers were choked with weeds and slime, and fens were made, rank and poisonous, the breeding place of flies; and forests grew dark and perilous, the haunts of fear; and beasts became monsters of horn and ivory and dyed the earth with blood."

• 2nd Mass Extinction - analogous to a kind of fall of 2 powerful meteors with the catastrophic release of energy similar to 2 stars:

"In the overthrow of the mighty pillars lands were broken and seas arose in tumult; and when the lamps were spilled destroying flame was poured out over the Earth. And the shape of Arda and the symmetry of its waters and its lands was marred in that time, so that the first designs of the Valar were never after restored"

Finally, there was the clash of the Powers, in which the Earth moaned and the Waters changed places, a true Greek titanomachy with explosions at the level of atomic bombs:

"(...) and thereafter the Quendi knew nothing of the great Battle of the Powers, save that the Earth shook and groaned beneath them, and the waters were moved, and in the north there were lights as of mighty fires (...) In that time the shape of Middle-earth was changed, and the Great Sea that sundered it from Aman grew wide and deep; and it broke in upon the coasts and made a deep gulf to the southward. Many lesser bays were made between the Great Gulf and Helcaraxë far in the north, where Middle-earth and Aman came nigh together. Of these the Bay of Balar was the chief; and into it the mighty river Sirion flowed down from the new-raised highlands northwards: Dorthonion, and the mountains about Hithlum. The lands of the far north were all made desolate in those days."

• Of the "wounds" and "deaths" of the Ainur. I believe that only artifacts imbued with some essence/"magic" cause the destruction of beings endowed with Fana. Sauron was able to withstand the lightning/bolts that struck the Númenóreans:

"But the Temple itself was unshaken, and Sauron stood there upon the pinnacle and defied the lightning and was unharmed."

Not only that, but the lightning could destroy certain structures of Númenor (having split the Temple dedicated to Melkor in half) as powerful as the stone of Orthanc or the Walls of Minas Tirith. However, upon being mistaken for the Downfall of Númenor, Sauron reassumes a hideous form - imbued with the element/ingredient Morgoth - and attacks Gil Galad and Elendil on Mount Doom. Detail that the enemy crosses Barad-Dur to the volcano crossing around 20 miles from the distance of the 2 locations, breaking the blockade of the armies of the Last Alliance and facing Gil Galad, Elendil, Cirdan, Elrond and Isildur - The first 2 equipped with weapons enchanted (Aeglos and Narsil) with "spells for the destruction of Mordor" similar to Merry's enchanted sword that breaks the Witch-king's "Invulnerability" so that Eowyn could deliver the fatal blow.
The Balrog in Moria also (seems to me) has this invulnerability spell, its Fana seems to have a "tolerance" against many forms of destruction. There is, in the 1st book, a moment when the "roofs of a mountain" (from Bálin's tomb) fall on top of him (the weight of a mountain would destroy a totality of forms, objects and bodies), but the monster simply seems to "ignore "this brutal damage. Also, there is the famous fall of the Balrog with Gandalf into the Abyss of the bridge of Moria (intro of the 2nd film shows this), both fell from an unimaginable height at terminal velocity (in my view) and withstood the impact.
There is a very interesting passage in which Gandalf, the white, seems to confirm this fortitude/difference between the bodies of living beings X Ainur X the new "body" of resurrected Gandalf:

"Indeed my friends, none of you have any weapon that could hurt me."

This passage also reminded me of an occasion comparing common weapons versus enchanted weapons. Boromir's attack (using the best that the craftsmen of Gondor could offer) using his sword against the skin of the Troll that tries to invade the Chamber of Mazarbul causes his sword to break against the hardened skin of the monster:

"Boromir leaped forward and hewed at the arm with all his might; but his sword rang, glanced aside, and fell from his shaken hand. The blade was notched. Suddenly, and to his own surprise, Frodo felt a hot wrath blaze up in his heart. ‘The Shire!’ he cried, and springing beside Boromir, he stooped, and stabbed with Sting at the hideous foot. There was a bellow, and the foot jerked back, nearly wrenching Sting from Frodo’s arm. Black drops dripped from the blade and smoked on the floor."

I believe that one of Tolkien's "mythological" inspirations is the characteristic of Grendel's mother who seemed to be protected against the common weapons used by the heroes when facing, being wounded only with rare/magical weapons:
https://non-aliencreatures.fandom .com/wiki/Grendel's_Mother

"Although neither Grendel not his mother could be harmed by conventional weapons, Beowulf used an ancient sword believed to have been forged by giants and managed to decapitate his opponent."

There are several passages that show the resilience of Ainur bodies. At the beginning of the creation of the Universe-Eä, the Ainur begin to order the laws of physical reality (gravity, temperature, matter, energy) without having bodies, that is, they were spirits interacting with primordial/chaotic matter:

"So began their great labours in wastes unmeasured and unexplored, and in ages uncounted and forgotten, until in the Deeps of Time and in the midst of the vast halls of Eä there came to be that hour and that place where was made the habitation of the Children of Ilúvatar".

Then comes the planet Earth at the beginning of its geological/cosmic formation:

"When therefore Earth was yet young and full of flame Melkor coveted it, and he said to the other Valar: ‘This shall be my own kingdom; and I name it unto myself!"

Interesting is that in a pre-biotic period - on an Earth hostile to any form of life and in adverse conditions of temperature and pressure (volcanism, formation of continents, atmosphere, etc.)

"Now the Valar took to themselves shape and hue; and because they were drawn into the World by love of the Children of Ilúvatar, for whom they hoped, they took shape after that manner which they had beheld in the Vision of Ilúvatar, save only in majesty and splendour".

And:

"In that time the Valar brought order to the seas and the lands and the mountains, and Yavanna planted at last the seeds that she had long devised. And since, when the fires were subdued or buried beneath the primeval hills, there was need of light, Aulë at the prayer of Yavanna wrought two mighty lamps for the lighting of the Middle-earth which he had built amid the encircling seas."

In other words, it implies that the bodies of the Ainur really have a high tolerance for nature's violence and destructive primordial forms. Remember that Melkor, when taking shape, caused a series of planetary cataclysms impossible to be resisted by any living being, such as: - Geological formation with volcanism, earthquakes, abiotic atmosphere - titanic battle for dominance of Arda:

"Yet it is told among the Eldar that the Valar endeavoured ever, in despite of Melkor, to rule the Earth and to prepare it for the coming of the Firstborn; and they built lands and Melkor destroyed them; valleys they delved and Melkor raised them up; mountains they carved and Melkor threw them down; seas they hollowed and Melkor spilled them; and naught might have peace or come to lasting growth, for as surely as the Valar began a labour so would Melkor undo it or corrupt it. And yet their labour was not all in vain; and though nowhere and in no work was their will and purpose wholly fulfilled, and all things were in hue and shape other than the Valar had at first intended, slowly nonetheless the Earth was fashioned and made firm."

• The absolute zero of the Space Void of the Universe. Melkor assumed a dark form and roamed through space "growing in distant darkness" and "retreated and departed to other regions, and there he did as he pleased":

"So came Tulkas the Strong, whose anger passes like a mighty wind, scattering cloud and darkness before it; and Melkor fled before his wrath and his laughter, and forsook Arda, and there was peace for a long age. And Tulkas remained and became one of the Valar of the Kingdom of Arda; but Melkor brooded in the outer darkness, and his hate was given to Tulkas for ever after."

• 1st Mass Extinction. A form of radiation that killed the fauna and flora initially imagined/concretized by Yavanna in a global reach, also generating mutant forms and monstrous creatures, in addition to starting the cycle of ecosystems and dispute between herbivores x carnivores:

"And though the Valar knew naught of it as yet, nonetheless the evil of Melkor and the blight of his hatred flowed out thence, and the Spring of Arda was marred. Green things fell sick and rotted, and rivers were choked with weeds and slime, and fens were made, rank and poisonous, the breeding place of flies; and forests grew dark and perilous, the haunts of fear; and beasts became monsters of horn and ivory and dyed the earth with blood."

• 2nd Mass Extinction - analogous to a kind of fall of 2 powerful meteors with the catastrophic release of energy similar to 2 stars:

"In the overthrow of the mighty pillars lands were broken and seas arose in tumult; and when the lamps were spilled destroying flame was poured out over the Earth. And the shape of Arda and the symmetry of its waters and its lands was marred in that time, so that the first designs of the Valar were never after restored"

Finally, there was the clash of the Powers, in which the Earth moaned and the Waters changed places, a true Greek titanomachy with explosions at the level of atomic bombs:

"(...) and thereafter the Quendi knew nothing of the great Battle of the Powers, save that the Earth shook and groaned beneath them, and the waters were moved, and in the north there were lights as of mighty fires (...) In that time the shape of Middle-earth was changed, and the Great Sea that sundered it from Aman grew wide and deep; and it broke in upon the coasts and made a deep gulf to the southward. Many lesser bays were made between the Great Gulf and Helcaraxë far in the north, where Middle-earth and Aman came nigh together. Of these the Bay of Balar was the chief; and into it the mighty river Sirion flowed down from the new-raised highlands northwards: Dorthonion, and the mountains about Hithlum. The lands of the far north were all made desolate in those days."

• Of the "wounds" and "deaths" of the Ainur. I believe that only artifacts imbued with some essence/"magic" cause the destruction of beings endowed with Fana. Sauron was able to withstand the lightning/bolts that struck the Númenóreans:

"But the Temple itself was unshaken, and Sauron stood there upon the pinnacle and defied the lightning and was unharmed."

Not only that, but the lightning could destroy certain structures of Númenor (having split the Temple dedicated to Melkor in half) as powerful as the stone of Orthanc or the Walls of Minas Tirith. However, upon being mistaken for the Downfall of Númenor, Sauron reassumes a hideous form - imbued with the element/ingredient Morgoth - and attacks Gil Galad and Elendil on Mount Doom. Detail that the enemy crosses Barad-Dur to the volcano crossing around 20 miles from the distance of the 2 locations, breaking the blockade of the armies of the Last Alliance and facing Gil Galad, Elendil, Cirdan, Elrond and Isildur - The first 2 equipped with weapons enchanted (Aeglos and Narsil) with "spells for the destruction of Mordor" similar to Merry's enchanted sword that breaks the Witch-king's "Invulnerability" so that Eowyn could deliver the fatal blow.
The Balrog in Moria also (seems to me) has this invulnerability spell, its Fana seems to have a "tolerance" against many forms of destruction. There is, in the 1st book, a moment when the "roofs of a mountain" (from Bálin's tomb) fall on top of him (the weight of a mountain would destroy a totality of forms, objects and bodies), but the monster simply seems to "ignore "this brutal damage. Also, there is the famous fall of the Balrog with Gandalf into the Abyss of the bridge of Moria (intro of the 2nd film shows this), both fell from an unimaginable height at terminal velocity (in my view) and withstood the impact.
There is a very interesting passage in which Gandalf, the white, seems to confirm this fortitude/difference between the bodies of living beings X Ainur X the new "body" of resurrected Gandalf:

"Indeed my friends, none of you have any weapon that could hurt me."

This passage also reminded me of an occasion comparing common weapons versus enchanted weapons. Boromir's attack (using the best that the craftsmen of Gondor could offer) using his sword against the skin of the Troll that tries to invade the Chamber of Mazarbul causes his sword to break against the hardened skin of the monster:

"Boromir leaped forward and hewed at the arm with all his might; but his sword rang, glanced aside, and fell from his shaken hand. The blade was notched. Suddenly, and to his own surprise, Frodo felt a hot wrath blaze up in his heart. ‘The Shire!’ he cried, and springing beside Boromir, he stooped, and stabbed with Sting at the hideous foot. There was a bellow, and the foot jerked back, nearly wrenching Sting from Frodo’s arm. Black drops dripped from the blade and smoked on the floor."

I believe that one of Tolkien's "mythological" inspirations is the characteristic of Grendel's mother who seemed to be protected against the common weapons used by the heroes when facing, being wounded only with rare/magical weapons:
https://non-aliencreatures.fandom .com/wiki/Grendel's_Mother

"Although neither Grendel not his mother could be harmed by conventional weapons, Beowulf used an ancient sword believed to have been forged by giants and managed to decapitate his opponent."

If you have walked all these days with closed ears and mind asleep, wake up now!
Gandalf
"Be bold, but wary! Keep up your merry hearts, and ride to meet your fortune."
Tom Bombadil
“..cast aside regret and fear...do the deed at hand”
Gandalf to Theoden
“Follow what may, great deeds are not lessened in worth”
Legolas
Generous deed should not be checked by cold counsel
Gandalf to Pippin
However it may prove, one must tread the path that need chooses!”
Gandalf (re doubts upon entering Moria.)
Need brooks no delay, yet late is better than never
Éomer to King Théoden
“... forget my harsh words; I spoke in the trouble of my heart”
Celeborn to Gimli
“The burned hand teaches best. After that, advice about fire goes to the heart”
Gandalf
“Faithful heart may have froward tongue”
King Théoden to Éomer
“Oft hope is born, when all is forlorn”
Legolas
"twice blessed is help unlooked for"
Eomer
"Speak and be comforted, and shake off the shadow
Legolas to Aragorn
“The hasty stroke goes oft astray”
Gandalf
“Great heart will not be denied”
King Théoden, dying, to Meriadoc
“Even when roused.... be very cautious and patient”
Treebeard
In the morning, counsels are best, and night changes many thoughts
King Théoden
“Yet in doubt a man of worth will trust to his own wisdom”
Háma
Your heart…saw clearer than your eyes
Faramir to Sam
Often does hatred hurt itself.
Gandalf
"Deserves death? I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be so eager to deal out death in judgment. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.
Gandalf to Frodo
Perilous to us all are the devices of an art deeper than we posses ourselves
Gandalf
"Yet oft in lies truth is hidden"
Glorfindel
You may learn something and whether what you see be fair or evil, that may be profitable, and yet it may not. Seeing is both good and perilous
Galadriel to Sam
Advice is a dangerous gift, even from the wise to the wise, and all courses may run ill.
Galdor to Frodo
Help unlooked for is twice blessed
Eomer
Ill news is an ill guest, they say
Grima ‘Wormtongue’
The wise speak only of what they know
Gandalf
To crooked eyes truth may wear a wry face
Gandalf
Pride would be folly that disdained help and counsel at need; but [some] deal out such gifts according to [their] own designs
Lord Denethor
...he that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom.
Gandalf to Saruman
“I am honored by your confidence, but you should not be too free all at once”.
Treebeard
“I am wise enough to know that there are some perils from which a man must flee”
Faramir
The treacherous are ever mistrustful
Gandalf
Great heart will not be denied
Theoden
"But it is one thing to see what needs doing, and quite another to find the means"
Gandalf
“...oft the unbidden guest proves the best company”.
Eomer
But I spoke hastily. We must not be hasty. I have become too hot. I must cool myself and think; for it is easier to shout, “stop” than to do it "
Treebeard
“It’s the job that’s never started as takes the longest to finish”
Sam
“...Let us not darken our hearts by imagining…”
Gandalf
“We cannot dwell in the time that is to come, lest we lose our now for a phantom of our own design”
Erendis
An honest hand and a true heart may hew amiss; and the harm may be harder to bear than the work of a foe.
Hurin
“A king will have his way in his own hall, be it folly or wisdom”.
Gandalf
Why must you speak your thoughts? Silence, if fair words stick in your throat, would serve all our ends better"
Turin [from “Narn i Hin Hurin in Unfinished Tales]
False hopes are more dangerous than fears
Sador
Men...fall away from their purposes, and do evil, forgetting the good in the search for the power to effect it
Gandalf
“the praise of the praiseworthy is above all rewards”
Faramir to Sam
There are some things that it is better to begin than to refuse, even though the end may be dark.
Aragorn
The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater
Haldir
“Despair or folly?” said Gandalf. “It is not despair, for despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not. It is wisdom to recognize necessity when all other courses have been weighed, though as folly it may appear to those who cling to false hope.”
Gandalf (to council of Elrond)
“You said much less than you might and no more than you should”
Treebeard
“Do not despise the lore that has come down from distant years; for oft it may chance that old wives keep in memory word of things that once were needful for the wise to know”
Celeborn
...he that strikes the first blow, if he strikes it hard enough, may need to strike no more.
Gandalf (re Sauron”s Plans)
“Yet a treacherous weapon is ever a danger to the hand”.
Gandalf
"For it is not in doing, nor in choosing between this course and another that can I avail; but only in knowing what was, and is-and in part also what shall be."
Galadriel
“Faithless is he who says farewell when the road darkens” [said Gimli]

“Maybe” [said Elrond] “but let him not vow to walk in the dark, who has not seen the nightfall.” “Yet sworn word may strengthen quaking heart.” [said Gimli] “Or break it.” [said Elrond.] “Look not too far ahead! 

But go now with good hearts!”
“...trees bear fruit only in their own time and their own way; and sometimes they are withered untimely”.
Treebeard the Ent
news from afar is seldom sooth
Théoden
Wise man trusts not to chance meeting on the road
Faramir
Few can foresee whither their road will lead them, till they come to its end."
-Legolas
Peril comes in the night when least expected
Gandalf
Every man has something too dear to trust to another
Aragorn
“Other evils there are that yet may come… Yet it is not our part to master all the tides of the world but to do what is in us for the succor of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule.
Gandalf in council with the Captains of the West
It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: someone has to give them up, loose them, so that others may keep them. But you are my heir: all that I had, and might have had, I leave to you.
Frodo
But when the great fall, the less must lead
Aragorn
yet such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world; small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.
Elrond
Small matters, unworthy it would seem to be reported, may yet prove of great moment ere the end.
Gandalf
“Through darkness one may come to the light” said Gelmir
“Yet one will walk under the Sun while one may” said Tuor
Alas, if some power passes from you to a thing that you have made, then you must take a share in its hurts
Aghan (a Druedan, character in a story in “Unfinished Tales”)
“Never laugh at live dragons”.
-Bilbo Baggins in “The Hobbit”
Number of quotes per character:
Gandalf 23
Treebeard 4
Théoden 4
Aragorn 3
Faramir 3
Legolas 4
Eomer 3
Galadriel 2
Celeborn 2
Elrond 2
Gimli 2
Haldor
Galdor
Glorfindal
Gelmir
Gildor
Mablung
Tom Bombadil
Frodo
Sam
Bilbo
Denethor
Boromir
Hama
and even Grima Wormtongue
Tuor
Turin
Hurin
Erendis
Aghan
Sador
69 total aphorisms
from 31 characters
J. R. R. Token’s Proverbs
as compiled by David J. Finnamore
J. R. R. Tolkien was a man of profound insight. His Middle-earth literature, especially after "The Hobbit”, is filled with words of wisdom like few other non-scriptural books of which I’m aware. I believe that he exceeds even Shakespeare in this. Much of that wisdom is woven inextricably into the very fabric of the stories. But some, happily, is in the form of more-or-less pithy sayings; that is, discrete and (relatively) concise "nuggets" which can stand on their own. Of course, their impact is even greater in the context of the stories! :-)
Here I present my collection of such sayings culled from "The Lord of the Rings”, in the order of occurrence in the book. Some are original to Tolkien, as far as I can tell; others are reworkings of sayings that have been around for a long time; but even those are more elegantly stated by him, and thus may be attributable to him in the form found here.
I count 62 in all. It purports to be a complete set but any cataloguing work of this subjective a nature is bound to have some overlooked entries. If you feel that I’ve neglected to include something(s) relevant, I’d gratefully accept your submissions. (Please include the edition, book, chapter, and page number.) Enjoy! - David J. Finnamore
All page numbers refer to Houghton Mifflin’s single-volume edition of 1993. Prologue
Sect. 1: Concerning Hobbits p. 17 he Hobbits named it the Shire, as the region of the authority of their Thain, and a district of well-ordered business; and there in that pleasant corner of the world they plied their well-ordered business of living, and they heeded less and less the world outside where dark things moved, until they came to think that peace and plenty were the rule in Middle-earth and the right of all sensible folk. They forgot or ignored what little they had ever known of the Guardians, and of the labours of those that made possible the long peace of the Shire. They were, in fact, sheltered, but they had ceased to remember it.
THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING Book One
Ch. p. Quote II 73 Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. For even the very wise cannot see all ends. - Gandalf III 87 We used often to say there was only one Road; that it was like a great river: its springs were at every doorstep, and every path was its tributary. "It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door”, he used to say. "You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to." - Frodo, quoting Bilbo III 97 It is not your own Shire,” said Gildor. “Others dwelt here before hobbits were, and others will dwell here again when hobbits are no more. The wide world is all about you: you can fence yourselves in, but you cannot forever fence it out. III 97 Seldom give unguarded advice, for advice is a dangerous gift, even from the wise to the wise, and all courses may run ill. - Gildor Inglorion IV 141 Some things are ill to hear when the world’s in shadow. - Tom Bombadil X 186 All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. - Ancient verses of prophecy translated from the Elvish by Bilbo, referring to Aragorn
Book Two
Ch. p. Quote I 248 Don’t adventures ever have an end? I suppose not. Someone else always has to carry on the story. - Bilbo II 276 He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom. - Gandalf II 278 Even the most subtle spiders may leave a weak thread. - Gandalf II 282 It is perilous to study too deeply the arts of the Enemy, for good or for ill. - Elrond II 284 Oft in lies truth is hidden. - Glorfindel II 285 Valor needs first strength, and then a weapon. - Boromir II 286 Those who made [the three rings of power] did not desire strength or domination or hoarded wealth, but understanding, making, and healing, to preserve all things unstained. - Elrond II 286-7 It is wisdom to recognize necessity, when all other courses have been weighed, though as folly it may appear to those who cling to false hope. Well, let folly be our cloak, a veil before the eyes of the Enemy! For he is very wise, and weighs all things to a nicety in the scales of this malice. But the only measure that he knows is desire, desire for power; and so he judges all hearts. Into his heart the thought will not enter that any will refuse it. - Gandalf II 287 Such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere. - Elrond II 287 Only a small part is played in great deeds by any hero. - Gandalf III 298 Let him not vow to walk in the dark, who has not seen the nightfall. - Elrond VI 366 In nothing is the power of the Dark Lord more clearly shown than in the estrangement that divides all those who still oppose him. - Haldir VI 367 The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater. - Haldir VIII 388 Do not trouble your hearts overmuch with thought of the road tonight. Maybe the paths that you each shall tread are already laid before your feet, though you do not see them. - Galadriel VIII 394 Do not despise the lore that has come down from distant years; for oft it may chance that old wives keep in memory word of things that once were needful for the wise to know. - Celeborn
THE TWO TOWERS Book Three
Ch. p. Quote II 449 Do not cast all hope away. Tomorrow is unknown. Rede oft is found at the rising of the Sun. - Legolas II 455 Do we walk in legends or on the green earth in the daylight?”
A man may do both,” said Aragorn. “For not we but those who come after will make the legends of our time. The green earth, say you? That is a mighty matter of legend, though you tread it under the light of day! [answering Eothain of Rohan] II 459 Good and ill have not changed since yesteryear. - Aragorn II 461 There are some things that it is better to begin than to refuse, even though the end may be dark. - Aragorn IV 487 Let us leave this--did you say what you call it?”
“Hill?” suggested Pippin. “Shelf? Step?” suggested Merry.
Treebeard repeated the words thoughtfully. “Hill. Yes, that was it. But it is a hasty word for a thing that has stood here ever since this part of the world was shaped.” V 518 A treacherous weapon is ever a danger to the hand. - Gandalf VI 535 News from afar is seldom sooth. - King Théoden VI 536 The wise speak only of what they know. - Gandalf VI 544 To crooked eyes truth may wear a wry face. - Gandalf VII 558 Oft the unbidden guest proves the best company. - Eomer IX 587 One who cannot cast away a treasure at need is in fetters. - Aragorn X 606 The treacherous are ever distrustful. - Gandalf X 608 One cannot be both tyrant and counselor. - Gandalf X 608 Often does hatred hurt itself! - Gandalf X 609 Things will go as they will; and there is no need to hurry to meet them. - Treebeard XI 618 Oft evil will shall evil mar. - Théoden quoting an old saying of Rohan. XI 621 Perilous to us all are the devices of an art deeper than we possess ourselves. - Gandalf XI 622 The burned hand teaches best. After that advice about fire goes to the heart. - Gandalf to Pippin after the palantir incident
Book Four
Ch. p. Quote V 698 War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. - Faramir V 698 Better mistrust undeserved than rash words. - Frodo V 702 Fair speech may hide a foul heart. - Sam Gamgee V 704 It is not said that evil arts were ever practiced in Gondor, or that the Nameless One was ever named in honor there.... Yet even so it was Gondor that brought about its own decay, falling by degrees into dotage, and thinking that the Enemy was asleep, who was only banished not destroyed. ...[they] hungered after endless life unchanging. Kings made tombs more splendid than houses of the living, and counted old names in the rolls of their descent dearer than the names of sons. Childless lords sat in aged halls musing on heraldry; in secret chambers withered men compounded strong elixirs, or in high cold towers asked questions of the stars. - Faramir V 709 The praise of the praiseworthy is above all rewards. - Faramir VI 714 The servant has a claim on the master for service, even service in fear. VII 727 There there’s life there’s hope, as my Gaffer used to say; and need of vittles, as he mostways used to add. - Sam
THE RETURN OF THE KING Book Five
Ch. p. Quote I 790 Generous deed should not be checked by cold counsel. - Gandalf II 812 The hasty stroke goes oft astray. - Aragorn II 816 Deeds will not be less valiant because they are unpraised. - Aragorn IV 847 A traitor may betray himself and do good that he does not intend. - Gandalf VI 881 Hope oft deceives...Yet twice blessed is help unlooked for. - Eomer IX 903 ’Tis grief he will not forget; bit it will not darken his heart, it will teach him wisdom. - Aragorn, of Pippin IX 907 It is ever so with the things that Men begin: there is a frost in Spring, or blight in Summer, and they fail of their promise. - Gimli IX 911 Follow what may, great deeds are not lessened in worth. - Legolas IX 913 It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succor of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule. - Gandalf
Book Six
Ch. p. Quote V 994 It needs but one foe to breed a war, not two.... And those who have not swords can still die upon them. Would you have the folk of Gondor gather you herbs only, when the Dark Lord gathers armies? - Eowyn V 994 It is not always good to be healed in body. Nor is it always evil to die in battle, even in bitter pain. - Eowyn VIII 1056 It is useless to meet revenge with revenge: it will heal nothing. - Frodo of the hobbits” desire to kill Saruman for enslaving them IX 1064 I’ve heard some beautiful names on my travels, but I suppose they’re a bit too grand for daily wear and tear, as you might say. The Gaffer, he says: "Make it short, and then you won’t have to cut it short before you can use it." - Sam Gamgee IX 1067 It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them. - Frodo IX 1068 I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil. - Gandalf

I decided to examine the hair length and hairstyles, especially of male characters, in The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion and other First Age materials.
Elves
Whenever Tolkien specifies hair length, he says that it is long. In LOTR, Elven hair is described repeatedly as long. In the Silmarillion, most of the time only a hair colour is given, not length; the exception is Lúthien, who with magic makes her hair grow exceedingly long (The Silmarillion, Of Beren and Lúthien, p. 202).
Elrond is one of the few Elves who isn’t described as long-haired: “His hair was dark as the shadows of twilight, and upon it was set a circlet of silver” (LOTR, Many Meetings, p. 227)
However, the Elves, including male Elves, do seem to have long hair as a rule:

• “All the Eldar had beautiful hair (and were especially attracted by hair of exceptional loveliness), but the Ñoldor were not specially remarkable in this respect, and there is no reference to Finwë as having had hair of exceptional length, abundance or beauty beyond the measure of his people.” (HoME XII, The Shibboleth of Fëanor, p. 340–341)
• Which still means Finwë had long hair, just not excessively long: “Finwë (and Míriel) had long dark hair, so had Fëanor and all the Noldor, save by intermarriage” (NoME, Part Two, IV. Hair, p. 186).
• Galadriel and Celeborn: “Very tall they were, and the Lady no less tall than the Lord; and they were grave and beautiful. They were clad wholly in white; and the hair of the Lady was of deep gold, and the hair of the Lord Celeborn was of silver long and bright” (LOTR, The Mirror of Galadriel, p. 354).
• Fingon: “he wore his long dark hair in great plaits braided with gold” (HoME XII, The Shibboleth of Fëanor, p. 345).
• Maedhros: called Russandol (“copper-top”), for his red-brown hair (HoME XII, The Shibboleth of Fëanor, p. 353); if somebody has people call him by reference to his hair and his beauty, it’s not a long leap to assume that he will have long hair.
• Celegorm: “golden was his long hair” (HoME V, Part Two, VI. Quenta Silmarillion, p. 299).
• Aegnor: “his hair was notable: golden like his brothers and sisters, but strong and stiff, rising upon his head like flames” (HoME XII, The Shibboleth of Fëanor, p. 347).
• Glorfindel: “his golden hair followed shimmering in the wind of his speed” (LOTR, Flight to the Ford, p. 209).
• Nimrodel: “Her hair was long, her limbs were white” (LOTR, Lothlórien, p. 339).
• Arwen: “The braids of her dark hair were touched by no frost” (LOTR, Many Meetings, p. 227).
• Idril: “her hair was a fountain of gold” (HoME IV, The Quenta, p. 148).
• Teleri: “walk in the waves upon the shore with their long hair gleaming like foam in the lights beyond the hill” (HoME X, Part Three: The Later Quenta Silmarillion, Of Eldanor and the Princes of the Eldalië, p. 178).
• Elwë: “Elwe himself had indeed long and beautiful hair of silver hue” (HoME XI, Part Four: Quendi and Eldar, p. 384).
• Elven bows: “strung with a string of elf-hair” (LOTR, Farewell to Lórien, p. 375).

“Long and white” is a phrase Tolkien seems to love:

• Elwë: “Elwë was their lord, and his hair was long and white.” (HoME IV, The Quenta, p. 86).
• Elwë: “Elwë was their lord, and his hair was long and white.” (HoME V, Part Two, VI. Quenta Silmarillion, p. 214).
• Olwë: “The hair of Olwë was long and white” (HoME X, Part Three: The Later Quenta Silmarillion, Of the Coming of the Elves, p. 163).
• Elwë: “the hair of Elwë was long and white” (HoME X, Part Three: The Later Quenta Silmarillion, Of the Coming of the Elves, p. 169).

Men
In general, Men seem to have long hair too:

• Tuor: “his hair streamed from his head” (UT, Part One, I. Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin, p. 32)
• Aragorn: “his dark hair was blowing in the wind” (LOTR, Great River, p. 393).
• Boromir: “They combed his long dark hair and arrayed it upon his shoulders.” (LOTR, The Departure of Boromir, p. 416). (I was going to ask who was carrying the comb, but probably everyone is the answer.)
• Riders of Rohan: “their hare, flaxen-pale, flowed under their light helms, and streamed in long braids behind them” (LOTR, The Riders of Rohan, p. 431); “Their golden hair was braided on their shoulders” (LOTR, The King of the Golden Hall, p. 510)
• Theoden: “but his white hair was long and thick and fell in great braids” (LOTR, The King of the Golden Hall, p. 512).
• Eowyn: “her long hair was like a river of gold” (LOTR, The King of the Golden Hall, p. 515).
• Gandalf (trying to blend in as not-an-angelic-being): “His snowy hair flew free in the wind” (LOTR, The King of the Golden Hall, p. 525).
• Man from the South: “his black plaits of hair braided with gold” (LOTR, Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit, p. 661).
• Eowyn and Faramir: “and their hair, raven and golden, streamed out mingling in the air” (LOTR, The Steward and the King, p. 963).
• (Húrin has long hair after his release from Angband but I don’t think that means much, given that he probably didn’t get the chance to cut his hair during his captivity and afterwards probably wouldn’t have cared (The Silmarillion, Of the Ruin of Doriath, p. 272).)

Further Thoughts
Long hair seems to be ubiquitous, for both male and female characters. There is also an abundance of braids – which makes sense for societies perpetually at war. I’d like to know just what Fingon’s hair looked like and what sort of braids were used in battle.
Sources:
The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien, HarperCollins 2007 (softcover) [cited as: LOTR].
The Silmarillion, JRR Tolkien, ed Christopher Tolkien, HarperCollins 1999 (softcover) [cited as: Silmarillion].
Unfinished Tales of Númenor & Middle-earth, JRR Tolkien, ed Christopher Tolkien, HarperCollins 2014 (softcover) [cited as: UT].
The Shaping of Middle-earth, JRR Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien, HarperCollins 2015 (softcover)[cited as: HoME IV].
The Lost Road and Other Writings, JRR Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien, HarperCollins 2015 (softcover) [cited as: HoME V].
Morgoth’s Ring, JRR Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien, HarperCollins 2015 (softcover) [cited as: HoME X].
The War of the Jewels, JRR Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien, HarperCollins 2015 (softcover) [cited as: HoME XI].
The Peoples of Middle-earth, JRR Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien, HarperCollins 2015 (softcover) [cited as: HoME XII].
The Nature of Middle-earth, JRR Tolkien, ed Carl F Hostetter, HarperCollins 2021 (hardcover) [cited as: NoME].

Hey there everyone,
I am about ready to jump into the second act of my first book. I really need some help in deciding how to transition, and would really love some suggestions on how to catalyze events to progress the Plot!
I am currently writing from three separate POV's. here is a synopsis of the story so far. you may reference my hand-drawn map to get a sense of who/what is where:
Map of Northen Hjartaheim, the Middle Realm of Verden Darach - The World Oak
Arannor, the northernmost nation of this world has kept to itself for centuries, often raiding along the southern coasts of the continent for wealth and battle-fame. the culture is divided into separate ruling Clans governing over a province of land. the Clans have fought amongst themselves for years, wholly unconcerned with the politics of the southern kings. The Jarls of Arannor and their people are proud, ferocious warriors who are beholden to no king, and have not been been for the entirety of their history. (this isn't true, but a common theme in this series is that mankind has lost its history and no longer understands the nature or purpose of its existence -- super allegorical, theological vibes here)
seeking to usher in a new age of prosperity for his people and his children, the lord of the western coast rallies old friends to the North and South under his banner, and proclaims himself king of a unified Arannor - an Iron Kingdom. a bloody civil war ensues, and we find ourselves beginning our tale at the height of stalemate between the Jarls of the Western Clans, and those East of the Blackwood. the Men of the Marsh hold the would-be king at bay from their mired fortress in the swamp-lands of Glas Myri. All trade between the East and West flows through their labyrinthian waterways, and the king cannot hope to rule the whole north without their submission.
An arrangement is made between the king and the Lord of the Marsh who, unbeknownst to any but the reader at this point, holds a deadly grudge against his aspiring ruler for sins against his house in decades past. the king and his army moves eastward along the Halsbjorn River, to entreat with the Marsh so that they can push East into Moran Vann and Harberg, finally a united Iron Kingdom.
our three main POV protagonists are:
Alaric Ravenwald: A boy of twelve, heir to the Jarl's seat in the province of Ravnhjem to the far North. His father, Jarl Aedain, the Raven Lord of the Blackwood, is the king's most trusted general and closest friend, as well as the most famous warrior in the North. Alaric is laconic, thoughtful, and cunning. his character was designed and modeled after Bruce Wayne, and he will become a formidable assassin as the story progresses as well as the primary propellant of the "Spiritual" aspect of the plot and themes of this work.
Aelfric Godfrey: Only living son of Jarl Aelfred Godfrey from the province of Samhrad Achad, the Summer Fields. Aelfric's father is the king's chief strategist and closest advisor besides Jarl Aedain with whom he shares a fraternal bond. to contrast his father's wisdom and tact, Aelfric is a firebrand: quick to action and often speaks - or raises his fists - before he thinks. He has been raised since childhood alongside Alaric, and the two of them are as close to brothers as any could hope to be without sharing the same blood. Aelfric is stronger and taller than most boys his age, though Alaric proves to be the better swordsman between them. Aelfric's character is modeled after the likes of Thor Odinsson and Uhtred of Bebbanburg.
Kara Greymond (might change that surname): Kara and her twin Kindra are of a similar age to Alaric and Aelfric. being the only children born to the King before the death of his wife, they are eager to prove themselves worthy of his legacy and his approval. Kara has inherited the lion's share of her father's ill temper and strength, though her sister is regarded as the better fighter for her sportsmanlike spirit and dedication to training. the twins are close in age to Alaric & Aelfric, and share a deep friendship with them derived from the closeness of their three Clans. Kara's character inspiration comes from the likes of Eowyn, Lagertha, Princess Leia and Ygritte.
​
the part of the story where I'm stuck:
​
The King and his army have just marched into an ambush in the woods between Caer Fil-Bearad (the king's stronghold) and Caer Eagthil (de facto capital of Arannor, where a hegemonous governmnent mediates on matters that affect the whole nation). The King and Jarl Aedain see that hope for victory is futile, and send the four children running into the trees under the protection of Jarl Aelfred while they themselves make their final stand for glory and honor. The Men of the Marsh - and their lord, who schemed to betray the king and his retainers for their past sins - give chase, and through the course of their flight the wayward heirs of the West are met by splintered remnants of the king's forces. moments prior to the ambush, Alaric and and Aelfric are visited with visions from beings that their people perceive to be the gods of Death & War respectively. Each is given a cryptic charge that changes everything that the Men of this age of the world believe about their origin and their gods, and then bestowed with some unknown power that to them bears only the name "Song".
The Men of the Marsh trap the children and their men atop a wooded hillock, outnumbered and lacking adequate defenses. the Lord of the Marsh reveals himself as the head of the assailing force, and demands of the fallen king's warriors that they surrender his heirs and the heirs of his conspirators in exchange for their lives. He makes a gift of the heads of the king and Jarl Aedain to their heirs. thirst for vengeance set afire by the ancient warrior ethos of his people and dear love for his fallen lord, Alaric's personal guard Cynric - a young warrior orphaned by the Marsh in years past who was adopted by Alaric's Clan and raised up alongside Jarl Aedain - challenges the Marsh-Lord on his master's behalf. The enemy names his champion, and Alaric's oath-man falls wounded and bleeding from the stump where his arm had been.
Infuriated by his guardian's humiliation, and buckling under the immense weight of his rage and grief, Alaric's trauma unlocks his Song. He flits between the waking world and a realm of shadow, dancing around the wood in the form of a vapor as he unravels men's minds and sends them to their doom at the edge of his knife. The chaos and confusion sown by his deadly display embolden the men on the hill and allow them to turn the tide in their favor, though they are still gravely outnumbered.
Shieldwalls collide, and during the onslaught a stray arrow to the face takes Jarl Aelfred from the fray. seeing his father prostrate and wounded, Aelfric calls the fury of his own Song down upon the enemy, and hurls a bolt of lightning into the massed ranks of the Men of the Marsh. The display of arcane power is despair to the assailants, as it kills many among them and sets fire to the forest. the king's men fight with renewed fervor, believing the god of war to have bestowed his favor upon their noble cause. Trapped between the fear of death and madness by the shadow in the burning woods around them and fire and storm against the blades and shields of the Westerners on the hill, the Men of the Marsh are forced to contend with their foe wielding ever diminshing resolve.
Kara and her sister elect to stay with their father's men in hopes to rally more remnants of his host before heading themselves to the capital, seeking justice for murder. Alaric and Aelfric ride off along the riverbank to reach the city in haste, Jarl Aelfred and the wounded and delirious one-armed oath-man Cynric in tow.
Herein lies the writer's block: my goal and overall plan has always been for Alaric and Aelfric to be parted after the ambush that claim the king and Jarl Aedain. each will travel to different lands for the next act of the story, seeking new mysteries, unlocking the power of their Songs and growing into hardened men of conviction and formidable skill. I know I want Alaric's journey to focus on the spiritual themes at play, he'll be gallivanting through long forgotten ruins and train as a living weapon in interdimensional rifts, a herald for the Angel of Death called from among men charged to bring the light of truth (cough cough, is my Narnia influence showing yet?) to a world shrouded in the dark. Aelfric I had thought to send far to the South, conscripted into the service of a vast empire across the sea along with the sons of other Jarls who were loyal to, and fell alongside the King in battle. He'll form a sort of "Varangian Guard" and eventually obtain the knowledge, skill, and conviction to return to Arannor at the head of a mighty warband and fulfill his destiny.
But how do I separate them? I have ideas for where I want them to be. I simply cannot decide how I want them to get there, some transitional event that splits them up, like maybe one being captured somehow, or both being captured separately. As of right now, they're traveling the same road together, and the most immediate threat is overcome or being otherwise engaged by Kara (sidenote: do I leave her POV for the remainder of this book and return in the next?).
Any ideas for a good foil to the goal of reaching Caer Eagthil (or achieving justice for the king's assassination) that can feasibly result in Alaric, Aelfric & Kara all going separate ways? I am super excited to share this much of my story with all of you, and absolutely cannot wait to hear what you all may have to offesay!
PS: I hope the map helps, I know it's not the best looking in the world - I'm no cartographer!

There are several passages that show the resilience of Ainur bodies. At the beginning of the creation of the Universe-Eä, the Ainur begin to order the laws of physical reality (gravity, temperature, matter, energy) without having bodies, that is, they were spirits interacting with primordial/chaotic matter:
"So began their great labours in wastes unmeasured and unexplored, and in ages uncounted and forgotten, until in the Deeps of Time and in the midst of the vast halls of Eä there came to be that hour and that place where was made the habitation of the Children of Ilúvatar".
Then comes the planet Earth at the beginning of its geological/cosmic formation:
"When therefore Earth was yet young and full of flame Melkor coveted it, and he said to the other Valar: ‘This shall be my own kingdom; and I name it unto myself!"
Interesting is that in a pre-biotic period - on an Earth hostile to any form of life and in adverse conditions of temperature and pressure (volcanism, formation of continents, atmosphere, etc.)
"Now the Valar took to themselves shape and hue; and because they were drawn into the World by love of the Children of Ilúvatar, for whom they hoped, they took shape after that manner which they had beheld in the Vision of Ilúvatar, save only in majesty and splendour".
And:
"In that time the Valar brought order to the seas and the lands and the mountains, and Yavanna planted at last the seeds that she had long devised. And since, when the fires were subdued or buried beneath the primeval hills, there was need of light, Aulë at the prayer of Yavanna wrought two mighty lamps for the lighting of the Middle-earth which he had built amid the encircling seas."
In other words, it implies that the bodies of the Ainur really have a high tolerance for nature's violence and destructive primordial forms. Remember that Melkor, when taking shape, caused a series of planetary cataclysms impossible to be resisted by any living being, such as: - Geological formation with volcanism, earthquakes, abiotic atmosphere - titanic battle for dominance of Arda:
"Yet it is told among the Eldar that the Valar endeavoured ever, in despite of Melkor, to rule the Earth and to prepare it for the coming of the Firstborn; and they built lands and Melkor destroyed them; valleys they delved and Melkor raised them up; mountains they carved and Melkor threw them down; seas they hollowed and Melkor spilled them; and naught might have peace or come to lasting growth, for as surely as the Valar began a labour so would Melkor undo it or corrupt it. And yet their labour was not all in vain; and though nowhere and in no work was their will and purpose wholly fulfilled, and all things were in hue and shape other than the Valar had at first intended, slowly nonetheless the Earth was fashioned and made firm."

• The absolute zero of the Space Void of the Universe. Melkor assumed a dark form and roamed through space "growing in distant darkness" and "retreated and departed to other regions, and there he did as he pleased":

"So came Tulkas the Strong, whose anger passes like a mighty wind, scattering cloud and darkness before it; and Melkor fled before his wrath and his laughter, and forsook Arda, and there was peace for a long age. And Tulkas remained and became one of the Valar of the Kingdom of Arda; but Melkor brooded in the outer darkness, and his hate was given to Tulkas for ever after."

• 1st Mass Extinction. A form of radiation that killed the fauna and flora initially imagined/concretized by Yavanna in a global reach, also generating mutant forms and monstrous creatures, in addition to starting the cycle of ecosystems and dispute between herbivores x carnivores:

"And though the Valar knew naught of it as yet, nonetheless the evil of Melkor and the blight of his hatred flowed out thence, and the Spring of Arda was marred. Green things fell sick and rotted, and rivers were choked with weeds and slime, and fens were made, rank and poisonous, the breeding place of flies; and forests grew dark and perilous, the haunts of fear; and beasts became monsters of horn and ivory and dyed the earth with blood."

• 2nd Mass Extinction - analogous to a kind of fall of 2 powerful meteors with the catastrophic release of energy similar to 2 stars:

"In the overthrow of the mighty pillars lands were broken and seas arose in tumult; and when the lamps were spilled destroying flame was poured out over the Earth. And the shape of Arda and the symmetry of its waters and its lands was marred in that time, so that the first designs of the Valar were never after restored"
Finally, there was the clash of the Powers, in which the Earth moaned and the Waters changed places, a true Greek titanomachy with explosions at the level of atomic bombs:
"(...) and thereafter the Quendi knew nothing of the great Battle of the Powers, save that the Earth shook and groaned beneath them, and the waters were moved, and in the north there were lights as of mighty fires (...) In that time the shape of Middle-earth was changed, and the Great Sea that sundered it from Aman grew wide and deep; and it broke in upon the coasts and made a deep gulf to the southward. Many lesser bays were made between the Great Gulf and Helcaraxë far in the north, where Middle-earth and Aman came nigh together. Of these the Bay of Balar was the chief; and into it the mighty river Sirion flowed down from the new-raised highlands northwards: Dorthonion, and the mountains about Hithlum. The lands of the far north were all made desolate in those days."

• Of the "wounds" and "deaths" of the Ainur. I believe that only artifacts imbued with some essence/"magic" cause the destruction of beings endowed with Fana. Sauron was able to withstand the lightning/bolts that struck the Númenóreans:

"But the Temple itself was unshaken, and Sauron stood there upon the pinnacle and defied the lightning and was unharmed."
Not only that, but the lightning could destroy certain structures of Númenor (having split the Temple dedicated to Melkor in half) as powerful as the stone of Orthanc or the Walls of Minas Tirith. However, upon being mistaken for the Downfall of Númenor, Sauron reassumes a hideous form - imbued with the element/ingredient Morgoth - and attacks Gil Galad and Elendil on Mount Doom. Detail that the enemy crosses Barad-Dur to the volcano crossing around 20 miles from the distance of the 2 locations, breaking the blockade of the armies of the Last Alliance and facing Gil Galad, Elendil, Cirdan, Elrond and Isildur - The first 2 equipped with weapons enchanted (Aeglos and Narsil) with "spells for the destruction of Mordor" similar to Merry's enchanted sword that breaks the Witch-king's "Invulnerability" so that Eowyn could deliver the fatal blow.
The Balrog in Moria also (seems to me) has this invulnerability spell, its Fana seems to have a "tolerance" against many forms of destruction. There is, in the 1st book, a moment when the "roofs of a mountain" (from Bálin's tomb) fall on top of him (the weight of a mountain would destroy a totality of forms, objects and bodies), but the monster simply seems to "ignore "this brutal damage. Also, there is the famous fall of the Balrog with Gandalf into the Abyss of the bridge of Moria (intro of the 2nd film shows this), both fell from an unimaginable height at terminal velocity (in my view) and withstood the impact.
There is a very interesting passage in which Gandalf, the white, seems to confirm this fortitude/difference between the bodies of living beings X Ainur X the new "body" of resurrected Gandalf:
"Indeed my friends, none of you have any weapon that could hurt me."
This passage also reminded me of an occasion comparing common weapons versus enchanted weapons. Boromir's attack (using the best that the craftsmen of Gondor could offer) using his sword against the skin of the Troll that tries to invade the Chamber of Mazarbul causes his sword to break against the hardened skin of the monster:
"Boromir leaped forward and hewed at the arm with all his might; but his sword rang, glanced aside, and fell from his shaken hand. The blade was notched. Suddenly, and to his own surprise, Frodo felt a hot wrath blaze up in his heart. ‘The Shire!’ he cried, and springing beside Boromir, he stooped, and stabbed with Sting at the hideous foot. There was a bellow, and the foot jerked back, nearly wrenching Sting from Frodo’s arm. Black drops dripped from the blade and smoked on the floor."
I believe that one of Tolkien's "mythological" inspirations is the characteristic of Grendel's mother who seemed to be protected against the common weapons used by the heroes when facing, being wounded only with rare/magical weapons:
https://non-aliencreatures.fandom .com/wiki/Grendel's_Mother
"Although neither Grendel not his mother could be harmed by conventional weapons, Beowulf used an ancient sword believed to have been forged by giants and managed to decapitate his opponent."

Tolkien's Amazons
From Parma Eldalamberon: "goth war. strife. Q kos-. [I 258 s.v. Kosomot, II 67, 342 s.v. Gothmog.]
gothwen battle.
gothweg warrior.
gothwin amazon. also gothnir. [Last in pencil.]
gothri warfare.
gothriol warlike"
Same thing stated in History of Middle-earth. Goth means war. 'Win' or 'nir' means woman. GothniGothwin, literally 'war woman / warrior woman', which Tolkien describes as 'amazon'.
Back when Tolkien was young, in 1910s, when he wrote the Book of Lost Tales, he invented a Valië named Meássë, an amazonion war goddess.
Some quotes about her from the books and journals:
"Measse (the war-goddess) < mear 'gore, blood' " - Parma Eldalamberon
"Measse sister of MAKAR, virgin amazon & hunter with bloody arms." - Parma Eldalamberon
Makar is the God of War. Tulkas liked to wrestle with him.
"Meássë A late hasty entry in QL adds Meássë ‘sister of Makar, Amazon with bloody arms’ .... and is also called Magńntha ‘the red-handed’ (magru=macha ‘slaughter, battle’, magrusaig ‘bloodthirsty’). In the Valar name-list she is called Rávë or Ravenni; in QL the root rava has many derivatives, as rauta- ‘to hunt’, raust ‘hunting, preying’, Raustar a name of Oromë [Huntsman of the Valar], rau (plural rávï) iion ’, ravennë ‘she-lion’, Rávi a name of Meássë. Very similar forms are given in GL: rau lion ’, rausta ‘to hunt’, raust ‘hunt’." - The Book of Lost Tales 1
"Meássë Warrior goddess" - Lost Tales 1
"Yet even when all these had crossed the confines of the world and Vilna was in uproar with their passing, there came still hurrying late Makar and his fierce sister Meássë; and it had been better had they not found the world but remained for ever with the Ainur beyond Vaitya and the stars, for both were spirits of quarrelsome mood, and with some other lesser ones who came now with them had been the first and chief to join in the discords of Melko and to aid in the spreading of his music." - Lost Tales 1
"Upon the confines of the Outer Lands did it [Halls of Makar and his sister] stand, nor was it very far from Mandos. Of iron was it made, and unadomed. There fought the vassals of Makar clad in armour, and a clash there was and a shouting and a braying of trumps, but Meássë fared among the warriors and egged them to more blows, or revived the fainting with strong wine that they might battle still; and her arms were reddened to the elbow dabbling in that welter." - LT1
"...at those times when Makar and Meássë were far abroad hunting together in the black mountains wolves and bears." LT1
"There sit often Makar and his sister listening to the songs, and Makar has a huge bill across his knees and Meássë holds a spear. But in those days ere the closing of Valinor did these twain fare mostly about the Earth and were often far from the land, for they loved the unbridled turmoils which Melko roused throughout the world." - LT1
"the barbaric war-gods Makar and Meássë." - LT1
"Behold, Valinor is built, and the Gods dwell in peace, for Melko is far in the worid delving deep and fortifying himself in iron and cold, but Makar and Meássë ride upon the gales and rejoice in earthquakes and the overmastering furies of the ancient seas." - LT1
Meássë was one of the Valar who pursued Melkor after the destruction of the Two Trees.
The characters of Makar and Meássë were both discarded in later writings.
..............
It was not until writing of Lord of the Rings when Tolkien invented a new Amazon character; Eowyn.
From Treason of Isengard:
"Make Eowyn ... a stern amazon woman."
"Aragorn says: 'If I live, I will come, Lady Eowyn, and then maybe we will ride together.' Then Eowyn 'smiled and bent her head gravely.' "
After the battle, there's a feast and news come of "the siege of Minas Tirith by the Haradwaith.(11) [Added subsequently: brought by a dark Gondorian like Boromir.(12) Theoden answers that he does not owe fealty - only to heirs of Elendil. But he will come.] The horsemen of Rohan ride East, with Gandalf, Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, Merry and Pippin. Gandalf as the White Rider. [Added subsequently: Eowyn goes as Amazon.]" "Probably Eowyn should die to avenge or save Theoden."
As is plain clear Theoden had let Eowyn to come to battle. She went openly to battle. But this whole idea of Amazon Eowyn and her death was later discarded. As can be seen in the Two Towers and Return of the King. And in the Letters of JRR Tolkien: "she was also not really a soldier or 'amazon', but like many brave women was capable of great military gallantry at a crisis."
............
After LOTR، when Tolkien returned to Silmarillion, he eventually turned Haleth the Hunter (a very great warrior man) into a woman.
In 1969 he wrote of Haladin: "many of their warriors were women, though few of these went abroad to fight in the great battles. This custom was evidently ancient;(50) for their chieftainess Haleth had been a renowned amazon with a picked bodyguard of women." - Peoples of Middle-earth, Of Dwarves and Men
And in previous years he had written the story of Haleth, unfortunately it's only like couple of pages. It's published in both Silmarillion and War of the Jewels.
Some relevant quotes concerning the greatest Amazon of the Edain:
"Now Haldad had twin children: Haleth his daughter and Haldar his son; and both were valiant in the defence, for Haleth was a woman of great heart and strength. But at last Haldad was slain in a sortie against the Orcs; and Haldar, who rushed out to save his father's body from their butchery, was hewn down beside him. Then Haleth held the folk together, though they were without hope; and some cast themselves in the rivers and were drowned. Seven days later, as the Orcs made their last assault and had already broken through the stockade, there came suddenly a music of trumpets, and Caranthir with his host came down from the north and drove the Orcs into the rivers.
Then Caranthir looked kindly upon Men and did Haleth great honour," - War of the Jewels
Thingol said he'll give Berethil to Haleth if only her folk should guard the Crossings of Teiglin against all enemies of the Eldar, and allow no Orcs to enter their woods. To which Haleth answered: 'Where are Haldad my father, and Haldar my brother? If the king fears a friendship between Haleth and those who devoured her kin, then the thoughts of the Eldar are strange to Men.' And Thingol thought to himself I freaking adore this Girlboss.
Haleth and her folk then dwelt in Brethil. "they were esteemed as loyal allies and redoubtable warriors, though the companies that they sent to battle beyond their borders were small. For they were and remained to their end a small people, chiefly concerned to protect their own woodlands, and they excelled in forest warfare. Indeed for long even those Orks specially trained for this dared not set foot near their borders." - Peoples of Middle-earth
...........
It was not until 1973 when Tolkien explicitly gave the title of Amazon to another of his characters: "Galadriel ... is a secondary name given to her in her youth in the far past because she had long hair which glistened like gold but was also shot with silver. She was then of Amazon disposition and bound up her hair as a crown when taking part in athletic feats." - Letter 348
Though he had not explicitly used the term Amazon for her until 1973, but in previous years he had already associated Galadriel with amazonian status. Some of the relevant quotes:
"A sister they had, Galadriel, the fairest lady of the house of Finwe, and the most valiant." - Later Quenta Silmarillion (1950s)
"Galadriel ... was called Nerwen ‘man-maiden’ because of her strength and stature, and her courage." - some note from around 1968 published in Nature of Middle-earth
"...she was strong of body... She was proud, strong, and self-willed..." - Shibboleth of Feanor (1968)
"Galadriel, the only woman of the Noldor to stand that day tall and valiant among the contending princes, was eager to be gone." - Annals of Aman (1950s)
"$149 ...the vanguard of the Noldor were succoured by Fingon with the foremost people of Fingolfin. These coming up found a battle joined and their own kin falling, and they rushed in ere they knew rightly the cause of the quarrel" (1950s) "Galadriel's quarrel with the sons of Feanor at sack of Alqualondë ... she fought …" (late note published in NoME) "$149 Marginal note against the passage describing the involvement of the second host in the fighting: 'Finrod and Galadriel (whose husband was of the Teleri) fought against Feanor in defence of Alqualonde.' " (late note to AAm) "she fought fiercely against Feanor in defence of her mother's kin" (Shibboleth of Feanor 1968)
"...led by Fingolfin and his sons, and by Inglor and Galadriel the valiant and fair, they dared to pass [the Helcaraxë]..." - AAm (1950s)
And after crossing the Helcaraxë, immediately befell "the first battle of Fringolfin's host with the Orks, the Battle of the Lammoth" "When the onset of the Orks caught the host at unawares as they marched southwards and the ranks of the Eldar were giving way, [Argon] sprang forward and hewed a path through the foes, daunted by his stature and the terrible light of his eyes, till he came to the Ork-captain and felled him. Then though he himself was surrounded and slain, the Orks were dismayed, and the Noldor pursued them with slaughter." - Shibboleth ot Feanor (1968)
"She was the last survivor of the princes and queens who had led the revolting Noldor to exile in Middle-earth. After the overthrow of Morgoth at the end of the First Age a ban was set upon her return, and [because] she had replied proudly that she had no wish to do so. She passed over the Mountains of Ered Luin with her husband Celeborn (one of the Sindar) and went to Eregion." - Road Goes Ever On (1967)
The above quote implies, since she had been in Beleriand, she had gone through the Ruin of Doriath (in which the survivors of Doriath rescued Elwing and the Silmaril), the next and last Kinslaying, and the War of Wrath.
Anyway, she and her husband "take part in the settlement of Eregion, and later of its defence against Sauron" (1965, NoME)
One of the reasons she came to Eregion was because "She looked upon the Dwarves also with the eye of a commander, seeing in them the finest warriors to pit against the Orcs." - Concerning Galadriel and Celeborn (late 1950s)
"1695 Sauron's forces invade Eriador." Long battle of Eregion. "1697 Eregion laid waste. Death of Celebrimbor. The gates of Moria are shut." (Appendix, Tale of the Years) "Galadriel and Celeborn, and their followers, who after the destruction of Eregion passed through Moria” “Galadriel and Celeborn only retreated thither [to Lorien] after the downfall of Eregion." (Probably from early 1960s writings, published in Parma Eldalamberon) "in Lorien ... survivors from Eregion" (UT) “After the Fall of Eregion... They had passed through Moria with considerable following of Noldorin Exiles and dwelt for many years in Lorien” (a note from 1969 published in Nature of Middle-earth) Christopher says in another writing from 1969 it is implied "after Eregion's fall Celeborn led this migration to Lórien, while Galadriel joined Gil-galad in Lindon" (Unfinished Tales) Three years later after the Fall of Eregion GilGalad and his Elves fought against Sauron in defence of the Grey Havens, and they also fought in rest of the battles of this war.
...........

Just wanted to compile a list of the most common complaints I've seen in the bug thread, and suggestion thread. I have tried to outline the details for most of them for those unaware of the issues. Many of these have been mentioned to death. Game Mods are aware of them, I promise you. Many of them don't have easy fixes.
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If you have others that I didn't add, or things you want added to the descriptions, mention them in the comments and I can add them to the List.
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CATEGORY 1: Please Nerf

• WitchKing+Alchemists (+equipment)
  • PROS:
    • Base WitchKing+Alchemists is a very strong combo. 2x attacks, enemy takes 30% more burn, uruk-hai deal 30% more, and Initiative so they attack first.
    • Capable of dealing 150k+ damage turn 1, up to 300k in first 2 turns
    • With 2 gold items, they can get around 3 of there largest issues (Stuns, Avoidance, and inconsistent Damage/Ability that force minimum damage)
    • Damage boosting Items have a larger than normal effect (from the x3 damage modifier ability)
  • CONS:
    • Main counters to this are Gandalf (Turn 1 stun, avoidance from first attack, -30%(ish) damage from first 4 damage instances, -50% burn damage taken, -30%(ish) damage first 4 rounds)
    • Alchemists are inconsistent (Damage range of 4-14 post patch)
• Gandalf(Grey)
  • PROS:
    • Turn 1 Stun for only 1 skill point
    • Decent Heals (NOTE: His heals have been nerfed via a change to items)
    • Avoidance from first attack
    • White Council Tree (and it synergizes well with the rest of his kit) for fire damage reduction
    • Convener (Same skill as witchking 2x attack + initiative)
    • stun every 3 rounds for 1 skill point
  • CONS:
    • Main Counter is Lurtz, or other damage commanders. He can't stun them, and they tend to burn through his avoidance very quickly.
• Theoden/Eowyn
  • PROS:
    • Very Strong Cavalry damage buffs
    • Decent Cavalry Heals
    • Extremely strong when combined with Marshals (still strong with others though)
  • CONS:
    • Only work with Cavalry (countered by Halberds)
• Khaldoon
  • PROS:
    • T1 commander, easy to acquire.
    • 50% chance of reducing physical damage received by 30%
    • [Melee Units] 50% chance of reducing damage received by 30% (these 2 stack for close to 80% damage reduction)
    • 25% chance of evil men attacking twice
    • Extremely strong when combined Fallen (still strong with other evil men)
  • CONS:
    • Mainly only strong for evil men/melee
    • weak to focus,burn etc
• Mumakils
  • PROS:
    • 8000 health per command
    • High Defense (100)
    • Large Unit(-15% Physical damage received)
    • Decent Damage output (1200-1500 attack per command. Eagles for reference have 1000-1500)
    • Attacks all enemies
    • Highest Base siege per command in game
    • Can be hoarded for a nearly full barrack of them if you can delay war long enough.
    • Not normal units, so they don't take up a conscription queue
  • CONS
    • Attacks all friendly units (assuming not using Black Serpant R5 Tree)
    • Extremely Expensive to Train (For a full army of 70 Mumakils, it costs 560,000 Wood, 560,000 Iron, 1,120,000 Food, and 70 hours (just shy of 3 days))
    • Only feasible to get for Mordor typically
• Evil Siege
  • PROS:
    • Alchemists have 3000 siege per command (best good has is 2000)
    • R5 Gothmog can boost by siege by +28 per unit (best good has is +7)
    • Capable of dealing over 400k siege per hit without equipment

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CATEGORY 2: Please Buff

• T2 Commanders with "Tip Master" Trait
  • This includes (Frodo+Sam, and Denthor for good)(Grishnakh for evil)
  • Let "Tip Master" be on t1 commanders (and the associated perks)
• King of the Dead
  • There are no items in the accessory slot easily available for him for good.
    • All items that can be acquired from mathom chests don't work on 'undead commanders'
    • Only way to get accessories for him are tips, or buying them with mathom vouchers
    • Even then, there are very few items available to him that way either.
• Multiple T3 Commanders
  • Most T3 commanders are bad (worse than most strong t1 commanders) until Respect 5
  • Even at respect 5, many still underperform compared to T2 Commanders.
    • Beruthiel, Radagast, Aragorn(King), King of the Dead(partially due to reasons above), Elrond, Thranduil
  • NOTE: many of these are highly debatable, and I'm sure people will disagree with some of them
• Tower Guards
  • They are meant to be anti-cavalry, but the +50% damage doesn't do them much good since there damage stat is so low(12-15). (For comparison, T1 hobbit slingers have a damage stat of 14-15)
• Berserkers
  • Should be 'glass cannons', but don't deal very much damage.
  • Just very underwhelming.
• Crushers
  • Targeting the enemy with the highest defense, but only lowering it by a flat amount makes it less useful than if it didn't target the unit with the highest defense. should either not target the enemy with the highest defense, or deal a percentage to there defense like ram riders
• Bad T4 units
  • Fallen, Marshals are better than the rest of the T4
  • Snaga Thrak, Longshots, Chariots, and Ravagers seem underpowered for T4
• Good Siege
  • Highest Siege unit is Dwarves which are slow and only have 2000 siege per command
  • Only siege commander is Hirgon who gives +7 siege per unit

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CATEGORY 3: Poorly Worded, Misleading, or Inaccurate Description

• **Durins Blood(Title on Ori/Balin/Dwalin/Gimili/Dain)**IMPORTANT NOTE: The wording in reports has been changed but people don't seem to pay attention to that (it was never mentioned in the patch notes, but it still was changed)
  • Description: [Commander] Skill damage +35% during combat.Max Level Effect: Might +15
    • Issue is that in reports it shows it activating twice
  • PREVIOUS IN GAME MESSAGE:
    • [Dwalin] activates [Durin's Blood]!Active damage caused by Dwalin +35%Active damage caused by Dwalin +35%
  • CURRENT IN GAME MESSAGE:
    • [Dwalin] activates [Durin's Blood]!Active damage caused by Dwalin +35%Follow-up damage caused by Dwalin +35%
  • For clarification, "Active Skills" refers to skills that happen every few turns (for dwalin that would be 'whirlwind', and 'all in') that activate Before his normal attack. Follow-up skills refer to skills such as collaboration, pierce, or cleave (latter 2 being from equipment), that happen after his normal attack. both of these are considered 'skills' (so should be affected by his ability), but are considered two different types of skills, so each needs to have there decreased individually.
• Second Wind(Title on Undying’s)
  • Description:[Round 4][All Allied Units]recover 450% hp but cannot recover hp again afterwards. This effect can't be cured.Max Level Effect: [Enemy Units] Cannot recover HP
    • Issue: Max level effect implies that they cannot recover at any point during the fight, when in reality it only comes into effect at the same time as the rest of the ability
• Kingly Kin (Title on Gil-Galad)
  • Description:[First 2 Round(s)][Elves] 70% chance to avoid all damageMax Level Effect: [Elves] Defense +10
  • Issue: Actually activates for the first 3 rounds, not 2.
• Resolve/Warding vs Hunter's Mark (Purple Equipment Skills)
  • Resolve Description: [First 3 Rounds][All Allies] 100% chance to gain madness Immunity
  • Warding Description: [First 2 Rounds][All Allies] 100% chance to gain stun Immunity
  • Hunter's Mark Description: [First 3 Rounds][All Allies] 90% chance to gain Pursuit Status
    • Issue: In the first two (Resolve, and Warding) all allies only means units (not the commander). In the third (hunter's mark), it includes the commander.
  • Other Items and skills have similar ambiguity in not showing whether it effects the commander or just the units.
• Second Wind(Item Skill)
  • Description: [Round 4][All Allies] Remove all debuffs and recover 11.6% HP (effect modified by Focus stat)
    • Issue: It only seems to remove a single debuff per ally.
• Battle Dance (Dwalin Unique Item Skill)
  • Description: [Dwalin] Normal attacks have a 20% chance of damage dealt +16.6%
    • Issue: It seems to effect all attacks (including active skills, and follow up skills). Should be Physical attacks possibly.

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CATEGORY 4: Exploits

• Certain Rivers can be crossed not at crossings
  • This destroys the point of the 'critical' crossings.
  • List of Known Locations:
    • (653,832)
    • (252,928)
    • (939,1088)
    • If others are known, please let me know so I can add them
• Spy accounts
  • People multiple accounts (1 in each faction, and sometimes more, for fellowships)
  • This allows people to see what is written in other faction chats, letting them know about coordinated attacks etc.
  • Also allows them to see which commander is guarding, so that they can counter it.
  • NOTE: Not really sure what people have for ideas to prevent this? It is a major issue, but no easy wat of addressing it.
    • If they force, say one per account, then they can create multiple accounts.
    • 1 per IP address, they can usually fake it fairly easily.
    • Trying to manually ban induvial would be nearly impossible (theres 500+ servers, they can't manually ban individuals like that).
    • Automatically delete accounts that are inactive? How do you determine activity? They are logging and reading chats after all in order to successfully spy.
    • Only thing I can think of is make this game costs money, so they at least have to pay for the secondary accounts (this is what some large PC/console games do to discourage multiple accounts/Smurf accounts), but I think that is a very bad idea for both NetEase, and for the player base as a whole.
  • SUGGESTIONS
    • AlexM0754: All accounts MUST start in season 1. All season 1 accounts must hit a certain ring level in order to proceed into Season 2. otherwise they get reset to a new servers season 1. (this ring level has to be reasonably achievable, without being so easy everyone hits it. Possibly the ring level 60 required for the explorer rewards?)
• Ent Farming
  • Very easy to level high level commanders extremely quickly
    • Close to 200k xp per hit
    • Very low damage output, so minimal losses/rss cost.
  • Can be done on other camps, but tend to be slower xp

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CATEGORY 5: Needs Explaining

• Uprooting relocation choices
  • Sometimes you get uprooted and don't move
  • Sometimes you get moved to a more useful position (deep into enemy territory for example)
  • Usually these happen because your faction has next to no land
• Guard Order
  • It's not intuitive which army will be hit when an enemy attacks.
  • If one army is guarding, and another isn't sometimes the non-guarding army will still be hit first for example.
• DAMAGE

Note: Most of these will probably never be answered. The damage calculations in games like these are essentially the essence of the game. If they gave away the formula, creating a clone of this game would be a relatively straight forward, and would be terrible for the Devs.

• How much does defense reduce damage by?
• What buffs/debuffs stack?
  • How do they stack?
• How does troop count effect damage?
• How does the damage stat affect damage?
• How is the damage dealt distributed for units that have a damage range?
  • Uniform Distribution?
  • Normal Distribution?

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CATEGORY 6: Suggestions

• Mathom Voucher Exchange
  • Equipment (Needes serious work)
    • Allow dismantling Equipment into Mathom Vouchers (They also come from Mathoms after all...)
    • Change the pricing of Equipment in the exchange (1200 for gold and 300 for Purple is to expensive)
    • Allow use of Gold to buy equipment
    • Fix OR bring back equipment dismantling system
  • Respect Items
    • Allow Blue Respect Items in the store.
    • Maybe a little cheaper.
• Traveling Merchant
  • Make him appear more often (once every few days at least)
  • Have him sell items at discounted rate compared to what you could normally get them for
  • Have him sell items for gold.
• Number of players allowed per faction
  • Factions with 10x the number of players as most are so overpowering that it just isn't enjoyable for anyone else.
    • This often leads to mass quitting on servers by the losing factions, often going to another server as a group, leading to them being one of the large groups, continuing the cycle.
  • Some servers have only 1 dominant faction, others have 2, very few have 3 factions that can truly compete with each other (in season 1).
  • NOTE: This is a hard balance with the current faction/fellowship system. Often these super populous factions are groups that came from another server. It would be hard to justify splitting people up with the current faction system.
  • SUGGESTIONS:
    • A 'conquering' system. See Yeaheah's comment for details. (It's a bit long to try summarizing here) https://www.reddit.com/LotrRiseToWacomments/s4rqwcomment/ht7ugd9/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
    • Limit Faction sizes season 1. Then break up large groups going into season 2. Let people preselect top 3 factions they want, and work to get as many people as possible into those factions, while keeping them fairly balanced. Allow 'solo queue' into new seasons. Give priority based on some factor (Season 1 ring level, Prestige, solos or groups etc). https://www.reddit.com/LotrRiseToWacomments/s4rqwcomment/hswe2xq/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

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Disclaimer: I am not a Dev, nor am I NetEase employee. I don't necessarily agree with all of the above opinions. I mainly play this game as as a good faction in season 2 roleplaying. As such, I am not as well versed in bugs involving Evil, non-role playing, or the Allegiance system. If you have issues with those please explain in detail in the comments so they can be added to this list.
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EDITS:
Added Entmoot farming as an exploit (adeberm)
Added suggestion for removing spies from season 2 onward (AlexM0754)
Added Conquering System to suggestions for Fixes to Players per faction (Yeaheah)
Added Suggestion for balancing faction sizes in season 2. (TomDaSpankEngine)
Added River Crossing Locations (Sarvet from discord)

A while ago I took some time to try and find whether the Three Rings had any elemental or offensive powers. That led me to discover the powers of the Rings (1, 3, and 16), in general. I just had a discussion where I said that the three probably had no elemental powers or offensive powers, which is what led me to write this. I was also going to post about The One Ruling Ring, but it is too many characters to post with this. I will post that now under the title, The One Ruling Ring, on its own.
The Basics

'In Eregion long ago many Elven-rings were made, magic rings as you call them, and they were... of various kinds: some more potent and some less. The lesser rings were only essays in the craft before it was full-grown, and to the Elven-Smiths they were but trifles — yet still to my mind dangerous for mortals. But the Great Rings, the Rings of Power, they were perilous.
'A mortal, Frodo, who keeps one of the Great Rings, does not die, but he does not grow or obtain more life, he merely continues, until at last every minute is a weariness. And if he often uses the Ring to make himself invisible, he fades: he becomes in the end invisible permanently, and walks in the twilight under the eye of the dark power that rules the Rings. Yes, sooner or later — later, if he is strong or well-meaning to begin with, but neither strength nor good purpose will last — sooner or later the dark power will devour him.'
'The Three, fairest of all, the Elf-lords hid from him, and his hand never touched them or sullied them. Seven the Dwarf-kings possessed, but three he has recovered, and the others the dragons have consumed. Nine he gave to Mortal Men, proud and great, and so ensnared them. Long ago they fell under the dominion of the One, and they became Ringwraiths, shadows under his great Shadow, his most terrible servants.
"A ring of power looks after itself, Frodo. It may slip off treacherously, but its keeper never abandons it."

- Shadow of the Past, FOTR
History Of The Rings

“There Sauron took the Nine Rings and other lesser works of the Mirdain; but the Seven and the Three he could not find. Then Celebrimbor was put to torment, and Sauron learned from him where the Seven were bestowed. This Celebrimbor revealed, because neither the Seven nor the Nine did he value as he valued the Three.” – Unfinished Tales

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“Sauron gathered into his hands all the remaining Rings of Power; and he dealt them out. ... Seven rings he gave to the Dwarves; but to Men he gave nine, for Men proved in this matter as in others the readiest to his will.” – The Silmarillion

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“Of this Ring something may be said here. It was believed by the Dwarves of Durin's Folk to be the first of the Seven that was forged; and they say that it was given to the King of Khazad-dûm, Durin III, by the Elven-smiths themselves and not by Sauron, though doubtless his evil power was on it, since he had aided in the forging of the Seven.”

- LOTR, Appendix A
Note: I believe that the folklore of Durin's people to be false. While it would make sense that Celebrimbor might give such a gift to the Dwarves of Durin, I don't think this happened. Both the text of The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales contradict this. They are not canonical but I think they are correct, as it seems that Celebrimbor was creating Rings in large part to preserve the natural world for the Elves, not for any other race. Also, it seems that Sauron, originally, helped in the creation of the Rings with the idea of dominating and controlling the great Elves living at that time.
Another note of interest, we are told that the Dwarves could not be dominated, and we know that the Rings did not lengthen their lives. While we don't know for sure, we can assume that they did not turn invisible either. We can argue that this is because Sauron never had Dwarves in mind when he made his plans (which is what I think. Giving the Rings to Dwarves and Men was plan B). Or, it could mean that he did not guess that they could not be dominated. While this is a possibility, it seems the worse argument, as he was a powerful Maia of Aule, and possibly would have known something of the creation of the Dwarves and the special attributes that Aule created them with.
Powers Of The Three, The Seven, And The Nine

“The chief power (of all the rings alike) was the prevention or slowing of decay (i.e. 'change' viewed as a regrettable thing), the preservation of what is desired or loved, or its semblance – this is more or less an Elvish motive. But also they enhanced the natural powers of a possessor – thus approaching 'magic', a motive easily corruptible into evil, a lust for domination. And finally they had other powers, more directly derived from Sauron ('the Necromancer': so he is called as he casts a fleeting shadow and presage on the pages of The Hobbit):such as rendering invisible the material body, and making things of the invisible world visible.
The Elves of Eregion made Three supremely beautiful and powerful rings, almost solely of their own imagination, and directed to the preservation of beauty: they did not confer invisibility…
He reckoned, however, without the wisdom and subtle perceptions of the Elves. The moment he assumed the One, they were aware of it, and of his secret purpose, and were afraid. They hid the Three Rings, so that not even Sauron ever discovered where they were and they remained unsullied. The others they tried to destroy. ...”
...the Seven and Nine conferred invisibility to the user as well as unending life. However, eventually the user would fade and become a wraith under the control of Sauron, the Dark Lord. However, the Three Elven Rings did not confer invisibility

-Letter #131
Powers In Common Between The Three And The Sixteen

1. They all prevent or slow decay, and preserve that which is desired or loved, or its semblance;
2. They augment the wearer's innate powers.

Differences In Powers Between The Three And The Sixteen
The Sixteen confer invisibility on the wearer, The Three do not. It seems The Sixteen do much the same as The Three in terms of preservation but The Three are more powerful.
Notes Of Interest: We see nowhere where The Nine preserve or prevent decay. It's hard to see it with the Dwarves, too.
The Seven

1. "For the Dwarves had proved untameable by this means. The only power over them that the Rings wielded was to inflame their hearts with a greed of gold and precious things, so that if they lacked them all other good things seemed profitless, and they were filled with wrath and desire for vengeance on all who deprived them. But they were made from their beginning of a kind to resist most steadfastly any domination. Though they could be slain or broken, they could not be reduced to shadows enslaved to another will; and for the same reason their lives were not affected by any Ring, to live either longer or shorter because of it.” - LOTR, Appendix A, part III "Durin's Folk".
2. Interesting to note that Gandalf’s assertion to Frodo that “A mortal, Frodo, who keeps one of the Great Rings, does not die, but he does not grow or obtain more life, he merely continues, until at last every minute is a weariness” is not correct when dealing with Dwarves. The lifespan of a Dwarf is neither increased nor decreased. An example of Gandalf being an unreliable Ring “expert.”
3. "they ill endure the domination of others, and the thoughts of their hearts are hard to fathom, nor can they be turned to shadows. They used their rings only for the getting of wealth; but wrath and an over mastering greed of gold were kindled in their hearts..." – The Silmarillion

a. Observation: This tells us more about the Dwarves, possibly, than it does the actual powers of the Rings. Says, “They used their rings only for the…” You can infer that the Seven may be used in other ways.
The Nine

1. "those who used the Nine Rings became mighty in their day, kings, sorcerers, and warriors of old. They obtained glory and great wealth...They had, as it seemed, unending life, yet life became unendurable to them. They could walk, if they would, unseen by all eyes in this world beneath the sun, and they could see things in worlds invisible to mortal men...” - Silmarillion
2. Does Sauron hold the Nine or do the Ringwriaths wear them?

a. “... Sauron, who still through their nine rings (which he held) had primary control. ...” – Letters #246;
b. Gandalf tells Frodo, “the Nine he has gathered to himself; the Seven also, or else they are destroyed.” – FOTR;
c. Galadriel tells Frodo that, looking in her mirror, “You saw the Eye of him that holds the Seven and the Nine.” – FOTR;
d. In “The Hunt for the Ring”, Sauron’s “mightiest servants, the Ring-wraiths, who had no will but his own, being each utterly subservient to the ring that had enslaved him, which Sauron held.” – Unfinished Tales;
e. "They were by far the most powerful of his servants, and the most suitable for such a mission, since they were entirely enslaved to their Nine Rings, which he now himself held..." – Unfinished Tales

1. However: Gandalf’s remark at the Council of Elrond: “The Nine the Nazgul keep.” - FOTR

a. Another example of unreliable Ring “expert.” Gandalf tells one thing to Frodo and another at at the Council of Elrond. Of course, both Gandalf’s and Galadriel’s statements in FOTR may not be entirely literal. They may think that if the Ringwraiths wear their Rings that Sauron has the Nine, since the Ringwraiths are completely bound to his will.

1. The following proves how much control Sauron had over the Nine Ringwraiths: "Sauron sent at once the Ringwraiths. They were naturally fully instructed, and in no way deceived as to the real lordship of the Ring...But the situation was now different to that under Weathertop, where Frodo acted merely in fear and wished only to use (in vain) the Ring's subsidiary power of conferring invisibility. He had grown since then. Would they have been immune from its power if he claimed it as an instrument of command and domination? Not wholly. I do not think they could have attacked him with violence, nor laid hold upon him or taken him captive; they would have obeyed or feigned to obey any minor command of his that did not interfere with their errand - laid upon them by Sauron, who still through their nine rings(which he held) had primary control of their wills..." – Letters #246)
   
2. Thoughts/Questions: Are there any other reason Sauron may keep The Nine in his possession?
   

a. If a Ringwraith falls, he can make new Ringwraiths, possibly;
b. Why not do this with the three Rings he has reclaimed from the Seven, if the Nine and the Seven are the same, and not differently powered? Answer: He doesn’t have the One Ring. Without this Ring he cannot dominate the potential new Ringwearers/Ringwraiths.

1. If the Ringwraiths have The Nine in their own possession, why didn’t anyone look for the Witch King’s Ring at the Battle of Pelennor Fields? Seems like a huge error. Witch King murdered by Eowyn and Merry, nobody looks for his Ring. You’d think that Gandalf would jump at the chance of capturing Ring. Ideas: Gandalf forgot? Not likely. Not important? Maybe, not likely. Possible that Sauron could create another Ringwraith with Ring, for that reason alone would want to find it. Did find it, not mentioned in ROTK? Possibly. Sauron actually still holds the 9 Rings? Probably. As said, might be able to create new Ringwraiths if current Ringwraiths killed.
   
2. If their robes are visible, why not their bodies? Because they’ve already been made Wraiths, and their clothes are not invisible because they are not wearing their Rings?
   

The Three Rings
A lot of readers believe that The Three Rings confer their wearers/bearers with offensive and elemental powers. This is almost certainly incorrect.

The Three were not made ... as weapons of war or conquest: that is not their power. Those who made them did not desire strength or domination or hoarded wealth, but understanding, making, and healing, to preserve all things unstained.” - FOTR, Council Of Elrond
“The chief power (of all the rings alike) was the prevention or slowing of decay (i.e. 'change' viewed as a regrettable thing), the preservation of what is desired or loved, or its semblance – this is more or less an Elvish motive. But also they enhanced the natural powers of a possessor – thus approaching 'magic', a motive easily corruptible into evil, a lust for domination. And finally they had other powers, more directly derived from Sauron ('the Necromancer': so he is called as he casts a fleeting shadow and presage on the pages of The Hobbit):such as rendering invisible the material body, and making things of the invisible world visible.
The Elves of Eregion made Three supremely beautiful and powerful rings, almost solely of their own imagination, and directed to the preservation of beauty: they did not confer invisibility…-

Letter #131

But the Elves are not wholly good or in the right. Not so much because they had flirted with Sauron, as because with or without his assistance they were ‘embalmers’. They wanted ... to stop its [Middle-earth’s] change and history, stop its growth, keep it as a pleasaunce, even largely a desert, where they could be ‘artists’.” – Letter #154

Lastly, there is this quote. Gandalf recounting battle with Balrog of Moria:

“Long I fell, and he fell with me. His fire was about me. I was burned.” - TTT

Many readers believe that Gandalf's use of fire (his is the Ring of Fire), Elrond's use of the river Bruinen to wash away the Nazgul (his is the Ring of Air), Elrond's healing of Frodo, and Galadriel's Mirror (her's is the Ring of Water) are all accomplished with their Rings. Elrond tells us that the Rings powers are not of war or conquest. Gandalf's use of fire in The Hobbit and twice in The LOTR is purely used as a weapon. He uses it against Wargs and Orcs in The Hobbit, against Wargs or Werewolves in FOTR, and to light Legolas's arrow and Anduril on fire when he meets them as The White Rider. This was almost certainly not the Ring, but his own power. There's also the fact that when he lights the wood on fire on Caradhras and when he fights the Wargs/Werewolves he casts a spell. Also, Gandalf tells us the Balrog's fire burned him. So, if it does confer elemental powers, it does not protect its wearer from the element it is supposed to confer.Elrond's Ring is The Ring of Air, so there is no reason to believe the Ring would be used to send forth the waters of Bruinen. Not to mention, he cannot use the power of his Ring in a warlike way. Also, Aragorn who has healing powers says that Elrond has the greatest. They are both children of Luthien. This is probably where he gets his powesr of healing. Galadriel literally says, "this is the magic of Galadriel." Later, she explains to Frodo and Sam that she is one of the bearers of The Three. There's no reason to call it her own magic if it is the magic of the Ring. Something else to keep in mind, Noldorin smiths created the Palantiri (possibly, Feanor, we don't know). She is one of the most powerful Noldorin Light Elves, she may have had knowledge of magical scrying, as it seems to be in the blood. She later uses the same water to capture the light of Earendil's Silmaril to give to Frodo in the Phial of Galadriel. I do not think this was done with the power of her Ring. All three would probably have their own magic augmented by their respective Rings.
I do not believe that the Three Rings have elemental powers, and Elrond tells us straight out they cannot be used for warfare. Also, in his Letter, Tolkien tells us they were made primarily with preservation in mind, not war and not elemental power.

"But the Elves were not so lightly to be caught. As soon as Sauron set the One Ring upon his finger they were aware of him; and they knew him, and perceived that he would be master of them, and of all that they wrought. Then in anger and fear they took off their rings." - The Silmarillion

1. Question: This quote says “they.” "They" were wearing rings. We are told that Galadriel advises Celebrimbor to hide The Three (note: there is actually an earlier version where she first tells him to destroy The Three, but he can’t bring himself to do it. So, she then advises him to hide them). He then sends one to Galadriel, two to Gil Galad. Question: If this is correct, Gil Galad, Elrond, Cirdan (yes, Gil Galad gives his two to Elrond and Cirdan later, anyway. Just being thorough), and Galadriel do not have The Three, is this passage incorrect? Or, does it imply that the other 16 were already given to Elves to wear (or, 15 if you buy the Line of Durin tale)? Or, were the other two (assuming that Celebrimbor put on one of The Three) on two other Elves fingers who are not mentioned?
2. "And of all the Elven-rings Sauron most desired to possess them, for those who had them in their keeping could ward off the decays of time and postpone the weariness of the world." ― The Silmarillion
3. “…was in a limited way good, it included the healing of the real damages of malice, as well as the mere arrest of change; and the Elves did not desire to dominate other wills, nor to usurp all the world to their particular pleasure.” – Letter #181
4. "But the Elves are not wholly good or in the right. Not so much because they had flirted with Sauron, as because with or without his assistance they were ‘embalmers’. They wanted ... to stop its [Middle-earth’s] change and history, stop its growth, keep it as a pleasaunce, even largely a desert, where they could be ‘artists’.” – Letter #154
5. They were somehow corrupted by Sauron anyway, and lost their power after the destruction of The One. This is told to us in the text, and also shown to us as The Wearers of The Three leave Middle Earth after the destruction of The One. One textual source ““Now the Elves made many rings; but secretly Sauron made One Ring to rule all the others, and their power was bound up with it, to be subject wholly to it and to last only so long as it too should last.” -The Silmarillion On the next page Tolkien underlines the fact that this included the Three: “the Three remained unsullied, for they were forged by Celebrimbor alone, and the hand of Sauron had never touched them; yet they also were subject to the One” – The Silmarillion
6. The Elves of Eregion made Three supremely beautiful and powerful rings: ... they did not confer invisibility.” Letter 131
7. They were named Vilya, Narya, and Nenya after the principal elements of air, fire, and water. The names of the Three may correspond to the fate of the three Silmarils.

a. Inference: would they turn Men (Hobbits are Men) into Wraiths, as Sauron seems to be able to dominate Elves who wear them if he has The One on – maybe, probably, who knows?
b. the Three Rings “are not idle” – FOTR, Council Of Elrond
c. “the Three Rings of the Elves, wielded by secret guardians, are operative in preserving the memory of the beauty of old, maintaining enchanted enclaves of peace where Time seems to stand still and decay is restrained, a semblance of the bliss of the True West.” – Letter #131 “Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age” says something similar: “those who had them in their keeping could ward off the decays of time and postpone the weariness of the world.” – The Silmarillion;

1. Nenya, the Ring of Adamant and the Ring of Water,, was made of mithril with a stone of adamant;, originally — and only ever — worn by Galadriel.

a. “it increased her latent desire for the Sea and for return into the West, so that her joy in Middle-earth was diminished.” – Unfinished Tales

1. Narya, the Ring of Fire and the Red Ring, set with a ruby, originally worn by Cirdan who gave it to Gandalf.

a. “It was entrusted to me only to keep secret, and here upon the West-shores it is idle.” – Unfinished Tales
b. “this is the Ring of Fire, and with it you may rekindle hearts in a world that grows chill.” - LOTR
c. BIGGEST PROBLEM WITH UNFINISHED TALES AS CANON: “And the Grey Messenger took the Ring, and kept it ever secret; yet the White Messenger... after a time became aware of this gift, and begrudged it, and it was the beginning of the hidden ill-will that he bore to the Grey. ...” Unfinished Tales, Istari
i. My problem with this. How did Saruman find out? If he knew this, did he know of Elrond and Galadriel's possession of their Rings. If he knew this, would Sauron know this? However, he captured Gandalf and put him on the pinnacle of Orthanc. Why wouldn’t he take the ring? Looked on internet, people have all sorts of theories. They are ridiculous. If I am Saruman, more powerful at that time than Gandalf the Grey with thousands of troops at my disposal, I’m taking the Ring for many reasons: research, greed, ill-will, because it’s stupid not to, etc. I think this line of thought must have been dropped by Professor Tolkien.
d. “So it was that Gandalf took command of the last defence of the City of Gondor. Wherever he came men's hearts would lift again, and the winged shadows pass from memory And yet---when they had gone, the shadows closed on men again, and their hearts went cold, and the valour of Gondor withered into ash.” ROTK
i. Is this the Ring at work or just Gandalf the White’s holy aura? Could definitely be both.
e. Silmarillion: “Now all these things were achieved for the most part by the counsel and vigilance of Mithrandir, and in the last few days he was revealed as a lord of great reverence, and clad in white he rode into battle; but not until the time came for him to depart was it known that he had long guarded the Red Ring of Fire. At the first that Ring had been entrusted to Círdan, Lord of the Havens; but he had surrendered it to Mithrandir, for he knew whence he came and whither at last he would return. Take now this Ring,' he said; 'for thy labours and thy cares will be heavy, but in all it will support thee and defend thee from weariness. For this is the Ring of Fire, and herewith, maybe,"
Edit to add: i. It seems that the Ring may have not only given hope and courage to others, but hope and courage to Gandalf, himself, allowing him to complete his task. Is this why he is, possibly, the only Istari to complete his mission?
f. Wisest of the Maiar was Olórin. He too dwelt in Lórien, but his ways took him often to the house of Nienna, and of her he learned pity and patience… Of Melian much is told in the Quenta Silmarillion. But of Olórin that tale does not speak; for though he loved the Elves, he walked among them unseen, or in form as one of them, and they did not know whence came the fair visions or the promptings of wisdom that he put into their hearts. In later days he was the friend of all the Children of Ilúvatar, and took pity on their sorrows; and those who listened to him awoke from despair and put away the imaginations of darkness. – Silmarillion
g. Looks as if, at best, Narya only augments Gandalf’s own personal powers.

1. Vilya, the Ring of Sapphire, Blue Ring, and the Ring of Air, and mightiest of the Three, a ring of gold with a sapphire stone, originally worn by Gil-Galad but given to Elrond.

Hi everybody! So I gave myself a reading challenge based off the 50 states: For each state I'll be reading a work by an author born in said state, a poet (all native Americans poets. I couldn't find poets for a few states tho so I instead went with a native american historical nonfiction for the states I couldn't find), a fiction, a nonfiction, a historical Nonfiction, and a young adult novel. So in total I'll be reading 6 books for each state. It took me a good while to find all the books I wanted for each category but I've finally done it!! That being said, I had the thought that it might be fun to get another category going- suggestions or favorites from everybody on here. So would everybody give me their suggestions of their favorite books set in each state, or just books that you think would fit perfect with this challenge, please and thank you!! I added my list below. It's a long one!
Alabama Author: William March- The Bad Seed Poet: Janet McAdams- 7 Boxes for the Country After Fiction: The Well and the Mine- Gin Phillips Nonfiction: All Over but the Shoutin- Rick Bragg Historical: Alabama Scoundrels- Kelly Kazek & Wil Elrick Young adult: The Drowned Forest- Kristopher Reisz
Alaska Author: Eowyn Ivey- The Snow Child Poet: Joan Naviyuk Kane- Milk Black Carbon Fiction: Two Old Women: An Alaskan Legend of Betrayal, Courage, and Survival- Velma Wallis Nonfiction: Shadows on the Koyukuk- Sidney Huntington Historical: Bloody Falls of the Coppermine: Madness, Murder, and the Collision of Cultures in the Arctic 1913- McKay Jenkins Young adult: The Call of the Wild- Jack London
Arizona Author: Jeanette Walls- The Glass Castle Poet: Ofelia Zepeda- When It Rains Fiction: The Blessing Way- Tony Hillerman Nonfiction: The Land of the Open Graves- Jason De León Historical: Down the Great Unknown- Edward Dolnick Young adult: Saving Lucas Biggs- Marisa de los Santo & David Teague
Arkansas Author: Donald Harington- The Choiring of the Trees Poet: Sy Hoahwah- Velroy and the Madischie Mafia Fiction: The Bird Eater- Ania Ahlborn Nonfiction: Daughter of the White River- Denise Parkinson Historical: On the Laps of Gods- Robert Whitaker Young adult: Summer of my German Soldier- Bette Greene
California Author: John Steinbeck- The Pearl Poet: Various- Red Indian Road West Fiction: Mildred Pierce- James M. Cain Nonfiction: Fast Times at Ridgemont High- Cameron Crowe Historical: An American Genocide- Benjamin Madley Young adult: The Good Sister- Jamie Kain
Colorado Author: Frank Waters- The Woman at Otowi Crossing Poet: Linda Hogan- Indios Fiction: Plainsong- Kent Haruf Nonfiction: Columbine- Dave Cullen Historical: Nothing Daunted- Dorothy Wickenden Young adult: Crazy Horse's Girlfriend- Erika T. Wurth
Connecticut Author: Joseph Payne Brennan- 9 Horrors and a Dream Poet: Visit Teepee Town- Anthology Fiction: The Other- Thomas Tryon Nonfiction: Me and Jezebel- When Bette Davis Came for Dinner-- And Stayed... And Stayed... And Stayed...- Elizabeth L. Fuller Historical: The Great Hurricane- Cherie Burns Young adult: The Witch of Blackbird Pond- Elizabeth George Speare
Delaware Author: Cristina Henriquez- The Book of Unknown Americans Poet: Richard Calmit Adams- Legends of the Delaware Indians and Picture Writings Fiction: West of Rehoboth- Alexs D. Pate Nonfiction: The Ties That Bind- Bertice Berry Historical: The Killing of John Sharpless- Stephanie Hoover Young adult: Dear America: A Light in the Storm- Karen Hesse
Florida Author: Karen Russell- Swamplandia! Poet: The Seminole Struggle- John Missale Fiction: Before Women Had Wings- Connie May Fowler Nonfiction: Ecology of a Cracker Childhood- Janisse Ray Historical: Death in the Everglades- Stuart B McIver Young adult: The Yearling- Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Georgia Author: Alice Walker- The Color Purple Poet: Georgia Douglas Johnson- The Heart of a Woman and Other Poems Fiction: Gone With the Wind- Margaret Mitchell Nonfiction: Fire in a Canebrake- Laura Wexler Historical: Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation 1838-1839- Frances Anne Kemble Young adult: Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit- Jaye Robin Brown
Hawaii Author: Kaui Hart Hemmings- The Descendants Poet: Haunani-Kay Trask- Light in the Crevice Never Seen Fiction: Blu's Hanging- Lois-Ann Yamanaka Nonfiction: Ho'i Ho'i Hou- Rodney Morales Historical: Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen- Lili'uokalani Young adult: Nancy Drew The Secret of the Golden Pavilion- Carolyn Keene
Idaho Author: Vardis Fisher- Mountain Man Poet: Tiffany Midge- The Woman Who Married a Bear Fiction: Monster- Frank Peretti Nonfiction: Educated- Tara Westover Historical: The Weiser Indians: Shoshoni Peacemakers- Hank Corless Young adult: Dust of Eden- Mariko Nagai
Illinois Author: Michael Crichton- Cinco 3 Poet: Barney Bush- Petroglyphs Fiction: Native Son- Richard Wright Nonfiction: I'll Scream Later- Marlee Matlin Historical: Life of Black Hawk- Black Hawk Young adult: The Unicorn Hunter- Del Henderson
Indiana Author: Gene Stratton-Porter- A Girl of the Limberlost Poet: Elise Paschen- The Nightlife Fiction: Last Words- Michael Koryta Nonfiction: Road to Jonestown- Jeff Guinn Historical: America's Deadliest Tornado- Geoff Partlow Young adult: The Fault in Our Stars- John Green
Iowa Author: MacKinlay Kantor- Spirit Lake Poet: Ray Young Bear- Manifestation Wolverine Fiction: What's Eating Gilbert Grape- Peter Hedges Nonfiction: Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World- Vicki Myron Historical: The Emerald Horizon- Cornelia Mutel Young adult: Grasshopper Jungle- Andrew Smith
Kansas Author: Kenneth S. Davis- Miss Roosevelt Poet: Denise Low- Shadow Light Fiction: Bad Kansas- Becky Mandelbaum Nonfiction: In Cold Blood- Truman Capote Historical: Doc- Mary Doria Russell Young adult: Hearts Unbroken- Cynthia Leitich Smith
Kentucky Author: Hunter S Thompson- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Poet: The Winged Serpent- Anthology Fiction: First Blood- David Morrell Nonfiction: The Undertaker's Daughter- Kate Mayfield Historical: Trapped: The Story of Floyd Collins- Robert K. Murray Young adult: Walk Two Moons- Sharon Creech
Louisiana Author: Gus Weill- The Cajuns Poet: Jennifer Reeser- Indigenous Fiction: Lost Souls- Poppy Brite Nonfiction: The World That Made New Orleans- Ned Sublette Historical: The Lost German Slave Girl- John Bailey Young adult: The Other Side of Freedom- Cynthia T. Toney
Maine Author: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow- The Complete Poems Poet: Mihku Paul- 20th Century PowWow Playland Fiction: The Cider House Rules- John Irving Nonfiction: A Year in the Maine Woods- Bernd Heinrich Historical: Lost on a Mountain in Maine- Donn Fendler Young adult: The Hazel Wood- Melissa Albert
Maryland Author: Sophie Kerr- One Thing is Certain Poet: Dovie Thomason- Fiction: Kindred- Octavia Butler Nonfiction: John Waters- Carsick Historical: Injustice on the Eastern Shore- G. Kevin Hemstock Young adult: Written in Bone- Sally Walker
Massachusetts Author: Sylvia Plath- The Bell Jar Poet: Cheryl Savageau- Dirt Road Home Fiction: Practical Magic- Alice Hoffmann Nonfiction: The Perfect Storm- Sebastian Junger Historical: This Land is Their Land- David Silverman Young adult: Conversion- Katherine Howe
Michigan Author: Robert Asprin- Another Fine Myth Poet: Beth Brant- A Generous Spirit Fiction: Station Eleven- Emily St John Mandel Nonfiction: Annie's Ghosts- Steve Luxenberg Historical: Bath Massacre- Arnie Bernstein Young adult: Once on This Island- Gloria Whelan
Minnesota Author: Louise Erdrich- The Last Report on the Miracle at Little No Horse Poet: Heid Erdrich- Curator of Ephemera at the New Museum for Archaic Media Fiction: The Turtle Catcher- Nicole Helget Nonfiction: The Gift of the Deer- Helen Hoover Historical: Under a Flaming Sky- Daniel James Brown Young adult: Winter Loon- Susan Bernhard
Mississippi Author: Donna Tartt- The Goldfinch Poet: Cahokia- Timothy R. Pauketat Fiction: One Mississippi- Mark Childress Nonfiction: Coming of Age in Mississippi- Anne Moody Historical: The Free State of Jones- Victoria Bynum Young adult: Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe- Jo Watson Hackl
Missouri Author: Evan S. Connell- Son of the Morning Star Poet: Diane Glancy- Asylum in the Grasslands Fiction: The Moonflower Vine- Jetta Carleton Nonfiction: When the Mississippi Ran Backwards- Jay Feldman Historical: Deaths on Pleasant Street- Giles Fowler Young adult: The May Queen Murders- Sarah Jude
Montana Author: Peter Bowen- Coyote Wind Poet: James Welch- Riding the Earthboy 40 Fiction: Fool's Crow- James Welch Nonfiction: The Grizzly Years- Doug Peacock Historical: Crazy Horse and Custer- Stephen Ambrose Young adult: Ledfeather- Stephen Graham Jones
Nebraska Author: Jay Cronley- Funny Farm Poet: John Trudell- Lines From a Mined Mind Fiction: The Story of Annie D.- Susan Taylor Chehak Nonfiction: Old Jules- Mari Sandoz Historical: I am a Man- Joe Starita Young adult: Night of the Twisters- Ivy Ruckman
Nevada Author: Sarah Winnemucca- Life Among the Piutes Poet: Nila Northsun- Love at Gunpoint Fiction: Lords of St. Thomas- Jackson Ellis Nonfiction: Mountain City- Gregory Martin Historical: 20 Miles From a Match- Sarah E. Olds Young adult: Girlchild- Tupelo Hassman
New Hampshire Author: Eleanor H. Porter- Pollyanna Poet: White Devil- Stephen Brumwell Fiction: Quietus- Vivian Schilling Nonfiction: Shrouded Memories- Floyd W. Ramsey Historical: Hanging Ruth Blay- Carolyn Marvin Young adult: I am the Cheese- Robert Cormier
New Jersey Author: Peternelle van Arsdale- The Cold is in Her Bones Poet: The Original People- Greg Vizzi Fiction: The Woods- Harlan Coben Nonfiction: The Pine Barrens- John McPhee Historical: When Dinosaurs Roamed New Jersey- William B. Gallagher Young adult: Are You There God? It's me, Margaret- Judy Blume
New Mexico Author: Nasario García- Grandpa Lolo's Navajo Saddle Blanket Poet: Simon J Ortiz- From Sand Creek Fiction: House Made of Dawn- N. Scott Momaday Nonfiction: The House at Otowi Bridge- Peggy Pond Church Historical: Blood and Thunder- Hampton Sides Young adult: Like Water- Rebecca Podos
New York Author: Colson Whitehead- The Colossus of New York Poet: Joseph Bruchac- The Earth Under Sky Bear's Feet Fiction: All the Pretty Dead Girls- John Manning Nonfiction: The Sun and the Moon- Matthew Goodman Historical: Ship Ablaze- Edward T. O'Donnell Young adult: A Northern Light- Jennifer Donnelly
North Carolina Author: O. Henry- Cabbages and Kings Poet: The American Indian in North Carolina- Douglas L. Right Fiction: Me and Emma- Elizabeth Flock Nonfiction: To Die Game- William Evans Historical: Black Beard- Angus Konstam Young adult: Made For You- Melissa Marr
North Dakota Author: Louis L'Amour- The Haunted Mesa Poet: Mark Turcotte- The Feathered Heart Fiction: Ancient Shores- Jack McDevitt Nonfiction: Grass of the Earth- Aagot Raaen Historical: The Children's Blizzard- David Laskins Young adult: Last Child- Michael Spooner
Ohio Author: Elizabeth Williams Champney- works Poet: Nas'naga- Faces Beneath the Grass Fiction: The Summer That Melted Everything- Tiffany McDaniel Nonfiction: They Died Crawling- John Bellamy II Historical: Affair at Captina Creek- Harry G. Enough Young adult: The Female of the Species- Mindy McGinnis
Oklahoma Author: Wilson Rawls- Summer of the Monkeys Poet: Joy Harjo- She Had Some Horses Fiction: Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstances- Ruth Emmie Lang Nonfiction: Muskogee Daughter- Susan Supernaw Historical: African Cherokees in Indian Territory- Celia E. Naylor Young adult: The Last Harvest- Kim Liggett
Oregon Author: Cazzey Cereghino- Crystal Clear Poet: Jessica Mehta- Constellations of my Body Fiction: The Lathe of Heaven- Ursula K. Le Guin Nonfiction: The Green Reaper- Elizabeth Fournier Historical: Massacred for Gold- R. Gregory Nokes Young adult: My Abandonment- Peter Rock
Pennsylvania Author: Willa Cather- The Prairie Trilogy Poet: Gordon Henry- The Failure of Certain Charms: And Other Disparate Signs of Life Fiction: The Resurrectionist- E. B. Hudspeth Nonfiction: And I Don't Want to Live This Life- Deborah Spungen Historical: The Great Influenza- John M. Barry Young adult: The Witch Tree Symbol- Carolyn Keene
Rhode Island Author: Ann Hood- Waiting to Vanish Poet: Ninigret, Sachem of the Niantics and Narragansetts- Julia A. Fischer Fiction: The Witches of Eastwick- John Updike Nonfiction: Gross Misbehavior and Wickedness- Jean Elson Historical: Wicked Conduct- Rory Raven Young adult: The One and Only Ivan- Katherine Applegate
South Carolina Author: Dorothy Allison- Bastard Out of Carolina Poet: Lumbee Indians in the Jim Crow South- Malinda Maynor Lowery Fiction: The Indigo Girl- Natasha Boyd Nonfiction: Slaves in the Family- Edward Ball Historical: The Strange Career of Jim Crow- C. Vann Woodward Young adult: Copper Sun- Sharon M. Draper
South Dakota Author: Russell Means- Where White Men Fear to Tread Poet: Elizabeth Cook-Lynn- I Remember the Fallen Trees Fiction: Skins- Adrian C. Louis Nonfiction: The Dull Knifes of Pine Ridge- Joe Starita Historical: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee- Dee Brown Young adult: Rose Eagle- Joseph Bruchac
Tennessee Author: Amy Greene- Bloodroot Poet: Marilou Awiakta- Selu Fiction: The Long Home- William Gay Nonfiction: A Cades Cove Childhood- Margaret McCaulley Historical: The Girls of Atomic City- Denise Kiernan Young adult: A Sky for Us Alone- Kristin Russell
Texas Author: Larry McMurtry- Lonesome Dove Poet: Margo Tamez- Naked Wanting (Camino del Sol) Fiction: Ride the Wind- Lucia St. Clair Robson Nonfiction: Burn Down the Ground- Kambri Crews Historical: Empire of the Summer Moon- S. C. Gwynne Young adult: Holes- Louis Sachar
Utah Author: Will Bagley- Blood of the Prophets Poet: Being and Becoming Ute- Sondra G. Jones Fiction: Grand Ambition- Lisa Michaels Nonfiction: My Story- Elizabeth Smart Historical: A History of Utah's American Indians- Forrest Cuch Young adult: Wild Bird- Wendeline Van Draanen
Vermont Author: Joseph Citro- Shadow Child Poet: Abena Songbird- Bitterroot Fiction: The Winter People- Jennifer McMahon Nonfiction: Mud Season- Ellen Stimson Historical: Vintage Vermont Villainies- John Stark Bellamy II Young adult: Charm and Strange- Stephanie Kuehn
Virginia Author: Tosca Lee- The Line Between Poet: Karenne Wood- Weaving the Boundary Fiction: Wayland- Rita Sims Quillen Nonfiction: Boy in the Ivy- T. McKinley Historical: The Killing of Reverend Kay- Cynthia Mattson Young adult: Bridge to Terabithia- Katherine Paterson
Washington Author: Sherman Alexie- The Lone Range and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven Poet: Duane Niatum- Earth Vowels Fiction: Another Roadside Attraction- Tom Robbins Nonfiction: Native Seattle- Coll Thrush Historical: Chief Seattle and the Town That Took His Name- David M. Buerge Young adult: Ten- Gretchen McNeil
West Virginia Author: Jayne Anne Phillips- Quiet Dell Poet: When the Light of the World Was Subdued- Compilation Fiction: Lumberjacked- Rich Bottles Jr Nonfiction: Rocket Boys- Homer Hickman Historical: The Feud: The Hatfield's and McCoy's- Dean King Young adult: The Dry- Rebecca Nolan
Wisconsin Author: Anna Sheehan- A Long, Long Sleep Poet: Roberta Hill- Star Quilt Fiction: The Crymost- Dean H. Wild Nonfiction: Wisconsin Death Trip- Michael Lesy Historical: The Great Peshtigo Fire- Scott Knickelbine Young adult: The Vanishing Season- Jodi Lynn Anderson
Wyoming Author: C. J. Box- Blood Trail Poet: Darrah Perez- It Never Happened Fiction: Close Range- Annie Proulx Nonfiction: White Indian Boy- Elijah Nicholas Wilson Historical: The Fetterman Massacre- Dee Brown Young adult: You Are Everything- Karen Rivers

Hi everybody! So I gave myself a reading challenge based off the 50 states: For each state I'll be reading a work by an author born in said state, a poet (all native Americans poets. I couldn't find poets for a few states tho so I instead went with a native american historical nonfiction for the states I couldn't find), a fiction, a nonfiction, a historical Nonfiction, and a young adult novel. So in total I'll be reading 6 books for each state. It took me a good while to find all the books I wanted for each category but I've finally done it!! That being said, I had the thought that it might be fun to get another category going- suggestions or favorites from everybody on here. So would everybody give me their suggestions of their favorite books set in each state, or just books that you think would fit perfect with this challenge, please and thank you!! I added my list below. It's a long one!
Alabama Author: William March- The Bad Seed Poet: Janet McAdams- 7 Boxes for the Country After Fiction: The Well and the Mine- Gin Phillips Nonfiction: All Over but the Shoutin- Rick Bragg Historical: Alabama Scoundrels- Kelly Kazek & Wil Elrick Young adult: The Drowned Forest- Kristopher Reisz
Alaska Author: Eowyn Ivey- The Snow Child Poet: Joan Naviyuk Kane- Milk Black Carbon Fiction: Two Old Women: An Alaskan Legend of Betrayal, Courage, and Survival- Velma Wallis Nonfiction: Shadows on the Koyukuk- Sidney Huntington Historical: Bloody Falls of the Coppermine: Madness, Murder, and the Collision of Cultures in the Arctic 1913- McKay Jenkins Young adult: The Call of the Wild- Jack London
Arizona Author: Jeanette Walls- The Glass Castle Poet: Ofelia Zepeda- When It Rains Fiction: The Blessing Way- Tony Hillerman Nonfiction: The Land of the Open Graves- Jason De León Historical: Down the Great Unknown- Edward Dolnick Young adult: Saving Lucas Biggs- Marisa de los Santo & David Teague
Arkansas Author: Donald Harington- The Choiring of the Trees Poet: Sy Hoahwah- Velroy and the Madischie Mafia Fiction: The Bird Eater- Ania Ahlborn Nonfiction: Daughter of the White River- Denise Parkinson Historical: On the Laps of Gods- Robert Whitaker Young adult: Summer of my German Soldier- Bette Greene
California Author: John Steinbeck- The Pearl Poet: Various- Red Indian Road West Fiction: Mildred Pierce- James M. Cain Nonfiction: Fast Times at Ridgemont High- Cameron Crowe Historical: An American Genocide- Benjamin Madley Young adult: The Good Sister- Jamie Kain
Colorado Author: Frank Waters- The Woman at Otowi Crossing Poet: Linda Hogan- Indios Fiction: Plainsong- Kent Haruf Nonfiction: Columbine- Dave Cullen Historical: Nothing Daunted- Dorothy Wickenden Young adult: Crazy Horse's Girlfriend- Erika T. Wurth
Connecticut Author: Joseph Payne Brennan- 9 Horrors and a Dream Poet: Visit Teepee Town- Anthology Fiction: The Other- Thomas Tryon Nonfiction: Me and Jezebel- When Bette Davis Came for Dinner-- And Stayed... And Stayed... And Stayed...- Elizabeth L. Fuller Historical: The Great Hurricane- Cherie Burns Young adult: The Witch of Blackbird Pond- Elizabeth George Speare
Delaware Author: Cristina Henriquez- The Book of Unknown Americans Poet: Richard Calmit Adams- Legends of the Delaware Indians and Picture Writings Fiction: West of Rehoboth- Alexs D. Pate Nonfiction: The Ties That Bind- Bertice Berry Historical: The Killing of John Sharpless- Stephanie Hoover Young adult: Dear America: A Light in the Storm- Karen Hesse
Florida Author: Karen Russell- Swamplandia! Poet: The Seminole Struggle- John Missale Fiction: Before Women Had Wings- Connie May Fowler Nonfiction: Ecology of a Cracker Childhood- Janisse Ray Historical: Death in the Everglades- Stuart B McIver Young adult: The Yearling- Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Georgia Author: Alice Walker- The Color Purple Poet: Georgia Douglas Johnson- The Heart of a Woman and Other Poems Fiction: Gone With the Wind- Margaret Mitchell Nonfiction: Fire in a Canebrake- Laura Wexler Historical: Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation 1838-1839- Frances Anne Kemble Young adult: Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit- Jaye Robin Brown
Hawaii Author: Kaui Hart Hemmings- The Descendants Poet: Haunani-Kay Trask- Light in the Crevice Never Seen Fiction: Blu's Hanging- Lois-Ann Yamanaka Nonfiction: Ho'i Ho'i Hou- Rodney Morales Historical: Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen- Lili'uokalani Young adult: Nancy Drew The Secret of the Golden Pavilion- Carolyn Keene
Idaho Author: Vardis Fisher- Mountain Man Poet: Tiffany Midge- The Woman Who Married a Bear Fiction: Monster- Frank Peretti Nonfiction: Educated- Tara Westover Historical: The Weiser Indians: Shoshoni Peacemakers- Hank Corless Young adult: Dust of Eden- Mariko Nagai
Illinois Author: Michael Crichton- Cinco 3 Poet: Barney Bush- Petroglyphs Fiction: Native Son- Richard Wright Nonfiction: I'll Scream Later- Marlee Matlin Historical: Life of Black Hawk- Black Hawk Young adult: The Unicorn Hunter- Del Henderson
Indiana Author: Gene Stratton-Porter- A Girl of the Limberlost Poet: Elise Paschen- The Nightlife Fiction: Last Words- Michael Koryta Nonfiction: Road to Jonestown- Jeff Guinn Historical: America's Deadliest Tornado- Geoff Partlow Young adult: The Fault in Our Stars- John Green
Iowa Author: MacKinlay Kantor- Spirit Lake Poet: Ray Young Bear- Manifestation Wolverine Fiction: What's Eating Gilbert Grape- Peter Hedges Nonfiction: Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World- Vicki Myron Historical: The Emerald Horizon- Cornelia Mutel Young adult: Grasshopper Jungle- Andrew Smith
Kansas Author: Kenneth S. Davis- Miss Roosevelt Poet: Denise Low- Shadow Light Fiction: Bad Kansas- Becky Mandelbaum Nonfiction: In Cold Blood- Truman Capote Historical: Doc- Mary Doria Russell Young adult: Hearts Unbroken- Cynthia Leitich Smith
Kentucky Author: Hunter S Thompson- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Poet: The Winged Serpent- Anthology Fiction: First Blood- David Morrell Nonfiction: The Undertaker's Daughter- Kate Mayfield Historical: Trapped: The Story of Floyd Collins- Robert K. Murray Young adult: Walk Two Moons- Sharon Creech
Louisiana Author: Gus Weill- The Cajuns Poet: Jennifer Reeser- Indigenous Fiction: Lost Souls- Poppy Brite Nonfiction: The World That Made New Orleans- Ned Sublette Historical: The Lost German Slave Girl- John Bailey Young adult: The Other Side of Freedom- Cynthia T. Toney
Maine Author: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow- The Complete Poems Poet: Mihku Paul- 20th Century PowWow Playland Fiction: The Cider House Rules- John Irving Nonfiction: A Year in the Maine Woods- Bernd Heinrich Historical: Lost on a Mountain in Maine- Donn Fendler Young adult: The Hazel Wood- Melissa Albert
Maryland Author: Sophie Kerr- One Thing is Certain Poet: Dovie Thomason- Fiction: Kindred- Octavia Butler Nonfiction: John Waters- Carsick Historical: Injustice on the Eastern Shore- G. Kevin Hemstock Young adult: Written in Bone- Sally Walker
Massachusetts Author: Sylvia Plath- The Bell Jar Poet: Cheryl Savageau- Dirt Road Home Fiction: Practical Magic- Alice Hoffmann Nonfiction: The Perfect Storm- Sebastian Junger Historical: This Land is Their Land- David Silverman Young adult: Conversion- Katherine Howe
Michigan Author: Robert Asprin- Another Fine Myth Poet: Beth Brant- A Generous Spirit Fiction: Station Eleven- Emily St John Mandel Nonfiction: Annie's Ghosts- Steve Luxenberg Historical: Bath Massacre- Arnie Bernstein Young adult: Once on This Island- Gloria Whelan
Minnesota Author: Louise Erdrich- The Last Report on the Miracle at Little No Horse Poet: Heid Erdrich- Curator of Ephemera at the New Museum for Archaic Media Fiction: The Turtle Catcher- Nicole Helget Nonfiction: The Gift of the Deer- Helen Hoover Historical: Under a Flaming Sky- Daniel James Brown Young adult: Winter Loon- Susan Bernhard
Mississippi Author: Donna Tartt- The Goldfinch Poet: Cahokia- Timothy R. Pauketat Fiction: One Mississippi- Mark Childress Nonfiction: Coming of Age in Mississippi- Anne Moody Historical: The Free State of Jones- Victoria Bynum Young adult: Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe- Jo Watson Hackl
Missouri Author: Evan S. Connell- Son of the Morning Star Poet: Diane Glancy- Asylum in the Grasslands Fiction: The Moonflower Vine- Jetta Carleton Nonfiction: When the Mississippi Ran Backwards- Jay Feldman Historical: Deaths on Pleasant Street- Giles Fowler Young adult: The May Queen Murders- Sarah Jude
Montana Author: Peter Bowen- Coyote Wind Poet: James Welch- Riding the Earthboy 40 Fiction: Fool's Crow- James Welch Nonfiction: The Grizzly Years- Doug Peacock Historical: Crazy Horse and Custer- Stephen Ambrose Young adult: Ledfeather- Stephen Graham Jones
Nebraska Author: Jay Cronley- Funny Farm Poet: John Trudell- Lines From a Mined Mind Fiction: The Story of Annie D.- Susan Taylor Chehak Nonfiction: Old Jules- Mari Sandoz Historical: I am a Man- Joe Starita Young adult: Night of the Twisters- Ivy Ruckman
Nevada Author: Sarah Winnemucca- Life Among the Piutes Poet: Nila Northsun- Love at Gunpoint Fiction: Lords of St. Thomas- Jackson Ellis Nonfiction: Mountain City- Gregory Martin Historical: 20 Miles From a Match- Sarah E. Olds Young adult: Girlchild- Tupelo Hassman
New Hampshire Author: Eleanor H. Porter- Pollyanna Poet: White Devil- Stephen Brumwell Fiction: Quietus- Vivian Schilling Nonfiction: Shrouded Memories- Floyd W. Ramsey Historical: Hanging Ruth Blay- Carolyn Marvin Young adult: I am the Cheese- Robert Cormier
New Jersey Author: Peternelle van Arsdale- The Cold is in Her Bones Poet: The Original People- Greg Vizzi Fiction: The Woods- Harlan Coben Nonfiction: The Pine Barrens- John McPhee Historical: When Dinosaurs Roamed New Jersey- William B. Gallagher Young adult: Are You There God? It's me, Margaret- Judy Blume
New Mexico Author: Nasario García- Grandpa Lolo's Navajo Saddle Blanket Poet: Simon J Ortiz- From Sand Creek Fiction: House Made of Dawn- N. Scott Momaday Nonfiction: The House at Otowi Bridge- Peggy Pond Church Historical: Blood and Thunder- Hampton Sides Young adult: Like Water- Rebecca Podos
New York Author: Colson Whitehead- The Colossus of New York Poet: Joseph Bruchac- The Earth Under Sky Bear's Feet Fiction: All the Pretty Dead Girls- John Manning Nonfiction: The Sun and the Moon- Matthew Goodman Historical: Ship Ablaze- Edward T. O'Donnell Young adult: A Northern Light- Jennifer Donnelly
North Carolina Author: O. Henry- Cabbages and Kings Poet: The American Indian in North Carolina- Douglas L. Right Fiction: Me and Emma- Elizabeth Flock Nonfiction: To Die Game- William Evans Historical: Black Beard- Angus Konstam Young adult: Made For You- Melissa Marr
North Dakota Author: Louis L'Amour- The Haunted Mesa Poet: Mark Turcotte- The Feathered Heart Fiction: Ancient Shores- Jack McDevitt Nonfiction: Grass of the Earth- Aagot Raaen Historical: The Children's Blizzard- David Laskins Young adult: Last Child- Michael Spooner
Ohio Author: Elizabeth Williams Champney- works Poet: Nas'naga- Faces Beneath the Grass Fiction: The Summer That Melted Everything- Tiffany McDaniel Nonfiction: They Died Crawling- John Bellamy II Historical: Affair at Captina Creek- Harry G. Enough Young adult: The Female of the Species- Mindy McGinnis
Oklahoma Author: Wilson Rawls- Summer of the Monkeys Poet: Joy Harjo- She Had Some Horses Fiction: Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstances- Ruth Emmie Lang Nonfiction: Muskogee Daughter- Susan Supernaw Historical: African Cherokees in Indian Territory- Celia E. Naylor Young adult: The Last Harvest- Kim Liggett
Oregon Author: Cazzey Cereghino- Crystal Clear Poet: Jessica Mehta- Constellations of my Body Fiction: The Lathe of Heaven- Ursula K. Le Guin Nonfiction: The Green Reaper- Elizabeth Fournier Historical: Massacred for Gold- R. Gregory Nokes Young adult: My Abandonment- Peter Rock
Pennsylvania Author: Willa Cather- The Prairie Trilogy Poet: Gordon Henry- The Failure of Certain Charms: And Other Disparate Signs of Life Fiction: The Resurrectionist- E. B. Hudspeth Nonfiction: And I Don't Want to Live This Life- Deborah Spungen Historical: The Great Influenza- John M. Barry Young adult: The Witch Tree Symbol- Carolyn Keene
Rhode Island Author: Ann Hood- Waiting to Vanish Poet: Ninigret, Sachem of the Niantics and Narragansetts- Julia A. Fischer Fiction: The Witches of Eastwick- John Updike Nonfiction: Gross Misbehavior and Wickedness- Jean Elson Historical: Wicked Conduct- Rory Raven Young adult: The One and Only Ivan- Katherine Applegate
South Carolina Author: Dorothy Allison- Bastard Out of Carolina Poet: Lumbee Indians in the Jim Crow South- Malinda Maynor Lowery Fiction: The Indigo Girl- Natasha Boyd Nonfiction: Slaves in the Family- Edward Ball Historical: The Strange Career of Jim Crow- C. Vann Woodward Young adult: Copper Sun- Sharon M. Draper
South Dakota Author: Russell Means- Where White Men Fear to Tread Poet: Elizabeth Cook-Lynn- I Remember the Fallen Trees Fiction: Skins- Adrian C. Louis Nonfiction: The Dull Knifes of Pine Ridge- Joe Starita Historical: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee- Dee Brown Young adult: Rose Eagle- Joseph Bruchac
Tennessee Author: Amy Greene- Bloodroot Poet: Marilou Awiakta- Selu Fiction: The Long Home- William Gay Nonfiction: A Cades Cove Childhood- Margaret McCaulley Historical: The Girls of Atomic City- Denise Kiernan Young adult: A Sky for Us Alone- Kristin Russell
Texas Author: Larry McMurtry- Lonesome Dove Poet: Margo Tamez- Naked Wanting (Camino del Sol) Fiction: Ride the Wind- Lucia St. Clair Robson Nonfiction: Burn Down the Ground- Kambri Crews Historical: Empire of the Summer Moon- S. C. Gwynne Young adult: Holes- Louis Sachar
Utah Author: Will Bagley- Blood of the Prophets Poet: Being and Becoming Ute- Sondra G. Jones Fiction: Grand Ambition- Lisa Michaels Nonfiction: My Story- Elizabeth Smart Historical: A History of Utah's American Indians- Forrest Cuch Young adult: Wild Bird- Wendeline Van Draanen
Vermont Author: Joseph Citro- Shadow Child Poet: Abena Songbird- Bitterroot Fiction: The Winter People- Jennifer McMahon Nonfiction: Mud Season- Ellen Stimson Historical: Vintage Vermont Villainies- John Stark Bellamy II Young adult: Charm and Strange- Stephanie Kuehn
Virginia Author: Tosca Lee- The Line Between Poet: Karenne Wood- Weaving the Boundary Fiction: Wayland- Rita Sims Quillen Nonfiction: Boy in the Ivy- T. McKinley Historical: The Killing of Reverend Kay- Cynthia Mattson Young adult: Bridge to Terabithia- Katherine Paterson
Washington Author: Sherman Alexie- The Lone Range and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven Poet: Duane Niatum- Earth Vowels Fiction: Another Roadside Attraction- Tom Robbins Nonfiction: Native Seattle- Coll Thrush Historical: Chief Seattle and the Town That Took His Name- David M. Buerge Young adult: Ten- Gretchen McNeil
West Virginia Author: Jayne Anne Phillips- Quiet Dell Poet: When the Light of the World Was Subdued- Compilation Fiction: Lumberjacked- Rich Bottles Jr Nonfiction: Rocket Boys- Homer Hickman Historical: The Feud: The Hatfield's and McCoy's- Dean King Young adult: The Dry- Rebecca Nolan
Wisconsin Author: Anna Sheehan- A Long, Long Sleep Poet: Roberta Hill- Star Quilt Fiction: The Crymost- Dean H. Wild Nonfiction: Wisconsin Death Trip- Michael Lesy Historical: The Great Peshtigo Fire- Scott Knickelbine Young adult: The Vanishing Season- Jodi Lynn Anderson
Wyoming Author: C. J. Box- Blood Trail Poet: Darrah Perez- It Never Happened Fiction: Close Range- Annie Proulx Nonfiction: White Indian Boy- Elijah Nicholas Wilson Historical: The Fetterman Massacre- Dee Brown Young adult: You Are Everything- Karen Rivers

Hi everybody! So I gave myself a reading challenge based off the 50 states: For each state I'll be reading a work by an author born in said state, a poet (all native Americans poets. I couldn't find poets for a few states tho so I instead went with a native american historical nonfiction for the states I couldn't find), a fiction, a nonfiction, a historical Nonfiction, and a young adult novel. So in total I'll be reading 6 books for each state. It took me a good while to find all the books I wanted for each category but I've finally done it!! That being said, I had the thought that it might be fun to get another category going- suggestions or favorites from everybody on here. So would everybody give me their suggestions of their favorite books set in each state, or just books that you think would fit perfect with this challenge, please and thank you!! I added my list below. It's a long one!
Alabama Author: William March- The Bad Seed Poet: Janet McAdams- 7 Boxes for the Country After Fiction: The Well and the Mine- Gin Phillips Nonfiction: All Over but the Shoutin- Rick Bragg Historical: Alabama Scoundrels- Kelly Kazek & Wil Elrick Young adult: The Drowned Forest- Kristopher Reisz
Alaska Author: Eowyn Ivey- The Snow Child Poet: Joan Naviyuk Kane- Milk Black Carbon Fiction: Two Old Women: An Alaskan Legend of Betrayal, Courage, and Survival- Velma Wallis Nonfiction: Shadows on the Koyukuk- Sidney Huntington Historical: Bloody Falls of the Coppermine: Madness, Murder, and the Collision of Cultures in the Arctic 1913- McKay Jenkins Young adult: The Call of the Wild- Jack London
Arizona Author: Jeanette Walls- The Glass Castle Poet: Ofelia Zepeda- When It Rains Fiction: The Blessing Way- Tony Hillerman Nonfiction: The Land of the Open Graves- Jason De León Historical: Down the Great Unknown- Edward Dolnick Young adult: Saving Lucas Biggs- Marisa de los Santo & David Teague
Arkansas Author: Donald Harington- The Choiring of the Trees Poet: Sy Hoahwah- Velroy and the Madischie Mafia Fiction: The Bird Eater- Ania Ahlborn Nonfiction: Daughter of the White River- Denise Parkinson Historical: On the Laps of Gods- Robert Whitaker Young adult: Summer of my German Soldier- Bette Greene
California Author: John Steinbeck- The Pearl Poet: Various- Red Indian Road West Fiction: Mildred Pierce- James M. Cain Nonfiction: Fast Times at Ridgemont High- Cameron Crowe Historical: An American Genocide- Benjamin Madley Young adult: The Good Sister- Jamie Kain
Colorado Author: Frank Waters- The Woman at Otowi Crossing Poet: Linda Hogan- Indios Fiction: Plainsong- Kent Haruf Nonfiction: Columbine- Dave Cullen Historical: Nothing Daunted- Dorothy Wickenden Young adult: Crazy Horse's Girlfriend- Erika T. Wurth
Connecticut Author: Joseph Payne Brennan- 9 Horrors and a Dream Poet: Visit Teepee Town- Anthology Fiction: The Other- Thomas Tryon Nonfiction: Me and Jezebel- When Bette Davis Came for Dinner-- And Stayed... And Stayed... And Stayed...- Elizabeth L. Fuller Historical: The Great Hurricane- Cherie Burns Young adult: The Witch of Blackbird Pond- Elizabeth George Speare
Delaware Author: Cristina Henriquez- The Book of Unknown Americans Poet: Richard Calmit Adams- Legends of the Delaware Indians and Picture Writings Fiction: West of Rehoboth- Alexs D. Pate Nonfiction: The Ties That Bind- Bertice Berry Historical: The Killing of John Sharpless- Stephanie Hoover Young adult: Dear America: A Light in the Storm- Karen Hesse
Florida Author: Karen Russell- Swamplandia! Poet: The Seminole Struggle- John Missale Fiction: Before Women Had Wings- Connie May Fowler Nonfiction: Ecology of a Cracker Childhood- Janisse Ray Historical: Death in the Everglades- Stuart B McIver Young adult: The Yearling- Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Georgia Author: Alice Walker- The Color Purple Poet: Georgia Douglas Johnson- The Heart of a Woman and Other Poems Fiction: Gone With the Wind- Margaret Mitchell Nonfiction: Fire in a Canebrake- Laura Wexler Historical: Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation 1838-1839- Frances Anne Kemble Young adult: Georgia Peaches and Other Forbidden Fruit- Jaye Robin Brown
Hawaii Author: Kaui Hart Hemmings- The Descendants Poet: Haunani-Kay Trask- Light in the Crevice Never Seen Fiction: Blu's Hanging- Lois-Ann Yamanaka Nonfiction: Ho'i Ho'i Hou- Rodney Morales Historical: Hawaii's Story by Hawaii's Queen- Lili'uokalani Young adult: Nancy Drew The Secret of the Golden Pavilion- Carolyn Keene
Idaho Author: Vardis Fisher- Mountain Man Poet: Tiffany Midge- The Woman Who Married a Bear Fiction: Monster- Frank Peretti Nonfiction: Educated- Tara Westover Historical: The Weiser Indians: Shoshoni Peacemakers- Hank Corless Young adult: Dust of Eden- Mariko Nagai
Illinois Author: Michael Crichton- Cinco 3 Poet: Barney Bush- Petroglyphs Fiction: Native Son- Richard Wright Nonfiction: I'll Scream Later- Marlee Matlin Historical: Life of Black Hawk- Black Hawk Young adult: The Unicorn Hunter- Del Henderson
Indiana Author: Gene Stratton-Porter- A Girl of the Limberlost Poet: Elise Paschen- The Nightlife Fiction: Last Words- Michael Koryta Nonfiction: Road to Jonestown- Jeff Guinn Historical: America's Deadliest Tornado- Geoff Partlow Young adult: The Fault in Our Stars- John Green
Iowa Author: MacKinlay Kantor- Spirit Lake Poet: Ray Young Bear- Manifestation Wolverine Fiction: What's Eating Gilbert Grape- Peter Hedges Nonfiction: Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World- Vicki Myron Historical: The Emerald Horizon- Cornelia Mutel Young adult: Grasshopper Jungle- Andrew Smith
Kansas Author: Kenneth S. Davis- Miss Roosevelt Poet: Denise Low- Shadow Light Fiction: Bad Kansas- Becky Mandelbaum Nonfiction: In Cold Blood- Truman Capote Historical: Doc- Mary Doria Russell Young adult: Hearts Unbroken- Cynthia Leitich Smith
Kentucky Author: Hunter S Thompson- Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Poet: The Winged Serpent- Anthology Fiction: First Blood- David Morrell Nonfiction: The Undertaker's Daughter- Kate Mayfield Historical: Trapped: The Story of Floyd Collins- Robert K. Murray Young adult: Walk Two Moons- Sharon Creech
Louisiana Author: Gus Weill- The Cajuns Poet: Jennifer Reeser- Indigenous Fiction: Lost Souls- Poppy Brite Nonfiction: The World That Made New Orleans- Ned Sublette Historical: The Lost German Slave Girl- John Bailey Young adult: The Other Side of Freedom- Cynthia T. Toney
Maine Author: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow- The Complete Poems Poet: Mihku Paul- 20th Century PowWow Playland Fiction: The Cider House Rules- John Irving Nonfiction: A Year in the Maine Woods- Bernd Heinrich Historical: Lost on a Mountain in Maine- Donn Fendler Young adult: The Hazel Wood- Melissa Albert
Maryland Author: Sophie Kerr- One Thing is Certain Poet: Dovie Thomason- Fiction: Kindred- Octavia Butler Nonfiction: John Waters- Carsick Historical: Injustice on the Eastern Shore- G. Kevin Hemstock Young adult: Written in Bone- Sally Walker
Massachusetts Author: Sylvia Plath- The Bell Jar Poet: Cheryl Savageau- Dirt Road Home Fiction: Practical Magic- Alice Hoffmann Nonfiction: The Perfect Storm- Sebastian Junger Historical: This Land is Their Land- David Silverman Young adult: Conversion- Katherine Howe
Michigan Author: Robert Asprin- Another Fine Myth Poet: Beth Brant- A Generous Spirit Fiction: Station Eleven- Emily St John Mandel Nonfiction: Annie's Ghosts- Steve Luxenberg Historical: Bath Massacre- Arnie Bernstein Young adult: Once on This Island- Gloria Whelan
Minnesota Author: Louise Erdrich- The Last Report on the Miracle at Little No Horse Poet: Heid Erdrich- Curator of Ephemera at the New Museum for Archaic Media Fiction: The Turtle Catcher- Nicole Helget Nonfiction: The Gift of the Deer- Helen Hoover Historical: Under a Flaming Sky- Daniel James Brown Young adult: Winter Loon- Susan Bernhard
Mississippi Author: Donna Tartt- The Goldfinch Poet: Cahokia- Timothy R. Pauketat Fiction: One Mississippi- Mark Childress Nonfiction: Coming of Age in Mississippi- Anne Moody Historical: The Free State of Jones- Victoria Bynum Young adult: Smack Dab in the Middle of Maybe- Jo Watson Hackl
Missouri Author: Evan S. Connell- Son of the Morning Star Poet: Diane Glancy- Asylum in the Grasslands Fiction: The Moonflower Vine- Jetta Carleton Nonfiction: When the Mississippi Ran Backwards- Jay Feldman Historical: Deaths on Pleasant Street- Giles Fowler Young adult: The May Queen Murders- Sarah Jude
Montana Author: Peter Bowen- Coyote Wind Poet: James Welch- Riding the Earthboy 40 Fiction: Fool's Crow- James Welch Nonfiction: The Grizzly Years- Doug Peacock Historical: Crazy Horse and Custer- Stephen Ambrose Young adult: Ledfeather- Stephen Graham Jones
Nebraska Author: Jay Cronley- Funny Farm Poet: John Trudell- Lines From a Mined Mind Fiction: The Story of Annie D.- Susan Taylor Chehak Nonfiction: Old Jules- Mari Sandoz Historical: I am a Man- Joe Starita Young adult: Night of the Twisters- Ivy Ruckman
Nevada Author: Sarah Winnemucca- Life Among the Piutes Poet: Nila Northsun- Love at Gunpoint Fiction: Lords of St. Thomas- Jackson Ellis Nonfiction: Mountain City- Gregory Martin Historical: 20 Miles From a Match- Sarah E. Olds Young adult: Girlchild- Tupelo Hassman
New Hampshire Author: Eleanor H. Porter- Pollyanna Poet: White Devil- Stephen Brumwell Fiction: Quietus- Vivian Schilling Nonfiction: Shrouded Memories- Floyd W. Ramsey Historical: Hanging Ruth Blay- Carolyn Marvin Young adult: I am the Cheese- Robert Cormier
New Jersey Author: Peternelle van Arsdale- The Cold is in Her Bones Poet: The Original People- Greg Vizzi Fiction: The Woods- Harlan Coben Nonfiction: The Pine Barrens- John McPhee Historical: When Dinosaurs Roamed New Jersey- William B. Gallagher Young adult: Are You There God? It's me, Margaret- Judy Blume
New Mexico Author: Nasario García- Grandpa Lolo's Navajo Saddle Blanket Poet: Simon J Ortiz- From Sand Creek Fiction: House Made of Dawn- N. Scott Momaday Nonfiction: The House at Otowi Bridge- Peggy Pond Church Historical: Blood and Thunder- Hampton Sides Young adult: Like Water- Rebecca Podos
New York Author: Colson Whitehead- The Colossus of New York Poet: Joseph Bruchac- The Earth Under Sky Bear's Feet Fiction: All the Pretty Dead Girls- John Manning Nonfiction: The Sun and the Moon- Matthew Goodman Historical: Ship Ablaze- Edward T. O'Donnell Young adult: A Northern Light- Jennifer Donnelly
North Carolina Author: O. Henry- Cabbages and Kings Poet: The American Indian in North Carolina- Douglas L. Right Fiction: Me and Emma- Elizabeth Flock Nonfiction: To Die Game- William Evans Historical: Black Beard- Angus Konstam Young adult: Made For You- Melissa Marr
North Dakota Author: Louis L'Amour- The Haunted Mesa Poet: Mark Turcotte- The Feathered Heart Fiction: Ancient Shores- Jack McDevitt Nonfiction: Grass of the Earth- Aagot Raaen Historical: The Children's Blizzard- David Laskins Young adult: Last Child- Michael Spooner
Ohio Author: Elizabeth Williams Champney- works Poet: Nas'naga- Faces Beneath the Grass Fiction: The Summer That Melted Everything- Tiffany McDaniel Nonfiction: They Died Crawling- John Bellamy II Historical: Affair at Captina Creek- Harry G. Enough Young adult: The Female of the Species- Mindy McGinnis
Oklahoma Author: Wilson Rawls- Summer of the Monkeys Poet: Joy Harjo- She Had Some Horses Fiction: Beasts of Extraordinary Circumstances- Ruth Emmie Lang Nonfiction: Muskogee Daughter- Susan Supernaw Historical: African Cherokees in Indian Territory- Celia E. Naylor Young adult: The Last Harvest- Kim Liggett
Oregon Author: Cazzey Cereghino- Crystal Clear Poet: Jessica Mehta- Constellations of my Body Fiction: The Lathe of Heaven- Ursula K. Le Guin Nonfiction: The Green Reaper- Elizabeth Fournier Historical: Massacred for Gold- R. Gregory Nokes Young adult: My Abandonment- Peter Rock
Pennsylvania Author: Willa Cather- The Prairie Trilogy Poet: Gordon Henry- The Failure of Certain Charms: And Other Disparate Signs of Life Fiction: The Resurrectionist- E. B. Hudspeth Nonfiction: And I Don't Want to Live This Life- Deborah Spungen Historical: The Great Influenza- John M. Barry Young adult: The Witch Tree Symbol- Carolyn Keene
Rhode Island Author: Ann Hood- Waiting to Vanish Poet: Ninigret, Sachem of the Niantics and Narragansetts- Julia A. Fischer Fiction: The Witches of Eastwick- John Updike Nonfiction: Gross Misbehavior and Wickedness- Jean Elson Historical: Wicked Conduct- Rory Raven Young adult: The One and Only Ivan- Katherine Applegate
South Carolina Author: Dorothy Allison- Bastard Out of Carolina Poet: Lumbee Indians in the Jim Crow South- Malinda Maynor Lowery Fiction: The Indigo Girl- Natasha Boyd Nonfiction: Slaves in the Family- Edward Ball Historical: The Strange Career of Jim Crow- C. Vann Woodward Young adult: Copper Sun- Sharon M. Draper
South Dakota Author: Russell Means- Where White Men Fear to Tread Poet: Elizabeth Cook-Lynn- I Remember the Fallen Trees Fiction: Skins- Adrian C. Louis Nonfiction: The Dull Knifes of Pine Ridge- Joe Starita Historical: Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee- Dee Brown Young adult: Rose Eagle- Joseph Bruchac
Tennessee Author: Amy Greene- Bloodroot Poet: Marilou Awiakta- Selu Fiction: The Long Home- William Gay Nonfiction: A Cades Cove Childhood- Margaret McCaulley Historical: The Girls of Atomic City- Denise Kiernan Young adult: A Sky for Us Alone- Kristin Russell
Texas Author: Larry McMurtry- Lonesome Dove Poet: Margo Tamez- Naked Wanting (Camino del Sol) Fiction: Ride the Wind- Lucia St. Clair Robson Nonfiction: Burn Down the Ground- Kambri Crews Historical: Empire of the Summer Moon- S. C. Gwynne Young adult: Holes- Louis Sachar
Utah Author: Will Bagley- Blood of the Prophets Poet: Being and Becoming Ute- Sondra G. Jones Fiction: Grand Ambition- Lisa Michaels Nonfiction: My Story- Elizabeth Smart Historical: A History of Utah's American Indians- Forrest Cuch Young adult: Wild Bird- Wendeline Van Draanen
Vermont Author: Joseph Citro- Shadow Child Poet: Abena Songbird- Bitterroot Fiction: The Winter People- Jennifer McMahon Nonfiction: Mud Season- Ellen Stimson Historical: Vintage Vermont Villainies- John Stark Bellamy II Young adult: Charm and Strange- Stephanie Kuehn
Virginia Author: Tosca Lee- The Line Between Poet: Karenne Wood- Weaving the Boundary Fiction: Wayland- Rita Sims Quillen Nonfiction: Boy in the Ivy- T. McKinley Historical: The Killing of Reverend Kay- Cynthia Mattson Young adult: Bridge to Terabithia- Katherine Paterson
Washington Author: Sherman Alexie- The Lone Range and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven Poet: Duane Niatum- Earth Vowels Fiction: Another Roadside Attraction- Tom Robbins Nonfiction: Native Seattle- Coll Thrush Historical: Chief Seattle and the Town That Took His Name- David M. Buerge Young adult: Ten- Gretchen McNeil
West Virginia Author: Jayne Anne Phillips- Quiet Dell Poet: When the Light of the World Was Subdued- Compilation Fiction: Lumberjacked- Rich Bottles Jr Nonfiction: Rocket Boys- Homer Hickman Historical: The Feud: The Hatfield's and McCoy's- Dean King Young adult: The Dry- Rebecca Nolan
Wisconsin Author: Anna Sheehan- A Long, Long Sleep Poet: Roberta Hill- Star Quilt Fiction: The Crymost- Dean H. Wild Nonfiction: Wisconsin Death Trip- Michael Lesy Historical: The Great Peshtigo Fire- Scott Knickelbine Young adult: The Vanishing Season- Jodi Lynn Anderson
Wyoming Author: C. J. Box- Blood Trail Poet: Darrah Perez- It Never Happened Fiction: Close Range- Annie Proulx Nonfiction: White Indian Boy- Elijah Nicholas Wilson Historical: The Fetterman Massacre- Dee Brown Young adult: You Are Everything- Karen Rivers

Here are some of the name suggestions given to me from the Nameberry DNA quiz. My type was Noble-Mavrick. Several of these were on my list already, so it was cool to see them pop up. And a bunch of suggestions I never would have stumbled upon otherwise. Boy and girl names are intermixed.
If you've done the quiz, share your results below too!
Adair
Adair
Adelaide
Adelia
Aeronwy
Aithne
Alasdair
Alastair
Alister
Alowette
Alwyne
Amelie
Anya
Ardith
Ariadne
Arianwyn
Arkadi
Arkady
Arleth
Arwen
Aster
Astrid
Atlas
Aura
Bastian
Bastien
Bellamey
Blair
Blaire
Blythe
Bowie
Bowie
Briar
Brighid
Clementine
Clove
Clover
Collete
Cormac
Cove
Dael
Dale
Dale
Edene
Eilona
Eilonwy
Eldori
Elka
Elke
Elodie
Elora
Elowen
Elysande
Eowyn
Eponine
Erian
Errol
Everard
Evrose
Fable
Fae
Fawn
Faye
Fern
Fifer
Forest
Forrest
Frey
Gael
Gale
Glen
Glen
Glenn
Goldie
Grainne
Grania
Greta
Guinn
Gwenore
Huck
Huckleberry
Indigo
Irenea
Iris
Jesper
Juniper
Lake
Lark
Lore
Maple
Maxine
Morwyn
Muirgan
Nephele
Odetta
Penrose
Phaedra
Pike
Poe
Poe
Poet
Poppie
Poppy
Posie
Reya
River
Selkie
Sorrell
Thane
Theadora
Theo
Thora
Thorn
Thorne
Tide
Timber
Vale
Vale
Violet
Willoughby
Winslow
Wren
Áine