The quotes on these pages come from The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Morgoth's Ring, The Silmarillion, The Book of Lost Tales, and Unfinished Tales.

• What is the true nature of Tom Bombadil?
• Where is Middle-Earth? Is it part of our earth?
• What was the "real" story of Arwen, as opposed to the movies' version of her story? Is she really the reincarnation of Lúthien?
• How did orcs come into being? Are they really twisted Elves?
• What did Tolkien think about women in combat? Was Éowyn the only woman in Tolkien's writings who went into battle?
• Balrog wings: literal or metaphorical?
• Can you really see a car in the FotR movie?

What is the true nature of Tom Bombadil?

Letter 144
     And even in a mythical Age there must be some enigmas, as there always are. Tom Bombadil is one (intentionally)....
     Tom Bombadil is not an important person - to the narrative. I suppose he has some importance as a 'comment'. I mean, I do not really write like that: he is just an invention (who first appeared in the Oxford Magazine about 1933), and he represents something that I feel important, though I would not be prepared to analyze the feeling precisely. I would not, however, have left him in, if he did not have some kind of function. I might put it this way. The story is cast in terms of a good side, and a bad side, beauty against ruthless ugliness, tyranny against kingship, moderated freedom with consent against compulsion that has long lost any object save mere power, and so on; but both sides in some degree, conservative or destructive, want a measure of control. but if you have, as it were taken 'a vow of poverty', renounced control, and take your delight in things for themselves without reference to yourself, watching, observing, and to some extent knowing, then the question of the rights and wrongs of power and control might become utterly meaningless to you, and the means of power quite valueless. It is a natural pacifist view, which always arises in the mind when there is a war. But the view of Rivendell seems to be that this it is an excellent thing to have represented, but that there are in fact things with which it cannot cope; and upon which its existence nonetheless depends. Ultimately only the victory of the West will allow Bombadil to continue, or even survive. Nothing would be left for him in the world of Sauron.

Letter 153
     I don't think Tom needs philosophizing about, and is not improved by it. But many have found him an odd or indeed discordant ingredient. In historical fact I put him in because I had already 'invented' him independently (he first appeared in the Oxford Magazine) and wanted an 'adventure' on the way. But I kept him in, and as he was, because he represents certain things otherwise left out. I do not mean him to be an allegory - or I should not have given him so particular, individual, and ridiculous a name - but 'allegory' is the only mode of exhibiting certain functions: he is then an 'allegory', or an examplar, a particular embodying of pure (real) natural science: the spirit that desires knowledge of other things, their history and nature, because they are 'other' and wholly independent of the enquiring mind, a spirit coeval with the rational mind, and entirely unconcerned with 'doing' anything with the knowledge: Zoology and Botany not Cattle-breeding or Argiculture.

Where is Middle-Earth? Is it part of our earth?

Letter 294
     Geographically, Northern is usually better. But examination will show that even this is inapplicable (geographically or spiritually) to 'Middle-earth'. This is an old word, not invented by me, as a reference to a dictionary such as the Shorter Oxford will show. It meant the habitable lands of our world, set amid the surrounding Ocean. The action of the story takes place in the North-west of 'Middle-earth', equivelant in latitude to the coastlands of Europe and the north shores of the Mediterranean. But this is not a purely 'Nordic' area in any sense. If Hobbiton and Rivendell are taken (as intended) to be at about the latitude of Oxford, then Minas Tirith, 600 miles south, is at about the latitude of Florence. The Mouths of Anduin and the ancient city of Pelargir are at about the latitude of ancient Troy.

To see exactly how various parts of Middle-earth correspond to those of Europe, try this link.

What was the "real" story of Arwen, as opposed to the movies' version of her story? Is she really the reincarnation of Lúthien?

Letter 181
     That is why I regard the tale of Arwen and Aragorn as the most important of the Appendices; it is part of the essential story, and is only placed so, because it could not be worked into the main narrative without destroying its structure: which is planned to be 'hobbito-centric', that is, primarily a study of the ennoblement (or sanctification) of the humble.

Letter 153
     "Arwen is not a 're-incarnation' of Luthien (that in the view of this mythical history would be impossible, since Luthien has died like a mortal and left the world of time) but a descendant very like her in looks, character and fate."

For more information on Arwen and her relationship with Aragorn, read the RotK Appendix A, Part V, "The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen." You'll be surprised how much of the movie's "additions" came straight from Tolkien.

How did orcs come into being? Are they really twisted Elves?

This is a long and complicated issue. Therefore, I've put the relevant quotes on a separate page.
Click here to read on.

What did Tolkien think about women in combat? Was Éowyn the only woman in Tolkien's writings who went into battle?

This is a long and complicated issue. Therefore, I've put the relevant quotes on a separate page.
Click here to read on.

Balrog wings: literal or metaphorical?

This is one argument that will never be ended, but ex-English teacher that I am, I can certainly recognize a metaphor when I see one. ;-) Besides, if the balrog's wings were real, wouldn't he have flown out of the chasm? But if you want a more in-depth discussion of the subject, read this article from The Encyclopedia of Arda.

Can you really see a car in the FotR movie?

Believe it or not, yes you can.

There are two reasons for consternation on this issue. First, many watchers see the puff of white on the righthand side of the picture and say, quite rightly, "That's not a car; that's smoke from a chimney." I did this myself for a long time, but it was finally pointed out to me that the car is elsewhere in the picture. Once I knew where to look, I found it, and you can too - if you have the Extended Edition FotR DVD (hereafter called the EE).

The second bit of consternation comes from the fact that the car was edited out of the film for the DVD release. If you listen to the commentaries on the EE, you'll hear Peter Jackson deny the existence of the car on one track and a postproduction crewmember admit to erasing it on another track. So you can't find the car by watching the DVD version of the movie. You can, however, find it by watching one of the featurettes! The scene reappears there in its original, unretouched form, and the car is plainly visible. Here's how to find it:

1. Go to disk 4 of the EE and select "Sound and Music" > "Music for Middle-Earth."
2. Go exactly 10 minutes into the featurette to find the scene of Frodo and Sam walking in the field.
3. When the pictures zooms out to wide-angle, get ready to look for the car. Note: unless you have a really huge TV screen, you'll need to use your zoom function to spot it.
4. Start looking from the right edge of the picture. You'll see a clump of three trees near the chimney with the puff of smoke. This is not where the car is. Look further leftwards to the next tree, which stands alone over a brown triangular patch of field. There's a green hill just behind the brown.
5. The dust plume from the car appears on the left side of that tree and travels down along the diagonal line which marks the separation between brown field and green hill.