Tailkinker

Answer: Tolkien never gives the name of Merry's son, which is probably why he's not on the family tree, nor does he tell us whether he had any other children. As to why he doesn't mention this, why should he? It's not as if they're important characters. There's a lot of information that Tolkien doesn't provide - understandable, given that he's produced a history of a fictional world that covers many thousands of years, that he wouldn't be able to include everything. Minor details, like the names of people who never actually appear in any of the stories (Merry's son, Aragorn and Arwen's daughters, Legolas' mother and so forth), were simply left out in favour of more important items.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: They did indeed, even going so far as to unofficially appoint a minister, dubbed, inevitably, the Minister for Middle-Earth, to keep tabs on the effects on the economy caused by the increase in business and tourism.

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Answer: In the theatrical version, I think he only appears extremely briefly (about a second) in a flash-back to his last battle. In the extended cut, a scene has been added where Denethor berates Faramir for letting Frodo leave with the Ring - in that scene, he hallucinates Boromir standing behind his brother.

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Answer: Hobbits are naturally very fast and agile, which plays very much in their favour in battle despite their lack of combat experience. Their small stature causes foes to underestimate them, or even miss them completely, which gives them an edge. The hobbits also travelled for many days with several highly experienced fighters - we see Boromir teaching them; it's likely that Aragorn and the others passed on some training as well.

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Answer: Elessar means 'Elfstone' and is a name given to Aragorn by Galadriel as part of a prophecy - she also gives him a green stone set in a brooch (unseen in the films) as a mark of this name. When Aragorn assumed the throne, he chose to use Elessar as his kingly name.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: Because it disrupted the flow of events. Saruman's the enemy from film 2 - spending several minutes at the beginning of film 3 dealing with him accomplishes nothing. He provides no critical information and we don't need to see his death scene - the Ents have him contained at the end of film 2 and that's it for him. Ultimately, while it's a good scene, it's not required for the overall plot and takes up time that could be better used.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: Well, the simple answer to the first part is that it's not Gamling - there is a resemblance, but it's somebody different. Grimbold is one of Theoden's captains, leading one of the Rohirrim groups during their charge at the Pelennor Fields. He hails from the Westfold, and can be seen at the gathering at Dunharrow, he can be seen there, informing Theoden that he has brought around 500 men. He's not particularly clear in that shot, but it's the best one I've found that's definitely identifiable as him.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: Even without his staff, Gandalf is not going to be a pushover - the Witch-King isn't going to be able to simply take Gandalf out by snapping his fingers. Better to simply inconvenience Gandalf by taking his staff out, then return to the battle, rather than taking on the risk of a serious one-on-one fight while the main battle below is still undecided, particularly as his opponents have just had some substantial reinforcements show up.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: Hmm, lot of questions. Okay, here goes. (1) Arwen was born in T.A. 241, making her 2778 years old at the time of the War of the Ring. However, there is no evidence in any of Tolkien's writings that she was the last Elf born in Middle-earth. (2) Tolkien never really goes into Elven reproduction, but there's no indication that the basic mechanisms aren't pretty much the same as humans (after all, elves and humans have bred successfully on several occasions in the history of Middle-Earth, so it's fair to say that the plumbing presumably interconnects). Elves don't reproduce terribly often - in 2401 years of marriage, Elrond and his wife Celebrian only had three children. Celeborn and Galadriel only had the one child in at least six thousand years of marriage. Arwen is only six generations removed from the first elves who awoke at Cuivienen, eleven thousand years before the events of the films. So, yes, it's fair to say that elven children would be pretty rare, enough so that most humans would never have encountered one. (3) Arwen's family are not pure elves - without going into complex lineages, her father, Elrond, is roughly half-elven. Elrond's father and all his descendants were given the option by the Valar to choose whether to be counted among men or elves - Elrond chose elvendom, his brother, Elros, chose to be counted amongst men, founding a bloodline that would eventually lead to Aragorn. So, basically, it's a mystical thing. (4) Eldarion, Aragorn and Arwen's son, will have a normal lifespan for a human of his bloodline (i.e. About two hundred years). His mother's former status as an elf shouldn't have any effect. The elven lifecycle is basically the same as humans, just very, very elongated - despite the prevailing view to the contrary, elves are not actually immortal. While they live long enough that humans think of them that way, Tolkien stated that they do age, just incredibly slowly, making a natural death an eventual possibility for an elf (after tens of thousands of years). Plus, of course, they can be killed in combat or accidents, being arguably less resilient than a human in that respect. So, between that and the very slow population increase, there's no real problem with overpopulation or anything like that.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: During the War of the Last Alliance (the battle against Sauron shown in the prologue), the men who inhabited the White Mountains (those between Gondor and Rohan) swore an oath of allegiance to Isildur. When he called on them to fight, they refused, so Isildur cursed them to walk the paths of the Dead until they redeemed themselves. In time, they all died, but their spirits remained - they were unable to move on to whatever awaits men after their deaths. At the time of the War of the Ring, they've been in this state for three thousand years, which has left them with a deep hatred for the living. Only when Aragorn, Isildur's heir, comes to them and calls upon them to finally fulfil their original oath, are they finally able to move on.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: He certainly would have told Gandalf about it. Whether he told the other members of the Fellowship is unclear, but the book details a meeting between them where they discuss their various adventures - it seems highly likely that he would have told them then, or allowed Sam to tell the tale for them both. Certainly his love for his compatriots would mean that he wouldn't lie to them about what happened.

Tailkinker ★

Chosen answer: The Dead who live under the mountain are feared and hated by pretty much everyone - note Aragorn's reaction when Elrond first suggests recruiting them. The Rohirrim will be well aware of all the tales - if Aragorn were to tell them what his mission was, they'd likely consider him to be insane. Better for them to think that one of their leaders has to go on some unspecified mission than for them to think that he's actually nuts. Besides, Aragorn has no idea whether the Dead will actually choose to fight - he seems reasonably convinced at first that they won't, and he's not likely to be alone in that opinion - most of the Rohirrim would probably consider him to be a fool for even contemplating it - also not exactly great for morale.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: The Witch-King is a name given to the Lord of the Nazgul, leader of the kings corrupted by the Nine Rings. The title "Witch-King of Angmar" refers to a time in the middle of the Third Age, around 1500 years before the War of the Ring, when he founded the northern kingdom of Angmar to oppose the kingdoms of the north, which were populated by Aragorn's ancestors. The specific title "Witch-King" alludes to the fact that the Nazgul leader was a powerful sorceror - whether he was before he fell to darkness, or whether he learned his skills from Sauron is unclear. What his mortal name was is unknown.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: To advise and guide the races of Middle-Earth in their fight against the powers of evil.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: Tolkien never addresses the question of who built it - one candidate would be the Gondorians, who were responsible for the construction of both the Tower of Cirith Ungol and Minas Morgul (then named Minas Ithil). The stair could have been used as a stealthy method of moving between the two, although the presence of Shelob, who was present before either was built, would complicate matters. Probably the most likely candidate would be Sauron's forces, at some point during the Second Age, as a method of moving between the two passes through the mountains.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: As seen in the Extended Edition, their primary reason is to talk to Saruman and to find out what he knows. While they would know by that point that the Ents are up to something - the appearance of the Huorns at Helm's Deep (Two Towers Extended) would tell them that - it's not likely that they'd actually know that the Ents had attacked Isengard. They might strongly suspect that something had happened there, but it's not likely that they actually knew for certain.

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Answer: This takes place in an area referred to as the Gladden Fields, which is where the Gladden River meets the Great River Anduin (the river that the Fellowship travel on by boat), some distance to the north of Galadriel's realm of Lorien.

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Answer: When they initially arrive at Isengard, he's rather more concerned with his upcoming confrontation with Saruman. He presumably talked to them about it later, off camera.

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Chosen answer: Cameron was a highly promising young filmmaker, who won several awards for advertisements that he directed - this brought him to the attention of Peter Jackson. He spent time with the cast and crew of the films, where he gained their respect and affection, to the extent that two of his short films are included on the extended edition DVD. Jackson spoke at his funeral and the song "Into the West" was inspired by him and is dedicated to his memory.

Tailkinker ★

Answer: There's no group specifically referred to as the Seven Kings in Tolkien's works - your surmise that this refers to the seven male members of the Valar, the fourteen Powers of the world, may well be correct. The only other possibility that leaps to mind is that Saruman could be referring to the leaders of the seven dwarven clans.

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