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In lieu of reading about projectile point typology
- Watching Tibetan sky burials on youtube totally counts as doing anthropology homework, right?
- Huzzah, new artist!crush. Lucy Nurnberg.
Geography of Death III
- I've been considering the nature of some of Tolkien's inventions I hadn't much thought about before, e.g. Balrogs.
For someone who is mainly interested in darker characters, I've never found the Balrogs particularly compelling so I've generally ignored them. Now that I've started to ask what on earth a Balrog is, I find this is puzzling. At any rate, it's puzzling for me given the various strictures my interpretation of Arda's physical and metaphysical properties puts on these matters.
I could interpret Balrogs the same way I interpret Ulmo's Maiar, as entities who are so emotionally/spiritually attached to their own element that they're become predispositioned to it and can't exist in any other type of physical state. That's all well and good until I consider how one goes about "killing" such a being, as Balrogs seem a bit prone to being killed. One can't kill a malleable amalgamation of flame.
The killing thing I've addressed with Draugluin and the dragons by conceiving of them as the results of quasi-sorcerous, quasi-scientific programs to bind Maiar to the frames of creatures. Somewhat the same as Melkor himself, these Maiar have been "distilled" into something other than themselves (Draugluin into sentient, mortal offspring--dragons into the indefinite maintenance of a massive organism that is technically impossible)--so that, when their forms are killed, their spirits no longer have enough of themselves to hold onto and patch back together into a new incarnation. If I take the same tack with Balrogs, envisioning them as being chained to solid forms, that brings up the annoying yet very interesting question of what kind of weird biochemical things would have to go on to sustain a burning body. Way out of my league with that one there, yet that's kind of the way I'm leaning because it would be fairly creepy and horrific as well as an intellectual challenge.
- Huzzah, new artist!crush. Lucy Nurnberg.
Geography of Death III
- I've been considering the nature of some of Tolkien's inventions I hadn't much thought about before, e.g. Balrogs.
For someone who is mainly interested in darker characters, I've never found the Balrogs particularly compelling so I've generally ignored them. Now that I've started to ask what on earth a Balrog is, I find this is puzzling. At any rate, it's puzzling for me given the various strictures my interpretation of Arda's physical and metaphysical properties puts on these matters.
I could interpret Balrogs the same way I interpret Ulmo's Maiar, as entities who are so emotionally/spiritually attached to their own element that they're become predispositioned to it and can't exist in any other type of physical state. That's all well and good until I consider how one goes about "killing" such a being, as Balrogs seem a bit prone to being killed. One can't kill a malleable amalgamation of flame.
The killing thing I've addressed with Draugluin and the dragons by conceiving of them as the results of quasi-sorcerous, quasi-scientific programs to bind Maiar to the frames of creatures. Somewhat the same as Melkor himself, these Maiar have been "distilled" into something other than themselves (Draugluin into sentient, mortal offspring--dragons into the indefinite maintenance of a massive organism that is technically impossible)--so that, when their forms are killed, their spirits no longer have enough of themselves to hold onto and patch back together into a new incarnation. If I take the same tack with Balrogs, envisioning them as being chained to solid forms, that brings up the annoying yet very interesting question of what kind of weird biochemical things would have to go on to sustain a burning body. Way out of my league with that one there, yet that's kind of the way I'm leaning because it would be fairly creepy and horrific as well as an intellectual challenge.
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Kayelle Allen has an interesting structure for her Sempervians - that when they die and are reborn, their cells duplicate and self-destruct almost simultaneously. In essence the body dies and cell A dies at the same moment that new cell A-1 is ready to take its place. This leads to elevated body temperatures and a painful rebirth for them as their bodies self-destruct and regenerate simultaneously; i.e. high levels of heat generated by the old cells as they self-destruct. Maybe hot enough to support flames? Whew! But I can see it working in the case of balrogs (to return to the appropriate uni and away from the Tarthian Empire).
- Erulisse (one L)
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Not familiar with Allen's work, but that is fascinating. And sounds like it would be excruciating to go through constantly...could explain the Balrogs' ill-temperedness. X)
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At the kernel of the balrog entity must be a physical form because it is that which Gandalf battles through water and flame, and it is a body that rests on top of the peak. Perhaps in the early days of their development they might have been able to choose their form, but as they chose one form again and again, maybe they lost the ability to experience other shapes? Just a suggestion. Well...back to my research :-)
- Erulisse (one L)
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Happy researching. November approacheth!
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My desk is full of papers and post-it notes, my notebook is getting filled with dates and places, maps are on my walls and my logistical map is on the desk next to me. I'm as ready (almost) as I'm going to be and RL looks like it might kick me some issues also, just trying to make things more difficult for me. *sigh*
On one hand I want it to start already, on the other hand I'm terribly afraid that I haven't researched this enough to get a novel out of it and that the timelines won't work. Oy1
- Erulisse (one L)
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*Feanor locks and loads water balloon shotgun.* "Says who?"
;-)
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I would comment on balrogs, but my brain quit working about 1 sentence in. Though, if they were like Ulmo's Maiar, and couldn't exist in a element other than fire, couldn't they be killed by water? (This is more based on my long held little crack fic of Luna Lovegood forcing a balrog into a lake than any real scientific thought.)
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Well, since from my point of view the Balrogs are Maiar, they could surely be at least temporarily unhoused by water; I think they could take form again though, unless they reached a point like Sauron where they'd drained to much of their native power to be able to.
Sounds like something Luna would do, probably without batting an eye. =P
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They probably could, unless their bodies were less like Sauron's and more like Saruman's....
Luna fits in shockingly well with Tolkien's elves. I'm still trying to figure that out.
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Argh I'm still trying to figure out my take on what happens to Saruman after his physical death. That scene makes me angst. =P
You were working on a Tolkien-Potterverse crossover, weren't you?
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It makes me angst too. I've had him reappear before the last battle and help the good guys (or rather, Maglor and Celeborn. Cause my brain is weird like that).
Yep, still am. But I also rp Luna (among others) on twitter. She's interacted with Finarfin, Etchelion, Beleg, and Anaire. ;p
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Aw! That's...considerably more optimistic than any of the fates my mind seems to want to ascribe to him.
So did you professor confirm that there is a Secret Society of Anthropologists concealing knowledge of hobbits from us? =p
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What fates does your mind want to give him?
I didn't get to ask him. *sulk* It's on the schedule for Tuesday's after class discussion, along with complaining that my family and select friends are sending me to an early grave with their obsession over my grades. Of course, he did offer to write me a note if dad kept up his "You need a 4.0"....
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Well, my first idea involved ending things on a really wretched note with Curumo stuck in the Void with a very cranky Melkor. This was, like, back in 2007 or 08, and since then my interpretation of events and characters has grown too much for that idea to be acceptable. More recently I considered just obliterating him in a poetical way. I’m currently pondering him being at the Dagor Dagorath, which would just be kind of awkward for all involved, since his main problem as I’ve characterized it is that he’s, uh, made himself a lot of enemies over the eons by being a flake. /ramble
Of course, he did offer to write me a note if dad kept up his "You need a 4.0"....
This professor sounds like a good fellow.
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Prof is a very good fellow, as I'm sure the fact that he's one of the few good things about uni I talk about proves. Nice, has a sense of humor, patience with my complete and utter breakdowns and turning that one test in late...
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