I don't believe I did see that essay, though my assumption was that eagles aren't stupid and would have said something like "are you crazy!!" One suggestion I recall, was to blindfold them.

If I remember correctly, Elrond was about to pick the two other menmbers when the hobbits insisted on coming. Not sure if who he preferred was ever mentioned. He wasn't to happy with it though. Definately thought there could be better people for the job.

Well, you know how Tolkien experts are, they can write in-depth essays on any aspect of the books. :p

And, yeah, but you have to weigh any potential candidates against the acts of fate that allow Merry and Pippin to contribute to the war effort against Sauron. I think Glorfindel is powerful enough that his aid outweighs anything they did, unless he was got deployed to fend off Sauron's northern armies or something.

The object was to be sneaky though. How sneaky would Shiny army stopping boy be?

They wouldn't NEED to be sneaky, then! Did you not see how he drove all 9 Nazgul into the river because they were freaking terrified of him? :D

Gee, and here I thought the river was just pissed off. Oh wait, am I thinking of a different part?

No, same part. Glorfindel chased them into the river. They'd rather "drown" than face him.

Hmm. I'm going to have to read that part again. He was there with Frodo and Bill?

Bill? The pony? Frodo was on Asfolath at this point, Glorfindel's horse. He rode a head, while Glorfindel remains behind the deal with the Nazgul, though they eventually realized what was going on and ran away from Glorf.

Ah. I thought it was Bill. I need to go and read that part again. I probably need to read the entire Fellowship novel again.

Nope, it's definitely Glorfindel's horse Asfolath. They gave it to Arwen in the film, but... they kept the line Namarie, Asfolath which means, literally, "Farewell, Asfolath" which makes sense when Glorflindel sent it ahead with Frodo, but to have Arwen say it while she's riding Asfolath... *confused face*

I guess he didn't plan on people being able to speak elvish. That particular phrase wasn't translated.

It's like the most common word in Elvish, period. Tolkien wrote an entire poem in elvish titled Namarie.

Of course, it's just further evidence that Jackson was not making a film for fans of the books.

Have you considered comparing the elvish in the movie to the translations to see if he actually got it right or just made it up?

My sister can read Tolkein runes, and I had a co-worker once that could speak elvish. She went on a rampage apparently after spilling a mass tub of butter. Not sure how one swears in elvish though.

Do I look like some kind of Tolkien-nerd to you? :p

I can't speak Elvish, I only know I handful of words and roots. And I'm not sure how one would swear in it, either, without getting very creative.

Aren't swears just creative use of ANY language anyways? And we could always scroll back a few pages to remind you where you called yourself the closest to a Tolken nerd this site has? XD

Yes, that was a self-deprecating joke on my part.

And by swears, I meant you'd have to string entire sentences together to get even a remotely vulgar meaning out of them, as Tolkien was a bit sparse on words that didn't have the descriptors "magisterial" "grandiose" and "mythic" attached to their definition. :p