[+] The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power - SPOILERS ALLOWED

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Hercule Poirot: "And where you on the night in question, Monsieur BOMBADIL?"

No! Out! Bad Bombadil, bad!

 

[reelo]

To add to what @Mercurius was saying, the Valar were loathe to intervene because whenever they did, it had disastrous consequences for Arda itself.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Except Tolkien didn't really employ unreliable narrators - especially Gandalf.

He does, especially with regard to the 1st edition of the Hobbit. He makes Bilbo explicitly an unreliable narrator with regards to how he acquired the ring. And at the same time, invented the retcon.

And in the appendix, he uses the conceit that The Hobbit and LotR were "translated" from the Red Book of Westmarch, which had begun life as Bilbo, Frodo, and Sam's memoir. He was enough of a historian to be well aware that source material is unreliable and subject to interpretation, especially in translation.

But it's also fair to say that Gandalf is an authorial insert character, and views Gandalf expresses are those of the author.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

No! Out! Bad Bombadil, bad!

Oh, just one more thing. I almost forgot, there is something I would like you to take a look at [rummages through pockets]. See this tiny scrap of leather? This was found at the crime scene. Notice the unusual colour? Can I take a look at your boots, Mr Bombadil?

 

[Dioltach]

Just caught up after a few weeks. One thing I don't think has been discussed here yet: the Dwarven mine collapse. Is that foreshadowing the Dwarves waking the Balrog?

 

[MarkB]

Just caught up after a few weeks. One thing I don't think has been discussed here yet: the Dwarven mine collapse. Is that foreshadowing the Dwarves waking the Balrog?

Quite possibly, though that would be pushing up the timetable for that event. I think it's established within LotR canon that the events leading to the abandonment of Moria didn't take place until well after Durin's death.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Quite possibly, though that would be pushing up the timetable for that event. I think it's established within LotR canon that the events leading to the abandonment of Moria didn't take place until well after Durin's death.

Compressed timeline.

I bet a million internets they Balrog gets woken up on Friday.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Quite possibly, though that would be pushing up the timetable for that event. I think it's established within LotR canon that the events leading to the abandonment of Moria didn't take place until well after Durin's death.

But it does reinforce the general idea that the dwarves, despite their obvious engineering prowess, get reckless and cut corners at times.

 

[Ryujin]

Compressed timeline.

I bet a million internets they Balrog gets woken up on Friday.

... and that Durin dies by Balrog.

 

[Dioltach]

Let's not forget that the Dwarves are said to have woken the Balrog because they got too greedy mining explicitly for mithril.