Spoilers What do people get wrong about Tolkien?

[Willie the Duck]

Of course he is. He's a 5th level wizard

Heh. I don't remember seeing him cast anything hire than 3rd level(fireball, lightning bolt) in the books, but from the numbers of lightning bolts he threw in The Hobbit and fireballs he threw on Weathertop, he had to be at least 12th level. Probably 18th or higher. He threw a lot on Weathertop against the 9.

For reference.
I always thought of it as 1) to cut off the 'no, he's a Maiar!' response, "fine. but then he's a Maiar cosplaying as a Xth-level wizard," and 2) he's playing a spell-point variant of the game*, where he could be 7th or 8th level but still cast more than a dozen 3rd level spells. *or non-D&D fantasy RPG

 

[Maxperson]

For reference.
I always thought of it as 1) to cut off the 'no, he's a Maiar!' response, "fine. but then he's a Maiar cosplaying as a Xth-level wizard," and 2) he's playing a spell-point variant of the game*, where he could be 7th or 8th level but still cast more than a dozen 3rd level spells. *or non-D&D fantasy RPG

Yeah, but then we know he had to limit his power when in Middle Earth, so 7th or 8th level would just be what we see and he's really much higher. That's why I prefer to count the slots and just make him very high level, but limits himself to 3rd level and lower spells.

Both work, though, to explain all the 3rd level spells he tosses around.

 

[The Soloist]

Those who use D&D rules to try to define Gandalf's power level. It makes as much sense as a reverse-centaur.

 

[Mannahnin]

They might have had. There's plenty of stuff in the History of Middle-earth series, and I'm sorry I can't remember which volumes now, that suggest that their ears were leaf-shaped.

To the best of my knowledge it's only a couple of things which at best give a mild implication.

A passage about Bilbo's appearance in a letter discussing the artwork for the American edition of The Hobbit (Letters, # 27, March-April 1938):

A round, jovial face; ears only slightly pointed and 'elvish'; hair short and curling (brown).

Which is pretty ambiguous, and a statement in the Etymologies (a linguistic manuscript from ca. 1937-8 published posthumously) that the Elvish roots meaning 'ear' and 'leaf' may be cognates:

LAS(1)- *lasse leaf: Q lasse, N lhass; [...] (Some think this is related to the next and * lasse 'ear' . The Quendian ears were more pointed and leaf. shaped than [?human].) (HoME 5, Etymologies)

But there are also instances of humans being mistaken or confused for elves (at least Tuor?), which certainly implies that if elvish ears are pointed, they must not be dramatically so. Some people have more pointed ears than others. And Tolkien doesn't mention it anywhere in the actual stories as a feature of elves.

 

[Maxperson]

Those who use D&D rules to try to define Gandalf's power level. It makes as much sense as a reverse-centaur.

 

[Umbran]

People say that Gandalf isn't a wizard.

People also think that Tolkien's "wizard" is the same as everyone else's - what he isn't is a D&D wizard/M-U.

 

[Maxperson]

But there are also instances of humans being mistaken or confused for elves (at least Tuor?), which certainly implies that if elvish ears are pointed, they must not be dramatically so. Some people have more pointed ears than others. And Tolkien doesn't mention it anywhere in the actual stories as a feature of elves.

Perhaps. Perhaps he was wearing a helm. His stature and appearance would otherwise be very similar to elves and a helm could fully or partially cover his ears.

 

[Maxperson]

People also think that Tolkien's "wizard" is the same as everyone else's - what he isn't is a D&D wizard/M-U.

Yes, but there were mortals who could do magic as well, so it seems to me what whatever kind of wizard he was, it was in addition to his being maia. He was able to learn and use the spells the mortals came up with as well.

 

[Umbran]

Yes, but there were mortals who could do magic as well, so it seems to me what whatever kind of wizard he was, it was in addition to his being maia. He was able to learn and use the spells the mortals came up with as well.

The only entities called "wizards" in Tolkien's work are Maiar. Humans/Numenoreans using magic are referred to as a "sorcerer", and all of them, as I understand it, are connected to Sauron. I don't know that there's much or anything in canon to suggest there's "spells the mortals came up with", since we don't actually see much spellcasting.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Those who use D&D rules to try to define Gandalf's power level. It makes as much sense as a reverse-centaur.