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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 9041482" data-attributes="member: 82106">Sure it did, I read Appendix IV just like everyone else! The 3 cities of Gondor (and its possible Arnor had a city or two as well at some point, and the holdings of the Sea Kings of Numenor presumably included other towns, forts, and cities during the 2nd age) existed at least since the foundation of the kingdom at the end of the 2nd Age. Even the Stewards of Gondor were simply a cadet branch of the same family and were effectively kings, it was at best a minor sub-dynastic change. Then after another 1000 years of rule, they handed the thrown back to the senior branch (who somehow they were oblivious of for an entire 1000 years, why). Nor do they live 4x as long as normal humans, nor are their subjects particularly long-lived (perhaps, but its never stated one way or another). In any case, its very contrived.The Japanese Tenno (more of a religious office than a political one in most of history) certainly didn't exist as such before about the 6th Century AD, maybe they were some sort of 'ruler' as early as the 4th Century, the 1000 years before that is wholly fictitious. Nor was the title 'Tenno' or its equivalent even invented until many centuries later. Often these early rulers were known by titles such as 'Wa' (A Chinese word roughly similar to 'king' in English). These people, who were really almost a CASTE from which a 'ruler' was drawn, were all certainly related (the Imperial Clan often numbered into the 1000s of people). Through most of history they had no material power and were simply whomever the actual rulers of Japan felt was most advantageous to appoint. Their powers were simply ceremonial, and from the 10th Century until the late 19th Century nothing else, with a brief break in the 1870s until a Constitutional system was established (there were also a couple of equally small breaks in the 13th Century and the 11th Century if I recall my Japanese history well).This is equivalent to claiming continuity of the office of Imperator Romanum up to the end of the 18th Century when the HRE was finally disestablished by Napoleon. Surely the persons who held titles equated to 'Roman Emperor' were probably all fairly closely related and interrelated persons tracing all the way from Augustus onwards, though they didn't always emphasize the continuity of these ties (many later Medieval rulers actually DID claim descent from classical Roman dignitaries, usually emperors, and certainly the Byzantine Emperors were members of the same small group of elite rulers and came originally from Rome themselves). The Japanese like their story, and it is true that their insular system emphasized family heritage more, but every family on Earth is equally ancient! So I'm not sure it proves much. I'd agree, Japan as a state has had a pretty long history as nations go, assuming something like its current geographical reach around the 11th Century. As for the mountains of Middle Earth, no, they make no sense at all geographically. I remember as a youngster finding this a bit disappointing, but they are excellently explained as constructs of mythic stories!</blockquote>

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