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DW:

Ysh: I *knew* there must have been a reason for those even harder to understand northern dialects!

Yes, it's sad about the Brownie extinction of '07...all for their little brownie fingers as lucky charms

Gwally:
You seem to know much of this ritual

Originally posted by Gwalchmai:
<STRONG>@Viv: Your theories on Stonehenge are clearly well thought-out and highly accurate. But I would like to clarify one point: The 'sacrifice' of the redheads never resulted in death. In fact, their 'sacrifice' was often freely given to the druids, who were by far the most handsome, desirable, and physically powerful people in England at the time. Redheads would come from miles around and beg to be 'sacrificed'. The 'sacrificial' ritual often lasted all night long and the redheads were known to cry out such things as "Yes! Oh God, Yes!" and "Faster! Harder! Deeper!" Alas, the exact nature of these ancient rituals is lost to time, but if you sit very quietly within one of the Henges, you might feel some of the warmth and tingling sensations that must have accompanied the rituals.</STRONG>

ROFL!!! It is nice to know that these "handsome, desirable, and physically powerful people" still exist and deign to bless us with their presence here on SYM.

@Gwally - LOL!!

Posted by Viv -

Ysh: I *knew* there must have been a reason for those even harder to understand northern dialects!

*laughs* that is why we speak faster than our southern neighbours, the ring was smaller and we had to hurry up and take turns

Originally posted by Yshania:
<STRONG>@Gwally - LOL!!

*laughs* that is why we speak faster than our southern neighbours, the ring was smaller and we had to hurry up and take turns </STRONG>

That's what I likes about all us brainy people here on SYM We answered all the world needs to know about English mythology in a few posts, and now we've moved on to solid and true reasons for dialogue differences.

Wow, what can't we do?!

erm...I can't speak Elvish

@at99:

Here's your original question:
Why did Tolkien write his books.

There can be a million reasons why he wrote the book. It could be that he's just nuts, he wanted to have fun, he wanted to get across a messagem, he wanted the reader to enjoy it, he wanted to create his own language, he wanted to create his own mythology, etc. The point is, do we know for sure exactly why he wrote these books? Yeah, some of the motivation can been seen from various letters of his and other sources, but can we get the exact motivation factor? No. Now Thorin, Ysh, Sailor Saturn, Vivien, Gandalfgal, and I have tried to provide some answers. Our answers may not be necessarily right, but it is our opinion that we have reached based on whatever we've read or heard about Tolkien.

If our answers do not satisfy you, then I am sorry that we cannot provide a satisfying answer. Maybe you should ask Fable about this, maybe he'll give you better insight into this question.

Originally posted by Vivien:
<STRONG>Gwally:
You seem to know much of this ritual </STRONG>

Yes, as Thantor has already guessed, because I am an archaeologist and because of certain... other ... aspects of my life, I have access to rare knowledge.

Originally posted by Yshania:
<STRONG>erm...I can't speak Elvish </STRONG>

Ask Mr. Sleep to teach you The Welsh mated with the elves l-o-o-n-g ago because the Welsh convinced the Elves to try a new invention called 'Ale'. Needless to say, ALL Welsh are now half elvish and have that innate ability (you can tell if they're a true Welsh person if they're funny looking)

Gwally: Well, Have you practiced this ritual yourself?

Oh!! but I thought the elves drunk Guinness? Ah!! the Celtic roots

The Irish got jealous and created an elvish race of their own who hung around in locked up bars, drinking the black stuff, and adding the word Ceilidh to the elvish tongue

Originally posted by Vivien:
<STRONG>
Ask Mr. Sleep to teach you The Welsh mated with the elves l-o-o-n-g ago because the Welsh convinced the Elves to try a new invention called 'Ale'. Needless to say, ALL Welsh are now half elvish and have that innate ability (you can tell if they're a true Welsh person if they're funny looking)

Gwally: Well, Have you practiced this ritual yourself? </STRONG>

I thought, based on their large noses and short stature, that the Welsh had mated with Gnomes, not Elves.... I must be mistaken.

Yes, I have practiced the ritual quite a bit, but I have yet to find a redhead willing to 'sacrifice' herself...

Originally posted by Yshania:
<STRONG>Oh!! but I thought the elves drunk Guinness? Ah!! the Celtic roots

The Irish got jealous and created an elvish race of their own who hung around in locked up bars, drinking the black stuff, and adding the word Ceilidh to the elvish tongue </STRONG>

Yes, yes! I see it now! Wow, what brilliance

@Viv - so the next time you see a green elf, sitting on a tree stump, awkwardly trying to learn the Bodhran drum - you need to sympathise with his desire to connect with his roots LMAO!!

Originally posted by Gwalchmai:
<STRONG>I thought, based on their large noses and short stature, that the Welsh had mated with Gnomes, not Elves.... I must be mistaken.

Yes, I have practiced the ritual quite a bit, but I have yet to find a redhead willing to 'sacrifice' herself... </STRONG>

No, no The Welsh WERE originally gnomes The name for 'Gnome citizen' in Welsh is Welsh

The main Elvish aspects you can see in modern Welsh are their love of sexual innuendo's (a watered down version of elvish sensuality) and their continued love of Ale

Do you offer any prizes to these maidens? Maybe that's the problem

Originally posted by Vivien:
<STRONG>2) Stone Henge was built specifically so that the English could all get together and use the stone amplifying effect to teach themselves to talk funny. Though the U.S. was not even around at that point, they had a clear mission towards confusing said people, and worked on it daily. </STRONG>

An event that illustrates the insidious ways that the English have attempted to pervert the language occurred in 1066. By allowing themselves to be conquered by the Normans, the English began a long campaign to inject the language with many unfortunate French spellings, most notably the silent 'e'. Unfortunately, this perversion of the mother tongue successfully made it into the American language in the U.S. These difficult and illogical spellings for perfectly normal words have been the bane of many a school-child's life during spelling tests. I should know.

Originally posted by Vivien:
<STRONG>
No, no The Welsh WERE originally gnomes The name for 'Gnome citizen' in Welsh is Welsh

The main Elvish aspects you can see in modern Welsh are their love of sexual innuendo's (a watered down version of elvish sensuality) and their continued love of Ale

Do you offer any prizes to these maidens? Maybe that's the problem </STRONG>

Ah, Welsh = Gnomes. That explains it!

I understand that the Welsh speak in a very sing-song dialect. Perhaps this is another aspect of their Elvish linage?

Prizes? I hadn't thought of that! What do you suggest? I've been practicing the ritual by myself for so long now that, frankly, I'll give the redhead anything she likes!

Originally posted by Gwalchmai:
<STRONG>Ah, Welsh = Gnomes. That explains it!

I understand that the Welsh speak in a very sing-song dialect. Perhaps this is another aspect of their Elvish linage?

Prizes? I hadn't thought of that! What do you suggest? I've been practicing the ritual by myself for so long now that, frankly, I'll give the redhead anything she likes! </STRONG>

Yes, that is very true. And you do have the odd Welsh who's Elven Genes are dominant creating a tall and fair person, but in the majority irregularities occur, such as the feet being too large (explaining the 'clumsy' stereotype when one thinks of the Welsh), or the hair standing straight up as if trying to reach towards Elven height.

You've been practicing by yourself? How exactly does one do that?

Ysh: Rofl! Now that I know what that drum is, it makes sense!

Originally posted by Vivien:
<STRONG>You've been practicing by yourself? How exactly does one do that?

Ysh: Rofl! Now that I know what that drum is, it makes sense! </STRONG>

That would be telling.

What is that drum, anyway?

Originally posted by at99:
<STRONG>The deeper meaning to why he did these things in the first place was explained.
This is the thing I was getting at. The motivation factor.

Unless you disagree with my explanation.</STRONG>

I don't agree completely with your explanation, actually. While I do not know the depth of, or lack there of, English mythology(being more interested in Greek and Norse mythology myself), I do know some things about mythology in general. It has been my experience(specifically with Greek and Norse mythology, as well as a few others) that myths take place either in the land that story is told in, in the underworld, or in the realm of the gods(though, I believe some mythologies include multiple planes, sorta like D&D). Tolkien's books(LotR, The Hobbit, etc) take place in Middle Earth, not in England. While the Shire seems to be(though I can't say it definitely is) much like England, some of the other places remind me of other lands. Elves remind me of the Irish, while Dwarves remind me of people out of Norse Mythology. However, like I said, it takes place in Middle Earth, not on Earth.

I think Tolkien wrote them because he wanted to. Many things influenced his writing, certainly. Many things influence my writing. I heard something once that I strongly agree with. "Write what you know." Tolkien set up places that resemble places from his life. Those are places he knew. He wrote what he knew. He knew language and even made up his own. He used what he knew in his writing. Another reason to give it an English-flavor(What does England taste like, btw?) may have been the supposed lack of English mythology. That, however, was nothing more than a possible influence on his work, imo.

Originally posted by Vivien:
<STRONG>I hear they set milk and other treats out for the 'little people'</STRONG>

Every night without fail

Originally posted by Gwalchmai:
<STRONG>I thought, based on their large noses and short stature, that the Welsh had mated with Gnomes, not Elves.... I must be mistaken. </STRONG>

Erm how tall are you Gwally my man?