That was an amazing comment but since my mind is beyond dirty and fucked up,I also imagine the "Big Trolls at School" or "My first Corrupted Maiar teacher"...
@W4RLetitgo2019 agreed. Also while we didn't get to see Pippin killing the troll at the end of Return of the King seeing him & Merry being the first ones to charge the Black Gate immediately after Aragon definitely made up for it
+Jake Oppelt Nah, Jackson had made his mind that Pippin is a comic relief. This is one of those instances where he thought to improve upon Tolkien, end result being, naturally, cringey.
Some trolls fled to the dark corners of the internet. Once mighty war machines of the dark lord. They are now confined to pathetic acts of mischief. Merely irritants at their worst.
appearing from time to time to stir up arguments based on silly notions or facts that are misrepresented or intentionally falsified then retreating to their dark hollows to watch with dark eyes and malice at where the arguments lead and how many friendships are ended
"They have a cave troll." Ah Boromir never has a line been delivered so deadpan and serious all at once. Beauty of it all boiling down to the undertone of "why should we have expected anything else?"
@@ravenstrategist1325 He didn't. Compare with the Orc, where the first ones were made from living elves. Melkor could twist the "spark" of life, but only Eru could breathe into things that "spark".
@@ravenstrategist1325 my bad man. I guess he couldn't make a new being itself, just a mockery of one that currently existed. It probably took a long time, and used some sorcery to do so. He still was a god
As a swede I must say that trolls are one of my favorite races in the lord of the rings. Trolls are a huge part of swedish folklore. There are thousands of children’s stories containing trolls and in Sweden the word ”troll” is commonly used in daily speech. For example, instead of saying ”speaking of the devil”. We say ”speaking of the trolls”.
I'm absolutely fascinated with the implications of Melkor and Sauron being able to create creatures, but only in mockery of true life. Thanks for this video!
Here is something I have been thinking about and it relates to the trolls. Morgoth is more of the devil figure, disobeying a god, bringing other to follow his will, bringing evil and what not into the hearts of men. Sauron on the other hand is the machine man, the dictator. He plans, organizes, makes all other bend to his will for their own good. He creates more efficient trolls, orcs, and war machines along with creating a more top down command economy. The Elves, Dwarves, and Men were fighting the devil in the years of the trees and the first age. They were fighting the mechanical, autocratic tyrant in the second and third ages.
Wow neat! In the Battle for Middle Earth Angmar edition video gams, the Witch Kong’s armies had a troll Lieutenant named Rogash who fought like a trained swordsman and supposedly helped the witch king in uniting Angmar against the north. Though it was just a computer game, I’m surprised there weren’t more named trolls in the middle earth cannon.
Like the appendices in LOTR say, trolls were supposed to be basically beast like, and Christopher Tolkien says that if we take that as canon, then William, Bert, and Tom were super geniuses among trolls.
Another great video! I'm a HUGE fan of the movies, but the trolls are one of the areas where the books do far and away a better job, the trolls in the Hobbit movie are like Jar Jar, and the Fellowship one is just a weapon. I always like the 'dim but closer to the intelligence of the movie version of Uruk-Hai'. can't wait for the Halloween video!
Great video as always! I would guess the troll-men mentioned in Battle of Pelennor were some kind of tribal warriors from far south, who used clay, paint, filed teeth, piercings, etc. to make themselves look more intimidating. I think we can only guess about the origin of trolls, but in letter 153, I believe Tolkien suggests that creatures called 'trolls' are not a homogeneous group, but different trolls had different origins.
Tolkien and his Trolls... He has a history with them... Thanks for your videos Mellon...and I need a wonderful week because I need to calm down from stress!!! Until some some things that might *not really* scare me...Marion Baggins Out!!!
Something like this is never going to be created again. Imagine how intelligent you have to be,to create something from zero.Every single character,with their personal stories,every race with their own language...
Except it didn't come from nothing, this all came from a combination of Tolkiens knowledge and experiences, people he knew inspired characters, mythologies he studied inspire the world and the various inhabitants, religions inspired the nature of the world he carefully crafted, and the languages were all inspired by existing ones. It wasn't his intelligence that made this world so great but his dedication to it.
I'd imagine that the more intelligible trolls like the three that Bilbo encountered would have simply lived peacefully into the Forth Age, similar to some of the Orcs. (two have actually desired to leave his tyrannical rule in the books) Tolkien did state how it bothered him how a sentient being having aggressive nature is beyond redemption. Still the leaders of the West would have placed a bounty on them, but the Orcs and Trolls would manage to endure.
Well made. Must make a lore on the hill giant's. When Gandalfs company had to seek shelter, when the Giants rolled stones to the trees. Did they have have hatred towards the Ents, or just a game?
I'm fascinated by your work and by mythological and fantasy lore in general. Awesome job on the trolls. I'm looking forward for one clip about ogres and dark elves. I salute you!
Another informative and enjoyable narration. I have always had trouble pronouncing all the names and place in the works of Tolkien . Your videos have helped a great deal.
"I always said you're an optimist. Know what that is, mate? It's about sizing up a situation that's bloody impossible and saying 'Yeah, alright -- I'll have a go!' I'm exactly the same way." Bruz the Chopper everyone's favorite Olog-hai.
Question: if we fans could make a Middle Earth style Cemetary for those of us who would prefer to be burried with like minded folk, in the midst of things that bring us great happiness- would that be something anyone else would want? I do. I am not close with siblings, parents have been dead n gone for years. I wish to be burried or have ashes spread in an area akin to Middle Earth, especially around others who think alike to me.
Awesome video! Thanks so much for doing so much research. Your vids are always comprehensive and detailed, which I truly appreciate. Trolls are one of the most interesting creatures in Tolkien's legendarium,, but also very enigmatic. I wonder if he mentions them in his Letters, I'll have to check, now you have inspired me! Have a wonderful week my friend.
Speaking of Norse trolls, or not really, here's a little funfact: The Norwegian word for magic (aside from the now fairly common loanword based on the English "magic") is trolldom. Yeah, it's literal meaning in English is, as you might think, Troll-kind. Also the word for wizard (as opposed to the slightly more modern word for "magic user") is trollmann (or trollkvinne), literally troll man (or troll woman).
Good video yoystan and I like the trolls too because they are very powerful and personally I think if they were more intelligent Sauron and morgoth might have had greater victories. And could you maybe do a video on the history of osgiliath or Minas Tirith?
I favor Tolkien's trolls over the standard Dungeons & Dragons trolls. The D&D trolls always seemed more mindless than Tolkien's, although Tolkien's were no scholars.
I always took Treebeards rant at absolute face value and that trolls were indeed twisted versions of Ents, he corrupted and changed ents into the very first trolls.
Great synopsis on Trolls! Just a note to the Quenya (not that lowly Sindarin) ;) exclamation by Húrin..."aurë entuluva". You had it almost perfectly pronounced but you added an "i" before the ë. So it would have sounded like (as you can guess) 'ow' - 'ray' instead of 'ow - 'ree-ay'. The R can be rolled here if you wish as well. :)
I would love to see a Video Line from you, where you would place all the major events from Lord of the Rings Online. Like the Story Book and Big Raid quests that tie in to them(Helegrod, etc.) :)
I like to see a video discussing if Tolkien’s upbringing as a Catholic had any influence in creating Middle-Earth. Can’t wait to see the Halloween video!
Regarding the Ent/troll comparison, were dragons created in mockery of some other creature? Or are they a natural (though deadly) species onto themselves? Thumbs up!
I do not think they are a mockery of anything. The helm of Hador was a mockery of them. Morgoth bred them to fight the elves after watching his orcs get slaughtered. I think he bred them from monsters that roamed Middle-earth when Morgoth dwelt in Utumno.
you didn't think about cross-breeding Orcs with mumakil, because the Cave troll had features similar to an Indian Elephant since the elephant bones have been once believed to be the bones of Giants such as the legendary Cyclops.
I found the books/movies inconsistent that some trolls can move in sunlight while others cannot. Like most fans introduced by The Hobbit, we make the assumption that all trolls turn to stone by the sun. I assume cave trolls don’t have that worry as long as they stay in caves. But then trolls with Grond and the Black Gate didn’t turn to stone. Also trolls were in the Battle of Five Armies (movie only). Inconsistency.
Either you're really dumb or you're really dumb. Sauron bred a new type of troll called the Olog-hai, They were smarter, faster, stronger and immune to sunlight. The trolls that turn to stone were made by Melkor and were essentially prototypes that weren't as reliable as Balrogs and Dragons,
The "running mindless" of the trolls after Sauron's defeat implies he was directly supplying their will. I've wondered if dragons perhaps worked the same way, but they seem to have demonstrated good sense even without a dark lord around.
The Peter Jackson films did a great job of portraying the trolls of Middle Earth. I couldn't help feeling a bit sorry for both the cave troll of Moria in FoTR and the 3 hill trolls of The Hobbit. They seemed less evil than the Orcs, because they were more dull-witted. I could believe of them that what they really wanted was to be free, and to be left alone. I do wonder how Morgoth managed to create trolls, though. He only managed to create Orcs by corrupting Elves. So, going by the same limitation, what form of life did he corrupt to make trolls? Could they be tremendously corrupted Dwarves, perhaps? That might explain the great enmity between dwarves and trolls. It might also explain their hardiness.
Oh how you've grown! I wonder if you remember me? You've got videos over a million now, awesome merch. You deserve it, brother, I'm so happy for you! As for the video itself, I've always wondered if Ents have been misrepresented. I know their skin is compared to bark, but are they described to have leaves? Because there are sentient trees, and those are, according to Treebeard, strictly different from Ents. Like the trees that ate the orc army after Helm's Deep. Though, apparently some Ents can become "tree-like" under certain circumstances. I'll have to reread the materiel for the 100th time, but I feel like Ents have been a bit misrepresented in fan-art possibly. The only reason I bring it up, is because trolls are a mockery of Ents, but trolls are not treelike at all. I feel like Ents are more alive than nature. They are NOT plants. I think... Someone chime in if I'm misguided, but I swear they are described as something more than a walking, talking, tree.
Of course I remember you, my friend! It is good to hear from you again! Thank you for the longtime support! These are some very interesting points on Ents, and they are things that I question as well!
I believe you're right. The ents (If I recall correctly) were more alive than treeish, and that's how they were able to be the shepherds of the forest. As for whether or not they had leaves, I'm not sure. It would make sense if they did, but also if they didn't.
There is also a rhyme that Tolkien wrote that talks about a good troll that liked to cook good food ( not people ) and I believe he might have traveled though the Shire and scared the Hobbits if I remember correctly.
