: : Second: I'm not sure what was meant by the reference to Prof.
: : Tolkien's use of "time distortion" in Lothlorien. One of the
: : fellowship (Sam?) comments on the phase of the moon being
: : different from what he'd expected. But I figured that the
: : "power of the Lady" was such that they forgot so fully about
: : the outside world and the pain they had been carrying that it
: : seemed as though time had stood still. I'm almost sure someone
: : says "we've been here a month" which solves the mystery of the
: : moon's similiar phase. If there is time distortion in a
: : "science fiction" sense I guess I missed it. Comments, please?

: Well, they don't seem to have experienced a month in Lothlorien. They could not account for 30 days of their experience. So they observed less time in Lothlorien than Middle-earth did outside of Lothlorien.

: : And finally, I wanted to comment on the mention of the Nazgul's
: : fear of water and the comment that it was "odd". I had always
: : thought it a little lame, a way to give the Nazgul some handy
: : weaknesses until I read the Silmarillion. Could it be that the
: : spirit of the great Ulmo still ran in the waters of Middle
: : Earth, albeit less powerfully and with less direct intervention
: : than before? I admit I have a great love of rivers so the idea
: : really appeals to me. In my 700 page screenplay version of LOTR
: : (yeah, me too) I had the voice of the "summons dream" come from
: : the river. Boromir carries with him to Rivendell a flask
: : containing water from the Anduin. At the Council, Elrond pours
: : this water into a bowl, breathes on it, emerses his hands in it
: : and we "hear" the voice repeat the summons-prophecy "Seek for
: : the Sword-that-was-broken...etc.
: :
: : Anyway, does anyone else think that Ulmo may have been behind
: : the Ringwraith's seemingly odd fear of water? I'd love to
: : know.

: A lot of people have suggested that perhaps Ulmo might have something to do with the Nazgul's fear of water, but Tolkien himself never fully developed the idea (as he found it to be rather weak himself).

: This is probably one of those areas where the reader is welcome to draw whatever conclusions they wish.

Time flies in Lorien! Just like my vacations. But I'm inclined to think think that the Fellowship lost track of time as opposed to time slowing or speeding up in Lorien. But Tolkien doesn't seem to adequately explain what actually happened.

As far as the fear of water, Tolkien seems to have drawn on eastern European mythology in which it was believed that evil spirits could not cross over water. This belief was later added to the vampire (or Dracula) myth. It does seem a bit out of place in LOTR, considering the power given by Sauron to the ringwraiths. And of course the main difference was that the ringwraiths could and did cross over water, they were merely fearful. But that in itself seems odd: The perveyors of fear being afraid of anything. It also brings into question how the ringwraiths managed to get all the way from Mordor on horseback, considering the number of rivers and streams that must have lain in their path. The Ulmo theory sounds like the best bet. Was Ulmo still active in the waters of ME? Perhaps an answer to that question lies with the ringwraiths themselves. They would be in a better position to know such things. So their hesitation in crossing the river seems to affirm the notion that Ulmo was still active in ME, though evidently not in all places at all times...Goodgulf