Posted: November 25, 1999 at 13:21:15: by Michael Martinez
: :::Yes, the troll incident was in the Trollshaw, but in days of
: old there were probably many trolls living in the Ettenmoors
: (perhaps they still do, but no-one knows it). As for the
: stone-giants, I believe that Tolkien wasn't thinking ahead as
: to the different types of creatures he had created, and I
: believe they were simply stone-trolls, and their size was
: exagerated. Then again, throughout Tolkien's works he speaks
: of "other strange creatures", and perhaps these giants are one
: of those that never got mentioned. I think I will post a
: question on the stone-trolls, and perhaps the great Michael
: Martinez will have an answer (he answers all my other stupid
: questions).As Yoda might say, "Answering questions does not make one great. What if the answers are wrong?" :) The stone-giants of THE HOBBIT appear to be legitimately intended as giants, not trolls. Tolkien originally envisioned Treebeard as an evil giant, but all that changed. I think he became uncertain of whether Middle-earth should really contain giants, but he apparently left in some clues (and didn't take them out of THE HOBBIT during either of its revisions) to allow himself leeway. Trolls may have become the only giants in Middle-earth, but I'm not fully convinced that is so. There may have been more up in the Ettenmoors than just trolls. And what was throwing the rocks down at the Fellowship when they were trying to cross Caradhras? I was very reminded of Bilbo's stone-giants by that scene.
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