Posted: May 12, 2000 at 06:39:35: by Foradan
: How come it took, according to the Tale of Years, over three days for Shadowfax to take Gandalf and Pippin to Minas Tirith from the campsite? The distance was: "Thrice as far as the dwellings of King Theoden,and they are more than a hundred miles east from here, as the messengers of Mordor fly. Shadowfax must run a longer road." So, let's say 400 miles, or about 650km. A cyclist could almost go that fast, what took Shadowfax so long? Probably Tolkien just didn't think of it that much, but perhaps someone can come up with something else in the poor beast's defence.
: -ForadanI agree that Shadowfax's performance was great when compared with any ordinary horse, but I felt that it wasn't very good for the horse that I've imagined Shadowfax to be. What I didn't take into account was that apparently Gandalf was willing to travel only under the cover of darkness, which leaves much less running time. I don't know the length of the night in that part of Middle-Earth at that time of the year, But i'd estimate a minimum of 8 hrs of darkness. But when going uphill over broken terrain Shadowfax was running "as fast as a swift horse could gallop, but that is not fast for him." And he speeded up later. How fast can a fast horse gallop, at the very least 30 mph. That would still only make 14 hours of running for the whole journey. Yet it took at least three nights. I think I will suppose that Tolkien didn't give this subject very much thought, so that I can keep the image I have of Shadowfax.
If someone could estimate how long a normal horse would take for the trip, it would probably help in putting Shadowfax's performance into perspective.
-Foradan
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