[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Sauron the White

from Bethberry

Several have said to use the text and not the illustrations. Here is a very clear one.

from davem today at 2:12 on this very page

I am pretty sure that if there was an illustration of 100 townspeople dynamiting the Laketown bridge it certainly would have been used to try and disprove my main point. But since the illustration by JRRT shows a substantial bridge supported by numerous and thick pylons and supports my point that it is not easily thrown down and destroyed we get the convenient call to forget the illustrations.

Hmmm. Hummm. Harrroooom. Let us not be hasty in condemning these calls about the reliablity of the pictures. You seem to have overlooked some of the reasons given.

davem points out that perspective is wrong in one illustration.

Tiny Bilbo

Perhaps the next step is to examine and cross examine all of Tolkien's illustrations to see if this characteristic is present in the entire spectrum of Tolkien's illustrations. And then we could discuss the merits of perspective per se. But davem's call was based on some evidence.

Ibrin provides a quotation from Tolkien himself, from the Letters:

My own pictures are an unsafe guide.

That tag for the link is a quotation from Tolkien; Ibrin says it is in Letter #27. Perhaps someone could check to verify if she has quoted it correctly and fairly and within context? I'll reiterate the full quotation from Tolkien just so we can see what reason she offerred for suggesting that the illustrations do not have authorial authority:

Originally Posted by Tolkien, Letter #27, apparently

I am afraid, if you will need drawings of hobbits in various attitudes, I must leave it in the hands of someone who can draw. My own pictures are an unsafe guide.

Oh, but wait! This was written in relation to Tolkien's ability to draw hobbits, not in relation to his ability to draw landscapes. Funny, I seem to recall several of Tolkien's landscapes which lack perspective or depth. But perhaps we need an Art Historian to provide a reliable evaluation of Tolkien's illustrations, as the man himself obviously was too humble and modest about his talents.

So therefore, based on the examples of these two posters, davem and Ibrin (the latter of whom StW completely ignored) would appear that the arguments of only one person at least fall into this category:

Originally Posted by StW

It reminds me of songwriter Paul Simons observation:

Simon & Garfunkel "The Boxer"

A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.

And as for Boxers and Dragons, well, let us enjoy ourselves with contemplating these possibilities: