Tolkien's Mistakes

[Boromir88]

We all know Bilbo became the oldest hobbit to ever live. But, do we know BILBO cheated, when recording the dates. From the timeline in the back, in 3019 to 3020, Bilbo age seems to go from 119 to......130? Interesting, but I wonder if this was an editting problem, instead of a Tolkien slip up.

[Kuruharan]

*Sigh* Such killjoys…

Anyway, there is also a rather awkward gaffe in Appendix A, Gondor and the Heirs of Anarion regarding the aftermath of the Kin-Strife where Tolkien skips a generation or two and refers to the slain Minardil as the son, rather than great-grandson, of Eldacar.

The only reason I mention it is because I just noticed it the other day.

[Aiwendil]

Davem wrote:

'Sauron' isn't his 'right name', its a title - according to Encyc of Arda it means either 'The Abhorred' or Lord of Abomination'.

But Aragorn certainly seemed to think it was his "right name" - anyway, the implication was that Sauron would not use the name "Sauron".

Boromir wrote:

We all know Bilbo became the oldest hobbit to ever live. But, do we know BILBO cheated, when recording the dates. From the timeline in the back, in 3019 to 3020, Bilbo age seems to go from 119 to......130? Interesting, but I wonder if this was an editting problem, instead of a Tolkien slip up.

Well, Bilbo was 111 at the party - which is correct for its date 60 years after The Hobbit. Seventeen years pass between the party and the beginning of Frodo's quest, which would put Bilbo at 128. I believe that was 3018 (I could be wrong), which would make him 130 in 3020. So I think it was a typo or something.

[Mithalwen]

Well the one that gets me - perhaps cos I have an particular dislike of facial hair - is that in "The grey havens" Cirdan is given a beard ..... no elf has a beard........

But it is a bit mean .......

[dancing spawn of ungoliant]

Actually, some elves could grow a beard if they wanted to (I, however, like to imagine Cirdan without one). Further information about elves' beards

notice how the poems that are "roughly translated" from their original language always have perfect rhythm and rhyming?

Yeah, but so it goes every time when translating texts into other languages. At least all the Finnish translations of the songs and poems rhyme perfectly without changing the words too much.

[edit: noticed a typo...]

[Firefoot]

I do not see any error in this. He is 128 in 3018 (His farewell feast at 3001, plus 17 years), 129 in 3019 when the Hobbits return, and then there are two years before he and Frodo pass into the west. It is outlined very well in Appendix B, The Chief Days from the Fall of Barad-dûr to the End of the Third Age.

[Tuor of Gondolin]

This is not technically a mistake, but it's at least a surprising overlooked consideration by Tolkien. I don't believe he gives anywhere the names of Arwen and Aragorn's daughters. Surprising, given the well-known basis of Middle-earth in linguistics, and the way he could have worked in references, derivations, etc. to elves and humans throughout the three ages, perhaps even an allusion to Melian.

(And another bit I found irritating in the movies. Why couldn't all three children have been shown there, might have been rather cute?)