A hundredth re-read of the LotR

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Boromir88

And we know Tolkien certainly loved spending time at the pub with his fellow Inklings.

Maybe the saying was born out of bitter (ho ho) experience, as yet another night out with Clive and the lads would turn into a late session with the Professor having to fly home on his beer scooter and the volume on the house turning up to 11 as he vainly tried to get the key in the door quietly without waking up the wife?

Originally Posted by Mister Underhill

Try to think back to before you knew all there was to know about the Nazgûl (admittedly not much, relatively speaking, but still). The sniffing and snuffling, I think, is definitely an effective way to signal that these Riders are not human, that there's something weird (in all senses of that word) about them.

Indeed. Yes, a creature which snuffles all the time might make you think of the workmate with the perennially runny nose who doesn't seem to understand the uses of Kleenex and who makes you feel sick but.....a creature which snuffles around in the dark is most definitely not human, and it's pretty scary if you think about all the possible reasons why they would want to sniff you out. If anything, it makes me think of Hannibal Lector and his "sssss-ssssss" thing and sniffing at Clarice Starling. Horrible.

Anyway, I'd better read the next chapter.....