Denethor's plunge

[William Cloud Hicklin]

I acknowledge your point about Gimli- although it is I suppose possible to imagine that mountain-bred, broad-chested Dwarves, like Sherpas and some Andean peoples, have much greater lung capacity and blood volume relative to body size than we do. I suppose when I read the books I envisioned the 'running' as being akin to the long-distance run/walk lope which Creeks and other Indians could maintain for hours and leagues, not the edge-of-endurance effort we see in competitive races.

And, again, I've done 20- 25 miles/day repeatedly in mountains with a sixty-pound pack and heavy boots. If one's objective is to keep moving for 10 or 12 hours, one sets one's pace to that level, not to 26-miles-as-fast-as-possible.

In any event, the Great Chase was *supposed* to be astonishing- wasn't Eomer duly amazed? "Wingfoot I name you." (It however bugs me that whatever Aragorn & Co did, the Orcs went farther faster, but nobody remarks on it).

Another 'goof' of Tolkien's of the same sort is his reliance on Army manuals to get marching distances right..but forgetting that Hobbits of course have a stride only about half that of fullsize humans. Frodo, Sam and Gollum must have been fair truckin' over parts of their journey!

On the 'hypocrisy' issue- I've never been very exercised over the likelihood of Plunging Steward, except for humor (and we all joke about the books, too). I just dislike the fact that Jackson eschewed the psychologically dramatic scene Tolkien wrote for another 'hey lookit me!' sfx shot.

[alatar]

Originally Posted by William Cloud Hickli

(It however bugs me that whatever Aragorn & Co did, the Orcs went farther faster, but nobody remarks on it).

But they ate only the best manflesh, which was fortified with time-released glycogen, amino acids and vitamins that could keep an orc on its feet running all day. It also contained a mild hallucinogen that made one think that a Balrog was in pursuit.

[Knight of Gondor]

Daniel Boone, the pioneer/frontiersman, was kidnapped by the Shawnee Indians, and he lived among them for a few months. When he heard they were going to attack the fort, he escaped and traveled 160 miles in four days to get back to warn the people of Boonesborough. Hmm...

[alatar]

Originally Posted by Knight of Gondor

Daniel Boone, the pioneer/frontiersman, was kidnapped by the Shawnee Indians, and he lived among them for a few months. When he heard they were going to attack the fort, he escaped and traveled 160 miles in four days to get back to warn the people of Boonesborough. Hmm...

But he wasn't a Dwarf, but a big man; yes a big man. Actual height/stride not necessarily known.

[Sauron the White]

Knight of Gondor... as cute as the Daniel Boone story is, it could be true as follows. 40 miles per day for 4 days equals 160 miles. 4 miles WALKED for ten hours equals 40 miles per day. So it could be done. At least on paper in theory.

Of course, that has not a darn thing to do with Gimli doing 140 miles in 3 days.

The bigger problem here is that JRRTolkien himself described the activity of Gimli and company as both running and striding. Both activities burn almost three times the energy and gylcogen of normal walking making it impossible to sustain beyond two to three hours for the untrained runner.

[Quempel]

Originally Posted by Sauron the White

Knight of Gondor... as cute as the Daniel Boone story is, it could be true as follows. 40 miles per day for 4 days equals 160 miles. 4 miles WALKED for ten hours equals 40 miles per day. So it could be done. At least on paper in theory.

Of course, that has not a darn thing to do with Gimli doing 140 miles in 3 days.

The bigger problem here is that JRRTolkien himself described the activity of Gimli and company as both running and striding. Both activities burn almost three times the energy and gylcogen of normal walking making it impossible to sustain beyond two to three hours for the untrained runner.

You assume Gimli is untrained.

[Sauron the White]

I assume this because JRRT presented no evidence that he was a trained runner and had been in training for the several months preceding that feat. If there is ample evidence of his long distance in LOTR, please present it so I can be corrected. If not, my assumption is right and proper.