Fallon Kell
Commodore
Joined: 07 Mar 2011
Posts: 1846
Location: Tacoma, WA
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 Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2011 3:17 am Post subject: |
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| crmcneill wrote: |
Actually, the presence of many Balrogs in the First Age and only one in the Third Age was because, in the beginning, the Valar (Tolkien's divine pantheon equivalent) was directly involved in the goings-on of Middle Earth, but as time progressed, their direct involvement decreased until they completely cut themselves off, and their subordinates, the Mayar, acted as intermediaries. The Mayar took many forms, including that of dragons and balrogs (the servants of Morgoth) and the Istari (Gandalf, Saruman and the other wizards). Sauron was, in fact, one of the more potent Mayar, so he was of the same "class" as the Balrog, only more powerful. At the end of the first age, Morgoth was defeated in the War of Wrath and cast into the outer darkness, and many of his creatures were destroyed. This includes most of the Balrogs, all save a few who ran and hid themselves in the deep places of Middle Earth (where they stayed until the Dwarves dug to deep and awoke them).
Through the progression of Tolkien's history, from the first chapter of the Silmarillion to the end of Return Of The King, there is a marked progression of the magic and greatness leaving Middle Earth, almost as if it begins in its purest form and slowly corrupted or diluted over thousands of years. In the First Age, the gods walked among men and elves, and there were good heroes to match the balrogs and Morgoth's other creatures. As the magic seemed to "dry up", so too did the magnitude of the threats decrease, as well as the "mightiness" of the heroes who opposed the darkness. In the end, Sauron was nothing more than a pale shadow of a servant of the true evil of Morgoth. |
True, but I was referring rather to earlier writings of the stories told in the Silmarillion than the Middle Earth timeline itself. An artistic progression rather than a temporal one. Sorry to be less than clear on that point.
| crmcneill wrote: |
| Quote: | | Jedi are the same. WEG wrote their rules before 1999, when Jedi were seen as extremely rare and powerful people. That's why their character templates only had young or failed Jedi. When 1999 rolled around and we saw two Jedi running from two droids in the first few minutes of the movie, we saw that the Jedi were now no better than professional baseball players who could jump very far. |
I wouldn't go that far. After all, the Jedi in the OT were never really portrayed as being more powerful than they are in the prequels. The only real battle in the OT where a Jedi went head-to-head with multiple non-FS attackers was on Jabba's Sail Barge. As far as the result, Jabba's thugs could've very easily been substituted with battle droids and still gotten the same result. The only place where I got the idea that the prequel Jedi were more powerful was when WEG inferred it in the Force chapter in the rulebook. |
True again. I was thinking more along the lines of the EU than the OT. You know, with stars being torn asunder and stuff like that.
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Or that excessively long "Noooooooooo" was the Whining Side of the Force leaving him. - Dustflier
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Bren
Vice Admiral
Joined: 19 Aug 2010
Posts: 3868
Location: Maryland, USA
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| Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2011 6:55 am Post subject: |
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| Fallon Kell wrote: | | True, but I was referring rather to earlier writings of the stories told in the Silmarillion than the Middle Earth timeline itself. An artistic progression rather than a temporal one. Sorry to be less than clear on that point. |
I understood you meant an artistic choice/progression. |
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