I hear echoes here of the Hillmen in TTT who were amazed, after surrendering to
Rohan at Helm's Deep, to discover that Saruman had lied to them about prisoners
being tortured and eaten by the Horse-lords.
Which idea came first to Tolkien, Saruman's lies to his slaves or Morgoth's? He
does seem to recycle good ideas over and over between his various works -- as
per the idea that The Hobbit's Elven-king's halls are based on Thingol's
caverns in Silmarillion.
Also, I remember that in TTT Gorbag refers to Elves as "Rebels" -- we may
conclude that from the Orc point of view, Elves are rebels against the Dark
Lord's rule.
Which reminds me: quite a twist on Tolkien prisoner tradition to have Frodo
held at the top of Cirith Ungol, instead of in its undoubted dungeons. Works
great, of course, for dramatic effects: endless stairs, minstrel singing for
master, vistas into Mordor, etc., and Tolkien justifies it by having Shagrat
think of protecting Frodo, not from rescuers, but from his own
folk!
The crisp, clear prose of J.R.R.Tolkien sings out to the reader:"The surname Galbasi, or in reduced form Galpsi, came from the village of Galabas, popularly supposed to be derived from galab- 'game' and an old element bas-, more or less equivalent to our wick, wich. Gamwich (pronounced Gammidge) seemed therefore a very fair rendering. However, in reducing Gammidgy to Gamgee, to represent Galpsi, no reference was intended to the connexion of Samwise with the family of Cotton, though a jest of that kind would have been hobbit-like enough, had there been any warrant in their language."
Ha ha! Get it? Gamgee? Cotton? the Prof's a laff riot!
