The Mystery Car - solved at Last
collected by Celedor
Frodowannabe:
Unless I'm seeing things, the various Mt. Doom sequences have the cut
on Frodo's face changing from his left cheek to his right. Did anyone
else notice this?
Gimli2: Well, at least it's legitimate, unlike the stupid rumor
that went around claiming that in The Fellowship of the Ring you could
see a car driving off in the distance.
Linaewen: That was not a stupid rumor. I saw that car myself, several times.
Oddmon: You can't see the car really, but you can see the
evidence of a car (light reflection, cloud dust) in the background of a
scene.
Celedor: Well curiously a vehicle somehow found its way into the
book as well. For whatever reason, Professor Tolkien didn't notice a
bit of 20th century technology in his Middle-earth. From Chapter 7 of
the Two Towers:
"Aragorn and Legolas went now with Éomer in the van. On through the
dark night they rode, ever slower as the darkness deepened and their
way climbed southward, higher and higher into the dim folds about the
mountains' feet."
How they got a hold of a van, I don't know.
Bregalad: Celedor, 'van' is short for 'vanguard', the troops
moving at the head of an army, which is what Tolkien meant. Tolkien
didn't produce an anachronism.
Old Toby: Ah well now, we all know "van" is a shortened word for
"vanguard"; however, it is obvious that Tolkien was referring to a
vehicle of some sort. I would have thought Éomer would have had quite a
nice, modern van, such as the Ford Explorer or Toyota Sienna, but I
suppose it would be an English van, the makes of which I am unfamiliar.
Oh wait, maybe it was a Land Rover! Ah, so fitting of Éomer! Now THAT
is an all-terrain vehicle!
ElfLover: It means vanguard.
Celedor: Actually, I always thought of it as the Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo.
Strange Elf: Unreal, this is exactly the same image I had when I read that post. Except I couldn't remember the name of the van.
Frodowannabe: O.K., you guys are all going on about the car... what about the SCAR??
Old Toby: Scar, smar. To think everyone assumed the vehicle in
the movie was a goof, but it's actually true to the book. It's Eomer's
van.
Linaewen: We have finally solved the mystery.
