Economist writes against economy of magic in Harry Potter

[Patroklos]

All but the Balrogs.

Are you sure? They were described as ancient and predate all others of the class you mention by a thousand+years.

From what I remember they date to the time when Melkor was not yet imprisoned.

[Nostromo]

Originally posted by aneeshm


Wasn't it Melkor who created the Orcs and Trolls and Balrogs and Dragons? I'm not sure about this (it's been a long time since I've read the Silmarillion).

Melkor = Morgoth

[aneeshm]

Originally posted by nostromo


Melkor = Morgoth

Oh, OK.

[Jon Miller]

The Balrogs are Maiar, and so like in existence to Morgoth but weaker.

JM

[aneeshm]

Wasn't Melkor one of the Ainur?

[Jon Miller]

One of the Valar

but yeah, Maiar and Valar are Ainur (if memory serves, I don't deal with the Ainur name much)

JM

[Patroklos]

They are both Ainur, the distiction comes from how they fell out when they got to Ea. The more powerfully willed and talented became the greater Valar lords, while the lesser Ainur became the Maiar who served as the minions (for good or bad) of the various Valar.

[Agathon]

Squabbling about the order of gods in a fictional religion.

This must be a computer gaming site...

[ghen]

Whats sad is I understood almost all of that. Wasn't Gandalf a Maiar as well, but Sauruman wasn't?

[LordShiva]

Teh Economist

[Jon Miller]

Originally posted by ghen
Whats sad is I understood almost all of that. Wasn't Gandalf a Maiar as well, but Sauruman wasn't?

They were both Maiar. Sauruman fell after he came to earth though.

JM

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Agathon
Squabbling about the order of gods in a fictional religion.

Are you saying there are religions that aren't fiction?

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker

Are you saying there are religions that aren't fiction?

No. There are real fictional religions, like Roman Catholicism, and fictional fictional religions like the theology of LOTR. There are also fictional but formerly real fictional religions such as worship of Wotan, and real but formerly fictional fictional religions like being a Jedi.

In addition to these, there are also fictional fictional fictional religions, such as those invented as fictional by characters in novels. There are also fictional fictional fictional fictional religions, which comprise the class of religions discussed by meta fictional characters disussing the object fictional characters represented in the fiction of their own fictional world. For example, character X in novel Y, is reading about a character Z who is thinking about a fictional theology A in a novel. On the other hand, if character X were to be convinced of the truth of the theology A, and gather a cult together in the novel, then in this case we would have a fictional formerly fictional (and now real) fictional fictional religion. But if the reader himself became convinced of the truth of theology A, and gathered together a real cult, then we would have a real, but formerly fictional, fictional fictional fictional religion.

Religion is complicated.

[Nostromo]

[Bkeela]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui


In addition to what Lorizael said, how does it feel to be less mature than 14 year old readers of the Harry Potter series? .

And, of course, watching three films will give you more than enough insight on the BOOK series. Do you normally "watch the movie" when someone says you have to read X book? Though it is amusing for someone to claim some sort of intellectual pride while basing a book on its movie.

It feels quite good. When I've shunned everything pop culture has to offer, I guess I will be in paradise.

Oh, er, I was referring to the Lord of the Ring films. But please, don't let that get in the way of a good vent.