Why Ancient Relics Are Never as Easy to Recover as Fans Imagine in Middle-earth

Bilbo in Erebor’s treasure hall

When people talk about lost relics in Middle-earth, they often imagine the problem in very simple terms. Find the ruin.Survive the danger.Take the object.Bring it home. But that is not how these stories usually work. Again and again, the texts show something much stranger. Ancient relics are rarely just missing objects waiting to be reclaimed … Read more