Project - Economy of Middle-earth

[Gil-Galad]

For a long time I have been thinking about this project and finally I decided to start it at TWF.

But I believe that there are many members of TTF and GOT who would like to join it and to contribute with their knowledge.That is why I am opening a thread here,about the same thing,a thread in which everyone is most welcome to help our research.The works will be also published at TW and TWF.Thus your researches will be read by hundred thousands of people.


I have been thinking about The Economy of Middle-earth for a long time.

Tolkien did his best to create a real which seems to us like a real one.I am sure that everyone of us has asked himself :"Hey,if the things Tolkien wrote are true?They seem so real!!!"

And it is true,Tolkien managed to create an unique world.So real that I believe we can talk about economy in Middle-earth.

All races which are represented in Tolkien's fiction,even some different tribes/kindreds has their own way of livig.Some of them were farmers,others traders,thirds were sailors,jewerly makers etc.

The relationships between the different races were so complicated that definitely we can talk about economy.About economic relationships between them.

I would like to make this thread a place where different researches concerning The Economy of Middle-earth are published.

There is lots of information in Tolkien books and I believe that from all Tolkien's books we can create a whole "economic picture of Middle-earth."

Because the work is really a lot I divided it work on several parts,so everyone is can choose one,two,three etc. kindreds/tribes:

Elves:
-Teleri
-Noldor in Middleearth
-The Elves of Doriath
-All dark elves
-The elves of Cirdan
-The elves of Tranduil (Third age)
-Elves of Galadriel
-Elves of Gil-galad

Men:
-The three Kindreds-First Age
-The Numenoreans
-The men of Middle-earth-(Second Age)
-The men of Gondor
-The Men of Rohan
-Men of Arnor
-Men of Harad and the South

Dwarves:
-First age
-Second age
-Third age

Hobbits

Mordor

Isengard

Volunteers??



Everyone from TWF,TW and GOT at TTF is most invited to choose something and work on it.:)


*The original post it posted at TWF.

[Gil-Galad]

Let's use this thread for organisation matters concerning the project.

Whatever article you write on a topic chosen from this Project, open it as a separate thread in the "Library of the istary" - section as follows:

Economy of ME - /and here goes your title/


So volunteers?Questions?

[Eledhwen]

*** Moved from the Project Thread ***

It might be difficult to write essays on the economies of discrete communities because of the interdependent nature of economic activity. Some people might want to look at the trade between two or more groups (eg Thranduil's Elves and the Lake men) and discuss how it affected their economic stability and progress, good or evil; or how it led to malcontent and war.

Also, is it possible to have the work book and the project thread stuck next to each other? I did not notice this work book at first and got my wrist slapped for posting in the wrong place :( It will make life easier for if the thread list gets very long.

[Gil-Galad]

I know that it would be difficult to make such a research and to compile eveyrthing which desereves to be said.
That is why everyone can choose the format of his work-essay,lecture,etc.
It is not a problem if you want to write about the relationships between the different communities.If you want to take Thranduil,for example,of course you can put a stress on the relationships between his folk and the Lake Men.You can write about everything concerning the economic relatioships of the Elves of Thranduil.In your work you can put a stress on their relationships with The Lake Men.If you want you can write also about the Lake Men :)

It is up to you :)


I will put a link of the work-book in the Project thread .:)

[Gil-Galad]

Here is the link for Economy of Middle-earth's work-book :

http://www.thetolkienforum.com/showthread.php?p=418669#post418669

[Gil-Galad]

Hmm I thought about all the possibilities and I think I will take The Numenoreans.

They have always been interesting to me as the greatest men in ME.The ones who started from nothing and created the greatest civilization of men,and the ones who fell into the darkness because of their might and greatness.

hmhm...definitely I am booking them :)

[Finduilas]

Hmm...this is a serious, really serious work...let me think a bit and I'll tell you my final decision. Anyway, guess I'll take some kind of Elves...:D:p

[Gil-Galad]

Take your time Findi.It reaquires a serious research and I am sure you can do it :) ;)

[Astaldo]

If I understood well we pick a civilization and we write the way of living and thing like this? If yes I think I would like to write about Hobbits. I am not sure yet but I think I will give it a try.

[Gil-Galad]

I would like to make a short announcement.Actually not that short.


In the very beginning of this project I thought that one person would be able to work alone and to finish a lecture concerning the economy of Middle-earth.

I started working on the Numenoreans and now I have material which is more than 20 pages long.I am quite sure that it will not be interesting for many people to read 20 pages concerning economics.I am believe that it would be the same for the other races of ME and I do not think that is the best way to write about Economy of Middle-earth That is why I am thinking of making a big change.

I would like to suggest something new.What would you say if we open discussion about economics.We can start for example one for the Noldors,then when we are done with them we can continue with the Numenoreans,the Dwarves and even Mordor......


The idea is to have open discussions,to try to write everything about the different races' economies and to summarise the information.Later when we collect all the information concerning the different races we can make a team which will write one last conclusion.Thus one day(I hope not so far from today)we will have own Encyclopedia of The Economy of Middle-earth.


I believe that is a very ambitious project,which if we manage to finish,would be something really great.

Suggestions?Let's make everything perfect.Ideas?


p.s.It is time to sleep now :o

[Astaldo]

I think this is better and since you started this I'm with you. :)

[Lhunithiliel]

Go ahead with it, Kingy! :)

[Gil-Galad]

Go ahead with it, Kingy! :)

Lhun,where do you want me to open the discussion?I will start it with something about the Numenoreans.

[Gil-Galad]

It is time to start this project.It was posted some months ago,but so far nothing has been posted.

After I posted the suggestions about the Face of this thread, I decided to start the work on the Numenoreans.

But first,let me clarify one thing concerning the structure of our discussions.I believe that we should first decide which will be the main features/characteristics that will be discussed by us.Then we can start the discussion followinng the plan maded by us before that.

When we are finished,some of us will summarize the whole information and he will post it the final version in a special thread that will be open.I will post its link when we finish the first project :the Numenoreans :)

[Gil-Galad]

:( :( Economy of Middle-earth :The Numenoreans


I suggest to begin with the Numenoreans because of one reason.The were the most developed part of the The Second born.Yes,they received a lot from the Valar,but we should confess also that they were really talented and managed to develop their civilization to a level that made them even believe they could oppose and defend the Valar.One of the reasons for their might was the economy the had.With the time their economy(mostly because of their skill as sailors)became so mighty that it allowed them to start invasion in Middle-earth,that later was one of the reason for their fall(the capture of Sauron of course).

Many things can be said about the might of The Numenoreans,but the most interesting thing is the fact that they had something that seemed to be real economy.

Of course I can not make a real professional research,due to the lack of information ,of cifers etc.
But if we could talk about economy of Middle-earth we should divide first its parts:

Indusrty -ship-building;weapons;metal industry;
Agriculture- farming,etc
Trade- import,export,home trade,
Expansion in Middle-earth and wars
Transport- sea,transport in the island -ok we cannot talk about the transport as much as about the modern one,but still there are some things to be said about the sailors and the using of the horses in Numenor.


These are the first ideas that came to me :)I believe there are many things to be discussed about all factors like ship-building,weapons,metal industry etc.

But before we start the discussion let's see whether anyone has some more ideas to add to my "plan" or not?

Suggestions?

[Lhunithiliel]

The Numenorean society is most certainly largely (comparatively) described and information about it can surely be 'dug' out from various sources.

I think the best way is to open a separate thread and thus let TTF members comment on the issue. :cool:

You can controll the main topic of a sequence of posts - start with one topic and when there's nothing more to say about it, move to the next.

[Gil-Galad]

hmmh,So what do you suggest?To open a new thread for every topic?I supposed this here would be such a thread(a place where every topic is discussed) and that the final versions of our works would be posted in a speacial thread.
Where do you want me to open this discussion thread(s)?Somewhere in The Halls or what?And something more,when we are finished with every topic what are we going to do with these threads,remove them and keep them or delete them?And one final question:Who is going to summarise the information after every topic?We need volunteers or maybe one will be in charge of the whole work?

Give me ideas,I want to have as many as possible different ideas,in order to make everything work if not perfect,almost perfect:)

[Lhunithiliel]

One thread about "Economy of Numenor" - included in it all the sub-topics you enlisted above.
The place of the thread ... well... in the NF, I guess. It does not fit in the Book fora or in any other section! :cool: :)

[Gil-Galad]

ok Lhun,give me some time to start the first sub-topic.:)

[Gil-Galad]

The fist sub-topic is posted.I hope tha many peple will take part in the discussions. :)

See you there guys :)

[Ingwë]

Completed, thread 'The Economy of Númenor'. You may find it here: http://www.thetolkienforum.com/showthread.php?t=16442&page=1&pp=20

I would like to continue with the Economy of Men: The three Kindreds (First age). I will post here :)

[Ancalagon]

I'd have thought Dwarves would be an ideal starting point when discussing economy in Middle-Earth. Considering their age and desire to make money, all routes emanated from or led to them one way or another. I recall a debate on whether greed was the downfall of Dwarves and Dwarven economy was certainly touched upon, might be a place to start looking. I would like something to see me through the winter, and a project on Dwarven economy might be a nice project:rolleyes:

Hope you are all well:)

[Gothmog]

Nice to see you back on the site Anc. :)

I hope you will check out some of the discussions and jump in on them too. :)

[Arvedui]

Nice to see you back on the site Anc. :)

I hope you will check out some of the discussions and jump in on them too. :)
There isn't much to say except a big "I second that!" :)

[Ingwë]

Good, Anc. I'm glad to see you around.
However, Gil-Galad has already started The Economy of Numenor (http://www.thetolkienforum.com/showthread.php?t=16442) but he's too busy and cannot post. Can somebody help me with that project?
And I will be glad to see thread about Dwarves :)