Re: questionable conception

In article <Xns9A896A172E568genewardsmithsbcglob@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
Gene Ward Smith  <gene@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>norrin <adweiland@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in news:64c3d4fd-b809-465a-b086-
>13e642d15be4@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>> In literature, whenever someone of humble origins turns into
>> a noble hero, they're really adopted. 
>
>Sort of like Frodo and Gandalf, eh?

Well, Frodo certainly.  His parents died when he was young, and
he was taken in by his relative the Master of Brandy Hall, but
when he was (I believe) in his tweens his cousin* Bilbo Adopted
him and brought him to live in Bag End.

With Gandalf, it's a bit different.  In the first place, he is
not of humble origins.  He is a Maia, a spirit of the second
rank, created _ex nihilo_ by Eru Iluvatar.  For him to be
incarnated as something that looked rather like a Man, and sent to
Middle-Earth to aid its inhabitants and oppose Sauron, must have
been something of a let-down.

*First cousin on one side, second cousin on the other, once
removed either way.

Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt@[EMAIL PROTECTED]