Talk:Waste

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Northern Waste

At Dour1234: Don't you think this 'Waste' referred to the 'Northern Waste'? Or the 'Withered Heath'? IvarTheBoneless (talk) 18:27, 30 June 2025 (UTC)

I do not believe that it refers to the Northern Waste or the Withered Heath. It doesn't matter what I believe the Waste refers to. What matters is that Tolkien never specified what region the Waste refers to.Dour1234 (talk) 23:26, 30 June 2025 (UTC)

There is another case in The Hobbit (at least in some editions?) in which the Waste is capitalized: "But Thorin was not moved. “Winter and snow will bite both men and elves,” he said, “and they may find their dwelling in the Waste grievous to bear." It seems that the area around the Lonely Mountain was considered as (a part of?) the Waste. Angon (talk) 00:26, 6 July 2025 (UTC)

In which edition of The Hobbit is the word waste capitalized in this sentence about men and elves? In the e-book Enhanced Edition of The Hobbit by Hougton Mifflin Harcourt with a Note on the Text by Douglas A. Anderson from May 2001 and with illustrations drawn by J.R.R. Tolkien it reads "“Winter and snow will bite both men and elves,” he said, “and they may find their dwelling in the waste grievous to bear." I do not think that this Waste is the Northern Waste or the Withered Heath, because I cannot think of a reason why somebody would flee to regions like that with money. J.R.R. Tolkien used the term waste various times in The Hobbit. The instance mentioned above seems to refer to the Desolation of Smaug around the Lonely Mountain. In the chapter A Short Rest while Thorin and Company are on their way to Rivendell we have "Morning passed, afternoon came; but in all the silent waste there was no sign of any dwelling. They were growing anxious, for they saw now that the house might be hidden almost anywhere between them and the mountains." where the silent waste seems to refer to the region near Rivendell. In the chapter On the Doorstep Thorin and Company are in the region around the Lonely Mountain we have "Nothing moved in the waste, save the vapour and the water, and every now and again a black and ominous crow." and "They were alone in the perilous waste without hope of further help." In the chapter The Return Journey we have "They intended to go along the edge of the forest, and round its northern end in the waste that lay between it and the beginning of the Grey Mountains." where the waste refers to the region between the northern end of Mirkwood and the Grey Mountains. --Akhôrahil (talk) 08:50, 7 July 2025 (UTC)