Talk:Balin (Middle-earth)/Archive 1

Untitled
I don't think I can manage to improve this article, I don't have anymore information I'm afraid Ariakas 7 July 2005 10:27 (UTC)

Oops, I didn't realize what I was doing. I was editing it, but I didn't mean to. I think I put everything back, but I'm extremely sorry if I messed anything up. 71.53.50.168 18:56, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

Copyedit
I'm working on a copyedit. Some notes:
 * 1) The image at the bottom is one I'm pretty sure is not meant to be under the GFDL. In any case, it's too big and not necessary. I'm a bit wary of the other images. I suspect that they are also not GFDL.
 * 2) Balin is no where near an important enough character to require a quotes section. He never says anything that's worth quoting, really. -Aranel (" Sarah ") 20:31, 28 August 2005 (UTC)

I have to disagree, many of the quotes by Balin is really interresting and in reality he is a very important character, he just don't get that much focus

take Legolas for example, he is a much less important character, but he get's alot of focuse

Family Tree
Um, the family tree is wrong with respect to Balin. 71.98.66.64 21:36, 20 October 2005 (UTC)
 * There, it's fixed. Btyner 21:44, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

"Balin" and the Poetic Edda
From Wikipedia Reference desk (humanities):

Two different articles use the same citation to claim two different things, the origin/not-origin of the name "Balin" in Tolkien's works The source for both statements is Solopova, Elizabeth (2009), Languages, Myths and History: An Introduction to the Linguistic and Literary Background of J.R.R. Tolkien's Fiction, p. 20.
 * Balin says: As with almost all Dwarves in The Hobbit, Tolkien took the name Balin from the "Catalogue of the Dwarves", found in the Poetic Edda.
 * Gandalf says: (The name "Gandalf") is taken from the same source as all the other Dwarf names (save Balin) in The Hobbit: the "Catalogue of Dwarves" in the Völuspá. (The Völuspá is the opening poem in the Poetic Edda.)

I have skimmed the Wikisource translation and find no mention of "Balin" but I have no idea if the source is accurate. I do not have access to Dr. Solopova's book. I hope someone knowledgeable in either the "Poetic Edda" or Tolkien, or with access to the source, can look into it. 71.234.215.133 (talk) 19:28, 30 May 2011 (UTC)
 * "Balin" isn't in the Edda. See, section B11-16, for the rest of the dwarf names (and Gandalf).  Note that Þ = "Th" in modern script. Tevildo (talk) 19:37, 30 May 2011 (UTC)

Thank you for the link: Balin was not in the list. Yet how does one go about cancelling/deleting a citation without a comparable one to hand? Solopova holds a doctorate in medieval languages. Without her book at hand, what can I use to say, "Balin is not in the 'Catalogue of Dwarves'"? Would linking to this discussion to the Balin talk page be enough? 71.234.215.133 (talk) 02:50, 31 May 2011 (UTC)
 * Today, scholars believe the Dvergatal to be an interpolation, but it's still included in my translation. Since we know that Balin isn't in that section, we can assume that the citation in Gandalf is correct and that someone made a mistake on the Balin article.  I'd advise you to remove it with a note of "see talk page", where you can copy this discussion as an explanation.  Nyttend (talk) 04:03, 31 May 2011 (UTC)

Given this conversation, I am completely removing the origin of Balin's name from the lede. 71.234.215.133 (talk) 04:59, 31 May 2011 (UTC)

Language of Inscription
Regarding the inscription on Balin's tomb, the article says "An inscription in smaller runes below this gives the translation into English..." I guess that it isn't "English", but one of Tolkein's invented languages. I'm not expert enough to say which one. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.17.65.152 (talk) 14:42, 2 August 2015 (UTC)


 * No, it's English, in keeping with the convention of using English to represent the Common Tongue. -- Elphion (talk) 16:32, 2 August 2015 (UTC)

Family Tree (part 2)
Is one of Balin’s ancestors really called Gimli? Either way, it’s not the Gimli linked. Lava Lamps (talk) 19:27, 21 June 2019 (UTC)