Talk:Trolls in Middle-earth

Trolls in the Two Towers
The Trolls in the Two Towers has been removed because there was no source? It’s in the movie, not sure the best way to source. See https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ-qktuyMoI Lava Lamps (talk) 17:50, 16 April 2020 (UTC)
 * I've hidden it rather than removed outright. I've had a serious look for sources. We can't use YouTube in that way. See WP:RS for guidance on suitable sources. Chiswick Chap (talk) 17:56, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

As a plot point surely the film is the reference? Otherwise no plot points could be added without being written about in other sources. Lava Lamps (talk) 18:04, 16 April 2020 (UTC)
 * I've found a half-decent source for a simpler statement, which I have added. In general, a secondary source is far preferable to the primary. As for "the film is the reference", that might be all right in an article on a film, which this is not, but as it would be a primary source there, it would do nothing to establish notability. Chiswick Chap (talk) 18:13, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

The fight between Aragorn and the Troll at the black gate takes place in the Return of the King, it’s the same troll that Pippin stabs and is squished by. Lava Lamps (talk) 18:17, 16 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Indeed, a reliable fact but not the one you wanted. Chiswick Chap (talk) 18:22, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

Found a book with the script for the Two Towers, but unfortunately it’s a self published work by the author so isn’t WP:RS Lava Lamps (talk) 18:39, 16 April 2020 (UTC)
 * No indeed, we must insist absolutely on decent sources, anything else is a disaster in the making. I've added a RS for a brief mention; it goes into detail on the software techniques used but I don't feel we should go far in that direction. Chiswick Chap (talk) 18:44, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

Evil things and the Sun
Might not be relevant, because Treebeard is specifically talking about orcs of Isenguard, but I think trolls are included in the evil things that cannot abide the sun because they were made before the sun came, and that was a surprise to Morgoth.

"‘I think that I now understand what he is up to. He is plotting to become a Power. He has a mind of metal and wheels; and he does not care for growing things, except as far as they serve him for the moment. And now it is clear that he is a black traitor. He has taken up with foul folk, with the Orcs. Brm, hoom! Worse than that: he has been doing something to them; something dangerous. For these Isengarders are more like wicked Men. It is a mark of evil things that came in the Great Darkness that they cannot abide the Sun; but Saruman’s Orcs can endure it, even if they hate it. I wonder what he has done? Are they Men he has ruined, or has he blended the races of Orcs and Men? That would be a black evil!’"

There may be more external sources that discuss this theme? Lava Lamps (talk) 12:34, 19 April 2020 (UTC)


 * It's said specifically that trolls were bred by Melkor and Sauron, so it's be unwise (WP:OR) to speculate on their origins, especially as the evidence goes the opposite way. Chiswick Chap (talk) 12:50, 19 April 2020 (UTC)

Removal of the infobox
@Chiswick Chap As the infobox was removed for Dwarf (Middle-earth) and Elf (Middle-earth), should the infobox be removed here? Personally, I think the infobox works okay. GuardianH (talk) 07:13, 10 August 2022 (UTC)


 * Thanks for drawing my attention to this. I'd say that it was worthless, like the others. The anachronistic and grossly misplaced "base of operations" suggests that the trolls are a 21st-century terrorist organisation, marauding Middle-earth far and wide from their evil base(s), and presumably co-ordinating their nefarious plots via satellite phone. Obviously, the trolls have no "base" and no centralised "operations". Far from just not adding anything useful to the article, this sort of thing is actually damaging. If you want policy on the matter, it's a failure of WP:TONE. Let's get rid of it now. Many thanks, Chiswick Chap (talk) 07:46, 10 August 2022 (UTC)