u/olive_tractor_parts

Did Gondor ever send spies to infiltrate Minas Morgul and keep an eye on whatever the Nazgûl were up to?

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We know Sauron can shapeshift very rapidly as seen by his repeated attempts to escape the jaws of Huan. Why did he let himself get killed in the wreck of Númenór instead of shapeshifting to a kraken or something?

Is there any reason I couldn't substitute mashed potatoes for the canned pumpkin in a pumpkin pie recipe? Maybe I'd need to add a little honey to sweeten it? I have purple potatoes and want to bring something deliciously different yet familiar to a church potluck.

Why do Ghân-buri-Ghân's people have such a deep hatred of Orcs, beyond that of most Men?

Could the Entwives have become the Olog-hai?

Entwives are noted for having a tendency to control and order.

"They did not desire to speak with these things; but they wished them to hear and obey what was said to them. The Entwives ordered them to grow according to their wishes, and bear leaf and fruit to their liking; for the Entwives desired order, and plenty, and peace (by which they meant that things should remain where they had set them)."

This is the original condition of both Sauron and Saruman as Maiar of Aulë: their love of orderliness became a desire for control and everything went wrong from there on out.

That the Entwives were corrupted and served Sauron is at least possible in that Tolkien specifically states, all races except the elves fought on both sides of the War of the Last Alliance. That could include the species of ents/entwives.

Treebeard himself notes that the Trolls were made in mockery of the Ents.

What if the Entwives' love of order led to their subversion by Annatar and ultimately to becoming the hideous Olog-hai, which did not speak and could endure sunlight?

Is situational gullibility a symptom of dementia? My mom used to be reasonably intelligent, aside from the usual fox news addiction so common among boomers, but over the last few years since COVID she just completely lost the ability to see through bullshit. She watches political podcasts with the same devotion she used to listen to talk radio and every time the podcaster switches to the sponsor segment, out comes the checkbook. The house is literally filled with quack health supplements, most of which she has never even opened. And the paranoia - she is absolutely convinced *they* are out to get her, including wearing a literal tinfoil hat under her wig to protect her from mind control rays emitted by LED street lights. She can't be reasoned with so we don't even try, just watch the deterioration sadly.

I understand that if I put up a smallish pole building on my rural residential lot, it will trigger a reassessment of my property taxes. My question is, will this reassessment be of the entire property including the house, the lot, and the building, or does it only add the value of the additional building to the current taxable value? If the latter, how is the building value determined? I would be building it myself.