So did they just have someone sitting at any of those beacons all day, looking for another to light up...

So did they just have someone sitting at any of those beacons all day, looking for another to light up, for thousands of years?

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Yes

I am sure there were alternating shifts, and it's based on a real thing the ancient Chinese did.

very likely the beacons were tended to by local farmers or watchmen who lived in the area and had been instructed to do this.

They were manned military outposts. Them being manned 24/7 is the price for the quick 1-bit communication.

There are no farmers on top of fucking mountains, nobody lives there usually.

How didn't they fucking freeze to death sitting on top of those mountains all day, anyway?

Why didn't they just send the eagles with messages?

They live further down, nonce. It's not like the beacons were lit immediately. It probably took all day

no based edmure was there in in the scene

Do you even fucking know the definition of "nonce", you retarded Amerimutt?

eagles ain't friends to nobody

I suppose those things are better attended in war times like in lotr.

It was a common alert system in olden times.

Used in ancient Greece, Byzantium, England, Norway, etc.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phryctoria

*accidentally burns a forest and causes the farmers of Gondor to freeze to death in winter*

Oh wait I forgot, the city of Gondor has no farmers.

Some of these are believable, such as in OP's pic, but they fucked up by showing some beacons on top of freezing peaks, with not even any room for a cabin. They tried to make it look too cool and it becomes unbelievable.

Means you fuck little boys m8

the pyre IS the cabin.

Imagine living your entire life at the top of the fucking Everest looking forward to that one time in several hundred years that you have to light a fucking beacon.

>something in a high fantasy setting becomes unbelievable
CALL THE POLICE

If youve read the book, there were simple automatons stationed at the outposts.

And how did you discern that from my comment, you little virgin freak?

>there were simple automatons

?

I didn't realize LOTR had computers...

Yep, why not? It reminds me of how Jack Kerouac used to work as a fire lookout. They'd hire people to go up to mountain cabins and just live there for a few months at a time with a radio to call in any fires they saw. I don't see in principle why a Gondor/Rohan-level civilization couldn't have done something similar, sending up a fresh team once every few months or so. It would be a sweet gig if they paid you, imagine, a year's salary to sit up there a few months.

Why would you have to be AT the beacon?

I thought the point of the beacon was so everyone in the next valley could see, then they could light their beacon so the next one could see.

I don't know why anyone would think they stick around at the beacon

>he doesn't know about the cozy mountaintop caves with lemba bread, ale, and nubile hobbit girls
people killed one another for signal fire duty in those places

Because it would take a day at least to climb on top of those fucking mountains? a runner would be faster than that.

Gondors got farms lad

Not in the movies

Hopefully the based Amazon adaptation would correct that

Yeah, militaries the world over have crap assignments like that. But that's the whole point of having a military in the first place; you hope you don't need to fight, but you need to be ready to fight at a moments' notice.

ooerr big talk from a nonce who lost his virginity porking little boys pies

>Sit in a dark corner of a pub with your hood on smoking a pipe
>Autistically stare at children

Why was Aragorn acting so suspiciously?

>army
That job would be given to the marines and you know it Mr. Fancy Toys

Why did PJ make movie Frodo such a bitch? All he does is whine and make that constipated face to the camera.

You see they all had a ring that would provide all the food and warmth they needed

user this isn't the fucking everest

there are real world cities on top of mountains you know? like 5,000m up like nepal or something

so what makes you think a middle-earth fantasy book couldn't pull it off?

Sam is the real hero and a real human bean

but what about their TAX POLICY

Frodo pretty much was a bitch in the books, barring a few instances like the Barrows

Man if one dude was just napping he doesn't light the beacon and the world dies. Damn...

>so what makes you think a middle-earth fantasy book couldn't pull it off?

Just look at those mountains retard, they're uninhabitable, the Fellowship could barely pass them and they were some of the best men around

...

screwby

says who they're inhabitable? you? and just by looking at it? have you ever been there yourself to claim such thing?

the fellowship couldn't cross caradhras because saruman was telling it not to let them you fucking retard

Why are you acting as if this is some ridiculous thing when it's something that has been done throughout history?

why didnt they fly the eagles to the peak oi the mountains to light the beacons

Yeah it's called standing watch. It's the oldest job in the military. If you don't have good people to stand watch you are susceptible to theft, sneak attacks, degradation of your outposts and equipment, encroachment on your borders by foreigners and/or enemies, and a variety of other problems. Standing extra watches is also a good way to discipline troops for infractions that need to taught a lesson on but don't warrant more serious punishment.
When I was in the Navy I had been late a couple days for work because of trouble hearing my alarm. It could have gotten me a Captain's Mast (serious punishment, not as bad as a court marshal) but I was given (and took) the option to stand extra watches because I had a generally good reputation otherwise. I went to the ER about my hearing and they sprayed hydrogen peroxide in my ears and out came cockroach-sized balled of wax. lol

I disagree, having just finished re-reading fellowship and towers. While Frodo has moments of occasional woe is me I'm traveling into Mordor on a suicide mission in the book same as the movies, you get more a sense of his tremendous willpower in moving forward. He relies less overtly on Sam and there's also the whole sense of him being learned and versed in elven lore that doesn't get included in the movies.

Wtf? I'm joining the Gondorian army right now!

Because I've climbed on mountains all over the world and I know which ones can support life and which can't. And they had problems even before Saruman started.

I'd have thought it was a relief that you didn't have to light the beacons, wasn't it only lit if Gondor was under attack?

Yeah but that's their entire job, entire purpose for living in such a shitty place. At least you feel you're not wasting your time.

imagine being one of the 300 Rohirrim that survived the war and went back home. You would have had your pick of whichever women you wanted, given how practically every other man had died.

>be me
>be manning beacon a few from the end
>light it for no reason

I'm pretty sure that in books they were placed on hills, not mountains. Something like this.

why didn't they light the eagles on fire?

They'd probably have a noose waiting for you when you finished climbing back down.

worth it to cause so much panic and confusion

According to the source material, the sentries at the top were Ents. These had long attention spans and longer lives.

This, it was probably the shittiest job in Gondor unless you really liked to be alone.

>ents
>lighting fire and burning trees
>doubt.jpg

>the entire rohirrim rides to gondor
>gondor thinks rohan is invading
>starts a war
Yeah a noose would be too light a punishment

That beacon over in the distance looks disproportionately large.

You know you can burn dead branches, right? Use your brain for once instead of just shitposting here.

that's not a beacon that's muh DICK

How would a FUCKING TREE create fire?

I don't know, bang two fucking ROCKS together?

matches?

>got to chill out on a cool mountain all day, enjoying the amazing scenery, reading books etc
>all you have to do is look out for a nearby beacon lighting, which would be hard to miss
>shittiest job

You need fast movement for that, Ents are slow as fuck

t. never been on a tall snowy mountain

It's anything but comfy

>out came cockroach-sized balled of wax
The actual fuck, yoeman?

sure thing kiddo

>Not sneaking over to the other guys beacon and lighting it on him

>cuddle up at night in your cafe with a Hobbit prostitute
>warm soup in a metal ladel
>beautiful scenery in every direction
>no elf fucking shits or dwarves in sight

I mean you could be dying in the ditches in Osgiliath or border regions fighting against orcs instead. You some kind of faggot, son?

Torch lighters have excellent health and dental coverage. Also tax free income

Probably yearly or half-yearly shifts. The Danes do the same in Greenland for the winter, two volunteers go out for half a year with some doggos to stay there and guard shit or whatever.

was the bottom location on the other side of the planet?

>guard shit
They probably are gay and go there to fuck

...

Do you think that in the absence of women they get touchy with one another? in a manly no-homo kind of way?

>a runner would be faster

I think you might be a dum dum user.

Nofap is a solution too, you know?

There were seven Beacon-hills between Minas Tirith and the border of Rohan, spanning a distance of about 150 miles. The seven, from east to west, were Amon Din, Eilenach, Nardol, Erelas, Min-Rimmon, Calenhad, and Halifirien.

Why didn't they put the ring in a loaf of bread or something so anyone could carry it without actually having to touch it.

A messenger on a horse would be faster, yes.

Only for sad little virgins.

one of them would have to be feminine though

how do I get a curly-haired hobbit gf

...

Danes are pretty feminine

How much inheritance tax did Frodo have to pay after receiving a gold ring from Gandalf? Disregarding the magical propertes of the ring, a gold piece of jewellery of that quality would surely have made it one of the most expensive items available in The Shire. Surely an average hobbit like Frodo wouldn't have been able to afford the 40% taxation rate placed on such items by the local government?

Better virgin that faggots.

...

Its probably said to be an honor to be placed as a signal guard,, but in actuality its where you send the retards as punishment. Like how they always threaten to station people in siberia or some shit in some military movies.

>keep it secret, keep it safe

He didn't report it

Like a typical rich trust fund babby he didn't pay a dime.

ForgForgot pic
Frodo was landed gentry, he more or less was the local government

The ring would make them want to eat the bread

...

Who was Mr. Underhill and why did he only stay at the Bree Inn for like 5 minutes?

This. The ring would either make them or someone else want to eat the bread and get lost in their shit, or, it would just get lost somewhere