Numerology

[drew]

I am re-reading my way through LOTR currently; well almost done, and something has been catching my attention.

I'm no mathmatition; and certainly I'm no Numerologist...but does anyone think that Tolkien dabbled in Numerology?
Or at least studied it, and used it for some fodder in the Story.

There are many parts in the story that are number related.
Some small observations I oticed;
Obviously the 9 members of the fellowship...and the nine Nazgul. Bilbo's and Frodo's age at the beginning add up to one hundred and forty four (1+4+4=9)
Biblo was one hundred and eleven (1+1+1=3(One third of nine))
Frodo was thrity three (Thhree three's are nine)

The story took place at the end of the Third Age

Not to mention the name Numemor.

Has anyone else seen any signifigant numeric refferences? Especially those connected with the numbers three and nine?

[Zarathustra]

Well, he also had stories set in the 1st and 2nd age. Numenor, specifically, was a 2nd Age Kingdom--which seems to shoot down your theory of the importance 3's and "Numenor." Also, the 9 Nazgul were due to 9 rings given to men. But there were 7 rings given to Dwarves. Seems pretty arbitrary to me. And the 9 members of the Fellowship was chosen arbitrarily by Elrond. He needed a small expedition for secrecy, but didn't want to send Frodo alone. He picked 9 for symmetry, which isn't mystical--just aesthetically pleasing.

The only "mystical" association with numbers seems to be in the Hobbit, where Bilbo was chosen as the 14th number simply because 13 was considered to be unlucky. If I recall, Bilbo thought this was kind of insulting that he was chosen to go along simply to negate silly Dwarven superstition. I don't thik Tolkien himself attached much significance to it.

[Marv]

I'm sure Dan Brown could find something in it, but personally I've never noticed anything.

Interesting thoughts, though.