trolls and light

[The Wizard from Milan]

We learnt in the Hobbit and it is repeated in the LotR that trolls turn to stone when the sun rises if they are caught into the light.
Yet when the Fellowship is attacked in the Chaber of Marzabul, sun is shining directly on Balins tomb from the shaft and the troll is breaking through anyway until Frodo stabs him/her/it

[Curubethion]

Hmm...first of all, I think that the sunlight requirement would have been full, direct sunlight-such as full daylight. So the shaft of light, which might not have directly hit him, might not have done much. Also, perhaps there had been some degree of adapatation. In the LOTR Movie "Weapons and Warfare of Middle-Earth" book, there was mention of a stony crust forming on the cave troll. Perhaps this was the extent of "Stonification"?

[katya]

There was a question like this in that crossword puzzle...

[Spock]

IT WAS A MOVIE......the light source could have been a kleg lamp :D

[Landroval]

There are, apparently,many races of trolls; in the "Black gate opens" chapter, there is mentioning of mountain trolls, half-trolls and hill-trolls (and there also are the Olog-hai, the great Trolls who appeared at the end of the Third Age). In letter #153 to Peter Hastings, Tolkien comments that:
I am not sure about Trolls. I think they are mere 'counterfeits', and hence (though here I am of course only using elements of old barbarous mythmaking that had no 'aware' metaphysic) they return to mere stone images when not in the dark. But there are other sorts of Trolls beside these rather ridiculous, if brutal, Stone-trolls, for which other origins are suggested.
To conclude, I would say that not all trolls turn to stone.

[The Wizard from Milan]

IT WAS A MOVIE......the light source could have been a kleg lamp :D
Nope, it is in the book too, and the book esplicitely says 'sunlight from shaft'

[Spock]

well even 'a shaft' is a narrow beam.........thus I'll have to agree with those before that it wasn't enough sunlight to do real damage. :(

[The Wizard from Milan]

There are, apparently,many races of trolls; in the "Black gate opens" chapter, there is mentioning of mountain trolls, half-trolls and hill-trolls (and there also are the Olog-hai, the great Trolls who appeared at the end of the Third Age). In letter #153 to Peter Hastings, Tolkien comments that:

To conclude, I would say that not all trolls turn to stone.
Very interesting, thanks!