Short Questions and Answers Vol. 7
I’ve received many questions for which the answers are really too short to justify long answers. Every few months I round up some of the questions and answer them in one article.
Q: Did Tolkien ever make up his mind about the story and eventual fate of the Blue Wizards?
ANSWER: Not really. He wrote two brief descriptions of their history but never settled on their names and deeds in any final text. Most people go with the later version of their history, which stipulates they were sent to Middle-earth in the Second Age.
However, that version of events is inconsistent with the information provided in the published Lord of the Rings. Some people have no problem disregarding the statements Tolkien published in his lifetime in favor of details that only came to light after Christopher Tolkien published his father’s drafts and notes.
Q: What is Shelob’s True Nature?
ANSWER: The full question I received was put this way:
Shelob is described as the last child of Ungoliant. The exact nature of Ungoliant is very vague, but she can create offspring. Shelob does have some kind of intelligence and she can create offspring. Is she just a longlived or immortal giant spider? Or is she some sort of immortal spirit taking the form of a spider? Perhaps Shelob have a similar nature as Dragons?
I’d say your guess is as good as mine. Since we don’t really know what the dragons were it’s conceivable Tolkien thought of them existing much as Shelob existed.
If Ungoliant was an Incarnate like the Valar, Maiar (two groups of Ainur), and the Elves, Men, and Dwarves, and the Ents and Eagles of Manwë … well, things are getting complicated.
Tolkien said that Tom Bombadil was “an aborigine”, meaning he was native to Middle-earth (pretty much excluding all the popular fan theories about Ilúvatar, Aulë, and others). So if Bombadil was not one of the named types of Incarnates, was he an Incarnate?
We’ll never know. But Bombadil and Ungoliant might presumably be from a class or classes of creatures whom Tolkien felt need not be named. I tend to group Goldberry and her mother (the River-woman) with Bombadil, as “aborigines”. But could Tom and Goldberry have children?
It is Ungoliant’s ability to procreate and pass on her evil intelligence to Shelob and the Great Spiders of Mirkwood (Shelob’s children) that raises unanswerable questions.
So the short answer to the question is that Tolkien never explained the true nature of these creatures.
Q: What would Tolkien have intended with his description of the ring of Barahir?
ANSWER: The full text of this question reads:
Tolkien described the ring of Barahir as two emerald-eyed serpents; one devouring and one supporting a crown of golden flowers (the emblem of the house of Finarfin). This depiction reminded me of archetypal icons of a snake eating its own tail, or even vaguely of the yin yang icon. My guess is the symbol stands has an element of dualism in it, like other archetypal symbols.
Tolkien is known to have a mythological understanding, having studied the ancient myths and legends of England. What would Tolkien have intended with his description of the ring of Barahir?
I don’t know of any text where J.R.R. Tolkien discusses the possible meanings of the ring’s design. I doubt he meant for there to be an overt connection with any European mythology and I’ve been unable to think of any myths that might have inspired the design.
However, snakes were commonly used by ancient jewelers (including Romans, Egyptians, Celts, and many other peoples). He may simply have thought the Elves would have appreciated a similar complex motif.
Q: What Were the Barrow Blades Made Of?
ANSWER: The full question reads thus:
What metal were the barrow knives made from? I have a theory that it might be Orichalcum based on the description of red-gold and the association of Atlantis with Orichalcum.
Seems plausible to me but there is no way to prove or disprove this theory.
I don’t know what the blades were made of, although the “red and gold” reference is only to the ornamentation of the blades:
For each of the hobbits he chose a dagger, long, leaf-shaped, and keen, of marvellous workmanship, damasked with serpent-forms in red and gold. They gleamed as he drew them from their black sheaths, wrought of some strange metal, light and strong, and set with many fiery stones. Whether by some virtue in these sheaths or because of the spell that lay on the mound, the blades seemed untouched by time, unrusted, sharp, glittering in the sun.
‘Old knives are long enough as swords for hobbit-people,’ he said. ‘Sharp blades are good to have, if Shire-folk go walking, east, south, or far away into dark and danger.’ Then he told them that these blades were forged many long years ago by Men of Westernesse: they were foes of the Dark Lord, but they were overcome by the evil king of Carn Dûm in the Land of Angmar
So your guess about what metal the swords were made from is as good as mine.
Q: What could be Middle-earth’s equivalent of purple?
ANSWER: The full question I received reads thus:
What could be Middle-earth’s equivalent of purple? a colour or pigment associated with royalty because of preciousness, symbolism or tradition? If the tradtion of power in the West derives from Rome, in Middle-earth it would derive either from the High Kings of the Eldar or from the Numenoreans Kings: what were the colours of kingship, regardless of personal or local heraldry?
Someone asked a similar question on Facebook about the “royal colors” of Gondor. I said they appeared to be black and silver. That answer proved unsatisfactory.
So this answer will be even less satisfactory: I don’t know of anything that would pass as a “purple” for Middle-earth. Historically purple was the color of the imperial family in Rome. I don’t know where that tradition came from but it seems to have passed down into various European monarchies. It was partially on the basis of that historical precedent that I argued the royal colors of Gondor were black and silver.
So, your guess is as good as mine.
Q: How does one establish or order a realm?
ANSWER: This question was much longer and it deserves a much fuller answer than I can provide. Or, rather, Tolkien doesn’t explain by what authority any realms are established. But the first non-Valarian realms are the kingdoms of the Elves in Valinor and Beleriand, which were made under the auspices of the Valar and Maiar. I think the implication – especially when you compare the history of these earliest realms with Faramir’s description of his brother’s frustration with not being king in Gondor – is that Middle-earth’s realms were established under kingships that were anointed by someone, either the Valar of Aman or Morgoth (or Sauron).
I may try to provide a better answer some day but I don’t know when that might be.
Q: What did the forces of Morgoth speak in Angband?
ANSWER: The full question reads thus:
Morgoth’s forces in the First Age consisted of Maiar, intelligent/semi-intelligent beasts, and children of Iluvatar. While the Maiar could have communicated purely through thought (as Tolkien states in the Silmirilion), and Morgoth may have been able to drive his armies of lesser beings in general through his will alone, it seems unlikely that all those Orcs, Trolls and, other things didn’t communicate verbally. How would Glaurung have directed the sack of Nargothrond? We know some of the enemy spoke with men and elves so some could at least speak Sindarin (the default language of Beleriand) but was that the “common tongue” of Amgband? I recall Sauron having created Black Speech in the Second Age and it didn’t seem like Morgoth was as concerned with organization as Sauron was, at least not enough to become a part-time linguist making a pre-Black Speech in the First Age. If the orcs were created from elves is it possible they spoke a rough version of primitive Quenya? Likely modified based on their circumstances and nature. They then may have indirectly taught this to the Trolls and other intelligent/semi-intelligent creatures simply through interaction. It may even be possible that it had some Valyrian influence if they overheard Morgoth, Sauron and other Maiar conversing. I’d be interested if Tolkien ever even vaguely referred to this and your speculations.
I wish I knew.
I don’t think Tolkien considered this in much detail. It’s possible some linguistic notes have been published by Carl Hostetter and the Elvish Linguistic Fellowship, but I haven’t heard of any.
I know of one non-Elvish word from the First Age that was used in Angband in some versions of Turin’s story: Golug, the Orcish (or Orkish, if you prefer) word for the Noldor. A terrified Orc runs through the woods raising the alarm, yelling “Golug! Golug!”, thinking the Noldor had sent a raiding force into Morgoth’s territory.
I once read a hypothesis based on the idea that if the Orcs were really descended from corrupted Elves then their language was probably a debased form of proto-Elvish. Take that for what it’s worth.
Regarding Questions about the Maps
I’ve received quite a few questions through the years about things on the maps. Unfortunately I’ve got no access to the original documents and I hate to say it but I’m not the right person to ask these kinds of things.
You’re welcome to submit questions to me but anything pertaining to the maps tends to sit in the question queue for a long time.
One thing people need to accept is that the distances on the maps are not intended to be exact.
Random Comments from Readers
Years ago I began closing the comments on these articles after a couple of weeks because of the software that Web spammers use to drop links on blogs. Through the years some people have expressed frustration with this policy because they want to add something to the comments left by others. I appreciate the interest and understand your frustration. Please know that when you submit your comments I do read them, even if I don’t have a convenient way of publishing them.
Here are some recent comments I received. I can’t go back through all the feedback forum submissions to look for other comments but maybe I’ll find time and energy to do that one day.
From Scott Britton: “I’m too late to comment on the question about the inherent magic of Amon Lhaw/Amon Hen. I find the Third Age Middle-earth map to be fascinating in that Tol Brandir is a kind of crossroads. A straight line drawn between Orthanc and Barad-dur, for example, crosses Tol Brandir, and they are about equidistant from it. Likely this is unintentional by JRRT and CT, and of course straight lines drawn on flat maps of round worlds don’t always line up, but it suggests so many fun possibilities to me around the pseudoscientific concepts of “ley lines” and “places of power” that have a Celtic ring. Perhaps Elendil recognized the importance of the high seats and sited Angrenost for that purpose. Also, Isildur may have sat there pondering the coming War of the Last Alliance: a straight line passing through Tol Brandir also connects Dagorlad with Dunharrow/Erech. Another line from Tol Brandir toward the area where Numenor stood passes through Halifirien, where Isildur buried his father’s remains. All coincidences, I’m sure, but fun to ponder nonetheless. Thank you for your amazing blog — I’m with you 100% on no pointy-eared Elves!”
From TWS: “Regarding the beer in the cellar. My great grandparents had a, ‘cold room’ dug into the hillside under their house that kept food nice and cold. I imagine a hobbit hole would do as well.”
From Russ: (Possibly in reply to Is There An In-story Explanation For Why the Eagles Rarely Participate in Great Events?) “Re: Those Damn Eagles… LOL…
“No, the problem is that the Eagles should not have been in the stories if they were to not assist in the simple, straight-forward transport and destruction of the One Ring. It is a despicable and cowardly cop-out for such a powerful force to be – pardon the pun – above the fray and choose to not help with the most critical aspect of these events. Or – Tolkien just had to write a bit more; here we go – ‘The One Rings’ power caused a sense of overpowering nausea in the Eagles – they could not physically stand to be in its presence.’ Done.
“But as the story goes, if they rescue characters at key moments to keep the quest advancing, then why not literally go the distance and spare untold suffering and loss of life?
“Sorry, this was a big screw-up in this series and there’s no explaining it away without either admitting that this is a giant plot hole or that the Eagles are simply highly selective yet ultimately shameful characters.”
From Joseph T Pensak: “I have never been inclined to specially comment like this, but I find that the idea of Aragorn making Annuminas his permanent dwelling to be both illogical and imprudent. Your piece ‘Who Ruled Minas Tirith When Aragorn Became King’ confused me at first because I thought you were talking about the time when Aragorn was at the Field of Cormallen before he was crowned at Minas Tirith. In the Appendices, which I read after I read the Lord of the Rings proper, I interpreted this as meaning Aragorn dwelt at Minas Tirith (as I can remember ‘when he comes north to his house in Annuminas restored and stays for a while by Lake Evendim, then everyone in the Shire is glad’). This would seem to imply he dwelt elsewhere most of the time. And also from a logical standpoint, ruling in Minas Tirith makes more sense; making an analogy, ruling the Reunited Kingdom from Annuminas in at least the first couple of generations after the beginning of the Fourth Age, after most of Arnor was desolate, would be like ruling Canada from Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories when most of the people live in Ontario, or someone re-uniting Ireland (in a post-apocalyptic scenario) where 9/10 of the people lived in County Cork and having his seat in Belfast.”
I sometimes reply to these comments and I wrote the following reply to Joseph:
It’s possible I misread the original question. I sometimes do that, write a long post, and then go back later and realize they were asking something entirely different. I did that with “who is Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings movies” (although it may have been my intention originally because “Viggo Mortensen” is such a short answer).
In this case, I looked at the original question. I quoted it completely in the article. Many questions people submit are quite lengthy (or buried in thoughtful comments like yours). There may be additional context that doesn’t fit well in a single article. I also sometime rewrite the questions to make what I hope are more suitable headlines.
In this case, I’m not really sure of what he was asking. But questions like that often lead me to think well beyond the original intent of the question. With that article I may have had almost the entire concept jump into my mind and so I started writing it down, just to avoid forgetting everything.
Tolkien says so little about what happened in Aragorn’s reign people are free to imagine whatever they please. There won’t be much reason to doubt their conclusions. My personal feeling has always been that Aragorn ruled from Minas Tirith because it was necessary to have a “seat of government”. But then he devoted part of his reign to rebuilding both the southern and northern kingdoms. He must have moved around like Charlemagne and other great medieval kings of Europe – hence, the “seat of government” would have to move with him. But as my article supposes, someone would have been left in charge. It would not necessarily have been Faramir but it could have been that simple. I kind of imagine Faramir handling matters of state from Emyn Arnen, where he was overseeing the resettlement of Ithilien. But it wasn’t that far from Minas Tirith, either.
As for Annuminas itself, I’ve always pictured Aragorn’s dwelling there as more likely resembling Constantine’s rebuilding of Byzantium, turning it into Constantinople. But Tolkien may have had nothing specific in mind.
It’s an interesting topic and you may inspire me to write about it again some day.
Thanks for the comment.
Thank you all for reading, asking, and commenting. Please feel free to keep submitting your questions and comments. Even during the months when I don’t publish new articles I read everything you share.
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Have you read our other Tolkien and Middle-earth Questions and Answers articles?
Ungoliant is clearly one of the “spirits out of the halls of Eä” mentioned in Of the Beginning of Days:
“Therefore he gathered to himself spirits out of the halls of Eä that he had perverted to his service, and he deemed himself strong. And seeing now his time he drew near again to Arda, and looked down upon it, and the beauty of the Earth in its Spring filled him the more with hate.”
If we cross-reference this with the description later in the book:
“The Eldar knew not whence she came; but some have said that in ages long before she descended from the darkness that lies about Arda, when Melkor first looked down in envy upon the Kingdom of Manwë, and that in the beginning she was one of those that he corrupted to his service.”
Now, this is obviously in-universe speculation and therefore not definite, but nonetheless. In particular the repetition of the phrase “looked down” is quite striking here, and Tolkien obviously knew what he was doing and intended this.
Tolkien makes offhand remarks in notes and drafts that confirms he inteded the Barrow-blades to be bronze:
“…nothing more is said of the bronze swords that Tom Bombadil chose for the hobbits from the treasures of the mound than the words added to the original text: Tom said that ‘they were made many ages ago by men out of the West: they were foes of the dark Lord.'”
(History of Middle-earth Vol 6: Section I The First Phase: Chapter VII ‘The Barrow-wight’)
“Bilbo’s gift to Frodo of Sting is first mentioned in the initial draft for ‘The Council of Elrond’ (VI.397), and Frodo’s possession of it in the sketch for the Moria story (VI.443). – Why is Frodo’s sword called ‘red’? In another isolated note, written much later, this reappears: ‘What happened to the red sword[s] of the Barrows? In Frodo’s case it is broken at the Ford and he has Sting.’ In the ‘third phase’ version of ‘Fog on the Barrow-downs’ they were ‘bronze swords, short, leaf-shaped and keen’ (VI.128, 329)…” History of Middle-earth Vol 7: Section I Gandalf’s Delay, Note 16
Yes but those are early drafts it appears that the metal of the blades in published Lotr are not bronze (though it is mentioned among the objects buried within the barrow, among the treasures of the tomb were things of bronze:
“Tom went back in again, and there was a sound of much thumping and stamping. When he came out he was bearing in his arms a great load of treasure: things of gold, silver, copper, and bronze; many beads and chains and jewelled ornaments. He climbed the green barrow and laid them all on top in the sunshine.”)
The red glow in published version is also only seen in the wraith-world implying magical quality of the blades that were after all “wound about with spells for the bane of Mordor”, being deadly to Ringwraiths in their primary plain of existence, in the Unseen:
“For each of the hobbits he chose a dagger, long, leaf-shaped, and keen, of marvellous workmanship, damasked with serpent-forms in red and gold. They gleamed as he drew them from their black sheaths, wrought of some strange metal, light and strong, and set with many fiery stones. Whether by some virtue in these sheaths or because of the spell that lay on the mound, the blades seemed untouched by time, unrusted, sharp, glittering in the sun.”
…
“Immediately, though everything else remained as before, dim and dark, the shapes became terribly clear. He was able to see beneath their black wrappings. There were five tall figures: two standing on the lip of the dell, three advancing. In their white faces burned keen and merciless eyes; under their mantles were long grey robes; upon their grey hairs were helms of silver; in their haggard hands were swords of steel. Their eyes fell on him and pierced him, as they rushed towards him. Desperate, he drew his own sword, and it seemed to him that it flickered red, as if it was a firebrand. Two of the figures halted.”
While of course possibility of it being bronze is not out of the question entirely, bronze can be quite reflective when polished, but bronze is softer material (since bronze is alloy of copper, usually with tin, which are both pretty malleable, though bronze in itself is harder than copper alone) and does not hold edge as steel. Numenoreans were skilled smiths and it’s also another example of some mysterious metal, used by them, another example are the metal cases which locked palantiri:
” It was said, or guessed, by later commentators that the Stones were placed in their original sites in spherical cases that were locked to prevent their misuse by the unauthorized; but that this casing also performed the office of shrouding them and making them quiescent. The cases must therefore have been made of some metal or other substance not now known.”
It also seems kind of unlikely that if Tolkien included the bronze objects in the treasures of the barrow he would not identify the blades being made if it as well (maybe bronze was used in those ornaments ‘damasked in serpent forms of red and gold’).
Nice to see another entry in the series and many interesting questions :). The ‘royal purple’ matter seems easy, while in our world we tend to associate the purple with royalty it’s only because of the tradition of doing so (and of course the so called tyrian purple was an expensive dye. We know little about textiles and dyes in Middle-earth though we know that various people had colorful clothing (including hobbits who had bright colors, reds, yellows and greens as their favored coloring), in Middle-earth royal colors were rather depending on the specific king and tradition of a country, emblems and colors of banners were indicating what a particular kingdom favored, we have then example of the numenorean banners in Second Age being “…and their banners were golden and black.” in Ar-Pharazon’s time. We also hear of the colors of the tents of his armies:
“For seven days he [Ar-Pharazôn] journeyed with banner and trumpet, and he came to a hill, and he went up, and he set there his pavillion and his throne; and he sat him down in the midst of the land, and the tents of his host were ranged all about him, blue, golden and white, as a field of tall flowers.” – The Silmarillion, Akallabêth
Some of the Numenorean ships were even said to have golden sails etc. Gondor had particular color scheme:
“Nonetheless the Stewards never sat on the ancient throne; and they wore no crown, and held no sceptre. They bore a white rod only as the token of their office; and their banner was white without charge; but the royal banner had been sable, upon which was displayed a white tree in blossom beneath seven stars.”
The black and silver as favored colors of the Faithful Numenoreans, it also brings in mind that among Elves, at least the Teleri elves silver was prized above gold, silver often is used in Gondor, we have example of silverware, silver ornaments and jewellery, Boromir wears silver collar with a diamond; “He had a collar of silver in which a single white stone was set”, crown of Gondor is made of silver, diamonds and pearls, silver circlets (though some objects of gold, gilded etc. are there too, the emblem of white tree is embroidered in silver thread, of course we also hear of the cloth-of-gold being in use in Gondor which being a fabric made with actual gold thread would be expensive and luxurious item, the kings in Europe used cloth-of-gold as a sign of their wealth, Henry VIII had the famous Field of the Cloth of Gold meeting with french monarch to impress his wealth with tents made of the real cloth of gold, and in fact one ceremonial coronation robe of British monarchs is made of cloth of gold, Gondor also had bier made of gold for the funerals, gilded chainmail, jewelled shields, gold ornaments on the ceiling in the Great Hall of Kings in Minas Tirith), silver and gold as precious metals and also marks of wealth and power would also mean those colors would be favored by kings. Silver in Middle-earth also seems to be particularly mark of purity, as gold is more associated with evil trends. Black or sable while also often comes into play with evil forces, is also associated with the beauty of night sky and stars as emblems also are maybe theme of venerating Varda the Queen of Stars.
Of course it’s mostly in case of faithful numenoreans, other factions, kingdoms and peoples have their own colors, the Rohirrim are all about green, since their emble is white horse on green field, and even then the rich decor of the Meduseld, shows they have lots of gold, gilded chair is a throne of Rohan, but green also comes up in form of green gems on swords of royal guard in Meduseld. In the Hobbit we know that banners of the Woodland Realm of elves are green, while those of the Esgaroth on Long Lake are blue, of course Elves and particularly Wood elves would be all about greens, Lake-town itself had no kings only elected Masters, and we don’t know color scheme of the lords and kings of Dale, Dwarves (or at least Durin’s Folk) also had emblem of the crown and stars so presumably also on dark color and silver, Moria door marks were wrought of ithildin, meaning from mithril (and mithril of course is alike silver). Elvenking Gil-galad had particular emblem and color associated with him:
“[Meneldur] saw that [the letter] came from King Gil-galad…. It was sealed and bore his device of white stars upon a blue rondure.”
Unfinished Tales, Part 2, Ch 2, Aldarion and Erendis
So it basically depends on the royal faction in question. Haradrim wore scarlet and so was their banner a scarlet field with black serpent, so maybe that means they have a source of kermes dye :), of course the peoples of the West also have used all sorts of colored clothing, people of Minas Tirith during coronation are noted to be colorful:
“As yet no gates had been set up again, but a barrier was laid across the entrance to the City, and there stood men at arms in silver and black with long swords drawn. Before the barrier stood Faramir the Steward, and Húrin Warden of the Keys, and other captains of Gondor, and the Lady Éowyn of Rohan with Elfhelm the Marshal and many knights of the Mark; and upon either side of the Gate was a great press of fair people in raiment of many colours and garlands of flowers.”
Aragorn in his more regal attire:
“A hush fell upon all as out from the host stepped the Dúnedain in silver and grey; and before them came walking slow the Lord Aragorn. He was clad in black mail girt with silver, and he wore a long mantle of pure white clasped at the throat with a great jewel of green that shone from afar; but his head was bare save for a star upon his forehead bound by a slender fillet of silver. With him were Éomer of Rohan, and the Prince Imrahil, and Gandalf robed all in white, and four small figures that many men marvelled to see.”
Other questions also are interesting, like Annuminas, well it was clearly only a residence for Aragorn’s time spend in the North-kingdom, probably we can consider it a capital of rebuild Arnor, as a symbolic connection to Elendil, Annuminas was his city, only later Fornost Erain became the capital of northern kings, we don’t know much about Aragorn’ reign but we assume he would have rebuild those ancient cities, Annuminas, Fornost, maybe also Tharbad and even maybe had some use of Lond Daer? And if we think about it most likely it would be expected if he rebuild Osgiliath. Minas Tirith would probably remained capital, the seat of power, though it was once only summer residence of the kings of Gondor in the distant past, before it became the chief center of power in the realm.
“How does one order or establish a realm?” I have no textual support, but my sense is that the ordering of realms falls into what I’ll call “The Category of the Familiar.” Even in Fantasy/SF, authors cannot invent everything – the story becomes so bogged down in explanation/description of these inventions that it’s hard to move the narrative. Inventions tend to function as the seasoning or spice that converts an everyday stew into an exotic curry. However, underlying that seasoning lies a common foundation – cooking meats and/or vegetables in a flavorful liquid until tender.
Considering all the various high and low realms and political subdivisions we encounter in the history of Middle-earth (from Beleriand and Nûmenor to Utumno and Mordor; Gondor, Arnor, Harad, Khand, Dunland, Dale, the un-named realms of the Easterlings, the decentralized Shire… All seem familiar to me in political organization; all can be found in European history.
Some, like Rohan, arise from the deeds of a warrior/chief. Others are divinely anointed (in a literal sense, rather than the unsubstantiated claims of Europe’s Divine Right monarchs). Some, like Dale, Esgaroth, and Bree are clearly based on commerce, others are former provinces of a crumbled empire.
The Shire has nearly no political underpinnings at all. Scattered about that territory are a Thain, a Master, a Mayor, and other British-style local landlords like the Masters of Bag End, all apparently keeping their noses out of farmers’ and villagers’ business unless absolutely necessary. Though “Thain of the Shire” implies an overall authority, his power seems to be isolated to just a corner of that land. Had the Thain overall authority, why elect a Mayor to order the postal system and watch? And just how is the Bree-land governed? The operation of Bree and the Shire seem almost an argument in favor of classical Anarchy.
The fantasy in Tolkien’s political world is that leadership is rarely challenged or incompetent. The people loyally follow their traditional (usually hereditary) leaders, even when, in the case of the Shire, there has been no High King at Fornost for over 1,000 years. Oh, we see some grumbling and rebellion among the Orcs and a few ignorant Hobbits, but as they seem to be parodies of England’s under-educated criminal class, even that is based on the familiar.
Realms founded by actions of a chief or leader is fairly common in the more mundane way to start realms and ‘states’ in Middle-earth (not to mention it was common way in real world history, many countries begun established by some legendary or semi legendary ruler), Vidugavia is this self proclaimed King of Rhovanion, and forms a more united realm in the lands between Mirkwood and Sea of Rhun, bound by Celduin river up north and gondorian eastern territories southerly towards foothills of Ered Lithui, then a chieftain of the northemn is also who led them to form Eotheod, a name for both the people and realm in the north, near sources of Anduin the precursors of the Rohirrim, foundation of Rohan is the more formal way, with a sovereign realm the kingdom of Gondor ceding land for independent realm to allied people and so forms a Mark of the Riders, Rohan. Beornings form their own realm of sorts in the Vales of Anduin post events of The Hobbit but still are ruled by chieftains tribal leader, in a way this reminds of the founding of Poland in medieval times, which began as slavic tribal realm led by a ‘duke’ or ‘prince’ only later becoming de facto kingdom while being recognized by other European countries and powers and first coronation of a polish ruler (which reminds of the ‘princes of the Northmen’ which Vidugavia united), the Shire begins as a territory within already existing realm granted by the ruler’s will to the Hobbits leaders, Marcho and Blanco, in a way similar to Cirion granting Calenardhon but without the independence and ceding control as the Hobbits were to acknowledge of authority of the king at Fornost and were de facto his subjects. The Dwarves, well they had patriarchs as designated leaders the Seven Fathers of the Dwarves were revered as the first Dwarves created and so their lines became hereditary rulers/monarchs of the dwarven realms (of course with the growth of dwarven people in number and settling of various dwarf-mansions there could have been some smaller, lesser lords in a way Nain and Dain were in the Iron Hills, they were lords of seperate division of dwarven people but under power of a dwarf-king of particular clan/House). Elven kings were definitely divinely appointed he first Valar chosen ambassadors to Aman later became kings among Elves and the first king of Numenor Elros Tar-Minyatur was appointed as king by the divine powers. We of course hear about various political crises in Middle-earth history, rebellions, coups, civil wars over succession, disputed claims to the crown etc.
On the language of Morgoths minions: is it in any of the books expressly said WHEN exactly Sauron created the black speech? If not (I can’t recall a passage on this subject) It could very well be that he did that early on, in his capacity as Morgoths lieutenant while ordering his master’s realm. And thus it could be that (some) orks and trolls spoke ‘black’ already in those days.
I don’t have time to check but I believe Sauron devised the Black Speech in the Second Age. That doesn’t contradict your idea that he could have incorporated some older words into the language.
I thought about mentioning this in the article but decided not to because it’s not really “canonical” (I know – that doesn’t mean much). But there was a First Age orc captain named Boldog. I think the first use of the name is in “Lay of Leithian” (the actual poem from the 1920s). I don’t recall Tolkien writing anything about what language that was from in his notes, but I don’t have access to all the linguistic sources.
I always assumed the “strange metal” of the Barrow blades was mithril. The hobbits were unlikely to have had much experience with it, and, since it wouldn’t have shown its age, it would have been “strange”, even if it looked like silver, or polished steel.
Funny, I’ve always assumed the barrow blades were not mithril. My basic reasoning is that someone else (Gimli, Aragorn, Legolas, Gandalf, etc.) would have recognized it and commented on their value, just as the value of Bilbo/Frodo’s mithril coat was recognized. Pippin whispers to Merry, “Wow, if that coat is worth the entire Shire, having one of these blades means I could buy half the Southrfarthing!” Also, there’s no mention of mithril being worked by anyone but Dwarves, while the barrow blades are attributed to Men.
OK, those are also good points.
I wonder what people of Middle Earth would think of some of our odder alloys, and “exotic” metals? None of them are magical, or require extremely rare ores, but we do have some odd ones.
Titanium or Tungsten, anyone? Tungsten steel would definitely be a strange material to the folks Bilbo met, but there’s no reason the Numenoreans couldn’t make it. The same goes for titanium compounds, which would be lighter, and easier to make, as the raw material is more common.
On the language spoken by Morgoth’s servants… there is a linguistic text that sheds some light.
From ‘Osanwe-Kenta’:
“From the first he (Melkor) was greatly interested in “language”, that talent that the Eruhíni would have by nature; but we did not at once perceive the malice in this interest, for many of us shared it, and Aule above all. But in time we discovered that he had made a language for those who served him; and he has learned our tongue with ease. He has great skill in this matter. Beyond doubt he will master all tongues, even the fair speech of the Eldar. Therefore, if ever you should speak with him beware!”