Tengwar: Script of the Elvish Languages

Hello,
Today, in correlation with the appearance of the script on the Ring of Power, I am going to do a brief post on Tengwar. Tengwar is a beautiful and elegant script developed by Tolkien himself. It encompasses both Quenya and Sindarin, the two Elvish languages, and is also easily utilized in many of our modern languages.

Here is a short video of someone writing in Tengwar:

Here is a sample of my (rather untidy) Tengwar:

I wrote this in ballpoint pen; fountain pen lettering makes for a much more refined look as you can see above.

Tengwar actually has many more characters than are used in English, mainly for digraphs, including (but certainly not limited to) common appearances such as "th" and "ch." Tengwar also possesses its own set of numerals and punctuation marks. There are also several grammatical rules that are important to remember.

There are two modes in this script, Sindarin and Quenya. They differ little in the characters but vary mainly in that Sindarin (as I and the video have used) places the vowels (represented by markings above the letters) on the letter after the sound, while Quenya places them on the letter before.

I found that the easiest way to learn this was by merely writing various passages or phrases with the assistance of the key, eventually becoming independent but for minor references. Here is the website I used to learn:
http://freenet.am/~sssite/res/elvish.html
There are also many videos on Youtube if you feel that you learn better by having someone talk to you about it.

Good luck and thanks for reading,
C

Chapter Two: The Shadow of the Past

Hello, Carter here.

Chapter two brings into light the nature and significance of the Ring of Power, which of course is the ultimate subject of the trilogy. The reader now knows where it comes from, who the ultimate villain is -- Sauron -- as well as orcs and the land of Mordor, and a little more about all of the characters that have played a role in its journey to Bag End, including Isildur and Gollum. Tolkien also introduces information of Saruman, head of Gandalf's wizard order, as well as mentioning the Nine, the ringwraithes produced from the nine human kings gifted Sauron's "Nine" rings (ah that sounds like a rhyming couplet). I think this chapter boosts the amount of knowledge that the reader needs to become absorbed into the story and to start to care about what happens. Tolkien also establishes that Frodo will indeed journey to the elves with the ring, and in extension literally pulls (through the window) Sam Gamgee into it with him. Also in this chapter, we see a primary glimpse of the tengwar script, the writing of the elven languages Sindarin and Quenya and the black speech of Mordor! I'll do a post about this tomorrow.

I found that this chapter made more connections to the movie than the previous one. The history behind the ring is finally explained, something that in the movie takes place immediately. I saw several lines spoken in the film that I was familiar with, though they were somewhat out of place. I found in the movie there was a heavy tone of urgency: as soon as Gandalf returns, he sets Frodo and Sam on the road because Gollum has told Sauron where they are and Saruman has turned against them and the Nine are coming! But to this point in the book it seems to be a leisurely journey to the elves that they will take when they are ready. I found that I preferred the film's take on this section, which seems to compress everything that is happening into a fast-paced adventure (from what I have read up to this point).

As I mentioned, tomorrow -- Saturday the 29th of June -- I will be posting about Tengwar. This is a very fun and easy script to write and read,  please so be sure to check it out. Feel free to comment or otherwise respond with your own opinion of what I have talked about or bring up something I may have missed or should mention.

Thanks for reading,

C

Prologue and Chapter One: A Long-Expected Party

Hello there,
I have just finished the prologue and first chapter, so here goes my first post.

Prologue
One of the first things that struck me upon beginning the book was the amount of information that Tolkien establishes before he even begins to tell the story. Not only does he provide a short history of hobbits and their ways, he also summarizes the previous occurrences narrated in "The Hobbit," as well as casually dropping names of races, places, and people that the reader has yet to discover. I have mixed feelings on this writing style: it was intriguing to hear of the existence elves, dwarves, men, and various other presences before I had begun the tale, but I found that the overload of knowledge was slightly complex and made it hard for me to distinguish what I really needed to know for the best possible reading experience.
In relation to the film, I have to say that I preferred the film's introduction. While the extra elaboration on hobbits and some of Middle Earth's history was interesting, I found that when I started reading the first chapter there was little that I cared to recall in conjunction with the text. I did, however, enjoy the film's introduction thoroughly. I found that, from (I assume) Galadriel's perspective and with her declaration of change, the story had already started -- in literary terms --"en medias res" or "in the middle of things." In a similar way, it shows the racial presences of the realm with the distribution of the rings, though much more concisely. There is a somewhat ominous tone in the narration here, which helps set the stage for the dark situation in which Middle Earth is. The viewer is directly introduced to Sauron, while the book has little to no mention of any outstanding evil force. The book also fails to mention any significance of the ring but for Gollum's obsession with it, while the film directly explains exactly what the ring is and the history that surrounds it, though the viewer is not positive that Bilbo's ring is the Ring of Power until Gandalf later confirms it. I personally found that, while it somewhat equals the reader to the book characters in their knowledge, I preferred having the information that the movie gives.

Chapter One
I found that this first chapter was a good start to a story that could develop into something fantastic, though the prologue was slightly lacking. Bilbo's (and Frodo's) birthday and that wonderfully whimsical number "eleventy-one" were a nice, quiet beginning that held stirrings of normal familial malcontent and illustrated the odd grandeur of Bilbo's past adventures. Gandalf's entrance and hasty exit leaves mystery around who and what he is: the reader knows that he is a wizard of some type, with talent in pyrotechnics, but not much else. The reader can see Bilbo's oddity throughout this chapter, especially in the speech he makes at his birthday party. I am eager to see what comes next!
In relation to the film, I thought that this section of the book was done rather well. I found I was not as interested in or impressed by Gandalf as I was in the movie (Ian McKellen is fantastic) but that the character still sparked curiosity. I noticed that Merry appeared more often than Sam or Pippin; this struck me as odd since I always assumed that Merry and Pippin would have been inseparable, and Frodo and Sam would have been closer. I thought that the film's screen writers made it work really well and that their dialogue flowed more smoothly than Tolkien's, finding that some of the lines I really liked  from the movie were either slightly different or entirely absent (though "I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve" was there).

I am very sorry about this one being so long; I imagine future posts will be shorter and cover less book content, making room for more interesting postings. Please feel free to agree, disagree, or otherwise let me know what you think in the comments.

Thanks for reading,
C

An Introduction

Welcome and hello!

My name is Carter Green. I am an avid and passionate reader as well as a fantasy enthusiast. Lore of exotic races and creatures, mystical forces, otherworldly realms, and of course, the concept of magic, fascinates me. I ardently immerse myself in these abstractions, which, though I recognize as non-existent, draw vividness and mystery into a reality of resolute laws of physics and mundane parameters. If one names it, there is a good chance I've done it: reading (of course), television and movies, Renaissance Festivals (I live near --arguably-- the largest and best in the United States), MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games, in essence the most "hard-core" type of gaming, often centered in a fantasy universe). "Cosplaying" or "LARPing" is on the to-do list, though I have yet to actually participate in either. 
One of my favorite universes is that created by author J. R. R. Tolkien: Middle Earth, stage for the epic Lord of the Rings trilogy, as well as the Hobbit and the Silmarillion. These are among my most favorite of films. Their story is gripping, their visual effects an ocular immersion, and their characters some of the most awesome and the most despicable or valorous. Being a strong believer in reading a book before one sees the cinematic adaptation, I am sad to say that, though I love what I have seen, I have not yet read the books. 
That is where this blog comes into play. Over the course of the next week to two weeks or so, I will be reading the first book in the Lord of the Rings, that is, the Fellowship of the Ring. Each day I will read at least one, maybe several chapters (I will attempt to group them well so as to tie in my responses) and write a reflection on my readings. In these compositions I will give my opinion on the story's progression both independently and with relation to the film, while sometimes incorporating Middle-Earthen culture or interesting information for a touch of extra engagement. 
My first post will be on Thursday, the 27th of June, 2013. Please enjoy and feel free to comment or respond.

Thanks for reading,
C