Feanorian Lettering

Hey Everyone! I know its been a while since I've posted anything, but I just recently remember I had this blog when I was doing a homework assignment. I have this great teacher that is really fun loving and we joke around a lot, so as a joke I translated one of my assignments into the Feanorian letters. (Of course, I attached the assignment in English too because I wanted to actually get credit for it.) I then remembered this blog and decided to give a shot at teaching how to write in the Feanorian letters. 

I will start by going down each column and naming what each lettering stands for. I will start with the column of the left. 

1. t                 10. p              19. ch              28. k, kw
2. d                 11. b             20. j                29. g
3. th                12. f              21. sh, khw/hw23. ch
4. dh               13. v              22. zh             24. gh
5. n (nn)          14. m            23. nh             25. mh
6. (untrilled) r, (n) 15. w            24. a,y            26. e
7. r                  16. r (rh)       25. L              27. L, Lh
8. s                  17. s             26. z              28. z
9. h                  18. w (hw)    27. y (e)         29. w (u)

If you are confused by all the hw, rh, and gh, just think of it like stenography. If you had a mom who was stenographer she would tell you that stenography is writing symbols for syllables spoken in a word, and not the letters themselves. That is why stenography (shorthand) is so quick. Think about it, when you say the work "what" the syllable "h" actually comes before the "w", and when you say it, it sounds like, "hwat." That is what all that craziness really is. 

Now you might have noticed that all the vowels are not in there. That is because the vowels are conveyed using dots and lines above the consonants of the word. Here it gets a little tricky, because sometimes a word ends in a vowel and sometimes it starts with a vowel. So you can be unsure whether the vowel belongs before or behind the consonant it is above. I like to generally place the vowel above the preceding consonant, and write an actually lettering for the vowel if it starts the word. 

The vowels are like so: One dot above a letter means it is an "i" or an "e." Two dots means it is "ie." Three dots means its an "a." A squiggly line like "~" means its an "o" or a "u." If you want to say I singularly  make a symbol like a "j" or a ";" and it will mean "I." 

This is really very simple once you get the hang of it. I taught myself how to do this. You can find this lettering in the Appendix of The Return of the King. It also gives explanations in the Appendix if this was unclear.

Wow, Time Flies!

Wow! It has almost been a year since I started this blog....I had such plans for it then. I thought, back then, that I could keep up with it weekly. But...I failed. I'm sorry to all of you for not writing in so long! Truth be told, I had actually forgotten about it for a while. Then I saw a friend who follows it, and he reminded me of it. And here I am now...writing this. I apologize to all who follow this, and I hope that in this new year I might be able to come up with new ideas and keep posting for all of you! 
Your loving Author!

Aragron in the Fellowship

Aragorn has always been one of my favorite characters. He is loyal, strong, and has great knowledge of Middle Earth. In my opinion, Aragorn is the best member of the Fellowship (besides Gandalf, I think he and Aragorn are almost equal). We first read about Aragorn in "The Fellowship of the Ring." Frodo, after being very foolish with the ring, finds a strange man waiting for him in his room at the Prancing Pony. This man calls himself Strider, and tells the hobbits to be more cautious. The hobbits accept the advice but didn't know if they could trust Strider. Then teaming up with Strider to go to Rivendell.

On the way there, trouble comes when the Black Riders find them, and you all probably already know this story so why should I repeat it? The real mystery is in the character of Aragorn. He is a very strange man, who does not reveal too much too soon. He is a king in exile, a man sentenced to fight for those who fear. Yet doing so has strengthened him in many ways.

First: Its made him patient. After having to deal with Gollum for heaven knows how long, it made looking after 4 unadventurous hobbits look easy! 
Second: Its made him talented. Who else could track a couple dozen orcs and still know that they had hobbits on their backs?
Third: Its made him strong. It was proven by countless battles he's fought. After all of those, he is still alive! 
Fourth: Its made him wise. Anyone who lives by the land and for the land learns many things, and from that knowledge he develops wisdom.


Yup! All in all, Aragorn is a pretty cool character! He has the strength of an elf lord, and the wisdom of a wizard. He can track an orc through the rocks, and make peace with elves. He can pretty much do anything. Except one thing...help lead Frodo to Mordor. Aragorn had to stay behind while Frodo and Sam continued on. If he had not, he probably would have fallen to the temptation to steal the ring, and everything would've gone wrong. Yet, he foresaw the error in his judgment, and let Frodo go, which probably makes him the most perfect man in Middle Earth history.

Famous Horse and Pony

Bill the Pony is a minor character...well he's not really a character at all. He's the one who hauled all the luggage and food for the Fellowship from Bree all the way to the Mines of Moria. When the four hobbits and Strider meet up at Bree, the Nazgul follow them there and scared all the horses and ponies out of the Prancing Pony's stables. As a result Bob was sent to go buy a horse. Bob found Bill Ferny...a mean old man who lived in a dank house in Bree. Bill was a traitor on both fronts, and he was only concerned with money. So when he heard that Sam needed a pony, and he had the only pony in town, he charged three times the amount for a skinny, weather-beaten pony. Even though they were cheated Sam decided to name the pony Bill, in honor of his former master. Even though Bill was a sickly thing, he grew stronger with the all the exercise he had, so the Fellowship brought him all the way to Moria. 
 

Another Beast, which is even more famous than Bill, is Shadowfax. He is the mighty horse of Rohan, the king of all horses, and no saddle nor bridle will hold him. He must be ridden bear-back or not ridden at all. Yet even ridding him was almost impossible. Only a few people have been given the treat of a ride from Shadowfax. For Gandalf, when he was in need of a horse, found Shadowfax in Rohan, and he tamed him as well as he could be tamed. Since then, Shadowfax has been essential to the story starting with Gandalf's escape from Orthanc, through the "The Two Towers" and in "The Return of the King." He was one of the most loved and honored horses in all of Middle Earth.

Lothlorien and The Mirror

Lothlorien is one of the most beautiful places in Middle Earth. Frodo describes it as living history. The forest is so old, and the elves remember so much of the past that it seems as if you were flung into the past. It is a magical place, and it is where Arwen promised herself to Aragorn. It is very special to even a dwarf. Gimli loved the Lady Galadriel, and when the Fellowship departed, Gimli asked her for only one strand of her golden hair. She gave him three. 

Galadriel and Celeborn live together as the lord and lady of Lothlorien. Galadriel was very helpful to the fellowship. She is most renowned for her mirror. Frodo and Sam looked into it, and Sam saw the destruction of the Shire, and Frodo laying asleep by caves. The destruction of the Shire is what would happen if the ring was not destroyed. Yet, since Sam saw this, he had a sudden urge to return home to prevent this from happening. Galadriel restrained him, saying:

"Remember that the Mirror shows many things, and not all have yet come to pass. Some never come to be unless those that behold the visions turn aside fromt heir path to prevent them. The Mirror is dangerous as a guide of deeds." (Tolkien, The Fellowship of the RIng, pg. 428)

What Galadriel was hinting at here is that if Sam had left Frodo, the mission would have failed, and that thing which Sam had wished to prevent would happen.

This behavior is very similar in mythology. In many stories, Oedipus Rex for example, a character will see the future or hear of it from mystical things, and they try to stop it. Yet when they do, they make that thing happen. In "Oedipus Rex" by Sophocles, Oedipus heard the foretelling that he would murder his father and marry his mother. By running away from home to save himself, he brought this fate upon him. (You can read it for yourself...its really complicated and hard to explain!) This is what Galadriel was trying to tell Sam, that if he left, he would be causing what he saw. As a result, Sam stayed with Frodo and protected him (and the ring) from falling into the enemy's hands.

Orcs, Trolls, and other nasties!

In the stories of "The Lord of the Rings," Tolkien made some pretty gross enemies. They consists of blood thirsty orcs, massive trolls, wargs (mainly in "The Silmarillion"), and even more wicked things like the Balrogs. All these things come from Melkor/Morgoth, a Lucifer figure in the story. He was given power and this made him prideful, so he wanted to destroy all that he did not make. So he makes the evil of Middle Earth. 

Orcs. Not at all a pleasant sight. Their skin is overrun with filth, boils, and blood. For all orcs hardly ever agree. Yes, they will stand together to fight all that is good in this world, but when they aren't killing anyone, they usually fight amongst themselves. When this happens all the orcs, except maybe two or three, are killed. This made things very easy for Sam, when he had to invade the tower in Mordor to find Frodo. All the orcs had killed themselves already!

Another little nasty are Trolls. Not exactly little. They are huge twisted evil things that use their size to crush, pull, and destroy all around them. The most famous of these is the Cave Troll in Moria, where it took the whole Fellowship to bring it down. Another famous Troll is the one that Pippin killed at the battle of the Black Gate. This was an amazing victory, because a four foot hobbit was able to defeat a ten foot (or more) Troll! It seems like David and Goliath! 

The most menacing of all of these are the Balrogs, one of the greatest servants of Morgoth. For the Balrogs were once Maiar (the servents of the valar) and are most powerful compared to the other things that Morgoth manipulated for his use.They are both shadow and flame; no mortal nor elf can defeat them. Yet a wizard with the grace of Iluvatar (chief of the valar, AKA the one and only God) was able to defeat one. Gandalf defeated the Balrog that was awakened in Moria which was a great feat, for anyone. 
 
All these things are pure evil. They are the devices of Morgoth who, above all things, hates the valar. The valar love the beauty of Middle Earth and men, elves, and dwarves. Therefore Morgoth hates them. He spun all these things out of his head in order to destroy what is good in this world. Yet after the mightiest of all his servants, Sauron, was destroyed, the evil was scattered and leaderless. And the days to come were very peaceful. All ended well.  

Faramir

Faramir is an interesting character. Despite obvious family characteristics, Faramir is a bit more just and wise and patient than the rest of his family. He is the second son of Denethor, and is the brother of Boromir. One might say he is in the shadow of his older brother. He does not love fighting, although he is a beloved captain. But his gifts lie in a different department. 

Before the Council of Elrond Faramir had a dream. In that dream he saw the eastern sky grow dark, and voices crying,
"Seek for the sword that was broken,
In Imladris it dwells;
There shall be counsels taken,
stronger than Morgul spells.
There shall be shown a token
That doom is near at hand,
For Isildur's bane shall waken,
And the halfling forth shall stand."
(Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book 2, Chapter 2, p 296). 
Faramir had this dream for many days. He knew that he must be the one to go to the Council of Elrond in search of the answers, but his stubborn father sent Boromir instead. This was only because Boromir ultimately had the dream once, as apposed to Faramir who had had it first and repeatedly.  Denethor may have chosen Boromir because Denethor wanted Boromir to try and find the location of Isildur's bane and take it to Gondor. He wanted to use it as a weapon. Faramir knew this was unwise so he most likely would not have complied. Therefore Boromir was sent, a fatal mistake. 

I often guess, as to what the fate of the Fellowship would have been, if Faramir was sent instead of Boromir. I have no doubt that Boromir would have survived and Faramir would have not been as tempted by the ring as Boromir was. But what after that? When Faramir finds Frodo, Sam, and the ring in the woods, he let them go. What if Boromir had been in charge of that party instead of Faramir? Would he have been so wise? I believe not. If Boromir could not control himself from taking the ring when he knew Frodo and his character, he would have most likely taken it and the whole mission would have failed. This goes to show that even though Boromir may not have been the best choice to be sent by Denethor, it was the right decision in the grand picture, perhaps because of providence. 

After Boromir and Denethor die, Faramir becomes steward of Gondor. He marries Eowyn, and they live under the rule of Aragorn into a happy age of middle earth.