Isilya, 21st Coirë – Today in Middle-earth History

Posted by on 22 February 2012, 5:00 am

Third Age 2931: Birth of Aragorn II Elessar.

Third Age 3019: Gollum leads Frodo and Sam through the Dead Marshes.

Gollum leads Frodo and Sam through the Dead Marshes

'Follow Sméagol! Don't look at lights!'

“…’There are dead things, dead faces in the water,’ he said with horror. ‘Dead faces!’

Gollum laughed. ‘The Dead Marshes, yes, yes: that is their name,’ he cackled. ‘You should not look in when the candles are lit.’

‘Who are they? What are they?’ asked Sam shuddering, turning to Frodo, who was now behind him.

‘I don’t know,’ said Frodo in a dreamlike voice. ‘But I have seen them too. In the pools when the candles were lit. They lie in all the pools, pale faces, deep deep under the dark water. I saw them: grim faces and evil, and noble faces and sad. Many faces proud and fair, and weeds in their silver hair. But all foul, all rotting, all dead. A fell light is in them.’ Frodo hid his eyes in his hands. ‘I know not who they are; but I thought I saw there Men and Elves, and Orcs beside them.

‘Yes, yes,’ said Gollum. ‘All dead, all rotten. Elves and Men and Orcs. The Dead Marshes. There was a great battle long ago, yes, so they told him when Sméagol was young, when I was young before the Precious came. It was a great battle. Tall Men with long swords, and terrible Elves, and Orcses shrieking. They fought on the plain for days and months at the Black Gates. But the Marshes have grown since then, swallowed up the graves; always creeping, creeping.’”

[The Two Towers, LotR, Book 4, Ch 2, The Passage of the Marshes]

—Farmir heads out to Ithilien from Minas Tirith.
—The Three Hunters – Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli – meet Gandalf the White in Fangorn Forest as they search for the hobbits Merry and Pippin. They all set out for Edoras.

The Three Hunters meet Gandalf the White

The Three Hunters meet Gandalf the White

“‘The old man was too quick for him. He sprang to his feet and leaped to the top of a large rock. There he stood, grown suddenly tall, towering above them. His hood and grey rags were flung away. His white garments shone. He lifted up his staff, and Gimli’s axe leaped from his grasp and fell ringing to the ground. The sword of Aragorn, stiff in his motionless hand, blazed with a sudden fire. Legolas gave a great shout and shot an arrow high into the air; it vanished in a flash of sudden flame.

‘Mithrandir!’ he cried. ‘Mithrandir!’

‘Well met, I say to you again, Legolas!’ said the old man.

They all gazed at him. His hair was white as snow in the sunshine; and gleaming white was his robe; the eyes under his deep brows were bright, piercing as the rays of the sun; power was in his hand. Between wonder, joy, and fear they stood and found no words.”

[The Two Towers, LotR, Book 3, Ch 5, The White Rider]

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Anarya, 20th Coirë – Today in Middle-earth History

Posted by on 21 February 2012, 5:00 am

Third Age 3019: The Ents gather for an Entmoot at Derndingle, a hollow in the south of Fangorn Forest.

Entmoot

Ents at the Entmoot in Derndingle

“Several Ents had already arrived. More were coming in down the other paths, and some were now following Treebeard. As they drew near the hobbits gazed at them. They had expected to see a number of creatures as much like Treebeard as one hobbit is like another (at any rate to a stranger’s eye); and they were very much surprised to see nothing of the kind. The Ents were as different from one another as trees from trees: some as different as one tree is from another of the same name but quite different growth and history; and some as different as one tree-kind from another, as birch from beech, oak from fir. There were a few older Ents, bearded and gnarled like hale but ancient trees (though none looked as ancient as Treebeard); and there were tall strong Ents, clean-limbed and smooth-skinned like forest-trees in their prime; but there were no young Ents, no saplings. Altogether there were about two dozen standing on the wide grassy floor of the dingle, and as many more were marching in.”

[The Two Towers, LotR, Book 3, Ch 4, Treebeard]

—Éomer, returning to Edoras, meets The Three Hunters – Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli. He tells them of their night raid on Saruman’s Orcs at the edge of Fangorn. The Three Hunters fear Merry and Pippin may be dead.

The Three Hunters meet Eomer and his Eored

The Three Hunters meet Éomer and his éored

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Elenya, 19th Coirë – Today in Middle-earth History

Posted by on 20 February 2012, 5:00 am

Third Age 3019: Merry and Pippin escape Saruman’s Orcs and meet Treebeard in the forest of Fangorn.

Merry, Pippin and Treebeard

“They found that they were looking at a most extraordinary face. It belonged to a large Man-like, almost Troll-like, figure, at least fourteen foot high, very sturdy, with a tall head, and hardly any neck. Whether it was clad in stuff like green and grey bark, or whether that was its hide, was difficult to say. … The lower part of the long face was covered with a sweeping grey beard, bushy, almost twiggy at the roots, thin and mossy at the ends. But at the moment the hobbits noted little but the eyes. These deep eyes were now surveying them, slow and solemn, but very penetrating. They were brown, shot with a green light.”

[The Two Towers, LotR Book 3, Ch 4, Treebeard]

—The Rohirrim attack at sunrise and destroy the Orcs.
—Frodo and Sam descend from the Emyn Muil and meet Gollum and capture him.

Funeral boat of Boromir

Funeral boat of Boromir

—Faramir sees the funeral boat of Boromir.

“‘I sat at night by the waters of Anduin, in the grey dark under the young pale moon, watching the ever-moving stream; and the sad reeds were rustling. So do we ever watch the shores nigh Osgiliath, which our enemies now partly hold, and issue from it to harry our lands. But that night all the world slept at the midnight hour. Then I saw, or it seemed that I saw, a boat floating on the water, glimmering grey, a small boat of a strange fashion with a high prow, and there was none to row or steer it.

‘An awe fell on me, for a pale light was round it. But I rose and went to the bank, and began to walk out into the stream, for I was drawn towards it. Then the boat turned towards me, and stayed its pace, and floated slowly by within my hand’s reach, yet I durst not handle it. It waded deep, as if it were heavily burdened, and it seemed to me as it passed under my gaze that it was almost filled with clear water, from which came the light; and lapped in the water a warrior lay asleep.

‘A broken sword was on his knee. I saw many wounds on him. It was Boromir, my brother, dead. I knew his gear, his sword, his beloved face. One thing only I missed: his horn. One thing only I knew not: a fair belt, as it were of linked golden leaves, about his waist. Boromir! I cried. Where is thy horn? Whither goest thou? O Boromir! But he was gone. The boat turned into the stream and passed glimmering on into the night. Dreamlike it was, and yet no dream, for there was no waking. And I do not doubt that he is dead and has passed down the River to the Sea.’”

[The Two Towers, LotR Book 4, Ch 5, The Window on the West]

 

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Valanya, 18th Coirë – Today in Middle-earth History

Posted by on 19 February 2012, 5:00 am

Third Age 3019: Éomer and his éored overtake Saruman’s Orcs at the edge of Fangorn Forest.

Rohirrim Attack Orcs at Fangorn

“‘Indeed in this riding north I went without the king’s leave, for in my absence his house is left with little guard. But scouts warned me of the orc-host coming down out of the East Wall four nights ago, and among them they reported that some bore the white badges of Saruman. So suspecting what I most fear, a league between Orthanc and the Dark Tower, I led forth my éored, men of my own household; and we overtook the Orcs at nightfall two days ago, near to the borders of the Entwood.’”

[The Two Towers, LotR Book 3, Ch 2, The Riders of Rohan]

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Counting the Elvish Way – Duodecimal System

Posted by on 18 February 2012, 10:32 am

2012 in TengwarMost races and cultures are known to use a decimal system (base-10) incorporating the numbers zero through ten. Though the elves were also known to use the decimal system, they preferred to use a system of counting in sixes and twelves. This is known as a duodecimal, or base-12 or dozenal, system, and I will try my best to explain how they used this system as simply as possible.

The duodecimal, or base-12 or dozenal, system consists of twelve (12) numbers. It is identical to the decimal (base-10) system of counting for numbers zero through nine, but the numbers 10, 11, and 12 have different notations. In the duodecimal system, 10 = A, 11 = B, and 12 = 10! The numbers 10 and 11 are assigned the letters A and B because they are two-digit numbers. This is so it is understood that 10 and 11 are each complete numbers and not two separate numbers written together (i.e. 1 & 0, 1 & 1).

That leaves how the number 12 = 10. Remember that the duodecimal system is also known as a base-12 system, or dozenal. In this system instead of counting in multiples of ten (10, 100, 100) as in the decimal, base-10 system, you instead count in multiples of 12 giving you 12, 144, 1728. The number 10 in duodecimal means “1 dozen and 0 units,” or 12 & 0 units which equals 12 in the decimal, base-10, system. The number 12 in duodecimal (“1 dozen and 2 units,” or 12 & 2) equals  14 in decimal!

Here is a chart showing the decimal and duodecimal systems as well as the associated elvish tengwa for each number.

Elvish Number Chart

You may have noticed that the tengwar for the number 12 (10 in duodecimal) appears to be backwards, written as 01. That is because it is written backwards. The elves write and read their numbers from right-to-left. Also, to indicate that we are using the duodecimal system, a small circle is drawn under the left-most digit in the number. Small dots, or closed circles, can be drawn under each additional digit in the number.

To better understand this system, let’s write the year 2012 using the duodecimal system and elvish tengwar. First you need to convert the decimal number 2012 to duodecimal. Think only in multiples of 12. Above I mentioned that in the duodecimal system the multiples of 12 were 12, 144, 1728. That is 12¹, 12², and 12³. For this example we should also include one as we need to have a 4-digit significant number. So now we have 12³ 12² 12¹ 1  as the place holders in the number 2012. Determine how many multiples of 12 you need for each digit. For instance, the first digit or place holder signifies 12³ or 1728. 2012 is only divisible by 1728 once, so we have (1×12³) as our first digit. Subtracting 1728 from 2012 we are left with 284 and in the second digit position or 12², which is 144. 284 is only divisible by 144 once, so we now have (1×12²) as our second digit. This leaves us with 140 (by subtracting 140 from 284) and in the third digit position or 12¹. 140 is divisible by 12 eleven (11) times giving us (11×12¹) as our third digit. We are left with 8 for the last digit and since it is a single digit and not divisible by 12 we leave it as it is. I realize this may be confusing, so let me show it to you this way…

2012 = (1×12³) + (1×12²) + (11×12¹) + 8 , remove the plus signs and the powers of 12 you have (1) (1) (11) 8 = 1 1 B 8

Hopefully that will help to clarify how we go from decimal 2012 to duodecimal 11B8.

Now, to write the number using tengwar we first have to write the number backwards, giving us 8B11.

Change each digit to the corresponding tengwa shown in the table above and you have:

The year 2012 in tengwarTry it yourself with some other numbers, just remember that what would be called tens, hundreds, thousands (10, 100, 1000) in the decimal system of counting are called dozen, gross, great-gross in the duodecimal (12, 144, 1728). I have made a PDF of all the numbers from 0 to 72 in preparation for the elvish calendar I am making, which may help in understanding the duodecimal system. It is available to view/download here. When looking at the list, remember that the tengwar are written in reverse!

This is by far not a complete teaching of how the elves count, I have only focused on the duodecimal system here. More information can be found on Thorsten Renk’s site Parma Tyelpelassiva – The book of silver leaves on the page The Eldarin Numerals.

(The tengwar font used in this post is Tengwar Sindarin and can be found here.)

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