Strider is remarkably not disappointed that the Elf who’s overtaken them on the road is not his girlfriend. It’s Glorfindel of Rivendell; and for listeners who remember our episodes on the fall of Gondolin, we’ll not only answer the question of whether this Glorfindel is really that Glorfindel, we’ll also delve into Tolkien’s essays to understand what makes him so special. Plus, more questions about Elvish rebirth, a booth review on who attacked the Prancing Pony in the previous chapter, and hip-but-casual footwear options for the discerning demiurge.
For the essay “The Black Riders at Bree” by listener Tom Hillman, visit his blog here: http://alasnotme.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-black-riders-at-bree.html
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Recommended Reading:
Tolkien, J. R. R. (Christopher Tolkien, ed.) The Silmarillion (Mariner Books, paperback)
Baby names, Shelob for a girl or if it is a boy how about Khamûl, Sméagol, Gríma or Gothmog as names to avoid.
Instaed, have a look at the Hobbit family trees in the Appendices of the Lord of the Rings, plenty of great names in there.
Names:
First, the Sindarin word/suffix for daughter is “-iell”, which has a familiar/normal sound in English. This could be combined with various musical Sindarin words for any number of fair sounding names meaning “daughter of _____”. Similar case for “wen” or maiden, but it’s a little more exotic looking and sounding, maybe.
Now some suggestions:
– Melian. Beautiful sound, virtuous provenance, easy to pronounce, sounds normal, readily shortened to Mel.
– Arien. Same situation as Melian. Sounds great, won’t cause problems, cool backstory.
– Maia. Already a name via Greek and Latin, which kind of dilutes the Tolkienism to some extent, but it’s beautiful, simple, ready-to-wear.
– Arda. Why not? Sounds good, feminine -a ending.
– Nessa. Always loved this one. Joyful, simple name. Varda and Yavanna, also nice names, are a little too exotic, and Varda sounds and looks a little too teasable IMO, knowing how kids are.
– Always been strangely fond of Findis, the mysterious sister of the big F’s, so I gotta give her a shoutout. Celebrian is another beautiful exotic one that will be mispronounced by every human being on the planet earth. Éowyn, as incredible as she is, is a bit familiar, and has a diacritic, so it will always be technically misspelled.
Congrats!
A
Follow up – all the talk about the august hosts’ daughters (Vesper and Elanor are tremendous names) put the idea in my head that the baby to come will be a girl, which was not indicated. I’ll mull it over as I insulate my 125 degree attic.
Andrew — First of all, thank you. 🙂
I don’t think Brittany told us whether the baby was a boy or a girl; we just both happen to have daughters whose names fit the pattern a bit. But either way, we’d love any suggestions you have. Thanks!
My name is (unintentionally) Tolkien related:
I’m named Noga, which is the Hebrew name for the planet Venus. The Silmaril of Earendil is supposed to be Venus, so my name is related to Earendil and the Silmaril.
I love that! My daughter is also indirectly named after Venus. 🙂
Great episode, also one of my favourite chapters (well … one of many), but there‘s one thing I noticed in the scene at the ford about the witch king‘s show of power when he strikes Frodo dumb.
It truly does show tremendous power, but I think, having pondered this after listening to the episode, that it is also a show of fear. When Frodo tells the riders to go back to Mordor, they laugh at him. But when he invokes Elbereth and Luthien, the wraith doesn‘t laugh any more. Instead he wants this insignificant, not-even-a-man who should have been dead or worse for DAYS, but keeps defying him even at the very end of hope and power, to shut the hell up.
Really, he should have started to take that prophecy seriously at this point.