Bingo - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Lord of Angmar · 07-02-2003, 11:43 AM

Aesthetically speaking, all of Tolkien's earlier names were clumsier and uglier, in my humble opinion. One of the great parts of Tolkien's works is the ability of the names to give you an idea of what the person is like or whether a place is good or bad. For example, Tolkien uses different sounds to make things sound bad... G's and R's, I think, are what he commoly uses for words and thus places that would seem negative: Balrog,Bauglir, Gorthaur, Gorgoroth, Mordor, Gothmog etc. Notice the r's and g's in each word... It is this kind of naming that adds a cohesiveness to Tolkien's world. I think his favorite letters for good words and places are d, n and t... tirion, doriath, dorthonion, gondolin... his names are all perfect for the places they describe, and i noticed in his earlier work that this was not true... the same cohesiveness did not exist. Eressea was Faerie, the Noldor were the Gnomes, Voronwe was Bronweg, etc. My apologies for this rather rambling essay, which I am afraid has lost its point. My point was simply that the names that Tolkien chose and the aesthetically-appealing languages he created add an immense realistic and fantastical quality to the story, something I believe Bingo and Marmaduke couldn't have achieved! [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img]

[ July 02, 2003: Message edited by: Lord of Angmar ]

07-02-2003, 11:43 AM	#3
Lord of Angmar Tyrannus Incorporalis Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: the North Posts: 833	Aesthetically speaking, all of Tolkien's earlier names were clumsier and uglier, in my humble opinion. One of the great parts of Tolkien's works is the ability of the names to give you an idea of what the person is like or whether a place is good or bad. For example, Tolkien uses different sounds to make things sound bad... G's and R's, I think, are what he commoly uses for words and thus places that would seem negative: Balrog,Bauglir, Gorthaur, Gorgoroth, Mordor, Gothmog etc. Notice the r's and g's in each word... It is this kind of naming that adds a cohesiveness to Tolkien's world. I think his favorite letters for good words and places are d, n and t... tirion, doriath, dorthonion, gondolin... his names are all perfect for the places they describe, and i noticed in his earlier work that this was not true... the same cohesiveness did not exist. Eressea was Faerie, the Noldor were the Gnomes, Voronwe was Bronweg, etc. My apologies for this rather rambling essay, which I am afraid has lost its point. My point was simply that the names that Tolkien chose and the aesthetically-appealing languages he created add an immense realistic and fantastical quality to the story, something I believe Bingo and Marmaduke couldn't have achieved! [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img] [ July 02, 2003: Message edited by: Lord of Angmar ] __________________ ...where the instrument of intelligence is added to brute power and evil will, mankind is powerless in its own defence.