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Maia (Middle-earth)
The Maiar (singular: Maia) are a fictional class of beings from J. R. R. Tolkien's high fantasy Tolkien's legendarium, legendarium. Supernatural and angelic, they are "lesser Ainur (Middle-earth), Ainur" who entered the cosmos of ''Middle-earth cosmology, Eä'' in the beginning of time. The name ''Maiar'' is in the Quenya tongue (one of several languages invented by Tolkien, languages constructed by Tolkien) from the Elvish languages, Elvish root maya- "excellent, admirable".J. R. R. Tolkien, Tolkien, J. R. R., "Words, Phrases and Passages", ''Parma Eldalamberon'' 17, p. 174. Commentators have noted that since the Maiar are immortals but can choose to incarnate fully in Men's bodies on Middle-earth, they can be killed; Tolkien did not explain what happened to them then. Others have observed that their semi-divine nature and the fact that they can be sent on missions to work out the divine purpose makes them much like the angels of Christianity. Description Lesser Ainur Tolkien s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
High Fantasy
High fantasy, or epic fantasy, is a subgenre of fantasy defined by the epic nature of its setting or by the epic stature of its characters, themes, or plot.Brian Stableford, ''The A to Z of Fantasy Literature'', (p. 198), Scarecrow Press, Plymouth. 2005. The term "high fantasy" was coined by Lloyd Alexander in a 1971 essay, "High Fantasy and Heroic Romance", which was originally given at the New England Round Table of Children's Librarians in October 1969. Characteristics High fantasy is set in an alternative, fictional ("secondary") world, rather than the "real" or "primary" world. This secondary world is usually internally consistent, but its rules differ from those of the primary world. By contrast, low fantasy is characterized by being set on Earth, the primary or real world, or a rational and familiar fictional world with the inclusion of magical elements. The romances of William Morris, such as ''The Well at the World's End'', set in an imaginary medieval world, are ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smithcraft
A metalsmith or simply smith is a craftsperson fashioning useful items (for example, tools, kitchenware, tableware, jewelry, armor and weapons) out of various metals. Smithing is one of the oldest metalworking occupations. Shaping metal with a hammer ( forging) is the archetypical component of smithing. Often the hammering is done while the metal is hot, having been heated in a forge. Smithing can also involve the other aspects of metalworking, such as refining metals from their ores (traditionally done by smelting), casting it into shapes (founding), and filing to shape and size. The prevalence of metalworking in the culture of recent centuries has led ''Smith'' and its equivalents in various languages to be a common occupational surname (German Schmidt or Schmied, Portuguese Ferreiro, Ferreira, French Lefèvre, Spanish Herrero, Italian Fabbri, Ferrari, Ferrero, Ukrainian Koval etc.). As a suffix, ''-smith'' connotes a meaning of a specialized craftsperson—for example, ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Morgoth
Morgoth Bauglir (; originally Melkor ) is a character, one of the godlike Valar, from Tolkien's legendarium. He is the main antagonist of ''The Silmarillion'', ''The Children of Húrin'', ''Beren and Lúthien'' and ''The Fall of Gondolin''. Melkor was the most powerful of the Valar but turned to darkness and was renamed Morgoth, the definitive antagonist of Arda. All evil in the world of Middle-earth ultimately stems from him. One of the Maiar of Aulë betrayed his kind and became Morgoth's principal lieutenant and successor, Sauron. Melkor has been interpreted as analogous to Satan, once the greatest of all God's angels, Lucifer, but fallen through pride; he rebels against his creator. Scholars have likened Morgoth, too, to John Milton's fallen angel in ''Paradise Lost''. Tom Shippey has written that ''The Silmarillion'' maps the book of Genesis with its creation and its fall, even Melkor having begun with good intentions. Marjorie Burns has commented that Tolkien used the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oromë
The Valar (; singular Vala) are characters in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. They are "angelic powers" or "gods", #154 to Naomi Mitchison, September 1954 subordinate to the one God (Eru Ilúvatar). The Ainulindalë describes how those of the Ainur who chose to enter the World ( Arda) to complete its material development after its form was determined by the Music of the Ainur are called the Valar, or "the Powers of the World". The Valaquenta indicates that the Elves generally reserved the term "Valar" for the mightiest of these, calling the others the Maiar. The Valar are mentioned briefly in ''The Lord of the Rings'' but were developed earlier in material published posthumously in ''The Silmarillion'', ''The History of Middle-earth'', and ''Unfinished Tales''. Scholars have noted that the Valar resemble angels in Christianity but that Tolkien presented them rather more like pagan gods. Their role in providing what the characters on Middle-earth experience as luck or provide ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Varda (Middle-earth)
The Valar (; singular Vala) are characters in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. They are "angelic powers" or "gods", #154 to Naomi Mitchison, September 1954 subordinate to the one God (Eru Ilúvatar). The Ainulindalë describes how those of the Ainur who chose to enter the World (Arda) to complete its material development after its form was determined by the Music of the Ainur are called the Valar, or "the Powers of the World". The Valaquenta indicates that the Elves generally reserved the term "Valar" for the mightiest of these, calling the others the Maiar. The Valar are mentioned briefly in ''The Lord of the Rings'' but were developed earlier in material published posthumously in ''The Silmarillion'', ''The History of Middle-earth'', and ''Unfinished Tales''. Scholars have noted that the Valar resemble angels in Christianity but that Tolkien presented them rather more like pagan gods. Their role in providing what the characters on Middle-earth experience as luck or providenc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manwë (Middle-earth)
The Valar (; singular Vala) are characters in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. They are "angelic powers" or "gods", #154 to Naomi Mitchison, September 1954 subordinate to the one God (Eru Ilúvatar). The Ainulindalë describes how those of the Ainur who chose to enter the World (Arda) to complete its material development after its form was determined by the Music of the Ainur are called the Valar, or "the Powers of the World". The Valaquenta indicates that the Elves generally reserved the term "Valar" for the mightiest of these, calling the others the Maiar. The Valar are mentioned briefly in ''The Lord of the Rings'' but were developed earlier in material published posthumously in ''The Silmarillion'', ''The History of Middle-earth'', and ''Unfinished Tales''. Scholars have noted that the Valar resemble angels in Christianity but that Tolkien presented them rather more like pagan gods. Their role in providing what the characters on Middle-earth experience as luck or providenc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Men (Middle-earth)
A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the father. Sex differentiation of the male fetus is governed by the SRY gene on the Y chromosome. During puberty, hormones which stimulate androgen production result in the development of secondary sexual characteristics, thus exhibiting greater differences between the sexes. These include greater muscle mass, the growth of facial hair and a lower body fat composition. Male anatomy is distinguished from female anatomy by the male reproductive system, which includes the penis, testicles, sperm duct, prostate gland and the epididymis, and by secondary sex characteristics, including a narrower pelvis, narrower hips, and smaller breasts without mammary glands. Throughout human history, traditional gender roles have often defined ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elf (Middle-earth)
In J. R. R. Tolkien's writings, Elves are the first fictional race to appear in Middle-earth. Unlike Men and Dwarves, Elves are immortal. They feature in ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. Their history is described in detail in ''The Silmarillion''. Tolkien derived his Elves from mentions in the ancient poetry and languages of Northern Europe, especially Old English. These suggested to him that Elves were large, dangerous, beautiful, lived in wild natural places, and practised archery. He invented languages for the Elves, including Sindarin and Quenya. Tolkien-style Elves have become a staple of fantasy literature. They have appeared, too, in film and role-playing game adaptations of Tolkien's works. Origins Germanic word The modern English word ''elf'' derives from the Old English word '' ælf'' (which has cognates in all other Germanic languages). Numerous types of elves appear in Germanic mythology; the West Germanic concept appears to have come to diffe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Melian (Middle-earth)
Melian is a fictional character in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. She appears in ''The Silmarillion'', ''The Children of Húrin'', ''Beren and Lúthien'', and in several stories within ''The History of Middle-earth'' series. An early version of Melian is found in ''The Book of Lost Tales II'', part of ''The History of Middle-earth'', where her characterization differs significantly. The final version of the character is presented as a Maia, a lesser class of powerful divine beings in Tolkien's legendarium known as the Ainur, who takes the form of an Elf and becomes the loyal queen consort of Elu Thingol. Melian is a pivotal character in the First Age of Middle-earth, and an essential part of the ancestral backgrounding of the interracial romances between her daughter Lúthien and the mortal Man Beren, as well as that of her descendants Aragorn and Arwen. Commentators have analysed the character's mystical nature, as well as her role as a forerunner of the Elf-que ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gandalf
Gandalf is a protagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. He is a Wizards (Middle-earth), wizard, one of the ''Istari'' order, and the leader of the Fellowship of the Ring (characters), Fellowship of the Ring. Tolkien took the name "Gandalf" from the Old Norse Dvergatal, "Catalogue of Dwarves" (''Dvergatal'') in the ''Völuspá''. As a wizard and the bearer of one of the Three Rings, Gandalf has great power, but works mostly by encouraging and persuading. He sets out as Gandalf the Grey, possessing great knowledge and travelling continually. Gandalf is focused on the mission to counter the Dark Lord Sauron by destroying the One Ring. He is associated with fire; his ring of power is Narya, the Ring of Fire. As such, he delights in fireworks to entertain the hobbits of the Shire, while in great need he uses fire as a weapon. As one of the Maiar, he is an immortal spirit from Valinor, but his physical body can be killed. In ''The Hobbit' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
One Ring
The One Ring, also called the Ruling Ring and Isildur's Bane, is a central plot element in J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings'' (1954–55). It first appeared in the earlier story ''The Hobbit'' (1937) as a magic ring that grants the wearer invisibility. Tolkien changed it into a malevolent Rings of Power, Ring of Power and re-wrote parts of ''The Hobbit'' to fit in with the expanded narrative. ''The Lord of the Rings'' describes the hobbit Frodo Baggins's quest to destroy the Ring. Critics have compared the story with the ring-based plot of Richard Wagner's opera cycle ''Der Ring des Nibelungen''; Tolkien denied any connection, but at the least, both men drew on the same mythology. Another source is Tolkien's analysis of Nodens, an obscure pagan god with a temple at Lydney Park, where he studied the Latin inscriptions, one containing a curse on the Ring of Silvianus, thief of a ring. Tolkien rejected the idea that the story was an allegory, saying that applicability t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eregion
The geography of Middle-earth encompasses the physical, political, and moral geography of J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional world of Middle-earth, strictly a continent on the planet of Arda but widely taken to mean the physical world, and ''Eä'', all of creation, as well as all of his writings about it. Arda was created as a flat world, incorporating a Western continent, Aman, which became the home of the godlike Valar, as well as Middle-earth. At the end of the First Age, the Western part of Middle-earth, Beleriand, was drowned in the War of Wrath. In the Second Age, a large island, Númenor, was created in the Great Sea, Belegaer, between Aman and Middle-earth; it was destroyed in a cataclysm near the end of the Second Age, in which Arda was remade as a spherical world, and Aman was removed so that Men could not reach it. In ''The Lord of the Rings'', Middle-earth at the end of the Third Age is described as having free peoples, namely Men, Hobbits, Elves, and Dwarves in the West, op ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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