Tolkien naming his characters

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• The Fellowship of the ...

[@alanhadipulungan]

-Gríma Wormtongue -Nazgul -Mordor -Baggins ?? -Mount Doom -Mirkwood -Faramir Boromir -Treebeard -Shelob -Saruman -Bilbo -Frodo

[@burialgoods]

Proudfoots, not Baggins. Otherwise, spot on. I'll pin for others.

[@satanslilhelper_]

@@burialgoodsPROUDFEET!!!

[@niclaswa5408]

Harfoots

[@sixscratch8384]

@@niclaswa5408Which are those again?

[@ToaGatanuva]

Wasn't there also the Battle of the Ford?

[@nightsong81]

We forget that all the scary things from ancient myth and legend had names in their native languages that mostly translated to "evil spirit" and "thing that kills you."

[@_Jay_Maker_]

"What the hell does that word mean?" "In their language? It means 'holy shit.'" "Wait, so they worshipped it?" "What? No. Not at all. It's just the last thing anyone who encountered it ever said."

[@xCorvus7x]

so this is just realistic worldbuilding, lmao

[@jetnugget4735]

In old norway, a troll was anything magical. All mystical beings were called trolls, and sorcery in norwegian is 'trolldom'. At some point, common traits among the mystical creatures of old norwegian stories were put together and given the name troll, and that creature became popular in fantasy.

[@xXx_Regulus_xXx]

@@xCorvus7x yeah names were originally just straightforward descriptions of the nature of a thing

[@stateofflorida5082]

The mesopotamian name for the most evil of spirits was just called Any-Evil.

[@pippi2285]

Sauron and his sidekick Saruman Hitler and his sidekick Himmler

[@eeveesmusic1938]

Name a more iconic duo than hitler and his side kick Stalin and beria:

[@Arcessitor]

@@eeveesmusic1938 literally never heard of beria

[@avroarchitect1793]

@@eeveesmusic1938 More like Stalin and Starvation.

[@kindlingking]

​@@Arcessitor you're lucky, if that's the case

[@Byzantine-Revolt]

@@Arcessitor Serial rapist (probably a child one too) and instrumental in the purges... also fat very fat

[@ashketchum6222]

"This character is Fëanor, which means Spirit of Fire in one of the languages I invented. His name symbolizes his personality, creative spirit and destructive tendencies." "This character is Treebeard, because he is a tree with a beard."

[@flowerfaerie8931]

Fëanor being “Spirit of Fire” automatically becomes hilarious when you imagine Tolkien being like “so what should I name the guy who literally died, but was so mad about it that his corpse burst into flames and burned itself to ashes when his spirit finally left? Ah yes, got it!”

[@LotteBlueJays]

Treebeard is just his nickname though. His real name is Fangorn.

[@ashketchum6222]

​@@LotteBlueJays"Fangorn" has the same meaning as "Treebeard". It comes from the Sindarin words "fang", meaning "beard", and "orn", meaning "tree".

[@justinharvey7398]

@@ashketchum6222 totally justified "um, actually" moment

[@godzillainspace5922]

​@ashketchum6222 wait so his nickname is treebeard, but his real name is also treebeard?

[@OctagonalSquare]

Tolkien calling himself “John Ronald” in frustration is one of the funniest parts of

[@HallsteinI]

The fact that you didn't finish your sentence is one of the most

[@-AAA-147]

You guys are really making me

[@TheKapowCow]

I swear if there is one more comment that doesn't

[@aeyempire]

I really appreciate it that you

[@verzenblaze]

The hecks going

[@ottovonbearsmark8876]

I mean the man made a world based in Anglo-Saxon traditions, he had to follow the classic Anglo-Saxon naming convention of: “Call thing what it is.”

[@jodofe4879]

That is not just an Anglo-Saxon thing to do. It is universally how people name things. Especially if you take a deep dive into etymology, you will see that most names just come down to 'description of thing'. And to be honest, how else would you name something? People don't usually make up random words to use for names, and a name that is actually descriptive of the thing it refers to is easier to remember and easier to get people to agree on.

[@ottovonbearsmark8876]

@@jodofe4879 I didn’t say it was just an Anglo-Saxon thing, but it’s definitely not a universal thing. A lot of cultures get very flowery with their names, Nippon being “land of the rising sun”, Hong Kong “fragrant harbor”, stuff like that. As opposed to the more Germanic style: the Angles live here call it “Angleland” (England), our people live here call it the “land of the people” (Deutschland), we’ve got some new land we’ve discovered “Newfoundland”, etc.

[@miniepicness]

@@ottovonbearsmark8876land of the rising sun means its in the east. eastland

[@TheLadderman]

​@@miniepicnessah yes. Reminds me of Austria. Österreich, literally "eastern kingdom".

[@ButterDawgDawgWitDaBudda]

Everything is called exactly what it is, if you know that language's history y'know. Old world was overly simplistic with their namings, as they should.

[@sleepy_jean]

"Merry is short for Meriadoc. Pippin is short for Peregrin. Sam is short for Samwise" "Is Frodo short for something?" "No. He's short for everything."

[@MandoWookie]

Frodoric. It's pronounced Fro-door-ick, Fro-door-ick Bag-geens.

[@user-qi6pv9jh7o]

​@@MandoWookie Fræoderrick Bgaoonsson

[@TheNapster153]

Youch, that's the other injury poor Mr. Baggins didn't recover from

[@emeraldkoala2543]

​@@MandoWookie"FRONKENSTEIN!"

[@henrypaleveda7760]

He’s even short a ring and a finger.

[@kapellmeisterr]

"don't worry, o have the trusted council of my most precious friend, Backstaberius Falsehoodspeaker

[@John-X]

"stop, have you no sense, Gullibob Fallsforeverytrickinthebookson?"

[@evgeniptolemy5570]

*Cough, cough* "Impossible! How could I, the Great Anne Tagonist McHubris be subdued the likes of you, Mr. Hiddenstrength McChosenone?!?!"

[@Kureemy]

“How dare you, Olweisse Hasmaisaide? Toaltalei Notlying was right that you would covet the ring! Go home!”

[@thejuiceking2219]

@@evgeniptolemy5570 thought that said McChromosone for a second

[@evgeniptolemy5570]

​@@thejuiceking2219 😂

[@RJKilroy]

Truly inspiring to see how the great mind of Jolkien Rolkien Rolkien Tolkien worked

[@jessssnake]

i think you're thinking of john rohn rohn tohn

[@goofygoober7617]

Sorrowtv reference?

[@Miroslava_Ivanova]

I can't not think of Jolkien Rolkien Rolkien Tolkien basically any time I think of him, omg 🤣🤣🤣

[@something1600]

I wonder how it compares to Gartin Rartin Rartin Martin

[@jacobburt1523]

Actually his name is Jolkien Rolkien Rolkientolkien Tolkien.

[@Gonzalouchikari]

In the spanish translation of the name "Treebeard", they mix the words "barba" (beard) and "árbol" (tree) in the most perfect way: "bárbol".

[@Abdega]

Treebeard/Bárbol: Would you believe I have a brother? He likes to make creams so people can shave their beard Dwarf: That sounds dreadful! What’s his name? Bárbol: Barbasol

[@therighttrousers343]

"I am the mightiest ent of all, little hobbits!" "Really, sir, what's your name?" "Bàrbol! I have the greatest deadlèft and rack-póll!"

[@Kohle33]

Funny, in Italian it's similar: it's translated as Barbalbero

[@joelthorstensson2772]

In Swedish he's called 'Lavskägge', literally 'lichen-beard'. Lav/Lichen is a type of spore that grows on trees and resembles hair.

[@jennifercavenee7572]

There should be a Pokemon with that name.

[@kino_enjoyer]

Your impression of Tolkien is so goofy but in a really heartwarming way. Like that one teacher who is chill no matter what bs is happening in the school

[@rustyjones7908]

Supposedly he'd start the first year class by running into the room wearing a Norman helm and swinging a mace around while shouting the opening lines to Beowulf at the top of his lungs. He seems like a cool teacher, very passionate about his subject.

[@corbanbausch9049]

@@rustyjones7908 fun fact, I believe he cited translating Beowulf as his greatest accomplishment, rather than LOTR or The Hobbit.

[@awesomecoolmanepic996]

quite

[@talknight2]

He sounds like Morgan Freeman tho 😂

[@vanillabatcave5677]

Well bless your heart, you are right *hits pipe* hmmm...quite indeed...

[@carrot708]

"This is a town on a lake. I have called it...Esgaroth. Elvish for 'reed lake'." "Huh. I thought you were going to call it Lake Town" *Tolkein starts chuckling ominously*

[@c4sualcycl0ps48]

There’s a beach south of my city on Lake Michigan that boats gather at during the summer. You’ll never guess what we call it…

[@Nny_777]

​@@c4sualcycl0ps48What do you call it?

[@c4sualcycl0ps48]

@@Nny_777 …Laketown…

[@optillian4182]

​@@c4sualcycl0ps48Did you witness any dragon attacks?

[@c4sualcycl0ps48]

@@optillian4182 no but the rich people who “own” the beach and sand dunes now are assholes, so I guess some things don’t change.

[@manchannel7003]

Given the Saxon naming conventions that led to names like "Staveleigh hill" which translates as hill where stakes/staves grow hill" or the "river avon" which translates as "river river", none of this is surprising.

[@cthulhuman6162]

River River is actually because when the Saxons arrived they asked the local Celts what the river was called, and they just replied “Avon” which meant river in their language. More a misunderstanding than lack of creativity

[@chinsaw2727]

@@cthulhuman6162 Like how “Kangaroo” translates to “What did you say?” in an Australian Aboriginal language. Edit: I get it, it’s a myth. I knew that when I posted it, but I thought nobody would care since I thought the internet didn’t prioritize facts over good storytelling. Color me surprised when the entire collective internet seemingly unites to tear me a new one for spreading misinformation about the kangaroo. I would be upset, but this whole thread has honestly restored my faith in humanity. I’ll leave this up, and I ask everyone who responded to correct me leave their comments up too to stand as an example of academic integrity on the internet.

[@nbewarwe]

@@chinsaw2727 Or how Yucatan Peninsula means "I don't speak Taco Bell Penninsula"

[@joshrainwater2822]

Like how sahara means desert, so the sahara desert is the desert desert

[@jFiander]

There’s also a place in England called Torpenhow Hill, which translates roughly to “Hill-hill-hill Hill”. Also, Wikipedia calls it “an alleged hill”.

[@vandalman8]

All the people who can’t tell that this is clearly done lovingly is wild

[@Loreboar0]

LOTR fans tend to take things very seriously, for better or worse

[@physical_insanity]

Most Tolkein posting is done out of a sort of reverence for the guy, even when it's pretty silly. I can't say what the actual man would think about what I've seen, but it's all mostly seemed in good fun.

[@Eye_Of_Odin978]

As a huge fan of LotR and Tolkien himself, I laughed my a$$ off the entire time and I think the man himself would have, too. Tolkien probably wasn't a man who couldn't laugh at himself so I refuse to get super offended and butthurt on his behalf. LotR stans need to chill out. Nobody's legitimately disrespecting Tolkien. It's just funny to point out some of his more basic character names.

[@KamikazeCommie501]

How could it not be done lovingly? This is pretty deep knowledge of the lore that most regular viewers of the movies wouldn't know. Obviously every one of them was written by fans who have read Tolkien many times.

[@ThatGuyNicho]

No part of this seems loving or banterous. It comes across as genuinely quite scathing and mocking.

[@smugbowkid9919]

I understand Tolkien is a pretty smart guy, but imagining him like this brings me immense joy, because this reflects around 80% of my creative invention.

[@DarkJak337]

Tolkien was one of the greatest creators of all time. People sometimes forget he and his lovely wife would also host parties where alcohol was served until the morning after they began. I hope wherever he is, he looks down on the joy his works have inspired with pride.

[@seigeengine]

The thing is naming stuff like this can easily come off as lazy. The trick is in managing to avoid that.

[@sejozwak]

Kid named smug bow:

[@blueshit199]

"hmm, I do need a name for a woman to beat the Lord of the Nazi-Ghouls... ah yes! of course, I-Win, that should do it!"

[@Rutgerman95]

And then in a galaxy brain move no writer has topped yet, he then casually drops that EVERYONE has completely different names and he's just writing as if he's translating ancient myths and sagas to comtemporary English for us

[@ExileHeretic]

This was after inventing like three languages to translate from. Multiverse brain move.

[@umcaraqualquer3640]

​@@ExileHereticDude was 4 parallel universes ahead of us this whole time

[@joelthorstensson2772]

His editor also complained that "the plural for dwarf is dwarfs". Tolkien replied (not verbatim obviously): "Yeah, okay, buddy. Good for you. I actually wrote the fucking dictionary, so shove that up your ass. It's dwarves."

[@TheNapster153]

It makes sense though. Words often get lost in translation a lot. I do this thing where I translate the name of my friends and me and some words can get pretty funny when given the wrong pronounce.

[@brethilnen]

There are a few people with the same name in Tolkien such as Aragorn II.

[@uppishcub1617]

You joke, but coming up with names is hard. The fact that he came up with so many cool sounding names is a feat. Half the time I just end up digging through a book of baby names or misspelling latin words. The other is me spending hours mixing random syllables.

[@The_Barroth]

I’ve mostly given up for my book Mostly translations of what they are, a reference to what they do, or after some sort of individual from past mythologies The loophole is that in universe they have legitimate names but are unpronounceable to the human tongue.

[@The_Barroth]

@@iytdominotik it’s mostly in their native language with grunts and hisses. But yes there will be those of eldritch origin too. Those are straight up gonna be unpronounceable so they’re given nicknames by those who encounter them. Like “that shadow fucker” or “creepy eye thing”

[@KorianHUN]

​@@The_Barrothmaybe try a foreign language. Random Hungarian words and names: John Seprűs arrived at Alsótarcsa, the cslm winds from Kérges valley made this hot day in Besenyő county quite pleasant. His loyal friend Lord Kerekes was to meet him at the locsl café, they have to find the trasure of Albert Tóvári before the Őrző brothers. Their best bet was mount Garam right past the trecherous Szekerce hills.

[@The_Barroth]

@@KorianHUN already am for some characters. Actually for a majority now that I think about it

[@steelbear2063]

Coming up with names is piss-easy, what are you talking about? Of you want a meaning behind one - go Google what real life names mean. What you do is literally how it's done

[@LonelyOcean]

Tolkien taking massive rips of that Old Toby while cheerfully writing aloud the greatest fantasy series of all time is one of my new favorite things.

[@KoopstaKlicca]

I dont know if I'll ever read something again quite like the first half of your sentence

[@Sabrowsky]

Tolkien was about the closest you could get for a dead language omniglot and a walking encyclopedia on eurasian myth, the man knew that mythological names were normally following a silly logic like that. Like, in his translation of Beowulf, he even notes that Beowulf's name would sorta translate to "bee's wolf" or something of the sort to an old english speaker.

[@rustyjones7908]

He literally decided "I'm going to learn Finnish" after hearing it for the first time. Then did. Then based Elvish off of it.

[@corbanbausch9049]

“Bee-Wolf” is actually an Old English compound word meaning “Bear”. In Old English, special kinds of compound words (they have a name, but it’s alluding me) were very common and used to describe all sorts of things. Oceans were called “whale-roads”, rib cages were called “bone-case” and so on.

[@Garnansoa]

ye its a kenning for bear

[@corbanbausch9049]

@@Garnansoa kenning, that’s right. Thanks for the clarification.

[@browncoat697]

@@rustyjones7908 Finnish was also his favorite language, which is a bit like a guy who grew up listening to R&B deciding his favorite band is Anaal Nathrakh.

[@Gameinger16]

unironically this is extremely realistic worldbuilding. even irl we just name everything literally what it is. most cities in their native language are just a geographical feature + port/settlement or a local tribe name + land. Heck, this is where the entire country of Portugal gets its name. As well as the countries ending with "ia" and "stan".

[@crushedcan5378]

I live in town where if you translate its name it just means "split mountain" because there is a split mountain near it

[@ahwabanmukherjee5065]

India, Hindustan

[@agustinvenegas5238]

England, the land of the engs

[@samueltitone5683]

@@agustinvenegas5238all England was once colonized by a tribe called the Angles. Angleland. Angland. England. Although “Eng” could be be a fun name for the English in a post-apocalyptic story.

[@127Kronos]

Here in Portugal we have really fun names for lands and rivers. The place I currently live in literally means "new pine forest". Some rivers have funny names, like "river man" or "river bird".

[@altEFG]

Thing is, the names we read in the book are not the ACTUAL names. In Tolkien's mind, what he wrote down was a translation from Westron, which was kind of a Lingua Franca of Middle-Earth. The "real" name of Frodo Baggins is Maura Labingi, for instance. And even when "translating', he didn't just come up with gibberish. Quote: "The name Maura has the element maur- (wise, experienced), which Tolkien equated to the Germanic element frod- of the same meaning". So, first he made up fictional languages, then created a complete fictional mythology and several millennia worth of history, then came up with characters and plot outline for The Lord of the Rings story set in this fictional world, then adapted what would sound like complete made up gibberish without reading through tons of appendices into something that sounds like Anglo-Saxon and Germanic mythology and language. Better yet, he encouraged translators not just to translate, but adapt his book in a way that would sound "native". For example, in certain Russian translations Frodo Baggins is translated as "Frodo Sumkin" or "Frodo Torbins", both of which is based on Russian word for a "bag". Which, in turn, makes it sound like it's the name of a villager, as opposed to something like "Aragorn", which sounds epic and big. Update: "Sumkin" is actually from a joke dub of the movie, but "Torbins" is from one of the Russian translation of the books, and I can't quite remember, but I'm sure I saw a few other version based on the same principle.

[@elnikolaz6883]

Absolute LEGEND

[@REAL2222ful]

In Spanish, Frodo's surname is "Bolsón". Bolsón = bolsa (bag) + augmentative (a feature of Spanish that allows you to qualify a noun as large) .

[@dragonboyjgh]

Sounds like a case of stage 4 terminal autism, not gonna lie.

[@crunchyandmagnificent5646]

Also the reason for some Russian youngsters to mix up middle-earth and the Mediterranean :D

[@joaovitorjungblut5225]

In portuguese, it's frodo bolseiro

[@LoneWolf343]

I just had to pause and have a good belly-laugh at "Nazi ghouls."

[@arasgee9184]

Can you further explain the joke? I don't quite get it.

[@user-gu8hp4zj8w]

​@@arasgee9184Nazgûl. Nazi ghoul

[@carrot708]

"What was the name for those big stone creatures, CS Lewis?" "You mean Golems?" "No, the one that turn to stone" "Oh! Trolls" "Yes, trolls, that's it......hmmm.....Golem, eh?"

[@FirewolfKnight]

They were close enough Tolkein would have called him Jack.

[@barahng]

The term golem comes from a Hebrew word which literally means "shapeless mass" like a lump of clay to be molded as the golem is molded to its master's will. There's no escaping literal nomenclature it's literal all the way down.

[@HeavyMetalisLaw]

On a side note, hearing the Shire theme away from the film footage just emphasises how beautiful a piece of music it is.

[@stephenwood6663]

Don't forget that Tolkein claimed that LOTR was a translation of the Red Book of Westmarch, and, translated back into their original languages, a lot of real towns and places sound very high fantasy indeed. Aylesbury is "Dreadfort", for example, and Crawley is "the Glade of Crows".

[@juliabarrow-hemmings6624]

While I know of Crawley being Crow's Wood or Crow's Glade, I haven't heard of Aylesbury being Dreafort, normally its stated to come from Aegel's Fort.

[@wodensol5000]

My hometown in England is literally Crawley, apparently named from I believe a Roman name for the area where a lot of crows could be found - where crows lie or 'Crows Leigh' was the name, then made into Crawley. It was also very wooded and apparently crows like to hang out around woods so yeah. We have some interesting names, names I don't have a clue what origin is.

[@HeronSight]

I've been to aylesbury, beautiful place, good comic book shop there

[@BuddhistJihad]

Cardiff in Wales actually translates to "Day Fort" (fighter of the Night Fort)

[@stephenwood6663]

@@BuddhistJihad Oh, that's very cool! Where's Night Fort?

[@aaronreeve1414]

Even more impressive when you remember he had to do this, like, seven times for each character. “Hmm…Gandalf, Mithrandir, Olorin…still need three more names for that one.”

[@01100101011100100111]

The voice actor for this did an AMAZING job.

[@ellieh.5419]

Specially considering he kinda sounds like Gandalf, which is ideal, because Ian Mckellen based his performance on the way Tolkien spoke irl, since Mckellen did get to meet Tolkien before passing away

[@LoDaFTA]

It's all humorous and all that, but then you realize most people that have anglo-saxonic ascendancy is named after that they did to earn coin. Shoutout to all the Smiths, Thatchers, Woodman, Cobbler, etc. In fact, I find Tolkien's naming sense very in touch to what you would actually see in a natural environment. People used to name stuff after very obvious local characteristics.

[@CErra310]

The most common surname in germany are the equivalents to 'Miller' and 'Tailor' and I think that's neat

[@dinkelheit88]

The only Woodman I ever met was a moron shout out him for that

[@nachoguy5]

"Lonely Mountain" "Mirky Woods"

[@Duothimir]

​@@nachoguy5Rocky Mountains, Montenegro, River Avon, Rio Grande River, there's fuckin tons of places just named after what they are.

[@IMeanIt100]

and here I am with my surname that translates to living rent free. Truly a high-demand profession these says

[@Nestnestsoto]

Hard to imagine that this is the same guy who invented multiple languages for these same books

[@xCorvus7x]

Maybe this is just realistic worldbuilding.

[@Fummy007]

The names we hear are "translated" localisations, so they come across as overly literal to us,

[@alyxquinncases]

He invented the books for those languages

[@selahanany5645]

LOTR was heavily inspired by fairy tales, do you complain about the name 'cinderella'?

[@freakymoejoe2]

Makes you think maybe the names arent as simple and goofy in origin as the meme portrays

[@NotACutie]

I must simply adore the vocal intonation you've put into Tolkien's character, very much befitting of his character.

[@holyshiet787]

H.P Lovecraft naming his cat: I should name my cat with a word that brings madness to others

[@kukifitte7357]

And joy to some

[@thekoifishcoyote8762]

Technically speaking the cat already had that name

[@Scharrez]

The cat was named by his father

[@xXREDstoneMANXx]

​@thekoifishcoyote8762 so he got it because of the name ?

[@Scharrez]

@@xXREDstoneMANXx He inherited the cat from his father, the cat was already very old at that point and he felt that it would be cruel to force it to learn a new name when it likely wouldn't be living that much longer anyway

[@ryankawalek1725]

Those accents toward the end sounded very genuine. You have a gift for this kind of thing sir. 😊

[@burialgoods]

I appreciate that 😎

[@alec304]

they didnt

[@AB-sw4kb]

?? those accents were like American transatlantic accents, and the Tolkien impression was nothing like him

[@ColCoal]

It is actually historical as it matches with his philosophy. He wrote The Hobbit/LOTR/Silmarilion with the intention of creating an ancient mythology for the English isles. He viewed fiction that it shouldn't be about drama or fantastical things, but rather to maintain the constant of moral rightness that it can be maintained and ultimately win no matter the setting it is put in.

[@TheRealVorynDagoth]

And as such the Tolkein community agrees on Tolkein canon more than just about any given fandom and most major religions

[@alsace2]

@@TheRealVorynDagoth sounds like the "tolkien community" might enjoy catholicism

[@TheRealVorynDagoth]

@@alsace2 not nearly as much overlap there as you'd initially think. The overlap is people who believe in objective morality

[@alsace2]

@@TheRealVorynDagoth lotr is still a fundamentally catholic work

[@constantinexi6489]

@@alsace2God gave the British JRR Tolkien so they’d have an idea of what being Catholic is like

[@anhduc0913]

"I need a name for this metal in this fantasy world" "A mythical metal that is both light and durable" "Ah I got it"

[@Gm-ce5kg]

" we must name this fictionnal unobtainable metal with a scientific term, hmmmmm..."

[@mr80s81]

I want a Tolkien asmr now, where he just talks and reads his books, and every now and then he smokes his pipe. Honestly great job on this, your voice suits the lines very well. I can imagine his thought process actually playing out like this.

[@logantidwell7698]

To be fair, wormtongue wasn't his actual surname, it was just a nickname. Given to him for obvious reasons

[@conbry6388]

Not obvious. The nickname is actually a positive one. It’s meant to be worm as in for wyrm as in dragon. So really it’s dragontongue. Before he defected to Saruman he was respected as a shrewd talker.

[@lawdogattorneyatlaw4886]

@@conbry6388no, wyrm is not a compliment in Middle Earth. It means “snake” in this context. Even if it meant dragon, the dragons were servants of Morgoth.

[@iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiivy]

Tolkien manages to blend "cool-sounding name that you wouldn't find anywhere in our modern world" and "name with an (at least reasonably) recognizable meaning". The names aren't out of place, but they aren't obnoxiously pretentious. And they're a pretty faithful reflection of naming conventions of most of humanity's ancient stories and myths.

[@ENNEN420]

Unironically how gigachad writers do stuff

[@princepower4595]

Rowling naming her characters: >An asian girl... Hmm... How to call her?

[@michakoniecpolski5677]

Based

[@nouhorni3229]

What makes it worse is that Cho Chang isn't even a name. She just made that up to sound asian.

[@justfox3577]

​@@nouhorni3229as far as im concerned, these are both surnames. Could be wrong tho

[@seigeengine]

Honestly, Rowling's naming is better than most I see. At least you can tell who a character is from their name. And that doesn't stop the characters from having depth, so you can't whine that the names spoil things either. Also, Cho Chang is 100% a plausible name, regardless of how Rowling came up with it.

[@nouhorni3229]

@@justfox3577 right, made up wasn't the right phrase. I don't know if I expect too much cultural sensitivity for the time the book was written at, but it wouldn't have been hard to apply a culturally coherent name. And not just have her be "the vaguely Asian Chang", it's just weird to me.

[@mikdan8813]

Actually: (hits pipe) oh yes, now that I've created 3 different languages from scratch, I guess I better create some characters to speak them

[@AlbertBalbastreMorte]

The capital of England has a green park named Green Park, so that's how they name things.

[@__-fm5qv]

Honestly yeah... the number of station roads near train stations, or church roads near churchs...

[@FleshWizard69420]

On the other end of the spectrum, astronomers name space objects by fistfighting a keyboard

[@AlbertBalbastreMorte]

@@__-fm5qv or things like Bush and Tree street... because there used to be a bush and a tree.

[@rocketmik65]

Honestly it doesn’t even feel like there’s even a hint of bad faith in this video, it’s just adorable ❤

[@FirstLast-cg2nk]

Imagine a story where all of the villainous cities sound similar to words for death and murder, and it turns out that all of the villains just lack imagination and are secretly in a contest to try and out-edge-cringe one another.

[@orangmawas3858]

i know that this video is a joke & all, but due to my immense respect for the late professor tolkien, i'd like to point out the following: besides all of literal english names, these all come out of the incredible language families with different sub-branches & belonging to different historical periods that he naturalistically developed from his made up root 'basic elvish' & 'basic dwarven' languages. when you read into how much skillful work he put into creating just the languages of his world using his deep knowledge of linguistics then you'll truly understand how passionate he was about his creation. it truly was his life'a work & it was a work of pure love. that's when you truly start developing the huge amount of respect tolkien will forever well earnedly deserve. thanks for listening to my tedtalk

[@maracabo1176]

Nerd! (Great comment though)

[@_ArmIa]

*TedTolk

[@brev653]

With an additional notable exception of the names of the dwarves in The Hobbit, which are mostly stolen from the Prose Edda.

[@Ivan-qf4mt]

​@brev653 well, gotta wait till a viking larper puts out a copyright claim for those.

[@404-ThisUsernameIsAlreadyTaken]

Often a simple name with the right feel to it is all you need. The enduring legacy of LOTR is proof enough that Tolkien knew how to write a book that sticks with the reader.

[@dawnyzero0]

While naming a bearded tree "Treebeard" sounds kinda simplistic by today. You can't deny that the names Tolkien has made stick pretty well. Mount Doom is just iconic despite being "Mountain of Doom." Plus, real life is guilty of the same thing. Rocky Mountains are just mountains that are rocky. Same applies if you translate several mythical monsters. Harpy translates to "foul creature" or "malign creature" in english. Not to mention, one of his motivations for his writings was to tell stories to his kids. Inspiration can come from literally anywhere. For a campaign-story thing, I even had a monster with a name that just meant "Mirror thing" or "Reflection" that would jump out from mirrors.

[@theenderdestruction2362]

Fun fact: treebeard was named after his friend C.S. Lewis and in return he became I believe the professor or something in C.S. Lewis book pretty much his character gets shot into space

[@Eye_Of_Odin978]

Hey, I ain't judging. I like Zelda a whole lot and Zelda was (partially) inspired by Tolkien's high-fantasy. Also I can't REALLY complain because one of my favorite landmarks of Hyrule is Death Mountain. Compared to Mount Doom, one could call that even LESS original lol

[@SupersuMC]

​@@Eye_Of_Odin978Fun fact: Zelda was named after F. Scott Fitzgerald's wife. :-)

[@ntw-bg3si]

Shadowfax sadly did not age well for reasons mostly outside Tolkein's control

[@viktoriyaserebryakov2755]

Sounds realistic enough. That mountain over there is where your doom awaits so Mount Doom it shall be.

[@marcobisi7768]

I don't think there exists a photo of Tolkien without his pipe, it's like a cartoon character.

[@Mimiyan_or_Pikapikafan]

This is unironically soothing to listen to

[@mateuszbanaszak4671]

Best thing is, its litelary how things worked back in the day. In slavic mythology most demons/monsters have name given after function or place where they live. Examples : Błotnik - mud-thing Bagunki - swamp-maiden's Borowy - pine-forest-men Świetle - glowing/light-thing Bieda - poverty Łapiduch - ghost/soul-catcher Paskudnik - ugly-b*tch-ass-mf Ofcourse we have also things like Snake-King, Fish-King and 2137 other monsters named "bobo".

[@miamorhardstyle]

We have a mountain here that has a dissappointing view. Its literally called Mount disappointment 🤣 We still do it regulary to this day

[@cellardweller5245]

As an Eastern Slav, can't not stop by to shitpost about folklore. We have these fine lads and lasses: Leshiy (forest spirit) - "The One Who Lives in the forest" or maybe even "The One of the forest" Vodyanoy (water spirit) - "The One of the water" Domovoy (usually friendly spirit, lives in inhabited buildings) - "The One of the home" Poludennitsa and Polunotchnitsa (spooky evil female spirits, usually met in the fields either during the hottest part of the day or in the middle of the night) - "The Female One of the noon" and "The Female One of the midnight" Liho (basically the embodiment of evil, plays a surprisingly little role in the grand scheme of things) - literally the old word for "evil".

[@patrykplinta1286]

I see what you did there my fellow pole 2137

[@sirpixel7945]

Ah yes, the most feared demon in the world... poverty

[@Behalior]

You spelled Karol Wojtyła incorrectly 😊

[@yoboikamil525]

I call this "realistic worldbuilding"

[@thecubicgamer6324]

I like how Tolkien’s portrayed in these as a kindly old grandfather figure

[@CarolusR3x]

A truly based man who managed to write down my childhood backyard adventures into a wonderful epic.

[@dmittleman9757]

Even if he DID come up with names like this, I would still have all the respect for him. Also your voice is incredibly charming.

[@9tz768]

How dumb are you?

[@avroarchitect1793]

It's not too far from the truth. Alot of the names are from old folklore and legends as well as being structured in the same naming conventions as old English

[@JoeNathanWhite]

The Faramir and Boromir one killed me 😂

[@DragnSly]

The LotR trilogy's music is so absolutely perfect, that even while listening to it during a shitpost it makes me want to cry.

[@pastaperspective3345]

I come back fairly often because it somehow gives me a lot of joy

[@matiasluukkanen7718]

Balrog in old Norse stands for Crooked-Flame, while Quenyan name of these fallen "angels" is Valaraukar and could be interpreted as Oath-breaker or more correctly, Oath-Wretch(es) in Finnish. Mordor is elusive old English word for mortal sin or sin of primal evil, that coincides with Tolkien's own linguistics. Curiously, in proto-indo-european Mor can mean both darkness and as variation of Mer death. While in Cornish dor means land. So Mordor quite literally is land of darkness, land of death and land of mortal peril. Grima is old Norse word for mask that was also used as a name. Wormtongue is merely what people called him as an insult. Of course, majority of Tolkien's linguistic work is not included in Lord of the Rings books. Westron terms, language which every character uses as common speech, rarely if ever survived into finished product because Tolkien considered it too alien for his readers. In real Middle-Earth, where common speech is Westron, Hobbits are called kuduks. Meriadoc Brandybuck is Kalimac Brandagamba. Peregrin Took's actual name was Razanur Tûc. Samwais Gamgi is Ban Galpsi, short for Banazir Galbasi. We see Middle-Earth through Tolkien's translation of his own invented language, further strengthening notion that this ancient myth has been passed through generations from our own pre-history.

[@davidkulmaczewski4911]

What I really like is that Razanur means something along the lines of "hunting bird" or "falcon", while the shortened "Raz" is a word for apple. Thus, "Peregrin" and "Pippin" in translation.

[@WolfGr33d]

Moria in Sindarin: The Black (Mor) Chasm (ia) Gondor: No word that I can find for "Gon", but "dor" means land in Sindarin. Mordor = The Black Land(s).

[@JK97SCORPION]

I thought that "Balrog" comes not from old Norse, but from the Irish Mythology of Bal-òr (king of the Fomoiri people)

[@lawrencefrost9063]

Vala Raukka would be Oath Wretch in Finnish. But yeah I get your point. It could be interpreted so.

[@megasparklegoomba6807]

So murder is still accurate in the case of Mordor

[@Brione30]

“Hmmmm… I’m thinking of a villain who’s eviler than all others. He’s superior in darkness. He’s more goth… AHA!”

[@RedWizrobe]

"Your love of the halfling's leaf has clearly slowed your mind."

[@u.kw1461]

1:38 I lost it here lmfao

[@xCorvus7x]

If you don't know the English names, some of these are riddles. I recall having read Shelob somewhere but what was the hobbit surname based on pride taken in hairy feet?

[@burialgoods]

Proudfoots

[@zippzapp9653]

@@burialgoods proudFEET

[@lemonlordminecraft]

Haha good reference

[@xCorvus7x]

@@burialgoods of course, thanks

[@historicflame972]

Which was 2:30?

[@Hummabubba]

Not enough people are talking about how fantastic his voice is

[@etheretherether]

Honestly more realistic than fancy fantasy names. You have to remember that the local culture is going to name something that on their native tongue is descriptive of what it actually is.

[@IndigoRose13]

Tolkien studied Nordic languages. He named a character 'Gamling the Old'. 'Gamling' is literally just a slightly rude Swedish word for an old person. It's like calling the character 'Old Guy the Old'.

[@WolfGr33d]

Checks out. Not the only time Tolkien's done that. Cirdan the Shipwright. 'Cirdan', the elvish word for Shipwright. His name is literally Shipwright, the shipwright.

[@missa2855]

​@@WolfGr33dgiven elves live as long as they do, perhaps he is the guy that laid name to the word shipwright.

[@WolfGr33d]

@missa2855 Might be possible. Technically he had a name before Cirdan (it escapes me at the moment what it was), then he picked up the name 'Cirdan' either from his profession, or just as a nickname. Cool guy to look up in the lore, but then again who isnt.

[@flowerfaerie8931]

Tolkien likes to do this. Take Artanis (Galadriel) and Arwen. Both of their names translate to “Noble woman” or “noble maiden,” or something of the like. They’re also both of nobility. The terms Lady Artanis or Lady Arwen is basically just “Lady Lady” lmao. Then we have Legolas Greenleaf… Yeah Legolas literally means green leaf it’s just his name twice. And my favorite! Peredhel. The word literally means half-Elf, but *not a single member* of that line (unless you count Lúthien who actually is half-Elf, or Ëarendil but he’s only a Peredhel by marriage) is actually half-Elf, the percentages are always off because there’s a Maia in there.

[@TARLChudmunch]

@@WolfGr33dyou can say that again. Wish the movie had showed him with his elf beard , but I guess that would just confuse people

[@gigabyteguru2452]

To be fair, this is the logic real people use for naming, so it does feel strangely realistic that for example, the dark and foggy forest is called the Mirkwood by the people who live nearby.

[@j.s.ospina9861]

How to make elves' names sound elvish? Hmmm... Oh! Elves! El-ves! If I put El or something like it on all names, it might just work! Like... El-rond. Or... Galadri-el. Yes, quiet a grand idea indeed So this is a fellow that sometimes is a bear. I could just call him bear... But there were names that just meant bear, weren't they? Like... Bjorn, i guess. Huh, that first part sounds a bit like "bear"... Yes, Beorn it is. These... dinosaur creatures they have been finding as of late are nasty-looking... "dinosaur", what a strange word... I think it meant "terrible lizard" or something like that... well, "saurus" sounds quite ominous, so it might as well be the terrible part. Goodness, imagine someone called "Sauron". Truly he would be the most terrible of evil-doers, wouldn't he? ...Actually, that's quite useful...

[@milesknightestrada3286]

This is shockingly wholesome. A welcome relief from the nonsense consistently heaped upon us. Thank you.

[@ChaoticVoicesofAndreas]

I found myself chuckling several times during this one. Splendid job, ol' bean!

[@burialgoods]

Thank you kindly, good sir

[@WeDieStanding948]

What a magnificent fellow he was!

[@Razgriz_01]

Hitler Himmler Sauron Saruman Some Saturday cartoon villain shenanigans here.

[@Kanezeran]

I can't believe they got away with the Hitler/Himmler bullshit.

[@googoogajoog1334]

my pronouns are himmler/theyler

[@mistertwister2000]

I love that every name in LotR is either goofy or absolutely badass and there’s no in between.

[@KaiserSquirrelz]

I know it’s a bit off topic but man there are a lot of pictures of him smoking pipe or just laughing or smiling and together with this music this makes him look like such an incredible and wholesome human ❤

[@theweldingpanzer4841]

I can't complain, it's amazing and so accurate.

[@cobra7166]

Honestly I find the whole video very cute, just an old guy with far more creativity than pretty much anyone in his time thinking up names for his world. Even though by modern standarts they appear unimaginative, it's obvious they sounded nice to him and that's what really matters.

[@Arcessitor]

They don't, though. Naming things random non-existent words is just dumb. It's not how anything was named in the past.

[@mark-jf5ik]

@@Arcessitoras if language itself isnt made up of grunts and vowels cobbled together to add a name to something

[@joelthorstensson2772]

@@Arcessitor Random, made-up words? Buddy, he literally _wrote_ the english dictionary. He made an entire world filled with thousands of years of interesting background lore, side-characters that might as well have been main-characters etc.

[@DeathnoteBB]

@@ArcessitorThat’s entirely how things are named, always.

[@vanacraft]

"old guy with far more creativity than pretty much anyone in his time" he began to work on lotr in his forties, that's not old and if you honestly think tolkien was the pinnacle of creativity in the early 20th century, that just makes me sad

[@ninjabastard2]

I ain't going through the easiest of times in my life at the moment and this wholesome humour paired with the LotR soundtrack almost made me burst into tears...

[@Tawadeb]

I prescribe some LotR behind the scenes and interviews with Peter Jackson. And Hobbit Behind the scenes. That will bless you. (It does me). X

[@imtiol]

Hope things look up for you soon ❤

[@nobodyishere00000]

JRR Tolkien truly followed the writer advice of "take a look around the room, picks two things at random, mash them together, and there's your character's name"

[@asky-ne7yz]

as someone who absolutely loves LOTR and the Silmarillion, this was hilarious

[@MeneltirFalmaro]

Sorry to disappoint but 99% of cool sounding meaningless names for anything irl are historically just untranslated simple meaningful descriptors. Stringing random sounds together to call things by is the unusual thing.

[@Padovanm125]

That’s one of the best Patrick Stewart impressions I’ve ever heard. Fits perfectly.

[@DrAhzek]

That’s how people imagine all British/English sound like…till they meet an average Brit that is and realize where all the memes come from xD

[@maverickhunterstupidiocy7779]

This video makes Tolkien seem like just the absolute nicest, purest old man to ever walk the friggin’ earth and now I’m real sad he’s dead

[@WingMaster562]

That "hmmmmm" is satisfying. Like Siegward's.

[@MarioMonte13]

Many of Tolkien's names for things are in what he called the "common speech." Of these, many are translations from the elven tongue. Mount Doom, or Orodruin (Mountain of Fiery-Red) is a perfect example of this

[@smileysatanson3404]

Ngl, with the music its kinda cozy watching this

[@Ugnaski]

Same. Watch this in bed before sleeping sometimes.

[@Mrqwerty2109]

Check your city names people. Yours is no different

[@dutch_asocialite]

Goofy as Tolkien may be sometimes (I still remember when he repeatedly used "and" to join descriptors) he does a damn good job when he gets serious. Despite never actually being directly personified or having his speech transcribed at all in the Fall of Gondolin, Melkor is such an evil name that just having another in his presence made the sheer malice of his character practically palpable, that I still remember the tension of his sole scene even though literally nothing happened. All he did was show up and earned more right to use the title Dark Lord than Davoth could ever dream of. But God, do I love Tolkien posting.

[@morgoth2425]

Melkor's name given him by the elves is even better tbh

[@dutch_asocialite]

@@morgoth2425 I do agree, it's just Morgoth wasn't in the "final" text as far as I remember.

[@ExileHeretic]

What to name a group of mountains that are made of rocks? Hmm, yes. This will be a TWO pipe problem. **Puff puff**

[@vesuv1u5]

>Good heavens! I can't seem to find a fitting name for a dark and brutal fallen god >What in the world would be a suiting name for a deity even MORE brutal than the GOTH barbarian warriors of old? >... >Ooh John Tolkien, you mischievous little devil! You did it again!

[@OlavHuitfeldt]

This is wonderful, gave me a hearty laugh. I think anyone who has tried their hand at writing will be familiar with this situation when having to name your characters.

[@ColonelSanders17]

RIP Tolkien one of the greatest writers of all times!

[@invurret9533]

He died 50 years ago why do you make it sound like it was yesterday

[@vaiyt]

Wormtongue was a nickname but naming the duplicitous character with an old word for "mask" was still on the nose.

[@mistersharpe4375]

“Worm” is an old Norse-Germanic nickname for a dragon. In Tolkien’s own works, dragons are smooth-talkers and have incredible powers of suggestion. The name “Wormtongue” is really a double meaning. It can be taken as an insult, or a compliment.

[@vaiyt]

@@mistersharpe4375 considering the history between the rohirrim and dragons, it was definitely an insult.

[@Kwisatz-Chaderach]

Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu. Tolkien was a fan of the Sagas.

[@mrtoast244]

J.R.R Tolkien is just one of those once in a generation mega genius artists, he is the definition of an educated gentleman with a whimsical side.

[@elijahjarman2837]

In the dark abyss of your videos, this shining light brings such joy Not the others aren't entertaining

[@ZelphTheWebmancer]

Tolkien invented new languages and created new worlds around these languages for fun. And he was incredible at it. They guy was a beast.

[@harrisonmoore3841]

The whole reading-books-by-the-fireplace thing at the time must've been like us enjoying a good video game in bed.

[@benyseus6325]

Can’t wait for humans to join the galactic federation and explain to their new alien friends that they come from a planet that they named after dirt

[@hieronymus9]

“Oh, you too?”

[@Kardel_VA]

Honestly? The way you portray Tolkein along with this writing and music makes it so much more wholesome.

[@nickster5207]

We all like to laugh and point at Tolkien but when we take a moment to look at the rest of our world, our rivers, our mountains - we discover that humans are just that uncreative.

[@jodofe4879]

It is not so much a lack of creativity, but rather that names are meant to be functional things. Names that are descriptive of that which they refer to are more intuitive, easier to remember and easier to get other people to agree to. That makes them more functional and thus preferable over non-descriptive names. Humans can come up with very creative, fancy names. But we just prefer being efficient.

[@nickster5207]

@@jodofe4879 Newfoundland.

[@YataTheFifteenth]

How many Londons are around, again?

[@TheInfectous]

eh, I mean think how these things are created, nobody suddenly decides, oh this is going to be a town; it's a collective understanding of what a particular place is called, the names are going to arise from whatever colloquial term catches on first. It doesn't matter if you call the forest with oak trees Elcariondor, everyone else in the town is gonna call it the oak forest which will likely be shortened to something like Oakwood, the only thing being creative will net you is weird looks.

[@tgb-vf4es]

@@TheInfectous yep exactly. This is literally a non-issue in the real world. There is not a single place name anywhere on earth that doesn't come from something functional. My hometown -- "Peony Market". Nearest big city - "Fortress". Tallahassee -- "Old Town" Chattanooga - "Rock Rising To a Point" (nearby mountain) Debrecen - "Good Land" Warsaw - "Warsz's Land" York - "Yew Settlement" or "Boar Settlement" __________ I could go on with names from all over the world, they're all functional. I was fascinated with etymology during college and had a conversation along these lines with several professors. They all agreed that ALL toponyms are functional, and neither is purely poetic, creative, or "meaningless".

[@OneBiasedOpinion]

I wouldn’t be the slightest bit upset if it were to somehow come to light that this is indeed exactly how he hit upon some of these names. Making up interesting names is often harder than constructing an entire language.

[@MegaTroIl]

That's not even slightly true, you dunce

[@mistersharpe4375]

Luckily, Tolkien never just “made up” names. They are all taken from one language or another. Sometimes real languages, sometimes his own. He hated when fantasy authors stitched together random syllables to name things.

[@derpfluidvariant0916]

@@mistersharpe4375 Did he name things by taking a literal description and putting it in another language? If this sounds sarcastic, it isn't. I legitimately want to know because naming things is hella hard.

[@mistersharpe4375]

@@derpfluidvariant0916 No worries dude. For place names, that’s usually always how he rolled. It’s more obvious when the names are rendered in modern English. If it looks like a made up fantasy name, it’s usually either rendered in one of Tolkien’s elvish languages, in archaic English, and sometimes Old Norse or Celtic. This is also why everything in LOTR has multiple names as well. Rivendell is just an fancy English way of saying “the cloven valley”. Isengard; “the iron boundary”. Hornburg; “fortress of the horn”. And so on. Usually characters get this treatment as well. Aragorn is sindarin elvish for “revered king”. Frodo is derived from Old English “fród”, meaning “wise”. I literally could go on forever, but you get the idea, lol.

[@jeniskindof]

This never ceases to put a smile on my face when i am in a bad mood

[@katzencowboy2313]

Honestly its really wholesome seeing him think and be so happy about the names he comes up with