dragonlady7

Argh. This week has been sucked down into the black pit of nothing short of a novel. It's up to about 27,000 words by BBEdit's count, and there's no sign of it stopping.
I hope to salvage something publishable from the wreckage, but so far it's horribly arcane. And, worst of all, it will not let go of my brain.
I'm in the middle of fixing my website, so my professional blog isn't at the right URL right now so it doesn't really work... Sigh. anyway. It's sucking my brain.

On another note, i just wanted to share that I found The Coolest Website Ever.
Check it out: The Encyclopedia of Arda. Everything you EVER wanted to know about Tolkien's entire cosmos, from Ilúvatar to Éomer Éadig to the genealogy of Sméagol/Gollum. I mean, holy crap. From the LOTR trilogy and the Hobbit to the Silmarillion and his Unfinished Works, and his Letters. It's all in there.
Check out the lengthy diatribes (in the FAQ and under Balrogs, in B in the index) on whether Balrogs have wings and you'll see what I mean.

Anyway, I thought I'd share the most interesting bit of Tolkien trivia I picked up on my journeys today.

Dave, confused by the similarity between the names Boromir and Faramir, asked me what they meant some time ago. One of the neat features of the Arda encyclopedia is that it contains interpretations of the names of characters wherever possible, as well as alternative names.
On the topic of the names of the sons of Denethor, it explains that the name fragment "mir" means something equivalent to "jewel", as in "precious thing." "Boromir" is taken from a historical name (a hero in one of Tolkien's prequel tales) glossed as meaning "loyal jewel". Faramir, however, has no precedent, but is probably taken from the elvish word "fara", meaning "adequate".
So, Denethor named his two sons Loyal Jewel and Adequate Jewel.

Harsh, yo. No wonder Faramir pretty much killed himself.