Skip to main content

tolkiens legendarium - Astronomy in Middle-earth


There already are a number of questions which discuss the relationship between "our world" and Middle-earth.


I am interested in the astronomy of Middle-earth, which I guess could possibly have discussed in some book. I am currently re-reading the LotR (I highly recommend to read it multiple times, and I feel to be not alone with this idea :) ) and am noticing a lot of nice details. Among these, there is this description at the end of Three is company:



Away high in the East swung Remmirath, the Netted Stars, and slowly above the mists red

Borgil rose, glowing like a jewel of fire. Then by some shift of airs all the mist was
drawn away like a veil, and there leaned up, as he climbed over the rim of the world,
the Swordsman of the SKy, Menelvagor whith his Shining belt.



Menelvagor with his Shining Belt could be Orion. This is consistent with the time of the year (autumn in the northern hemisphere). Is it possible to identify the other stars or planets? (Borgil, with a red hue, could be Mars).



Answer



Wikipedia has a good list of star references and more explicitly cross-referencing those with real life stars where provided. Those specifically cross-referenced I've included below, along with citations where possible:



  • Alcarinque - Jupiter? (Morgoth's Ring)

  • Borgil - Aldebaran? (A Definitive Identification of Tolkien's 'Borgil': An Astronomical and Literary Approach)


  • Carnil - Mars? (Morgoth's Ring)

  • Eärendil’s Star, Gil-Amdir, Gil-Estel, Gil-Oresetel, Gil-Orrain - From Letter 297:



Eärendil ... To my mind the A-S uses seem plainly to indicate that it was a star presaging the dawn (at any rate in English tradition) : that is what we now call Venus: the morning-star as it may be seen shining brilliantly in the dawn, before the actual rising of the Sun.




  • Eksiqilta, Ekta - Orion’s Belt (Qenya Lexicon, Parma Eldalamberon 12)

  • Elemmire - Mercury? (Morgoth's Ring)

  • Helluin - From the Silmarillion:




Helluin The star Sirius




  • Luinil - Uranus? (Morgoth's Ring)

  • Lumbar - Saturn? (Morgoth's Ring)

  • Menelvagor, Daimord, Menelmacar, Mordo, Swordsman of the Sky, Taimavar, Taimondo, Telimbektar, Telimektar, Telumehtar - Orion (Lord of the Rings, your reference above)

  • Morwinyon - Arcturus (Book of Lost Tales)

  • Nenar - Neptune? (Morgoth's Ring)


  • Remmirath, Itselokte, Sithaloth - Pleiades (Lord of the Rings, your reference above)

  • Valacirca, the Sickle of the Valar, Burning Briar, Durin’s Crown, Edegil, Otselen, the Plough, Seven Stars, Seven Butterflies, Silver Sickle, Timbridhil - Ursa Major / Big Dipper (Lord of the Rings, allegedly, but I can't find this beyond deduction from the description)

  • Wilwarin - From the Silmarillion:



Wilwarin Name of a constellation. The word meant 'butterfly' in Quenya, and the constellation was perhaps Cassiopeia.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize Missy right away?

So after it was established that Missy is actually both the Master, and the "woman in the shop" who gave Clara the TARDIS number... ...why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize her right away? I remember the Tenth Doctor in The Sound of Drums stating that Timelords had a way of recognizing other Timelords no matter if they had regenerated. And Clara should have recognized her as well... I'm hoping for a better explanation than "Moffat screwed up", and that I actually missed something after two watchthroughs of the episode. Answer There seems to be a lot of in-canon uncertainty as to the extent to which Time Lords can recognise one another which far pre-dates Moffat's tenure. From the Time Lords page on Wikipedia : Whether or not Time Lords can recognise each other across regenerations is not made entirely clear: In The War Games, the War Chief recognises the Second Doctor despite his regeneration and it is implied that the Doctor knows him when they fir
Post a Comment
Read more

the lord of the rings - Why is Gimli allowed to travel to Valinor?

Gimli was allowed to go to Valinor despite not being a ring bearer. Is this explained in detail or just with the one line "for his love for Galadriel"? Answer There's not much detail about this aside from what's said in Appendix A to Return of the King: We have heard tell that Legolas took Gimli Glóin's son with him because of their great friendship, greater than any that has been between Elf and Dwarf. If this is true, then it is strange indeed: that a Dwarf should be willing to leave Middle-earth for any love, or that the Eldar should receive him, or that the Lords of the West should permit it. But it is said that Gimli went also out of desire to see again the beauty of Galadriel; and it may be that she, being mighty among the Eldar, obtained this grace for him. More cannot be said of this matter. And Appendix B: Then Legolas built a grey ship in Ithilien, and sailed down Anduin and so over Sea; and with him, it is said, went Gimli the Dwarf . And when that sh
Post a Comment
Read more

Did the gatekeeper and the keymaster get intimate in Ghostbusters?

According to TVTropes ( usual warning, don't follow the link or you'll waste half your life in a twisty maze of content ): In Ghostbusters, it's strongly implied that Dana Barret, while possessed by Zuul the Gatekeeper, had sex with Louis Tully, who was possessed by Vinz Clortho the Keymaster (key, gate, get it?), in order to free Big Bad Gozer. In fact, a deleted scene from the movie has Venkman explicitly asking Dana if she and Louis "did it". I turned the quote into a spoiler since it contains really poor-taste joke, but the gist of it is that it's implied that as part of freeing Gozer , the two characters possessed by the Keymaster and the Gatekeeper had sex. Is there any canon confirmation or denial of this theory (canon meaning something from creators' interviews, DVD commentary, script, delete scenes etc...)? Answer The Richard Mueller novelisation and both versions of the script strongly suggest that they didn't have sex (or at the very l
1 comment
Read more

What is the etymology of Doctor Who?

I recently decided to watch Doctor Who, and started viewing the 2005 version. I have the first two episodes from the first season, and I can't help but wonder what is the etymology of the name "Doctor Who"? And why does the protagonist call himself "the Doctor" (or is it "the doctor")? Answer In the very first episode of Doctor Who (way back in 1963), the Doctor has a granddaughter going by the name "Susan Foreman", and the junkyard where the TARDIS is has the sign "I.M. Foreman". Barbara, who becomes one of the Doctor's companions, calls him "Doctor Foreman" (probably assuming that is his name given his relationship to Susan), and Ian (another early companion) does the same in the second episode, to which the Doctor says: Eh? Doctor who? What's he talking about? "Foreman" is most likely selected as a convenient surname for Susan to use because it happened to be on display near where the TARDIS landed.
Post a Comment
Read more