Gorthaur the Cruel wrote:I think this is an important observation. Of course* Thror, Thrain and Thorin (and Gandalf) (and most other of Thorin's posse) were lifted directly from the Edda but the majority of names for people and places are of Tolkien's own invention. One of the chief reasons I struggle with other fantasy writing (or Swords and Sorcery) is because their invented names seem fake. Because of his expertise and expansive knowledge and experience in philology and of ancient texts, he knew how to make a name seem real, or how to make a word feel like a name. I think this is his primary tool for establishing and maintaining verisimilitude in his works.Smaug's voice wrote:I recently started my re-read of the Silmarillion and I realised that one of the reasons why I really love the book is because of the many beautiful names there are in it, and in LotR and Hobbit too of course.
I mean, if Thingol was named Edward or something like that there would have been some major change in the experience of the reader.
*i.e. I'm new so I might state the obvious sometimes and come off as supercilious, which (of course) I want to avoid.
Though Edward is an old Anglo-Saxon name, and I would be fine with its use in Middle Earth (but not for an elf...)