Search found 20 matches

by Roccondil
Tue Feb 21, 2006 11:15 am
Forum: The Shibboleth of Fëanor
Topic: Tolkien's Pictorial Code Letters
Replies: 99
Views: 61631

Well, I've not been doing updating because tension and stress is a major problem in modern day society and I haven't wanted to add to it.... Actually, I found it impossible to get hold of the curator, who I believe has been away a lot. I wrote to the solicitors for the Tolkien Estate making what I h...
by Roccondil
Fri Jan 20, 2006 12:44 pm
Forum: The Shibboleth of Fëanor
Topic: Tolkien's Pictorial Code Letters
Replies: 99
Views: 61631

The curator is away till next week, so we'll have to wait a bit longer for that call. However, this is what I have been told so far; The letter is one leaf, folded into two, making four sides. The pictorial code covers a total of 2 and a bit pages, followed by a limerick and some other notes to Fr F...
by Roccondil
Wed Jan 18, 2006 4:45 pm
Forum: The Shibboleth of Fëanor
Topic: Tolkien's Pictorial Code Letters
Replies: 99
Views: 61631

Just a quick note here to say that I have had a letter from the Bodleian - a very friendly response with some extra information, but referring us to the solicitor. I intend to telephone the Bodleian with a couple of queries about this process, but the person I need to speak to is probably unavailabl...
by Roccondil
Wed Jan 18, 2006 3:08 pm
Forum: The Shibboleth of Fëanor
Topic: Too Short?
Replies: 65
Views: 40872

It has often seemed to me that Middle-earth and it's histories was more detailed in the mind of Tolkien than he ever actually put down on paper. One just has to look at the questions from readers that evoked huge answers. The famous letter 214 has a huge amount of information about the Shire not fou...
by Roccondil
Fri Jan 06, 2006 3:32 pm
Forum: The Shibboleth of Fëanor
Topic: Tolkien's Pictorial Code Letters
Replies: 99
Views: 61631

truehobbit wrote: Looks like you've travelled a lot!
Not especially, it just happens I have been to Cologne and Philadelphia (also a city and area with lovely buildings and fascinating history) :)
by Roccondil
Fri Jan 06, 2006 2:28 pm
Forum: The Shibboleth of Fëanor
Topic: Tolkien's Pictorial Code Letters
Replies: 99
Views: 61631

Didn't know people knew I'm in Cologne, actually Lovely city - My main memory is staggering to the top of the cathedral a couple of years ago. Great view once I got my breath back though! sounds hopeful, I'd say. Let's hear what the curator will have to say! :) Actually, it does sound a little more...
by Roccondil
Fri Jan 06, 2006 8:41 am
Forum: The Shibboleth of Fëanor
Topic: Tolkien's Pictorial Code Letters
Replies: 99
Views: 61631

A fast reply from the Bodleian - but that's because we have been referred elsewhere.. (unless they have any latitude in their actions). Thank you for your e-mail of yesterday which has been forwarded to this section as we administer modern manuscript collections, including our Tolkien collection. Pl...
by Roccondil
Thu Jan 05, 2006 7:28 pm
Forum: The Shibboleth of Fëanor
Topic: Tolkien's Pictorial Code Letters
Replies: 99
Views: 61631

But you didn't know where Jny lives, did you? So you did much better figuring it out without help - after all I knew I should look for "PA"! :) I just suddenly realised the picture was Delphi, so the answer was then obvious, particularly as I have been there several times (although not fo...
by Roccondil
Thu Jan 05, 2006 7:11 pm
Forum: The Shibboleth of Fëanor
Topic: Tolkien's Pictorial Code Letters
Replies: 99
Views: 61631

Just beat me to it truehobbit, well done! :)
by Roccondil
Thu Jan 05, 2006 1:02 am
Forum: The Shibboleth of Fëanor
Topic: Tolkien's Pictorial Code Letters
Replies: 99
Views: 61631

Hey - great stuff :) :)

Here's my first go at the start..

The picture must point to the
word; so if Peter
? cloud had been locked
in a room and...


EDIT: Oh, by the way Peter comes from P + tern - N (but I guess it must be something else really - what other seabirds have an N in?)
by Roccondil
Wed Jan 04, 2006 4:40 pm
Forum: The Shibboleth of Fëanor
Topic: Tolkien's Pictorial Code Letters
Replies: 99
Views: 61631

So - why haven't we seen you at a moot yet? :suspicious: As you say, I only joined last April, when I realised I could use the internet for something other than work-related research :shock: (and buying stuff from Amazon). :) Just to update you all on the Bodleian. Firstly, I should say, having see...
by Roccondil
Wed Jan 04, 2006 12:43 am
Forum: The Shibboleth of Fëanor
Topic: The Silmarillion Discussion at The Hall of Fire
Replies: 511
Views: 201760

wouldn't the greater resolving power of the lenses of the Elves' eyes also mean that they were a "brighter" lens than Men's eyes? In other words, not only would the Elves have some of the blackness that we see between individual stars filled in, but that stars that both they and we see wo...
by Roccondil
Tue Jan 03, 2006 3:04 pm
Forum: The Shibboleth of Fëanor
Topic: Walking in Shadows: The Rings of Power in Middle-earth
Replies: 39
Views: 30879

My point was simply that, from a story-external perspective, here is another example of a theme from an early draft being carried over into the published work, even though details may have changed. Yes, and a common feature of this way of working by Tolkien was that the meaning behind the words oft...
by Roccondil
Tue Jan 03, 2006 2:57 pm
Forum: The Shibboleth of Fëanor
Topic: The Silmarillion Discussion at The Hall of Fire
Replies: 511
Views: 201760

My immediate response to "only starlight", i.e. nightly darkness, obviously wouldn't work, so I was picturing it a bit brighter - bright enough to at least see something, like in that pic. But I still find that depressingly dark! Sure, in the safe knowledge that the sun will be up again t...
by Roccondil
Sat Dec 31, 2005 6:52 pm
Forum: The Shibboleth of Fëanor
Topic: Tolkien's Pictorial Code Letters
Replies: 99
Views: 61631

Jny, that's a great thought! I had always assumed that both letters were written in the same summer - maybe there are/were even more. It's such a pity that none of our members here (at least people interested in this thread) lives near Oxford (AFAIK) and could try to have a look at page 2 of the fi...
by Roccondil
Fri Dec 30, 2005 10:16 am
Forum: The Shibboleth of Fëanor
Topic: Walking in Shadows: The Rings of Power in Middle-earth
Replies: 39
Views: 30879

I thought the 7 and 9 were conceived of as two distinct "sets", though it isn't clear in what ways they differed: The problem here is that Tolkien’s writings are not clear on this matter. Every time except once he deals with the Sixteen as one group of Rings. Only in “Unfinished Tales” is...
by Roccondil
Fri Dec 30, 2005 9:29 am
Forum: The Shibboleth of Fëanor
Topic: The hands of a king are the hands of a healer
Replies: 42
Views: 87003

Those were the exact quotes, Voronwë , so thank you for posting them. The Elessar must have been hugely useful to Aragorn in rebuilding Gondor and Arnor, I have always thought. Just as a side comment, it is also my belief that the small box that Sam took back to the Shire, with it's powers of healin...
by Roccondil
Fri Dec 30, 2005 1:32 am
Forum: The Shibboleth of Fëanor
Topic: The hands of a king are the hands of a healer
Replies: 42
Views: 87003

I’ve very much enjoyed reading the thoughts of those that have contributed to this thread. With Tolkien’s work there is always such a rich mine to excavate whether one discusses story-external of story-internal issues. I would like to make a few short points in both areas here, building on some of t...
by Roccondil
Thu Dec 29, 2005 1:08 pm
Forum: The Shibboleth of Fëanor
Topic: Tolkien's Pictorial Code Letters
Replies: 99
Views: 61631

Hi, everyone! :) I've read all these posts with great interest. It's so good to see both of these letters almost completely solved! I put on my thinking cap over Christmas, but I see that many of my thoughts are already somewhere in all the posts. I have just a few points to add to Letter 2 however....
by Roccondil
Thu Dec 22, 2005 4:27 pm
Forum: Welcome to Our Messageboard! COME HERE FIRST
Topic: GREETINGS to our Newest Members!
Replies: 2822
Views: 916505

Thanks for the welcome :) . Glad to see you're making some progress with the pictorial code letters. I'll have a good read of the posts and see what I have to add. I noted there was mention of the River Wye map. This river has some significance for Tolkien in LoTR, I think, although I can't put toge...