To all of the J. R. R. Tolkien fans’ delight, Twitter user Alex Arrelia recently came up with a brilliant way to revisit some of its most memorable characters. Alex created a thread, sharing descriptions of men of the Middle-earth as if they were terrible ex-boyfriends who made your life absolutely miserable.
From Aragorn and Legolas to Gimli and Sam, the fun little bios perfectly portray their personalities, and everyone has had an absolute blast going through them. Over 77K people have liked Alex’s series, cementing it in the Internet’s history as one of the things you didn’t know you needed.
Listen beautiful relax classics on our Youtube channel.
#1
Image credits: AlexArrelia
One of the most awesome attributes of Tolkien’s characters is their names. I mean, he kinda said it himself: “To me, a name comes first and the story follows,” Tolkien wrote in one of his letters.
According to Oliver M. Traxel, an associate professor at the University of Stavanger, the naming of Tolkien’s characters is a story in its own right.
“Tolkien was fascinated by names and saw it as a basis for his fiction. Therefore, there is generally a deeper meaning to the names encountered in Middle-earth.”
#2
Image credits: AlexArrelia
Traxel, who is a specialist in Old English and English language history, thinks that Tolkien’s works are an excellent introduction to Old English and other historic languages. “Just by looking at the names of the main Hobbit protagonists, one is struck by the range of influences that can be discovered,” Traxel points out.
Take Frodo and Samwise, for example. Frodo Baggins is the bearer of the One Ring through an inheritance from his uncle Bilbo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings. The name Frodo comes from Old English, where “frōd” means “wise”.
#3
Image credits: AlexArrelia
Gardener Samwise Gamgee is a friend of the Baggins family and Frodo’s companion. “Samwise consists of two Old English elements, namely the prefix “sam–”, which in Old English means “half”, and an adjective with the same meaning as “frōd”.
“This combination is also attested in Old English. Tolkien merely modernized its second element, which in Old English would have been spelled ‘wis’,” Traxel explained.
#4
Image credits: AlexArrelia
Also, quite a few names were not inspired by historical texts or languages but derived from Tolkien’s invented languages, in particular, Elvish. One example that immediately comes to mind is “Legolas”.
“Besides choosing names because of their literal meaning, Tolkien could also pick them because he liked their sound,” Traxel said.
Listen beautiful relax classics on our Youtube channel.
So even though these guys are pretty terrible boyfriends, I understand why people fell for them in the first place. Imagine asking a person what their name is and they give you this explanation…
#5
Image credits: AlexArrelia
#6
Image credits: AlexArrelia
#7
Image credits: AlexArrelia
#8
Image credits: AlexArrelia
#9
Image credits: AlexArrelia
#10
Image credits: AlexArrelia
#11
Image credits: AlexArrelia
#12
Image credits: AlexArrelia
#13
Image credits: AlexArrelia
#14
Image credits: AlexArrelia
#15
Image credits: AlexArrelia
#16
Image credits: AlexArrelia
#17
Image credits: AlexArrelia
#18
Image credits: AlexArrelia
#19
Image credits: AlexArrelia
#20
Image credits: AlexArrelia
#21
Image credits: AlexArrelia
#22
Image credits: AlexArrelia
#23
Image credits: AlexArrelia
#24
Image credits: AlexArrelia
#25
Image credits: AlexArrelia
#26
Image credits: AlexArrelia
#27
Image credits: AlexArrelia
#28
Image credits: AlexArrelia
#29
Image credits: AlexArrelia
Source: boredpanda.com