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Old 10-12-2004, 10:58 AM   #5
Sapphire_Flame
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White Tree

That's an interesting theory, Dwimmerlaik. Personally, I've always pictured the fell beasts as being pterodactyls, or something similar.

This question was actually put to Tolkien in a letter. A woman wrote to him and asked "Did the Witch-king ride a pterodactyl at the siege of Gondor?" The good professor replied:

Quote:
Yes and no. I did not intend the steed of the Witch-King to be what is now called a 'pterodactyl', and often is drawn [...]. But obviously it is pterodactylic and owes much to the new mythology [of the Prehistoric], and its description even provides a sort of way in which it could be a last survivor of older geological eras.
(This is from The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien Letter #211)

Abedithon le,

~ Aranel ~
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