Tapestry of Dreams, Part 2 Discussion

[Formendacil]

Originally Posted by littlemanpoet

Absolutely. You make very good points.

Gondorian is not really Latin.
Rohirric is not really Anglo-Saxon.
Commont Tongue is not really modern English.

Nevertheless, what I have been doing is an imitation of what Tolkien was working at in his Notion Club Papers (I think), in which an Anglo-Saxon father and son from roughly 1,000 A.D. dreamed of himself being present at the Akallebêth, and he was able to recognize similarities in speech between what Elendil was saying and his own speech. So what I am doing may not be as finely crafted as Tolkien's, as I'm no gifted philologist. However, what I am doing has a precedent in Tolkien.

So maybe I'm not doing it the way it ought to be done, but I'm trying to be as canonical as I know how to be. I hope that helps to explain things well enough....

Being well-acquainted with both The Lost Road and the Notion Club Papers, I'm well aware of the sort of time-travel story you're working with- I'm merely quibbling about the mode of presentation regarding the linguistic element.

Not, mind you, that I'm entirely sure how best to convery that... so much as I'm stating a general concern about blurring the boundaries between Westron-translated-by-English, and English Proper- though one will note that Tolkien himself came close to confusing the two.

Basically, what I'm MOST concerned about would be Raefindan making further (what's done, after all, is done) connections between words in Rohirric and words and English. Between Anglo-Saxon and English, this could be done, but Anglo-Saxon and Rohirric are not, as a seen, one and the same.

As for how far I'd be willing to torture/torment Bergil- or any other character- I honestly can't say at this point. Those are the sorts of things that the story has to dictate. Personally, I can see loss of limb or life being better/easier for me in virtually any circumstance than loss of a sense- though the challenge itself should maybe be reason enough to attempt the latter.

Basically, whatever makes the best story seems to be what I feel...