Mapa de Beleriand e Eriador feito de forma decente.

Muita gente comentava que o mapa que Karen Wynnn Fonstad fez da Terra Média na Primeria Era continha o defeito de ter espremido Beleriand em excesso e , de fato, a terra toda parece comprimida .

Fizeram um mapa juntando o recorte continental da Terceira Era e sobrepondo-o ao da Primeira e o resultado parece ter sido muito bom. Confiram aí





Comparar com o mapa de Tir Nan Og, a terra antediluviana das histórias de Sláine (reparem na congruência de posições entre Lothlann e Lochlann nos dois mapas.





Post muito bom comparando as geografias

I's clear that Tolkien wanted to represent an alternative to europe's history. If you look carefully on a map of Europe, you can see around Britain and NW France there's a lowered sea-level. That should have been Eriador. The Shire and Bree were in England. Maybe Bree represents Sheffield. In Ireland, the Grey Havens must have been Limerick. Amon Sul aproches the Lockness Lake and severn the Branoywine river.
The same raised lowered-level is between Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea, Germany and Dennmark. Hithaeglir is Scandinavia. The best place for Rivendell is the the town of Trondheim in Norway, Moria and The Kazah-Dum could have been the border between what was in Norway and Sweeden. Lorien resembles Stockholm. Mirkwood is all of Finland and a part of The Baltic Sea, precisely the Botnic Gulf. If this is all true, then Dol Guldur should have been somewhere on Gotland Island, but 10000-11000 years ago that place was land, raised above the sea level, or should I say that the sea was below the land's level.
Fangorn is probably Dennmark and The Tower of Isengard coresponds Hamburg.
The shores of Iberia, in the south-west, should have been bigger, look closely to Portugal's western coast, in the line of Lisbon you can see a sharped corner of raised level of ground, but still under the water. Well the river of Tajo deverses into the Ocean through Lisbon, back then it was the Lefna(or something like this) River. The river of Ringlo has it's source in the white mountains in middle-earth, well in modern europe is the Guadaliqivir river, see the resemblance ? Do you know how the Mediterana formed ? Africa pushes to north. Back then it was farther to the south, so, the space between Gibraltar and Rabat was water, but the rest of the Mediteranian Sea was land, even if it contradicts waht I've said before about Africa, but back then, the water level was'nt so high because of pollution and so, the raised levels of ground in the Mediteranian was actually south of Mordor, Haradwaith, and souther in the Sahara. So, the Havens of Umbar is Rabat and Umbar represents the eastern part of Northen Africa.
In those days, Italy was further to the East, and so was Greece, actually they were liked, and that explains the short distance between Belfalas and Mordor. The Apenins were the mountains guarding Mordor on Ithilion's side. The Alps, that didn't existed back then were some hills in Rohan, that Should've been Germany. The White mountains should have been the Iberic Mountains, and the prehistorical mountains range must have liked the Pirinies with the Scandinavians at the gap of Rohan.
Now, the Tevere river must have been Ithilien that was going pass or through Mina Tirith and Osgiliath, now, Rome, or waht was there before Rome was Constructed, old Latin settlements. Gondor was the space between Spain and Italy.
The land of Sauron, Mordor, was The Adriatic Sea, Between the Apenins, the Dinaric Mountains and Tha Balcans. You might be tempted to say that the Mountain of Doom was Vezuvius or Etna but it wasn't. It was the Gargano Mountain in S-E of Italy. The Gorgoroth plain was a gap, a deeper sea level in our times that was back then a plain, look carefully at the Adriatic Sea and at the middle of it you will see a gap 268 metres deep. Baradur was somewhere in the sea, maibe the town of Dubrovnik, judging that The Blacans where much closer to Italy than now. The sea of Nurn was for sure the Korinth Gulf and the Pind Mountains where hills that ended the teritorries of Mordor. Bulgaria, in my opinion was half in eastern Mordor and Half in The Brown Lands. Rhovanion extended throurgh Poland, Ukraine and Belarus and Turkey must have been the far east of Karadwith.
Romania, wich I am from, and very proud, must have been The Eastern part of the Brown Lands and far to the East, where maps of Middle-Earth don't reach, maibe a Civilsation far greater than the Rohans or the Gondoriens. The sea of Rhun should've been the Panonica Sea, the Tisa plain today, in Hungary and Western Romania, wich was also called the panonian plain, after the name of a greta sea that was there when the ground level raised above the sea level.
This short representation of Middle Earth, if it's true, and the old times have been forgotten, and perhaps there were civilisation in those places and misterios creatures, besides humans, like elves and dwarfs, those that old legends of Europe speak of, then that means that the human species has been here for a long long time, not just for 13 -14 thousand years.... I'm sure you'll find more resemblances between the places in middle earth and modern Europe, I just provided you the facts and the primary links that cand be seen on a map....
If you have an opinion abouT what I have said please make a post, I hope I answered the question "Did Middle Earth ever existed ?", if not entirely, maibe partially... I want your opinions about my presentation, what doy you think ?

rigaleb

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Pérolas do Anticeltismo

Já descrevi nesse blog como é que os anglo-saxões (Ingleses, americanos) começaram uma campanha publicitária anti-céltica, neo-neoclássica lá pelos anos 20, logo depois da independência da Irlanda .

Agora, como o assunto está muito em voga e inclusive, o fato de que os ditos nacionalistas saxões pilharam o imaginário celta durante 50, 60 anos sem darem o devido crédito enquanto faziam a apologia daqueles que eram os verdadeiros piratas nas crônicas históricas ( porque, sinto muito, mas os vikings, saxões e o restante dos escandinavos eram piratas em todos os sentidos possíveis da palavra e fizeram misérias por toda a Europa Setentrional antes de ficarem "educadinhos") vou colar aqui algumas pérolas dos ardorosos detratores das "coisas célticas", começando por Tolkien que foi citado em um contexto meio duvidoso como dizendo que :


Irônico que essa crítica de Tolkien dirigida aos mitos celtas era , justamente, feita pela geração de críticos anteriores a ele em relação a uma das suas obras favoritas: o exaltado e idolatrado Beowulf ( que pode ter sido copiado de contos de fadas celtas cooptados pelo poeta anglo-saxão para enaltecer o sentimento patriótico da nação "inglesa"



A propósito as mesmas críticas são justamente dirigidas também à história do Kalevala que Tolkien achou por bem recriar dando a ela uma forma de sua própria lavra, pois a história de Kullervo original do Kalevala, inspiração pra Túrin Turambar e para um conto fanfiqueiro do próprio Tolkien publicado em Tolkien studies 07 era uma verdadeira zona:





Engraçado que alguns anos antes ele era bem mais brando:



E aqui vai outro empolgado na "justa fúria" anglo-saxã com o romantismo celta "afeminado" e black-lipped ( será que E.R. Edisson previa o surgimento de Damodar "Bluelips" daquela obra prima que é o filme do AD&D?



E mais irônico ainda fica se colarmos aqui os comentários sobre o viés homoerótico de Worm Ouroboros comentados pela Kristen Brennan.

In a letter to Caroline Everett, Tolkien called E.R. Eddison "the greatest and most convincing writer of 'invented worlds' that I have ever read," though he considered Eddison's nomenclature "slipshod and often inept." Eddison's best-known fantasy is The Worm Ouroboros (1926), which also drew on Homer, Norse mythology and Le Morte D'Arthur. In a sense Eddison paved the way for Tolkien, reaching for the same goal but without Tolkien's ear for language. It would be very easy to read Eddison's book as a gay fantasy: a man named Lessingham falls asleep with his wife, then wakes up without her on the planet Mercury, which is populated mostly with tall, mustached, broad-shouldered men who are into fine silks, courtly manners and wrestling each other with no clothes on. Near the beginning there's a scene one might interpret as a metaphor for forced anal sex: the hero wins a wrestling match by "thrusting his fingers up Goldry's nose in his cruel anger, scratching and clawing at the delicate inner parts of the nostrils in such wise that Goldry was fain to draw back his head."

Tem outra citação do livro da Marjorie Burns que eu adoro: uma onde ela diz que os americanos e ingleses só aceitavam "céltico" se vier codificado como sendo "arturiano" ( e isso é verdade em relação a muitas das obras literárias que usaram a matéria céltica nos últimos cinquenta ou sessenta anos.



Essa citação dessa biografia de Tolkien deixa claro o quanto o preconceito contra a mitologia celta ainda existe: os comentários sobre a natureza "introspectiva " da mitologia celta em contraste com a "aventura heróica" da nórdica que, supostamente, tem menos laivos de conteúdo moral são uma tremenda generalização, que mostra o grau de infamiliaridade do autor para com o mito celta.




O épico de Cuchulain é , provavelmente, mais cheio de ação heróica, sanguinolenta,moral ambígua do que a maioria dos mitos nórdicos e até mesmo do que diversas sagas. Não tem a menor preocupação com "demandas" ou caça ao tesouro ( realmente recorrente no mito celta mas ausente ali) e, pra piorar, o herói, ainda por cima, está do lado de um rei que é a parte ofensora da história, um autêntico FDP que havia feito horrores na história de Deirdre e Naisis.

Lloyd Alexander imitou o clima "arturiano" no Chronicles of Prydain assim como deu um bom copy and paste ( pelo que sei admitidamente) no Aragorn e no Wart( Arthur) do T.H.White quando foi fazer o seu Taran. Susan Cooper usou mitologia arturiana enquanto Alan Garner, muito embora fazendo uso de coisas galesas e escandinavas, enfiou beeeemmmmmmm subrepticiamente (tipo tapa com luva de pelica pq todo mundo já supunha que o tal rei TINHA que ser o "inglês" (na verdade galês ou escocês)Arthur), o nome de Finn Maccumhail, que é o "Arthur" irlandês, como sendo o verdadeiro rei adormecido sob a Montanha que vai voltar na profetizada batalha do Fim do Mundo ( rei sob a montanha, batalha do fim do mundo? Isso soa familiar...





Tudo na excelente série A Pedra de Brisingamen, a saga de Alderley que Alan Garner continuou com a Lua de Gomrath.

A Torre Negra Adamantina-O Senhor dos Anéis e o Paraíso Perdido de Milton

Para quem achava que Tolkien criou o conceito das "torres sobre torres, montes sobre montes", "montanha de ferro e rocha adamantina" combinados fica aí essa passagem do Paraíso Perdido realçada por uma belíssima picture do Monte Olimpo com a mesma descrição onde não falta o ouro da descrição original.



Os anjos rebeldes do Paraíso Perdido de Milton que voavam com literal "velocidade alada" para se reunir na fortaleza de Lúcifer no Norte do céu no livro, descrita na mesma passagem do poema ( fim do livro V), parecem ser paralelos demais com certos detalhes dos Balrogs como servos de Morgoth em Angband e Utumno. Todas as fortalezas estão no Norte, a reunião deles lá foi antes de grandes batalhas com os poderes do "Bem", Guerra dos Valar e Guerra da Ira. Utumno ficava debaixo de Montanhas e Angband era uma montanha e uma vasta masmorra e catacumba construída debaixo delas.

A descrição da Montanha Fortaleza de Lúcifer que, muito provavelmente, serviu de base pra descrição que Tolkien deu da Torre Negra.

Comparem a similaridade do texto traduzido em prosa pro castelhano. Isso faz parte do relato de Gabriel para Adão no livro V do épico de Milton, contando a história da Guerra dos Anjos no Céu.

«Mientras hablaba así el Hijo, caminaba Satán en apresurado vuelo ( winged speed)con sus secuaces; ejército más innumerable que las estrellas de la noche o las matutinas gotas de rocío que, como relucientes perlas engasta el sol en las plantas y las flores. Atraviesan una y otra región, los poderosos reinos de los serafines de las potestades y de los tronos en sus triples grados; comparados tus dominios, Adán, con aquellas regiones, serían lo que tu jardín con respecto a toda la tierra a los mares todos al globo entero, desplegado en toda su longitud. De esta suerte llegan por fin a las extremas partes del norte, y Satán a su mansión regia, fabricada en lo más alto de un monte, que se divisaba a lo lejos como una montaña sobrepuesta a otra, con pirámides y torres hechas de agramilado diamante y de rocas de oro; que era el palacio del célebre Lucifer, según en su lenguaje llaman los hombres a esta clase de construcciones; pues para afectar mayor igualdad con Dios, imitando el nombre de la montaña en que acababa de proclamarse al Mesías rey de los cielos, él llamó a la suya montaña de la Alianza. Y convocando en torno de ella a todos sus secuaces con pretexto de que así se le ordenaba para consultarlos sobre el ostentoso recibimiento que habían de hacer a su Soberano luego que se presentase, y valiéndose del arte con que sabía fingir el acento de la verdad cautivó su atención diciéndoles:

Comparem com a descrição da Torre Negra nessa passagem do SdA aí. Depois coloco em inglês, é que a forma poética do Paraíso Perdido é meio estranha e a tradução brasileira em poema , honestamente,não ajuda a ver todas as similaridades.

Então, finalmente, seu olhar foi detido: muralhas e mais muralhas, parapeito sobre parapeito, negra, incomensuravelmente forte, montanha de ferro, portão de aço, torre de diamante, ele a viu: Barad-dûr, a Fortaleza de Sauron. Perdeu todas as esperanças.
(...)
E ali, na soleira escura das Sammath Naur, bem acima das planícies de Mordor, tal estupefação e terror sobrevieram que ele ficou parado, esquecido de todo o resto, imóvel como alguém que foi transformado em pedra. Teve uma visão rápida de nuvens rodopiando, e no meio delas torres e ameias, altas como colinas, fundadas sobre um poderoso trono de montanha acima de abismos incomensuráveis; grandes pátios e calabouços, prisões sem olhos,íngremes como penhascos, e portões escancarados feitos de ferro e pedra adamantina: e então tudo acabou. Torres caíram e montanhas deslizaram; paredes desmoronaram e derreteram, esboroando-se; enormes espirais de fumaça e jatos de vapor subiam, subiam e se espalhavam, até formarem um teto semelhante a uma onda ameaçadora, e sua crista alucinada se crispou e veio descendo e cobrindo tudo, espumando sobre a terra.

Se a Torre negra foi "copiada" dessa passagem é bem possível que o velocidade alada da travessia de Hithlum também o foi já que estão virtualmente no mesmo trecho do livro ( um dos melhores sem dúvida alguma)

Comparem:

So spake the Son, but SATAN with his Powers
Farr was advanc't on winged speed, an Host
Innumerable as the Starrs of Night,
Or Starrs of Morning, Dew-drops, which the Sun
Impearls on every leaf and every flouer.
Regions they pass'd, the mightie Regencies
Of Seraphim and Potentates and Thrones
In thir triple Degrees, Regions to which
All thy Dominion, ADAM, is no more
Then what this Garden is to all the Earth,
And all the Sea, from one entire globose
Stretcht into Longitude; which having pass'd
At length into the limits of the North
They came, and SATAN to his Royal seat
High on a Hill, far blazing, as a Mount
Rais'd on a Mount, with Pyramids and Towrs
From Diamond Quarries hew'n, & Rocks of Gold,
The Palace of great LUCIFER, (so call
That Structure in the Dialect of men
Interpreted) which not long after, hee
Affecting all equality with God,
In imitation of that Mount whereon
MESSIAH was declar'd in sight of Heav'n,
The Mountain of the Congregation call'd;
For thither he assembl'd all his Train,
Pretending so commanded to consult
About the great reception of thir King,
Thither to come, and with calumnious Art
Of counterfeted truth thus held thir ears.

Comparemos com a descrição da Torre Negra:

Fire glowed amid the smoke. Mount Doom was burning, and a great reek rising. Then at last his gaze was held: wall upon wall, battlement upon battlement, black, immeasurably strong, mountain of iron, gate of steel, tower of adamant, he saw it: Barad-dûr, Fortress of Sauron. All hope left him ( Fellowship of the Ring).

(...)
A brief vision he had of swirling cloud, and in the midst of it towers and battlements, tall as hills, founded upon a mighty mountain-throne above immeasurable pits; great courts and dungeons, eyeless prisons sheer as cliffs, and gaping gates of steel and adamant: and then all passed. Towers fell and mountains slid; walls crumbled and melted, crashing down; vast spires of smoke and spouting steams(-The Return of the King)

Novamente destaquemos algumas similaridades com Utumno e Angband: é uma montanha que fica no Norte do Céu assim como Utumno e Angband ficavam no Norte, Utumno ficava debaixo de Montanhas e Angband ficava debaixo e era , literalmente, uma Montanha. Nessa passagem os anjos rebeldes são genericamente chamados de "Poderes" e voam com velocidade alada e os Balrogs são Demônios de "Poder", Valaraukar.

Semelhanças com a Torre Negra, é uma montanha que era "como montes sobre montes, com "Pirâmides e Torres feitas com diamante escavado".

Olhem só "torres", "torre de diamante", "muro sobre muro", refletindo, as mesmas "torres de diamante esculpido", e o "monte sobre monte" e a sugestão de que a Torre Negra era uma montanha artificial esculpida à semelhança de um Trono, que contém não uma mas "várias" torres. Tudo isso encontrado nessa passagem de Milton que por assim dizer, foi feita para dar uma idéia do que é que a Torre de Babel bíblica tentava imitar.

Reparem como a imagética é igual sugerindo dureza, orgulho, altura, a fusão do ferro com o diamante, a coroa de ferro onde os silmarils se engastam, aliás, a torre negra tinha uma "coroa" o que a fazia ser uma espécie de categral "gothica" lembrando o próprio Morgoth, envergando a coroa de ferro onde o "diamante" e o "ferro"estavam profanamente combinados.

E, justamente, um pouco antes disso vem a passagem dos anjos voando com "winged speed".

Pode ser coincidência? Pode , mas nesse caso em particular, com bons motivos, eu duvido muito.

Vale lembrar que a imagem da Torre Adamantina também foi aproveitada por Phillip Pullman, fazendo dela a fortaleza de Lorde Azriel, o anti-herói da trilogia His Dark Materials, fazendo o serviço do Demo e morando numa cidadela montanhosa com torre de diamante enquanto fazia seus preparativos na guerra contra a Autoridade

The rest came to sit near Ruta Skadi to hear what she could tell them. She told what had happened when she flew up to meet the angels, and then of her journey to Lord Asriel's fortress.
"Sisters, it is the greatest castle you can imagine: ramparts of basalt, rearing to the skies, with wide roads coming from every direction, and on them cargoes of gunpowder, of food, of armor plate. How has he done this? I think he must have been preparing this for a long time, for eons. He was preparing this before we were born, sisters, even though he is so much younger.... But how can that be? I don't know. I can't understand. I think he commands time, he makes it run fast or slow according to his will.
"And coming to this fortress are warriors of every kind, from every world. Men and women, yes, and fighting spirits, too, and armed creatures such as I had never seen—lizards and apes, great birds with poison spurs, creatures too outlandish to have a name I could guess at. And other worlds have witches, sisters; did you know that? I spoke to witches from a world like ours, but profoundly different, for those witches live no longer than our short-lifes, and there are men among them, too, men-witches who fly as we do...."

(...) From The Amber Spyglass:At the western end of a range of saw-toothed mountains, on a peak that commanded wide views of the plain below and the valleys behind, a fortress of basalt seemed to grow out of the mountain as if some volcano had thrust it up a million years ago.
In vast caverns beneath the rearing walls, provisions of every sort were stored and labeled; in the arsenals and magazines, engines of war were being calibrated, armed, and tested; in the mills below the mountain, volcanic fires fed mighty forges where phosphor and titanium were being melted and combined in alloys never known or used before.
On the most exposed side of the fortress, at a point deep in the shadow of a buttress where the mighty walls rose sheer out of the ancient lava-flows, there was a small gate, a postern where a sentry watched day and night and challenged all who sought to enter.
While the watch was being changed on the ramparts above, I the sentry stamped once or twice and slapped his gloved hands on his upper arms for warmth, for it was the coldest hour of the night, and the little naphtha flare in the bracket beside him gave no heat. His relief would come in another ten minutes, and he was looking forward to the mug of chocolate, the smokeleaf, and most of all his bed.
To hear a hammering at the little door was the last thing he expected. However, he was alert, and he snapped open the spy hole, at the same time opening the tap that allowed a flow of naphtha past the pilot light in the buttress outside. In the glare it threw, he saw three hooded figures carrying between them a fourth, whose shape was indistinct, and who seemed ill, or wounded.
The figure in front threw hack his hood. He had a face the sentry knew, but he gave the password anyway and said, "We found him at the sulphur lake. Says his name is Baruch. He's got an urgent message for Lord Asriel."
The sentry unbarred the door, and his terrier daemon quivered as the three figures maneuvered their burden with difficulty through the narrow entrance. Then the daemon gave a soft involuntary howl, quickly cut off, as the sentry saw that the figure being carried was an angel, wounded: an angel of low rank and little power, but an angel, nevertheless.
"Lay him in the guardroom," the sentry told them, and as they did so, he turned the crank of the telephone bell and reported what was happening to the officer of the watch.
On the highest rampart of the fortress was a tower of adamant: just one flight of steps up to a set of rooms whose windows looked out north, south, east, and west. The largest room was furnished with a table and chairs and a map chest, another with a camp bed. A small bathroom completed the set.
Lord Asriel sat in the adamant tower facing his spy captain across a mass of scattered papers. A naphtha lamp hung over the table, and a brazier held burning coals against the bitter chill of the night. Inside the door, a small blue hawk was perching on a bracket.

A victory for the fans!!! Wonder Woman 600

However, I must say that I'd prefer a redrawn cover picture because that isn't the best that can be given from the pencil of George Pérez.

It seems that it was intended as an update in this previous cover



Or, even more probably this another picture right below ( from Who's Who in the DCU)





I'd like of seeing this piece replacing this picture ( And I'm a big fan of Pérez's art. Then there is something realy wrong with the picture..

Astrild Stormdaughter-coolness made flesh and blood!!

In homage to her that is destined to become one of the more popular antiheroines of DC Comics. An excellent replacement to one of the casualties of Our Worlds At War, Maxima

She gives me memories of another femme(errr...) musicale...

Kendappa-oh from RG Veda. Both of them thought that they lacked power...



She had also a passable resemblance with the just-discovered Orkas( female Orcs) whose existence was confirmed by Tolkien himself in an unpublished, uncollected letter.






But in the place of a Starro's star in her mind the female must watches her back, because "backstabs" can be a veritable possibility when she walks in the darkness in front of the lustful, demanding, eyes of her male counterparts. Take a look

Watch your back lady, the danger is all around!!

Compare with Astrild's back



Lobo , the Last Czarnian, can now find a suitable mate and forget his dolphins for a short time.

Watch your back Astrild!!

Ahhhh, the Seventies...

Nuff said

Vai uma mãozinha aí?

Finalmente consegui achar uma versão legivel da Mort'd'Arthur em poema aliterativo . E olhem só a surpresinha: Arthur cortou a mão de Mordred , a mão que empunhava a Clarente, a espada "gêmea de Caliburn (Excalibur).

An instant of distraction was all Vader
needed. As the instrument panel floated
away, Luke involuntarily glanced at it. At
that second, the Dark Lord's laser blade
came slashing down across Luke's hand,
cutting it, and sending the youth's
lightsaber flying.
The pain was excruciating. Luke smelled
the terrible odor of his own seared flesh
and squeezed his forearm beneath his
armpit to try to stop the agony. He
stepped backward along the gantry until he
reached its extreme end, stalked all the
while by the black-garbed apparition.
Abruptly, ominously, the wind subsided.
And Luke realized he had nowhere else to
go.
'There is no escape,' the Dark Lord of
the Sith warned, looming over Luke like a
black angel of death. 'Don't make me
destroy you.

Parábens a São George Lucas por ter desenterrado essa do fundo do baú, apesar de que no poema eles não eram pai e filho tem tudo a ver mesmo. E a perda da mão , realmente é algo que simboliza a perda da soberania para o High King céltico, porque seu matrimônio com a terra pátria fica cancelado.