365 Days of Middle-earth

5th of January

Today on the Middle-earth Calendar: --

Video of the Day: Mean Elves.

Quote of the Day: "Attercop! Attercop!" - Bilbo

Word of the Day: Tengwanda (Quenya), meaning 'alphabet'.

Question of the Day: What role did Jed Brophy's son play in Return of the King?

Answer to Yesterday's Question: 'Periannath'.

Today's Topic: Middle-earth's Crazy Spellings!

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READER LEADERBOARD

Gallifreyanhobbit | 20 points

BilboRoth | 10 points

BJKaplan | 10 points

Luthien2018 | 10 points

legolasxelisabeth | 5 points

AryaMiriel | 5 points

jordieblob16 | 5 points

JuliaAntoinette | 5 points

Random_Elf | 5 points

TheWarlock2101 | 5 points

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MIDDLE-EARTH SPELLING TIME!

Wait, wait, wait! Don't close the tab! I know you want nothing to do with school when you're on Wattpad, but I HAVE to write this.

First of all, I don't mean to offend anyone. ;)
Second of all, you may fall asleep half way through.
Third of all, I've been wanting to write this chapter ever since I joined Wattpad (April 30th 2014).

Over the time I've really started to embrace my weird fangirlness, I've seen a couple of spelling errors in fanfictions, on websites, and all across the internet.

...okay, maybe I'm being a bit crazy, but COME ONE PEOPLE. MERRY'S NAME IS NOT MARY. SMÉAGOL'S NAME IS NOT SMIGGLE.

I'm actually laughing at how ridiculous it sounds ... Smiiiiiiiiiiggle... XD

You spell it MERRY, not MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB. Haha! XD

Hahahaha, okay, I'm trying to be serious, but I cannot get over the thought of Merry in a dress singing 'Mary Had a Little Lamb'! HAHAHAHAHA!

Ahem ... so I just thought I'd give you a few tips to make your fanfics even better!

FIRST!!! MAAAAAAAAJOR IMPORTANT!
The word 'Middle-earth' is hyphenated and only the 'm' is capitalized!!! It is not two words! It's not 'Middle Earth', 'Middle-Earth', or 'Middleearth'. It's 'Middle-earth'. :)

I actually have a question for people who spell it 'Middle Earth' ... who taught you to spell it like that? I dunno, I'm just really interested. :) By the way, if you don't really believe me when I say that it's not spelled that way, check the books. ;)

HOBBITS
Hobbits don't have very confusing names, but people always seem to spell Pippin's full name incorrectly. But don't worry, I use to be a big offender of this one. ;)
His name is spelled Peregrin, not Peregine or Penegrin.
And, of course, we have Merry. It's Merry, not Mary.

ELVES
This is a looooong section, so I suggest you get comfy. ;)

Elves can have very confusing names, but most people always spell them correctly. What's with that? :D The only problem is something veeeeery small that make perfectionists go crazy...

...and yes, I'm a perfectionist. XD

Hey! Fanfic writer! Yes, you! This kinda interesting! I'm sure you want your fanfic to be top class, I have a suggestion! People sometimes omit... *drum roll* ...accents! They're the dots and dashes on top of the letters.

I'm sure you're like "Uggghhhh, Tarwa! It's really not that important!". Actually, it is. ;) #SorryNotSorry

Okay, just listen. They not only look amazing, but if you leave them out, the Elvish word is not actually Elvish. Dun, dun, duuuunnnn!

T's jst lk f y lv t ll th vwls n r wrds, t wld nt b Nglsh!
Translation:
It's just like if you leave out all the vowels in our sentences, it would not be English!

Oh, and sometimes people add dots and dashes to their letters and words when there was nothing there in the first place. That's usually when I unleash my Gollum side. ;)

Just A Note!
This doesn't apply to people who don't know how to do it OR Windows users.
If you don't know how to do it, all you have to do is hold down a letter on your keyboard and then a little box will pop up with a few different options. Just click on which one you want! :) This works on both a phone and computer. If you guys have any questions, just ask. :)
If you're a Windows user, don't worry about accents. I've tried to figure out how to do it on a Windows computer for years now but have had no luck. :)
If you're writing on an iPhone, here's a trick! If you don't want to keep on writing words like Lúthien or Tinúviel with accents all the time, just do this!
1. Go to Settings > General > Keyboard > Shortcuts.
2. Add a new shortcut.
3. Write Lúthien Tinuviel in the 'Phrase' section and something like luthien tinuviel in the 'Shortcut' section.
4. Press save!
Now every time you write luthien tinuviel it will correct it to Lúthien Tinúviel. This was a little hard to explain, but I hope you understand me. :)

Overall, I just think accents look nice, but it's totally up to you whether to use them or not! :)

DWARVES
Exactly the same problem as the elves. ;)

STRANGE ... UM ... THINGS
Gollum. Yup. Many people spell 'Sméagol' wrong. It is not Smiggle, it is Sméagol with the dash on the 'e'. ;)

LIST
I just thought I'd give you a list of the correct spellings so that when you're ever in doubt you can just look here! I am 100% sure I've forgotten someone, so please tell me if I have. So here's how to spell the main characters' names from Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit:

Hobbits
Frodo Baggins
Bilbo Baggins
Samwise (Sam) Gamgee
Meriadoc (Merry) Brandybuck
Peregrin (Pippin) Took

Men
Aragorn Elessar | Strider
Boromir
Faramir
Denethor
Théoden (if you spell it Theoden, it would be pronounced thee-oh-den, which is wrong)
Théodred
Éomer
Éowyn
Gamling
Háma
Erkenbrand
Helm Hammerhand
Bard
Bain
Sigrid
Tilda
Alfrid
Barliman Butterbur
Gríma Wormtongue

Elves
Legolas Greenleaf
Thranduil
Tauriel
Elrond Half-elven
Arwen Undómiel | Evenstar
Elladan
Elrohir
Galadriel
Celeborn
Haldir
Glorfindel (some people write Glorifindel)
Lindir (ahem, FIGWIT)
Gildor

Wizards
Saruman
Gandalf
Radagast

Dwarves
Please note that the names have not got dashes on them in The Hobbit, but they have got them in The Lord of the Rings appendices. It's confusing. ;)
Gimli
Thorin Oakenshield
Thráin
Thrór
Fíli
Kíli
Balin
Dwalin
Óin
Glóin
Bifur
Bofur
Bombur
Ori
Nori
Dori
Durin
Dís

Other Creatures
Sauron
Gollum | Sméagol
Orc/s (not ork/s)
Troll/s
Balrog/s
Goblin/s
Azog
Bolg
Beorn

If you read this whooooole chapter, THANK YOU! *showers you with cookies* You are amazing.

Please, please, PLEASE, if you have any questions or you're struggling to understand something, just comment or PM me! :D Also, if you're not sure how to spell a name, just ask! :)

Namárië, mellon nyn!

тαяωα ♥︎