As I mentioned in Part 1, Tolkien described orcs in racially stereotyped terms, in fact, he even admitted to it: ” squat, broad, flat-nosed, sallow-skinned, with wide mouths and slant eyes: in fact degraded and repulsive versions of the (to Europeans) least lovely Mongol-types.” The above illustration by Tim Kirk, then a fan artist, adheres …
Tag: Mythical creatures
Worldbuilding Wednesday 3/19/25: Some Words of Orkish, Part 1
From hobbits my mind has drifted off to orcs. Or orks, uruks, orchs, as known in some of Middle-Earth’s other languages. Tolkien never described the orcs too deeply and when he did, unfortunately, it was with language one would use for non-white humans: broad noses, sallow complexions, slanted eyes. I could go into this more …
Worldbuilding Wednesday 8/14/24: Let’s Talk About Maugrim (Narnia LX)
If you’re a scholar of The Chronicles of Narnia, you’ll know that the White Witch’s Captain of the Secret Police, a wolf named Maugrim, received a name change when The Lion, the Witch, and Wardrobe was published in the U.S. in 1950. That change was to Fenris Ulf, a name familiar to those who read …
Worldbuilding Wednesday 8/7/24: Werewolves and Hags (Narnia LIX)
One of the things I dislike about Prince Caspian is that, after many, many, centuries, hags and werewolves are still around, even though Lewis told us they had been eliminated at the end of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Seems like someone didn’t do the job they were supposed to. Nevertheless, they’re there, …
A Not So Wonderful Tea with Tumnus
There was a nice brown egg, lightly boiled, for each of them, and then sardines on toast, and then buttered toast, and then toast with honey, and then a sugar-topped cake. — from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe Let’s see how well AI can recreate this iconic scene. I specified “Cute whimsical faun …
Dryad at the Feast of Bacchus
I took inspiration from this Worldbuilding Wednesday Narnia post, specifying a 1920s children’s book illustration model. She’s sampling different rocks, sands, and minerals from her plate.
Worldbuilding Wednesday 6/19/24: What Do Dryads Eat? (Narnia LII)
When Lucy saw … the trees were going to eat earth it gave her rather a shudder. But when she saw the earths that were actually brought to them she felt quite different. They began with a rich brown loam that looked almost exactly like chocolate; so like chocolate, in fact, that Edmund tried a …
Worldbuilding Wednesday 8/30/23: Glenstorm and His Sons (Narnia XLIX)
… and daughters too, let’s make that clear. Trufflehunter called again, “Glenstorm! Glenstorm!” and after a pause Caspian heard the sound of hoofs. It grew louder till the valley trembled and at last, breaking and trampling the thickets, there came in sight the noblest creatures that Caspian had yet seen, the great Centaur Glenstorm and …
Wyrm among the unicorns
I’ve no idea who the artist is of this or what its era of creation is, as it’s from a Russian language site. But doesn’t it look like an untold tale from Narnia with the deadly yet puzzled wyrm and all the astonished unicorns?
Worldbuilding Wednesday 8/23/23: Centaurides (Narnia XLVIII)
A centauride is the Greek term for a female centaur. Though only one was named in Greek myth, they were common motifs in ancient Greek and Roman art and have remained so up until the present day. Walt Disney even played a riff on them for Fantasia (1940); they were going to be bare-breasted …