You'll be fine
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Hello, my name is Personface
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…in service of his fantasy epic.
This is wrong. The the histories, cultures, etc. were in service of the conlangs. Sure, he eventually wrote some stories set in that world, but that wasn’t the reason he created it.
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So many get this backwards.
The languages (there are multiple, including historical languages that explain the transition into the modern languages) came first - by about 40 years.
He did not invent languages for his world. He invented a world to explain how his languages would come to exist.
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Hello, my name is Personface
Guy Beardsly
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Makes sense. The biggest strength of robust worldbuilding isn’t showing it all to your audience, it’s hinting at small pieces of it that shows a connection between them and hints at something deeper. Having what feels like a detailed history makes the world feel real, because you can see shadows of it in the foreground. If you actually dig into all of it explicitly in your story that just makes it feel shallow, because you’re showing the whole iceberg.
It’s why the mystery of the clone wars and Anakin’s apprenticeship and betrayal of Obi-wan were intriguing in the original Star Wars trilogy, but end up just being some action movies once it’s all fleshed out on screen. Depth stops being depth if you bring it all up to the surface.
I wish more writers would understand what you’re pointing out here, I’ve actually stopped reading quite a few books over the years because the actual story takes a back seat to the world building.
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“Treebeard some call me” - it’s a nickname
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I don’t know if Tolkien’s notes support this, but I always assumed that Treebeard’s Entish name was something completely unpronounceable for anyone who isn’t an ent, and “Treebeard” was a nickname that he picked for himself. Maybe because he finds it funny that other species think he looks like a tree. (I’m sure that ents look clearly different from trees to other ents.)
Edit: he says so himself.
Hrum, now, well, I am an Ent, or that’s what they call me. Yes, Ent is the word. The Ent, I am, you might say, in your manner of speaking. Fangorn is my name according to some, Treebeard others make it. Treebeard will do.
Hello. Thank you for typing this so that I didn’t.
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It’s me, I’m people
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Guy who walks around the forest: Strider.
Guy who betrays everyone to side with Sauron: Sauron-man.
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I don’t know if Tolkien’s notes support this, but I always assumed that Treebeard’s Entish name was something completely unpronounceable for anyone who isn’t an ent, and “Treebeard” was a nickname that he picked for himself. Maybe because he finds it funny that other species think he looks like a tree. (I’m sure that ents look clearly different from trees to other ents.)
Edit: he says so himself.
Hrum, now, well, I am an Ent, or that’s what they call me. Yes, Ent is the word. The Ent, I am, you might say, in your manner of speaking. Fangorn is my name according to some, Treebeard others make it. Treebeard will do.
Fangorn is my name according to some
“Fangorn” means “Treebeard.”
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To be fair, sounds a bit weird when you speak his name in portuguese…
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In Sindarin (the most common Elvish language), not Entish.
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Guy Beardsly
Beardy McBeardface
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Seriously, like Gandalf just means magic elf. So he’s just the magic elf that wears grey. Then he’s the magic elf that wears white.
Names are just that, things we observe, want or expect.
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Guy who betrays everyone to side with Sauron: Sauron-man.
In my headcanon, that’s not his real name. The books were written after the facts, so I imagine the writers wanted him to be remembered only as a Sauron henchman, erasing him from history.
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He also nearly named Celeborn Teleporno, which would have been
awfulamazing. -
Hello, my name is Personface
I am Beefcake McIronribs, son of Beefcake McSteelribs
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Hello, my name is Personface
You killed my father
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It keeps blowing my mind when I learn that other languages haven’t obfuscated the meanings of names behind two thousand years of linguistic divergence.
Your name almost certainly means something basic too, you just don’t remember what it is.
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Seriously, like Gandalf just means magic elf. So he’s just the magic elf that wears grey. Then he’s the magic elf that wears white.
Names are just that, things we observe, want or expect.
Close.
It means elf with a stick.
