The Legendarium
A compendium of themes and threads in myth and literature.
One of the most memorable scenes from Tolkien’s The Hobbit is found in the chapter “Riddles in the Dark”. With this riddle game Tolkien was very consciously referencing the Anglo-Saxons, who, besides being macho warmongering ale gulpers, also loved riddles — long, elaborate, even poetic riddles. Suppose, though, that while consciousness does continue in some way after death, it remains thoroughly joined to your physical remains. As your body decays, so does your personality, your capacity to reason. Your emotions, having been all along largely the product of your fluids and nerves, transmute ever more into the mute horror which your remains increasingly depict. There is a special creative space occupied by the overlap between these three expressions of writing: the customized orthography, or the “new” orthography, any highly unique system of writing developed by a single individual. People carry around a lot of different mental models of what “a person” is, and frequently resort to diagrams to explain themselves. Bodies of water - lakes, streams, oceans - are frequently connected, in literature and experience, with moodiness or meditation.Riddles in the Dark Ages
Death, Decay and the Haunted Afterlife
The New Orthography: Handwriting, Calligraphy and Shorthand
Plans of the Psyche
Water
