XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm   
      
   On Sat, 24 May 2014 22:00:21 -0500, No One In Particular wrote:   
   > My son asked me this today in the car, and it reminded me of discussions   
   > with an old friend of mine who maintained that the Nazgûl's winged   
   > steeds were wyverns, and seemed honestly surprised that I had a   
   > different opinion.   
   >   
   >  From the first time I read the passage describing the Witch-king's   
   > steed, many a long year ago when I was a small boy, I always took it to   
   > mean a Pterodactyl (Pterosaur).  No other explanation ever even crossed   
   > my mind.   
      
   That's always been my own opinion, sort of. Tolkien's description   
   (which you quoted, and I snipped) makes it sound like a reptilian   
   flyer, and "creature of an older world" suggests a dinosaur.   
      
   But I think that image is about as accurate as visualizing an atom as   
   a miniature solar system -- good enough for some purposes, but not   
   literally true. I don't think there's any room for dinosaurs in   
   Tolkien's world, since it was created only a few thousand years ago.   
      
   In their way, I think the Nazgûl flying steeds are like Tom Bombadil:   
   we just don't know their origin.   
      
   --   
   Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA   
                                     http://OakRoadSystems.com   
   Tolkien FAQs: http://Tolkien.slimy.com (Steuard Jensen's site)   
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     http://mysite.verizon.net/aznirb/mtr/lettersfaq.html   
   FAQ of the Rings: http://oakroadsystems.com/genl/ringfaq.htm   
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   more FAQs: http://oakroadsystems.com/genl/faqget.htm   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)