XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: mr@sandman.net   
      
   In article , No One In Particular wrote:   
      
   > 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.   
      
   > "And behold! It was a winged creature: if bird, then greater than   
   > all other birds, and it was naked, and neither quill nor feather did   
   > it bear, and its vast pinions were as webs of hide between horned   
   > fingers;   
      
   Right there is a picture that doesn't really match a Pterodactylus, who had   
   webbed wings from one of its fingers to its hind legs, and not between any   
   fingers.   
      
   Bats also have wing membrane from a finger to its hind legs, but also wings   
   between all their fingers (save one).   
      
   The normal fantasy "dragon"-attachement of wings to the side of the   
   body isn't really found in nature who tends to attach it to jointed   
   parts in order to maximize control. Even winged lizards like Draco Volans   
   has its wings attached to it's hind legs   
      
   > and it stank. A creature of an older world maybe it was,   
   > whose kind, lingering in forgotten mountains cold beneath the Moon,   
   > outstayed their day, and in hideous eyrie bred this last untimely   
   > brood, apt to evil. And the Dark Lord took it, and nursed it with   
   > fell meats, until it grew beyond the measure of all other things   
   > that fly; and he gave it to his servant to be his steed."   
      
   > Brian.  See?  Pterodactyl...   
      
   Well, not that I could say from memory alone, but would the description of   
   Smaug, also a featherless flying creature not also lend itself to be   
   interpreted as a Pterodactylus if so? I mean, I have no problem you seeing   
   a Pterodactylus in your inner mind when reading the text, but the passage   
   is so sparse on details so you really couldn't make a firm conclusion based   
   on it, it was just the image that came into your mind.   
      
   Of course, Smaug is a dragon and the inner eye already have somewhat of an   
   idea just how a dragon is supposed to look when reading about him, but what   
   if you didn't? I'm sure if he was "Smaug the Fellbeast" or "Smaug the   
   Hellwing" and you read the description of it, it is equally as fitting to a   
   huge Pterodactylus as well - for your inner eye at least.   
      
   That said, reading the above passage I have to say that Pterodactylus is   
   firmly ruled out. :)   
      
      
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