: (or liver or spleen or something like that)...
        (or: stuff you didn't really want to know)
        Like any writer working in someone else's world, I used some artistic license, although I tried to stay accurate to what we already know about Mirkwood and its prince. I wanted to know what he'd be like much younger, as well as develop some of the stuff we got glimpses of in LOTR. The cool thing about a character that's who knows how many centuries old is he's got a LOT of backstory to play with. Much as I wanted to send him off on a fifty year journey with Sian, I got the impression in LOTR that he hadn't traveled much, even by then, so, in Mirkwood he stays. If anybody has any commentary, or sees Big Gaping Plotholes that I missed, send stealth Elves or orcs to makenuk@hotmail.com

Elvish 101:
yrch: Sindarin, "orcs", from LOTR
aegwath; Sindarin, literally "fell shadows" made it up from the elvish dictionary (Languages of Tolkien's Middle Earth, Ruth Noel)
thaur: Sindarin, "abhorrent, abominable", found in the Elvish dictionary
Sian, Eos, Efa and the rest of Sian's crew: from a Pocket Welsh Dictionary
Celinte: "swift running" , the Elvish dictionary
Ithilin: "moonsong" Sindarin
thule': Quenya, "spirit" is the closest Common translation, from the Elvish dictionary
randir: wanderer, as in Mithrandir, and others
hwesta: breeze (Quenya)
kelvar: animals, moving things (Sind)
olvar: plants, growing things(Sind)
namarie: farewell(Sind)
Quendi: the speakers, elves
Pethoron: "eagle feather" linguisitics 101: I made this up, with help from "Languages of Tolkien's Middle Earth" quesse is "feather", thoron is "eagle". "beth" is "word", "bel" is "powers" or "mighty". The problem is "quesse" is Quenya, which, after the kinslaying (Silmarillion) was pretty much a Big No No in Sindarin lands. Noting the way words shift from Quenya to Sindarin ("s" becomes"th", Sindarin doesn't often end in vowels, "q" becomes "b" or "p") I said, heckwithit and perpetrated this word on Middle Earth. Sorry, JRR. "Ancuio silailye!" Sindarin; an:long, cuio;live, silailye;mayest thou shine, I'm probably mangling Elvish here, (but so would Sian) It's as close as I could get to "live long and prosper..."
du: Welsh for "black", Sindarin for "dim, night"
cudyll: Welsh, "hawk"
glas: (also gwyrdd, but do you really want to try to pronounce that?) Welsh: "green"
dalen: Welsh; "leaf"
Cair-Gaint: more Welsh, "Canterbury", whence comes one young actor named Orlando Bloom
Lego, Legoland: so, when was the last time you were in a toy store???
"I wanna be an Elven Ranger, I wanna live a life of danger..."
Legs, Legland: the US Army Rangers' term for the rest of the grunts...(www.rangermaxims.com)

Astronomy 102: The small crescent Legolas saw from the treetops was Venus, which I once spotted during the day on a hawkwatch ("Whattheheck IS that?!!?") I needed the (borrowed) Birdscope of Doom (huge!) to see it, unlike certain Elves.

A Really Brief History of Middle Earth (I promise) and Why Bilbo and the Dwarves Should Have Used Sled Dogs
Mirkwood: (3rd Age name) rendering of grey-elven Taur e-Ndaedelos, "Forest of Great Fear", mightiest surviving forest of western Middle Earth, formerly Greenwood the Great (Eryn Lasgallen).
Dol Guldur raised at end of 1st millennium, casting evil shadow over forest, (early years of 3rd age: 1050, about when hobbits first mentioned in records, 1st millennium, 3rd age, are you confused yet?) It was Sauron himself who had settled there, though the council of wizards at first assumed it was a ringwraith. The power of the tower was known only as the Necromancer in 2063/3rd age, Gandalf infiltrated the tower, but learned nothing, as the Necromancer had retreated into the east without revealing himself.
At end of 3rd age, Elves of Lorien overthrow tower of Dol Guldur (3018, War of the Ring, Mirkwood has been under the shadow for about 2000 years at the time of LOTR). Thranduil has been king of Northern Mirkwood since the early part of the second age (the time of the forging of the rings) before the shadow of Dol Guldur fell on it. He and his retinue came out of Harlindon (south Lindon), they were Sindarin relatives of Celeborn. The Silvan elves of Greenwood were East-elves (Avari). (Tolkien Bestiary; David Day, and the New Tolkien Companion; J.E.A. Tyler, no relation to Liv...)
According to The Atlas of Middle Earth;Karen Wynn Fonstad, from the western edge of Mirkwood to Thranduil's halls, it's about 180 miles. It took Bilbo's dwarves (Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Kili, Fili, Grumpi, Dwalin, Balin, Dori, Nori, Ori, Orli, Oin, Gloin, and Thorin Oakenshield*) about a month to make this journey and while Dwarves have all the toughness and determination of a badger, they also have the speed of a badger. A top Iditarod dogteam can make 100 miles a day. The slowest ones, 50. (www.sleddogcentral.com).

On ravens: read Mind of the Raven, Bernd Heinrich, the best thing since LOTR, a funny, readable non-fiction look at a long misunderstood, frighteningly intelligent bird.

Elvish Horsemanship 103:
bit: the metal part of the bridle that fits in the mouth, resting on the toothless space near the back. In the US, bitless bridles are called hackamores (origin of word; middle eastern camel bridle) or bosals (Spanish origin) and fit around the nose.
cob: any small sturdy horse/pony, around 14 hands, solidly built. In the US a pony is any equine under 14 hands 2 inches, a hand is four inches, or, in the old days, the width of most horsemen's hands. The same breed can contain both ponies and horses, depending how tall they grow.
filly: teenaged female horse, they mature at four or five years of age depending on breed., colt is male, foal is very young colt or filly(under a year).
pommel: the front of a saddle, the end of a swordhilt.
stirrups: the dangly thingies you put your feet in. Likely invented by the Huns (as in Attila) You can ride quite effectively without them, but can go farther and faster (by getting your weight off the horse's back, and subjecting yourself to less punishment), not to mention ramming enemies with couched lances (this requires also a sturdy saddle built on a wooden frame called a tree), or standing to shoot a bow without the bompitybompity effect of a galloping horse.( A History of Horsemanship,Charles Chenevix-Trench)
gaits: Walk explains itself (although it has four beats).
Trot is a two beat gait: left front and right rear move together, then right front and left rear together; one-two, one-two, it's efficient for covering long distances, competitive trail riders use it a lot. Canter (slow gallop) or gallop is 3 beats: L rear...R rear and L front together...R front...1, 2, 3. Or, on the other lead: R rear...L rear and R front together...L front. The last front leg to hit the ground is the lead, because it appears as if the horse is "leading" with that leg. Galloping uses "wind"...a horse has to breathe harder.
The color family called dun includes buckskin (golden with black "points", mane, tail, lower legs) various yellow duns (pale cream, cafe' ole' to burnt toast with chocolate milk, or brown or black points), various red duns: claybank (light red-brown with darker reddish points) red or copper dun (medium red-brown with dark red-brown points) and "grulla" (Spanish for mouse) a bluey grey or dove grey with black points, here called "mouse-dun". In grullas each hair is grey, and the horse is the same color throughout its life.
True greys are born any normal horse color; usually chestnut (red, brown with reddish or blondish points), bay(red or brown with black points), brown (like chocolate) or black (like black), although duns, palominos (golden, white points), pintos (big spots) and Appaloosas (teeny spots) are possible) and develop more white hairs as they age (like people, only faster), until they are white, or nearly so. Most white horses are actually aged greys (If they have dark skin, they're likely greys).
Roan is also a mix of white and dark hairs, but roans do not lighten with age. Red roan is bay with white hairs, strawberry roan is chestnut with white hairs, and blue roan is black with white hairs, rose grey is also chestnut with white hairs, but unlike the other roans, its points are not dark. (see "The Color of Horses" by Dr. Ben K. Green, Northland Press)

Martha Stewart's Guide to Middle Earth:
The waybread of Mirkwood: (rumored to be baked in hollow trees): shaped like Dwarves in hoods, with a sweet cream sandwiched between two layers of superb waybread, strange Elvish runes upon the side have been translated as "Keebler" (caution; may lead to a lightheaded condition known among sea kayakers as sugarbonk, or to dimensions approximating Bombur's)

Peterson's Field Guide to the Raptors of Middle Earth
~ The black hawk (buteo family; redtails, redshoulders, broadwings etc.) has a wingspan of 330-400 mm, a weight of 790-1200 grams, (and can carry off prey slightly heavier than itself, with a strong updraft) likes woods near water and prefers to eat crabs (also; amphibians, fish, crustaceans, bugs, occasional young birds, rodents). It can see about 5 times as well as the average human, but still can't tell a sparrow from a finch a league away like Legolas. I don't know how fast the stocky, broadwinged blackhawk is, but some buteos can hit 80-100mph in a dive, (redtails have been measured at 10-15mph striking prey). It's native to the southwest US and Central America, (rare in the US, more common in Central America) slightly smaller than the common redtail hawk. Stocky, with broad, short wings and very broad, very short tail (the hawk looks like one big flying wing, resembling the black vulture), long yellow legs (because it often hunts in water?) black tail with white edge and bold white stripe across center...flashes of white near base of primaries; like stars in their wingtips. (from various field guides and wildlife rehab lecture notes, notably: Peterson's Guide ot the Western Birds, and Hawks, Eagles and Falcons of North America; Paul A. Johnsgard)
The other Black Hawk (Sikorsky family, including Seahawk, Pavehawk, Firehawk and UH-60Q Medevac), has a somewhat larger wingspan (about 53ft.), a weight of 11,516lbs. (empty), likes all habitats from burning deserts to the frozen tundra, can carry off large objects (like Humvees) weighing up to 9000 lbs, and sees in the dark (if equipped with FLIR). It can fly at about 160kts.in 70 degrees at 2000ft. It will not fit in your garage.(www.sikorsky.com)
*(just kidding about Grumpy and Orli)