Grond and the face of Carcharoth - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Alfirin · 11-22-2007, 08:16 AM

Greetings,
I proposed the below theory on before in an earlier thread but as that thread was extremey old when I posted it (so many may not have read it) and becuse I feel the theory is so intersting I though it might be well to give this theory a thread of its own okay here goes.

My theory is that the wolf head the made up the front of Grond (The battering ram, not Melkor's mace) was supposed to be an image of Carcaroth. There is i feel a slight linguistic backing for this Carcarths other name (after he swallowed the Silmaril) was Anfaugulir. This is usually translated as "the Jaws of Thirst" however the two Sindarin root worlds that make up the name could just as easily be read as "The Jaws which Gape" When Tolkein describes the head of Grond he specifies that it head is shape in the likness of a ravening wolf. According to my dictionary ravening in this context would mean hungry, greedy, or rapacios. And it seems to me that the only way you could show such as state in a static statue of a wolf would be to sculpt it with wide-open gaping jaws.

I know that the above is pure conjecture and that it flies in the face of a basic Tolkein assumption (the old "if Tolkein had meant it, Tolkein would have said it" line) but the theroy seems to make sense to me. What do you think?

11-22-2007, 08:16 AM	#1
Alfirin Shade of Carn Dûm Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 435	Grond and the face of Carcharoth Greetings, I proposed the below theory on before in an earlier thread but as that thread was extremey old when I posted it (so many may not have read it) and becuse I feel the theory is so intersting I though it might be well to give this theory a thread of its own okay here goes. My theory is that the wolf head the made up the front of Grond (The battering ram, not Melkor's mace) was supposed to be an image of Carcaroth. There is i feel a slight linguistic backing for this Carcarths other name (after he swallowed the Silmaril) was Anfaugulir. This is usually translated as "the Jaws of Thirst" however the two Sindarin root worlds that make up the name could just as easily be read as "The Jaws which Gape" When Tolkein describes the head of Grond he specifies that it head is shape in the likness of a ravening wolf. According to my dictionary ravening in this context would mean hungry, greedy, or rapacios. And it seems to me that the only way you could show such as state in a static statue of a wolf would be to sculpt it with wide-open gaping jaws. I know that the above is pure conjecture and that it flies in the face of a basic Tolkein assumption (the old "if Tolkein had meant it, Tolkein would have said it" line) but the theroy seems to make sense to me. What do you think?