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Lindarielwen
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on: October 12, 2014 05:18
Ah, now that you mention it, Gandolorin, I do remember that it was the Shadowfax horse that died.

Viggo seems like a man I would like to know. Yes, he did buy the Hildago horse. I really enjoyed that movie. Did he also buy his *Brego* horse?
My destiny is riding again, rolling in the rain, unwinding in the wind. My destiny is fighting again, secretly unwinding..what it was I was supposed to say...to say to you today.
Elthir
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Post RE: for horse-lovers
on: October 24, 2014 09:50
Lúthien_ArFeiniel wrote: '(...) Another thing that bothered me was the fact that Shadowfax WAS NOT WHITE!!!!!!!! (...) If anything the impression I got from the book was that he was primarilly black. But he had no definable color, not in the context of true coat colors.

While I agree that Shadowfax was not white I don't think he was pimarily black either. Shadowfax is described in the book as 'grey' and perhaps notably by JRRT in a text called Nomenclature: 'having shadow-grey mane (and coat)'

The word silver is also employed, and I would say often in what I would call poetic usage: 'He spoke a word to Shadowfax, and like an arrow from the bow the great horse sprang away. Even as they looked he was gone: a flash of silver in the sunset, a wind over the grass, a shadow that fled and passed from sight.'

Annûniel wrote: Lúthien_ArFeiniel, it says in Appendix A: The House of Eorl, that the first horse of the mearas was white.

"Leod was the name of Eorl's father. He was a tamer of wild horses; for there were many at that time in the land. He captured a white foal and it grew quickly into a horse strong, and fair, and proud. No man could tame it."

It would only make sense that they would continue to make the mearas white. Although, Shadowfax was actually grey. Had he been truly white, he would have had a big pink nose instead of a big black one.


I'm not sure Tolkien really drew this distinction however. He does employ the word white for certain horses, and I think he means that to the (mind's) eye, they should look white...

... poetically white as Asfaloth, like sunlight on the foam of a wave, the foam being generally 'white' I would say. 'Sunlit foam' is at least one possible meaning of the name Asfaloth, noted in Tolkien's Words, Phrases, And Passages, now published in Parma Eldalamberon. Or with Snowmane, the white of snow.

But Tolkien does not describe Shadowfax as white however, nor other white horses as 'grey', and so I think he wants to draw a colour distinction in the mind of the reader. And that's different, in my opinion, from those who say that Shadowfax can look white to the eye because 'grey' in horse terminology can refer to a white looking horse after it has greyed.

In short, I think Tolkien wants Snowmane to look different from Shadowfax: and the 'truly white' distinction of horse breeders perhaps doesn't come into play.

But I'm not sure there was much talk about the colors of the other horses in the books.

I can't say that I've collected all of the references (yet), but so far I've had a bit of trouble locating any other colour reference besides white and grey (or dark grey), in the works Tolkien himself published.

And not all that many references (so far) to any other colour in posthumously published texts either, but for example we have the word brown with respect to ponies in the (not used) Epilogue to The Lord of the Rings (second draft):

'The Riders also have many ponies, especially in Harrowdale; white, brown, and grey.'


Again that's from a draft text for the abandoned Epilogue of Lord of the Rings, published in Sauron Defeated.

[Edited on 10/24/2014 by Elthir]
CeruleanMosaic
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Post Clydesdales!
on: January 10, 2015 10:17
Is there any information out there about the Clydesdales used in the last movie? The pretty black one that Gandalf rides was for sale, so I've seen information on him, but can't find any about the newest ones used (last film). I own Clydesdales, so I'm interested in these beautiful guys from Middle Earth
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