Which Writing System Did the Hobbits Use?

One question about Tolkien’s invented scripts I get asked again and again is: Which writing systems did the Hobbits use? In fact, Tolkien is a bit confusing about this issue. So let’s have a look…

This post was originally published in the series #TolkienFridays in July 2020 on twitter.

In the Prologue to The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien writes:

“It was in these early days [before the Hobbits settled in the Shire], doubtless, that the Hobbits learned their letters and began to write after the manner of the Dúnedain, who had in their turn long before learned the art from the Elves.”

The Lord of the rings, prologue

So, all we have to do is find out what kind of letters the Dúnedain learned from the Elves! There are two main writing systems created by Tolkien: the Tengwar and the Cirth.

The Tengwar are commonly associated with the Elves and the Cirth with the Dwarves while actually both were created by the Elves. The Tengwar were invented by Fëanor (who also created the Silmarils) in Valinor to write Quenya before the Noldor returned to Middle-earth (Silmarillion, chap. VI Of Feanor and the Unchaining of Melkor). The Cirth were developed in Beleriand by the Sindar, the best known Alphabet was created by Daeron, “the minstrel and loremaster of King Thingol of Doriath” (Simarillion, chap. X Of the Sindar).

After the Noldor returned to Beleriand, they adapted the Tengwar to Sindarin and the script gained usage. Later in the Second Age, the Tengwar were the dominant alphabet used to write both Quenya and Sindarin as well as other languages like Adûnaic, the language of Númenor. Because the Dwarves continued to use the Cirth this alphabet got associated with them. When the Númenóreans started to settle in Middle-earth, they brought their language Adûnaic with them.

In the following centuries it developed into Westron, better known as the Common Tongue, the language spoken by almost everyone in The Lord of the Rings. When the Hobbits came into contact with the descendants of the Númenóreans in the north of Middle-earth, the Dúnedain. They not only adopted the Common Tongue but also the script it was written in. That’s what the quote in the prologue is probably referring to. Therefore, we can assume that the Hobbits used Tengwar to write the Common Tongue – just like everybody else did.

There are, however, some scenes in the The Lord of the Rings which seem to suggest otherwise. In “The Shadow of the Past”, Gandalf throws the Ring into the fireplace and a part of the Ring Verse appears upon its surface:

“[Frodo] now saw fine lines, finer than the finest pen-strokes, …: lines of fire that seemed to form the letters of a flowing script. … I cannot read the fiery letters,’ said Frodo … ‘No,’ said Gandalf, ‘but I can. The letters are Elvish, of an ancient mode…”

The Lord of the Rings, chap. The Shadow of the Past

Further, the Tengwar letters were used for different sounds in different languages. The Ring Verse is in Black Speech, not in the Common Tongue, this may also explain Frodo’s inability to understand the writing.

Later, when the Fellowship of the Ring reaches the Gates of Moria, Frodo asks:

“What does the writing say?” … “I thought I knew the elf-letters, but I cannot read these.”

The Lord of the Rings, chap. A Journey in the Dark

Again, it seems like Frodo could not read Tengwar but this is probably a false assumption. Frodo says he can’t read “these” elf-letters, so he probably can read others. One reason may be that the Tengwar are usually written without independent letters for the vowels. Instead, the vowels are written as diacritics (as in Arabic or Hebrew). There is however one mode which uses vowel letters. It is called the “Mode of Beleriand” and the elvish writing upon the Gates of Moria are in this specific mode. Frodo might not be familiar with the vowel letters and therefore can’t read the writing. And again, the writing is not in Westron but in Sindarin, a language Frodo hasn’t mastered at this point.

In short: The Hobbits probably used one specific mode of the Tengwar for writing – which doesn’t mean they could read everything written in Tengwar.

Most information about Tolkien’s writing systems can be found in Appendix E of The Lord of the Rings.

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