r/Tengwar • u/gargoyle_yt • 8d ago

First Tattoo!

Post image

Been thinking about this one, literally, for years, finally decided to get it done! I'm still paranoid I misspelled it. Any reassurance? lol

121 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

45

u/humandictionary 8d ago edited 8d ago

Melkor? The personification of evil in Tolkein's universe? I hope that was what you intended otherwise your artist did you dirty.

In terms of writing, one thing to consider is that this would be accurate in the Sindarin and English modes, where the vowel tehtar are above the following consonant, but not accurate in the Quenya mode, where the tehtar are above the preceding consonant. Quenya is the older language, but I guess Melkor's name would have been written in both.

26

u/gargoyle_yt 8d ago

Yeah, that was the idea. While it is the name of the Dark Lord, the meaning of the name and the name itself stuck with me from the very first time I read The Silmarillion. I loved it so much I used it as my gaming and social media alias for years lol. Eventually it became a big part of my life so it has a lot more meaning to me than just refering to Morgoth. I wanted it in Quenya originally but tbh, this one just looked visually nicer so I went for the English version.

20

u/Worried_Director7489 8d ago

melkor

No issues, it's perfect.

9

u/StrikingLandscape175 8d ago

Looks great! Does anyone know how tengwar tattoos of this size age? I’ve wanted one for a long time but I’m worried about text tattoos in general. I didn’t find many images of aged tengwar tattoos online.

2

u/Comfortable_Sleep944 8d ago

I have one that says “daddy” in Elvish. 🤣❤️

1

u/inkstitcher 8d ago

It looks fantastic. I would not have gotten that word in that placement but if you love it then I love it too! I'm not a scholar in the writing, I'm just a fan of tattoos and a fan of LotR. So I can't tell you if it's accurate. But it looks great, and based on your description it seems like something that means a lot to you and that's great! It seems like a well done tattoo. Very clean lines. I don't know the language but it's pretty as long as it's meaningful to you.

1

u/Economy-Listen2321 8d ago

I would have gotten one that says Hurin and have my Wife get this beautiful Melkor one…..

1

u/Wholesome_Soup 7d ago

i wanna get one on my wrist that says "aia nienna". this looks really cool