[SpaceWeavil]

Does anyone know of a good source of information on fell beasts at all, or know anything about them? Principally when they first arrived / appeared in ME, and when you could feasibly have them in a story.

I ask because the only reference I can find is in a David Day book, and I haven't seen most of what he says in any of the texts.

So any info on fell beasts would be much appreciated.

It's for a story I'm planning with Vampire!Elrond and a baby fell beast called Fluffy...

(only kidding)

[inglor]

IIrc the first time they ever appeared is in LotR, though I think it was said that they were really old, a creature of Morgoth maybe?

Inglor

[KhazarKhum]

They are first mentioned in LOTR.

Tolkien himself fielded a question as to what, exactly, they were. In letter # 211, he says that they are based on pterosaurs.

"I did not intend the steed of the Witch-King to be what is now called a 'pterodactyl', and is often drawn (with rather less shadowy evidence than lies behind many monsters of the new and fascinating semi-scientific mythology of the "Prehistoric".) But obviously it is Pterodactylic and owes much to the new mythology, and in description even provides a sort of way in which it could be a last survivor of older geological eras."

The best-known pterosaur in Britain at the time Tolkien wrote was the classic pterodactyl, a small animal with a wingspan ranging from 14-98 inches. (That size range is babies to adults.) It had a long head, lots of teeth, and large eyes.

More recently paleontologists have found big pterosaurs(40-50 foot wingspan--the same as a jet fighter!) such as giant Pteranodons & Quetzlcoatlus. Such beasts are well within the size needed for riding.

So no, they aren't the creation of Morgoth. They're natural animals.
And they don't look a thing like the long-necked critters from the films.

FWIW, I usually think of Pteranodons when I write about Fell Beasts.

[SpaceWeavil]

Right, because I'm sure in the David Day thing he says they're the same as dragons, ie Morgoth's critters.

So I can have one in the story whenever I like then, if they've been around for ages. Question though would be where they would come from, I suppose. Probably somewhere in the East or South?

I quite like the long-necked beasties in the film, but if they're to be like pterodactyls then they should be a bit more birdlike I suppose. Been looking up pictures of pteranodons, but not decided on that yet. I wish I hadn't let my mother steal my dinosaur book for her kids at school.

[KhazarKhum]

They might come from the east, or perhaps even Mordor.

There are loads of dinosaur websites out there. (Keep in mind that pterosaurs aren't dinosaurs; they're relatives. But they ain't the same thing. Nor are they ancestral birds, any more than a tuna is an ancestral whale.)

I would imagine that it takes time to train them, and that once trained they would have a useful life of 20+ years.

HTH

[SpaceWeavil]