And all the while the Sea-serpent kept on turning, trying absentmindedly to get the tip of his tail in his mouth. But thank heavens! he was not properly and fully awake, or he might have come out and shaken his tail in anger, and then another continent would have been drowned.
Sea-serpents, also called fish-dragons, were a breed of Dragons only mentioned fleetingly in Elvish linguistic writings.[1] No story tells of their appearance in the history of Arda.
Etymology
Lingwilókë is a Quenya word meaning "fish-dragon, sea-serpent", being comprised of lingwe ("fish") and lókë ("dragon"). The Noldorin cognate of lingwilókë is lhimlug, being comprised of lhim ("fish") and lhûg ("dragon").[1]
In other writings
In Roverandom, an ancient Sea-serpent known only as the Worm or the Serpent lived in a cave known as Pot at the bottom of the Deep Blue Sea. He was an extremely enormous and powerful creature, more than one hundred miles long, allegedly causing storms just by passing through the world. The Man-in-the-Moon had once tried to seal the Sea-serpent with his magic, but took fifty years to create the proper magic, and succeeded, though accidentally causing an entire continent to sink. During the time of the story, the Wizard Artaxerxes received written Complaints about the Sea-serpent allegedly waking up and moving to a new den that was in a cave that was very close to the mer-king's palace. Unfortunately, when Mr. Artaxerxes went to deal with him, Roverandom followed him and bit the tail of a shark in the shell carriage, causing a domino effect which ended with the last shark in the carriage biting the Sea-serpent. The awakening was further accelerated when Mr. Artaxerxes tried to put it back to sleep, causing him to dream that he was being burnt alive by a volcano. Earthquakes and hurricanes followed as the Sea-serpent continuously rolled over until he spoke loudly that he would only go back to sleep if Mr. Artaxerxes was banished. The Mer-people accepted his terms and banished the Wizard.[2] The Sea-serpent presumably went back to sleep.
Portrayal in adaptations
1982-97: Middle-earth Role Playing:
- Water Drakes, or Water Serpents, are drakes who have adapted to a life in freshwater pools or in the ocean. The smaller varieties, who only live in fresh-water, are called Rain-drakes (or Lake-worms), while the larger (who prey in all types of water) are called True Water-drakes or Sea Serpents.[3] An individual Water-drake, Séahmatha (meaning "Lake Serpent" in the tongue of the Northmen), inhabits the Long Lake.[4]
1995-8: Middle-earth Collectible Card Game:
- "Sea Serpent" and "Rain-drake" are creatures of the Drake-kind. A unique dragon of the water is Eärcaraxë, which may be played keyed to coastal regions and sites.
See also
External links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Lost Road and Other Writings, Part Three: "The Etymologies", entry "LOK-"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond (ed.), Roverandom, "[chapter] 4"
- ↑ Ruth Sochard Pitt, Jeff O'Hare, Peter C. Fenlon, Jr. (1994), Creatures of Middle-earth (2nd edition) (#2012), pp. 116-117
- ↑ Zachariah Woolf (1995), Lake-town (#2016), pp. 121-128
| Legendary races of Arda | |
| Animals: | Dumbledors · Gorcrows · Hummerhorns · Pards · Swans of Gorbelgod · Turtle-fish · Wise-fish |
|---|---|
| Dragon-kind: | Sea-serpents · Spark-dragons · Were-worms |
| Other: | Badger-folk · Ettens · Giants · Great beasts · Half-trolls · Hobgoblins · Lintips · Mewlips · Nameless things · Ogres · Otter-folk · Snow-trolls · Spectres |
| Individuals: | Badger-brock · Bill Butcher · Farmer Hogg · Fastitocalon · Fisher Blue · Fíriel · Grip · Hunter and Rider · The Lady of the Sun · Lonely Troll · Man in the Moon · Mee · Mrs. Bunce · Old Swan · Peeping Jack · Perry-the-Winkle · Pott the Mayor · Talking Gurthang · Talking purse · River-woman · Shee · Tarlang · Tim · Tom · Whisker-lad · White cow · Willow-wren |