View source for Phantoms

[[File:Mark Evans - Phantom.jpg|thumb|Mark Evans - ''Phantom'']]

'''Phantoms''' was a name commonly used to describe evil, shadowy beings, such as [[undead]], [[demons]] or delusions.<ref>{{HM|TT}}, ''passim''</ref><ref>{{HM|S}}, ''passim''</ref>

==History and characteristics==

In the [[Elder Days]], creatures of "''dreadful shapes''", among whom are said to have been phantoms, haunted the [[Elves]], dragging people into the darkness surrounding the borders of the Elven dwellings never to reappear.<ref>{{MR|Myths}}, p. 416</ref>

In [[Beleriand]], the forest of [[Taur-nu-Fuin]] was an infamous locale of "''phantoms of terror''" said to strangle or pursue lost wanderers.<ref name=S18>{{S|18}}</ref>

Using wizardry, it was possible to summon phantoms of delusion. [[Sauron]], "''master of shadows and of phantoms''",<ref name=S18/> devised a phantom resembling [[Eilinel]] to entrap [[Gorlim]].<ref>{{S|19}}</ref> In the late [[Third Age]], [[Saruman]] was rumoured to also be able to craft such phantoms.<ref>{{TT|III5}}</ref><ref>{{TT|III6}}</ref>

It is also told that disembodied, "phantom-like" Elf-souls (from [[Elves]] "''who had been slain in the course of some wrong-doing''") could maliciously appear before living beings to induce fear, being envious of people still alive.<ref>{{PE|17}}, p. 179</ref>

Beings called phantoms also appear in the poem ''[[Oilima Markirya]]''.<ref name=VT49>{{VT|49a}}, p. 11</ref><ref name=Secret>{{MC|Secret}}, (HarperCollins 2006, p. 223)</ref>

==Etymology==

''Phantom'' (from [[Middle English]] and Old French ''fantosme'', from Latin ''phantasma''), means "specter, spirit, ghost" or "illusion, unreality".<ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/phantom "phantom"] at [http://dictionary.com Dictionary.com Unabridged]. (accessed 26 December 2010)</ref>

The [[Quenya]] word ''fairë'' is glossed as "phantom; disembodied spirit, when seen as a pale shape" (pl. ''fairi'').<ref name=VT49/><ref name=Secret/> The [[Black Speech]] word ''[[gûl]]'' is glossed (among other things) as "phantom".<ref>{{PE|17}}, p. 79</ref> The [[Qenya]] form ''qímar'' ("phantom"; ''qímari'' "phantoms") has been suggested as a reconstructed form deriving from linguistic material.<ref>{{PE|16}}, p. 82</ref><ref group=note>Based on the etymology of ''qímari'', linguists have suggested that Tolkien intended (in this stage of the [[legendarium]]) that a phantom was a "'awake'...but not...'living'" hence "a mind or spirit that is incorporeal or disembodied" ({{PE|16}}, p. 82).</ref> 

==Other versions of the legendarium==

In a "hastily written manuscript on small slips of paper, entitled ‘Reincarnation of Elves’",<ref>{{MR|P4q}}, p. 363</ref> [[J.R.R. Tolkien|Tolkien]] discussed different possibilities of how the houseless [[Fëar|''fëa'']] of an [[Elves|Elf]] can have a "memory so strong that it can in another ''fëa'' (incarnate) induce a picture of it, so that it seems a phantom form". Such a phantom "cannot be touched, but can be walked through".<ref>{{ER|R1}}, pp. 146, 148</ref> 

==Portrayal in adaptations==

'''1982-97: ''[[Middle-earth Role Playing]]'':'''
: A phantom is rumoured to haunt a wood in Rhudaur.<ref>{{ICE|8102}}, p. 4-14</ref>

'''2002-5: ''[[The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game]]'':'''
: Phantoms, one of the three type of ghosts, are those that seek revenge in their after-life. The phantoms "''often resemble their mortal form as it appeared in death''" (e.g., the phantoms of the [[Dead Marshes|Mere of Dead Faces]]), although some are also invisible.<ref>{{D|Fell}}, pp. 25-27</ref>

==See also==

*[[Ghosts]]
*[[Spectres]]

{{References|Note}}
[[Category:Undead]]
[[Category:Servants of Sauron]]