Can anybody help break down the official Tolkien symbol?

[Klorox]

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/c8/92/3c/c8923c644fc61402b727cf6b0b54233c.jpg

I know the JRRT is overlapping, but I remember reading there was a lot more to this symbol, and I can’t seem to find it now.

Can anybody help me out here?

[factotum]

I've never heard there was anything more to it than that? Just Tolkien's initials JRRT, overlapping as a symbol he used to sign some of his pictures.

[An Enemy Spy]

Looks like the J is forming a candle there at the top.

[BWR]

It's just his initials jammed together artistically.

[Iruka]

There is a striking resemblance to the chinese character 束, which has among others the meaning of controling, binding (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E6%9D%9F).

[factotum]

There is a striking resemblance to the chinese character 束, which has among others the meaning of controling, binding (https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E6%9D%9F).

It's unlikely Tolkien would have known that, though.

[Kato]

It's unlikely Tolkien would have known that, though.
While I agree it sounds not like Tolkien, the resemblance and the possible connection to his work seems far too much of a coincidence :smallconfused:

[Cespenar]

The guy was a linguist, it's not unimaginable that he intended it after all.

[factotum]

The guy was a linguist

Philologist, actually--it's not quite the same thing. Linguistics is the study of extant languages, while philology is a study of the history of language and how they developed.

[Reddish Mage]

A philologist I knew actually knew traditional Chinese quite well. The one’s I read about would know quite a few ancient languages as a matter of course.

[Strigon]

It also bears a certain resemblance to the Eastern Orthodox Cross:
(Edit: Sweet mercy, was that a big picture!)

Can't say whether that's intentional, though, as it would be hard to mash those letters together without a cross appearing somewhere.
If there's any deeper meaning, though, I'd suggest the four dots in the upper right and lower left would be the first place to look. As was already mentioned, the little cleft at the top might also mean something.

I would suggest caution, however; you can find symbols in anything if you look hard enough, and it would certainly be easy to draw false conclusions. Someone always comes along with a link to the Illuminati, or something.

[snowblizz]

Someone always comes along with a link to the Illuminati, or something.
Well it DOES look an awful lot like a candle....:smallbiggrin::smallbiggrin::smallbiggri n::smallbiggrin:


Dunno, I'd think if this wasn't a fever dream of someone there'd be some actual evidence sort of for it.


Tolkien was an expert of old Scandinavian and British languages though. Doesn't mean he couldn't have been intrested in chinese but I've never seen that mentioned. Just that he already had a "field" of his, I'd be surprised if he had something totally different going on too.

[Klorox]

It's just his initials jammed together artistically.

Quote BWR.

I don’t think so.

There’s the flame on top, what’s it mean?

There are two sets of four dots on either side, what do they mean?

Tolkien wasn’t an artist, or not much of one by his own account. He did things with a purpose behind them. The Professor was very much into symbols and writing, as evidenced by his creation of runes and entire languages and alphabets.

There’s more to this symbol than we know.

[factotum]

Tolkien wasn’t an artist, or not much of one by his own account.

He was way underestimating his abilities, if he actually said that. He did some pretty good artwork that I've seen, and he drew the maps in The Hobbit as well. He was also not a fan of people seeing messages in his work that simply weren't there!

[ereinion]

The Professor was very much into symbols and writing, as evidenced by his creation of runes and entire languages and alphabets.
The reason he created the languages and alphabets was because he was very interested in languages and alphabets. As should be evidenced by his career as a philologist / linguist, and his letters. Not because of any particular symbology buried in them. He was also an accomplished artist, as should be evidenced by the illustrations in his book, and by his drawings and paintings (http://www.openculture.com/2015/04/110-drawings-and-paintings-by-j-r-r-tolkien.html).

[Fyraltari]

He was way underestimating his abilities, if he actually said that. He did some pretty good artwork that I've seen, and he drew the maps in The Hobbit as well. He was also not a fan of people seeing messages in his work that simply weren't there!

He was very much a fan of people seeing messages in his works. Just not people saying that there was only one correct way to see those.