Shadowfax

What's In A Name?


Being a Pan I looked up the name of the mythological teacher of Pan, Apollo, and Achilles and their like and found it was Chiron (Chieron alt sp.). My Son's name is just too close and I could easily confuse us all so despite being apt (as I fancy myself a bit of a teacher and expect the Pan to teach me a thing ot two, too) it needed reconsidering.

So, in the car\ on the way up to Farnborough to collect poor Dilbert from the bike shop I opened the competition up for the family to try. Silence from the back seats (watching Scoobie Doo on the TVs) but Ka chirped up, "what's the name of the white stallion in Lord of the Rings?" (Ka always admires the creature when we play the film Two Towers from the excellent Peter Jackson cinematic trilogy and as she needs apeasing somewhat for my surprise purchase of the Pan it seemed not only a good name for a white bike that goes so fast, but also a good idea to adopt it).

"Shadowfax", I said, "Lord of the Horses of Rohan", I added, "the fastest of all in the Mark". Hmmnn.

Shadowfax it is, then.

Shadowfax etimology


Wikipedia says:
    A horse of Rohan, the chief of the Mearas. Like the other mearas, Shadowfax was a grey/silver stallion and can understand the speech of Men. He was also seemingly fearless,(although the shriek of a Fell Beast frightens him in the battle of Minas Tirith in the film adaptation), and can run faster than any other horse in Middle-earth. He is tamed by Gandalf and granted as a gift to him (after Gandalf had borrowed him for some time) by King Théoden of the Rohirrim. No Man could tame Shadowfax. He would not tolerate a bridle or saddle and only carried Gandalf by choice. The great horse also bore a hobbit, Pippin and the dwarf Gimli, (both times with Gandalf riding) for a short time during the War of the Ring. His name could be translated as Shadow-hair, Old English feax meaning "hair". The name Shadowfax derives from the horses Skinfaxi and Hrímfaxi in Norse Mythology.



    In an unpublished epilogue and letters Tolkien stated that Shadowfax passed West over the Sea with Gandalf, but in The Lord of the Rings itself this is only hinted at by mention of Gandalf standing near a "great grey horse" on the quay just before departing, and the earlier promise by Gandalf (in the chapter 'The White Rider') that he and Shadowfax will not be parted again in this world.

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