Many Mithril Pages @ Faerylands

Barliman wrote:

As another of my occasional forays into posting blogs that garner very few responses, I was looking at the now quite old Mithril "Mouth of Sauron" figure and found myself wondring about the horse. What did he actually ride?

All we know for sure is what JRRT tells us, which is that it was "a black horse, if horse it was; for it was huge and hideous, and its face was a frightful mask, more like a skull than a living head, and in the sockets of its eyes and in its nostrils there burned a flame."

...which doesn't sound much like a horse at all, except by default. So, my question is, do any of you have any views regarding what it might have been? I've recently acquired a Ral Partha "Fast Claw", which looks somewhat like a cross between a horse and a four-legged velociraptor. It's hard to know what JRT had in mind, but could he have been thinking along the same extinct-dinosaur lines as for the Nazguls' winged mounts?

I'd be interested in your views!

Now that you ask.........

I suppose that from my initial reading of the description many moons ago, I imagined it to be an actual horse that was perhaps disfigured and kept alive by some means of sorcery (I doubt I paid much attention if I'm honest regarding the 'huge' size).

I would prefer to think it was indeed some large breed of horse similar to a Shire Horse ('scuse the pun) rather than a part dinosaur-part horse creature because what has always been my 'thing' about Tolkien's writings/world was the fact that his creatures were always believable and imaginable and not 'pure fantasy!!!!!! (I realise this may sound daft given Orcs, trolls, dragons etc. but I hope you know what I mean ) .

Again, now that you put the question, perhaps the mount wore some form of mask to make it look hideous, but as it had flames in the sockets of eyes and nostrils, I would err towards sorcery keeping it alive, but a horse nonetheless.

Oddly, the winged 'Fell-Beast' if indeed it was some form of Pterosaur, doesn't give me the feeling of a dinosaur being introduced, I just accept Tolkien's description without trying to analyse its origins, that would destroy the 'magic' of Tolkien's work - that's why I try not to dwell too much on Mithril Haradhrim looking too much like some Saracen-type warriors (I actually prefer the movie design.

All this thinking has made me quite thirsty, I think I'll take a stroll over to The Pony

JRRT wrote horse, not horse like monster. If you peel the skin of a horses scull and through magic put flames in the eye sockets and nostrils, I believe it looks hideous enough to scare the shit out of every human... Just my thought.

Bloddy tall horse if you stand next to it!

At 210.2 cm (82.75"), 11-year-old Belgian gelding Big Jake stands as the world's tallest horse.

Today, the Clydesdale stands 16 to 18 hands (64 to 72 inches, 163 to 183 cm) high and weighs 1,800 to 2,000 pounds (820 to 910 kg).[1] Some mature males are larger, standing taller than 18 hands and weighing up to 2,200 pounds (1,000 kg)

I dunno where or when this dicussion might end, but because of it I can clearly see that the horse sculpted by CT is neither huge, hideous nor frightful. - Well, as for a slightly different matter,  which head did you prefer for the "Mouth", Master Barliman?

But you are right Master Barliman, the Mithril horse isn't huge, nor does it look hideous!

Sadly the eye sockets weren't big enough to effectively accommodate the entire required spectrum of colours. I may try to dab in a tiny pinpoint of white again at some point, but I wasn't very accurate the last time I tried!

Horsed riders in the Oathbreakers' army were mentioned by JRRT, so they're legit canon.

They're very good for curing constipation, but I'm not sure about memory.