The Encyclopedia of Arda - Snapdragons (original) (raw)

Indexes: About this entry: Updated 15 July 2016 Updates planned: 1

"They used to go up like great lilies and snapdragons and laburnums of fire and hang in the twilight all evening!" Any of several varieties of garden flowers, typically red or golden yellow, or a combination of the two colours. The petals of these flowers can grow into intricate lobed shapes, with some varieties fancifully recalling the jaws of a fantastical beast, hence the name 'snapdragon'. They were known in the Shire, and grew in the garden at Bag End. It was perhaps this connection that inspired Bilbo to compare some of Gandalf's famed fireworks to the form of snapdragons (indeed, he was in his garden at the time, so may actually have been looking at his snapdragons as he made the comment). Bilbo made that comparison in III 2941, but his comments prefigured his own eleventy-first Birthday Party sixty years later. At that Party, Gandalf created a firework recapturing the shape of an actual snapping Dragon: that of Smaug the defeated Dragon of Erebor. Indexes: About this entry: Updated 15 July 2016 Updates planned: 1 For acknowledgements and references, see the Disclaimer & Bibliography page. Original content © copyright Mark Fisher 2016. All rights reserved. For conditions of reuse, see the Site FAQ. Website services kindly sponsored by Discus from Axiom Software Ltd.How well do you know yourself? You can get a head start on the competition by taking the time to find out.