Fantasy Languages

You often hear about the mass extinction event that is happening in the world of languages. Globalization has resulted in a blurring of languages and culture, making the languages spoken in the remote corners of the Earth redundant and dying.

Williams, Maisie. Cover story. Dazed and Confused Magazine. Photographed by Ben Toms. Styled by Robbie Spencer.

But in the world of fantasy, new languages are being created at just the same rate. Fantasy languages are a complex and beautiful way of bringing to life the magical worlds we see in books and on television. The intricate weaving of the network of stories in these worlds is equaled only by the bewildering task of creating a language for these fictional characters.

Rivendell, home of the Elves in the Lord of the Rings series: Original illustration by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Lord of the Rings

Tolkien is the godfather of the fantasy genre. The most notorious creation of the fantasy genre is the world of Middle Earth in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit’. The exploits of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, Gandalf, and the other heroes of Middle Earth have inspired the creation of countless other fantasy worlds since Tolkien published ‘The Hobbit’ in 1937. Tolkien created over TWELVE languages for ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy. Not only this, but some of these constructed languages are some of the most detailed and beautiful to exist.

The two primary languages come from the Elvish tongue, namely Quenya and Sindarin. The Elves were the first species of creature to appear in Middle Earth, immortal unless killed in battle. As a result, they had been around for thousands of years before the events of ‘The Hobbit’ unfolded. Due to his fascination with the evolution of language, Tolkien masterfully developed these Elvish languages with the linguistic adaptations that would come over a vast period of time. These languages were heavily inspired by Finnish, which Tolkien found to be ‘quite intoxicating’, as well as Old English, Welsh, and Gothic, of which he was fluent. Tolkien himself stated how ‘the stories were made…to provide a world for the languages’, as opposed to the other way around. As a result, Quenya and Sindarin boast more than just foreign words, shown by the poem written by Tolkien below. Many of us would struggle to write an enchanting poem in our own language. Writing one in a language you have created from scratch is astounding beyond comprehension.

‘Ah! Like gold fall the leaves in the wind, long years numberless as the wings of trees!’ The beginning of the poem “Namárië”, written by J.R.R. Tolkien in the Elvish language Quenya: Via Wikipedia

Game of Thrones

Matt Smith as Daemon Targaryen in HBO’s ‘House of the Dragon’. The Targaryens speak a mother tongue known as High Valyrian: Theo Whiteman/HBO

The spin-off series ‘House of the Dragon’, set 200 years before the timeline of ‘Game of Thrones’, has fascinated audiences, detailing the political plots and conspiracies that provided the backbone for the original series. A key feature in both series is the Targaryen dynasty, those blond-haired, incestuous tyrants we all know and love. They are speakers of a language known as High Valyrian, once the primary language of the fantasy world, but reduced to only a few groups of individuals, following the Doom of Valyria.

In keeping with the mind-blowing complexity with which George R.R. Martin created this world, linguist David J. Peterson developed High Valyrian from 22 languages, creating a sub-language known as Low Valyrian along the way. This colossal task took Peterson seven months to complete, resulting in a language so complex and detailed it has come to the forefront of popular culture. High Valyrian is now a rapidly growing language, being available to learn on language apps such as Duolingo, where over 500,000 people have been actively learning it.

The Dothraki, a culture of nomadic warriors found in Essos in Game of Thrones: Via Wiki of Westeros

Peterson, also the language creator of Chakobsa in the ‘Dune’ franchise, was also enlisted by HBO to create the lesser-known language of the Dothraki. These are the horse lords living on the plains beyond the Free Cities, led by the hunky Jason Momoa in the original ‘Game of Thrones’. George R.R. Martin’s original ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ novel featured 56 words of the Dothraki language, half of these being names. This reflected a totally different challenge to creating this language for the screen, with the Dothrakis needing a more guttural and harsher language to reflect their culture. By taking all of the words from the books, Peterson and other language creators can create a basic structure of sounds, which can then be developed with grammar and a full working lexicon. Fast forward to now, and Peterson has added around 3,700 entries into the Dothraki dictionary. It is reflective of the creative genius of authors and linguists alike to create such culturally-rich and perplexingly layered languages from nothing.

Star Trek

Michael Dorn as Worf in the Star Trek films. The character is a member of the species called Klingons, who speak the Klingon language: CBS/Getty Images

‘Star Trek’, the famous futuristic science fiction series, first aired in the 1960s, following the crew of a starship seeking to explore new worlds in the universe. Habitants within this world include an alien species known as Klingons, coming from the planet Qo’noS. They are distinctive for their aggressive personalities and ridged foreheads. In the early stages of the series, Klingons spoke English, which was later reduced to guttural sounds of gibberish. But the writers found it was not very captivating to have this alien race of creatures having varying linguistic similarities to our own lingua franca. So, they enlisted the help of a linguist to create an entirely new language from scratch, developing one of the most famous fictional languages to exist.

Dr Marc Okrand’s work was formally published as ‘The Klingon Dictionary’ in 1985. Based on general linguistic principles and a variety of verbal sounds, it is now a globally recognized language. One can undertake a certifiable course in Klingon through the Klingon Language Institute. Or perhaps watch a version of Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’, translated into this fictional language. The Klingon language has created a vast sense of community for speakers, Star Trek fans and non-Star Trek fans alike.

Here are some of the most common phrases should you need them:

‘nuqneH’: A traditional greeting for a friend or stranger. (Beware, this literally translates to ‘What do you want?’ Use accordingly!) ‘Heghlu’meH QaQ jajvam’: Today is a good day to die ‘Hab SoSlI’ Quch’: Your mother has a smooth forehead. (Perhaps the ultimate insult in Klingon, only to be used if absolutely necessary)