The Ornoth and his tail-slapping fun!

Every so often, I Google myself. I suppose everyone does it, but not everyone’s name is as completely unique as “Ornoth”.

The results are always educational. Usually, they boil down to four categories: my own sites or pointers to them, logs of emails I’ve sent to public forums, fantasy sites, and people who can’t muster the intellectual capacity to properly spell “ornithology”.

This year’s crop are particularly righteous, including two very different “Lord of the Rings” tie-ins and several deaths. Here’s a sampling…

A Good Day, Part II of II

“I must give thanks to the Gor’tog barbarian Ornoth. The fellow listened to the tale of my quest and kindly stepped aside to let me face the next manifestation of living stone.”
 
Ornoth the Barbarian! Let me hear the lamentation the women!
 

Chapter Two - The Warrant of Death

“There is a Scribe of Thentis, named Ornoth, who regards himself as something of a poet, a narrator …. he considers that he is the guardian of the morals of Gor and spreads malicious false hoods about me…”
 
Check out the subsequest chapters, as well! I think the assassin gets me in the end. And watch out for my malicious false hoods (sic)! Apparently I’m not the only self-styled scribe and poet…
 

Forgotten Realms Chronology 200-299

“A cousin of King Uth III and King Ornoth II of Uthtower and Yarlith respectively, Taman names himself Grand Prince and ruler of the city.”
 
Ornoth Junior? I don't theenk so. I’ll take “King”, tho…
 

L’Armée Tolkienienne: Nirnaeth Arnoediad

“Nirnaeth Arnoediad, Nirnaith Unoth, Ornoth, Dirnoth, Irnoth, la bataille des Larmes Innombrables”
 
In French apparently I’m a synonym for the Battle of Tears Unnumbered against big baddie Melkor.
 

The Ornoth By Marik

“Ornoth made a crack in the ground by slapping his mighty tail against the ground. […] But that wasn’t the end of Ornoth. His spirit went on only to inhabit the one known as Melkor. Melkor turned evil, and caused chaos that nobody could imagine.”
 
But in this LotR tie-in, not only am I The Ornoth, but I’m also an evaporated snake-beaver earthquake god who is the motive force behind big baddie Melkor! Priceless! G’wan, tell me more!

Gulling

Last week, I took a bike ride down to Castle Island. There was a very strong, steady 30 mph wind blowing up from the southwest, and as I sat on the granite seawall, I watched a dozen or so seagulls hovering nearby, riding the air current.

Now, you can keep your preoccupation with raptors; I’ve always been fascinated by gulls. The clean white-and-grey colors. The sleek, swept-back wings. The eerie cry that always reminds me of home, growing up downeast. But more than anything, I’m awed by their effortless, gliding flight.

As I sat there, I watched a bird simply hover in place above the shoreline, completely still except for his head as he looked one way and another. I watched the tiny adjustments that kept him immobile as the wind alternately dropped off and freshened. With a minuscule movement of one wingtip, he’d suddenly go sailing off perpendicular to the wind in a lateral rudder roll. Or with another slight change, he’d pull a wingover and charge downwind at a headlong speed of 40-50 mph, only to wheel and climb and glide back again.

It was a masterful display of aeronautics, and such a pleasure to see that I sat there mesmerized for half an hour or so. Say what you want about how powerful your raptors are and how dirty or raucous seagulls are, but to my mind there’s no more graceful or inspirational bird than a gull in flight.