Henneth Annûn Story Archive

Would they have had mirrors or looking glasses in TA Rohan? I'm guessing yes, but am not sure.

Regina

 

It mentions twice of Frodo looking into a mirror, once in the Shire, and once in Rivendell. I would expect that the technology (if you would call it that) would be almost the same in all those cultures, so I would say yes also

~Moriel

 

I suppose it depends on what you mean by mirrors. From ancient times a piece of highly polished metal would be used as a mirror, but the image was far from perfect (which it why the line from I Cor. 13 "...now I see through a glass darkly..." is such a good analogy because the reflected image was always somewhat distorted).

I can't seem to locate any information right off hand as to when silvered glass mirrors came into use. My encyclopedia's entry for mirrors only gives the descriptions of the various tyles of mirrors, but no historical background. *bummer*

If I find anything definitve on that I will pass it along. Either way, a mirror was definitely available in some form or other in TA Rohan.

~Nessime

 

I have a polished bronze mirror in TA Rohan in a story of mine (that may or may not ever be published online.) I have no idea whether it's accurate or not, but I thought it fit with the feel of the Beowulfian culture - and slightly less advanced than Gondor, where they might have something more like mirrors as we know them.

I myself would be interested to know what's right, or likely to be right...

 

Mr Altariel (aka 'Archaeology Boy') reckons they would have bronze mirrors, most likely plated with polished tin. Not glass.

 

I was wondering about mirrors in general ... surely the elves must have learned to work with glass fairly early on, Valinor or Beleriand - perhaps they had glass mirrors? If they did, wouldn't the concept trickle down to men?

 

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