Sheer coincidence in life brought me to the Shire, where I cracked the code of the first Map in the Lord of the Rings: and moved onwards into Wales and the Map of the Wilderland. Both are drawn back to front , in reverse, or in mirror image: all I have to do is show how!!! - Stephen Ponty

AmeriCymru speaks to Stephen Ponty about his new book:- Middle-Earth in Magic Mirror Maps... of the Wilderland in Wales... of the Shire in England

...

...

AmeriCymru: Hi Steve and many thanks for agreeing to this interview. When did you first become interested in Tolkien and writing about him?

Steve: I read Tolkien''s works in Grammar (High ) School and remember even now puzzling , all of 40 years ago , over how the Maps might have been devised. Sheer coincidence in life brought me to the Shire, where I cracked the code of the first Map in the Lord of the Rings: and moved onwards into Wales and the Map of the Wilderland. Both are drawn back to front , in reverse, or in mirror image: all I have to do is show how!!!

AmeriCymru: Your new book is a fresh look at the Maps of the Wilderland in The Hobbit. Can you explain the Welsh connection?

Steve: I believe I can show how the map of the Wilderland is modelled on the map of Wales, but in mirror image; but also how many place-names are derived of Welsh: the names in Wales ( Dol Guldur/Esgaroth/Gundabad)  need much research , but Welsh speakers might like to get their tongue around  RHUDAUR, CARDOLAN  and ERIADOR of The Shire; yet each of which requires some knowledge of how the Welsh language works, including its mutations/ lenitations.

The irony is that Professor J.R.R .Tolkien has said so,  time  and time again,  in The Letters of J.R.R.Tolkien by Humphrey Carpenter, which I have studied closely.

AmeriCymru: In your book the focal point of The Hobbit, The Lonely Mountain, is identified as Cadair Idris. How did you come to this conclusion?

Steve: Because of its position in relation to other places, such as Esgaroth ( Tregaron); because of its six-spur shape ( and we identify each of the six spurs of the Cadair Idris range) and because , eventually, we find Smaug''s lair by easy reference to  a cave once the crib of Welsh folklore hero, Owain Glyndwr.

We can detect where Ravenhill is supposed to be.

My comment reflects the six-spur shape of The Lonely Mountain on Thror''s Map.

AmeriCymru: Are there any other locations in The Hobbit or other of works by Tolkien that can be pinpointed in Wales?

Steve: They are beyond count in The Hobbit, such as the Old Ford, the Carrock,  the Long Lake of Esgaroth,  Mount Gundabad onwards to The Withered Heath.

The Shire  discloses innumerable locations in England ( in Worcestershire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire  and Warwickshire) : I believe I have found The Shire on Mother-earth!

AmeriCymru: We learn from the product description that:-  "The work is divided into nine parts, with three site groupings". Care to tell us a little more about the structure of the book?

Steve: The number Nine (and Three) has much significance in Celtic folklore: the pattern of triplicity fits nicely the three areas of Wales  we look  at: East of the Misty Mountains and East and  North of the Mirkwood,  by which  Professor Tolkien  associates the vast forests which spread across central Wales following the last Ice-Age.  Given a generality, we understand  the Professor''s rationale for  Flies and Spiders, Barrels Out of Bond and where the Elvenking Halls might be . . .

You will hear what the black Butterflies  in the Mirkwood  are made of, and also  hear from the Song Thrush so central to The Hobbit story . . . but I‘ m not giving it all away at this early stage as you will hopefully understand .

AmeriCymru: In general terms, how much did his knowledge of Wales influence Tolkiens'' writing?

Steve: Principally, wholly and fundamentally in terms of detail: in The Hobbit  for which Professor Tolkien is on record, as in The Letters .

Marginally less so in The Lord of the Rings, but we see linguistic patterns transcend Welsh into places in England: such as  Frogmorton, Whitfurrows,  and Brockenborings .

Tolkien followers in the USA might like to think about  ''Yale '' on the Shire Map?

Also think about the village shown on the map of  Mother-earth named Churchill?

AmeriCymru:  When will the book be available and where can readers go to purchase it online?

Steve: Available now via Amazon, but I am printing 5000 hardback as soon as possible, target end April 2014.

I prefer to stay in solid book form for the moment:.

AmeriCymru: Any final message for the readers and members of AmeriCymru?

Steve: Calon Lan I Chi Gyd.