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What is the Lord of the Rings Code? Hidden within the texts of The Lord of the Rings are many secret messages that might be discovered by the perceptive Middle-earth scholar. Using the scientific method know as Equidistant Letter Separation (ESL), the words from J.R.R. Tolkien's books can be disected, revealing meanings deep within them. ESL uses a number, called the key, to create a block of code for any particular chunk of text from The Lord of the Rings. The key determines which letters from the text are included in the code and which are excluded. For example, if you choose a key of '7', then every 7th letter of the text will be shown in the code block. How do I break the code? Once a code block is displayed, it is up to the researcher (that's you!) to find words and phrases within the code block. Revealed words may be forwards, backwards, or even diagonal, similar to a Word Search Puzzle. The task for the inquisitive is to find words that are close to each other and translate their message. For example, if you choose the key 7 and look at an area starting on line 13, you'll see:  This has an obvious translation: Tolkien predicted that a man named SEAN would be loved by many TEENs who would think he was NEAT, a TEN, and a BABE, and that ultimately, they would act REAL DUM (here he was even making fun of the chat speak they would use). Amazingly accurate! I want to break the code, too! Then do this. (1) Choose a key and click the button. (2) Examine the code block thoroughly. (The current code is from Book I, Chapter 12 'Flight to the Ford', which is currently being discussed HERE) (3) Identify and translate any messgaes you find. (4) Tell us about them on the forum. (Be sure to include an image like I did in the example, or at least give us the key and line numbers so we can look it up for ourselves) |