Font Information and References

Recommended Fonts - References and Resources - Tengwar in Use

The one tengwar font you absolutely must have!

If you only have one tengwar font installed on your computer, it should be, without a doubt, Dan Smith's "Tengwar Quenya". It is, by far, the most-used tengwar font, and its keyboard mapping has become the standard. It is also the easier to read, which makes it ideal for message board buttons and anything else where the text is likely to be fairly small.

You can download "Tengwar Quenya", as well as an assortment of other tengwar, Tolkien-related, and other fantasy fonts at Dan Smith's Fantasy Fonts. Most of them are "postcardware", which means they are quite free, but you are encouraged to send their creator a postcard to express your appreciation! (Please read the usage information. These fonts are for non-commerical use only.)

Be sure to get the help files, too—they contain the most exhaustive explanation available for tengwar writing in a huge variety of modes.

Recommended Fonts

From Dan Smith's Fantasy Fonts: Tengwar Quenya is probably the best for small buttons since it is the clearest and easiest to read. I also like Tengwar Sindarin, particularly for banners. I am not too fond of Tengwar Noldorin (it is too angular for my tastes), but it would also work.

Tengwar Parmaite is one of my favorite tengwar fonts for personal use. It's elegant and usually fairly legible.

Tengwar Cursive is a lovely script version of tengwar, similar to the ring inscription (if you use italics), but impractical for message board buttons if you expect them to be legible. It has the benefit of an available Mac version, though, and might be nice for banners.

There are all sorts of utilities available for writing with tengwar fonts, some of which will even attempt to translate directly from the English equivalent, but I don't particularly like any of them, so I'll leave you to find them on your own.

References and Further Resources

Dan Smith's Fantasy Fonts - Well, obviously!

Amanye Tenceli - "The Writing Systems of Aman" - Absolutely beautiful site focusing on Tolkien's writing systems. This is where you can go if you want to learn more about the tengwar themselves (including how to hand-write them), or you can just go to see the elegant calligraphy!

Ardalambion - An excellent source for Tolkien language information, particularly if one is interested in seriously studying Quenya. If you want to learn Elvish, the Ardalambion Quenya course is the best around (though very technical)!

quenya lapseparma - "quenya babybook" - The place to go if you are interested in learning the meaning-translation of your name in Elvish! (Especially good for people who are tired of being Legolas #57 or Galadriel #38.) Great fun, and an excellent resource for names that can actually be spelled phonetically. ;)

La faculté des études elfiques - Lots of Tolkien information en français, including information about the tengwar. One of many international Tolkien sites—whatever language you speak, you can probably find a site written in it!

I finally broke down and wrote some actual tengwar tutorials - written in plain English with lots of examples.

Tengwar in Use

This section is for sites that use tengwar (for buttons, images, etc.) but are not specifically about tengwar. (Links will open in a new window.)

Amon Hen - A fun, friendly little Tolkien community and the location of my original tengwar buttons and images.

Bree under Bree-hill - An up-and-coming Tolkien board and the first site to use the buttons tutorial. :) Off to a great start! The Admin is very hard-working and has a lot of interesting things to say.

Note: If you use the information from this site to make your own tengwar images for your site or board (whether it is Tolkien-themed or not), please let me know! (I will give you a link here as long as your site is appropriate.)