Cirth
Videos
The Cirth is a semi‑artificial script, based on real‑life runic alphabets, one of several scripts invented by J. R. R. Tolkien for the constructed languages he devised and used in his works. Cirth is written with a capital letter when referring to the writing system; the letters themselves can be called cirth.
Rock carving in Cirth in the Sydney Harbour National Park, dating back to the 1980s at least
Balin (Middle-earth)
Videos
Balin is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's world of Middle-earth. A Dwarf, he is an important supporting character in The Hobbit, and is mentioned in The Fellowship of the Ring. As the Fellowship travel through the underground realm of Moria, they find Balin's tomb and the Dwarves' book of records, which tells how Balin founded a colony there, becoming Lord of Moria, and that the colony was overrun by orcs.
An artist's rendition of Balin's tomb. The runic inscription reads "Balin Son of Fundin, Lord of Moria".
The first page from The Book of Mazarbul, a facsimile artefact created by Tolkien to support the story of Balin's death.
Ken Stott as a "visually distinctive" Balin in Peter Jackson's film series The Hobbit