The Unseen was a term referring to every being or object that were part of the wraith-world. All things in Eä either counted as a part of the Seen world or the Unseen world. Part of the Seen were material objects and all living creatures. Some beings could exist in both, such as the Ainur and the Calaquendi, the Elves who dwelt in Valinor.[1]
Wraith-world[]
Conception by Paul Lasaine of the "wraith world", for The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The wraith-world was the unseen realm in which cursed spirits such as the Ringwraiths had form.
The One Ring could draw Ring-bearers to the wraith-world, allowing its denizens to be fully seen. It allowed the bearer to utilize strange powers and heightened olfactory and auditory senses. Any wraith within the realm would see the Ring-bearer, and vice versa, and the bearer could be subjected to that world's weapons, such as the Morgul-blade. Additionally, upon wearing the Ring, the bearer would turn invisible to all except for the wraiths themselves and the Dark Lord Sauron.[2]
Those who were in the wraith-world could also see the brilliant, shining form of the High Elves known to exist in the other side of the threshold of the Unseen[citation needed]: Frodo Baggins saw Glorfindel in this form while wounded by the Morgul-blade.[3]
In adaptations[]
In The Lord of the Rings film trilogy[]
In Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, the wraith-world appears as the ordinary physical world, but dark, gloomy, and distorted, because of the aura of the Ringwraiths. Ring-bearers wearing the Ring would be easily identified there by the wraiths. The overall impression was made by adding fire-like characteristics to the picture.
In The Hobbit film trilogy[]
In The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, the Elves of Mirkwood are shown in a shining form when Bilbo Baggins, the Ring-bearer, puts on the Ring and enters the Wraith-world.
In The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power[]
In The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power - Season Two, while the unseen world is not shown from a character's point-of-view, it is mentioned several times as the "Invisible World" and a character portrays its effects from an outsiders' view.
Translations[]
| Foreign Language | Translated name |
| Afrikaans | Ongesiens |
| Amharic | የማይታይ |
| Arabic | غير مرئي |
| Armenian | Չտեսնված |
| Asturian | Invisibles |
| Azerbaijani | Görünməz |
| Basque | Ikusezina |
| Belarusian Cyrillic | Нябачны |
| Bengali | অদেখা |
| Bulgarian Cyrillic | Невиждано |
| Cambodian | មើលមិនឃើញ |
| Chinese | 看不见 |
| Croatian | Neviđeno |
| Czech | Nevídané |
| Danish | Usynligt (Unseen)
Ringåndernes Skyggeverden (The Shadow World of the Ring Spirits) |
| Dutch | Ongezien |
| Esperanto | Nevidita |
| Estonian | Nähtamatu |
| Faroese | Ikki sædd |
| Filipino | Hindi nakikita |
| Finnish | Näkymätön |
| French | Invisible |
| Georgian | უხილავი |
| Greek | Αόρατος |
| Gujarati | અદ્રશ્ય |
| Hindi | अगोचर |
| Hungarian | Láthatatlan |
| Icelandic | Óséður |
| Indonesian | Tak terlihat |
| Irish Gaelic | Dofheicthe |
| Japanese | 見えない / 人知れず |
| Kannada | ಕಾಣದ |
| Kazakh | Көрінбеген (Cyrillic) Körinbegen (Latin) |
| Konkani | अदृश्य |
| Korean | 보이지 않는 것 |
| Kurdish | Ne dîtî (Kurmanji) (Sorani) نەدیراو |
| Kyrgyz Cyrillic | Көрүнбөгөн |
| Latin | Invisibilis |
| Laotian | ບໍ່ເຫັນ |
| Latvian | Neredzēts |
| Lithuanian | Nematytas |
| Luxembourgish | Onsiichtbar |
| Macedonian Cyrillic | Невидено |
| Maithili | अनदेखल |
| Maltese | Ma jidhirx |
| Malayalam | കാണാത്തത് |
| Malaysian | Tidak kelihatan |
| Mongolian Cyrillic | Үзээгүй |
| Nepalese | नदेखेको |
| Norwegian | Usett |
| Occitan | Pas vist |
| Pashto | نه لیدل کیږي |
| Persian | دیده نشده |
| Polish | Niewidzialne |
| Portuguese | Invisível |
| Romanian | Nevăzut |
| Russian | Невидимое |
| Sardinian | No est istadu bidu |
| Scottish Gaelic | Neo-fhaicsinneach |
| Sinhalese | නොදුටු |
| Slovak | Nevidené |
| Slovenian | Neviden |
| Spanish | Invisible |
| Swahili | Isiyoonekana |
| Swedish | Osynlig |
| Tajik Cyrillic | Надида |
| Tamil | காணாதது |
| Tatar | Күренми |
| Telugu | కనిపించని |
| Thai | มองไม่เห็น |
| Turkish | Görünmeyen |
| Turkmen | Görünmeýän |
| Ukrainian Cyrillic | Небачений |
| Urdu | غیب |
| Uzbek | Кўринмас (Cyrillic) Koʻrinmas (Latin) |
| Vietnamese | Vô hình |
| Welsh | Anweledig |
| Yiddish | אומגעזען |
References[]
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book Two, Ch. I: "Many Meetings"
- ↑ The History of Middle-earth, Vol. VI: The Return of the Shadow, The First Phase, IX: "Trotter and the Journey to Weathertop"
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, Book One, Chapter XII: "Flight to the Ford"