Elvish Font Resources: Tengwar Modes, Mapping and Marks

Harri Perälä’s own Writing With Elvish Fonts tutorial distinguishes Tengwar from Cirth and explains that different applications of Tengwar letters to languages are called modes. It also cautions that automatic transcription can be imperfect. Keep a plain-language source line and a written note identifying the intended mode beside the inscription. Translation, transcription and changing the visible typeface are separate decisions; selecting a flowing alphabet alone does not settle the wording or the spelling rules.

Perälä’s tutorial documents Daniel Smith’s mapping, where keyboard positions do not simply match the letters’ sound values. The Free Tengwar Font Project instead documents fonts using Private Use Area characters rather than replacing ordinary encoded letters. Its mapping page describes the project’s own choices. Do not transfer the same input string between these approaches and expect an unchanged inscription. Save the exact font, mode and mapping with an editable copy, and retain a rendered reference that shows what the intended output looks like.

The Tengwar Telcontar documentation describes Graphite-based smart rendering and shows that missing support affects the placement of tehtar, the added marks. These are the project’s documented requirements, not proof that every current application renders the resource identically. Make a short proof containing the actual marked letters and line breaks your inscription needs. Inspect it in the application producing the final output, then compare the exported image or document against the editable reference. Keep marks with their intended letters instead of moving them merely to make the line appear balanced.

Label the plain-language source and the final inscription as separate parts of the handoff. If the project is an image, keep the underlying wording in the accompanying notes; if it stays editable, preserve its font and mapping instructions. The font-file guide explains resource delivery, while the homepage Unicode text-style generator offers ordinary character substitutions. It does not translate into an Elvish language or perform the Tengwar mode selection and input conversion described by these resources.