Tool to discover and translate Tolkien's goblin alphabet, a writing system used in his letters from Santa Claus and representing humanoid characters.
Goblin Tolkien Alphabet - dCode
Tag(s) : Symbol Substitution
dCode is free and its tools are a valuable help in games, maths, geocaching, puzzles and problems to solve every day!
A suggestion ? a feedback ? a bug ? an idea ? Write to dCode!
Goblin Tolkien Alphabet
Goblin Decoder
Goblin Encoder
Answers to Questions (FAQ)
What is Tolkien's goblin alphabet? (Definition)
Tolkien's Goblin Alphabet is a writing system invented by J.R.R. Tolkien as part of his Letters from Santa Claus. It was used to write letters and messages as part of his stories for his children in the 1930s.
What are Tolkien's Goblin Letters?
Only 2 examples of use of the alphabet remain, the first is a letter from December 23, 1932 where JRR Tolkien pretends to be Karhu, a polar bear, written with these humanoid figures:
The letter is written vertically in 9 columns by 15 lines (it is read from top to bottom and from left to right), it translates:
| I | Y | N | S | T | O | A | TH | TH |
| W | CH | D | O | S | CL | T | A | I |
| I | R | I | F | CH | E | I | T | S |
| SH | I | D | F | OO | V | N | Y | AND |
| Y | S | N | U | L | E | AND | OU | SEE |
| OU | T | EW | N | Y | R | F | WI | M |
| A | M | Y | AND | OU | N | R | L | U |
| L | A | EA | G | A | OW | E | EA | CH |
| A | S | R | OO | RE | WH | N | S | L |
| VE | AND | W | D | G | A | CH | I | O |
| R | A | I | L | E | T | AND | L | VE |
| Y | S | TH | U | TT | W | G | Y | F |
| H | P | L | C | I | I | R | R | RO |
| A | L | O | K | NG | TH | EE | EA | M |
| PP | E | T | A | S | L | K | D | P |
So I WISH YOU AL(L) A VERY HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A SPLENDID NEW YEAR WITH LOTS OF FUN AND GOOD LUCK AT SCHOOL. YOU ARE GETTING SO CLEVER NOW WHAT WITH LATIN AND FRENCH AND GREEK THAT YOU WIL(L) EASILY READ THIS AND SEE MUCH LOVE FROM P
Then, in 1936, a correspondence table allowing the translation of the goblin alphabet was disclosed, it proposed symbols never used in the first letter. 
It also contains a small message of 17 symbols which resembles the truncated end of the letter, this time written horizontally which translates: LOVE FROM POLAR BEAR
How to encrypt using the goblin alphabet?
To encode a message using the Goblin Alphabet, replace each letter of the Latin alphabet with the corresponding character of the Goblin alphabet. Here are the 26 goblin symbols for the 26 letters of the English alphabet:
| A | .png) | B | .png) | C | .png) | D | .png) | E | .png) | F | .png) | G | .png) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| H | .png) | I | .png) | J | .png) | K | .png) | L | .png) | M | .png) | N | .png) |
| O | .png) | P | .png) | Q | .png) | R | .png) | S | .png) | T | .png) | U | .png) |
| V | .png) | W | .png) | X | .png) | Y | .png) | Z | .png) | ||||
| dCode.fr | |||||||||||||
The alphabet also includes several sets of goblin characters corresponding to groups of 2 or more letters.
First there are the useful bigrams in English: CK, NG, GH, SH, TH, TH, WH, etc.
Then there is the character .png)
which indicates a repetition of the underlined letter.
Example: .png)
translates EE (and could be written .png)
)
Finally, there are the errors made by JRR Tolkien during his transcription, often omissions, containing added symbols like .png)
or .png)
How to decrypt the goblin alphabet?
To decode a message written in the Gobelin Alphabet, use the correspondence table between the Gobelin Alphabet and the English alphabet.
Example: is translated TOLKIEN
How to recognize a goblin ciphertext? (Identification)
Tolkien's Goblin Alphabet is recognizable by its humanoid/goblinoid characters (goblin-type characters) with triangular, round or square heads.
All references to goblins, JRR Tolkien and the worlds of his books are clues.
dCode reused the work of BabelStone here (SIL Open Font License 1.1)
Source code
dCode retains ownership of the "Goblin Tolkien Alphabet" source code. Except explicit open source licence (indicated Creative Commons / free), the "Goblin Tolkien Alphabet" algorithm, the applet or snippet (converter, solver, encryption / decryption, encoding / decoding, ciphering / deciphering, breaker, translator), or the "Goblin Tolkien Alphabet" functions (calculate, convert, solve, decrypt / encrypt, decipher / cipher, decode / encode, translate) written in any informatic language (Python, Java, PHP, C#, Javascript, Matlab, etc.) and all data download, script, or API access for "Goblin Tolkien Alphabet" are not public, same for offline use on PC, mobile, tablet, iPhone or Android app!
Reminder : dCode is free to use.
Cite dCode
The copy-paste of the page "Goblin Tolkien Alphabet" or any of its results, is allowed (even for commercial purposes) as long as you credit dCode!
Exporting results as a .csv or .txt file is free by clicking on the export icon
Cite as source (bibliography):
Goblin Tolkien Alphabet on dCode.fr [online website], retrieved on 2024-12-19,
