I’ve been meaning to ask. Does “Waterdeep” per chance, have anything to do with the Tolkien lyric “There lies his crown in *water deep*,
Till Durin wakes again from sleep” from Tolien’s Song of Durin? Because Tolkien did something similar with his naming of middle earth…I don’t know, but I suspect @TheEdVerse might know the answer to that question. #wotcstaff #dnd— Christopher Perkins (@ChrisPerkinsDnD) May 9, 2019
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Hi, Anna. This has been asked a time or two. The derivation isn't from Tolkien (I never saw Waterdeep as a place that would have a king, or many dwarves, for that matter). The derivation is much simpler: as Mirt swindled his way south along the Sword Coast back in 1966, I…— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 9, 2019
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…knew he was approaching the best harbor in the northern part of the Sword Coast. A really good harbor is sheltered from previaling storms (in this case, by a mountain), and has deep water right up close to shore, so large ships can dock and so sailors don't have to worry…— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 9, 2019
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…about running aground on shoals or sandbars in foggy conditions (and shores have lots of fog, due to temp differences between land and sea). So as I was writing my Mirt tales (about a decade before D&D existed), I gave this place a "placeholder" name of Deepwater. Which…— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 9, 2019
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…sounded more like a tidewater port in Maine than a place in a medieval-cum-Renaissance fantasy setting, so that name wouldn't do. but what if I just turned it around, from "Deepwater" to "Waterdeep"? YES. So, Waterdeep it became.
And there you have it. :}— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 9, 2019
Awesome, I’m happy I got an official answer – I’ve been wondering that for a while (It would have been a neat tribute in my mind, but knowing the actual process is pretty cool too :D).Thank you very much! h, there are a few tiny tributes to Professor Tolkien hidden in the Realms; just not that one. ;} I got to see him (at a lecture he gave) once, when I was a young lad, and loved LOTR.
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 9, 2019
Yes, there are bound to be a lot of them I imagine x) When I’m studying Old English in university, he comes up often because he borrowed so much from there. It must have been something special to meet him! He was a short, rumpled, soft-spoken old man, pipe in hand, bushy-eyebrowed, and kindly. A "quiet" academic with no trace of self-importance. But a twinkle in his eye. :}
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 9, 2019
Wow. What a precious memory 🙂 Thank you for sharing that, too! A pleasure! The passing years take so many giants from us, and I miss them all. Terry Pratchett, Roger Zelazny, and SO many others I didn't get to meet or befriend. The memories of those I did become increasingly precious.
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) May 9, 2019
