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As in, Númenór, the heritage of Aragorn, from Lord of the Rings.

As in, C. S. Lewis was writing about Tolkien’s “True West,” the land in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, ten+ years before the first Lord of the Rings book was written and published.

Meaning 1) C. S. Lewis was kind of vaguely collaborating with Tolkien, hoping that Tolkien’s stories would link up with his own, the same way he used to collaborate with his brother on Boxen and Animal Land and all that when they were kids;

And 2) That Hideous Strength ties medieval legends of Logres and Arthurian legends into what would become Middle-Earth… WITH Ransom’s different planets, and 1940’s sci-fi world.

Hross

My dad’s favorite book is Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis and he asked if I could paint his favorite creature from it - the Hrossa. Here’s the description:

The hrossa (singular hross) resemble bipedal otters or seals, and are somewhat taller and thinner than humans. Ransom finds them beautiful: “covered, face and all, with thick black animal hair, and whiskered like a cat … glossy coat, liquid eye, sweet breath and whitest teeth” (p. 59, Chap. 9). They live in the low river valleys (handramit in the speech of the eldila) and specialize in farming, fishing, and performing arts such as dancing and poetry. They are especially gifted in making poetry; yet they refuse to write it down as they believe that books ruin words and poems. Their technical level is low, and they wear only pocketed loincloths. The boats that they build are similar to our canoes. They add an initial /h/ sound to their words. Their sense of humor is “extravagant and fantastic” (Chap. 18).