Alcarin Tengwar
Omega Type Foundry · Toshi Omagari · 2022
A Tengwar typeface drawn to complement Brill's scholarly register, notable for being the first Tengwar variable font and for pushing OpenType to handle the script's complex diacritical and ligature requirements without Graphite.
About
Commissioned by linguist Édouard Kloczko, the design matches the stroke weight and x-height of Brill (Tiro Typeworks) while capturing the mediaeval calligraphic qualities inherent to Tolkien's script, rooted in styles resembling Foundational Hand. The OpenType implementation is particularly ambitious: it supports any number of stacked diacritics, contextual reshaping of individual letters to accommodate marks, multiple number notation systems, and a full range of ligatures, challenging the long-held assumption that Graphite was the only viable rendering engine for Tengwar. Released under the Open Font Licence, it ships with a custom Mac keyboard layout and a manual.
Classification
Alcarin Tengwar reproduces Tolkien's Tengwar script, a fully fictional writing system with no Unicode standard assignment. It is categorised as display due to its specialised, non-Latin script nature and its primary use in scholarly and enthusiast contexts.