River Lethe in popular culture River Lethe in popular culture In Classical Greek, Lethe (Λήθη; , ) literally means "forgetfulness" or "concealment" and is related to the Greek word for "truth": "a-lethe-ia" (αλήθεια), meaning "un-forgetfulness" or "un-concealment". The River Lethe in Greek Mythology has appeared many times in popular culture since the times of ancient Greece. Walter Savage Landor transforms into substance the metaphor that time takes flight when he places a few drops of Lethe's waters on wing: On love, on grief, on every human thing, Time sprinkles Lethe's water with his wing. In "The Divine Comedy", the stream of Lethe flows to the
Watcher in the Water attack on the Fellowship, and rupture of the Moria Gate are already present in his initial writings. Since Tolkien never explicitly stated what the creature is, others have felt free to speculate on its identity and origins. In "A Tolkien Bestiary", David Day calls the Watcher a kraken; but implies differences between the kraken of Scandinavian folklore and the Watcher in the Water. Tolkien never called the Watcher a kraken nor described the presence of krakens in Middle-earth. In "The Complete Tolkien Companion", J. E. A. Tyler postulates the Watcher was a cold-drake: "...these dragons rely on their strength and