NOTE: Many references in this post and the last are likely confusing if you are unfamiliar with this story. At the very least, I encourage you to read the short form of Turin’s tale contained in The Silmarillion. The fuller version of The Children of Hurin is more detailed but follows essentially the same plot.... Continue Reading →
Yesterday, the family completed a gruelling eight-hour road trip through the southwestern desert from California to Arizona. The heat in excess of 115 degrees largely negated the best efforts of the AC system of the car. But we enjoyed an audiobook all the same, The Children of Hurin read by Christopher Lee. This is one... Continue Reading →
After an unintended and unforeseen hiatus, I am back. This is part 6 of a series on Tolkien’s Letter 131, most of which is included in the preface materials of The Silmarillion. Begin reading at Part 1 — or visit the previous post in this series. * * * At this point in his letter,... Continue Reading →
From the very beginning of the legends of Middle-earth, there is evil. I suppose, rather, that it is better to say that soon after the beginning there is evil. The evil does not reside with Eru Ilúvatar at the beginning of all things but surfaces very quickly after the making of the Ainur. Melkor’s rebellion... Continue Reading →
This is part 5 of a series on Tolkien’s Letter 131, most of which is included in the preface materials of The Silmarillion. Begin reading at Part 1 — or visit the previous post in this series. * * * After discussing the earliest days of Middle-earth and the Fall of the Elves through Fëanor,... Continue Reading →
This is part 3 of a series on Tolkien’s Letter 131, most of which is included in the preface materials of The Silmarillion. Begin reading at Part 1 — or visit the previous post in this series. * * * In Part 2 of this series, we looked at Tolkien’s claim that all his writing... Continue Reading →
This is part 3 of a series on Tolkien’s Letter 131, most of which is included in the preface materials of The Silmarillion. Read Part 1 and Part 2 here. * * * Tolkien’s stated goal behind the Ainur, the gods (or “angelic powers”) was to provide being of the same order of beauty, power,... Continue Reading →
The opening chapters of Book Six, the second part of Return of the King, have got to be some of the most oppressive and depressing pages I have ever read. Chapter Two especially, “The Land of Shadow,” is just overwhelming in the dreariness and bleakness and sameness of the landscape. "Across Gorgoroth" by Ted Nasmith... Continue Reading →
One of my absolute favourite passages in Lord of the Rings comes at the end of the chapter “The Siege of Gondor” in Return of the King. It is overwhelming in its darkness until, at the end, light and hope break in. It is a fantastic moment of eucatastrophe within the larger narrative, when all... Continue Reading →
In my last two posts, I have been discussing Gandalf's words at the end of The Hobbit: 'You don’t really suppose, do you, that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit?" I have focused so far on the words managed by mere luck and suggested that luck... Continue Reading →
Something Tookish 