The Pity of Bilbo

Tolkien, your Catholicism is showing.

I always find it so incredibly moving that it's not killing an army of aliens or slaughtering oliphaunts that saves Middle-earth. What saves Middle-earth is Bilbo choosing not to kill Gollum, not striking without need, and then later Frodo keeping Gollum alive despite his many opportunities (handing him over to Faramir, for instance).

They saved a life. Not just any life, either - no. They saved the life of someone who had murdered, lied, stolen. They saved the life of someone who intended to kill them and eat them. They saved the life of someone who had (not entirely willingly) alerted Sauron to their presence. They saved the life of someone who could have ratted them out to the orcs, drowned them in the Dead Marshes, and revealed them at the Black Gates. They saved the life of someone who tried to feed them to a giant demigoddess spider.

And yet Bilbo did not kill Gollum. Frodo did not kill Gollum. On the slopes of Mount Doom, even Sam did not kill Gollum.

They saved Middle-earth.

How's that for Catholic?

That's part of the reason why I think The Avengers is so good - they defeat the Chitauri because Tony Stark is willing to sacrifice his life to stop the aliens. It's that sacrifice play that does the job.

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

Happy Birthday, Professor Tolkien!

The Professor was born on January 3rd, 1892, so he would have been 121 today. Not as old as Bilbo Baggins yet (give it another 10 years), but still very respectable in Hobbit standards.

Thank you a thousandfold for creating your wonderful world of Middle-earth and its inhabitants and sharing it so generously for all of us. You have been my role model in so many ways as I set about writing fiction and world-building in my little corner of Arda. Your writings have moved my heart and soul and given me a much greater desire for light, truth, beauty, order, and goodness. The fact that you lived has changed my life for the better, and all I can do to pay you back is to continue the ripple effect in the world around me.

Thank you.

Requiscas in pace.

Elyse

LOTR in Stained Glass Art

'The Ring'

'You cannot pass'

'Welcome from Lothlorien'

'The horn of King Helm sounded'

'I am no man'

'The Return of the King'

Some amazing pieces of artwork by Jian Guo that I found on Tumblr and had to reblog here (and, yes, I gave credit, so this should be okay). I just... man, this is so beautiful! Where can I buy windows that look like this artwork now? Because that would be the best thing ever to have in the home of my dreams - right along with an entire library I can dedicate to my books and LOTR LEGO's.

Sigh... one can only wish.

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

'All That Is Not Gold' Cover

Courtesy of TheOneRing.net, I have found this amazing cover of J. R. R. Tolkien's famous 'Riddle of Strider'. Of course, it elaborates upon the original lyrics, but it is all very much in the same style. The tune is very gentle and flowing without being boring, and the instruments used to create it blend very well, even the guitar.

I've gotta have something to tide me over until December 13th, right?

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

Fan-Made Tolkien Posters

One day, there will be six of these... Done apparently by thecyberwolf on Tumblr. Or found by them. I don't know. Beautiful all the same, particularly the one for The Return of the King.

I wonder why the names of the individual volumes/movies have inconsistent capitalization? Also, it's 'THE Lord of the Rings', not just 'Lord of the Rings', if you're going to be formal.

I can't help nit-picking. I'm a ruthless editor, even if I don't always share it...

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

I Vote For This SO Much!!!

Look what I found on Tumblr:

| GUYS THEY'RE MAKING A FILM OF TOLKIEN'S LIFE

| | I've decided I want Tom Hiddleston to play young Tolkien

| | I

| | mean

| | come

| | on

| | he's

| | perfect

| | I'm

| | screaming

Now that you all have a mighty need for this to happen, just like myself, I shall tiptoe away. My work here is done.

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

Mythopoeia

You know, I just realized there's a word for him in one of the languages I've created for my original fiction: aloavemeleth 'he who makes dreams real'.

 

Pardon me. I'll be sniffling in this corner...

 

In Pace Christi,

 

Elyse

GKC + Tolkien = Win

Two of my top three favorite authors combined! How could this get any more awesome?

Come to think of it, G. K. Chesterton does show up in Toward the Gleam, a book that takes the, "What if Tolkien really did find a copy of the Red Book and translated LOTR, and there was someone out to get it from him?" approach. The book is all sorts of awesome, and it's fun guessing at who the famous people are when you don't have their last names to work with. Gilbert was a bit of a giveaway, though (and I was so glad to see him). Jack was C. S. Lewis, of course. Yeah, it was awesome.

The animated version of The Hobbit is considered by some to be the best adaptation of it. Obviously, I am not one of those people. I think, were I to watch it all the way through again (I saw it once in like... third grade), it would give me nightmares. I'm not fond of their animation decisions, and the Dwarves are... well...

Um, you just go look it up yourself. Yikes.

Fun fact: The animation studio that did it was later re-named Studio Ghibli. Yes, that Ghibli.

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

Rule #1 of the Tolkien Fandom

A fan is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.

Boromir Speaks the Truth!

This has been scientifically proven to be impossible. Of course, it's cheese. Who can resist? Not even when the Auditors of Reality describe it as 'rotted bovine lactation' in Discworld does its appeal abate.

Praise cheese!

Furthermore:

In Boromir's world, nothing is simply done. Cue the song of, "It simply isn't done, it simply isn't doooone, it simply isn't done," from Cinderella 2.

I now must take one of my Gandalf minifigures and place it in the hallway. My main concern, however, is that someone will not notice him and step on him. My concern in such an occurrence, however incongruous, is for the harm that might befall LEGO Gandalf and not for the harm that might befall said careless person's foot, although I know firsthand how painful stepping on a small hard plastic object can be.

Fortunately, I have several LEGO Gandalfs.

Oh, yes. Most certainly, precious. I am so very happy when someone gets the joke I made. The other day in lab we were watching our compounds boil for an hour and a half. To alleviate the boredom, I randomly stated, "My bubbles." So happy to have that quote from Finding Nemo recognized and appreciated!

It's also good to have occasions in which to make fandom references! XD

Are they ever! XD Table manners and Elves are so last year. Wait... is that Ori holding a knife? Or is that Kili? Scary circumstance in either case. The silly boys... the precious noodles have obviously never been away from home before. Sometimes you think they still need their mother to look after them...

Cannot wait for the epic food fight and Bofur's song and dance in Rivendell!

If only we had more used bookstores around here. *sigh* The subject reminds me of a Terry Pratchett quote: "Used bookstores are just genteel black holes that know how to read." There's also the theory of L-space, but I shall not expound on that here. XD It's for your own sanity.

Beautiful illustration by Ted Nasmith. I don't always love the guy's Tolkien artwork, but this one is simply lovely. I also love the quote, spoken by Elrond at the Grey Havens in ROTK.

Speaking of which...

Where I found this picture, someone had commented: People hate Elrond?! My comment is along the lines of: How can you possibly hate Elrond? He's amazing, and for many reasons. Let's take a look.

If all you value about characters is their ability to kick butt, Elrond is no slouch in this department. Let's just peek at his genealogy, shall we? His mother's father's mother was a demigoddess (half-Maia, if you prefer.) His father is Earendil. Earendil killed SHELOB'S MOTHER, also known as Ungoliant, the monstrous spider Radagast refers to in TH:AUJ ("It's the spiders, Gandalf." "Spiders?" "Some kind of spawn of Ungoliant, or I am no wizard."). Earendil also killed the biggest dragon to ever live, Ancalagon the Black. And THEN Earendil became the Morning Star. And Earendil's family on both his father's and his mother's side is composed of pure awesomeness.

You see Gandalf's sword? That belonged to Elrond's great-grandfather, Turgon, King of Gondolin.

Now, if your beef with Elrond is the fact that he's 'mean' to Aragorn and Arwen, you obviously haven't read The Silmarillion. When Beren, a mortal man, wishes to marry Luthien, an Elven-Maia princess (yes, the demigoddess ancestress referred to earlier), her father, King Thingol, demanded that Beren steal a Silmaril as the bride-price. For a little context: the three Silmarils had been stolen by Morgoth, a.k.a., the Satan of Middle-earth, and he continually wore them on his crown so that no one would ever be able to recover them. Thingol basically signed Beren's death warrant in the most painful, humiliating way with that. (Of course, Beren, Luthien, and their talking dog go on to win a Silmaril and beat up Sauron himself, but whatever.)

Elrond, on the other hand, has been fostering the young chieftains of the Dunedain for generations. He treats Aragorn like a son; in fact, at one point in the LOTR Appendices, long before Aragorn and Arwen actually marry, he does call Aragorn 'my son'. When he learns Aragorn wishes to marry Arwen, all he basically says is that, "Go and prove that you are worthy enough to marry her by becoming King of Gondor and Arnor." Aragorn was already (mostly) the legal heir to both positions (it's a long story) and wanted to do this anyway. It wasn't a death sentence, just more of, "I want to make sure my daughter is taken care of properly when I leave."

I'm not sure why else people would have a problem with Elrond. Maybe they don't like his eyebrows. I dunno. Apparently, ugly people must be evil and his eyebrows give him a sinister appearance. To counteract that, I submit Elrond in armor.

Exhibit I:

Exhibit II:

 

I mean, really...

ELROND FOR THE WIN!!!

J. R. R. Tolkien is one of the least-appreciated Catholic philosophers, I sometimes think. His Catholicism is very much underappreciated. It needs to be spread and appreciated. Such greatness could have only come from the wealth of truth and beauty that is our Catholic faith.

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

The Professor Knows Best

 



"Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisioned by the enemy, don’t we consider it his duty to escape?…If we value the freedom of mind and soul, if we’re partisans of liberty, then it’s our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can!"

 - J. R. R. Tolkien

By the way, he is often simply called "the Professor" by his fandom and other groups on the Internet, just as Aristotle was sometimes called merely "the Philosopher" by St. Thomas Aquinas and other greats of the Middle Ages.

Also, here is the Bofur Optimism meme for today:

The words are from "So Bring On the Rain" by Joo Dee Messina. I used to hear it on the radio several years ago when mom had it turned on (I do not listen to the radio myself that much), and finally one day I googled it. It's a very pretty song, so you should go look it up and listen to it.

Or, as the Professor would say: The Darkness cannot conquer forever. There is light and high beauty beyond its reach.

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

300th Post - A Tribute to Tolkien

I mean, in what better way could I have commemorated my 300th post on this blog? Really. There simply is not a better way than the celebration of all things J. R. R. Tolkien.

This is quite appropriate, as I have also just finished re-reading The Fellowship of the Ring, and therefore I shall share seven of my favorite quotes from it, along with relevant (or semi-relevant) pictures. Because pictures are worth one thousand words, as the saying goes. And they are pretty to look at. And I have embarked on (ANOTHER) meme-making expedition lately, so I have lots of screencaps and things to play around with...

*Ahem.* Anyway.

1. Elrond: "Yet such is oft the course of the deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere."

2. Frodo: "I will take the Ring, though I do not know the way."

3. Gimli: "Faithless is he who says farewell when the road darkens."

-- On that vein, I was playing around with Paint with this exact same picture and quote, and this is what resulted:

Of course, now that I look at it, it seems as if the text has mysteriously shifted upwards, but oh well... It's just an amateur playing around with Paint, anyway. I found a new favorite font, though. I usually stick to Book Antique, but Lucinda Calligraphy and Lucinda Bright turned out very well for most everything I was doing. It's amazing how little tweaks can change something so much.

Anyway!

4. The Gaffer: "It's the job that's never started as takes the longest to finish."

5. Gandalf: "He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom."

6. Galadriel: "Maybe the paths that you shall tread are already laid before your feet, though you do not see them."

7. Legolas: "For such is the way of it, to find and lose, as it seems to those whost boat is on the running stream."

In Pace Christi,

Elyse