Day 44, year 2 - Good cheer at The Green Dragon.
The hobbits of Laurelin server in Lord of the Rings Online know how to enjoy themselves. Every friday they gather in The Green Dragon pub in Bywater and sing songs, dance to tunes, eat, drink and have good cheer!
Day 43, year 2 - a small view of the past.
In younger days, when first discovering the world of Middle-earth, there were only 2 visual references I could find. The artwork of David Day’s Tolkien Bestiary and the miniatures produced in the UK by Citadel Miniatures. Discovering the website Stuff of Legends a few weeks ago became a huge trip down memory lane.
I used to pour over the Citadel listings pages, friends crowded around the catalogue to see these representations of what had only existed in imagination so far. The ones that seemed like what was in our minds, the ones that looked nothing like it but were still enchanting….
Strider was the first one that I bought and I can still vividly picture the shop that I bought it from, a gift, hobby and gaming shop in Berwick, Northumberland. It wasn’t my first miniature, but it was the first one I painted properly, careful strokes and shaky hand one rainy summer afternoon. It felt like a huge achievement to have bought this shiny bit of metal to life with some paint. It remained my favourite of all the later Lord of the Rings miniatures I bought, not just for that special moment but also because of the attention to detail. Wondering how Strider survived in the wild when only carrying the shards of Narsil in his sword sheath, the miniature had the answer - Citadel depicted strider with TWO swords on his belt. I still smile about little touches like that.
Some of the miniatures I owned, some of them I only saw in the store and some of them I never, ever got to see, like the fantastic depiction of Sauron on his throne. I still think that some of them are the finest and most faithful depictions of Tolkien characters, though of course nostalgia has a very great deal to do with that! Then again, I can’t help feeling the artwork for the bridge of Khazad-dum might have been a reference for later works….
To those whose first visual Tolkien references were the paintings of Alan Lee, or the Lord of the Rings movies these miniatures might seem impossibly quaint or even hopelessly flawed and foolish, but to childhood me they remain very special indeed. I strongly encourage you to head over to Stuff of Legends and view the full range for yourself. Has Middle-earth ever been captured better in 25mm scale form?
Day 360 - around the corner
Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate,
And though we pass them by today,
Tomorrow we may come this way
And take the hidden paths that run
Towards the Moon or to the Sun.
Apple, thorn, and nut and sloe,
Let them go! Let them go!
Sand and stone and pool and dell,
Fare you well! Fare you well!
(The Lord of the Rings, page 90)
A path I passed by today….and as I thought that perhaps I’ll walk that way tomorrow, the hobbits walking song came to mind and I couldn’t do anything but smile at the rightness of it all.
In the later days of the fourth age, destroying rings had been largely automated and gamified….
Like the design? Want it on a shirt? Best go and vote for it the Woot Shirt Derby! Only a few more days left to vote!
callmewaltergripp asked: Hi, Im glad I found your blog, Im looking for tolkienand LOTR fans,becouse I just finished watching the 3 movies and felt so sad, with no comfort. I felt Frodo`s end was tragic, he saved everyone, but he couldn`t be saved, he couldn`t have a life at the shire, he had to go with the elves. He, who made the biggest sacrifice and carried the biggest burden, was the one who lost at the end. Ifeel that if it isn`t hope for Frodo then it isn`t hope for any of us. Can you helpme with these?
Thanks for your message, I’m glad you found my blog too! I’ll answer your question as best I can.
Its an interesting question and I’d be interested to know if you’d only seen the films or read the books also, because I don’t feel the movies fully dealt with the themes that are concerning you. To find all the answers you need to read Lord of the Rings and also, for extra insight, Tolkien’s letters.
Life and death is one of the biggest themes of Lord of the Rings, especially in relation to the ring and those who were linked to it. Faithfulness, loyalty, honesty, integrity is rewarded, failure to exercise power responsibly is punished. So it is that Boromir and Denethor, so obsessed with the ring that they fail in their responsibilities, die and those who have borne rings of power faithfully are all rewarded with immortality, sailing to the undying lands in the west.
Frodo may be too damaged by his experiences to remain in Middle-earth, but his reward for his sacrifice is immortality in the west. From his great sacrifice, carried out faithfully, comes his great reward. I do not see this a sign of hopelessness but quite the opposite. Isn’t there an attractive sense of fairness in the idea that those who sacrifice the most for the happiness of others will receive the greatest rewards?
I don’t believe that Frodo lost, but I can see how it is easy to get that impression. This is where I think the books give a great deal more insight and would always suggest seeking answers there. There is darkness and despair in the story of Lord of the Rings, but there is also immeasurable hope. All those who remained faithful in the story received the reward they hoped for - Aragorn became King and married Arwen, Sam married Rosie Cotton, Eowyn found love and escaped the cage she feared, Theoden found honour and redemption and safety for his people, Merry and Pippin the joys of the Shire - but Frodo, through his greater efforts and sacrifice - received a reward even greater than he imagined. All those who remained faithful and honourable found hope in the face of despair at times and I believe that that is as good a sign that there is hope for us as you will find in any story.
Don’t know how long this will be available for free as Amazon prices change with the wind at times, so please check carefully before ordering, but right now “Deconstructing Tolkien: A Fundamental Analysis of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit” by Jane Yolen and Edward McFadden is free.
Even if you don’t have a kindle device you can get it, many devices have apps for Kindle and you can download a Kindle reader to your computer.
Day 341 - Beautiful new concept art from The Sunday Times Magazine Hobbit Collectors Edition
Alan Lee sketch and a whole new picture of Bag End? Worth the purchase price alone!
You can see more at the Sunday Times website (fee payable).
Day 324 - Good Hobbit Sense
I received my copy of Noble Smith’s “The Wisdom of The Shire” in the post this morning and I’m greatly looking forward to reading it……if I can actually get past this utterly enchanting cover!
I’m not one to judge a book by its cover, but I’ll certainly judge this cover the most beautiful of the covers I’ve seen for this book. Its magical and it has me longing to have a print of the artwork on my wall…..but not as much as I’m longing to pick up that stick, head out of the door and go exploring!
Day 309 - The art of John Howe
I don’t wander into bargain bookshops too often nowadays, so much of my reading is now on screens and not paper, but sometimes stepping inside the gaudily decorated shops can reap a truly worthwhile reward.
So it was that I was able to get “Myth & Magic, the art of John Howe” for the very pleasing price of £4.99 - and what a treasure of a treasury it is. John Howe’s work seems so familiar and its easy to feel like you must have seen it all, and yet almost every page has something new to delight you, or has a familiar old friend of a painting that you delight to see again.
Its a book that’s well worth the current asking price at online bookshops, but if you can get it any cheaper then don’t hesitate!
Article from today’s USA Today newspaper.
It’d be a bit tricky limiting it to 10 if you ask me….
