Tolkien in the Real World

 Hey Tolkien lovers. As a follow up to one of my last posts about Tolkien's dragons, I decided to hop on here and be a bit more creative. Now, I'm no artist...and certainly no poet but I decided to draw and write these two small pieces The first is a drawing, reflect the dragon spirit that lay within every soldier, and fueled the deadliness and vigor of the war. The second is well...I don't want to call it a poem. Its more of a stream-of-consciousness dialogue of a dragon. I just wanted to give the beast a chance to reflect on where it came from. Hope you guys like it...and don't roast me too hard here please. I did try  to make it somewhat artistic.  A Dragon’s Curse The following is the final words of a dragon, alluring yet malicious. Take care to not fall under his spell, but heed his warning wisely. I am slain, but not ended. My powers reach far beyond the sword of a single man. Your brothers birthed me, and you empowered me with your spirit. Any yet you try to ...

If you’re anything like me, when you finished TLOR, you were still curious. Maybe (like me) you didn’t really care all that much about how Aragorn spent the rest of his days, or if Frodo ever finished his book. But instead wondered about the guy behind such a story. I mean, I don’t think I could ever spend that much time world building and crafting such a elegant and complex interconnecting novel…and all in my head too. So when I saw this book by Dr. Lonconte, I saw a possibility to learn a bit about the life this guy (Tolkien) lived, what his friends were like, what he enjoyed, and just what might have made him tick. And heck, I might learn some history while I’m at it. Lonconte supports three audiences in this book: historians, Tolkien-academics, and, oddly enough, Church officials. Now, wer’re all Tolkien lovers here, so I’ll trim around the other fat and focus on what we care about. Nonetheless, history did play a key part in the forming of Tolkien as we know him… so let’s take a...

  The Worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien: The Places That Inspired Middle-earth , by John Garth. A Review The landscapes and world of Tolkien’s legendarium, so brilliantly conceived and illuminated by the author’s words, inspire extensive commentary. John Garth’s new book The Worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien offers this and more, as it provides – along with an extensive collection of beautiful imagery including artwork from J.R.R. Tolkien himself - thoroughly researched insights into Tolkien’s life and experiences, and their inspirational power in shaping Tolkien’s fictional worlds. The beautifully constructed and informative final product is one that should be of interest to both casual fans of Tolkien’s work as well as Tolkien scholars, providing a background on Tolkien’s life and his development of his legendarium which should contain at least some new insights for any reader, whether they’ve read all Tolkien’s writings or only his most iconic. I would echo Garth’s own sentiment in his Introduct...

We’ve all heard Tolkien talk about dragons. We’ve read about them, watched, them, and (probably) love them. They are honestly probably the most prolific part of fantasy…for any author. But in case you have been under a rock, here’s an image: With four legs and claws, a terribly long jaw and snake-like tongue. He had near-impenetrable armor, and yet was flexible and evasive when necessary. He may be winged, with gusts of wind strong enough to topple an army. And he could flatten even the largest men with his tail. Worse, he was full of true evil. Malice running through his veins, he was brought joy only by destruction and the sorrow of his foes. They may curse you and drag you under their spell even after you die, forcing one to succumb to the dark desires manifested in their hearts. Tolkienian dragons hoard, with no reason other than to steal away what is most valuable, and hide it in the darkness. Now Tolkien gave his first big talk about dragons to a bunch of kids. And according ...