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Death and Funerary Customs in Middle-earthI would like you to take with me on a perilous journey. As readers of Tolkien you will perhaps recall the two types of journey for which he is famed. The first is the hero-quest, as exemplified by Bilbo Baggins in the The Hobbit, and second is the allegorical death journey, most explicitly taken by Niggle in Leaf by Niggle. Death is one of a handful of life experiences which are irrevocable changes. Like birth, it is a one-way ticket. Unlike birth, it usually occurs when the individual has made many links with his or...

The men who would be StewardGuardianship is the mark of the Stewards of Gondor. They are guardians, wardens, keeping an ancient trust placed in their hands by a family of kings which, at the end of the Third Age, no longer exists. Gondor's Ruling Stewards are a curious example of how authority combined with tradition can produce a subtle irony in power and position.The Elvish word for "steward" is Arandur, "King's servant". The name implies that the Stewards began their long career as something less than government officials. They may have been the personal servants of Gondor's early kings. At...