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A Tolkien Virgin: The Fellowship of the Ring - Book 1 - Chapter 12 and Overviewby Mark-Edmond The Journey Continues "'By Elbereth and Lúthien the Fair,' said Frodo with a last effort, lifting up his sword, 'you shall have neither the Ring nor me!'" Chapter 12 Flight to the FordI am exhausted! The constant pursuit and extremity of plot complications is tiring--not tiresome so that I don't want to keep reading (like The Silmarillion at times). Naturally, it's not as miserable as The Silmarillion which is okay by me. When our protagonists start getting killed off one by one, then...

A Tolkien Virgin: The Fellowship of the Ring - Book 1 - Chapter 11by Mark-EdmondThe Journey Continues "At that moment Frodo threw himself forward on the ground, and he heard himself crying aloud: O Elbereth! Gilthoniel! At the same time he struck at the feet of his enemy..." Chapter 11 A Knife in the Darkmmm...good chapter...First of all, it's nice to know that Fatty Bolger has survived his inevitable run-in with the Black Riders at Crickhallow.The chapter slows down in the middle, but an image I particularly liked was the "lightning that leaps up from the hilltops" that Frodo...

A Tolkien Virgin: The Fellowship of the Ring - Book 1 - Chapter 10by Mark-EdmondThe Journey Continues "But I am the real Strider, fortunately," he said, looking down at them with his face softened by a sudden smile. "I am Aragorn son of Arathorn; and if by life or death I can save you, I will." Chapter 10 StriderOn with it! The story really grabs me and I don't want to stop now! sigh...but if I must:So I got to thinking about the differences between The Silmarillion and The Hobbit and now The Fellowship of the Ring. I can't...

A Tolkien Virgin: The Fellowship of the Ring - Book 1 - Chapter 9by Mark-Edmond The Journey Continues Frodo's disappearing act at the Prancing Pony. Chapter 9 At the Sign of the Prancing PonyThe theme for this chapter is frustration and irritation. Not at Tolkien! In fact, I'd say what I'm feeling is exactly what Tolkien intended.Danger, we know, is close. From the start of the chapter some dark figure slipped over the gate behind them.But Frodo and the others forget their danger too easily. Before long our hobbits are acting carelessly. And, even Frodo gets carried away and doesn't...

A Tolkien Virgin: The Fellowship of the Ring - Book 1 - Chapters 7 & 8by Mark-EdmondThe Journey Continues "Before long, washed and refreshed, the hobbits were seated at the table, two on each side, while at either end sat Goldberry and the Master. It was a long and merry meal..." Chapter 7 In the house of Tom BombadilWow! Wow! WOW! Tom Bombadil!? I'm at a loss for words... so now I'm wracking my brain from my Silmarillion read last year trying to figure out if he's a maiar or ainur that I'm familiar with.He has to be at...

Mother-less Heroes As this is the first article I’ve written for topic, I suppose I should begin by introducing myself. (No, that is not my photo. That’s himself - Tolkien as a young myth-smith.)If there is any decency in this world, details of my checkered past shall forever be hidden – locked up tighter than Feanor’s jewels. Those interested in my own ‘water-color’ version of pertinent personal ‘better-side’ factoids can link on over to my profile later. Otherwise, the only thing I have to say is that I first entered the Shire when I was eighteen and have never truly...

A Tolkien Virgin: The Fellowship of the Ring - Book 1 - Chapter 6by Mark-Edmond The Journey Continues "You let them out again, Old Man Willow!" he said. "What be you a-thinking of? You should not be waking. Eat earth! Dig deep! Drink water! Go to sleep! Bombadil is talking!" Chapter 6 The Old ForestAh hah! So the light and thunder of Frodo's dream was Merry waking him up. But it still leaves the tower, huh?I wonder if Tolkien had a bad experience in a forest of some kind when he was a kid. First Mirkwood, in the Hobbit, and...

Butterbeer & HobbitsMeriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took: Tolkien's oft Overlooked Heroes by Jacqueline O. Moleski  Frodo Baggins and his servant Samwise Gamgee have been the focus of many articles, essays and even books. However, as awesome as those two Hobbits are; there are two other Hobbits in the tale of The Lord of the Rings who have often been overlooked by fans and critics alike. Peter Jackson, however, has realized and visualized these two important characters perfectly. The focus of this essay is the characters of Merry and Pippin and how these two young Hobbits emerge as heroes in their...

Magic by Melkor, No Returns AcceptedWhy gold? I've had that question put to me a few times now. Where on Earth did I get the idea that dragons might draw power from gold, or, more specifically, that there was something special about gold when it came to magic?Well, I neglected to mention one crucial paragraph when I was citing Tolkien's essay (which, by the way, Christopher Tolkien called "Notes on motives in the Silmarillion" -- the Morgoth-element paragraphs were lifted from near the end of section ii).When last we referred to Tolkien's view on how the magic worked for Sauron,...

A Tolkien Virgin: The Fellowship of the Ring - Book 1 - Chapter 5by Mark-Edmond The Journey ContinuesChapter 5 A Conspiracy UnmaskedWell Sam Gamgee is more clever than I gave him credit for, and now Pippin and Merry expand our hobbit-party to 4. I like Fatty (Fatty? Maggot? Where in the world is he getting these names!!), but I'm not going to miss him on the adventure, I don't think. He sounds a little too much like...oh what was his name, Bombur, Bofur, Bifur...you know, the fat Dwarf from The Hobbit always slowing things down. Although, I'm also afraid for...

A Tolkien Virgin: The Fellowship of the Ring - Book 1 - Chapter 4by Mark-EdmondThe Journey ContinuesChapter 4 A Shortcut to MushroomsSomething about the black riders makes me uneasy... and I don't mean their most obvious sinisterness (if that's even a word). It's that they almost seem to hold back. They get so close...like the night before, and even now one of them spots the hobbits as they dart into the thicket.Maybe I'm attributing to them skills they don't have, but I expect them to be able to successfully ambush the hobbits, or incapacitate them from a distance.Those frightening...

Where Have All the Dragons Gone?I always thought the movie "Dragonslayer" was a bit goofy and slow in some places but there is one memorable scene that pretty much sells the movie, I think, to anyone who sees it. That's where the dragon's head rises up to dwarf the young magician who really has no clue about what he's up against.I think whoever came up with that scene must have read Tolkien. In the story of Turin Turambar in The Silmarillion, after Glaurung has destroyed Nargothrond and sent Turin north to Dor-lomin on a hopeless quest, Morwen and Nienor leave...

THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING: J.R.R.TOLKIEN, CATHOLICISM AND THE USE OF ALLEGORYText of a lecture to be given by David (Lord) Alton at the Catholic Society of Bath University and Bath Spa University College on Thursday 20th of February 2003Introduction:Politicians often get by on precious little knowledge about the subjects that they have been asked to address. Usually they rely on knowing marginally more than their audience. This lecture is a particularly risky endeavour as I can guarantee that most people here will have an encyclopaedic knowledge of Middle Earth and its origins. The younger the audience the riskier it...

Elves By the NumbersEvery now and then someone will ask how many Elves there actually were at some point in time. There is no correct answer because J.R.R. Tolkien didn't provide us with census figures. All we can do is guess and play number games.It is possible to come up with some reasonable estimates, although such estimates can vary greatly. Some people believe there must never have been more than, say, a couple hundred thousand Elves at any time. I'm of the opinion that they must have numbered in the millions at the height of their civilizations.All discussions of Elvish...

A Tolkien Virgin: The Fellowship of the Ring - Book 1 - Chapter 3by Mark-Edmond The Journey ContinuesChapter 3 Three is CompanyNot so fast!I guess the obvious adventure to the Cracks of Doom will have to wait since Frodo is "not ready for that long road yet." But to stay in the Shire for months after deciding to leave, all the while knowing that some immense evil is looking for him, seems completely mad!!! I want to scream, "flee! flee!"Another annoyance of course, is that the Sackville-Bagginses finally got their filthy mitts on Bag End; although a minor annoyance by...

A Tolkien Virgin: The Fellowship of the Ring - Book 1 - Chapter 2by Mark-EdmondThe Journey ContinuesChapter 2 The Shadow of the PastSo, the adventure begins! And now, it gets interesting.In April of last year, Jon and Ted named their website *theonering.com* so I knew that there was "the One Ring" and that it was an important part of the story, but I never suspected that it was the ring Bilbo found. How astonishing and unlikely--really drives home that whole *purposeful luck* thing from the Hobbit. To think how dangerous and evil the ring is throws a whole new...

Moving sale: magic rings and other trinkets half offJ.R.R. Tolkien might not agree with me but I sometimes envision the rebellious Noldor traipsing down the road to Alqualonde in much the same state as Steve Martin appears in that famous promotional poster for his movie, "The Jerk". He's unshaven, bedraggled, his pants are dragging around his feet, and he's carrying a chair, a lamp, and some other stuff.Were the Noldor jerks? One would certainly be tempted to question their wisdom. Regardless of how many Noldor you believe there would have been when Feanor held his anti-Valar rally in Tirion upon...

'Legends, histories and lore'The History of Middle Earth IntroductionThis paper explores the form and usage that history took in the societies of Middle Earth. That all J.R.R Tolkien's writings on Middle Earth can be viewed as a history, composed from many sources, was a revelation to me. The Lord of the Rings is actually presented to us as a history of the War of the Ring composed by the Shire Hobbits, called The Red Book of Westmarch.1 I hope to provide herein an understanding of how the history that has been revealed in Tolkien's works would have actually have been preserved...

Sometimes I think, "All the great questions have been asked and debated." And then someone comes along and asks something new. Or, if it's not new, they ask an old question in a fresh way. One of the latest examples I've run across is "Who slashed the bolsters?" That is, in the chapter "A Knife in the Dark", someone breaks into the Prancing Pony and slashes the bolsters that have been made up look like Frodo's party of Hobbits. Naturally, more than one answer has been provided to the question. There is an old story circulating in fandom about how...

A Tolkien Virgin: The Fellowship of the Ring - Book 1 - Prologue & Chapter 1by Mark-Edmond The Journey ContinuesPrologueMaybe I was a little too anxious to get started reading the story, but the Silmarillion-esque prologue was deadly boring.The only interesting piece of information was that Bilbo lied to everyone about how he obtained the ring. So, maybe it was Gollum's ring. But, taking something like that from such a monster as Gollum seems okay to me...justifiable and honest. Gollum would only use the ring for evil anyway!Chapter 1 A Long-Expected Party Gandalf arrives at Bag-end to watch over Bilbo's...