… Old Man Willow’s behavior, however, suggests that, rather than being a symbol for mourning, he can become a source of mourning and, as such, he falls into a category of deadly plants like the once ill-famed upas tree.… This is a widespread variety of tree, , which can be found from Africa all the way across to the western Pacific.… Travelers’ tales reported that the plant gave off a kind of noxious fume which poisoned the landscape for 10 miles around, leaving the vicinity empty save for the bones of unwary animals and people ..read more

the most distant single In Old English, Earendel is a personal name, but it also can mean ever before seen. And, while the star’s technical designation is WHL0137-LS, they gave it a much catchier name: Earendel.  The Lord of the Rings” series and The Silmarillion,” might already find this name familiar.  , Eärendil is a half-elven character who travels the seas carrying a jewel, a ..read more

, the star-namers did have Tolkien in mind. Earendel was the name for the morning star (Venus) which Tolkien found in Old English poetry and which inspired him to create the character, originally of the same name, in . In his later work he took to spelling it Eärendil, and that’s how it appears in the published books. (The diaeresis over the a” is to remind you they’re two separate vowels, not a diphthong ..read more

, the star-namers did have Tolkien in mind. Earendel was the name for the morning star (Venus) which Tolkien found in Old English poetry and which inspired him to create the character, originally of the same name, in . In his later work he took to spelling it Eärendil, and that’s how it appears in the published books. (The diaeresis over the a” is to remind you they’re two separate vowels, not a diphthong ..read more

by Peter Jackson was released. I couldn’t go to the cinema to watch it, but I remember doing it at a friend’s house a couple of months after the première. I loved it! The story, the special effects, the orcs, the elves, everything. After that, I asked my parents to buy me the books. From then on, there was no coming back. Nowadays I have a bookshelf with more than 60 Tolkien related books – including a collection of in different languages — maps, posters, paintings, figures, T‑shirts, and more ..read more

But I’m dismayed at how few books from more than twenty years made it through. If what I’ve been reading all these years isn’t fantasy, what is? And if this truly were a fair representation of the fantasy genre as it stands today, then perhaps I’ve been left behind and it’s something else I’m really interested in. Classic Fantasy” perhaps? Dunsany and Adams and Hughart, McKillip and Briggs, and a host of others absent here ..read more

For this year’s theme, though, I would like to pick up on some thoughts that I presented at a Tolkien conference in 2013 at Valparaiso University. I had previously written about friendships in war, but I wanted to explore what happens to friends after the war, after lives lived in peace with wives and children. How does Tolkien represent the death of friends? … , will lead to positive appreciations of the variety of loving relationships that Tolkien represents in his fiction. , and particularly how experiences in the First World War pushed male friendships beyond what contemporary heteron ..read more

Christopher Tolkien points out the oddity of this but makes clear that the form isn’t a misreading. That is, Tolkien didn’t actually write series as Plot Notes F, Frodo and Sam return home to find the Shire spoilt’. So they do not stay there. Instead but ran it together as one word, beginning with a capital ..read more

Christopher Tolkien points out the oddity of this but makes clear that the form isn’t a misreading. That is, Tolkien didn’t actually write series as Plot Notes F, Frodo and Sam return home to find the Shire spoilt’. So they do not stay there. Instead but ran it together as one word, beginning with a capital ..read more

Whereas most of the Tolkiens valued their privacy, Priscilla Tolkien made herself the face and voice of the family. It’s my understanding that she was the guiding force behind the Tolkien Trust, which gave generously to a multiple of Good Works over many years. At any rate that she was very active in its ministrations ..read more