On this day in the history of Middle Earth (Heroes for February: J. R. R. Tolkien)

According to  the little “Today in history” gadget on my iGoogle page, today marks the anniversary of the departure of Frodo Baggins and the Fellowship from the woods of Lorien.

I am so glad that something more interesting than 1971’s “Decimalisation of British and Irish coinage” and more heartening that 399 B.C.’s “Socrates sentenced to die” happened on this day...

Coincidentally, I had been planning to write a Tolkien post for tomorrow, but then, I didn’t know what an important day today was. I hope you can forgive me throwing off my schedule to honor the anniversary. :)

So, yes, it will be today that my full geekiness is revealed for you all. I can write in Elvish. I know the dwarvish runic alphabet called “Futhork.” According to The Hobbit Name Generator, my hobbit name is Peony Bleecker-Baggins of Fair Downs, and my self-determined Elvish name is Aldariel (it means “Tree Maiden”). If I had to choose a race, it’d be Rohan, hands down...but who wants to choose?

(I imagine standing on a stage in your underwear feels a little like it just did to reveal all that...)

Luckily, I’m not the only one with such a strange fascination. If you read Leonard Marcus’s brilliant book of interviews with fantasy writers, The Wand in the Word, you’ll see a running theme: Tolkien. I heard Mr. Marcus speak about this phenomenon at a conference. “The only writer who didn’t like The Lord of the Rings,” he said, “was Phillip Pullman. He also didn’t believe in God. I think--no, I’m sure, the two are related.”

Which leads us into a “secret” of Tolkien’s genius: he wrote about what he believed. He wrote his passions. He wrote about things that mattered to him, and thus matter to the world. He didn’t care that a fantasy steeped with myth and magic and made-up languages was not the trend. He wrote about what he loved, and the world came to love it with him.

He also practiced what he preached. Even with a work like that, he put his family first. He avoided the spotlight and preferred, hobbit-like, to spend his time in a garden or cozy pub. He was a thoughtful, generous, and honest friend. He passionately defended the oppressed, as when he wrote a letter to his German publisher, who had inquired if he was of Aryan descent:

“But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people. My great-great-grandfather came to England in the eighteenth century from Germany: the main part of my descent is therefore purely English, and I am an English subject—which should be sufficient. I have been accustomed, nonetheless, to regard my German name with pride, and continued to do so throughout the period of the late regrettable war, in which I served in the English army. I cannot, however, forbear to comment that if impertinent and irrelevant inquiries of this sort are to become the rule in matters of literature, then the time is not far distant when a German name will no longer be a source of pride.”


All of this aside, the single reason I am most grateful to Tolkien is this: Eowyn. You just don’t get better than that when it comes to girl power, whatever the idiots, er, misinformed people who claim Tolkien was anti-woman say. (Did they read the last book??) She has become a  sort of standard for me, to hold my own heroines up against. There’s a scale, you see, with Eowyn on one end and Bella on the other...(Just kidding, just kidding...)

I hope my fellow Tolkien fanatics enthusiasts will come out of the woodwork and share what you love about him, too! (Please...because it’s getting cold on this stage...;) 
 
Now, as Galadriel would say, Namárie! (Farewell!)

Comments

  1. You write in Elvish?? Peony Bleecker-Baggins, you're my new hero. Consider yourself co-geeked, you no longer stand alone on the stage.
    Catherine Denton

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    1. Yay, thank you, Catherine! Since you're the first one to join me, I took the liberty of discovering your Hobbit name: Daisy Hardbottle. :)

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    2. SERIOUSLY?? Haha, that's awesome! I've loved the name Daisy for a long time, so this is PERFECT!
      Yours truly,
      Daisy Hardbottle

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  2. This is an awesome thing to be celebrated! I'm not a huge LOTR fan (although I do enjoy it very much) but I love books that bring people together :)

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  3. I confess, I did not like LOTR when I first read it ... as a teen (as a very angry teen mad at God). Gee, maybe there is a connection between the budding atheist I was and not liking LOTR. I have still to read it as an adult, but I've read some of Tolkein's essays and they speak to my heart. Since I'm ignorant (in many things), won't you please tell me my name in Elvish? My name means Victory in English, if that helps. And Bodach is a Scottish boogieman. Khisty (my maiden name) is probably worse -- tax collector.

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    1. Oh, you have no idea how much I enjoy questions like that--I'm even nerdier about languages than I am about Tolkien, which is probably one of the reasons WHY I like him so much.
      Victor in elvish is "Dacil" and the feminine suffix is "-ien". So your name literally translated would be Dacilien.
      I love learning the origin of your names! And don't worry...after all, Christ said he came to save tax collectors. :)

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    2. Oh, that's pretty! I also love the origin of words. I really should pick up LOTR ... my son loved it.

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  4. Yes, Eowyn is awesome! I re-read these books over the summer and they just get better and better with each reading. :) I want to live in Rivendell! Though I sure would love it in the Shire and Lothlorien, too.

    Heading on over to get my hobbit and elven names now!

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  5. Okay, I am not as awesome as you (I can't write Elvish and I don't have a Hobbit name ... yet) but I do ADORE Tolkien. And after reading one and a half books of that Pullman series, the fact that he hated LotR doesn't surprise me one bit. I saw where Pullman's series was going and, deeply offended, stopped reading. :)

    Thank you for all these details about Tolkien. So fascinating.

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    1. Amy, I have to say, the skill with which you turned the word "nerdy" into "awesome" is deserving of some honor in itself. :)

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  6. I hate to admit this...my writing partner hates this fact about me, but I never read any of the Tolkien books and I only watched one of the movies. Am I a complete loser? Anyway, I do like your post. I have to admit that Tolkien has had a huge impact on the world.

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    1. If everyone liked the same books, the world would be very boring. :) But I'm glad you liked the post!

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  7. Hi Faith, I just gave you a lovely blog award at my blogspot: http://www.bookinamonthmom.blogspot.com.

    You can copy the badge on my page, tell us 7 things about you, give the award to 3 other deserving blogs, and please refer back to my blog, if you don't mind! You have a lovely blog!

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  8. Hi Faith...I am visiting your blog via Heather Day Gilbert's blog. She gave you a blog award and I must say it is well deserved!

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  9. What a terrific post, Tree Maiden! I love Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. I look forward to reading your blog more.

    Sara
    http://thewritershadeofpale.blogspot.com/

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  10. P.S. Just wanted to add that I read the Lord of the Rings in 1973, right after I met my future husband at college. He will testify that it even took my attention away from him until I'd plowed through all three books. :)

    I'd love to know my Elf name too!

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    1. LOL. My husband and I used to write each other letters in runes when we were dating. :)
      You have another easy elvish name--Sara means princess, right? The elvish name would be Aranel.

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  11. That was a fascinating! Though your comment about feeling like you were standing in your underwear cracked me up.

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  12. I loved his series and read in more than once, though it has been a while since the last read. Hmmm. Eowyn is a favorite of mine, too.

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  13. I just started to read Fellowship of the Ring for what must be, quite literally, the 25th time at least... and already I'd forgotten how much I am completely head over heels for those books. :)
    I don't know my Elvish name... but I am proud that my birthday is March 25th - the day that Frodo and Sam destroyed the Ring. :) According to tradition, that was also the date that Jesus died - the very first Good Friday - so it is completely (dare I say, allegorically) fitting that Tolkien chose that day for the destruction of the Ring. In honor of such a great day, I spent the afternoon of my 20th birthday reading The Return of the King from front to back - again. ;) I should have done the same for my 30th! :)

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  14. Ah, and Feb 15th is my wedding anniversary... and Sept 22nd is my newest baby's birthday... same as Frodo and Bilbo, hee hee! :)

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