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av_nefardec

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    TTT: EE Review Thread

    in The Green Dragon

    Posted

    They mention that this is one version of the Tolkien's world from one group of fans

    Yeah but the problem is it's erroneus and world-renowned :)

    Anyways, I'm excited about it just because I'm excited about RotK, I don't have TTT yet anyways, and the commentary is always good.

    ESSAY

    in The Green Dragon

    Posted

    LOl, I'd like to write on that too sometime, but you can have it, Elf :)

    As for TLA publicity - not good for the project right now. We need to be a bit farther head so that we have more to show people who have no patience :P

    Essays

    in The Green Dragon

    Posted

    Hi,

    I'm just here to say that I'd like to start building up this place as a center for discussion, research, and learning about Tolkien's mythology, life, etc.

    One way we can accomplish this is by writing essays. Sure, those of you in school I'm sure are giving me strange looks through your monitor right now. But being able to express your thoughts in an organized way, make original hypotheses, analyze Tolkien's work, and then document and research it all is probably the best way to appreciate his work :)

    Good essays can provoke thought, discussion, and even more essays, so I figure the more we do here, the more discussion, though, and essays we will get :P And that's one of the major goals of TLA as a project.

    Sure TLA is a game, but behind the game there's a purpose and a noble cause.

    So let's get writing! :P

    ESSAY

    in The Green Dragon

    Posted

    J.R.R. Tolkien:

    The Critics Were the Monsters

    An Essay

    by Adam Vana

    The work of Professor J.R.R. Tolkien is, indubitably, one of the single most influential corpuses of literature of all time. In fact, Tolkien?s work remains the second most widely read body of literature in the world, behind the bible. (Nikiforuk 16) It comes as no surprise then, that so many different people throughout the century have tried to search for some underlying meaning behind his work, some allegory that can be attributed to the twentieth-century world he lived in. Yet the old professor maintained throughout his post-publication life that his work was not allegorical in any way, going so far once as to say, ?I dislike allegory whenever I smell it!? (qtd. in Grotta 99) However, it has been pointed out many times that an author?s work is often the sum of his life experiences. As a man who lost both parents at a young age, and most of his friends during the first World War, it comes as no surprise that most of Tolkien?s work deals with loss of family members, immortality, and the struggle between good and evil. The work of J.R.R. Tolkien was not meant to be allegorical originally, but its themes and motives were shaped by Tolkien?s own life experiences and academic background to create a mythology that was easily applicable to any reader?s life experience.

    Many scholars, booklovers, and theologians alike have searched endlessly for signs of allegory in Tolkien?s work, to the dismay of the author. The most common method of doing this is looking at Tolkien?s life experiences, ideals, and religious beliefs and trying to equate them with something in the books. Indeed, it is very common for authors to use allegory of their time to convey values and themes in a story, which is precisely what these seekers of allegory believe about Tolkien. Even Christopher Tolkien, J.R.R. Tolkien?s son, writes in his foreword to The Silmarillion that the legends written by his father became his own special place fore resting all of his experiences and thoughts; it was the medium with which he painted his deepest reflections. To understand what exactly can be recognized as allegory in Tolkien?s work, it is important to look at his actual life.

    John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in South Africa on January 3rd, 1892 to Arthur and Mabel Tolkien. After a sickly youth, it was decided that the young Tolkien would be better off living in the temperate, moist climate of Britain, rather than the hot, arid climate of South Africa, and in April of 1895, the family made the move. However, Arthur Tolkien could not resign his position with the bank he worked with and was unable to make move with the family, marking the first of Tolkien?s great life losses. (ibid. 20) After living for nine years in the town of Sarehole, England, just outside of Birmingham, J.R.R. Tolkien suffered the second great tragedy of his life: the death of his mother, from diabetic complications. The theme of love and loss clearly manifests itself in Tolkien?s work in the loss of friendships and kin, perhaps most lucid in the tale of Turin Turambar, which can be found in The Silmarillion. In this tale, the protagonist first loses his father after he goes off to war against an overwhelming enemy, and then loses his young sister through the indirect deeds of one of his companions. (Tolkien 198-226) A parallel can be drawn to this aspect of Tolkien?s life in the tragic loss of family members or persons of close relations.

    Another commonly cited event of Tolkien?s life, one that may have potentially affected his writing, was World War I. It is common knowledge that the trench warfare of WWI was notoriously brutal, with a level of carnage previously unseen in combat. J.R.R. Tolkien was recruited as a second lieutenant in the 13th Reserve Battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers in July of 1915. Though not actually entering the battle until after it had begun, Tolkien fought in the Battle of the Somme, an amageddon-like battle that saw over 600,000 casualties on each side. Tolkien was adversely affected by the whole experience and it has been speculated that his great discussion of war and death in his literature was heavily influenced by this event. (Grotta 47-53) In fact, the very battle Tolkien fought in bears striking similarities to one of his fictional battles, The Battle of the Pelennor Fields, in which there is a great siege by evil forces, incurring despair and loathing on the forces of good. (Tolkien, The Return of the King 125-137) Tolkien once stated that none of his war experiences directly inspired the battles in his work. However, it is important to realize that his experiences indirectly permeated his writing. Whether Tolkien meant to or not, the same types of experiences in the rank, wet trenches of France were transported to his work through his pen. (Grotta 52)

    Furthermore, Tolkien was a devout Catholic, after his mother, and is thought to have embedded central Christian beliefs in the motives of his stories. Even more inspirational to him in this aspect, besides his mother, was Father Francis Morgan, who became Tolkien?s legal guardian after the passing of his mother in 1905. The hope and belief of an afterlife and a divine creator cannot be clearer in Tolkien?s The Silmarillion. (15) As such a devout Christian, with a strong Christian upbringing, Daniel Grotta notes ?It would therefore be difficult and dishonest for Tolkien?s mythology not to reflect his own serious involvement with Christianity.? (97)

    Additionally, Tolkien was known to be quite the nature-lover; often compared to one of his fictional ?hobbits? for his green thumb and love for the pastoral life. Early in his life, his mother began to instill in him a love of nature, mythology, festivals, fireworks, thatched cottages, and mushrooms. (Grotta 23) In fact, his childhood town of Sarehole seems to be the very model of the Shire, and Tolkien once disclosed to an interviewer that his idea of hobbit culture came from the villagers and children of the town. (22) Even more of allegorical form in the books is the ?Scouring of the Shire?, in which the rustic, rural hobbit town which Tolkien clearly loves is overcome by the flames and smog of industry and the quarries of evil-minded men. (Tolkien, RotK 309-335) When asked by an interviewer if this event was referring to the postwar industrialization of Britain, Tolkien supposedly replied in exasperation that the story event was merely fictional: a critical part of the plot. (Grotta 99)

    However, despite the allegorical references that many have attempted to uncover, J.R.R. Tolkien himself was extremely opposed to allegory in general, and throughout his life, he battled academic after academic who was attempting to tear apart his beloved mythology into social commentary. Tolkien believed that the academics and critics were missing the central idea of his work entirely, that it was simply a mythology for England, which was short of any real mythology compared to other countries. Tolkien himself disliked allegory and would have preferred, ?a cracking good story or a straightforward saga?.

    Perhaps the strongest word ever written by Tolkien concerning allegory in The Lord of the Rings lies in his foreword to the book:

    ?I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old enough to detect its presence.  I much prefer history, true or feigned, with its varied applicability to the thought and experience of readers. I think that many confuse ?applicability? with ?allegory?; but the one resides in the freedom of the reader, and the other in the purposed domination of the author. (The Fellowship of the Ring 10-11)

    Tolkien makes an interesting distinction here between what he calls ?applicability? and allegory. He wrote so that readers could apply their life experiences to his story, not so that he could impress upon readers his personal views; religious ideas, for example. (Tolkien, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien 284) Tolkien in one of his letters to his publisher, Stanley Unwin, Tolkien goes on to explain his idea of how applicability and allegory fit in with a good story. Tolkien believed that allegory and pure story are opposite in aim, but somewhere in the combination of both of them lay truth. Without a connection to the reader?s actual life experience, the reader could never lose himself in the setting, or develop emotions for characters. As the professor best put it:

    ?the only fully intelligible allegory is real life; and the only fully intelligible story is an allegory?the better and more consistent an allegory is, the more easily it can be read ?just as a story?; and the better and more closely woven a story is, the more easily can those so minded find allegory in it.

    (121)

    It is clear then, that Tolkien wrote his story so that it would seem like it was allegorical, but that it would seem allegorical to many different readers in infinitely many ways. Tolkien?s depiction between good and evil was constantly challenged by academics and curious readers: one reader went so far as to write a letter asking Tolkien if orcs were meant to be communists. (Tolkien, Letters 262) Tolkien firmly responded telling the reader that there is ?no ?symbolism? or conscious allegory in my story?. The professor wittily went on to remark that asking if orcs are communists was just as ludicrous as asking if communists are orcs.

    Moreover, many have pointed out that The Lord of the Rings was written at the same time that World War II was going on, and many equated Sauron and the Ring of Power to Hitler and the Atom Bomb. Tolkien would explain time and time again to his readers and acquaintances that war had no influence on the plot ?and of course not the atomic bomb?, though he did concede that certain battle landscapes were influenced partially by Northern France after the Battle of the Somme. (Tolkien, Letters 303) Tolkien also makes a point in his foreword to The Fellowship of the Ring that the crucial part of the book, concerning the ring and the plot was decided before the outbreak of war, eliminating the possibility that wartime events affected it. (10)

    Tolkien?s work was truly applicable to these different world events, as he wanted it to be. His battles were first compared to World War I, then to World War II, and then to the Cold War after. Readers today are still making references to his work and the nuclear capabilities of some nations, truly showcasing the ?applicable? nature of his writing. Tolkien wrote his work so that it would be alluring to all generations of people by using classic themes of hope, good v. evil, and friendship, and it remains so and will until it ceases to be read.

    While it is true that Tolkien?s life did influence his writing, as Daniel Grotta points out in his biography, Tolkien: Architect of Middle Earth, it was not written to be allegorical, as Professor Tolkien stresses in his foreword to The Lord of the Rings and his private correspondences. Every writer?s work is undoubtedly rooted in past experience, whether consciously or not, but in the case of J.R.R. Tolkien it seems to be rather conscious. The professor knew exactly how to write his books and poems so that every reader would find some character to identify with as a friend in real life, and some character (or land, for that matter) to identify as an enemy in real life. This applicability to the reader?s real life is often mistaken for allegory, but the difference is that allegory is ?the purposed domination of the author? (Tolkien, FotR 11), as opposed to being in the mind and heart of the reader.

    In conclusion, Tolkien did not mean for any of his work to be allegorical, though it was nonetheless shaped by his life experiences and academic interests. The plot and central meaning of his work was not affected by his life, even though certain characters and places may have been. Tolkien admits that if his stories have any meanings, they?re about power and the perversion of it; a timeless theme found in the classics he loved, not just in his life. As Tolkien says best in the foreword to The Fellowship of the Ring, ?As for any meaning or ?message?, it has in the intention of the author none. It is neither allegorical nor topical.? The message or inner meaning that a reader seeks is not inherent in Tolkien?s work itself, but rather in the mind of the reader himself. The genius of J.R.R. Tolkien allows the mind to manifest the its thought in the words so that the story becomes more vivid, appealing, and familiar.

    Works Cited

    Carpenter, Humphrey. ed. The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. New York: Houghton Mifflin

    .....Company, 2000.

    Drout, Michael. ?What Made Tolkien Tick??. Newsweek. 30 December 2002.

    .....Ebsco Host. Online. 27 January 2003.

    Grotta, Daniel. J.R.R. Tolkien: Architect of Middle Earth. Philadelphia: Running Press

    .....Book Publishers, 1992.

    Nikiforuk, Andrew. ?The Real Power of Harry and Frodo?. Canadian Business.

    .....3 February 2003. Ebsco Host. Online. 2 February 2003.

    Tolkien, J.R.R.. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. New York:

    .....Ballantine Books, 1965.

    ---. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. New York: Ballantine Books,

    .....1965.

    ---. The Silmarillion. 2nd ed. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001.

    Zarins, Kimberly. ?Lord of the Rings: Tolkien, Wagner, and Norse Mythology?.

    .....Calliope. January 2003. Ebsco Host. Online. 27 January 2003.

    Signs Your're Obsessed With Middle-earth

    in The Green Dragon

    Posted

    You decide school/work is just not your thing today and pack off for the grey havens.

    You have an irrational fear of large, black volcanoes.

    You mutter strange orcish curses under your breath.

    You can't tell whether or not that guy at the gas station (petrol pump for you brits :)) would make a good Elrond or not.

    Whenever you see an old guy with a long beard you walk up to him and say, 'You're late."

    You often wonder why Saruman decided to forego his usual garb of white for a red, white trimmed suit with bells on the boots. Then he tells you to sit on his lap and you quickly look for his staff, so you can break it and run.

  14. What Makes You Weird...

    in Introductions & Off-Topic Discussion

    Posted

    Well, I suppose there are a lot of things that make me weird :P

    1. - I stay up until about two everynight working on TLA, because I have a vision of a project, as I think we all do, that I am obsessed with :P

    2. - I listen to rave and techno music, and then I listen to jazz and classical music right after it ;) And when I'm feeling really ambiguous and moody sometimes I will just sit in the darkness with my headphones on - makes my sense of hearing more aware.

    3. - I read books on theoretical physics, religion, and philosophy - does this need any explanation? :P

    Signs Your're Obsessed With Middle-earth

    in The Green Dragon

    Posted

    You get angry when Sauron is not pronounced with a singly-trilled "r" and sAUron is pronounced as "sORron"

    You have any Tolkien-inspired weaponry above your mantle, or near your computer.

    You have a stack of 15 Tolkien books next to your computer monitor.

    You walk around and wonder if people you see look like Númenoreans or Noldor, but you can't decide.

    (Guilty as charged :))

    Today's Youth

    in Hall of Intellectuals

    Posted

    I think today's youth are too quick to point the finger, and too slow to offer a helping hand.

    Just look at the opinion towards Iraq at colleges - people are so quick to say that war is not the solution, which is a valid point, but then they don't have the decency (or brains perhaps) to offer a better solution.

    Midi music

    in The Green Dragon

    Posted

    Oh, that's not an end :)

    This is not a finished song, it's like a little thumbnail sketch is to a painting

    I just repeated that melody with different instruments so you could hear how it sounded.

    I should also note that this isn't necessarily for any game - this is just for my personal practice so that when we make the TLA music, I have some ideas already brewing in my head.

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