Quotation of the Week 45/2010

"Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisoned by the enemy, don't we consider it his duty to escape?. . .If we value the freedom of mind and soul, if we're partisans of liberty, then it's our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can!"

~ J.R.R. Tolkien ~

(PS. As for the picture… Use your imagination!)

I Sit Beside The Fire And Think

I sit beside the fire and think
~ by J.R.R. Tolkien ~

I sit beside the fire and think
Of all that I have seen
Of meadow flowers and butterflies
In summers that have been

Of yellow leaves and gossamer
In autumns that there were
With morning mist and silver sun
And wind upon my hair

I sit beside the fire and think
Of how the world will be
When winter comes without a spring
That I shall ever see

For still there are so many things
That I have never seen
In every wood in every spring
There is a different green

I sit beside the fire and think
Of people long ago
And people that will see a world
That I shall never know

But all the while I sit and think
Of times there were before
I listen for returning feet
And voices at the door

Personality Test

This month's discussion in Jo's Book Nook at The Leaky Lounge is about Part 1 of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. (Read more about Jo's Book Nook in the margin of my blog.) As faithful visitors of my Island of Voices know, I'm at present struggling on with The Silmarillion instead; but since I'm moving in the same world, I'm keeping an eye on the JBN discussions too. One of the threads there linked to a website which introuces a personality test based on the question: Which Lord of the Rings character are you most like?

I usually distrust tests like these, but after this one, I'm prepared to reconsider... *wink*

You are most like Galadriel. There's just something about you that people like. A sort of aura. You're very kind to people, and you like to help others succeed. You're not as candid as most people would like. You don't have to share your deepest darkest secrets, but be more honest about things! You're more mature than most people your age, so don't worry!

Following the advice to be more honest, I have to admit that the last sentence does worry me a bit. If I'm more mature than most people my age, that makes me feel really ancient...

Of Elves and Men (Silmarillion II)

I have struggled on with The Silmarillion: I am almost half way through now, which is further than I ever got before.

However, connecting back to yesterday's "Sitcom" post, I really do feel "lost among the elves"...

The major problem with this book is that there are more names than plot in it! Most people (individuals as well as races, tribes etc) appear under least two or three different names, in languages invented by Tolkien himself; and you also have to keep track of whether they are Valar (major gods), Maiar (minor gods), Elves (of which there are several tribes), Dwarves or Men...

It was helpful, though, to memorize the names of the Valar (see my first Silmarillion post), because now at least I recognize these when they appear among the rest. On the rare occasions when one of them turns up, further along in the history of Middle-earth, it gives me almost the same feeling as seeing an old friend in a crowd of strange people in a foreign country...

There is an index at the back of the book, and several genealogy tables of the Elves. It is still really hard to keep these apart, though - with names like Finwë, Fëanor (it was he who made the Silmarils, the precious jewels containing the light of the gods), Fingolfin, Finarfin, Fingon, Finrod... It is also a struggle not to mix up Noldor (a tribe of Elves) with Naugrim (Dwarves), or Vanyar (another tribe of Elves) with Valar (the gods)...

I wonder how Tolkien's mind worked. Has any other author, ever, bothered to make up such a vastly complex background for his fantasy world...? It is an achievement; but I can't help but wonder, from time to time - why??

A few chapters back, the race of Men was introduced. This will perhaps give you an idea of the general name confusion:

At the first rising of the Sun the Younger Children of Ilúvatar awoke in the land of Hildórien in the eastward regions of Middle-earth; but the first Sun arose in the West, and the opening eyes of Men were turned towards it, and their feet as they wandered over the Earth for the most part strayed that way. The Atani they were named by the Eldar, the Second People; but they called them also Hildor, the Followers, and many other names: Apanónar, the Afterborn, Engwar, the Sickly, and Fírimar, the Mortals; and they named them the Usurpers, the Strangers, and the Inscrutable, the Self-cursed, the Heavey-handed, the Night-fearers, the Children of the Sun.

Previous Silmarillion post here.

Tolkien's Silmarillion (I)

The Gates of Sirion by Ted Nasmith, from Tolkien Calendar 2009
(picture copied from Amazon.com)

Ever since I started this blog after New Year, one book has been stubbornly "stuck" on my "Currently Reading" list in the margin: Tolkien's Silmarillion...

I'm sure lots of people all over the world, just like me, also have a copy of The Silmarillion sitting on the bookshelf next to Lord of the Rings. What I'd like to know, is how many have actually read it? I bought mine in 1979 and have taken it out every now and again over the years (30 ?!), but never managed to get through it.

This New Year, I took it out again, because I bought a Tolkien wall calendar for 2009 with Silmarillion illustrations and quotes.

I was quite determined this time to get through it, and yet history repeated itself: I read a couple of chapters at the beginning of January, then lay the book aside for a few days... and the next time I picked it up, it had gone back to being just a confused tangle of strange names which meant nothing to me! I do love the sound of the text, and I can sense connections with both his Christian theology and other mythology deep down under all the confusion. But it's really hard to grasp who is who and remember whether they are gods or elves or whatever...

This week, I started over from the beginning again, and this time made a special effort to understand the first two chapters, Ainulindalë and Valaquenta, which introduce the Valar ("gods").

I made my own list, which I scribbled down on an empty page at the back of the book. This did make it a little bit easier to keep up when I entered the Quenta Silmarillion... in which I have now got as far as Chapter 9. Remains to be seen, though, if I will actually manage to keep going this time...

My list:

Eru / Ilúvatar - the One, the Creator

Ainu, pl. Ainur - the Holy ones - "angels"
Valar - the "Powers of the World" (Ainur descended into the world; reminding of the gods of for example the Greek mythology)

The most important Valar:

Manwë is the angel/god of the Air (Wind); the High King of the Valar; his spouse is...
Varda, Queen of the Stars.
Ulmo is the angel/god of Water, he "dwells alone".
Aulë is the angel/god of Earth, "smith and master of all crafts"; his spouse is...
Yavanna, "giver of fruits".
Melkor, also called Morgoth, was the angel/god of Fire - he is the equivalent of "Satan" in Tolkien's mythology. (He was one of the Ainur, but he went his own way and became evil. Satan, in Christian theology, is also a fallen angel, originally called Lucifer, which means light-bringer.)
Mandos (or Namo) is "Keeper of the Houses of the Dead" = Death; his spouse is...
Vairë, "The Weaver who weaves all things that have ever been in Time".
Lórien (or Irmo) is "Master of Visions and Dreams"; his spouse is...
Estë, "Healer of hurts and weariness"
Nienna dwells alone, she is "Lady of Grief and mourning", sister of Mandos and Lórien.
Tulkas is the Valiant, he stands for bravery and courage - he is strong, but impulsive; his spouse is...
Nessa, who is "swift as an arrow", and sister of...
Oromë, who is "Lord of the Forests and Hunter of monsters"; his spouse is...
Vána, "the Ever-Young" (Spring), younger sister of Yvanna (spouse of Aulë)

There are also "angel-gods" of a lower rank than the Valar, called Maia.

The "Children of Ilúvatar" are Elves (the Firstborn), and Men (the Followers).
The Dwarves were created by Aüle (the Earth-god)
The Orcs were descended from Elves that once fell into the power of Melkor ("Satan") and were imprisoned, enslaved and corrupted by him.

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PS. Ooops... By mistake, I happened to first post this in my other blog (Through My Spectrespecs). I immediately removed it and put it here instead; but links to the wrong blog still show up in link lists, although the post has been removed. If any one wonders, the Silmarillion post belongs here, not in the other blog.