#that John Ronald Reuel Tolkien

[lumi-waxes-poetic]

Some Tolkien affirmations to help you along when the darkness seems too much and everything seems lost

"The world may be grim, but there's always hope. Even in the darkest of days, there may be one bright star to guide you."

—Elrond

"It is not despair, but only the handing on of a torch."

—Aragorn

"The greatest good returns at last to those who share it freely."

—Gandalf

"It is not by sorrow and by suffering that we grow. It is by the choice we make when faced with sorrow and suffering."

—Fëanor

"The world is changed because I am in it."

—Bilbo Baggins

bonus round (Tolkien never actually wrote this — Peter Jackson did — but it's a good fucking line and Tolkien would have 100% agreed with it):

“Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love."

— Gandalf

[hacked-wtsdz]

Every time I read or watch Lord of the Rings I can’t help but think about how Tolkien had survived one of the bloodiest, most cruel, most dirtiest and darkest wars in human history, came back and wrote this:

“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”

And this:

"'I wish it need not have happened in my time,' said Frodo.

'So do I,' said Gandalf, 'and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.'"

And this:

"I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend."

And this:

“Many that live deserve death and some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be so eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the wise cannot see all ends."

And this:

“True courage is about knowing not when to take a life, but when to spare one.”

And clearly they were all written partly because he survived the war, because of what he’d seen and done and learned. But at the same time the unwillingness to lose faith, the courage and strength that this man had to believe in these things after going through hell! It makes the nihilists look so cheap, so uninteresting! People who’ve went through concentration camps and wars believe in humanity anyway, isn’t that proof that hope and love exist? And many, many, many of them did not return or returned broken and cruel and traumatised to the point when no faith in others was possible for them, and nobody can blame them. But there were many who refused to lose faith and hope. They have seen some of the worst that life has to offer and came back believing that we shouldn’t be eager to deal out death in judgement and should love only that which the sword defends.

No matter how many people say that humanity is horrible and undeserving of love, and life is dark and worthless, and love doesn’t exist I remember this and have hope anyway. Because there were people who have actually had all reason to believe in the worst and still believed in the good, so the good must be real. The good is real, even despite the evil, and we must trust in it.

[cosynopsis]

literally my favorite moment in the book. eight-year-old me read and cried. I won’t finish it, but I like this fragment

[juliaaugust]

Smaug the Terrible

[drsunshines]

Did a watercolor portrait of Tolkien :3

[uwmspeccoll]

Tolkien's Fantastical Realms

David Day's A Tolkien Bestiary, published by Ballantine Books in New York in 1979, is an alphabetical guide to the various creatures, races, deities, and flora found in J.R.R. Tolkien's fantastical realms of Middle-earth and the Undying Lands. The book identifies 129 distinct races in detail and explains their physical characteristics, languages, behavior, and cultures. More than just a guide, the book is a key that unlocks the door to Tolkien's works, enhancing the accessibility to his mythical creatures and elaborating on their significance in his vast world.

The book contains more than one hundred black-and-white illustrations and thirty-six full-color paintings. It features illustrations by eleven different fantasy artists, both well-established and emerging artists. The Tolkien Gateway website notes, however, that:

The book has been accused of containing extrapolations and thus deviating from Tolkien's writings. For example, there is a reference to "Kraken" referring to the Watcher in the Water, but the word does not appear as a species in Tolkien's works. While fans have argued that the book is less reliable as a Tolkien reference than similar works by Robert Foster and J.E.A. Tyler, many are fond of its illustrations.

-- Melissa, Special Collections Graduate Intern

[wife-of-legolas]

You know what yes, I am going to publicly state that I think elves have natural hair oils that essentially work as conditioner and shampoo 24/7. Sue me.

[kennymcmann]

i still can't believe someone had the audacity to make a movie about tolkien's life and not include a single thing about c.s. lewis. do these people know that without lewis, tolkien would have never finished the hobbit or lotr? he would have never written the silmarillion without lewis' encouragement. lewis is treebeard, for crying out loud.

at the same time, lewis would have never written the cosmic trilogy without tolkien and the main character of these books is HIGHLY based on tolkien. their friendship was too much part of their lives to just be cut out like that. you can't talk about one without the other. unless you want to talk about a lie.

[thatidiots-art]

decked out

[thepastisalreadywritten]

Tolkien's Beautiful Yuletide Illustrations🧵

Tolkien produced some charming winter and Christmas illustrations, mostly for his children.

Caves

Tolkien developed a mythology for his children surrounding Father Christmas and the geopolitics of the North Pole.

Here, we see some of the caverns beneath the North Pole.

Silly Polar Bear

A recurring character in the Father Christmas letters is the silly polar bear.

Here, Tolkien portrays the clumsy animal tripping down the stairs whilst carrying a stack of presents. Haste makes waste.

Christmas Celebration

Tolkien depicts the beautiful lighting of the Christmas tree at the North Pole in 1934.

Northern Lights

This striking image evokes emotion through the beautiful lights.

Busy Year

The polar bear is acting like an ent.

The Roof

That silly polar bear is up to his old shenanigans.

True Fatherhood

Tolkien set a beautiful example on fatherhood for all of us.

He developed his children's imaginations and sought to lead them to the truth. May we follow his model in our own lives.

—

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

[anira-naeg]

House of Beor: Part 2

[thefugitivesaint]

Lucy Davey, ''J.R.R. Tolkien'' by Colin Duriez, 2012 Source

[bitwa-lektur-szkolnych]

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien – Hobbit czyli tam i z powrotem

Albert Camus – Dżuma

[cosynopsis]

someday I'll learn to finish things

[aureentuluva70]

I will never forgive Tolkien for chickening out and just straight up writing Daeron out of the tale of Beren and Luthien, and from the rest of the stories of Middleearth for that matter, and for no good reason. There are so, so many other, far more interesting things that Tolkien could have done with Daeron's character, but nope, instead he just writes him out of the story entirely. He could've, like, had Daeron be captured by the enemy and taken to Angband and when Beren and Lùthien go there they find him and bail him out, like cmon dude you can do better than that.

[silmarillion-ways-to-die]