Middle-earth Journeys

Hear hear - I'm sure is a lot more to be said about all of them! It's never too late to chip in .

My bound single volume copy of The History of Middle-earth Volumes 1-5 has just arrived from Amazon .

See you all in about a year (or two) .

I'm not sure where this belongs, but we forgot to celebrate a special day yesterday. Anybody know what it was?

The birthday of our beloved King?

Happy belated birthday to our beloved King Elessar! May he reign forever in our hearts!

Merry wrote:I'm not sure where this belongs, but we forgot to celebrate a special day yesterday. Anybody know what it was?

I did not forget. It's my official birthday. I'm celebrating going to London for a week, watching art antiquities and historic sights. And daffodils. March 1st is also the World Book Day so why not celebrate reading some nice passages in any of Tolkien's works? I know March 25th is the Tolkien Reading Day, but LOTR came in second in a survey of books people can't live without, so you can definitely read it March 1st as well. Weird it wasn't No. 1. Now it's March 4th, so maybe I'm very late posting this, as always , but it's never too late to read Tolkien.

I don't know about you, but during September and March, my thoughts always turn to Middle-earth in a special way. These are important days for the Fellowship, so why not celebrate them with another reading of The Great Years Calendar? I was just reading last year's creations, and they are terrific, if I do say so myself!

Also, as Estel reminds us above, March 25, the day that Sauron is defeated and the Ring is destroyed, is designated as Tolkien Reading Day. Is anyone planning to do anything special?

I certainly intend to sit down and read on that day and remember the Professor.

I shall read some of the poetry out loud as I think it really benefits from being recited, like the lays of old. If I haven't finished the Lay of Leithian I shall read some of that! Or maybe go back over a favourite bit (I'm gathering a lot of favourite bits) and give it the full treatment . I may even stand...

O this will be the fourth time we organise Tolkien Reading Day in Belgium, this year it is not me who is organising the whole thing, so i'm waiting eagerly where and when it will be this year.

Last year we went to a very nice cottage / restaurant in the middle of the forests and read a loud in this publique place till very late in the night! It was very nice and look forward to read again some of my favourite Tolkien chapters. I like to read the Hobbit (especially riddles in the dark, the conversation with smaug,...) but think i will go for something deeper this year. I plan to read Narn i Chîn Húrin or The Tale of the Children of Húrin from Unfinished Tales! That will first inform all interested people about the contents of the new Children of Hurin and secondy it is just a master piece and if i read it well they will really go into this sad story... i'll read when it is dark and late to make the mood right!

I have selected the "Ainulindale" from The Silmarillion as my passage for reading and contemplation on Tolkien Reading Day. The conception of Arda through the music and song of the Ainur and the vivification of this concept by the Flame Imperishable of Eru Iluvatar is just so very beautiful and profound. What better way to honor The Professor's incredible legacy than by revisiting his illumination of the Creation of the World?

A little late in the day for this, I know, but this is March 25, which is the day the Ring was destroyed, and so Tolkien Reading Day is here!

I read part of the Lay of Leithian out loud, as planned and managed to finish it . It's a bit grim in Morgoth's Halls .

Then there was unrest among the Ainur; but Iluvatar called to them, and said: 'I know the desire of your minds that what ye have seen should verily be, not only in your thought, but even as ye yourselves are, and yet other. Therefore I say: Ea! Let these things Be! And I will send forth into the Void the Flame Imperishable, and it shall be at the heart of the World, and the World shall Be; and those of you that will may go down into it.' And suddenly the Ainur saw afar off a light, as it were a cloud with a living heart of flame; and they knew that this was no vision only, but that Iluvatar had made a new thing: Ea, the World that Is.

How grateful I am to The Professor for saying Ea! and putting pen to paper! Happy Tolkien Reading Day!

Beautiful!

I don't know, if this is the right place to post (feel free to move this post, when it belongs somewhere else): This quote was a big reminder for me:

Lindariel wrote:

Then there was unrest among the Ainur; but Iluvatar called to them, and said: 'I know the desire of your minds that what ye have seen should verily be, not only in your thought, but even as ye yourselves are, and yet other. Therefore I say: Ea! Let these things Be! And I will send forth into the Void the Flame Imperishable, and it shall be at the heart of the World, and the World shall Be; and those of you that will may go down into it.' And suddenly the Ainur saw afar off a light, as it were a cloud with a living heart of flame; and they knew that this was no vision only, but that Iluvatar had made a new thing: Ea, the World that Is.

Last week I had the great opportunity to visit the LOTR exhibition in Berlin, the same exhibition that was before shown in New Zealand and London. Others have described the exhibition before and more eloquently as I can do it. But what was especially impressing me was the thought, that this "fantasy world" of thought was brought into being. Of course I don't want to compare Peter Jackson with Iluvatar, far from that! But I was walking there as if it was a exhibition of the old Rome, or the Etrusks or some other culture from long ago. One could say right away: there are elfish weapons, these are hobbit pots and pans, here is the crown of Aragorn. It was there, and it was such a quality, that it was not "make believe" but for real. The cape of Aragorn still had the dirt on it! The words of professor Tolkien have found shape and form and so this "world" has come into being. And was this not the idea behind Middle Earth - to find a world where the languages of the linguist Tolkien could find a shape?