Middle-earth Journeys

The fancy dress parade threw up a few surprises - in particular a very fetching and scantily-clad Legolas - and everyone won a prize.

Goodness . . . It boggles the mind! I'm sure he made the screaming teenagers happy. But couldn't they at least have had a very fetching and scantily-clad Aragorn for the more discerning, (ahem), mature women present?

Depends who was in the costume . I haven't actually seen anyone 'do' Aragorn yet. I think they are all intimidated by his great and glorious Viggoness .

BTW, this is the second year running that Marbretherese has refused to dress as a Balrog's Wing. Do you think she's trying to tell me something?

Part 1:

Friday Night and Saturday morning – or Speckled Hens and Fairies.

I love Oxonmoot! This was my fourth one and I was thrilled to be back for another weekend of Hobbiting about, along with Marbretherese and Jonick. It was also nice to be back at Lady Margaret Hall which is one of the more homely colleges – grand but not TOO grand. More of a Rivendell than a Minas Tirith.

Marbretherese and I arrived quite in the early afternoon with a car load of stuff for the Art Exhibition, which we headed straight for with no mucking about. Marbretherese, carrying all her stuff and half of mine without any trouble, headed smartly off through the grounds at a cracking pace while I lumbered along behind, fending off attacks from my own bags and a very cantankerous wooden browser. We were late last year and nearly gave Becky the vapours, so this year we decided to be Good and arrived so early that the exhibition panels were still being set up. Becky had given us a whole corner and a table to play with, and Marbretherese unpacked her simply humungously sized ‘He cast him a lappett…’ and swiftly had it up on the panel, with the minimum of fuss, while I tied endless reams of hanging wire in knots and harrumphed about. I think my problem with hanging wire is that I just don’t trust it unless I use enough to suspend an elephant and tie more knots in it than you’d see in a macramé competion. Whenever I tried to hang anything, the wire was either too long or too short. If it was too long and I shortened it, it was then too short. If it was too short and I lengthened it, it was then too long. I spent ages unpicking wire knots or doubling wire up until eventually everything was just a hopeless mess. Following my crisis two years ago with the Velcro, Becky is now used to me wailing in the art room while I make a pigs-ear from assorted hanging materials. Marbretherese, who had very annoyingly finished in a quarter of the time, was standing eyeing my efforts with a faintly saintly air. Eventually I had everything up and all my cards and prints out, and could admire all the other lovely things in the room, of which more later as we revisited it on Saturday for a proper look i.e. one where I didn’t have knots before my eyes and beads of panic induced perspiration.

We then headed over to get our room keys and discovered that we were in the new hall of residence, which was being built rather noisily while we were at Lady Margaret’s last year. Pipe-Partridge Hall – which sounds like a good name for an up-market Hobbit Hole – was luxury. The rooms are very nice. Imagine my delight to discover that there was still a bonsai bathroom! Slightly better arranged than the old ones, but still teeny-weeny and impossible to rinse your face without getting into an argy-bargy with the taps. According to a plaque over the door I was in ‘Valerie Flint’s Room’. Good old Valerie!

After a cup of tea and some unpacking we went over to register, and it was lovely to meet up with old friends in the Hospitality Room (a grand name for do-it-yourself tea bags and biscuits). In fact we lurked there for ages and caught up with ‘Geordie’ from MeJ and his wife Louise (who we know well) and, to our delight, Beren, who were afraid of missing because we hadn’t a clue what he looked like. It’s wonderful to put a name to a face. In fact he has such fame in the online Tolkien community that he found (to his amazement) that everyone knew him. Beren – it was a huge pleasure to finally get to meet you! He had travelled with Yohan Vanhecke, who was going to give a talk on Tolkien and Belgium. He gave us the gist of it and it really sounded very interesting but, alas, he was up against Charles Bressler in the Programme and I had to admit that we just weren’t going to make it. Sorry Yohan! In fact we were worried whether anyone would make it because in the Programme, in the bit that gives some information about the speaker, it said: [no confirmation or information recd. I EMAILED HIM]. Poor Yohan. In the end he had a small, but interested group who had faith that he was actually there. In the midst of all this, Jonick turned up and we retreated back to our rooms to get ready for the Banquet.

I really enjoy the Banquet. I like the candle light in the big, wood panelled hall, and all those rather stern looking academic ladies staring down at us we pass around the vegetables. I can hear them thinking ‘Dauphinoise potatoes! Plain boiled was good enough in my day’. Lady Margaret Hall does rather good food so we (by which I mean ‘I’) overdid it a bit. Teeny weeny chocolate dainties were served with the teeny weeny coffee and we could hardly cram them in.

After the meal we headed to the bar and caught up with Ruth and Alex (last seen at the Festival), and Anke - it was lovely to talk about the up-and-coming lHeren Istarion calendar put together by our own Parmastahir and his daughter. We both agree it looks lovely! I ordered some rather strong Old Speckled Hen (a Hobbit brew if there ever was one) and we spent the rest of the evening with Beren and Yohan, and (from what I remember) we spent most of the time laughing but I can’t remember for the life of me about what. It may have been the Old Speckled Hen.

I would like to say that I was up bright and early the next morning because I couldn’t wait to try out the new bonsai bathroom, but I awoke late and shambled in there with a bad case of the Orcs. It may have been the Old Speckled Hen. Within two minutes I had knocked my chin on the mixer tap and wiped my face in the white towelling floor mat, which was nonchalantly masquerading as a face towel. For the sake of people with soap in their eyes they should have ‘MAT’ written on them in Very Large Letters. The shower cubicle was round and very tight, rather like being doused in an up-market pipe, and after knocking my elbow several times on the shower equipment (it may have been the Old Speckled Hen) it occurred to me that anyone on the chubby side would probably have been completely stuck, unless they could soap their way out. Not that I am complaining as not everyone had the luxury of their own en-suite shower pipe. I was still blundering about when Marbretherese and Jonick knocked on my door to go over for breakfast. By the time I got over to the Dining Hall there was an enormous queue and they had run out of trays, cereal bowls and butter. This was, apparently, because Everybody Had Arrived Together. I swear I didn’t arrive together with anyone. In fact I’ve never been less together. When I finally got my sausage, egg, tomato and nice crispy bacon and had progressed past the coffee dispenser, it was all cold. I could just see Marbretherese and Jonick calmly finishing the last of theirs at a distant table. By the time I had caught up it was time to go over to the brand spanking new Simpkins Lee Lecture Theatre for the first talk of the day, which was being given by Dimitra Fimi. Dinitra is lecturer in English at the University of Wales Institute and her book Tolkien, Race and Cultural History: From Fairies to Hobbits has just won the Mythopoeic Scholarship award in Inklings Studies. I was thrilled that she was speaking at Oxonmoot as I missed her paper at the Festival in the Shire because of a scheduling clash.

Dimitra’s talk was about ‘Tolkien and the Fairies: Faith and Folklore’. I have to admit I was really looking forward to this as a bit of a fairy lover myself. I mean, they are real, right? Dimitra had had the luxury of reading Tolkien’s original manuscripts for ‘On Fairy Stories’ and his rather wayward handwriting had proved a real challenge, although we now have the wonderful, fully edited version by Verlyn Flieger and Douglas Anderson. Dimitra wanted to look at Tokien’s belief in real elves and fairies as elemental spirits of nature, not in Middle-earth, but right here. She examined old folklore beliefs that fairies were spirits of the dead – especially of un-baptised babies – or were a ‘pigmy’ race that modern humans displaced and who had then faded away into folkloric memory. She then looked at Tolkien’s statements that he kept an open mind about fairies and his thoughts that they were minor spirits, involved in creation and living in another mode from us, although appearing sometimes in human form. A spiritual agent in the forming of – say – a tree from the ‘divine Tree-idea’. In the Lost Tales, Tolkien makes it clear that these natural beings are NOT elves, who are part of creation, but lesser Vali. In his earliest writings, Tolkien was still very influenced by inherited Victorian ideas of fairies and the lesser Vali include most of the Victorian pantheon of fairy beings. After The Lost Tales they had evolved into the Maiar. Tolkien’s developed view of elementals is that ‘the normal world, tangible, visible, audible, is only an appearance. Behind it is a reservoir of power which is manifested in these forms’ (On Fairy Stories). Dimitra then talked about his Catholicism and pointed out that Newman’s understanding of angels is very close to Tolkien’s view of fairies, i.e. nature is inhabited and moved by unseen spiritual powers, whatever name you give to them. Tolkien’s friend Wiseman saw Tolkien’s enchantment with fairies as something from the past. His view of nature was of a process, not something of mystery and wonder. But Tolkien’s Catholicism allowed for more mystical beliefs, embracing the idea of minor spiritual powers where Protestantism saw elves and fairies as a case for iconoclasm.

I really enjoyed Dinitra’s talk (though I think my summary is pretty mangled really as I was listening more than writing…) and there was a very lively Q&A afterwards. Dimitra pointed out that Smith of Wootton Major is Tolkien looking back at his first ideas of fairies (the Fairy Queen on the Great Cake) from his later, mature position (the meeting with the real Fairy Queen). She also pointed out that popular belief and interest in fairies died with the horrible reality of the Great War, where they disappeared almost entirely from art and literature. It was also mentioned that elves and fairies were the same thing in Victorian times, but, after Tolkien, they are now different as he has re-defined them. The Q&A was a real pleasure with some quite awesome knowledge floating around the room.

After Dimitra’s talk we stayed put for Charles Bressler’s – or rather I tried to, but more of that in Part 2!

Honestly, you should gather all these essays together as a book! You could make a trip to the dentist funny, and the descriptions of the talks, etc., is bonus!

It has always been clear to me that elves are Catholic angels--the lembas gives that away--but I can see the argument that the Valar/Maiar could also play that role. I'm not sure about fairies, though. In Tolkien and other authors, they seem to have a slightly evil aura, is a small and mischievous way, sometimes. They don't seem to have the gravitas of angels.

Congratulations to you, Iolanthe, and to marbretherese for your displays. I'm glad you achieved it without garroting yourself!

It thought it looked pretty good when everything was finally up! But I made such a mess of the hanging wire I had to cut it all off afterwards, which meant most had to go in the bin instead of being wound up and recycled at another hanging .

Tolkiens original fairies were certainly impish and unpredictable - in folk lore fairies are regarded as very dangerous - but he moved very far from that idea when he revised all his early stuff for the Silmarillion. What fascinated me most was that the Elves aren't the real inheritors of his early fairy ideas (as elemental creative spirits) but the Maiar are.

I don't think I can agree with that, Iolanthe. Look at it this way: who are the Maiar we really see most of? Melian, Saruman, Sauron, Gandalf, and the Balrog! Not one of them seems like a fairy to me! The closest thing to my idea of fairies are the elves in Rivendell in The Hobbit--all that singing and twittering in trees!

But maybe I'm not getting what 'elemental creative spirits' are. That description seems to fit the Valar more than the Maiar.

I'll add my comments to Iolanthe's as we go along, as usual; I took a lot of notes but who knows whether they'll be legible enough to shed further light on things!
Don't be fooled by this photo. Bright and sunny though most of the weekend was, it was COLD for September. The Talbot Building is the venue for the Oxonmoot Art Exhibition, and as soon as we arrived, we grabbed our art things and headed straight for it. I ignored Iolanthe's whimpers ("Isn't this the long way round?") and led the way through the now familiar gardens. It was a relief to arrive early and get set up without being under pressure; the reason I was sorted out so quickly was that I'd only brought along the one painting. While Iolanthe was struggling with the picture wire I had time to go and collect my key; discovering as I did so that Jonick and I were to have separate rooms. Not all couples automatically get a double room and we'd been lucky enough to get one last year; still, I sulked for a bit - until we got to the accommodation in Pipe Partridge, that is, and saw how good it was, whereupon my objections miraculously vanished. Jonick was next door, so hardly far away, and Iolanthe in a room just beyond his. Everything worked, the bathroom was fine if like me you are only five foot two and not actually overweight. Jonick, of course, is a six footer and I still have no idea how - or even if - he managed to shower ).
Once unpacked Iolanthe & I headed off to register, and spent a very happy hour chatting to old friends from previous Oxonmoots. The Tolkien community is really like an extended family and it was great to catch up, to renew acquaintance with some people we'd met at the Shire Festival and to meet Beren and Johan. By the time Jonick made it hot-foot from work we still hadn't gone to change for dinner! We had a lovely meal in the dining hall and I was pleased to discover amongst the portraits lining the corridors one of Eglantyne Jebb, who founded the Save the Children Fund, and whose biography I'd just read. Then we headed for the bar to catch up with yet more old friends, such as Ruth and Alex.
Thanks to the brand new bed I had a great night's sleep, and it was only a stone's throw to the dining hall for breakfast (just as well for Iolanthe, who rushed in at the last moment clutching tea and toast and trying not to look dishevelled). The main lecture theatre was also in the Pipe Partridge building and we had time to admire it before Dr Dimitra Fimi gave her talk. She gave various quotes from On Fairy Stories to support Tolkien's definitions of what fairies are not, and what they are. This reminded me very much of Gerard Manley Hopkins' theory of inscape. Fairies not as small, whimsical beings but powerful fields of energy behind the created world. Dimitra gave some quotes from Francis Thompson's The Kingdom of God and from the Blessed John Henry Newman's Sermon The Power of Nature to show that such beliefs were not at odds with Tolkien's Catholicism. Apparently there are some early 16th century writings which suggest that fairies were driven out of England by Henry VIII's persecution of the church! Dimitra showed that Newman's angels, Thompson's elves and Tolkien's fairies and elves can live within a religious framework, as part of God's creation.

Next up, as Iolanthe has mentioned, was Charles Bressler; and the rest of the morning was also promising. Just as well the seats were so comfortable . . .!

Ladies, ladies! I quite agree with Merry that you simply must collect your essays/reports into a lovely book called "Our Travels in Middle-earth." They are every bit as hilarious as they are informative! I am still trying to imagine the "bonsai bathroom." What comes to mind is that interchangeable shower/freezer arrangement that Corbin Dallas had in his tiny, low-rent apartment in the movie "The Fifth Element." Bathroom basically the size of a tiny phone booth.

Can't wait to read the next installments, and as always, EXTREMELY jealous of your wonderful experiences and EXTREMELY grateful to you for sharing them in such an entertaining fashion!

Hey - that bathroom in The Fifith Element is it, exactly!

I'd forgotton Marbretherese had led me all around the garden (at a cracking pace) on the way to the artroom. It's a beautiful garden when you're not fighting it out with a bag of prints and a browser .

I must write up the next part of the report or we shall all have forgotten what happened. There's been so much happening I've dropped the ball there!

Merry wrote:I don't think I can agree with that, Iolanthe. Look at it this way: who are the Maiar we really see most of? Melian, Saruman, Sauron, Gandalf, and the Balrog! Not one of them seems like a fairy to me! The closest thing to my idea of fairies are the elves in Rivendell in The Hobbit--all that singing and twittering in trees!

But maybe I'm not getting what 'elemental creative spirits' are. That description seems to fit the Valar more than the Maiar.

I think it was all a lot clearer in Dimitra's talk, and because it was something she put forward (and which made a lot of sense when I heard it), I'm not really equipped to explain it better. But in Tolkien's earliest writings the lesser spirits (who later became the rather more rounded Maiar) were much more like Tolkien's later ideas about real fairies as elemental creative powers. The elves are different, and don't really come into it because they are part of Creation itself, not powers involved in Creation. I hope I've explained it better!

As it's seven weeks since Oxonmoot I thought I'd better post another instalment of our adventures there before I forget what we did!

After Dimitra's talk Charles Bressler & Zachary Rhone were billed to speak on "Lord of the Rings as an exemplary text on leadership", and Charles began by referring to what he called "the Gospel according to Tolkein" - a message of hope, courage, triumph, grace and humility which speaks to the heart and to the intellect at the same time. How fantasy can help us get beyond everyday life - which hampers and blurs our vision - to a clearer view of things. The message is that "it's not about me, it's about something deeper" - community. Tolkien's vision is reality - much more than what we can actually see - despite the pain, confusion and grief of life there is joy. Zachary Rhone then talked about the way leadership is portrayed in LOTR and how this fits in with traditional and modern ideas about leadership. For example, traditional leaders earn the right to take responsiblity for others (Aragorn in Bree), they are forward looking (Gandalf counselling Frodo towards mercy), inpire others (Gandlaf and Minas Tirith); orderly in uncertainty (Aragorn at Amon Hen), they think clearly and analytically (Aragorn and Gandalf at the Council of Elrond), they raise the bar for excellence (Sam and Frodo encouraging each other in Mordor) and stay calm in ambiguity (Aragorn at Cormallen, Gandalf in Moria). Tolkien's characters, however, grow further than this. Modern leaders are high in slef esteem and low in self awareness. Gandalf, Aragorn and Frodo are low in self esteem and high in self awareness. They show humility; regard others as more important than they are, they have to get to know themselves and until they do so, they cannot act effectively (at this point I wrote in my notebook the word "vocation"). They believe in something greater than themselves: the mystery and magic of creation, good and evil. They have faith, and everything flows from that. They lived recklessley to achieve their goals, but did so in fellowship, not isolation. Tolkien tells us that we need other peopleand that we have to pursue truth, mercy and love; and we have to learn to live in ambiguity because we don't know what's going to happen. We have to live imaginatively, joyfully, hopefully.
At some point during the morning (I forget exactly when) we lost Iolanthe; no doubt she'll tell us where she went and what she was doing. Next up in the lecture theatre was Murray Smith, who spoke about the life of Lord Roberts of Kandahar, a much-decorated general involved in many campaigns in India, who eventually became a Field Marshal and something of a celebrity in Victorian England. His horse Ponello became almost as famous as Roberts himself - the horse was given medals and its death was reported in newspapers of the time. The "gallant grey" was buried in the grounds of the Royal Hospital with honours. Roberts' son was killed in the Boer War and Roberts himself went on to become honorary Commander in Chief of the Indian Army at the age of 82 and died in 1914; he had a state funeral and was buried in St Pauls Cathedral. Smith drew various parallels between Roberts and Theoden, pointing out that Theoden too was a great war leader, lost his son in battle, was given a state funeral and his horse too was buried with honours. Roberts vsited King Edwards school in 1907 and Tolkien attended a camp in 1910 which was inspected by Roberts. Tolkien would certainly have been aware of Roberts' exploits and may have modelled Theoden on him.

The final talk of the morning was Jessica Yates on Tolkien's Bible, Tolkien's Suitcase.. Unfortunately my notes get a bit muddled at this point but I know that she discussed the various Bibles which Tolkien may have had access to, both Anglican and Catholic, and the translations which had been made over the centuries.
Instead of the usual Saturday lunch, the organisers had suggested that we might like to have a picnic in the grounds of LMH, or "do our own thing". It was so chilly that we walked to a nearby pub in a pretty little street just off the main road (I think it was South Parade) and had fish and chips - how appropriate! - before heading back for a mooch around the dealers' room. There was a fabulous array of stalls with books and memorabilia and a great cosy atmosphere: Alex and Ruth chatting with old friends on the sofas in the centre of the room and Anke Eissmann sketching at a side table. On impulse I bought an Oxonmoot sweatshirt at a knock-down price.
Jonick and I had had enough of lecture rooms by now and decided to pass the hour or so before we had to clear the art show by wandering in the grounds of LMH. It was freezing. On reflection we should have gone with Iolanthe to watch Born of Hope. It looked as though that evening's barbecue was going to be a chilly business. Thank goodness I'd bought that sweatshirt . . .

Thanks for kicking this off again, Marbretherese. I confess I completely forgot that I was going to get on with this again last week . I've been focussing too much on painting and other much less interesting stuff. I do indeed have a tale to tell about where I got too, and luckly I have extensive notes to make up for my diminishing memory!

I'll try and post my report soon if my computer lets me (don't ask, but I just might throw it out of the window!)

Thanks for the report, marbretherese, and sorry it has taken me so long to read it!

I love Rhone's distinction between self-awareness and self-esteem. I've been aware that even Gandalf, a divine-ish being, occasionally voices his own fallibility and is aware of his short-comings. Sounds like a great talk! Don't we have a report somewhere of Shippey also giving a talk on leadership in Tolkien?

Watching Anke Eissmann at work would have been a joy! Do you remember what she was working on?

Looking forward to your report, Iolanthe!

Shippey did indeed give a talk on leadership at the Festival in the Shire, it's on the second page of the Festival inthe SHire Thread.

Anke was working on a series of small drawings, for a book, I think. She was sketching away while listening to some of the lectures in the morning, too.

With Christmas looming (and a wedding to plan!) I'm going to crack on and post the rest of my Oxonmoot report - I need the closure . I'm sure Iolanthe will have more to add to the bits I can't remember very well - and hopefully more photos too.
After we'd packed up our exhibits from the art show (easy for me - one painting! but a rather longer job for Iolanthe) we got ready for the barbecue - our preparations largely consisting of putting on every spare sweater we could find. The organisers had set the food up as usual - long tables on the terrace just outside the bar heaped with a variety of barbecued meats, fish and veggie alternatives, plus a whole host of different salads. We gamely took our loaded plates to a bench in the garden to eat, along with a few other hardy souls. Everyone else did the sensible thing and took their food indoors to eat in the warm. It was a very chilly evening and I was glad of that Oxonmoot sweatshirt - I wished I'd thought to pack gloves and a scarf, but it was only September after all! the desserts were laid out in the bar (Jonick was in his element due to the large amount of chocolate involved) and once we'd loaded our plates yet again, that's where we stayed until it was time for the Ents.

The evening was great fun with a variety of entertainments, all of which were somewhat spread out. Halfway through came the fancy dress competition - I hope Iolanthe managed some photos to give you an idea of this because I didn't take any, and unfortunately I can't remember now who won. After that there was a long gap - we nearly went to bed - luckily we didn't because they then showed a hilarious video based around a weather forecast for Middle Earth. If you can access YouTube, you can find it here..

Then nothing else happened for a bit, and we nearly went to bed again: at which point Alex Lewis got up and sang some very nice songs. So glad we didn't miss those!

Sunday started early for Jonick and I, as we needed to get to 8am Mass, come back to LMH for breakfast and then catch the coach for Enyalie. We crept out of our rooms at 7.30am (leaving Iolanthe gently snoring, I presume - we didn't have time to listen at her door!) and made our way through the almost-deserted streets to Blackfriars. The church was locked, and we spent a few anxious minutes wondering if we'd mistaken the Mass times; we were joined by a few parishioners, then a jovial Friar came to the gate and explained that they couldn't find the key to the church but it was sure to turn up soon! I had visions of missing breakfast, but on the dot of 8am the doors opened. We sat at the back under the watchful eye of St Dominic's statue - the one with the star on his brow. It was a lovely service and I couldn't help imagining Tolkien attending mass here years ago - I think I'm right in saying that he eventually came to prefer Blackfriars to the Oratory.
We legged it back to LMH just in time for the end of breakfast and ate our Full English in record time. The coaches to Wolvercote Cemetery were due at 10.30 and because of the cold weather everyone congregated in the hospitality room for a chat before setting off. Everyone was suitably attired as though for an Arctic expedition - long skirts, cloaks and boots suddenly not just a costume - more a practical necessity!! Before the ceremony itself, our very own Geordie showed us Humphrey Carpenter's grave - only a short distance from Tolkien's, and rather sadly neglected. Tolkien's eldest son, Fr John, is buried close to his parents. Then we gathered around Tolkien's grave for a few words from Tolkien Society Chairman Sally Kennett and the laying of a wreath before climbing back into the coaches for the return trip to LMH.
At Geordie's invitation we joined him, his wife and a group of Oxonmooters (is that a word?) for lunch at the Lamb & Flag (opposite the Eagle & Child, and coincidentally Jonick's local hostelry when he attended St John's College many years ago). Geordie had kindly brought along a number of items to show us - rare editions, and old photo albums of previous Oxonmoots attended by the Tolkien family. Our end of the room became more and more crowded as people turned up and ordered their food. If anybody had told me a couple of months previously that we'd be eating lunch with Dimitra Fimi and Colin Manlove I wouldn't have believed them, but there we were . . . and suddenly it was time to take our leave for another year. It had been a fabulous weekend!

Sorry: couldn't get past "a wedding to plan"! I've PMed you!