Happy Tolkien Day!
Greetings BtG Nation! And a Happy Tolkien Day to you! March 25th marks the day that, in J.R.R. Tolkien’s great work, The Lord of the Rings, Sauron was finally defeated. You’ve all seen the movies, many of you have read the books, I won’t go into the nitty-gritty of how it went down.
I’m posting here because the works of Tolkien were a huge influence on me through my early teenage years, and still are today. The secondary creation of this man was nothing if not astounding in its immensity, complexity, and authenticity. In his Silmarillion, the precursor saga to the Lord of the Rings books, he develops his own unique creation myth and pantheon that seems as legit as any legend from Antiquity or poem from an 11th century Skald.
His world was a mix of Greek and Norse influence, with a Christian worldview placed atop— though none of it was intended to be allegorical (he often professed his distaste of allegory).
To veer back toward the point: if not for Tolkien’s profound vision and brilliant writing, I wouldn’t have experienced an incredible world of literature and myth, and so on March 25th I celebrate this great man and what he brought to the worlds of Literature, Fiction and Fantasy.
Here’s to you, Professor.
