Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #tolkien
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For #Tolkien, Faerie is the land of endless beauty and peril, where humility is required. The concept is present in many of his works, but it's also something I'm familiar with from what's known as Hutan Larangan ("sacred forest").
A 🧵for #TolkienTrewsday #TolkienTuesday 1/8
A 🧵for #TolkienTrewsday #TolkienTuesday 1/8
In Tolkien's early writing, an explorer, Eriol, was about to enter a tiny magical house called the Cottage of Lost Play. The house asked him to will himself to be as tiny as the "little folk" to enter. We can read it as a test of humility. 2/8
🎨: Amani Warrington
🎨: Amani Warrington
One of Tolkien's "fairy poems" showed the consequence of acting with arrogance when you got a chance to enter the Faerie: the unnamed narrator was reduced to a rambling wreck, suffering an indescribable feeling of loss. 3/8
The Ebony Horse in Arabian Nights and Iron Dragons in The Fall of Gondolin shared fascination over mechanical beasts in classic fantasy tales, and how they are viewed in the lens of folktale/fairy tale and modern eyes. 1/4
#TolkienTrewsday #TolkienTuesday #Tolkien
#TolkienTrewsday #TolkienTuesday #Tolkien
In The Ebony Horse, the flying horse was made by a craftsman who was later imprisoned over a disastrous flying test; he tampered with the horse for revenge. Meglin (Maegln) suggested the Iron Dragons to Melko, who ordered his smiths and sorcerers to make them. 2/4
Note that Tolkien started The Fall of Gondolin after his experiences in the battlefield of Somme. The Iron Dragons, with their "hearts and spirits of blazing fire" and clanging hollow bellies from where Orcs poured out, sounds like magic infused with the image of tanks. 3/4
For #BookWormSat theme of the sea:
a 🧵 on one of my favorite #Tolkien's poems, The Sea-Bell (Frodos Dreme). First published on 18 January 1934 in The Oxford Magazine, it has themes like dream, mortality and alienation; beginning with a shell that emits the sound of the sea. 1/8
a 🧵 on one of my favorite #Tolkien's poems, The Sea-Bell (Frodos Dreme). First published on 18 January 1934 in The Oxford Magazine, it has themes like dream, mortality and alienation; beginning with a shell that emits the sound of the sea. 1/8
A stranger found a white shell on the beach. When he put it on his ears, he heard the distant sounds of harbors and the seas. He saw "a boat, silently float/on the night-tide, empty and grey." It took him to a strange land where the inhabitants fled upon seeing him. 2/8
He climbed a mound and made himself a king, but darkness descended upon him, turning him "blinded and bent." He dwelt in the forest "wandering in wit", growing old and weary. A year and a day later, the ship returned and he boarded it to his own land. 3/8
For my second #TolkienTrewsday tweet on "animals": a thread on Tolkien's quaint poem about a dreaming cat. In the legendarium, this poem was written by Samwise Gamgee, showing Hobbits' love toward lighthearted animal lore. 1/12
#TolkienTuesday #Tolkien
🎨: Patrick Tolen
#TolkienTuesday #Tolkien
🎨: Patrick Tolen
Tolkien wrote it in 1956 for his granddaughter, starting it with a cute image of a cat sleeping. One might think this cat was dreaming of mice and a bowl of cream:
The fat cat on the mat/
may seem to dream/
of nice mice that suffice/
for him, or cream.
But they're wrong!
2/12
The fat cat on the mat/
may seem to dream/
of nice mice that suffice/
for him, or cream.
But they're wrong!
2/12
This seemingly tame cat dreamed about being a large, ferocious beast. Tolkien described the animal in the cat's dream as its distant kin:
Lean and slim/
or deep in den/
in the East feasted on beasts/
and tender men.
3/12
🎨: Alan Lee
Lean and slim/
or deep in den/
in the East feasted on beasts/
and tender men.
3/12
🎨: Alan Lee
For #TolkienTrewsday theme of favorite character: one part that always makes me see Frodo in special way is when he volunteered to carry the Ring to the fire, but followed it with softer, "Though I do not know the way."
#TolkienTuesday #Tolkien 1/10 🧵
🎨: Jenny Dolfen
#TolkienTuesday #Tolkien 1/10 🧵
🎨: Jenny Dolfen
This part is so poignant; when all these great Men, Elves, and Dwarves were debating, and no one answered the question about who will carry the Ring, the only one volunteered was this Hobbit who had been hurt by Morgul blade and wanted nothing but going home. 2/10
The fact that he followed it with a soft "I don't know the way" showed his inner strength. He still couldn't see the magnanimity of the situation. He just knew there would be consequences of not destroying the Ring. He volunteered even before thinking about the details. 3/10
For #TolkienTrewsday theme of villain: this thread is from my blog post on the Paths of the Dead and the Dead Men that haunted the place. Their origin was unique because they started as "the oath breakers". 1/5
🎨: The Paths of the Dead by Darrell Sweet
#TolkienTuesday #Tolkien
🎨: The Paths of the Dead by Darrell Sweet
#TolkienTuesday #Tolkien
The Dead Men were originally the Men of the Mountains. Their king had sworn allegiance to Isildur at the Stone of Erech. However, when Isildur summoned them to fight against Sauron, they refused. Furious, Isildur cursed them to never find rest until their oath was fulfilled. 2/5
The Dead Men emphasized the importance of an oath. Several instances of oath-taking in Middle-earth legendarium played important parts in history; from the infamous Oath of Fëanor to the Oath of Eorl, made under the names of Eru and Valar (thus invoking “divine power”). 3/5
Buenas noches; justo a tiempo arrancamos con el #Tweetmarillion de hoy. Nuestro tema es la segunda parte de la nomenclatura de la Tierra Media. Espero que puedan acompañarme junto a la @STolkiendiliMex . ^^
Como de costumbre, mis tuits no están preparados, pero traigo notas. Estaré tuiteando por aquí durante las próximas dos o tres horas, pero podemos continuar la conversación en la semana si ustedes gustan. ^^
Cualquier pregunta, comentario o aportación, que mucho agradeceré, por favor pónganmelo en un reply con el HT #Tweetmarillion . Procuro responder todo al instante, pero por favor ténganme paciencia. ^^
On 8 March 1939, J. R. R. Tolkien delivered a lecture at the University of St. Andrews, which was published as essay "On Fairy Stories", in which he argued that fairy tales are not just for children, describing what it means to enter this realm.
🧵1/8
🎨: J.R.R. #Tolkien
🧵1/8
🎨: J.R.R. #Tolkien
Tolkien described the realm of fairy-story as wide, deep, and high, filled with all manner of beasts and birds, shoreless seas and stars uncounted. Beauty and perils are present together, just like how joy and sorrow "sharp as swords" are inseparable. 2/8
Tolkien also described fairy stories as any works that used the "Faerie" for stories of adventures, fantasy, morality, or satire (without making fun of or laughing at the "magic" itself). This is the world where the author becomes the "Sub-creator". 3/8
we still love @JRRTolkien, which is why we detest Peter Jackson so very much—we think he turned one our favorite childhood works of art into coarse crass (and racist) action trash, and for some reason hardly anyone's noticed. I suppose it's a sign we're in the Bad Place™.
(1/x)
(1/x)
it's one of the ill-kept secrets of the modern-day fascıst movement, by the way, that they *adore* the Peter Jackson #LOTR films—people like @MattWalshBlog and @Timcast and @benshapiro have probably watched those trashy movies a thousand times. they're big hits, after all.
(2/x)
(2/x)
and if someone like @benshapiro adores your movie, then you've done something dreadfully wrong—and I earnestly hope that Peter Jackson's treatment of #Tolkien one day gets a very thorough critical laceration. Jackson's a hacky director, and he made polished hackwork.
(3/x)
(3/x)
Keine Sterne in Athen und keine #Leopard2 in #Ukraine
statt
"Deutsche Waffen und Deutsches Geld morden in aller Welt"
haben Chefs von Deutschland entschieden
"die andere Wange oder Ohr auch noch hinhalten"
in "Jesus von Nazareth", "Ben Hur" und "Live of Brian M. #Python"
statt
"Deutsche Waffen und Deutsches Geld morden in aller Welt"
haben Chefs von Deutschland entschieden
"die andere Wange oder Ohr auch noch hinhalten"
in "Jesus von Nazareth", "Ben Hur" und "Live of Brian M. #Python"
also im Kino fand ich "The Last Temptation of Christ" schon deutlicher angenehmer zu gucken als dieser blurünstige Prachtschinken von Mel Gibson "The Passion of Christ"
aber was ich schon?
Wenn ich wüsste,
dass ich nichts weiss,
dann wüsste ich weit mehr,
als all das, wass ich weiß.
Bo, n Date mit Simone de Beauvoir im Jahr 1968 im Straßen-Cafe auf MontMartre würd jetzt echt gut tun.
Wenn ich wüsste,
dass ich nichts weiss,
dann wüsste ich weit mehr,
als all das, wass ich weiß.
Bo, n Date mit Simone de Beauvoir im Jahr 1968 im Straßen-Cafe auf MontMartre würd jetzt echt gut tun.
Without Christopher Tolkien (21 November 1924 - 16 January 2020), the world of Tolkien studies and our understanding of his vast expanse of imagination would not have been like now.
A thread of appreciation from me. 1/13
#Tolkien #OTD
📷: Josh Dolgin
A thread of appreciation from me. 1/13
#Tolkien #OTD
📷: Josh Dolgin
Christopher was Tolkien's number one fan, the one who understood his father's work after Tolkien himself. Starting from listening to tales of Bilbo Baggins as a kid, he assisted Tolkien in drawing maps and giving feedback during the 15-year gestation of Lord of the Rings. 2/13
He briefly served in Royal Air Force, but it didn't stop his contribution to Tolkien's writing in LOTR, since his father kept sending him parts of LOTR manuscripts. In 1945, he joined The Inklings literary club following Tolkien, where he read parts of LOTR manuscripts. 3/13
On this day, 3019 T. A., the Fellowship of the Ring reached the Chamber of Mazarbul in Moria, where they found the Book of Mazarbul, which consisted of the final records of Ori as Orcs stormed Moria and killed Balin, Lord of Moria. How did #Tolkien create this page? 1/7
#LotR
#LotR
Tolkien used his knowledge of Medieval manuscripts to create three facsimile pages from the book. He burnt the edges with his pipe, pierced holes where the pages would have been stitched to the binding, and washed the paper with red and brown paint to make dried bloodstains. 2/7
The scanned picture above, owned by Tolkien Estate, is the final page of the book, where Ori wrote desperately in the book as the Orcs were gaining victories. Look at the Elvish script at the bottom; it was the final ominous words of Ori: "they are coming." 3/7
1/
Family Tree of #Rohan, House of Eorl, Complete Ancestry & Genealogy of #Éowyn, #Éomer & #Théoden. #LOTR
This is my 10th Chart in Middle-earth series based on J.R.R. #Tolkien's works.
A detailed thread on the #Genealogy of the House of #Eorl
#LordOfTheRings #LOTR
Family Tree of #Rohan, House of Eorl, Complete Ancestry & Genealogy of #Éowyn, #Éomer & #Théoden. #LOTR
This is my 10th Chart in Middle-earth series based on J.R.R. #Tolkien's works.
A detailed thread on the #Genealogy of the House of #Eorl
#LordOfTheRings #LOTR
3/
High Resolution link for this Chart
#LordOfTheRings #LOTR #TheHobbit #Tolkien
reddit.com/user/AndChrono…
High Resolution link for this Chart
#LordOfTheRings #LOTR #TheHobbit #Tolkien
reddit.com/user/AndChrono…
The Hobbit with Studio Ghibli art style 🤩🌿
Explaining the joke: I keep seeing people share "AI" generated images of Ghibli x Lord of the Rings. But the thing is, this actually already exists. Ghibli was founded by animators from Topcraft, who animated The Hobbit (1977) for Rankin Bass. They did a beautiful job!
For those who start the New Year in less than festive mood, consider Tolkien's New Year diary entry from when he was 18 years old:
"Depressed and as much in dark as ever,... God help me. Feel weak and weary."
A thread on Tolkien's unpublished diary entries.
#Tolkien #NewYear
"Depressed and as much in dark as ever,... God help me. Feel weak and weary."
A thread on Tolkien's unpublished diary entries.
#Tolkien #NewYear
1910 looked like a rather gloomy start of the year for Tolkien. He just went through rough childhood as an orphan. Father Francis, his guardian, didn't approve his relationship with Edith. He was afraid of not getting scholarship and disappointing his guardian.
Tolkien's diaries are owned by Tolkien Estate, kept at Bodleian Library, and only open for approved researchers, so I can only see quotes. But that first entry is so striking for me: direct, tired, unsure. Murky waves that contributed to one's uncertainty when facing a new year.
#Tolkien ist ein Lieblingsautor der extremen Rechten aller Spielarten. Die wohl durchgeballertste Adaption bisher kommt aus der Zeitung „Aufgewacht“ der #FreieSachsen: Tolkien als Prophet, der u.a. das Ende des „Tiefen Staates“ voraussagt. Ein unvollständiger 🧵zur Einordnung.
Der Autor Ludwig D. #Gartz, ein #Homöopath und Anhänger der #Freiwirtschaftslehre, sieht Tolkien als Propheten im Kampf gegen die „Hochfinanz“, die wiederum den „Tiefen Staat“ lenkt. Der „Herr der Ringe“ mache Voraussagen für Gegenwart und Zukunft.
Das Ende der Hochfinanz vollziehe sich in fünf Schritten. Wir befinden uns zwischen der zweiten und der dritten Phase, die gleichzeitig die gefährlichste sei.
Game of Thrones, Lord of the Ring, Harry Potter, Star Wars, Zelda, Avatar… Fictions set in large and rich imaginary worlds are more and more popular around the world. Why do humans tend to enjoy fictional environments that differ from the real world? A long thread ⬇️ (1/74)
More mysteries… First, there is variability in this widespread cultural preference: some people hate imaginary worlds. Why doesn’t everybody enjoy them? Second, imaginary worlds could have been invented way earlier in history. Why is it a recent cultural phenomenon? (2/74)
Why this long thread? Because our @BBSJournal Target Article was just released, in which with Nicolas Baumard we put forward a general hypothesis about the psychological foundations of fictions with imaginary worlds. (3/74)
#Tolkien in a letter to Christopher, 7-8 November 1944: "I coined the word eucatastrophe: the sudden happy turn in a story.... It produces its peculiar effect because it is a sudden glimpse of Truth...a sudden relief as if a major limb out of joint had suddenly snapped back."
Tolkien described the feeling after listening to a sermon with daughter Priscilla (Prisca) in St. Gregory's. He also met an old vagrant in rags with a tin can, gazing into the distance in some rapt thought, "Looked a great deal more like St. Joseph than the statue in the church."
I love this letter because, when he used words like "as if a major limb out of joint had suddenly snapped back" and "it comes from those places where Joy and Sorrow are at one, reconciled," I feel like he put into words what I understood deeply but found it hard to explain.
Inspired by my last post, here's how #Tolkien got carried away and made a mistake:
The Book of Mazarbul is a manuscript compilation recording the fate of Balin and his Dwarves that the Fellowship of the Ring found and read in Moria.
1/21
@TolkienSociety @theoneringnet @JRRTolkien
The Book of Mazarbul is a manuscript compilation recording the fate of Balin and his Dwarves that the Fellowship of the Ring found and read in Moria.
1/21
@TolkienSociety @theoneringnet @JRRTolkien
It is described this way:
"It had been slashed and stabbed and partly burned, and it was so stained with black and other dark marks like old blood that little of it could be read. Gandalf lifted it carefully, but the leaves crackled and broke as he laid it on the slab…
2/21
"It had been slashed and stabbed and partly burned, and it was so stained with black and other dark marks like old blood that little of it could be read. Gandalf lifted it carefully, but the leaves crackled and broke as he laid it on the slab…
2/21
he gingerly turned the leaves… written by many different hands, in runes, both of Moria and of Dale, and here and there in Elvish script."
3/21
3/21
Amazon's debacle known as #TheRingsofPower has a lot of bad writing. And while I am not a #Tolkien purist by any stretch of the imagination, willful violations of continuity & lore for no reason other than flexing is inexcusable. What follows is an example. Spoilers ahead...
🧵 - Case in point - "Dead" or "Missing" Celeborn. There was just no reason to mention him at all - but when Galadriel name drops him, it unravels her whole motivation for pursuing Sauron - namely that her brother died while fighting Morgoth's forces...
🧵- We are beaten over the head constantly with her brother's death. Now, we know that Celeborn isn't dead. They are at least careful to write that he wasn't "seen again." Because if he's dead, it screws over a lot of lore, least of which is that he is in #LotR.
Ever had that feeling where a picture reminds you of a favourite #Tolkien character? Well, I have, and I cordially invite you to hitch a ride on the MEGA-THREAD that is Pictures that Should Have Been Tolkienian. Btw, is that Gandalf? No, sorry it's Georg von Rosen's Odin (1886)
Lobelia Sackville-Baggins prepares a letter of complaint to Sharkey, whilst the late Otho looks on... No, sorry, this is Portrait of Lady Dacre (c 1555-1558) by Tudor-gentry-loving Flemish allegorical painter Hans Eworth #Tolkien
The Black Riders kick back post-Weathertop. No, sorry, this is the Dance of Death by Michael Wolgemut (c. 1493) Featured in Hartman Schedel's Nuremburg Chronicle, this charming little woodcut conjures the horrors of the Black Death. complete with Satanic snakes #Tolkien
If there is any one thing I can't forgive #Tolkien for either not writing or not preserving, it is the mysterious "Sauron: Arising and Fall of Men" that is referenced in the essay "The Awakening of the Quendi" in #NatureOfMiddleEarth. I have *thoughts* on this.
@MichaelFKane @7stars7siblings @srwestvik @Tolkien_erklart There was a long period before NoMe was published where portions of fandom—at least where and when I was involved—assumed the being described in the Anthrabeth must have been Sauron due to the timeline conflict...
To know that that is the direction Tolkien seems to have been going in his own mind is interesting. I don't know if he simply never wrote the piece he references here (with the being explicitly being Sauron) or if it was lost, but I dearly wish I could read it!
S1.E6 Breakdown of #TheRingsOfPower 🧵
This episode was very explosive. Not much #Tolkien to breakdown but very fun all the same.
Theory: This is Sauron's gauntlet. Adar claimed it as a trophy.
#TheOneRingQuisition
This episode was very explosive. Not much #Tolkien to breakdown but very fun all the same.
Theory: This is Sauron's gauntlet. Adar claimed it as a trophy.
#TheOneRingQuisition
NEW LIFE
Adar plants some alfirin seeds and says a prayer before battle.
Quenya: `Vinya coivië... na vírië...`
English: "New awakening... To life..."
Adar plants some alfirin seeds and says a prayer before battle.
Quenya: `Vinya coivië... na vírië...`
English: "New awakening... To life..."
1. `My children, we have endured much...`
Adar's plans laid bare:
S1.E4— `That [the Southlanders] may live if [they] forsake all claim to these lands and swear fealty to him.`
S1.E5— `And soon [the sun] will be gone. And with it, the part of me that knew its warmth as well.`
Adar's plans laid bare:
S1.E4— `That [the Southlanders] may live if [they] forsake all claim to these lands and swear fealty to him.`
S1.E5— `And soon [the sun] will be gone. And with it, the part of me that knew its warmth as well.`
S1.E5 Breakdown of #TheRingsOfPower 🧵
Nori (Markella Kavenagh) and The Stranger (Daniel Weyman) are eating walnuts on a plateau in Central Otago, South Island, NZ.
#TheOneRingQuisition
Nori (Markella Kavenagh) and The Stranger (Daniel Weyman) are eating walnuts on a plateau in Central Otago, South Island, NZ.
#TheOneRingQuisition
LOST
1. `Perils`
Nori first taught the Stranger to speak using sign language (E2).
Weeks later he speaks in the same dialect as Nori. Not surprising as he patterns his speech after her. He's also learning new words & with that a sense of right vs wrong as Nori sees it.
(1/4)
1. `Perils`
Nori first taught the Stranger to speak using sign language (E2).
Weeks later he speaks in the same dialect as Nori. Not surprising as he patterns his speech after her. He's also learning new words & with that a sense of right vs wrong as Nori sees it.
(1/4)
(2/4)
Nori's explanation of perils and death pushes the Stranger to consider that he has the capacity to cause death (`fireflies` in S1.E2).
He recognizes that death (or destruction) is not a desirable outcome.
Nori's explanation of perils and death pushes the Stranger to consider that he has the capacity to cause death (`fireflies` in S1.E2).
He recognizes that death (or destruction) is not a desirable outcome.
