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PERRIN LOVETT

~ Fiction, Freedom, and The West

PERRIN LOVETT

Tag Archives: J.R.R. Tolkien

Sauron’s Very Small Hat

10 Saturday Oct 2020

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Amazon, evil, J.R.R. Tolkien, revision, Sauron, SJW, Vox Day

In addition to his well-known Ring of Power, the Dark Lord also sported ridiculously undersized headwear. So might be the telling of the sure-to-suck SJW revisions of Tolkien’s First and/or Second Ages in Amazon’s coming atrocities.

Vox Day reviews Evita Duffy’s review of an assault:

It’s not the “Left” that hates Tolkien

It’s the anti-Christian Prometheans at Amazon who are attempting to degrade Middle Earth and turn it into Westeros with elves. Sexy, naked, gay elves:

It is obvious the left has it in for Tolkien and his work. This could not stop a major company like Amazon from wanting to profit off Tolkien’s hugely popular Legendarium.

While Amazon is looking for a cash cow series, it appears pop culture is trying to defile Tolkien’s work from within, and what better way to undermine Tolkien’s message than to reimagine his stories in secular terms? From their point of view, it makes perfect sense to recreate the Second Age into a sexual paganist series to succeed “Game of Thrones.”

The left is already cheering on the beginnings of the presumed assassination of Tolkien’s legacy. The leftist “NY Magazine” ran a story this week headlined, “Give Us the Horny Lord of the Rings Show We Deserve.” “Are we sure that an overwhelmingly erotic Middle Earth experience is such a bad thing,” read the article. “Make the elves get a little freaky. Allow the hobbits their fun. Give a new meaning to the inscription on the West-door of the Mines of Moria: Speak, friend, and enter.”

Ideology politics are dead. Idea wars are reserved for homogeneous societies, not multiracial, multiethnic, multireligious, war zones.  The culture wars are intrinsically interidentity, and anyone who is still babbling about Left and Right, or Liberal and Conservative, is simply demonstrating the extent to which they fail to understand their own reality.

Social Justice is Satan’s Justice.

Sorry, SDL; the whole thing begged for lifting.

Vox is, as usual, correct. Evil hates Good, as Good is supposed to (as Commanded to) hate evil. I’m not Vice Regent of Middle Earth or even a lowly soldier. However, as a fan, I can’t let the attack go unfought. This reminds me that I need to finish writing something. In fact, this pitiful episode should give it a new angle – a sharp point, to drive into the enemies of the True, the Beautiful, and the Tolkien.

Slow News Day

25 Tuesday Feb 2020

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J.R.R. Tolkien, Russia, The Hobbit, wow!

So, there’s this: the unlicensed, unauthorized, illegal 1985 Russian television version of THE HOBBIT.  Yeah.

Still better than Peter Jackson’s take…

TPC coming later.

A Visual Issue With Tolkien

01 Monday Jul 2019

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horizon, J.R.R. Tolkien, line of sight, math

This is one of the drafts that has just sat around for years, even surviving the rapid draft purge of last December. The other day, I spoke to a friend and was reminded of the quandary, which is as follows:

Tolkien, among his many and excellent descriptive narrations, loved to describe characters looking off and over vast distances, frequently espying objects at extreme distances. This always struck me as funny. Here’s one example, from The Hobbit:

“But they came to that high point at morning, and looking backward they saw a white sun shining over the outstretched lands. There behind lay Mirkwood, blue in the distance, and darkly green at the nearer edge even in the spring. There far away was the Lonely Mountain on the edge of eyesight. On its highest peak snow yet unmelted was gleaming pale.”

– Bilbo (and Gandalf) at the High Pass over the Misty Mountains, Chapter 18, The Return Journey

A lovely scene. But, was it possible? Could Bilbo, or anyone for that matter, have seen Erebor from roughly 300 miles away? Let’s, right here and now, find out.

Assumptions:

A) “300 miles” is based on my crude calculation and measurement, using the map and scale included in the deluxe boxed edition of the LOTR, from where I think the High Pass is located to where I think the peak of Erebor stands gleaming. The scale ruler is 0 – 300 miles, and it is almost an exact fit.

B) Arda was modeled after the real Earth and was spherical in the late Third Age. I will assume it is also roughly the same size and mass and with the same radius, diameter, etc.

C) I assume that this bright, sunny morning was completely free of any and all atmospheric distortion and there were no physical obstacles in the way.

D) Bilbo had better than average eyes, but I assume The Ring did not augment his visual abilities.

E) If Lonely Mountain was still snow-capped in a “fair” Spring, then it must be at least 10,000 feet tall. For convenience sake, I assume the High Pass was of similar elevation.

F) I assume my use of the simple equation, below, is sufficient. I essentially double it, thus effectively creating the measure of the more complex geometrical “offing” equation. I’m rambling about a book, not sailing a damned ship.

Now, it’s just a matter of math. Looking for distance, “d,” in miles, to the horizon:

d ≅ 1.22 x √h

“h” is the height of the observation point – here, assumed to be at least or about 10,000 ft.

d ≅ 1.22 x √10,000

d ≅ 122 miles

Uh, oh…

But, wait! Tolkien never said Erebor was at or on the actual horizon, he said it was on the edge of eyesight. As mariners know, some taller objects are visible over and beyond the horizon. Keeping Bilbo’s point of observation at about 10,000 ft, let’s measure how far the horizon was would be, from Erebor, looking towards the West.

If Erebor is 10,000 feet high, then we know it’s another 122 miles. Assuming Bilbo saw the very tip of the top of the highest peak over and beyond his already 122-mile distant horizon, and allowing for simple addition (a lot of assumptions and allowances, yes), then it’s still 56 miles too far away to be seen. But, what if Erebor was taller than 10,000 feet?

If Erebor was a 20,000-foot mountain, then it’s own d to the horizon would be 172 miles, for a total line of sight of 294 miles. That is getting there. If the High Pass was really high, say 15,000 feet, then Bilbo’s d to the horizon would be 149 miles. That adds up to a total potential line of sight of 321 miles.

Thus, and I did not really expect this, given all of my assumptions, there is a distinctly plausible range of line of sight which renders Bilbo’s sighting hypothetically possible. He, in fact, could have looked across Wilderland and literally seen the tip-top of the Lonely Mountain.

To think you doubted Professor Tolkien just a little. To cure this shame, we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt as to all the other measurements. Astounding detail and accuracy.

And, happy July!

Quote

Return with Me to Middle Earth — Mere Inkling

21 Tuesday May 2019

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J.R.R. Tolkien, TeeVee

Rob Stroud offers excellent thoughts on a new Tolkien TeeVee series, with or without Peter Jackson. Either way, as with all things “screens,” I think I’m out. 

J.R.R. Tolkien’s tales of Middle Earth will once more be displayed in all of their digital radiance when a new series begins in two years. Yes, I said “series,” because it will not be coming to theaters. Instead it will be developed for subscribers to Amazon’s subscription service. Some fans of Tolkien are understandably wary. […]

via Return with Me to Middle Earth — Mere Inkling

A Full Review (and then some) of The Fall of Gondolin

13 Thursday Dec 2018

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book review, books, J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Gondolin, TPC

FROM TPC. Here, in full, via direct syndication:

13 December 2018

[Perrin Lovett] – A Book Review of Tolkien’s “The Fall of Gondolin”

 

A story a century in the making. A book published 45 years after the author’s death. The latest in a long line of best selling works. Earlier this year came the “completed” master legend of the last days of Turgon’s hidden kingdom. Here follows my account of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fall of Gondolin, the good, the great, and the quirky.

But, first, a few notes on how to read Tolkien, especially this tome. A virgin perusal is possible, provided the reader is possessed of what passed for, say, an eighth-grade education, circa 1960. (What that translates to, today, I do not know, though I suspect it leans towards the graduate level). While I’m about to highly recommend the book, I do not recommend it as an initial foray into Arda (the physical World of the Legendarium). Hence,

Start with The Hobbit. Read it at least twice. Then, read The Lord of the Rings (“LOTR”) – cover to cover – to include the important Appendixes. Read LOTR again. Next, read The Hobbit and LOTR, back to back. Then, read The Silmarillion – thrice. The initial criticism of Christopher Tolkien’s editing work will be manifestly obvious and seemingly justified during the initial and subsequent reading. What he painstakingly assembled immediately following his father’s passing at first looks like a neverending cobbling of names, places, dates, and more names. The basis for concern melts with the third reading as a thing of pure majesty presents itself. Somewhere around the twelfth consideration, the work takes on a pleasure all its own as the now academic reader skillfully seeks out well-known favorite passages.

Read The Hobbit, LOTR, and The Silmarillion in succession. Then, and only then, one may (and should) move into The Lost Tales, Unfinished Tales, the various volumes of The History of Middle Earth and other, associated works. Somewhere, during this time, a gander at the various explanatory Letters Tolkien sent is advisable.

Nearing finality in this educational process, one approaches The Children of Hurin, Tolkien’s grand tragedy to rival (I say “to best”) anything by Sophocles. Released in 2007, Hurin fully completes the tale glimpsed in some of the above works, a good novella stretched into a great novel. Hurin also set the stage for the first of two “disappointments” in the saga.

Last year we were treated to the full-length version of that base tale of eternal romance, Beren and Luthien. I say “disappointment” only because, unlike Hurin, Beren is not a completed telling. Rather, it is a “how the story was crafted over many decades” book, literally tracing the development, draft by draft, from WWI until near the time of Tolkien’s death. It’s fascinating, but what you get in the end is essentially the final product recorded in The Silmarillion 40 years earlier. Still, fans, we take what we can get, right?

So it is with The Fall of Gondolin. This is not an end-to-end expose of, perhaps, the most dramatic, action-packed legend in all the annals. But, it does, in primitive and rather disjointed format, link everything together. And, it’s all awesome.

Here, I pause to credit the masterful dedication of Christopher T. in revising, editing, and publishing so much we would otherwise miss. He says, and I believe him, that this is his finale. Then again, he hinted as much when Beren hit the shelves. If this is his end, the end of 70+ year tenure as vice-regent of Middle Earth, so to speak, he’s more than earned the retirement (and all the honor and gratitude we can heap on him). Thank you, Sir!

It occurs to me that more stories lurk in that vast archive housed, in all places, at Marquette University. Something tells me another generation or other appointed editor is already sifting through it. With any luck, a hundred years after people have forgotten the tedious Crowleyisms of Rowling’s inexplicably popular rubbish, they’ll still look forward to something new from the master of the Anglo-Saxon, our Literary Professor Emeritus.

Now – and, thank you for bearing with the preface – on with the book:

I have, here, no real Easter eggs. As I warned, The Fall is not really for the uninitiated, the faint of heart, nor the post-literate. I warped through it, the first time, in about an hour. This is due to: my pre-existing knowledge of the story; my understanding of Christopher’s editing style; the prior reading of Beren; some excellent outside reviews, and; the terrific, easy, and user-friendly layout of the Kindle version.

By the way,

BUY THE FALL OF GONDOLIN

51dL5Yl2qQL._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_

Picture courtesy of Amazon, Tolkien, Tolkien, and Lee!

The first hint the casual reader may discover, of the grandeur of Gondolin, is in The Hobbit. This was the fabled city from whence came the blades of Gandalf and Thorin, originally made for the Goblin Wars. Therein, encircled and protected by near-impenetrable mountains, reigned Turgon, upon a time High King of the Noldorin Elves.

Of Tuor and His Coming Into Gondolin, we know from the Unfinished Tales. Orphaned Tuor, tallest of mortal Men, found the unlikely favor of Ulmo (Poseidon), Lord of Waters. He came to Gondolin following adventures wet and cold. There, he found the favor of the King and the love of his daughter, Idril. Theirs was one of a mere handful of mixed marriages and breedings (of Men and Elves), the progeny thereof being Earendil, future father of Elrond and Elros.

One of the most idiotic of all criticisms limply cast at Tolkien is his alleged forsaking of romance and of strong women. Forgetting, if it’s possible, Eowyn, Arwen, Galadriel, Gilraen, Morwen, Nienor, Luthien, Rose Cotton, “Gimli’s women,” Lobelia, Melian, Varda, Yavanna, and the literally scorching-hot Arien, Idril holds her own against both counts of libel. Her enduring love of Tuor and her unrelenting bravery in the defense of her people and her child suffice. When violently assailed by her wayward and lusting cousin, we learn she fought “like a tigress.” And, her plan was the contingency that saved the remnant, quite possibly preventing the First Age from ending prematurely and with total victory for Morgoth (Lucifer). Tolkien didn’t write weak women. Nor did he write weak fiction.

Not weak, but, as edited by necessity, confusing – hence my approach advice in the delving. The last telling of Tuor’s arrival, essentially that of Unfinished, comes towards the end of this book. A link is provided (in Kindle), instantly redirecting the reader back to near the beginning and the actual Fall of the most beautiful city of Beleriand.

In studying this demise it is helpful to know, in advance, something of how the peoples and the histories converged toward finality, of who made the cut and who didn’t, who became whom, and so forth. The Gnomes, for instance, were working placeholders; the “men” of the Gondolidrim are, in fact, Elves – Tuor being the only actual Man in the Kingdom at the time (though not in history). A healthy peremptory education prevents getting lost in an otherwise incomprehensible tangle of names, races, titles, and descriptions. But, once one has it – whoa!

Now comes the action, more action, and then, some more riveting action. Imagine, those of you of mere LOTR acquaintance, Minas Tirith falling, in spectacular fashion, during Sauron’s assault during The Return of the King. Imagine the peak valor and feats of heroism of that work, augmented and repeated side-by-side over and over again.

In The Fall we learn a bit more about Morgoth’s creation of the dragons, the slithering and winged. We also find out that Balrogs can be slain without the accompanying death of the slayer. Glorfindel (sorry Peter Jackson victims) finds and ends his “buddy” up on the mountainside. Ecthelion takes out three demons in rapid succession, only meeting his end killing the fourth – Gothmog, no less. Tuor slays five and grievously wounds a dragon and does so mostly unscathed.

Towers fall. Wolves run. Eagles fly. Snakes crawl. Evil wins the glorious day (night, rather) only to set up its eventual defeat at the hands of the temporarily vanquished. It’s a wild, violent, noble ride worthy of any acclaim ever aimed at the creation of Eru Iluvatar.

So… Five Stars. Highly recommended. Applause. Buy it today, read it when you’re ready.

And, another hardy thank you to Christopher Tolkien, illustrator Alan Lee, and, especially, to our most prolific Survivor of The Somme, Sir John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. Excellence mirroanwe!

jrr-tolkien1

THE Legend. Picture from Biography Online.

Preview of a Review: The Fall of Gondolin

09 Sunday Dec 2018

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books, J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Gondolin, TPC

Coming ASAP, maybe as this week’s TPC column.

BUY YOUR COPY NOW

 

51dL5Yl2qQL._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_

Amazon.

After three years, I learned of the rule against Amazon-hosted authors posting book reviews on Amazon. This is actually a relief; it provides a mask of immunity to cover my “official” reviewing laziness. TPC it will be, barring the happening of other earth-shattering national affairs.

***Note*** This blurb and subsequent review preempt and negate a previously scheduled “clearing the drafts” Tolkien short. I rank him in the highest category of fiction possible, with Homer, above Billy S., etc.

TFOG Preorder

26 Thursday Apr 2018

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blog, books, J.R.R. Tolkien, slow

Whoa. One of those days when nothing starts. Or doesn’t stop. Or something.

After killing every idea for a post today, including dismissing some lingering drafts, I’ll just give you this:

Preorder The Fall of Gondolin from Amazon.

Or not… Hubba. Working on fidning that “right” idea for today. This may be it.

Tomorrow!

The Fall of Gondolin

24 Tuesday Apr 2018

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books, J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fall of Gondolin

You can’t keep a good author down. Even if he’s been dead for nearly half a century. Later this year we can look forward to another new masterpiece by J.R.R. Tolkien: The Fall of Gondolin:

HarperCollins has announced that it will, for the very first time, publish The Fall of Gondolin on 30 August this year.

Edited by Christopher Tolkien and illustrated by Alan Lee, The Fall of Gondolin will follow the same format as Beren and Lúthien published last year, separating out the story so that it stands alone while showing how the narrative evolved over the years. This is the first time the tale of the Fall of Gondolin will be published as a standalone edition, collecting all versions of the story together.

Responding to the news, Tolkien Society chair, Shaun Gunner, said:

We never dared to dream that we would see this published. The Fall of Gondolin is, to many in the Tolkien community, the Holy Grail of Tolkien texts as one of Tolkien’s three Great Tales alongside The Children of Húrin and Beren and Lúthien. This beautiful story captures the rise and fall of a great Elven kingdom, taking place millennia before the events of The Lord of the Rings. This book brings all the existing work together in one place to present the story in full.

Let’s hope it’s more like The Children of Hurin (a full story) and maybe less like Beren and Luthien (a full telling of how a story developed). The potential is epic.

For the Hobbit and LOTR readers, this is the ancient, crown jewel Noldorin civilization mentioned briefly in those works (and also in TCOH). For Peter Jackson movie fans, say five Hail Marys and go read those books. All: get a preview from The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales.

The short story Of Tuor and His Coming to Gondolin (UT) set the stage but was, sadly, never finished. Let’s hope this book does it.

The-Fall-of-Gondolin-290x437

Tolkien/Lee.

Back to the First Age Again

09 Friday Jun 2017

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books, J.R.R. Tolkien, Kindle

Just got my first edition print of Beren and Luthien by J.R.R. Tolkien. Well, it’s a first edition for Kindle – my first Tolkien on an electronic format. It seems the pitiful toy and coffee bookstore I went to, their whole chain, and the publisher are out of hardcover prints already (released June 1st). How many decades of Tolkien bestseller experience does Houghton have??? Anyway, I could have consulted Amazon and express shipped one (if available) but I wanted it immediately – thus, Kindle:

nimbus-image-1497055597269

Houghton Mifflin / Tolkien Estate / Christopher Tolkien / Alan Lee.

As I mentioned at the beginning of the year:

Beren and Luthien is the great love story of the legendarium. It tells the tale of Beren, a mortal Man, and Luthien, an Elvish princess – one of only three such “mixed” marriages in Middle Earth. They undertake the most daring quest in the long history of that world.

Some of you have read perhaps the short version of the story in the Silmarillion. From that work also came The Children of Hurin, which was released ten years prior to B&L. Christopher Tolkien’s editing and narration skills have increased dramatically since 1977 (and I never shared the contemporary criticism of his work, then). This book will be excellent.

And it would also make for one of the best Tolkien movies imaginable. That is, if Peter “Ruin Everything Possible” Jackson is kept as far away as possible. A movie with something for everyone – date movie, chick flick, fantasy, action. Come to think of it, TCOH, Tolkien’s tragedy, would make a fine movie. No Jackson.

The B&L legend soundly defeats one of the major (unjust) claims of Tolkien detractors – that of a lack of romance. In that regard, the legend was so important to Tolkien that he had “Beren” and “Luthien” inscribed as nicknames on his and his wife’s tombstone. This is a romantic epic of the highest order, riddled through with adventure. Sauron even makes an appearance, in person and in voice.

I highly recommend this work when available. If you must buy just one novel this year, this should be the one. It will probably be mine.

Now, I sincerely hope Christopher is already at work completing the tales of Tuor and Idril.

It seems, from the Preface, that Christopher is hanging it up with this book. He points out he is 93. Perhaps the third and/or fourth generations will attack the other legends.

For now I’m looking forward to the release of a deluxe, boxed, collector’s edition to go with my collection. You can and should obtain yours: here and now:

Beren and Luthien (2017)

Please excuse me; wheels up for Beleriand.

*Review to follow, here and at Amazon, in time …

Beren and Luthien: May, 2017

18 Wednesday Jan 2017

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books, fiction, J.R.R. Tolkien

Literary fans, take note. A new Tolkien book cometh this year, 44 years after the author’s death. And the story itself is one of Tolkien’s oldest. At around 100 years in the making it predates both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. All of this makes me feel especially good about my slowness in cranking out new books.

beren-luthien

Alan Lee / Harper Collins.

Beren and Luthien is the great love story of the legendarium. It tells the tale of Beren, a mortal Man, and Luthien, an Elvish princess – one of only three such “mixed” marriages in Middle Earth. They undertake the most daring quest in the long history of that world.

Some of you have read perhaps the short version of the story in the Silmarillion. From that work also came The Children of Hurin, which was released ten years prior to B&L. Christopher Tolkien’s editing and narration skills have increased dramatically since 1977 (and I never shared the contemporary criticism of his work, then). This book will be excellent.

And it would also make for one of the best Tolkien movies imaginable. That is, if Peter “Ruin Everything Possible” Jackson is kept as far away as possible. A movie with something for everyone – date movie, chick flick, fantasy, action. Come to think of it, TCOH, Tolkien’s tragedy, would make a fine movie. No Jackson.

The B&L legend soundly defeats one of the major (unjust) claims of Tolkien detractors – that of a lack of romance. In that regard, the legend was so important to Tolkien that he had “Beren” and “Luthien” inscribed as nicknames on his and his wife’s tombstone. This is a romantic epic of the highest order, riddled through with adventure. Sauron even makes an appearance, in person and in voice.

I highly recommend this work when available. If you must buy just one novel this year, this should be the one. It will probably be mine.

Now, I sincerely hope Christopher is already at work completing the tales of Tuor and Idril.

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Perrin Lovett

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