The Danger of Light and Joy

Gimli to Legolas while they are sailing away from Lothlorien: “Tell me, Legolas, why did I come on this Quest? Little did I know where the chief peril lay! Truly Elrond spoke, saying that we...

Yellow as a Cat’s

I also love how vividly Tolkien portrays evil in The Lord of the Rings. He makes you feel how seductive, how terrifying, how oppressive – how truly evil – it is. For example, I love...

Home and Holiday

As I am working my way through The Lord of the Rings and entering into the world that Tolkien created, I find it makes me long for heaven. Sam’s description of Lothlorien to Frodo really...

The Price of Adventure

They stood for a while silent on the hill-top, near its southward edge. In that lonely place Frodo for the first time fully realized his homelessness and danger. He wished bitterly that his fortune had...

Lewis, Tolkien, and Friendship

One of the interesting parts about The Narnian has been reading about Lewis’ friendships, and in particular his friendship with Tolkien. They made some funny statements about each other. For example, on hearing that the...

Courage

Delight

The other day I read Tolkien’s preface to the second edition of Lord of the Rings, published in 1965. In it Tolkien insists that his book has no allegorical significance (apparently a lot of readers...