On the Eleventh Day of Christmas ~ Reliance

“All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,

A light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be blade that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king.”

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

I love all forms of creative expression! As a child, I remember our Grade 6 teacher, taking on the arduous task of reading The Hobbit, by English fantasy Author J. R. R. Tolkien.

It is an exceptional storyline that was followed by The Lord of the Rings. 

 This is the front cover art for the book The Hobbit written by J. R. R. Tolkien. The book cover art copyright is believed to belong to the publisher, George Allen & Unwin, or the cover artist, J. R. R. Tolkien. This is the cover to the 1937 first edition of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. It depicts the dragon Smaug.

* Credit: Wikipedia.org

 

As a child, whose imagination allowed me to escape the real monsters in my world, the writings of both J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis made possible a release from everyday life. The brilliance of dwarves, elves and immortals cast in the images of good and evil spun into a realm of fantasy is what kept me interested in the books. 

Several interesting facts I learned upon research found that in 1982, an asteroid discovered by M. Watt was named 2675 Tolkien after the philologist, university professor, and author. While in the Cadwallader Range of British Columbia, three mountains have been named after Tolkien's characters. These are called Mount Shadowfax, Mount Aragorn and Mount Gandalf. 

As a writer of less grand proportions, I cannot imagine the epic legacy of a book written 77 years ago, playing out across screen in AVX 3D across the world! 

Shayla was intrigued by the legendary stories of Middle -earth and the complex line of intricate characters that evolved over time. We use to go see the movies together… sometimes she would have seen them several times, as both her father who lives in Kelowna, and myself- residing in the Lower mainland at the time, treasured the movies. For her stepbrother Gary’s birthday one year, Shayla bought him the ‘ring’ and presented it to him on a necklace. She was thrilled to have found it as Gary was very fond of The Lord of the Rings. 

On my eleventh day of Christmas, I chose to honour my daughter’s love for J.R.R. Tolkien and see the end of the trilogy- The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies.  I will assure you there are no major spoilers here with the exception of two references, which resonated within me. The first- there is a very extraordinary engraved pebble that has its rightful place within the storyline. The second is the following that is exchanged between two characters. 

“Why does it hurt so much?”

“Because it was real…”

For me, the core values of trust and loyalty, I hold amongst the highest in regard. Much like the witch breaking Gandalf’s staff…I have been wounded by broken bits…  I need say no more.

This was the last ‘activity’ to take place on my quest of the twelve days of Christmas and I was not disappointed in the time I spent escaping to Middle -earth. 

There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

By T.L. Alton