Tea with Tolkien: Recent Episodes
Kaitlyn Facista
Join us as we chat about the works and faith of J.R.R. Tolkien, and strive to carry a little piece of Middle-Earth into our own daily lives.
Episode Notes: https://www.teawithtolkien.com/blog/fon-10
If you’d like to join in on the discussion, you can sign up for our book club at www.teawithtolkien.com/book-club to receive the link to our discord server.
If you’d like to support Tea with Tolkien by becoming a patron, you can learn more at www.patreon.com/teawithtolkien
Episode Notes: https://www.teawithtolkien.com/blog/fon-9
If you’d like to join in on the discussion, you can sign up for our book club at www.teawithtolkien.com/book-club to receive the link to our discord server.
If you’d like to support Tea with Tolkien by becoming a patron, you can learn more at www.patreon.com/teawithtolkien
Episode Notes: https://www.teawithtolkien.com/blog/fon-8
If you’d like to join in on the discussion, you can sign up for our book club at www.teawithtolkien.com/book-club to receive the link to our discord server.
If you’d like to support Tea with Tolkien by becoming a patron, you can learn more at www.patreon.com/teawithtolkien
Episode Notes: https://www.teawithtolkien.com/blog/fon-7
If you’d like to join in on the discussion, you can sign up for our book club at www.teawithtolkien.com/book-club to receive the link to our discord server.
If you’d like to support Tea with Tolkien by becoming a patron, you can learn more at www.patreon.com/teawithtolkien
To Hello, my friends! I’m so happy to share this recording of our live Q&A that was hosted in our discord yesterday. Dr. Holly Ordway was gracious enough to join us to chat all about her latest book, Tolkien’s Faith: A Spiritual Biography. As a brief aside, I’m sorry my voice sounds a bit rough in this interview - I’m recovering from a pretty nasty illness, but I couldn’t miss this Q&A. I hope you enjoy it!
To join our discord, you can sign up with your email address at teawithtolkien.com/discord.
Dr. Ordway’s Website: https://hollyordway.com/
Order Tolkien’s Faith on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3qtie3m
Dr. Ordway Interview with Michael Ward: https://www.wordonfire.org/videos/tolkiens-faith-dr-michael-ward-interviews-holly-ordway/
Tea with Tolkien Website: www.teawithtolkien.com
Tea with Tolkien Discord: www.teawithtolkien.com/discord
Episode Notes: https://www.teawithtolkien.com/blog/fon-6
If you’d like to join in on the discussion, you can sign up for our book club at www.teawithtolkien.com/book-club to receive the link to our discord server.
If you’d like to support Tea with Tolkien by becoming a patron, you can learn more at www.patreon.com/teawithtolkien
Episode Notes: https://www.teawithtolkien.com/blog/fon-5
If you’d like to join in on the discussion, you can sign up for our book club at www.teawithtolkien.com/book-club to receive the link to our discord server.
If you’d like to support Tea with Tolkien by becoming a patron, you can learn more at www.patreon.com/teawithtolkien
Hello and welcome to Tea with Tolkien, an online community for the Hobbit at Heart. We are inspired by the works, life, and Catholic faith of JRR Tolkien and strive to encourage others towards a deeper love and understanding of Tolkien’s Legendarium by hosting a free book club, providing free resources such as our Silmarillion Reader’s guide, and cultivating a vibrant and positive online community. Our book club is currently reading through this newly released book, The Fall of Númenor, edited by Brian Sibley.
If you’d like to join in on the discussion, you can sign up for our book club at www.teawithtolkien.com/book-club to receive the link to our discord server.
If you’d like to support Tea with Tolkien by becoming a patron, you can learn more at www.patreon.com/teawithtolkien
Hello and welcome to Tea with Tolkien, an online community for the Hobbit at Heart. We are inspired by the works, life, and Catholic faith of JRR Tolkien and strive to encourage others towards a deeper love and understanding of Tolkien’s Legendarium by hosting a free book club, providing free resources such as our Silmarillion Reader’s guide, and cultivating a vibrant and positive online community. Our book club is currently reading through this newly released book, The Fall of Númenor, edited by Brian Sibley.
If you’d like to join in on the discussion, you can sign up for our book club at www.teawithtolkien.com/book-club to receive the link to our discord server.
If you’d like to support Tea with Tolkien by becoming a patron, you can learn more at www.patreon.com/teawithtolkien
NEXT Session: Aldarion and Erendis, part one: “Aldarion and Erendis pg. 66 - 82”
Resources:
Part Three Blog Post: https://www.teawithtolkien.com/blog/fon-3
Digital Tolkien: https://digitaltolkien.com/
Tolkien Gateway Page on Vardamir: https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Vardamir
Gideon’s Timeline: https://gideonslife.com/tolkien/secondage
LOTR Project: http://lotrproject.com/
Hello and welcome to Tea with Tolkien, an online community for the Hobbit at Heart. We are inspired by the works, life, and Catholic faith of JRR Tolkien and strive to encourage others towards a deeper love and understanding of Tolkien’s Legendarium by hosting a free book club, providing free resources such as our Silmarillion Reader’s guide, and cultivating a vibrant and positive online community. Our book club is currently reading through this newly released book, The Fall of Númenor, edited by Brian Sibley.
If you’d like to join in on the discussion, you can sign up for our book club at www.teawithtolkien.com/book-club to receive the link to our discord server.
For the sake of our book club, I’ve broken down The Fall of Numenor into ten sections and so today we’ll be covering the second ‘section’: Foundation of the Grey Havens through The Life of the Númenóreans (pg. 1- 42).
I’ll begin with a summary of each section, followed by a recap of our book club’s discussion for those who may have missed our live chat.
Resources:
Tea with Tolkien Section Two Notes: https://www.teawithtolkien.com/blog/fon-2
Join our Book Club: https://www.teawithtolkien.com/book-club
Dancing Bears of Numenor Artwork by MGCoco-Art: https://twitter.com/mgcoco_art/status/1432839127641178118
The Complete Guide to Middle-earth by Robert Foster: https://amzn.to/3XP0kmv
The Complete Tolkien Companion by J.E.A. Taylor: https://amzn.to/3D4Omxa
The Atlas of Middle-earth: https://amzn.to/3D86y96
The Nature of Middle-earth: https://amzn.to/3Hrk0Y8
Encyclopedia of Arda: https://www.glyphweb.com/arda/a/anadune.html
Tea with Tolkien Silmarillion Guide: https://www.teawithtolkien.com/shop
Tweet Discussing Numenorean Height: https://twitter.com/TeawithTolkien/status/1620142561422897153
Hello and welcome to Tea with Tolkien, an online community for the Hobbit at Heart. We are inspired by the works, life, and Catholic faith of JRR Tolkien and strive to encourage others towards a deeper love and understanding of Tolkien’s Legendarium by hosting a free book club, providing free resources such as our Silmarillion Reader’s guide, and cultivating a vibrant and positive online community. Our book club is currently reading through this newly released book, The Fall of Númenor, edited by Brian Sibley. This book was released last November, so just a few months ago at the time of recording, and our community voted and chose to read this for our first book club of 2023. If you’d like to join in on the discussion, you can sign up for our book club at www.teawithtolkien.com/book-club to receive the link to our discord server. For the sake of our book club, I’ve broken down The Fall of Numenor into ten sections and so today we’ll be covering the first ‘section’: from “About this Book” through “Before the Second Age”. I’ll begin with a summary of each section, followed by a recap of our book club’s discussion for those who may have missed our live chat. This week we are covering Part One: Introduction: “About this Book” through “Before the Second Age” Resources: The Complete Guide to Middle-earth by Robert Foster: https://amzn.to/3XP0kmv The Complete Tolkien Companion by J.E.A. Taylor: https://amzn.to/3D4Omxa The Atlas of Middle-earth: https://amzn.to/3D86y96 The Nature of Middle-earth: https://amzn.to/3Hrk0Y8 Nerd of the Rings for Lore Videos (Youtube): https://www.youtube.com/c/NerdoftheRings Tea with Tolkien Silmarillion Guide: https://www.teawithtolkien.com/shop/silmarillion-readers-guide https://mythgard.org/academy/book-of-lost-tales-part-1/ https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Athrabeth_Finrod_ah_Andreth https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Host_of_the_Valar https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/The_Notion_Club_Papers https://www.teawithtolkien.com/blog/Letter131 https://www.amazon.com/Toward-Gleam-T-M-Doran-ebook/dp/B004UC7K4S
Book Six of The Lord of the Rings begins with Sam’s desperate search to rescue Frodo from the Orc tower. As he begins to lose all hope, he realizes Frodo is being kept in a secret tower above and quickly climbs up to find him. Reunited, Sam returns the Ring to Frodo and they flee towards Mount Doom.
Book IV of The Lord of the Rings follows Frodo and Sam as they slowly journey towards the Land of Mordor. After leaving the Fellowship behind, they become lost as they wander through the wilderness. Gollum has been pursuing them at length, and finally comes to them as they wander. Rather than hiding or attacking, they take him in as their guide. Gollum guides them eagerly through the Dead Marshes and to the Black Gate, however they soon realize they will need to enter Mordor through a different path. Gollum tells them of a different, secret path which will lead them through a tunnel…
Mentioned in this Episode:
Tea with Tolkien Book Club
Tolkien Reading Day
Christ and Tolkien Conference
Silmarillion Reader’s Guide
LOTRonPrime Update Page
Hobbit Party Page
Free Resource Library
Tea with Tolkien Patreon
Book IV of The Lord of the Rings follows Frodo and Sam as they slowly journey towards the Land of Mordor. After leaving the Fellowship behind, they become lost as they wander through the wilderness. Gollum has been pursuing them at length, and finally comes to them as they wander. Rather than hiding or attacking, they take him in as their guide. Gollum guides them eagerly through the Dead Marshes and to the Black Gate, however they soon realize they will need to enter Mordor through a different path. Gollum tells them of a different, secret path which will lead them through a tunnel…
Book Three of The Lord of the Rings brings about many changes for the members of the now-broken Fellowship. A lot of this book feels like atonement for past mistakes -- for Boromir, he has paid with his life; for Aragorn, he seems desperate to discern the correct path forward; for Theoden, he has finally been freed from Grima’s influence; for Saruman, the Ents have brought about his well-deserved destruction. And Gandalf has returned against all hope!
: In this book, we see the formation and departure of the Fellowship of the Ring. Finally, the quest has fully begun. While Frodo is willing to take the burden of the Ring onto himself, he acknowledges that he doesn’t even know where to begin in terms of getting it to Mordor. And Elrond understands that he cannot go alone. However, he doesn’t send him forth with a host of great warriors -- rather he sends him in a small group meant to represent all the peoples of Middle-Earth, a group formed largely around friendship! So we see the theme of Fellowship carrying through into Book II. The life-saving, life-giving virtue of friendship…
You're listening to Tea with Tolkien, a Podcast for the Hobbit at Heart.
Join us as we chat about the works and faith of J.R.R. Tolkien, and strive to carry a little piece of Middle-Earth into our own daily lives.
This is the first in a seven-part book club series on The Lord of the Rings. These episodes will be released on the first of each month from now through March to accompany our Book Club as we’re reading The Lord of the Rings! If you’d like to join our book club, you can visit www.teawithtolkien.com/book-club.
This episode is a quick summary of The Lord of the Rings Book I, meant to spark a conversation about the book in our Discord server!
Join us anytime throughout the month on our text channel, or on the voice channel on:
September 11 1-2PM EST
September 25 1-2PM EST
For show notes, visit www.teawithtolkien.com/podcast/silm20
My full chapter notes can be read here:
For show notes, visit www.teawithtolkien.com/podcast/silm19
My full chapter notes can be read here: Guide to The Silmarillion: Akallabêth: The Downfall of Númenor
For show notes, visit www.teawithtolkien.com/podcast/silm18
My full chapter notes can be read here: Guide to The Silmarillion: Akallabêth: The Downfall of Númenor
For show notes, visit www.teawithtolkien.com/podcast/silm17
My full chapter notes can be read here: Guide to The Silmarillion: Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath (Ch. 24)
For show notes, visit www.teawithtolkien.com/podcast/silm16
My full chapter notes can be read here: Guide to The Silmarillion: Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin (Ch. 23)
For show notes, visit www.teawithtolkien.com/podcast/trd2021
Recommended Blog Posts:
How We‘re Celebrating Tolkien Reading Day 2020
Why March 25th Might Be The Most Important Date of all History
Why Middle-Earth Matters: 11 Reasons You Should Be Reading Tolkien
Beyond The Lord of the Rings: Getting to Know Tolkien through his Shorter Works
Reading The Lord of the Rings: Resources & Recommendations
This book club will run through the end of May and then we’ll begin a new book club in the fall. If you have any suggestions for our fall book club, keeping in mind that it should be something written by Tolkien or at least someone Tolkien-adjacent, you can find me on instagram or twitter @teawithtolkien.
If you’d like to sign up, you can do so here.
For show notes, visit www.teawithtolkien.com/podcast/silm4
If you’re following along with our Tea with Tolkien book club, this is week two of our The Silmarillion read-along! We are only on week two out of twenty, and we haven’t covered too much ground already so if you’d like to jump in there’s still time!
This book club will run through the end of May and then we’ll begin a new book club in the fall. If you have any suggestions for our fall book club, keeping in mind that it should be something written by Tolkien or at least someone Tolkien-adjacent, you can find me on instagram or twitter @teawithtolkien.
If you’d like to sign up, you can do so here.
For show notes, visit www.teawithtolkien.com/podcast/silm3
If you’re following along with our Tea with Tolkien book club, this is week two of our The Silmarillion read-along! We are only on week two out of twenty, and we haven’t covered too much ground already so if you’d like to jump in there’s still time!
This book club will run through the end of May and then we’ll begin a new book club in the fall. If you have any suggestions for our fall book club, keeping in mind that it should be something written by Tolkien or at least someone Tolkien-adjacent, you can find me on instagram or twitter @teawithtolkien.
If you’d like to sign up, you can do so here.
So this week we’re discussing the first part of The Silmarillion, "Ainulindalë: The Music of the Ainur" as well as Valaquenta. These two chapters are separate from the Quenta Silmarillion, or the Silmarillion proper as it’s often referred, which we are beginning next week.
For show notes, visit www.teawithtolkien.com/podcast/silm2
If you’re following along with our Tea with Tolkien book club, this week we are beginning with our The Silmarillion read-along! If you’d like to sign up, you can do so here.
Before we dive into the The Silmarillion next week, I thought it would be helpful to spend a bit of time reading and discussing The Waldman Letter.
The Waldman letter is a letter written to Milton Waldman, an editor and advisor to publishers in London, who had expressed and interest in The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion after the widespread success of The Hobbit. For context, The Hobbit was published in 1937, this letter was written in 1951, and The Fellowship of the Ring would not be published until 1954.
Tolkien had hoped to published LOTR and The Silmarillion together and this letter reflects his belief that the two were interdependent.
The letter can be read in a few places:
In part, on the Tolkien Estate Website (there is a large chunk missing in the middle in which Tolkien writes about the creation of his world and its history through the Second Age)
The Letters of JRR Tolkien, Letter 131
In the preface to The Silmarillion (second edition only)
This letter is important because it pieces together all of Tolkien’s stories concerning Middle-Earth, showing how they are all a part of the same great tale.
What’s in the Waldman Letter?
“My dear Milton, You asked for a brief sketch of my stuff that is connected with my imaginary world…”
Tolkien writes that he can’t remember when he wasn’t building his imaginary world or its languages, noting that almost all the names in his world are derived from these languages. This gives his works a specific kind of consistency which others may not have.
Tolkien has always been passionate about myth, desiring a myth that could be uniquely English.
Tolkien addresses that three major themes of his works are Fall, Mortality, and Machine.
He then goes on to write about the Magic of the Elves as Art versus the enemy’s use of Machine
After that, he launches into a summary of his world’s history, from its creation all the way through its third age, which I will not attempt to summarize myself for the sake of brevity and in hopes of simply encouraging you to read this letter for yourself.
So if you’re listening to this right now in the Long Lent of 2020, we are currently in the midst of a pandemic due to the coronavirus! I hope if you’re listening at some point in the future that things have settled down and everything is just fine and we’ve put this whole thing far, far behind us…
But right now, we’re all struggling. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t been affected by this.
On top of worrying about the actual virus, many of us are also experiencing a sudden loss of income, a dramatic change in our daily routine, some of you I know have been alone in your apartment for weeks and are having a difficult time adjusting to simply being alone all the time. You need a hug. I hope this can be like a virtual hug in whatever way that’s possible.
Healthcare workers like my husband and many of our friends are working extra hours under higher stress, and many others are navigating working from home… It’s just all around very stressful for everyone in a lot of different ways.
I wanted to share this episode with our current situation in mind but I think it will be useful for any time you find yourself having to stay at home for long periods of time, or honestly whenever you need a little encouragement or inspiration to be a bit more Hobbity.
I also wanted to say that staying home, social distancing, self-quarantine… whatever you call it… would naturally be very difficult for Hobbits as they loved spending time with each other, throwing parties, gathering at the pub to gossip about Bilbo and Frodo… and it’s okay that it’s hard for us too.
We were created to live in fellowship and we are being asked to make this sacrifice for the time being, and I just wanted to acknowledge that it’s okay if you’re struggling with this. That being said, I hope sharing these ideas will help you feel a little inspired and cheered up and ready to choose well what to do with this time that’s been given to you.
Read | This one might seem obvious, but log out of Netflix and pick up a book! Scrolling through twitter for 14 hours a day is not good for you, ask me how I know. Obviously I’m going to recommend reading Tolkien. If you haven’t read The Lord of the Rings yet, now’s your chance. And if you have but you haven’t read The Silmarillion, do it! If you’ll be ordering books online, check if any of your local bookstores offer online shopping, or try getting it straight from the publisher if possible. Smaller businesses are hurting right now, so try to support them if you can.
If you need any other book recommendations, visit teawithtolkien.com/bookshelf for all of my book reviews and my to-be-read list. Many of them are available on the Kindle, so you don’t have to worry about going to a bookstore or ordering anything online.
Go Outside | I can’t help but imagine a bunch of hobbits sitting on their front porches yelling to one another about potatoes and cabbages. If you have a porch, so sit on it! In whatever way you’re able, even if it’s just opening a window and breathing a little fresh air -- DO IT. I try to take a walk everyday with the kids and it helps so much. So if you’re able to take a walk, take a walk. If you can’t go outside at all, open your windows and let the sunshine in.
Pray | Tolkien recommended ‘making a habit of the praises’ in a letter to his son, especially in times of distress. He also wrote, “It is also a good and admirable thing to know by heart the Canon of the Mass, for you can say this in your heart if ever hard circumstances keep you from hearing Mass..." which feels very applicable as all public Masses in the US are currently suspended. The prayers Tolkien recommended can be found atwww.teawithtolkien.com/blog/prayers.
Be Creative | Spend some time sitting with your own thoughts and then create something! Pick up a notebook and journal, write poetry, paint, or draw. I’ve noticed a lot of artists I follow on Instagram have been teaching mini courses in their instagram stories, and there is an abundance of free information on YouTube as well. Doing something creative can help relieve the stress you’re feeling so I really do recommend giving it a try even if you don’t feel like a “creative” person.
Write a Letter | Tolkien writes in the prologue to The Lord of the Rings, “By no means all Hobbits were lettered, but those who were wrote constantly to all their friends (and a selection of their relations) who lived further off than an afternoon’s walk.” Following their example, write a few letters to a few of your friends (and maybe just one to a relative).
Cook | With more time at home and many restaurants and delivery services closed, now is the perfect time to learn your way around a kitchen if you don’t already. I know this is tricky because a lot of grocery stores are out of pantry staples like flour and such, but this is another opportunity to be creative. I’ll link to a few Hobbit-inspired food blog posts in the show notes: Food of the Shire, What Hobbits Like to Eat, The Feast Goes on and Ever On, and 7 Shire-Worthy Recipes for National Hobbit Day.)
Bake Lembas |If you’re able to get your hands on a few cups of flour, bake a batch of Lembas! I have my own recipe on my blog -- you can find it by searching “Tea with Tolkien Lembas” But maybe just half a batch for now since it does make quite a bit.
Become a Gardener | Depending on where you live, it may or may not be time to start planting! If it’s still a bit early, now is a good time to do your research and make your plans for your garden. Even if you don’t have a yard, you can start a little herb garden on your windowsill.
Donate Items | While I won’t be dropping off my donations for at least a few weeks, I’ve started going through different areas of the house and bagging up items we don’t use or need anymore. I’m keeping all the bags in the basement until we can go drop them off later. Also, if you do have an excess of any items that people might be needing right now (like, I don’t know, TOILET PAPER?), donate those right away!
Sit Beside the Fire and Think | Whether you light a big fire in your fireplace or simply light a few candles, take some time out of whatever else it is you’re doing (scrolling twitter and stressing out?) and read, think, pray, or write in the relaxing, warm glow of the firelight.
Do something inconvenient for the sake of another | This really is at the heart of what it means to be a Hobbit. Throughout all of their tales, Hobbits go out of their way to support and care for one another. If you have an elderly neighbor or know someone who is struggling right now, ask them how you can help. And while you’re at it, call your grandparents!
Obviously I’m not going to solve all of the world's problems with a podcast episode but I hope this brightened up your day and kinda helped get you thinking about ways to spend your time while stuck at home.
If you liked these ideas, I wanted to recommend my eBook, Thirty Days in the Shire! It’s only $6 and serves as a guide for becoming more of a Hobbit at Heart over the next thirty days. You can learn more and order your copyat teawithtolkien.com/30days if you’re ready to slow down, simplify, and grow!
Anyways, I’m so happy to be back talking to you all! I hope to have more episodes out for you soon, and if there’s anything you’d like to hear about please feel free to let me know on twitter or instagram @teawithtolkien. Have a lovely day!
In this episode, we are joined for Tea by Father Dan Bedel! We talked about one of Tolkien’s lesser-known works, Leaf by Niggle, as well as Tolkien’s Catholic faith, Harry Potter, and the upcoming Lord of the Rings tv show being produced by Amazon.
Tolkien writes that this story is “the only thing I have ever done which cost me absolutely no pains at all. Usually I compose only with great difficulty and endless rewriting. I woke up one morning (more than 2 years ago) with that odd thing virtually complete in my head. It took only a few hours to get down, and then copy out. I am not aware of ever ‘thinking’ of the story or composing it in the ordinary sense.” - Letter 98
“I recollect nothing about the writing, except that I woke one morning with it in my head, scribbled it down -- and the printed form in the main hardly differs from the first hasty version at all. I find it still quite moving, when I reread it. It is not really or properly an ‘allegory’ so much as ‘mythical’. For Niggle is meant to be a real mixed-quality person and not an ‘allegory’ of any single vice or virtue…” - Letter 241
In this episode, I was joined by Father Anthony Sciarappa (twitter’s okayest priest) to talk about myth, magic, dragons, Harry Potter, the priesthood, and more. This was such a fun interview and I hope you enjoy listening to Father Anthony’s perspective.
Highlights from This Week’s Show
There are really two types of magic in The Lord of the Rings: Enchantment and Magic, which we could also call the Machine.
“Enchantment produces a Secondary World into which both designer and spectator can enter, to the satisfaction of their senses while they are inside; but in its purity it is artistic in desire and purpose. Magic produces, or pretends to produce, an alteration in the Primary World....it is not an art but a technique; its desire is power in this world, domination of things and wills.” - JRR Tolkien, On Fairy Stories
This distinction is something we can see especially well when looking at both Gandalf and Saruman. Saruman seeks dominion over all others—working to manipulate them for the purposes of his own will; Gandalf seeks to guide others— working for the good and freedom of all.
Tolkien often gets lumped in with Harry Potter or even Disney and such in terms of being banned by well-meaning religious parents because they see the word ‘wizard’ or ‘magic’ and it stresses them out, so I think it’s important to help people understand how Tolkien’s is different in that sense.
All of the show notes for this episode are available at www.teawithtolkien.com/podcast/15
Pull up a cozy chair and join us as we chat about the works and Catholic faith of J.R.R. Tolkien! I hope this podcast encourages you to carry a little piece of Middle-Earth into your own life as we grow together in hobbitness and holiness. Thanks so much for listening!
‘How do I feel?’ he cried. ‘Well, I don’t know how to say it. I feel, I feel’ — he waved his arms in the air — ‘I feel like spring after winter, and sun on the leaves; and like trumpets and harps and all the songs I have ever heard!’
If you listened to our Tolkien Reading Day episode yesterday, this is one of my favorite Tolkien quotes that I had mentioned. And today I wanted to talk a bit more about it and Spring in general, particularly because last week marked the beginning of Spring for us and because March 25th is of course the day on which the Ring was destroyed as well as the Feast of the Annunciation.
Spring represents or calls to mind images of hope, new life, a fresh start, the light after dark, warmth after the cold, cleansing rains, a gentleness after the harshness of winter. It is soft, and joyful, a season to be celebrated. Tolkien was a lover of myth and symbol and the natural rhythms of the seasons, and the way The Lord of the Rings flows is a testament to that.
Tolkien writes in Letter 210, “Seasons are carefully regarded… They are pictoral, and should be, and easily could be, made the main means by which the artists indicate time-passage. The main action begins in autumn and passes through winter to a brilliant spring: this is basic to the purport and tone of the tale.”
Tolkien, being a devoted Catholic, lived in line with the Church’s liturgical calendar. To Catholics, Spring is closely associated with Easter: the Resurrection, which Tolkien called the Greatest Eucatastrophe.
In Letter 89 he wrote, “The Resurrection was the greatest ‘eucatastrophe’ possible in the greatest Fairy Story — and produces that essential emotion: Christian joy which produces tears because it is qualitatively so like sorrow, because it comes from those places where Joy and Sorrow are at one, reconciled, as selfishness and altruism are lost in Love. Of course I do not mean that the Gospels tell what is only a fairy-story; but I do mean very strongly that they do tell a fairy-story: the greatest. Man the storyteller would have to be redeemed in a manner consonant with his nature: by a moving story. But since the author of it is the supreme Artist and the Author of Reality, this one was also made to Be, to be true on the Primary Plane….”
After death, comes life; after winter, comes spring. And we see this all over the place in his writings as they are so rooted in both physical actual time, as he had mentioned before, and in the symbolism of the seasons. Both Bilbo and Frodo leave Bag end right at the beginning of Autumn, and the Ring is destroyed right at the beginning of Spring…
Pull up a cozy chair and join us as we chat about the works and Catholic faith of J.R.R. Tolkien, and strive to carry a little piece of Middle-Earth into our own daily lives.
Tolkien Reading Day is celebrated on the 25th of March every year, in honor of the day on which the One Ring was destroyed. Since 2003, the Tolkien Society has celebrated this day by encouraging fans to read and share their favorite Tolkien passages, so I wanted to share five of mine. Share yours on social media using the #TolkienReadingDay hashtag, and tag me so I can see, too!
I chose all of these from The Lord of the Rings, perhaps because it's most familiar to me of all Tolkien’s works, but also because it has had the biggest influence on my life and has meant the most to me. The more I read the Silmarillion, the more I fall in love with its depth, but I’m still not as familiar with it to be able to choose my favorite specific passages or chapters. So all of these are from The Lord of the Rings, and I didn’t realize this until now, but all of them are from The Return of the King at that.
This first one is from Book Six, Chapter One. After he believed Frodo to be dead, Sam took the Ring and determined to finish Frodo’s quest for him. However, he learned that Frodo was not actually dead, and he had been taken by orcs and carried away. So Sam is following them now in an attempt to rescue him, but already he is being tempted by the Ring.
“In that hour of trial it was the love of his master that helped most to hold him firm; but also deep down in him lived still unconquered his plain hobbit-sense: he knew in the core of his heart that he was not large enough to bear such a burden, even if such visions were not a mere cheat to betray him. The one small garden of a free gardener was all his need and due, not a garden swollen to a realm; his own hands to use, not the hands of others to command.” - The Return of the King, The Tower of Cirith Ungol
Sam is strengthened by his realized, and continues on. After climbing to the top of the stairs in the Tower of Cirith Ungol and being unable to find Frodo, Sam sinks down and bows his head. However, he then begins to sing:
*In western lands beneath the Sun
the flowers may rise in Spring,
the trees may bud, the waters run,
the merry finches sing.
Or there maybe 'tis cloudless night
and swaying beeches bear
the Elven-stars as jewels white
amid their branching hair.
Though here at journey's end I lie
in darkness buried deep,
beyond all towers strong and high,
beyond all mountains steep,
above all shadows rides the Sun
and Stars for ever dwell:
I will not say the Day is done,
nor bid the Stars farewell.*
Sam’s song draws the attention of an orc, thinking he’s hearing Frodo. The orc uses a ladder to access the final chamber above, and with that Sam is able to follow the orc up and rescue Frodo.
In the next chapter, The Land of Shadow, Frodo and Sam scramble through Mordor, trying desperately to finish their quest. At one point, they find a place to hide and Sam tells Frodo to sleep while he keeps watch.
“Then at last, to keep himself awake, he crawled from the hiding-place and looked out. The land seemed full of creaking and cracking and sly noises, but there was no sound of voice or foot. Far above the Ephel Duath in the West the night-sky was still dim and pale. There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
After the Ring is ultimately destroyed, Frodo and Sam awake to find themselves in the Field of Cormallen. Aragorn is king; Gandalf is returned.; the Ring is gone. All is right with the world once again.
“‘Well, Master Samwise, how do you feel?’ he said.
But Sam lay back, and stared with open mouth, and for a moment, between bewilderment and great joy, he could not answer. At last he gasped: ‘Gandalf! I thought you were dead! But then I thought I was dead myself. Is everything sad going to come untrue? What’s happening to the world?"
‘A great Shadow has departed,’ said Gandalf, and then he laughed, and the sound was like music, or like water in a parched land; and as he listened the thought came to Sam that he had not heard laughter, the pure sound of merriment, for days upon days without count. It fell upon his ears like the echo of all the joys he had ever known. But he himself burst into tears. Then, as a sweet rain will pass down a wind of spring and the sun will shine out the clearer, his tears ceased, and his laughter welled up, and laughing he sprang from his bed.
‘How do I feel?’ he cried. ‘Well, I don’t know how to say it. I feel, I feel’ — he waved his arms in the air — ‘I feel like spring after winter, and sun on the leaves; and like trumpets and harps and all the songs I have ever heard!’
Later on, as the hobbits are brought out before the host of men and met with great praise, Tolkien writes:
“And all the host laughed and wept, and in the midst of their merriment and tears the clear voice of the minstrel rose like silver and gold, and all the men were hushed. And he sang to them, now in the elven-tongue, now in the speech of the West, until their hearts, wounded with sweet words, overflowed, and their joy was like swords, and they passed in thought out to regions where pain and delight flow together and tears are the very wine of blessedness.”
So these are five of my favorite passages from The Lord of the Rings, quotes that have pierced my own heart and hopefully they will resonate with you a little bit, or at least inspire you to read a little or a lot of Tolkien. I’d love to hear about your favorites in the comments below, or you can send me a note on twitter or facebook or instagram!
Also, on a quick final note, today is the opening of our spring pop-up shop! I have a limited selection of some of our most popular items from when our Etsy shop was open and I’m very excited to be able to offer some of them again. It was such a challenge to run our busy Etsy shop while also staying at home with my little hobbits, and so I made the difficult decision to close last December. However, this pop-up shop will be open from today until April 5th! We have a beautiful new design made for Tea with Tolkien by Ash of Daffodils and Ink, as well as our Rose Bookstack tee, our enamel Hobbit at Heart campfire mug, and our Little Hobbit baby onesie.
I also wanted to mention, if you’re on instagram, I’m hosting a giveaway in celebration of Tolkien Reading day this week. The giveaway will close on March 30th and 10pm EST, and I hope it’s you that wins! You can visit my instagram feed, @teawithtolkien, for all of the details and how to enter.
I will be back tomorrow to talk about one of my favorite quotes that I had mentioned in this episode, Sam’s “I feel like spring after winter and sun on the leaves”, as well as a little discussion of the significance of Spring in Tolkien’s writings, so make sure you’re subscribed to the podcast so you won’t miss an episode.
I hope you have a beautiful day, and make sure to read more Tolkien! And drink more tea, too!
Also, here’s the link to my piece about March 25.
Pull up a cozy chair and join us as we chat about the works and Catholic faith of J.R.R. Tolkien as well as how we can carry Middle-Earth into our own daily lives.
I’ve wanted to begin discussing some of Tolkien’s letters every so often and so today I thought we’d talk about Letter 213.
If you don’t know what I’m talking about or why these letters have numbers, it’s because they’ve been compiled and published in this really lovely and insightful book called The Letters of JRR Tolkien, edited by Humphrey Carpenter. I’ll link to it in the show description, I highly highly recommend it…
This week, I’m joined once again by my husband Alex for tea and a little chat about Lent. I wanted to share some ways I’ve been inspired and encouraged by the journeys of Frodo and Sam and how I’m planning to carry some of these ideas along with me through Lent.
This week, I was joined by my best friend Theresa Williams! We chatted about a piece she wrote for the Tea with Tolkien blog on the life, writings, and faith of Flannery O’Connor, friendship, and more! I hope you’ll enjoy!
Read Theresa’s piece on Flannery O’Connor here.
You can learn more about Theresa here.
(Also just a quick note, I’m sorry for the kinda wonky audio! I’m still learning how to be a good podcaster so I hope it wasn’t too bad & I’m sure it will be better next time! Ha!)
Thank you all so much for listening to our little podcast! I think you’re all the best and I love being able to have tea with you every week. If you’re enjoying these episodes, I’d love to hear from you! You can send me a note on twitter @teawithtolkien or simply capture a moth and whisper a message to me and I’m sure it will deliver that right along, agh okay not really.
Today we’re going to having a bit of a topical discussion on the subject of Lembas! As well as looking at the Catholic influences behind this, the lovely waybread of the Elves.
We’re first introduced to Lembas in The Fellowship of the Ring when the Fellowship is leaving Lothlorien. As they prepare to set off, Galadriel presents them with several gifts-- both for each individual and the company as a whole. One of these gifts is a bunch of Lembas.
A tiny bit of backstory here because I just learned this as I was preparing for this episode and I t5hought it was cool: Lembas was actually first made by Yavanna, one of the Queens of the Valar, the same that made the Ents, and the recipe was eventually passed down to Galadriel. It’s actually made out of a special corn grown that had grown in Aman. It was also an Elven custom, apparently, that only women should bake it so sorry boys! I should also note that it is extremely rare that Lembas is given to any non-Elves so this occasion of the Fellowship receiving large quantities of it is quite important.
Gimli mistakes it for ‘cram’ but is pleasantly surprised that it’s actually very lovely!
The elves explain basically what it is, how to care for it, and so on…
“Eat a little at a time, and only at need. For these things are given to serve you when all else fails. The cakes will keep sweet for many many days, if they are unbroken and left in their leaf-wrappings, as we have brought them. One will keep a traveler on his feet for a day of long labour, even if he be one of the tall Men of Minas Tirith.”
After this chapter, we see Lembas carries throughout the rest of the story, even as the fellowship has broken, all the way to Mordor -- just makes me wanna cry thinking about it.
One of my favorite things that you can sort of pull out of The Lord of the Rings and bring to life in our own world is Lembas. Tolkien goes to a lot of detail to describe it, so it’s really the sort of thing that we can actually bake ourselves and feel like we’re eating alongside the Fellowship. Even if we might have realized just two seconds ago that Lembas is actually a corn-based cake and I’ve been using wheat flour and almonds this whole time! But that’s okay!
Two years ago, I came up with a recipe based on my own interpretation of Lembas and I’m quite fond of it and I’ll add a link to it in the show notes if anyone else is interested.
It’s basically like a cookie but it’s not very sweet, maybe we would call it a biscuit, and in it we’ve got honey, almonds, orange, and lavender among other things. And of course, it’s very good with tea!
So how does the Eucharist fit into this?
One of the first hints of Catholicism in The Lord of the Rings that I picked up on after my conversion was Lembas.
Of all the Catholic parallels in Tolkien’s writings, Lembas bread is perhaps the strongest as it bears a striking resemblance to the Eucharist (also known as communion).
Tolkien acknowledges this similarity in Letter 213 when he writes about different instances of readers pointing out his Catholic influence, “Another saw in waybread (lembas)=viaticum and the reference to its feeding the will and being more potent when fasting, a derivation from the Eucharist…”
While not allegorical, of course, several characteristics of the Elvish way bread are reminiscent of the Eucharist, so it is worth spending a little time reflecting on its role in the story of Middle-Earth.
So when given to a person near to or in danger of death, the Eucharist is called Viaticum (meaning in Latin: ‘provision for a journey’). Similarly, Lembas is called way bread by the Elves, and is given to the members of the Fellowship as they embark on their perilous quest.
In Book III, Chapter II, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli are following after the group of Orcs that had captured Merry and Pippin. Tolkien writes, “Often in their hearts they thanked the Lady of Lorien for the gift of lembas, for they could eat of it and find new strength even as they ran.”
A person cannot receive the Eucharist while in a state of mortal sin without placing themselves in grave danger. Similarly, Gollum cannot eat Lembas and is actually harmed by it. Lembas is also considered more ‘potent’ when it is a person’s sole sustenance, which can be seen as a nod to the Catholic fast before receiving Communion.
And like Lembas must be eaten daily, it is recommended to that Catholics receive the Eucharist often.
In Lembas, the hobbits find renewed strength of spirit and body, often being reminded of home or safer times. Tolkien wrote, in Letter 55, of receiving Communion as “a fleeting glimpse of an unfallen world…’
Similarly, Merry remarks to Pippin that Lembas “does put heart into you! A more wholesome sort of feeling, too...” And the Elves themselves say that it is “more strengthening than any food made by Man.”
In The Return of the King, as Frodo and Sam are almost to the end of their journey, Tolkien writes, “The lembas had a virtue without which they would long ago have lain down to die… it fed the will, and it gave strength to endure, and to master sinew and limb beyond the measure of mortal kind.”
Catholics believe the Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ — in which He is truly present. While there is no such parallel within Lembas, its power of nourishment for both body and soul speaks to the influence of the Eucharist on Tolkien’s life.
Tolkien wrote of the Eucharist often in his letters, which were compiled and published 1981 - a book, as always, I highly recommend adding to your bookshelf.
He referred to it as ‘the one great thing to love on earth’, recommending it as ‘the only cure for sagging or fainting faith’.
If you’d like to read more of his thoughts on his faith and the Eucharist, I’d recommend letters 43, 55, 89, 213, and especially 250 — available in “The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien” edited by Humphrey Carpenter.
I wanted to share two quotes from these letters:
In this one, Letter 43, Tolkien is writing to his son Michael,
“Out of the darkness of my life, so much frustrated, I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament. . . . There you will find romance, glory, honour, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves on earth, and more than that: Death: by the divine paradox, that which ends life, and demands the surrender of all, and yet by the taste—or foretaste—of which alone can what you seek in your earthly relationships (love, faithfulness, joy) be maintained, or take on that complexion of reality, of eternal endurance, which every man’s heart desires.
Later, in Letter 250, also to Michael, he writes:
"The only cure for sagging or fainting faith is Communion. Though always itself, perfect and complete and inviolate, the Blessed Sacrament does not operate completely and once for all in any of us. Like the act of Faith it must be continuous and grow by exercise. Seven times a week is more nourishing than seven times at intervals.”
One of the coolest parts of Catholicism in my opinion is that not only can we receive the Eucharist during Mass, but we can also participate in something called Eucharistic Adoration.
This is when the consecrated host is placed in a neat sort of holder called a monstrance and it’s displayed, often in an adoration chapel or maybe even in the regular church building for special occasions, and anyone can just come and sit in the presence of our Lord.
Someone asked on Twitter the other day if you need to be catholic to visit an adoration chapel and I was so excited to hear this question honestly because you totally don’t have to be catholic at all! I know a lot of people have found a lot of peace within adoration, even if they don’t really believe in the Catholic teaching that the sacrament is truly Christ present. So if you’ve ever want to attend adoration but weren’t sure about it, you should totally find one nearby and go!
Whenever I feel like everything around me is chaos or I’m struggling with feeling low, I try to run to the Blessed Sacrament as often as I can. A few weeks ago I was in kind of a bad place mentally and so I was able to drive down to adoration every night after my husband came home for a week. That kind of peace and quiet and dedicated alone time in prayer helped pull me out of a pretty dark place and so if you are at all able to, I really really highly 10/10 recommend it.
Catholics refer to the Eucharist as the source and summit of the Christian life, and so I’ve been trying to really anchor myself around this and cling to this truth when I’m kinda feeling like Frodo and Sam on the slopes of Mount Doom.
So to bring it all back together, I just wanted to share how once again learning something more about Tolkien had led me on another winding path into the depths of Catholicism!
I love so much how devoted Tolkien was to the Eucharist and it’s such a balm for my soul to see it, even just in a small way, reflected in Lembas.
I’ll talk to you all next week, but until then I’ll be on twitter and instagram (but mostly twitter) @teawithtolkien…
You might have heard me mention that after hosting my own hobbit parties for the past 7 or 8 years, I’m working on putting together all of my ideas and tips into one resource for all of you! It will be available probably within the next month but instead of selling it on my website, I’m going to first make it available for free to all of my patrons so if you’d like to sign up to become a patron of Tea with Tolkien you can head to patreon.com/teawithtolkien.
The guide won’t be available for purchase on its own until probably August or September otherwise.
Thank you so much for hanging out and having tea with me today!
Just another reminder that I’ll include the Lembas recipe in the show notes if you’d like to make a batch of your own. The recipe makes a ton because it was meant for Hobbit Party prep, but I cut it all in half yesterday when I wanted to make a smaller batch and it turned out perfectly so you can feel free to to do that as well.
I hope you all have a lovely week and we’ll be back next Tuesday for an exciting interview that I can’t wait to share with you!
Resources & Links:
Lembas Recipe by Tea with Tolkien
“The Letters of JRR Tolkien”
Tea with Tolkien on Patreon
Find all of the shownotes at: www.teawithtolkien.com/podcast
Follow us on twitter @teawithtolkien
:)
To Middle-Earth and Back Again by Kaitlyn Facista (me!)
Sweet Sequels (the etsy shop where I got my Baby’s Guide to LOTR cloth book)
http://www.mi.imati.cnr.it/marco/Who_is_Tom_Bombadil.htm
https://www.tolkiensociety.org/author/faq/#tellme
https://terpconnect.umd.edu/~jkeener/tolkien/getserious.html
Thanks for joining us for a cup of Tea with Tolkien. Follow us, if you’d like at @teawithtolkien on twitter, instagram, and facebook!
This week’s point to ponder: Comparing the culture we live in to that of Hobbiton, why do you suppose our relationships are so much more disconnected than theirs?
The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater. — The Fellowship of the Ring
One of the threads woven throughout all of Tolkien’s writing is grief… so many of the tales of Middle-earth are steeped in sorrow. And so today, I hope it’s alright, I wanted to talk about love and grief, sorrow and joy, and the way they are at one in Eucatastrophe.
We see this paradox most plainly in the lives of the elves. They are the most beautiful of the children of Iluvatar, their goodness and strength are unmatched.
But because of their immortality, they have lived through many lifetimes of men. They have seen the best and the worst…
Galadriel says to Frodo in Book II, chapter 7, that she has spent many ages fighting the “long defeat” as she calls it.
“the long defeat”, a phrase Tolkien also uses in Letter 195:
“Actually I am a Christian, and indeed a Roman Catholic, so that I do not expect ‘history’ to be anything but a ‘long defeat’ –though it contains (and in a legend may contain more clearly and movingly) some samples or glimpses of final victory.” - Tolkien, Letter 195
Within the lifetime of the Elves, they have seen the world as it grows dim. In both a figurative and literal sense. Arda at first was lit by the two lamps, which were knocked down by Melkor, and then the two trees of Valinor, which were destroyed by Melkor and Ungoliant, and then at last the sun and the moon were made. So even just in this sense, the light within the world has diminished…
And so too within all the battles throughout all the ages, the Elves have seen as evil has slowly seeped into every corner of the earth. The long defeat.
And yet, the Elves sing. They are often merry and joyful. They throw the most amazing parties! They are filled with so much goodness and peace despite their sorrow.
In Book I, Chapter IV, Sam says “They are quite different from what I expected –so old and young, and so gay and sad, as it were.’
This kind of paradox of joy mingled with sorrow, I think, is at the heart of The Lord of the Rings. Especially within the tale’s endings.
Tolkien cared so deeply for this concept that he coined the term Eucatasteophe: “the sudden happy turn in a story which pierces you with a joy that brings tears…” - Letter 89
Later in the same letter he wrote:
“The resurrection was the greatest ‘eucatastrophe’ possible in the greatest Fairy Story –and produces that essential emotion: Christian joy which produces tears because it is qualitatively so like sorrow, because it comes from those places where Joy and Sorrow are at one, reconciled, as selfishness and altruism are lost in Love. “
Throughout all of The Lord of the Rings we expedience small moments of Eucatastrophe, when all Hope seems lost for Frodo in the Barrow-Downs and Tom Bombadil Busts In to save them, when Merry and Éowyn face the Witch king of Angmar and destroy him, when the battle seems lost but Hope is rekindled… at the Crack of Doom when Frodo betrays his quest and claims the Ring as his own, but Providence provides another way for it to be accomplished.
But there’s one scene in particular that just stays with me.
We see this mingling of joy and grief within a character that feels so much more familiar, someone I see myself in more than the Elves: Samwise Gamgee.
At the end of the War of the Ring, in Return is the King — The Field of Cormallen
When Sam awakens in Ithilien, he and Frodo have survived their quest, he sees Gandalf before them and asks “is everything sad going to come untrue?”
I’ve found so much comfort in that phrase, and often paired it with Revelation 21:5 “And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”
Later in this chapter, they are all gathered together in celebration —
“ And all the host laughed and wept, and in the midst of their merriment and tears the clear voice of the minstrel rose like silver and gold, and all men were hushed. And he sang to them, now in the elven-tongue, now in the speech of the West, until their hearts, wounded with sweet words, overflowed, and their joy was like swords, and they passed in thought out to regions where pain and delight flow together and tears are the very wine of blessedness.”
The topic of grief has weighed heavily on my heart over the past few weeks.
January is a difficult month for me, as It marks the anniversary of our miscarriage. I found out I was pregnant on January 9, 2015 only to find out on January 14th that I was losing the baby. Within that span of five days, I experienced so much joy as I fell so hard in love with this little baby, mingled with so much grief as I realized I would never get to hold him or her, to really know them at all.
And even in all of the grief and wondering what things would have been life, even four years later, there is also a sense of peace that I cling to in knowing that our little baby is held so safely in the arms of Jesus.
I found this quote in Letter 45 and I wanted to share it with you all:
There is a place called ‘heaven’ where the good here unfinished is completed; and where the stories unwritten, and the hopes unfulfilled, are continued. We may laugh together yet...” - Letter 45, from 1941
In sorrow we must go, but not in despair. Behold! we are not bound for ever to the circles of the world, and beyond them is more than memory. Farewell!” - Return of the King, Appendix B
Is everything sad going to come untrue?
Behold, I am making all things new…
Our first episode in which I share some of my favorite unexpected books, for those who have already read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings! Here are the books mentioned in this episode as well as links to learn more or grab a copy:
The Silmarillion
Beren and Lúthien
The Children of Hurin
The Fall of Gondolin
Tolkien’s Requiem by John Carswell
Tolkien’s Overture by John Carswell
The Letters of JRR Tolkien
The Monsters and The Critics
The Philosophy of Tolkien by Peter Kreeft
Tolkien: Man and Myth by Joseph Pearce
The Messiah comes to Middle-Earth by Philip Ryken
The Flame imperishable: Tolkien, St. Thomas, and the metaphysics of faerie by Jonathan Mcintosh
Tolkien’s Sacramental Vision: Discerning the Holy in Middle Earth by Craig Bernthal
The Gospel According to Tolkien by Ralph C Wood
Letters from Father Christmas
“John Ronald’s Dragons” by Caroline McAlister
Frodo’s Journey and Bilbo’s Journey (both by Joseph Pearce)
To Middle-Earth and Back Again by Kaitlyn Facista (me!)
What would you add to the list? You can tweet me @teawithtolkien, email me at kaitlyn@teawithtolkien.com, or leave a comment below!
Thanks so much for listening to Tea with Tolkien, a podcast for the Hobbit at Heart! In this episode, I chat a little bit about what my hopes are for this podcast and how I hope to encourage you to read more Tolkien and grow in Hobbitness and Holiness.
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“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater" - Haldir