Tolkien Blog Party Tag

Hello! Popping in between assignments to say happy Tolkien Blog Week again, and I'm linking up with Hamlette to do her tag for the week, on the last possible day! Hamlette put together a great list of questions this year that I'm excited to answer. :)

Of all the images in this post, only the one of the Tolkien/Lewis/Inklings book is mine...all credit to owner(s). :)

These are the editions we have!

1. Who first introduced you to Middle Earth?  
It was my dad! He handed me Lord of the Rings when I turned 11 and one month (aka my 111 birthday), and made a bit of a thing out of it. 

Unfortunately, 11-and-one-month-year-old me didn't actually appreciate it at the time, and even though I read LOTR all the way through, I remembered almost none of it until I reread it my junior year of high school. But still, my dad deserves the credit. :)

2. Has your love of Middle-earth affected your life? 
The answer to that is most definitely yes, if only for the amount of time I've spent reading Tolkien's works and ABOUT his works, and also writing blog posts about them. (I think I've probably mentioned Tolkien more on this blog than anyone else.) 

But even more than that, loving the tales of Middle-earth has given me a framework for my life and my growth in virtue, and the belief in my heart of an epic story going on in my life. 

It's also helped me make some of my very best friends.

Oh, and there was also that time I made all the hobbit meals in one day. That probably wouldn't have happened without a love of Middle-earth. :P

3. Have you ever dressed up like a Tolkien character? 
I have not, because I didn't really discover LOTR until I was too old to dress up. (Or I thought I was too old to dress up--not exactly the same thing.) But I would like to, one day--I'd love to dress up as a hobbit! 

4. What people in your real life would you want in your company if you had to take the ring to Mordor?
I feel like I've answered this question before, but I don't actually remember what I said. So, here we go again. (I'm going to list eight, assuming that I'm the ninth and we're creating a fake Fellowship here, because otherwise I'd just bring everyone I know, assuming that great numbers will prevail. Which is definitely not true, but hey, it's worth a shot.)
(Also, giving everyone LOTR names on my blog does NOT help for something like this, at all. XD)

-My dad (he knows a lot about wilderness survival)
-My sister Legolas (she could chronicle our adventures)
-My brother Eomer (he's almost an Eagle Scout at this point, I'm pretty sure he'd be an asset)
-My cousin Pippin (he's an excellent song-writer, so he could write about our exploit and would know good campfire songs, for the parts where we're not actually in Mordor)
-My cousin Gimli (the Hufflepuffiest of Hufflepuffs, and very good in a pinch)
-My friend Lewis (possibly the most Sam-like person I know)
-Father J (because having a priest along is a great idea, and Fr. J is up for anything, and also extroverted. There are other priests who I'd be torturing bringing on a trip like this)
-My friend Anne (she's also a huge Tolkien fan)

I'm being hampered in this because there's no one that I would actually want to put in danger like that of taking the ring to Mordor, but I did my best. ;)

5. What Middle-earth location would you most like to visit? 
I've actually been thinking about this recently, and right now the answer would be Minas Tirith. Because we talked about it my urban planning class, and now I have a keen interest in the city's organization and how it solves various urban issues. XD (Also, Aragorn lives there. And Faramir might be there. And the White Tree!)

6. Are there any secondary characters you think deserve more attention? 

BEREGOND. Beregond, Beregond, Beregond. I will scream about Beregond forever, and his loyalty, and his son watching him be loyal, and him running out to Faramir, and I JUST LOVE HIM. 

7. Would you rather attend Faramir's wedding or Samwise's wedding?

Probably Faramir's, actually. I know Sam is My Boi, and a hobbit wedding would be SO FUN, but Faramir and Eowyn are my biggest OTP of Lord of the Rings and getting to go to their WEDDING...well. Let's just say I might die of happiness. It would be beautiful, and so formal and ceremonious and elegant and stuff. (Plus, Aragorn would be there, and also Arwen, probably Gandalf, likely the hobbits...)

 

8. How many books by J.R.R. Tolkien have you read? 

According to my previous post for this blog party, ten. (We're counting LOTR as one, because of course we are. I have them all listed out in that particular post, if you'd like to see which ones specifically I've read.)

9. Are there any books about Middle-earth or Professor Tolkien (but not written by him) that you recommend? 

Oh, goodness. You're talking to the person who spent the first few months of the pandemic just researching Lewis, Tolkien, and the Inklings. (And doing schoolwork, but pft, not important). So, yes, I have some recommendations!

Tolkien's Modern Reading by Holly Ordway (thoroughly dismantles Stupid Humphrey Carpenter's assertion that Tolkien only read things from the Middle Ages. You'll probably be surprised to find that he read some of your favorite books, too!)

The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-Earth by Ruth S. Noel (if you've ever wanted to learn elvish, or even just be able to read elvish or dwarven script so you can write secret messages to your siblings, you need this book)

Tolkien: Man and Myth by Joseph Pierce (a solid Catholic look at Tolkien and his works. Spends a good amount of time defending Tolkien from various accusations leveled at him, from Stupid Humphrey Carpenter's nonsense to allegations of inappropriate undertones in various places)

J. R. R. Tolkien by Colin Duriez (if you want just a simple and fairly unbiased biography of Tolkien, this would be my go-to)

The Company They Keep by Diana Pavlac Glyer (my absolute favorite book on the Inklings, this one especially focuses on the ways they influenced each other. absolutely worth it)

Is this me sneaking in another quote? Maaaaybe...

10. List up to ten of your favorite lines/quotations from the Middle-earth books and/or movies.

Oh DEAR. It's not only a matter of "how am I supposed to choose", but also "how am I supposed to remember my favorites?" Because I have the brain of a goldfish when it comes to quotes. XD (And also, I don't want to be conventional. I hate being conventional. Unfortunately, I may have to include a few conventional quotes, because I just LOVE THEM TOO MUCH.)

(Please note that these are not in plot order, for the LOTR ones. They're not in preference order, either, just the order I found them in.)

"'Therefore I say to you, lady: Stay! For you have no errand to the South."
"Neither have those others who go with thee. They go only because they would not be parted from thee - because they love thee.' Then she turned and vanished into the night."

"'I will be a shieldmaiden no longer, nor vie with the great Riders, nor take joy only in the songs of slaying. I will be a healer, and love all things that grow and are not barren.' And again she looked at Faramir. 'No longer to I desire to be a queen,' she said.
Then Faramir laughed merrily. 'That is well," he said; "for I am not a king. Yet I will wed the White Lady of Rohan, if it be her will.'"

"And he took her in his arms and kissed her under the sunlit sky, and he cared not that they stood high upon the walls in the sight of many. And many indeed saw them and the light that shone about them as they came down from the walls and went hand in hand to the Houses of Healing."

"Forth now, and fear no darkness!"

"'Help! help! Will no one go out to him? Faramir!'
With that Beregond sprang away and ran off into the gloom."

“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.”

“Suddenly, caught by the level beams, Frodo saw the old king’s head: it was lying rolled away by the roadside. ‘Look, Sam!’ he cried, startled into speech. ‘Look! The king has got a crown again!’ The eyes were hollow and the carven beard was broken, but about the high stern forehead there was a coronal of silver and gold. A trailing plant with flowers like small white stars had bound itself across the brows as if in reverence for the fallen king, and in the crevices of his stony hair yellow stonecrop gleamed. ‘They cannot conquer for ever!’ said Frodo.”

"And the arrow was aimed at Luthien. Huan leaping caught it in his mouth; but Curufin shot again, and Beren sprang before Luthien, and the dart smote him in the breast."

“I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil.”

“War must be, while we defend our lives against a destroyer who would devour all; but I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.”

Happy Tolkien Week! Did you celebrate Bilbo & Frodo's birthday at all? Which is your favorite of all those quotes? Do you know who Beregond is?