When the Ents descend upon Isengard, almost everything Saruman has made seems vulnerable. Walls are torn apart. Gates are ruined. Machinery is smashed. Water pours across the hollow of Isengard until the furnaces and pits of Saruman’s war industry disappear beneath flood and wreckage. Yet one thing remains standing in the middle of it all. … Read more
Fingon Was Not the Name He Grew Up With in Aman Fingon is one of the most recognizable names of the First Age: the prince who crossed the Grinding Ice, rescued Maedhros from Thangorodrim, ruled the Noldor after Fingolfin, and died amid the ruin of the Nirnaeth Arnoediad. Yet there is an easily missed detail … Read more
At the Black Gate, Sauron’s army seems overwhelming. Orcs, Trolls, Easterlings, Southrons, and other servants of Mordor have surrounded a vastly smaller Host of the West. Then, far behind the battlefield, the One Ring falls into the fire of Mount Doom. What happens next is stranger than a simple military rout. Some of Sauron’s servants … Read more
When Aragorn finally sits in judgment as King, one of the men brought before him is not an enemy, a rebel, or a servant of Sauron. It is Beregond — the Guard of the Citadel who helped save Faramir’s life. That should make the judgment simple. Beregond acted courageously while Denethor, overcome by despair, prepared … Read more
Aldarion and Erendis: The Long Betrothal That Exposed an Impossible Conflict of Duties Aldarion loved the Sea. Erendis loved Aldarion. That sounds like the beginning of a simple romantic tragedy, but in Númenor nothing about their relationship remained simple for long. Aldarion was not merely a restless sailor who preferred ships to home. He was … Read more
At the Battle of Five Armies, Bilbo Baggins has perhaps the best observation post available to anyone who is not commanding troops. He is on Ravenhill, above the valley before Erebor. He can see the battle developing below. Gandalf is nearby. The Elvenking’s forces occupy the same part of the battlefield. And because Bilbo is … Read more
Fingon and Turgon sound so naturally at home beside names such as Thingol, Beleg, and Círdan that it is easy to forget something important: those were not the forms in which the sons of Fingolfin were named in Aman. Before the Exile, they were Findekáno and Turukáno. That difference is more than translation. In the … Read more
Pippin wakes to darkness, rushing wind, and the relentless movement of Shadowfax beneath him. Somewhere behind lies Isengard and the terrible mistake of looking into the palantír. Somewhere ahead stands Minas Tirith. Between them stretches Anórien, the eastern land of Gondor beneath the White Mountains. Then fire appears on the hills. At first Pippin does … Read more
Rivendell feels like the kind of place that should survive forever. When Bilbo first reaches the hidden valley in The Hobbit, it is already ancient. When Frodo arrives generations later, the Last Homely House still seems almost untouched by the decay consuming the wider world. Songs, stories, healing, memory, and counsel endure there while kingdoms … Read more
When the Fellowship escapes Moria, Lothlórien seems almost close enough to touch. Aragorn knows where they must go. Legolas recognizes the country. Beyond the cold streams and winter woods lies one of the last great Elven refuges in Middle-earth. Yet reaching its trees does not mean being admitted. This is one of the easily overlooked … Read more