j.r.r. tolkien | St. Gallen's Scribblings

Art Dump, 2/21/2024

Posted on February 21 by Remy St. Gallen

Today was the King of Norway’s birthday, so I AI-generated some bunny Vikings:

As for Harald V himself, here’s my interpretation of him in animal form:

I chose the Glechon dog breed since it’s the closest mammal name to House Glücksburg, and in my own stories, I try to have my characters’ names somewhat indicate their species.

I listened to an a-ha album and Das Rheingold (or The Rhinegold, the first of Richard Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelung opera tetralogy) while doing the art, most of the time. I would absolutely love to see the operas themselves since they were based on the same Nordic stories that inspired The Lord of the Rings, though only if they had translated English versions, similar to what a local community college theater had done with Mozart’s The Magic Flute back at the end of 2022.

The Hobbit (Rankin/Bass)

Posted on January 21, 2023 by Remy St. Gallen

I’ve known of this early adaptation of J.R.R Tolkien’s The Hobbit for a few decades but have never actually seen it in full, and decided to do so on HBO Max. Like the novel, the peaceful Bilbo Baggins is recruited by Gandalf and his dwarven companions as the team’s “burglar” (which is probably the most overused word in the movie) to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from the dragon Smaug. The opening credits say it’s “based on the original version of The Hobbit”, but it does feature key scenes such as Bilbo getting what would later be identified as the One Ring of Sauron and encountering the corrupted Gollum, with whom he has a riddle contest, although there are many compressed portions. The animators definitely had offbeat takes on the various races and characters such as Gollum, but it has a lot of decent music such as “The Greatest Adventure” which serves as the movie’s central theme, along with musical interpretations of the poetry Tolkien featured in the book. All in all, a good watch, albeit aimed at younger viewers.

The Return of the King

Posted on January 20, 2023 by Remy St. Gallen

The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The final installment of author J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy opens with wizard Gandalf and hobbit Pippin riding the former’s horse Shadowfax into the city of Minas Tirith in Gondor, meeting the Steward of the High King, Denethor son of Ecthelion. Mordor has decimated other cities in Gondor, with the forthcoming night predicted to be the city’s last. Meanwhile, the hobbit Merry rides with the remnants of the scattered Fellowship of the Ring, including the human ranger Aragorn, elf Legolas, and dwarf Gimli, with the company venturing to the Gate of the Dead in the Haunted Mountain.

Mordor’s siege of Gondor ultimately commences, with the Lord of the Nazgûl, the nine former humans who surrendered to the will of Sauron when given their respective rings, showing himself on the frontlines. Aragon then enters the battle, with the armies of the West soon assembling at the gate into Mordor, when the Eagles come. As this is occurring, Sam spies on the orcs for his captured master, Frodo, after which they make their way to Mount Doom to send the One Ring into its lava. A final conflict with Gollum decides the fate of the Ring, after which the Eagles come to their rescue.

Most of the former Fellowship ultimately reunites, and the hobbits make their way homeward, where conflict arises in the Shire thanks to an individual terming himself Sharkey. Overall, the final book of the trilogy is, like its predecessors, enjoyable and straightforward, and while some have protested the alleged plot hole of the Eagles potentially aiding in the return of the One Ring to Mordor, it wouldn’t have been that easy due to the potential corruption of the avians by the Ring, and the possibility for the Ringwraiths to be skyborne. After the main narrative text, several appendices give insight into the lore of Middle-earth, which is welcome.

View all my reviews

The Two Towers

Posted on January 11, 2023 by Remy St. Gallen

The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The second entry of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy opens where its precursor left off, with a certain character gravely injured and sent off in a funeral boat, after which the survivors of the fellowship agree to pursue the lost hobbits from whom they separated. They ultimately encounter the Riders of Rohan, who bear concern over the wizard Saruman’s alliance with Mordor (the sequel’s title referring to the alliance of his and Sauron’s respective towers). Meanwhile, hobbits Pippin and Merry find themselves captive by Orcs, hellbent on keeping the halflings prisoner.

They soon find themselves free and wander into the woods, where they meet the Ent Treebeard, who relays Middle-earth backstory and transports them to the Valley of Saruman, where he and fellow tree-shepherds agree to go to war given the wizard’s decimation of their woodlands. The fate of Gandalf is resolved, with the hobbit-seekers meeting King Théoden of Rohan, who finds himself captive through the advice of Saruman’s servant Gríma Wormtongue. A battle with Mordor’s forces at Helm’s Deep arises, after which comes a trip to Isengard and a reunion with hobbits Merry and Pippin.

Meanwhile, the other halflings Frodo and Sam are en route to Mordor to destroy the One Ring, with Gollum in pursuit, consequentially being “tamed” so that he can serve as a guide into the Land of Shadow. A trip to the Black Gate of Mordor yields negative results, so Gollum agrees to lead the hobbits to a secret path into the desolate land, although, along the way, they find themselves captive by Men led by Faramir. An encounter with the giant spider Shelob rounds out the second book, along with a cliffhanger in between western Middle-earth and Mordor.

All in all, the second Lord of the Rings entry is, like its precursor, an enjoyable and straightforward fantasy novel that has plenty of action and twists, although like its predecessor and The Hobbit, Tolkien continues to depict specific races as black and white, with there being a dearth of “good” Orcs, though the humans are more “gray”, given the presence of some who ally with Mordor whom Frodo, Sam, and Gollum encounter. Like Tolkien’s other work, it’s definitely essential reading for fantasy enthusiasts and was well ahead of its time in the previous century.

View all my reviews

The Fellowship of the Ring

Posted on December 27, 2022 by Remy St. Gallen

The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The first entry of author J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Ring series, the start of the sequel series to The Hobbit, opens with a prologue detailing the various aspects of the halfling race known as hobbits, their government, their love of smoking pipe-weed, and some synopses of key information from the prequel book such as Bilbo’s acquisition of the One Ring of Mordor. The main chapters begin threescore after The Hobbit, with Bilbo Baggins about to celebrate his hundred-and-eleventh birthday, the same day his second/third nephew (or first cousin once/twice removed) Frodo Baggins celebrates his thirty-third.

Bilbo uses the One Ring to “disappear” from Hobbiton forever and never be seen again, with his cousins, the Sackville-Bagginses, annoyed they won’t inherit his property, Bag End, and that it’ll go to his nephew. Gandalf tells Frodo of the truth of the Ring, noting the corruption and transformation of Sméagol into Gollum, and Sam Gamgee joins Frodo on his quest to destroy the One Ring in the fires of Mount Doom in Mordor. Meanwhile, the Ringwraiths, formerly the nine mortal men who received rings from the Dark Lord Sauron, are on the move, seeking the One Ring.

Fellow hobbits Pippin Took and Merry Brandybuck join Frodo and Sam, and the four find themselves in the home of the enigmatic Tom Bombadil, to whom Frodo contemplates giving the One Ring since it doesn’t affect Bombadil at all. Bombadil afterward rescues the hobbits from a barrow-wight, and they continue to the village of Bree where they stop at the Prancing Pony inn, meeting the equally-enigmatic Strider, who sees Frodo for who he truly is as the Ring-bearer, with the Ringwraiths catching up to them. One of the nine stabs Frodo, with a flood sweeping them away afterward.

Frodo is taken to the home of Elrond where he is healed and reunited with his friends, chief among them Gandalf, who tells of his dealings with the rogue wizard Saruman who allies with Sauron, and the newly-formed fellowship sets off for Mordor. After facing troubles attempting to cross the Misty Mountains, the company agrees to traverse the Mines of Moria, where the fate of Balin the dwarf is discovered, along with a journal detailing the dwarven abandonment of the subterranean caverns. At this time, the forces of Mordor invade, and the fellowship separates from Gandalf.

The party enters elf-inhabited woodlands and meets Lady Galadriel, bearer of one of the elven rings of Mordor, with Frodo offering her the One Ring, although she refuses. They leave afterward, and the fellowship ultimately dissolves when Mordor’s forces attack. Boromir tries to seize the One Ring for himself, with Frodo and Sam setting off alone to destroy it. Overall, the first entry of Tolkien’s esteemed trilogy is definitely an enjoyable, straightforward fantasy novel, although it does feature negative tropes such as orcs being inherently bad, with no “good” ones present. Even so, it’s a must-read for anyone with a liking for the fantasy genre.

View all my reviews

The Hobbit

Posted on December 13, 2022 by Remy St. Gallen

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The inspiration for a Rankin-Bass animated television film and a film trilogy by Peter Jackson, J.R.R. Tolkien’s prelude to his Lord of the Rings trilogy opens with the halfling protagonist Bilbo Baggins living peacefully in his home at Bag End when the enigmatic wizard Gandalf uses the eponymous character’s home to host a party attended by a company of dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshield, who seeks to reclaim his mountain from the dragon Smaug. Bilbo is invited to come along as the dwarves’ “burglar”, although his adventurous maternal Took lineage and his homely Baggins side clash in this respect.

Bilbo does agree to go along, with he and the dwarven company promptly encountering danger on their way to the Lonely Mountain, first in the form of trolls that Gandalf tricks into fighting one another. Following a respite at the home of the elf Elrond, they go into a mountain range chased by a storm, with Bilbo separated from the dwarves once they seek refuge in a cave. The fifth chapter is what Tolkien changed the most in future versions of the book since its conception, largely with respect to the One Ring that would be significant in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The owner of the ring is a creature named Gollum, with whom Bilbo exchanges riddles, although the hobbit breaks the rules by asking him what he has in his pocket, after which he is shown the way out of the mountain caves, the halfling making use of the ring’s power of invisibility to deter the creature’s revenge upon finding his “precious” lost. Bilbo reunites with the dwarves and Gandalf on the other side of the Misty Mountains, although the lupine Wargs attack, the forest afterward is set ablaze, and eagles come to the company’s rescue.

After another respite at the abode of the enigmatic Beorn, the company encounters spiders in the Mirkwood, although Thorin goes missing, imprisoned by the Elvenking, along with the remainder of the dwarves. Bilbo, utilizing his ring’s powers, helps them escape via barrels sent down a river, after which they arrive at the lakeside town of Esgaroth. The party eventually arrives at the Lonely Mountain, with Bilbo figuring out a secret passage to enter the dragon Smaug’s lair, and parleying with the beast, although he and the dwarves find themselves prisoners of the peak.

After they do escape, the dragon attacks the lake town, with its inhabitants wanting the human hero Bard as their ruler over the avaricious Master. Bilbo giving Bard the Arkenstone, a prized heirloom of Thorin, incites the Battle of Five Armies fought among the goblins, Wargs, humans, elves, and dwarves, ending with the arrival of the eagles and Bilbo being knocked unconscious. The book end’s with Bilbo’s return journey alongside Gandalf, where he finds that his neighbors had thought him deceased, and thus hocked much of his possessions. Luckily, Bilbo did get a portion of Thorin’s treasure.

Overall, Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings prelude is a quick, enjoyable read, easily superior to and less dense than its more daunting successors, and I definitely found myself empathizing with Bilbo, given a clash between my adventurous side and homebody portion. As would be the case with the subsequent Lord of the Rings books and the various fantasy yarns the book would inspire, however, Tolkien depicts certain races in black-and-white terms, with there being no “good” goblins, Wargs, or whatnot, while the dwarves and humans are inherently lawful. Regardless, The Hobbit is definitely a bucket-list book.

View all my reviews

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power

Posted on November 4, 2022 by Remy St. Gallen

For legal reasons not related to Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Ring and Hobbit film trilogies, the Amazon Prime series based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s appendices following the end of Return of the King focuses on the Second Age when peace reigns across Middle-earth and whatever lands lay beyond, with several characters of different races including humans, elves, dwarves, and even hobbits. There’s also a mysterious person who falls from the heavens termed “the Stranger”, his true identity ultimately revealed, and the series touches upon the origin of Mordor that eventually serves as Sauron’s realm. Some have had issues with the pacing of the series, but I didn’t, since the characters are genuinely interesting, and I look forward to the next season.