Lessons From Tolkien:
Introduction
As the main writer of the team and somewhat of the "lore master" I have taken the duty upon my self to do a little community education. With the advent of many recent comments regarding the influence of the most infamous "hobbit movies" upon our mod, I feel compelled to educate the Lord of the Rings Mod masses about some things which pertain to these majestic pieces of 20th century literature known as the Chronicles of Middle Earth.
It is important to understand that the Lord of the Rings is literature, and not the stock of games and movies like the world of Warhammer, or Skyrim. Many ascribed the LOTR to be the greatest work of literature and the most influential in the 20th century. As such our MOD has high footsteps to follow in, as we attempt to transfer this great, outstanding piece of art, into something as Barbaric as a video game. As, it is quite possible that Tolkien would turn in his grave if he knew his works had been made into a video game, but alas, such is the annals of history. Quite, both in our world, and in Tolkien's as well. Fangorn burned to fuel Saruman's war machines, the great line of Kings falling into the hands of the Stewart's, seeing the proud Kingdom of Men, slowly fall into ruin; such is the annals of history.
However, in this thread, I will give some lessons from Tolkien's works to ameliorate your understanding of Middle Earth, enlightening your comprehensions from just a brawl of imaginary creatures, to the detailed workings of wisdom etched in the LOTR, the same echoes that have carried it to be one of the most enduring and influential works of this time. So please open your perception and be edified.
Now before I begin there is one key thing to understand about Tolkien and his works, he absolutely hated allegory. If you don't know what an allegory is, it is something that an author uses to represent something else.
al·le·go·ry
ˈaləˌɡōrē/
noun
- a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral or political one.
"Pilgrim's Progress is an allegory of the spiritual journey"
IE in the Chronicles of Narnia written by Tolkien's close friend C.S.Lewis, Aslan (the Lion) is a clear allegory for Jesus Christ. While the LOTR is an undoubtedly Christian book, it is not one openly, Gandalf does not equal Jesus, Sauron does not equal satan, such would be the making of allegory, however, while Gandalf does not directly equal Jesus, this is far from saying that Gandalf does not equal Jesus, as indeed he might well be, but Tolkien will not force the reader into reading his story through that lens, as such would limit his stories to a narrow understanding; no, the reader may choose to read Sauron as the devil, but he could also equally by ascribed the role of Hitler, if you were to read LOTR through a lens of WWII. So does Sauron equal Hitler, or Satan? Well perhaps either, both, or indeed neither. It is up to you to decide.
Now that I have ranted a bit, on to the first lesson:
Lesson #1: Butter Scrapped Over too Much Bread |
Lesson #1:
Butter Scrapped over too much Bread
We have all heard this famous line that Bilbo speaks, when questioned about his age. he says he "feels like butter, that is spread over too much bread". While the ring seemingly granted him "eternal life" it in fact only "stretched" his life out. While he may live hundreds of years longer, he did not feel "whole, or complete", but stretched thin. The ring did not grant Bilbo, better life, just a longer one. This is why over years and years the ring eventually turns its wearer into a wraith, stretched so far they can not even be seen, that they loose their form.
The point I see Tolkien trying to make here is that often people are far more concerned with prolonging their lives then improving them, they are so frantically trying to avoid death, or pain or sorrow, in the pursuit of ease and comfort, that they completely miss the fullness and adventure of life (This is why LOTR is not an action book, but an adventure novel). Tolkien thought death is not the enemy of man, but his friend, for it is far better to live "rightly" and "justly" than to live for eons suffering from great grief. We see this end clearly also in the Eldar, the elves, who were by nature immortal. Though men saw this as the gift of the Valar, the Eldar saw it as their curse, ever wandering through the ages of grief as it were. The Eldar envied the privileged of man, his ability to face death his whole life, and yet rise to great deeds of heroism and glory.
Perhaps this is something we can learn these days from Tolkien, that instead of pursuing a vain prolonging of life, stretching out our days till when one night we finally are caught by the eternal pursuer, after a great chase of years; we ought rather to live what life we have rightly and greatly, so that we can one day "die rightly". This is one of the essences our mod tries to capture, a Righteous Death, instead of a vain life. (Now video games can often lead to a vain life, so get outside, you'll never know where your feet will get swept off to, or read a book, you might just find some wisdom there)
This is what separates LOTR from something like TW:Warhammer, this isn't as i put it before, a brawl of fantasy characters, but a great weaving of story and fate, and wisdom, that takes place with you as the mighty general in charge of it all!
Dont let your life become stretched thin over too much bread.
Stay tuned for lesson #2 and let me know what you think.
-Cshewey |