Seventh Interview Question from The Fellowship of the Ring ...



The Ivy Bush

A Tolkien Magazine

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July/August 2013

This Month’s Authors

I. Salogel

Benita Prins

Fiona McNeely

Rachel Greenleaf

In This Issue

It’s Not as Though It’s Witchcraft…

Clothing Middle-earth

Worth Reading

A Play on Words

Credits

Editor: Benita Prins

Contributors: I. Salogel, Marya Tyler, Janey Talltree, Amelia Mayham, Benita Prins, Agnés Burke, Fiona McNeely, Bridget MacMillan, Rachel Greenleaf

And thanks to everyone else who contributed something for this month’s issue!

Contribute!

Write articles or stories, make up games, find a Tolkienian language tidbit, tell us a Did You Know about the movies or books, or anything else! Deadline for the September issue is August 25. Send your things to your Ivy Bush contact. (This is the person who passes each issue on to you.)

Seventh (and Last) Interview Question from The Fellowship of the Ring Movie:

What, in your opinion, was the funniest thing that happened in filming?

Milo (Pippin)

I don’t know, there were days that weren’t as fun but there were a lot of fun days so I do not know.

Hannah (Merry)

There were too many funny things to decide!

Sydnee (Arwen, Galadriel, Goldberry)

Besides Graham’s car noise, his t-rex arms and James [Aragorn] goofing off with Andúril?? Probably when we’re running out of time for the Bombadil shoot and Roland HAS to nail his line and he leaps into the room and says “Good morning, friends!” and everyone collapses to the floor in hysterical laughter. Including Sam, who fell off of the couch. But the irony of Sam’s nickname evolving into “Fish”…then realizing he IS the fish in the Sméagol/Déagol flashback is up there too.

Roland (Tom Bombadil)

It is impossible to pick one. So many funny things happened during filming!

April (Frodo)

Probably Graham’s weird faces or funny voices, or the funny coincidences. Like every time Sydnee said her line the dog would bark, and it wouldn’t bark for anything else, just that ONE line and we kept having to re-shoot only for the dog to keep barking at that one line. Or the constant breeding ground of helicopters. Or any interruptions that seemed like life just hated us, and were kind of funny aside from frustrating. Also it was really funny during the fighting scenes, it was super cool to watch but sometimes when they went wrong it was hilarious too. And mostly of course when you’re giddy, everything is funny. Or that worm we found that kind of looked like an inchworm that stuck out of the stick and we were all like…hypnotized by it and couldn’t leave it alone long enough to start shooting. That was pretty funny too.

(continued on pg. 14)

Worth Reading

By Fiona McNeely

The Lord of the Rings is high-quality literature greatly worth reading. The characters are well-developed and act in a believable way. Both the tale that the author, J.R.R. Tolkien, spins and the world he created ring true. Finally, his prose and poetry are both outstanding. These three characteristics of the book aid in making the account of this period in the history of his world, Middle-earth, seem to be a genuine happening.

The upright characters are not wholly good, just as human beings are inclined to sin, while the wicked individuals are not wholly malevolent. Gollum, a withered creature who has been tortured by the lure of the evil Ring for five hundred years and would do anything to get it back, still has his virtuous moments, as when he swears to serve Frodo, who now has the Ring. Another time when this shows is when Gollum sees Frodo asleep and remembers the time when he himself was not miserable. Boromir, certainly on the good side of the character spectrum, succumbs to the temptation of the Ring at times: eventually Boromir even threatens Frodo if Frodo will not give it to him. This particular book is so much more credible than many other narratives in the same genre.

Everything in the story seems completely realistic, even though the book is fantasy. The surroundings of each new setting are closely described so that the reader can see them in his mind’s eye. Throughout the saga one catches glimpses of the larger history behind this one work, an example of this being when Aragorn mentions the mysterious ‘cats of Queen Berúthiel’: Tolkien worked on the annals of Middle-earth for nearly his whole life. While the majority of contemporary fantasies are shallow and the worlds depicted therein give no evidence of being thoroughly thought out, yet The Lord of the Rings departs from this formula.

The author’s writing style is excellent. His sentence structure makes the text interesting, and is carefully thought out and varied. The vocabulary used is extensive, venturing even into words which are no longer used anywhere or are not in the common dictionaries, including ‘puissant’, a French word meaning ‘high’. Both old usages of words and new ones are used in a very clever way. Having worked on the Oxford English Dictionary immediately after World War I, Tolkien had access to many words used rarely in the modern day.

J.R.R. Tolkien’s work of fantasy is an enduring and well-loved masterpiece. It was much appreciated when first published, and the characters, story, and the approach to telling the story make The Lord of the Rings still one of the most popular books of current times. If one is an admirer of fantasy, one should most certainly explore Tolkien’s works.

What If…

…instead of “Shire – Baggins” Gollum said “Shire – Sackville-Baggins”?

…some other director had filmed The Lord of the Rings?

…Galadriel hadn’t stayed in Middle-earth?

Language Corner

The Elf’s Lament

By Benita Prins, translated into Quenya by I. Salogel

English

Farewell, my dearest Middle-earth!

The wind is blowing to me

A message: I must go.

My people all are leaving;

This is no longer home.

It is full of memories.

The Men have taken over.

We are no longer needed,

Not even remembered.

We steal through the woodlands.

The wind is blowing to us

The message: we must go.

Quenya

Namárië, anmeldan Endor!

I súrë hwestëanyë

Menta: autanyë.

Liënyë ilyë autëa;

Vanwa sina na már

Quantas ná enyalo.

I Atan amapië.

Nálmë sina sangië,

Lá simen uvienë.

Vantalmë ter i toalië.

I súrë hwestëamë

I menta: autanmë.

How Well Do You Know LOTR?

1. What was laid across the necks of the three younger hobbits?

2. Who saved them from the Barrow-wight?

3. What was the name of Tom Bombadil’s pony?

4. What did Tom take from the Barrow’s treasure for Goldberry?

5. By whom were the daggers given to the hobbits made?

6. How many days did Frodo lose by taking the ‘short cut’?

7. What was the name of the inn in Bree, and who owned it?

8. What colour hair did the Men of Bree have?

9. What did the Breelanders call the ‘mysterious wanderers’?

10. What was the original name of the Greenway?

Cast and Crew Birthdays in July

July 1: Liv Tyler (Arwen) turns 36

July 18: Sarah McLeod (Rosie) turns 42

July 19: Benedict Cumberbatch (voice of Smaug and the Necromancer) turns 37

It’s Not as Though It’s Witchcraft...

by I. Salogel

The title of this article is actually a line from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Radagast says it when unsure of how to cure his small pet hedgehog. But I’m going to use it in a different context. Many Christians in this world have nothing to do with The Lord of the Rings or any of the other stories of Middle-earth, but it’s not on account of gruesome imagery, or dirty language, or even the theology. There is a Bible verse, Ezekiel 13:20 (NIV), which says “Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against your magic charms with which you ensnare people like birds and I will tear them from your arms; I will set free the people that you ensnare like birds.” The thing that worries Christians is magic, because God forbids it. And yes, Tolkien’s work does include magic. There are five wizards in LOTR. The whole idea of magic rings turns people off. Palantíri are magical seeing stones. Several times Elvish magic is referred to. Even Minas Morgul, literally translated, means Tower of Black Sorcery. However, this does not mean that The Lord of the Rings is inappropriate for Christians to read. In the following paragraphs I will explain why this is so.

The first thing which should be taken into consideration is that Tolkien was a devout Catholic. He was well aware of the verses in which God places those who practice magic arts among the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. But Tolkien did not purpose for his books to be allegorical to the Bible like C.S. Lewis’ Narnia was. Tolkien’s intention in creating Middle-earth was firstly to make a history for his Elvish languages which he had invented, and secondly he wished to create a mythology for England, since it did not have one of its own.[1] Almost every single mythology in the world includes magic of one sort or another. Greek, Roman, Norse, Native American, Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, the list goes on. So it is not surprising that LOTR includes magic, especially considering that Tolkien studied mythology, mostly Norse, for nearly his entire life.

The next thing we must examine is what is meant by magic in LOTR. For instance, someone might use the term magical to describe the night sky. Another might use the term magical to describe witchcraft. Neither of these uses are incorrect, they are simply different understandings of what the word magic means. If we are to claim that LOTR involves magic, we must be sure of what Tolkien means to portray by magic. Interestingly, Tolkien does not give an exact description of what he intends by magic. Perhaps one of the best ways to describe his view on the subject is this:

“It’s wonderfully quiet here. Nothing seems to be going on, and nobody seems to want it to. If there’s any magic about, it’s right down deep, where I can’t lay my hands on it, in a manner of speaking.”

“You can see and feel it everywhere,” said Frodo.

“Well,” said Sam, “you can’t see nobody working it. No fireworks like poor Gandalf used to show. I wonder we don’t see nothing of the Lord and Lady in all these days. I fancy now that she could do some wonderful things, if she had a mind. I’d dearly love to see some Elf-magic, Mr. Frodo!”[2]

Sam is comparing different types of magic, if you will. He has seen the “magic” of Gandalf in the fireworks displays. But now he has encountered a new type of magic, in the living land of Lothlórien. It seems more an aliveness, for as he says there is no one causing it to happen. This is where it comes in handy to know a bit about the history of Middle-earth. Lothlórien was a land created by the Valar, or the “gods” so to speak, before evil came and defiled the earth. It was in some ways a Garden of Eden, except that it was never unoccupied. What Sam is sensing here is pure goodness, almost a holiness, an echo of the paradise across the Sea where the Valar live. Personally I would not classify this as magic; I would compare it rather to Moses coming down from Mt. Sinai with the radiance of God on his face. An echo of splendour.

That does not, however, explain what Sam means by “Elf-magic.” Perhaps the best way is to let Galadriel herself explain.

“And you?” she said, turning to Sam. “For this is what your folk would call magic, I believe; though I do not understand clearly what they mean; and they seem to use the same word for the deceits of the Enemy. But this, if you will, is the magic of Galadriel. Did you not say that you wished to see Elf-magic?”[3]

Galadriel makes clear that magic for some is not magic for others. And she also clarifies that the deceits of the Enemy, sorcery and witchcraft, are much different than “Elf-magic.” Galadriel is also aware that a magical item such as her mirror is not entirely to be trusted, and cannot tell the future. As she explains to Sam:

“Remember that the Mirror shows many things, and not all have yet come to pass. Some never come to be, unless those that behold the visions turn aside from their path to prevent them. The Mirror is dangerous as a guide of deeds.”[4]

Yes, the power of the Mirror can be taken as magical. But Galadriel’s warning concerning it provides a very Christian worldview.

Before I move on to dark magic in The Lord of the Rings, I would quickly like to touch on the subject of wizards. This is perhaps one of the most controversial arguments concerning magic in Tolkien’s works. One way to explain the power of the Wizards, or Istari, is to compare them to the Old Testament prophets. Miracles that the prophets performed could have been considered magic. Were they? Well, they were God’s power. Is that magic? This is not a perfect analogy, for Tolkien made absolutely certain that his books were not allegorical in any way. But perhaps the best way to view Gandalf and the other wizards is as guardian angels of sorts.

“When...the first shadow had fallen on Greenwood the Great, the Istari or Wizards appeared in Middle-earth. It was afterwards said that they came out of the Fair West and were messengers sent to contest the power of Sauron, and to unite all those who had the will to resist him; but they were forbidden to match his power with power, or to seek to dominate Elves or Men by force and fear.”[5]

As is obvious, Saruman eventually disregarded the command and attempted to rule Middle-earth and use his power in a corrupt and malicious way. He turned his powers to dark uses.

This brings us to the next topic: dark magic. Yes, there is most certainly dark magic in The Lord of the Rings. Probably the most powerful thing created with dark magic in the story is the One Ring. For into it, Sauron poured his hate, malice, and will to dominate all life.

“...he made that Ring himself, it is his, and he let a great part of his own former power pass into it, so that he could rule all the others. If he recovers it, then he will command them all again, wherever they be, even the Three, and all that has been wrought with them will be laid bare, and he will be stronger than ever... It is his great hope and our great fear.[6]

This Ring not only contains part of Sauron’s power, but it will also be able to control and reveal all the three Elven rings which he has not been able to get his hands on. It can grant long life, as is displayed by Gollum and also Bilbo who “at ninety looked much the same as he did at fifty.” Also, the Ring has a conscience; it wants to get back to its master, to Sauron. Not to mention its most iconic power: the ability to render the wearer invisible. Yet even this seemingly handy feature has extreme drawbacks. For one thing, the Enemy can sense it when it’s being worn. But more importantly if someone uses the Ring to make himself invisible too much, he fades. He becomes permanently invisible and walks in the twilight realm, similar to the Ringwraiths, under the power of Sauron, a terrible end for any creature.

However, this still does not explain the magical side of things and why it’s okay for Christians to read about it. As I see it, magic itself, in our world and in Middle-earth, depends on point of view. Some of the slower and simpler races of Middle-earth, such as Hobbits, call a thing magic when they see another do something that they cannot explain. But the other may know exactly how it was done, and know full well that their trick was not magic at all. Also, the sorcery and witchcraft that Sauron and Saruman use are not necessarily magical tricks. They are a misuse of power, similar to how Satan misused his power and used it, indeed still uses it, to try to eradicate good. And when God warns us that he will have nothing to do with magic, is he not saying that he will have nothing to do with those who practice the lies of Satan? He declares in Revelation that he will wipe them out, that they will be turned away at the door. Well, in LOTR it’s the same idea. A force of evil using its corrupted power to dominate other beings and wipe good off the earth, but which is being battled and fought for by the Wizards, divine protectors, and the rest of Middle-earth. So the question: should Christians avoid The Lord of the Rings because it has magic in it? Certainly not! Tolkien, by including magic, incorporates the Christian view on magic into his story in the most skilful of ways.

That was Poetry!

The King Under the Mountain

By Theresa Prins

The leaves were waving on the height;

the folk looked up with faces bright.

The Mountain was fairer than sight,

and as they watched, it grew light.

There was laughter in the towns,

and the most cheerful sounds.

The way to travellers was no longer bound,

and the streets echoed with sound.

But in the rock it was ringing

with the sound of blows and singing.

The bells were all ringing;

the Dwarves were digging.

The dragon was dead

or so it was said,

and to the Mountain were led

those who still held up their heads.

The King of the Gold comes forth!

And those who oppose him step forth!

For richness is his, and of all those who live North,

and the procession echoed with mirth.

Hobbit Fun

Cryptogram

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Did You Know?

When Ian McKellen (Gandalf) bumps his head on the rafter in Bag-End, there are many people that say it was an accident, and many others who claim it was purposeful. In truth, it was both. Ian McKellen did it on purpose, in the hope of making it look natural and not planned. Peter Jackson bought it and thought it was a complete accident, but put it into the film because he loved the moment and never found out that it was actually done deliberately. Since both Ian and PJ told the story, however, there was a mixed account of what happened.

JOKES!

Q. What did Gollum say when he discovered he’d lost the Ring?

(victim of joke thinks for a while, perhaps hazarding a few tentative guesses, then says, “I don’t know.” Teller of joke gives it away…)

A. Where’s my ring?

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Short Stories

Letter to Théoden

By Theresa Prins

Dear King Théoden,

This is your nephew, Éomer, calling.  I came to tell you that my cell phone ran out of batteries two days ago, and I don’t know where to get any more, and I don’t know how to get them in when I get them, and there are a great many things that I should like to know about doing that sort of thing.  So could you help?  My cell number is 123-621-0589.  Oh, I forgot, my cell phone doesn’t work.  Anyways, that doesn’t matter.  Threaten it, and it will; I always have to threaten it to make it work.

Well, anyways, this is your nephew Éomer calling, and though I am not calling, I can certainly call it that.  Well, anyways, this is your nephew Éomer calling (writing?), and I don’t know what to do about it.  Well, anyways, this is Éomer writing, and my address is PO Box 649, Meduseld, Rohan, G5J 8Y8.  Well, anyways, this is me writing to you, and I hope that you have a nice restful evening dreaming about fixing my cell phone.  

Well, this is Éomer writing, and I’m going to stop writing now; so…

Éomer

Something to Think About

Do you think that Peter Jackson has taken away from the spirit of Tolkien or enhanced it by adding a new character, Tauriel the female Elf-guard of Mirkwood, into The Hobbit?

Did You Notice?

When Arwen is sitting in her room reading a book, there are words on the page. When Elrond enters, she drops the book on the floor and the words have been magically replaced by pictures!

The Hobbit: An Information Corner

Where you can read the latest and most exciting news on everything Hobbit. (But please be aware that potential spoilers are included.)

-Hobbit Trailer: The teaser trailer for the next Hobbit movie has come out and it provides some interesting information. I’ve done a frame by frame analysis of this new trailer and there is a lot of stuff packed into those two minutes and nine seconds. There were three initial impressions I got from the trailer after my first viewing: the Lonely Mountain looks like the Paramount logo without stars, they showed Smaug (!), and Elves Elves Elves! Thranduil, Tauriel and Legolas take up about 65% of all the footage which is a little worrying, considering that the story is about Dwarves, not Elves. This is a list of some of the things that I have noticed from the trailer.

•Thranduil He seems arrogant which works well considering his disposition in the book, and also has very… impressive… eyebrows. (As one person said, “Oh look, twin caterpillars!”)

•Mirkwood Peter Jackson has made an apparent departure from the book by allowing all the Dwarves including Thorin to be captured by spiders. In the book, Thorin is taken captive by the Elves and the rest of the Dwarves do not figure this out until Bilbo has freed them from the spiders. Also, in the trailer Thranduil seems to be well aware of what Thorin is planning to do, while in the book he becomes quite angry when he cannot discover the Dwarves’ plan.

•Barrels The barrels sequence has obviously been changed from the sneaky and slightly uncomfortable escape plan we know it to be in the book. There are no lids on the barrels and the Dwarves appear to have their weapons out while riding the rapids. Elves are chasing them through the treetops (CG Elves: if you pause in the right spot you can see that they have no facial features yet) and are well aware of their escaping prisoners. However, there are also Orcs in this sequence. In one shot, Bombur is high in the air in his barrel. An Orc is in the air as well, and it has an Elven arrow in its chest. Bombur snatches an axe out of the Orc’s hand and lands on the opposite shore amidst another group of Orcs! (Apparently, Barrels Out of Bond has become Barrels on Steroids.)

•Legolas He looks quite different than he did in LOTR. One thing that everyone is noticing is that his eyes are much brighter blue than in the earlier movies. I’m hoping that this is simply because Weta Workshop has not yet completed the lighting and visual effects on some of the shots we saw in the trailer. Also, his outfit is completely different: instead of the soft greens and browns we were introduced to in Fellowship he is now dressed in full silver and grey armor which still look Elvish, but not particularly Legolas-ish.

•Thrain There are two very brief clips of Gandalf fighting a Dwarf, and the same Dwarf jumping on Gandalf. It looks like the location is Dol Guldur, which leads me to assume that this Dwarf is Thrain, Thorin’s father who was tortured in Dol Guldur. Gandalf found him there and took the map and key which he gives to Thorin in the beginning of the story. Flashback, perhaps?

•Bard Many people have thought that Orlando Bloom is playing two roles in this story, Legolas and Bard the Bowman. Bard is played by Luke Evans however. This mixup is probably because Evans has is similar to Bloom in both voice and appearance. Hopefully Bard won’t turn into a William Turner who can shoot a bow…

•Azog The Pale Orc is back. Can he please die in this movie?

•Smaug I was very surprised that we were allowed a look at Smaug, albeit only his head. It would have been much more effective to simply let us get our first look at him in the theatre. And also, this might just be me but I really don’t like the design of the dragon! Perhaps the fire drake will be improved by Benedict Cumberbatch’s voice.

•Beorn Lastly we catch our first glimpse of a potential Beorn in bear form. If it is Beorn. There is some speculation that this is simply one of Beorn’s fellow bears, and the Dwarves have disobeyed Beorn’s orders by opening the door to look out. This will have to wait till December, or at least until the second trailer. All in all, December couldn’t come fast enough: what is Peter Jackson doing to the story?????

-Premiere: The premiere for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug will not be held in Wellington! The true location is not yet public, but there have been rumors that it will be held in Moscow.

-Happy Hobbit: Two LOTR fans, who have a video series called Happy Hobbit, became famous fast when they recorded themselves watching the trailer and posted it. Somehow, Peter Jackson found the video and thought it was so funny that he pulled Evangeline Lilly, Lee Pace and Orlando Bloom off set to watch it! Their reaction was recorded and posted online as well. Then Happy Hobbit recorded a video of themselves reacting to the reaction of the cast to their reaction of the trailer. (If you just got lost, you’re not alone.) People are calling it “Hobbit-ception”, and it’s really quite funny to watch. I’m a little jealous, to be honest… (Okay, a lot jealous…)

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The three Elves watching Happy Hobbit’s reaction.

-Extended Edition: Warner Bros has reviewed the Extended Edition of the first movie and has given it a rating of PG13 for intense fantasy battles and fleeting nudity. Which provides a lot of food for speculation. Dwarves being naughty? Gollum having a loincloth malfunction? The Extended Edition is supposed to have seven discs, which is also rather confusing. Finally, the tentative release date for this is November 12, 2013.

-Tauriel: I purposefully avoided Tauriel in the trailer rehash because her character requires its own section. I was extremely excited about this new addition until two things happened. Firstly, we got our first good look at her, and she has red hair. There have been no Elves with red hair in Middle-Earth since the first age, and those few are long gone. And there is no way she would have red hair as a Sylvan Elf. So that is unfortunate. Also, it has been revealed that she will have a love story. Which bodes ill. Orlando Bloom and Peter Jackson have both denied that there will be any romantic connection with Legolas; in fact from the trailer it seems to me that they have a bit of a stony relationship. But Aidan Turner (Kíli) has hinted that there might be a possible connection with his character and that bodes ill as well. A Dwarf/Elf love story would be terrible, and completely against the spirit of the book. Unfortunately, from what information has been released, it would provide reasons for a lot of things which didn’t make sense before. I just hope that whatever Peter Jackson does, it won’t be too bad…

-Pickup Set: A huge cloud of smoke engulfed a Hobbit filming set on June 15 when a generator caught on fire. No one was harmed, but the fire took about two hours to put out. Reports say that it was a Dale set for night shooting, and was supposed to look like it had been gutted by fire. With luck, Peter Jackson caught some footage and we’ll be able to see some of it in the movie!

-Production Blog: During the making of An Unexpected Journey Peter Jackson periodically released video blogs, or vlogs, of what they were working on. Good news, he has released another one!

Did You Know?

In one of the first drafts of The Hobbit, Gandalf wasn’t named Gandalf at all, but Bladorthin. The name Gandalf was given to the character who we now know as Thorin! And what we know as Thrór’s map was originally Fimbulfami’s map.

Also, after publishing Lord of the Rings, Tolkien attempted to rewrite The Hobbit to make it fit better into Middle-Earth. He gave up after a short time however, as most fans didn’t want The Hobbit to be different or changed at all, and didn’t care about the inconsistencies.

Seventh (and Last) Interview Question from The Fellowship of the Ring Movie:

What, in your opinion, was the funniest thing that happened during filming?

Rachel (Legolas, Gildor, others)

Well, there were WAY too many, but one of my favourite moments was when James [Aragorn] and Graham went “batman” and wouldn’t do ANYTHING else for 10 minutes. I also enjoyed Graham’s car noise (and airplane noise), James and Justin [Elrond] taking almost an hour to do a five line scene because of inexplicable laughter issues, and almost anything that Roland was involved in. Milo and Hannah came up with a lot of pranks that were very in character (like hiding the Dwarf’s axe at one point…). The absolute funniest thing though (and also the most aggravating) would have to be Graham, every single day, munching on nature.

Sam (Boromir, Gaffer, Barliman Butterbur, others)

Graham’s car noise, Tom Bombadil, or when it took certain people half an hour to get one line done. (It’s always funnier when watching footage of it afterwards.)

Benita (Arwen, Lobelia)[7]

When we were shooting the Cerin Amroth flashback in Lórien, at one point when I said my first line, “Dark is the shadow and yet I rejoice…” I got to the ‘rej’ in ‘rejoice’ and then I started laughing hysterically so it was like “Dark is the shadow and yet I re-hee-hee-hee” which made Rachel mad (. At the end when we’d gotten it perfect we realized I’d forgotten to take out my ponytail… so we called it the ‘old Arwen look’ since it was so many years earlier.

Graham (Samwise)

I think one of the funniest things for me was how April got completely freaked out by the daddy-long-legs.

A Play on Words

By Rachel Greenleaf

Those people who have read Tolkien’s works are well aware that the sentences are far from simple. In fact, they are extremely complex, and often include words which sound authentic but not familiar, or sound familiar but are not wholly understandable. Another amazing thing about his books is the names. Where do the names come from, they can’t have all sprouted from his head, brilliant as it was. Well actually, there are some very fascinating stories behind the names and words in The Lord of the Rings. In this article I will be explaining a bare fraction of them.

Almost of all of the names and words Tolkien borrowed from history came from Old English, which made sense seeing as he was a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford for many years and “knew his stuff” so to speak. Many of the names of his races also came from Old English. Elf and the plural form Elves was derived from Old English ylfe, and ælf, a compound found in many old English names, such as Ælfred, Ælfgar, Ælfweard, and Ælfric. Orcs were derived from the archaic form orcneas or orc. Basically, the word meant ‘demons’. Interestingly enough, this word could have just as easily come from the Latin root orcus which referred to a giant, demon or monster. We get our modern day Orca whales from this word, as well as ogres. However, Tolkien explicitly stated that the inspiration for his orcs was English in origin.

Tolkien is also very clever in the way he crafts words so that they subconsciously affirm the image of the thing to which the word refers. Take Ringwraith, for instance. The word wraith is from Scottish origins and the dictionary defines it as “An apparition or spectre of a dead person; a phantom or ghost...” Makes perfect sense when one thinks of a wraith, ‘neither living nor dead.’ And the added word ring to the front gives the impression of something eternally enslaved to a Ring, which is exactly what the Ringwraiths are. But there’s more. Think about other words that sound like wraith. There’s writhe, which is twisting and turning. There’s wreath, which we think of as a happy Christmas decoration, but which actually describes any ‘twisted thing.’ There’s wrath, which is fierce anger. There’s wreathe, which means to adorn something; fitting connection to creatures which were once great kings of men. Even if you had never thought about any words which sound like wraith in your life before reading this article, the knowledge of them subconsciously affected the way you heard the word wraith. It gave it a heavier and more sinister feel than if there were no words which sounded like it at all.

Finally, what do Smaug, Sméagol and smial all have in common? You guessed it, they all come from the same root word, smygels, meaning burrow. A smial, the most directly related word, is the Hobbit word for a Hobbit hole. For Sméagol, Tolkien investigated the Germanic root smugan ‘to creep or penetrate gradually’ and the related Old English smeagan, ‘to scrutinize, investigate.’ He also took from Old English ficol, which basically means ‘deceive.’ (We get our modern word fickle from it.) So put them all together and you get Sméagol, a deceiver who creeps along, investigating and hiding in dark places. Now there is one more word related to smygal, smugan and smeagan, and this is Old English smeag which pretty much meant ‘worm’. The Old Norse equivalent of the word, though it does not actually exist, would be smaug, which is an extremely appropriate for a dragon, or Great Wyrm as Tolkien often referred to them. However, in one of his letters Tolkien clarified that the word smaug is also the past tense of the Norse verb smjúga which means ‘to creep through an opening.’ In any case, both fit the Smaug we know perfectly.

An interesting tidbit is that if we use the Old Norse pronunciation to pronounce Smaug, au sound is the same as that in ‘cause’ which would make the dragon’s name sound like Smog. It also brings to mind other words such as ‘smoke’ and ‘awe’, both of which describe the dragon, and would also line up with Tolkien’s habit of using names with double meanings. The movie makers chose to classify Smaug as an Elvish word, and therefore used the Elvish au which sounds like ow. The only reason I can see this being done is to stay consistent with the pronunciation of another dragon, Glaurung, which is distinctly Elvish, therefore causing the au to be an ow sound. But Smaug is not technically an Elvish word and when The Hobbit was written, Tolkien did not yet plan for it to be set in Middle-Earth, which therefore follows that Middle-Earth languages and pronunciations would not apply. So if you’ve been saying ‘Smog’ ever since you first read The Hobbit, don’t worry! Peter Jackson is wrong this time, not you.

Perhaps one of the most interesting names in the entire Lord of the Rings books is Quickbeam, or Bregalad, one of the Ents. He was called this by the other Ents because he had once answered the question of an old Ent before it was done being asked. The Elvish form of the name, Bregalad, is basically sunbeam (lit. bre=sudden or violent, galad=light). However, it may also hold ties to a pun on the Elvish word galadh which means tree. But that’s not all. Quickbeam tells Merry and Pippin that his favourite kind of tree is a rowan[8] tree. Well “quickbeam” is actually the Old English name for that very tree! And what is crazier is that it can describe what Quickbeam really is, an Ent! Quick can refer to aliveness, as in the quick and the dead, and the archaic sense of the word beam is tree. An alive tree - an Ent.

Words are never just words. Words have as much history to them as people or traditions. J.R.R. Tolkien was a master of words. He created skilful combinations, crafted new words from old roots which shared similar meanings, he knew whether to end a word with an eth or an en or an ish to give it the right feel and authenticity. His knowledge and genius is proven by how rich a canvas of words is shown in his writing. So next time you take a visit to Middle-Earth and pick up one of his books, pay close attention to the words and if you come across one you don’t recognize, like dwimmerlaik or gangrel, look it up: you may well be surprised at what you find!

(Much source material for this article is taken from The Ring of Words: Tolkien and the Oxford English Dictionary by Peter Gilliver, Jeremy Marshall and Edmund Weiner.)

Did You Know?

When figuring out the personality and look of each character in The Lord of the Rings, many things were tried and then abandoned. Arwen, for instance, was originally going to be a warrior princess and they even shot footage of her at Helm’s Deep, fighting Orcs. Also, the first wig they tried for Éowyn was orangey-red but it looked so terrible that they went back to Tolkien’s description and made her blonde.

That was Poetry!

Elanor

By Daisy Perian

Lothlórien was abandoned and

Thus died the flowers of that land;

In Middle-Earth sunstars bloomed no more

But one – and that was Elanor.[9]

A Hobbit lass with curling locks

Of golden ringlets; dressed in frocks

Befitting well her folk and kin

And flaunting prettily her grin.

Her eyes that sparkle wondrous fair

And blue, improve her yellow hair.

Though sometimes they are full of cheek

At other times are sweet and meek.

Firstborn daughter of Samwise

The Brave, ‘tis not a great surprise

That such a girl as she was taken

To be the royal queen’s handmaiden.

When beautiful and grown, she wed

A young lad who was named Fastred.

They lived in Westmarch, green with flowers.

Their children were Fairbairns of the Towers.

And when Sam up and took

His leave of Middle-Earth, they kept his book,

And lived in simple Hobbit ways

Until the end of both their days.

What If…

...Boromir had succeeded in taking the Ring from Frodo?

...Frodo refused to be the Ringbearer?

...Bilbo had killed Gollum?

Language Corner

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

English

Twinkle, twinkle little star

How I wonder what you are!

Up above the world so high,

Like a diamond in the sky.

Twinkle, twinkle little star

How I wonder what you are!

Quenya

Tintila, tintila titta tingilya

Manen elmendanya mana nàlyë!

Amor Ambar antara,

Ve calima mire imi menel.

Tintila, tintila titta tingilya

Manen elmendanya mana nàlyë!

Cast and Crew Birthdays in August

August 3: Evangeline Lilly (Tauriel) turns 34

August 20: John Noble (Denethor) turns 65

August 20: Alan Lee (conceptual artist) turns 66

August 21: John Howe (conceptual artist) turns 56

August 22: Richard Armitage (Thorin) turns 42

August 28: Billy Boyd (Pippin) turns 45

How Well Do You Know LOTR?

1. Who was Harry Goatleaf?

2. What happened as soon as Harry turned his back to the gate?

3. Which hobbit took care of the stables at the Prancing Pony?

4. Who was the hobbit who helped Mr. Butterbur serve meals, make beds, and things like that?

5. What kind of berry was in the tart served to the hobbits?

6. Which hobbit did not go to the common room of the inn?

7. What did he do instead?

8. How did Frodo explain his being out of the Shire?

9. What was the name of the Ranger who was at the inn?

10. When Frodo fell off the table, what happened to him?

Clothing Middle-earth

By Benita Prins

There were many massive undertakings included in the making of The Lord of the Rings. The miniatures sculptors created sometimes huge ‘miniatures’ of the locations in the movie, at times on very short notice. On occasion Peter Jackson would insist on having changes made to the models perhaps only a few days before that particular miniature was needed for filming! Howard Shore, the composer, had to write the musical soundtrack for three movies amounting to about nine hours altogether. Daniel Reeve, who put together a portfolio of writings he had done in Tengwar – the Elvish script – and sent it to Peter Jackson offering his services, made thousands of books, notes, and other diagrams, many of which never even appeared on camera. But one of the greatest commissions was designing and producing the costumes for all the characters. Ngila Dickson, the costume designer, came into the project only six months away from the beginning of filming. She had a couple of ideas, but almost immediately she discovered that the art of Alan Lee had determined the look of the movie already, and she had to drop most of her former notions and conform herself to this look.

Some of the costumes went through countless changes. Arwen’s character was first that of a warrior princess (which, may I mention here, would have been frightful), and her costume began that way. However, Liv Tyler [Arwen] soon encountered more than one problem with the heavy gown she was supposed to wear. The sleeves and long skirt hampered her movements, and besides that, she had weapons to carry. Soon after this her personality was changed to the one seen in the movie, and Dickson met more hindrances. The look of the Elves had been defined earlier on thanks to Cate Blanchett [Galadriel] and Hugo Weaving [Elrond], described by Ngila Dickson as “a couple of the perfect Elves”[10], but the colours grey, green, and yellow which had been chosen earlier did not work on Tyler at all, while deep reds and blues did. Eventually these were the main colours adopted for Arwen.

For each of the numerous scale doubles – hobbits, dwarves, wizards, and so on – there had to be different-sized costumes. This in itself was a taxing job, but there was more: each piece of clothing had to be reproduced in a smaller or a larger weave! However, probably rather frustratingly to the overworked costumers, it’s not even perceptible on camera, as it is not noticeable when the scale doubles themselves are acting instead of the actors.

Despite the fact that the overall feel of the film had been established by Alan Lee’s drawings, Ngila Dickson certainly did have her own way, obviously, with the final designs. “…I decided to dress them in an English style – somewhere in the region of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries – but mucked about with so that it was slightly off-kilter: sleeves and trouser-legs that were short, pockets that were high.”[11] The Elves were extremely tough to figure out. But the enigma was solved, as has been said, by Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving. “Between the two of them, they defined ‘Elf’ for us at last and we were able to create a design language that was rich and sumptuous and which we knew would work.”[12] This provided inspiration for Aragorn’s as well: “…I wanted Aragorn’s costume to have something of the ‘lightness’ of the Elves”[13] since he was brought up in Rivendell by Elrond after his father’s death.

Every effort was made to make the costumes fit the characters and help the actors to act; the actors as well cooperated very well on this matter. On the inside of Théoden’s leather armour, where it is not even visible to the viewers of the movie, there is intricate embroidery, making, by his own statement, Bernard Hill [Théoden] feel just like a real king. Viggo Mortensen [Aragorn] requested specially to be allotted the care of his costume – he washed and mended it himself. Miranda Otto [Éowyn] had only to don a dress to “take on the personality of Éowyn”.[14]

As one can see, the situation of costume designer on The Lord of the Rings was no piece of cake by any means. There was working and reworking of designs to please the meticulous Peter Jackson; each major character’s costume, depending on whether or not there was a scale double for that particular actor, had to be made twice, in different sizes each time, and a variety of other things. According to Dickson, the costume department used more that 95% of the materials which they bought in the first place! Who knows where the leftovers are or what their futures may include…[15] Clearly, clothing Middle-earth was neither a small nor an easy task, but Ngila Dickson rose to the challenge and completed it with highest honours.

JOKES!

Q. What did Frodo do at Aragorn and Arwen’s wedding?

A. He was the Ringbearer!

Q. Millions of black ants:

The army marches forward in thousands of platoons;

In six brigades,

In three divisions;

All towards the One.

A. Millions of letters, forming thousands of words, arranged in six sections, and published in three volumes, tell the story of the One Ring: The Lord of the Rings.

(Credit: David Colbert, The Magical Worlds of The Lord of the Rings)

Hobbit Fun

Unscramble each of the clue words. Copy the letters in the numbered cells to other cells with the same number.

[pic]

Did You Notice?

Legolas’ eyes constantly change colour throughout the course of the film. Sometimes they are dark brown, sometimes blue, and on a couple occasions look rather purple. This is because Orlando Bloom was supposed to wear blue contact lenses for the part but often they would forget Peter Jackson would not notice until they were in the editing room. Sometimes this was digitally fixed but often it was just left alone. And sometimes when a certain scene was being colour graded, Legolas’ eyes were enhanced as well, giving them a purplish hue.

Did You Know?

J.R.R. Tolkien’s full name is John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. His third name, Reuel, is in the Bible and had been in the name of the eldest son in his family for decades. Though his first name was John, he was commonly referred to as Ronald. By some he was nicknamed Tollers, mainly his friends in the Inklings, a literary club he was involved with. His wife’s name was Edith, and they had four children.

Would You Rather?

1. Would you rather play hide and seek in Shelob’s lair OR in Smaug’s lair?

2. Would you rather live in Laketown OR in Beorn’s house?

3. Would you rather be apprenticed to Legolas OR Aragorn?

4. Would you rather start a restaurant that was Hobbit-themed OR Ent-themed?

5. Would you rather have Kíli’s bow OR Ori’s slingshot?

6. Would you rather be a sword smith OR a helmet smith?

7. Would you rather sleep in a Hobbit hole OR in an eagle’s nest?

8. Would you rather stab the Witch-king of Angmar OR summon a flood to wash away Wraiths?

9. Would you rather smoke pipeweed OR drink Ent draught?

10. Would you rather have a Hobbit marathon OR a Lord of the Rings marathon when all the movies are out?

Short Stories

A Hero?

By Kathryn Finca

Aragorn fought off five Ringwraiths...

Arwen summoned a flood...

Elrond led an army of Elves...

Bilbo faced trolls, spiders and a dragon...

Gandalf fought a Balrog and won...

Galadriel reads people’s minds...

Boromir got shot multiple times and kept fighting...

Éomer took out a band of Uruk-hai...

Gimli killed countless Orcs and blew a historic horn...

Merry rode secretly into battle for his friends...

Pippin killed things more than twice as big as himself...

Sam beat a giant spider...

Faramir risked his life for an unloving father...

Legolas took down an Oliphaunt...

Éowyn killed something no man can kill...

...and Frodo couldn’t even drop a ring.

(Some hero.)

-----------------------

[1] Many people would argue that King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table were England’s mythology, but most of these tales actually originated from French backgrounds.

[2] The Fellowship of the Ring, “The Mirror of Galadriel”, J.R.R. Tolkien, pg. 363 (HarperCollins)

[3] The Fellowship of the Ring, “The Mirror of Galadriel”, J.R.R. Tolkien, pg. 364 (HarperCollins)

[4] The Fellowship of the Ring, “The Mirror of Galadriel”, J.R.R. Tolkien, pg. 365 (HarperCollins)

[5] The Return of the King, “Appendix B”, J.R.R. Tolkien, pg. 1094 (HarperCollins)

[6] The Fellowship of the Ring, “The Shadow of the Past”, J.R.R. Tolkien, pg. 50 (HarperCollins)

[7] Benita also played Arwen, since she and Sydnee both wanted the part so much. For that, Sam was Aragorn and Rachel was Elrond.

[8] More commonly known as a Mountain Ash

[9] Samwise named his daughter “Elanor” after the golden flowers in Lothlorien. Literally translated, Elanor means Sunstar.

[10] Brian Sibley, The Lord of the Rings: The Making of the Movie Trilogy (London, England: HarperCollins, 2002), page 92

[11] ibid., page 90

[12] ibid.

[13] ibid.

[14] ibid., page 94

[15] Might perhaps I have them, please?

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