#tcbs fellowship

[arda-marred]

Essential viewing for any Tolkien fan who is interested in the impact of the Great War on Tolkien and his closest group of friends.

#Tolkien #j.r.r. tolkien #Tolkien and the Great War #jrr tolkien #tolkien studies #the great war #wwi #the Somme #the tcbs #tcbs #t.c.b.s. fellowship #tcbs fellowship #Tolkien's friends who died in WWI

[marietheran]

you know I used to think that Tolkien's work is so clean (unlike most modern fantasy) because he wrote in the first half of the 20th century and not later. but nowdays I realise that it had to be a conscious choice. there was fiction with needlessly and vulgarly inserted dirty themes released even back in the 50s. take even Poul Anderson's Broken Sword, famously released in the same year as Fellowship of the Ring, which is a book chock-full with rapes, violence and what-have-you. (also apparently the women are all seductresses? but I haven't read it, only read about it -- even which by the way I don't recommend doing. I felt dirty just reading some Goodreads reviews). But it seems Tolkien had since he was a young man, a goal of bringing beautiful things into the world... (see certain quotes on their goals by divers members of the TCBS) and I guess it's not the historical epoch we have to thank for the character of his work, but God's grace and the author himself.

#the professor's mythopoeia #original post

[thevalorieclark]

The beautifully crafted Tolkien (2019)

I was lucky enough to see Tolkien a few days early at The Landmark in LA. I wasn’t sure I would want to--I always worry about the accuracy of biopics, especially because Tolkien’s family and estate have both publicly denounced the movie. But when I got free tickets to an early screening, I decided to take a friend with me to see what the film had to say about the author’s life. I’m really glad I did. 

Some spoilers after the cut.

The movie tells its story largely from the battlefield of WWI, as Tolkien is ill and searching the trenches for Geoffrey Bache Smith, a member of the TCBS, his group of friends from boarding school. From the ground, Tolkien reflects on his formative years meeting his three closest friends--who he refers to as the ‘fellowship’--and the love of his life, Edith Bratt. 

There’s a slightly fantastical touch to the movie, a peek at how director Dome Karukoski thinks Tolkien’s imagination might have worked. On the battlefield, a shadow rider of death gallops through and monsters rise out of the red flames, unseen by everyone except Tolkien. Dragons shoot flames at soldiers in the trenches until we see they’re actually other soldiers. 

We see a lot of Tolkien as a young orphan, coming to grips with his art, his love of writing, and how much harder he has to work in a world that is built for people with money, not people without it. His love of linguistics is highlighted lovingly, which I found really wonderful, especially in a world that sort of makes fun of him for designing the language of the Elves before writing a word of The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings. Tolkien’s relationship with his friends, and especially his relationship with Geoffrey Smith’s mother after Geoffrey’s death.

Speaking of--there’s a bit of very interesting acting from actor Anthony Boyle, who played Geoffrey Bache Smith. In a scene in the teahouse where the boys spent most of their time, the doomed poet seems to be looking at Tolkien with longing, which Tolkien clears his throat and doesn’t return. Since the main through line of the movie is Tolkien searching for Smith in the trenches, the movie could be implying a bit of love lost between the two, though I doubt that was their intent. I’d love to hear Boyle’s thoughts on this moment, but I haven’t seen him mention it in an interview anywhere, and I don’t think the real Smith left any evidence of unrequited love behind him. 

There are some storylines that get dropped, like the quirky linguistics professor who saves Tolkien from being kicked out of Oxford. A big deal is made about the professor’s willingness to cross the grass, which is supposed to be forbidden, but that moment never really pays off. 

I’ve never read a Tolkien biography, so I don’t know how “accurate” the movie is. I know that it’s palatable, and a nice (potential) insight into where Tolkien’s inspiration came from. It is, after all, hard to look at the battlefield of the Somme and not see Mordor. This is a movie that was clearly made by people who care about the life it’s portraying and make sure to show Tolkien well instead of trying to tear him down. If you like Tolkien, I recommend checking this film out. 

(All photos from IMDb.)

#tolkien #tolkien biopic #Nicholas hoult #j r r tolkien #Anthony boyle #Dome Karukoski

[edgeoflight]

There & Back Again

I have returned from my two weeks of holidays, and normal business is slowly resuming. 

There is so much to talk about that I can’t possibly do it all in one post. So I’m just going to talk about the day I spent in Oxford attending the Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth exhibition and a visit to Wolvercote Cemetery. 

My husband originally intended to come with me, but the parking situation turned out to be such a nightmare that he decided he would rather not. Instead, he dropped me off near the museum and headed off to a quiet park, where I believe he spent the time catching up on his reading and alternately napping. He’s not a Tolkien fan and I think he actually had a nicer time doing that than if he had come along; also, selfishly, that meant I could take all the time I wanted over the exhibit. 

Not counting my visit to the gift shop and cafe afterwards, I spent nearly two hours in the exhibit alone. It was very busy! There wasn’t a queue when I went in, but there was when I came out. 

They were very strict about not taking photos; at one point I was actually challenged by a security guard about it, and promptly lied through my teeth that I had definitely not been taking photos! I did take some but they are mostly terrible and I’m just keeping them for my own visual reference, so I’m not going to post any of them. 

What follows next is the notes I took when I was in the exhibit itself. I think I went through everything very thoroughly but I didn’t necessarily write every single thing down, so this is more of a guide to the exhibit and what you might see in there. 

“As you come into the exhibit, there are multiple projections all around you, one of the Ring-verse to your left, a partial map of Middle-earth on the floor, and best of all, the Doors of Durin at the back wall. Turn to your left and enter the gallery, then immediately turn right and walk down the row of original drawings, including the first and final drafts of the Hobbit cover. (The final draft was supposed to have a red sun and a red dragon!) 

Next is the Silm bit, with the devices, the I Eldanyáre cover, various notebooks where the Book of Lost Tales started to take form, and much more. This is along the first bit of the back wall. 

In the centre is a display showing off Tolkien’s writing desk and a chair which is the one he was sitting in that fateful evening when he scribbled the first line of the Hobbit. There are several books atop the writing desk including the Red Book of Hengest. There are also pictures of the Tolkien family and a display featuring the Father Christmas Letters. 

In the very centre of the room is a topographical display of the journeys of the Fellowship, both together and apart. This was super interesting! I now understand where Helm’s Deep was in relation to Isengard and Edoras. There is also a display about his student days, including a letter from his TCBS friend G Smith and letters Tolkien wrote to Edith. 

At the front of the room is a display showing off various copies and translations of all his works, and also fan mail. There’s some from Joni Mitchell including lyrics to “I think I understand.” (“I think I understand/Fear is like a wilderland/Stepping stones or sinking sand.”) There’s also a selection of fanart and badges including Frodo Lives! (With a pink background!) and Gandalf for President.

The other side of the room at the back includes the Book of Ishness. I’d never seen anything from this before and it was so wonderful! It also has other art, including Númenorean patterns and calligraphy. Amusingly some of the letters on the calligraphy page could be read as an instruction: DAB. 

There’s some lovely feathers drawn on newspapers and other patterns too. All the crosswords have been completed. 

The final side of the room near the exit shows drawings & covers for LOTR including the original cover designs and the burned copies of the Book of Marzubal.”

As you come out of the exhibit, there’s a board with various pictures from the exhibit and you are invited to provide your own captions. I personally loved this one: 

(One owl boi) 

And this one was mine: 

(At last! A map of Beleriand that makes sense!) 

It really does! Much better than the Fonstad maps.

After that, there was a little interactive Tolkien quiz thing, and then the cafe. It was a warm day and I was very glad to get both a bottle of water and a lovely glass of lemonade. Then I made my way to the gift shop and bought various beautiful things. 

Then my husband came to pick me up and we drove out to Wolvercote Cemetery where Tolkien is buried. The timing was good; I was very nearly completely alone in the cemetery. He stayed in the car, so I went off by myself to find the gravestone. There are markers all along the way: 

It was very solemn and quiet. I placed my tiger’s eye, as planned: 

And despite all of my ideas for what I might say, could only whisper: “Thank you. What more can I say? Thank you for everything.” Which seemed to sum it up, and brought tears to my eyes. 

#personal #please don't reblog #picture of me #cw: picture of gravestone #August 2018 #tolkien #maker of middle-earth #wolvercote cemetery #oxford

[quotespicture]

https://quoteswithpicture.com/tolkien-best-movie-quotes-its-a-story-about-journeys/

Tolkien Best Movie Quotes – ‘It’s a story about journeys.’

Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Lily Collins, Colm Meaney, Tom Glynn-Carney, Anthony Boyle, Patrick Gibson, Colm Meaney, Genevieve O’Reilly, Craig Roberts, Derek Jacobi, James MacCallum, Guillermo Bedward, Pam Ferris

OUR RATING: ★★★☆☆

Story:

Bio-drama directed by Dome Karukoski, based on the life of English professor, philologist and author J.R.R. Tolkien (Nicholas Hoult). The story explores the formative years of the orphaned author as he finds friendship, love and artistic inspiration among a group of fellow outcasts at school. This takes him into the outbreak of World War I, which threatens to tear the “fellowship” apart. All of these experiences would inspire Tolkien to write his famous Middle-Earth novels.

  Our Favorite Quotes:

‘I can die in any way the fates choose, that’s not up to me. But what is within my power is to decide how I live. Courageously or timidly.’ – Robert Gilson (Tolkien) Click To Tweet ‘Things aren’t beautiful because of how they sound. They’re beautiful because of what they mean.’ – Edith Bratt (Tolkien) Click To Tweet

  Best Quotes   (Total Quotes: 31)

  Mabel Tolkien: “Ubi bene ibi patria.” Remember that, my darling? Young Tolkien: Wherever you feel happy, that’s your home. Mabel Tolkien: We will find our place, sweetheart, we will. Lock all this all in your heart. Lock it tight, and it will be there forever, I promise.

  Mabel Tolkien: Do you know what impecunious circumstances are? Young Tolkien: They’re what we’re in? Mabel Tolkien: When I was a little girl, all the new novels began like this. A family of good and brave people who suddenly find themselves in impecunious circumstances. Young Tolkien: How did they escape? Mabel Tolkien: By coming across some marvelous treasure. Or else by marrying well. Hilary Tolkien (Young): I’m not marrying anyone. Mabel Tolkien: Well, it’ll have to be the treasure then, won’t it? Young Tolkien: But, um, people don’t find treasure, mother. Not in real life. Mabel Tolkien: There’s no fooling you, is there, John Ronald? Let’s just say there’s treasure, and there’s treasure, and leave it at that.

  English Master: Tolkine. Young Tolkien: It’s Keen, sir. English Master: What? Young Tolkien: It’s pronounced Tolkeen, sir. Not Tolkine. Sorry. English Master: Sit down.

  Headmaster Gilson: Men should be comrades, wherever they come from. From the highest, to the lowest. You and Master… Robert Gilson (Young): Tolkien. Headmaster Gilson: …will demonstrate this to the rest of the school. You will do everything together for the rest of the term. Robert Gilson (Young): But, sir… Headmaster Gilson: Everything. Robert Gilson (Young): Yes, sir.

  Young Tolkien: He’s made us liegemen. Isn’t that a little excessive? Robert Gilson (Young): It’s an impossible standard. It’s designed to humiliate me. Young Tolkien: Doesn’t it also humiliate me? Robert Gilson (Young): You’re irrelevant. Young Tolkien: Why do you keep on saying that? Robert Gilson (Young): Because it’s true. Young Tolkien: No, listen. I may not come from a respectable background… Robert Gilson (Young): It’s not that, you idiot. You’re irrelevant to the headmaster. Young Tolkien: And you’re not? Robert Gilson (Young): No. Young Tolkien: Oh, because you’re special? Robert Gilson (Young): Because I’m his son.

  Christopher Wiseman (Young): My father is a perfect example. He knows about music. He loves it. He spent the greater part of his youth studying and composing music. Geoffrey Smith (Young): [to Tolkien] Christopher has had several musical pieces published. Christopher Wiseman (Young): Not several. One. Robert Gilson (Young): Pass me the sugar. Christopher Wiseman (Young): And yet when it comes to pursuing a life as a composer, no. “Musical dreams are a fantasy. You will do as I did. You will put them aside.” Robert Gilson (Young): And where does the stick come in? Christopher Wiseman (Young): The stick was a metaphor. Move on from the stick. Geoffrey Smith (Young): My mother’s exactly the same. She values poetry. She loves it. She refuses to see it as a potential career. She sees me as a lawyer, or an accountant. Robert Gilson (Young): Does she carry a stick? Christopher Wiseman (Young): I’m going to go outside and fetch a stick, how about that? Robert Gilson (Young): Thank you. Well, at least your parents discuss it. If I even mentioned becoming a painter, I’d be disowned. No. I’d be decapitated. Christopher Wiseman (Young): There! That’s the stick.

  Young Tolkien: What about you? Edith Bratt (Young): What about me? Young Tolkien: There must be something that you want? Edith Bratt (Young): To get out of here. To be free. I would go somewhere where I wouldn’t feel like a poor orphan, and everybody would be dressed like kings and queens. I wouldn’t be there to play piano. Or to carry Mrs. Faulkner’s purse. I’d be greeted and appreciated. Young Tolkien: Welcomed. Edith Bratt (Young): Welcomed.

  Robert Gilson (Young): Gentlemen, a thought. You know what the trouble is with all these legends Tolkien reads? Young Tolkien: Enlighten me, Robbie. Robert Gilson (Young): They don’t have any women in them. I’m not talking about pale, shivering maidens sitting in towers. I’m talking about plump, red-blooded women. Man: Could you sit down, please? Robert Gilson (Young): The women of Southern Europe. Women with large flagons of wine on their heads. Geoffrey Smith (Young): Robbie, are you incapable of sitting in silence? Robert Gilson (Young): Like our waitress, just over there.

  Robert Gilson (Young): What are you reading now? Young Tolkien: I’m reading about the realm of the dead. Or at least trying to. Robert Gilson (Young): See what I mean? Young Tolkien: Presided over by a giant woman, as it happens. Hel, a huge and ruthless goddess. Is that not red-blooded enough for you? Christopher Wiseman (Young): It is our waitress. Robert Gilson (Young): Hel? Young Tolkien: Yes, she rules over the realm of the dead. Helheimr. It’s a place where warriors are sent if they die in the wrong way. Christopher Wiseman (Young): What’s the wrong way? Young Tolkien: Peacefully. Illness, old age. Anything other than battle. Robert Gilson (Young): Now, that’s an idea I can get behind. Christopher Wiseman (Young): I’m sorry, you’re getting behind dying in battle now? Robert Gilson (Young): Not literally. I can die in any way the fates choose, that’s not up to me. But what is within my power is to decide how I live. Courageously or timidly.

  Robert Gilson (Young): Helheimr! It should be our warning. Our challenge. Young Tolkien: Yes, I know. But you should learn how to pronounce it first. Robert Gilson (Young): Come on. Challenge me. Set me a quest. I’ll show you how to avoid Helheimr. Geoffrey Smith (Young): I challenge you to sit in silence for twenty-five minutes. Robert Gilson (Young): Shut up, Geoffrey. I’m serious. Christopher Wiseman (Young): Propose to the waitress. Geoffrey Smith (Young): Christopher. Young Tolkien: What? Robert Gilson (Young): An excellent idea. Geoffrey Smith (Young): Robbie, don’t you dare do anything of the kind. Robert Gilson (Young): That’s what I call a quest against Helheimr. [as he begins to approach the waitress, he turns back] Robert Gilson (Young): Helheimr!

  Young Tolkien: We should form a club. Robert Gilson (Young): What? Young Tolkien: A brotherhood. Christopher Wiseman (Young): Aren’t we already a club? A tea drinking club. Robert Gilson (Young): A tea drinking club, sounds like something my stepmother would go to. Christopher Wiseman (Young): The Tea Club. Robert Gilson (Young): It doesn’t sound any better just because you repeated it. Geoffrey Smith (Young): The Birmingham Boys. Robert Gilson (Young): That sounds like a circus act. The Boys of Barrow’s Stores. Young Tolkien: Barrovians. The Tea Club and Barrovian Society. Geoffrey Smith (Young): I think that’s far too long. Christopher Wiseman (Young): The TCBS. Young Tolkien: The TCBS. Geoffrey Smith (Young): Are you sure that doesn’t sound like a disease? Young Tolkien: No, listen, I don’t care what it’s called. As long as we pledge our loyalty to each other. Robert Gilson (Young): Exactly. Christopher Wiseman (Young): TCBS. That’s settled. Now what do we do? Robert Gilson (Young): We change the world. Geoffrey Smith (Young): Oh, good. Something simple. Robert Gilson (Young): Through art, you clown. Through the power of art.

  Young Tolkien: Brothers, will you join your comrades in this act of changing the world? Robert, Christopher, Geoffrey: We will. Robert Gilson (Young): Helheimr!

  [Tolkien is speaking in his made up language] Edith Bratt: What does it mean? J.R.R. Tolkien: Oh, it’s nonsense. It’s about an old man who’s watching an unlucky frog who can’t land softly, so he gets eaten by a dog. Edith Bratt: [laughs] And you invented that? J.R.R. Tolkien: Yes. Edith Bratt: The entire language? J.R.R. Tolkien: Verb structures, vocabulary, everything.

  J.R.R. Tolkien: My next language will have a music to it. Cellar door. Edith Bratt: Cellar door? J.R.R. Tolkien: That’s the most musical word I can think of. Cellar door, there’s something about the fall of it. The rounding of the mouth. Edith Bratt: Cellar door. J.R.R. Tolkien: If you say it over and over, it starts to be something magical. Edith Bratt: Cellar door. Cellar door. I think that’s nonsense. J.R.R. Tolkien: I mean, it is if you say it like that. Edith Bratt: A word isn’t beautiful just because of its sound. J.R.R. Tolkien: Cellar door. Edith Bratt: It’s the marriage of sound and meaning. The door to the cellar, a place where something magical and mysterious might happen. J.R.R. Tolkien: I’m sorry, have you just dismissed the basis of my entire language? Edith Bratt: But your language isn’t worth anything unless you remember this important fact. J.R.R. Tolkien: Oh, is that right? Edith Bratt: It is, yes.

  Edith Bratt: Listen. [she holds up her hand] Edith Bratt: Hand. That might be a beautiful word… J.R.R. Tolkien: Yes, it is. Edith Bratt: But it means so much more because of what we associate it with. [she touches her hand to Tolkien’s] Edith Bratt: Touch. Things aren’t beautiful because of how they sound. They’re beautiful because of what they mean.

  Edith Bratt: Tell me a story. J.R.R. Tolkien: What? Edith Bratt: The story of Cellar Door. J.R.R. Tolkien: No, I can’t. Edith Bratt: Why not? When someone asks me to play the piano… J.R.R. Tolkien: That’s a different thing altogether. Edith Bratt: Tell me a story. In any language you want. J.R.R. Tolkien: Don’t be ridiculous. Edith Bratt: The legend of Cellar Door. J.R.R. Tolkien: No, I’m not a performing monkey.

  Edith Bratt: It begins with the arrival of a proud and opinionated princess. J.R.R. Tolkien: Yes, you’re right about that. Edith Bratt: She demands entertainment. Princess Cellardoor is bored. Bored of cakes and muffins and exquisite china… J.R.R. Tolkien: No. Edith Bratt: She longs for another life. J.R.R. Tolkien: It’s not a name. Edith Bratt: What? J.R.R. Tolkien: It’s something else. Cellardoor. It’s not a princess’s name, it can’t be.

  J.R.R. Tolkien: Cellardoor is a place. It’s a place. An ancient place. Impossible to reach, except by the most treacherous climb. It hangs, no. Edith Bratt: No? J.R.R. Tolkien: It’s not a climb. It’s not a climb. It’s not a… Door. Road. Path. It’s a path. A path through a dense, dark forest. Edith Bratt: Oh, is it, now? J.R.R. Tolkien: And at the heart of Cellardoor, which is actually a shrine, there stands an extraordinary sight. Edith Bratt: Is it a proud and opinionated princess? J.R.R. Tolkien: It is a place which is revered by all who know of it. A sacred place, marked at its center by… Edith Bratt: By? J.R.R. Tolkien: By trees. Edith Bratt: Trees? J.R.R. Tolkien: One is the purest black, like ebony, the other white as bone. They each contain a deadly poison in their sap. But they have grown together over thousands of years. Leaning into each other, like they were fighting, or the roots. The branches of two trees reaching, twisting, gnarling around each other, have finally become a single knotted trunk. Their poisoned saps commingled to create a powerful, life-giving potion. The water of Cellardoor. Edith Bratt: What does it do? J.R.R. Tolkien: What does it do? Edith Bratt: Yes. What does it do? J.R.R. Tolkien: To drink it. Edith Bratt: Yes? J.R.R. Tolkien: The water of Cellardoor, to taste it, is to possess the power of sight. Sight beyond sight. Sight into the deepest, darkest parts of the human heart. It’s a hungry, potent magic. A magic beyond anything anyone has ever felt before.

  [after Father Frances has told Tolkien to stop seeing Edith in order to go to Oxford] J.R.R. Tolkien: I can’t fail it again. And you know what will happen if I don’t get into Oxford. I could become a priest, but I don’t think a life of celibacy is what either of us had in mind. [Edith is looking away from him] J.R.R. Tolkien: Edith? Edith, it’s just until I reach my majority. [Edith looks at Tolkien with tears in her eyes] Edith Bratt: Oh, for God’s sake, Ronald. Don’t be so dramatic. It doesn’t matter. J.R.R. Tolkien: No, don’t say that. Of course, it matters. Edith Bratt: I don’t know why you’re taking it so hard. Things are just returning to normal, that’s all. To reality. J.R.R. Tolkien: No, I won’t give up on our future. That’s why I’m, I refuse to give up on that. Edith Bratt: Of course, you will. More quickly than you think. So will I. J.R.R. Tolkien: No, that’s not true. Edith, please. Look… Edith Bratt: I let myself believe that there were happy endings for people like us. But there aren’t. There can’t be. But you get your happy ending. I hope you enjoy Oxford. [she opens the door and leaves] J.R.R. Tolkien: No. Edith.

  Christopher Wiseman: I apologize for my friend. He’s pining for someone. Beryl: What? Christopher Wiseman: He’s pining for the delectable Miss Bratt. J.R.R. Tolkien: Take no notice of him. Beryl: Who’s the delectable Miss Bratt? J.R.R. Tolkien: She’s no one. Christopher Wiseman: Oh, is she, Tollers? The way you’ve been moping around for the past couple of months. Beryl: It’s not very nice to talk about another lady when you’re with someone. J.R.R. Tolkien: No, you’re absolutely right. I apologize, Myrtle. Beryl: It’s Beryl. Christopher Wiseman: See? See? Sitting in the arms of a beautiful girl and he can’t even remember her name. J.R.R. Tolkien: Yes, well, I’m sorry if my difficulties are getting in the way of your diversions.

  Christopher Wiseman: You made a decision, Tolkien. Nobody forced you into it. J.R.R. Tolkien: What? Christopher Wiseman: Edith or Oxford. You chose Oxford, and here you are. Sat on a commandeered bus with three beautiful girls and your best friends. For God’s sake, enjoy yourself! J.R.R. Tolkien: Nobody forced me! Christopher Wiseman: Oh, yes. J.R.R. Tolkien: Nobody forced me! Christopher Wiseman: The priest. Your benefactor. Geoffrey Smith: Chris, this is getting out of hand. J.R.R. Tolkien: No, don’t talk about things you don’t understand. Beryl: Thank you. This was wonderful. Christopher Wiseman: You let her go. You didn’t want her more than you wanted Oxford. J.R.R. Tolkien: No. I didn’t have a choice, Christopher. Christopher Wiseman: Does that make you a rotter? Does that make you something else? What’s the matter with you? J.R.R. Tolkien: Christopher, you have no idea. Just shut up! [he punches Christopher]

  [after punching Christopher] J.R.R. Tolkien: No, that was horrible of me. I’m sorry. Robert Gilson: What you need to understand, Tolkien, you poor lawless orphan, is that we are your brothers. Through everything. Geoffrey Smith: Yes, absolutely. Christopher Wiseman: Exactly. Robert Gilson: This is more than just a friendship. It’s an alliance. An invincible alliance. Helheimr! Tolkien, Christopher, Geoffrey: Helheimr. J.R.R. Tolkien: Still Helheimr. Every time he gets it wrong.

  J.R.R. Tolkien: Since childhood, I have been fascinated with language. Obsessed with it. I’ve invented my own. Full, complete languages. Look. This is, it’s everything. [he hands Wright his notebook] J.R.R. Tolkien: From the Breost-hord. My heart. The treasure of the breast. Professor Wright: And the drawings? J.R.R. Tolkien: I made stories. Legends. After all, what is language for? It’s not just the naming of things, is it? It’s the lifeblood of a culture, a people. Professor Wright: Yes. Exactly.

  Professor Wright: The way you follow the rhythms of the poetry, your sensitivity to it. I have to tell you, Mr. Tolkien, I’ve never come across anything like it. Never.

  J.R.R. Tolkien: There is something I have to say… Edith Bratt: Ronald. J.R.R. Tolkien: I made the biggest mistake of my life, and there hasn’t been a day, a moment, I’ve never stopped thinking about you. You are the most remarkable spirit I have ever met. You have courage and resourcefulness, talent. You’re proud, maddeningly, wonderfully so. And you are cunning and vibrant, and completely alive. You deserve every happiness you find. [pauses] J.R.R. Tolkien: No. No, you don’t. You don’t deserve happiness. That’s not what I… What I mean is, you deserve much more. You deserve magic.

  [as Tolkien is about to go join the war he kisses Edith] J.R.R. Tolkien: Edith. I love you. Edith Bratt: I love you. J.R.R. Tolkien: I love you so much. Edith Bratt: I know. J.R.R. Tolkien: There’s nothing I could do about it. Edith Bratt: I know. I can’t either. [they kiss again] J.R.R. Tolkien: I have to go. Edith Bratt: Stay alive. [they kiss again] Edith Bratt: And come back to me. Stay alive and come back to me. [they kiss again before Tolkien leaves]

  [Tolkien wakes up in hospital with Edith at his side] Edith Bratt: Don’t try to sit up. [she embraces him in bed] Edith Bratt: You’ve been asleep for a very long time. You’ve had trench fever, but you’re alright. You’re home. J.R.R. Tolkien: I tried to find him. Edith Bratt: Who? J.R.R. Tolkien: Geoffrey, I heard him. I could hear him. Edith Bratt: Geoffrey is dead. He died weeks ago. J.R.R. Tolkien: What? No. Edith Bratt: Robert Gilson, he was hit. He’s also dead. J.R.R. Tolkien: Robbie and Geoffrey. Edith Bratt: I’m sorry. Ron, I’m so sorry. But you’re fine. You’re home. Everything’s going to be fine. I promise.

  Father Francis: I spend my every afternoon with mothers, widows. What can I say to them? “Your sons have died in the war to end all wars.” J.R.R. Tolkien: What do you say? Father Francis: Words are useless. Well, modern words, anyway. I speak the liturgy. There’s a comfort, I think in distance, ancient things. Throughout the whole of your illness, Miss Bratt never left your bedside. Not once. You were right to pursue her. J.R.R. Tolkien: Thank you.

  [Tolkien reads his last letter from Geoffrey] Geoffrey Smith: [voice over] My dear John Ronald, it is my chief consolation that if I am scuppered tonight there will still be left a great member of the TCBS to voice what I dreamed and what we all agreed upon. That the death of one of its members cannot, I am determined, dissolve the TCBS. Death can make us loathsome and helpless as individuals, but it cannot put an end to the immortal four. May God bless you, my dear John Ronald, and may you say the things I have tried to say long after I am not there to say them.

  J.R.R. Tolkien: I want you to listen to a story. John Tolkien Jnr.: What story? Michael Tolkien: Is it a good story? J.R.R. Tolkien: I hope so. John Tolkien Jnr.: Is it long? J.R.R. Tolkien: Extremely long. Edith Bratt: Has it been started? J.R.R. Tolkien: Yes, I think, I think, up here, yes, I think it has. John Tolkien Jnr.: What’s it about? J.R.R. Tolkien: It’s about journeys. Adventures. Magic, of course. Treasure. And love. It’s about all kinds of things really. It’s hard to say. I suppose it’s about quests, to a certain extent. The journeys we take to prove ourselves. About courage. Fellowship. It’s about fellowship. Friendship. Little people just like you. Michael Tolkien: I’m not little! J.R.R. Tolkien: No. Little in stature. Not little in spirit. It’s about wizards, too. Michael Tolkien: Wizards? J.R.R. Tolkien: Wizards, yes. And mountains, and dragons, and journeys…

  [last lines; we see Tolkien begin writing his book] “In a hole in the ground, there lived…” J.R.R. Tolkien: Hobbit.

Total Quotes: 31

  What do you think of Tolkien quotes? Let us know what you think in the comments below as we’d love to know.

  Trailer:

[sonyclasica]

THOMAS NEWMAN

BANDA SONORA ORIGINAL DE LA PELÍCULA TOLKIEN

Sony Music anuncia el lanzamiento de TOLKIEN (ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK) con música del compositor ganador de premios GRAMMY, EMMY y BAFTA, THOMAS NEWMAN, también creador de películas famosas como American Beauty, Six Feet Under, Skyfall, Finding Nemo y más. Disponible el viernes 10 de mayo, la banda sonora incluye la música de la película Tolkien, de Fox Searchlight, que se estrena el 14 de junio.

Resérvalo AQUÍ

De la banda sonora, el compositor THOMAS NEWMAN dice: "Debido a que JRR Tolkien está arraigado en la cultura popular, y a que su trabajo y su visión han sido objeto de muchas interpretaciones, quise que la música para Tolkienhonrara su forma de ser, su individualismo, pero sin ser esclavo de ello. El vocabulario musical se basa en una amplia franja de colores instrumentales y vocales, desde vientos con acompañamiento de cuerdas hasta una voz solista en un silencio pianissimo. El kantélé sueco, la mandolina y el monocorde se entrelazan con ritmos de campana y música ambiental con base de piano. El objetivo es dar identidad musical a los sentimientos incipientes del joven narrador de Birmingham, que apenas comienza a estirar las alas. Y debido a que gran parte de la historia se ve a través del prisma del tiempo que pasó en las trincheras de la Primera Guerra Mundial, está esa experiencia paralela de conflicto épico que profundiza mis sentimientos por su lenguaje y, espero, que permita al sonido, el ruido y la melodía alzarse y cantar."

Dirigida por Dome Karukoski y escrita por David Gleeson y Stephen Beresford,Tolkiende Fox Searchlight explora los años formativos de la vida del renombrado autor a medida que conoce la amistad, el valor y la inspiración entre un grupo de escritores y artistas en la escuela. Su hermandad se fortalece a medida que crecen y resisten el amor y la pérdida juntos, incluido el tumultuoso cortejo de Tolkien de su amada Edith Bratt, hasta el estallido de la Primera Guerra Mundial, que amenaza con destrozar la unión del grupo. Todas estas experiencias inspirarían a Tolkien a escribir sus famosas novelas de la Tierra Media. La película está protagonizada por Nicholas Hoult como J.R.R. Tolkien con Lily Collins como su futura esposa y musa Edith. La película también está protagonizada por Colm Meaney, Anthony Boyle, Patrick Gibson, Tom Glynn-Carney, Craig Roberts, Derek Jacobi, Harry Gilby, Adam Bregman, Albie Marber, Ty Tennant, Laura Donnelly, Genevieve O'Reilly y Pam Ferris. Tolkienha sido producida por Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, David Ready, y Kris Thykier

CONTENIDO

Dragons

2. Impecunious Circumstances

3. The Great War

4. The TCBS

5. White As Bone

6. John Ronald

7. Vinátta (Friendship)

8. Rugby

9. Kings and Queens

10. Army of the Dead

11. Lúthien Tinúviel

12. “A Good Man in the Dirt”

13. Dutch Courage

14. Sunlit

15. Starlit

16. Everything That's Good

17. Geoffrey

18. Eik (Oak)

19. The Ascanius

20. Black Rider

21. Scuppered (Ancient Things)

22. Other Sorts of Scars

23. Dark Magic

24. Fellowship

25. Helheimr (End Crawl)

ACERCA DE THOMAS NEWMAN

THOMAS NEWMAN es un músico estadounidense ampliamente reconocido como uno de los compositores cinematográficos más destacados de la actualidad, con más de 80 proyectos de cine y televisión, con 14 nominaciones al Oscar y 6 premios Grammy. Nacido en Los Ángeles, su padre fue el notable compositor de cine Alfred Newman (1900-1970). Estudió composición y orquestación en la USC, y completó su trabajo académico en la Universidad de Yale. Entre sus primeros mentores se encuentran el famoso compositor de cine David Raksin y el legendario compositor de Broadway, Stephen Sondheim.

Un punto de inflexión en la carrera de Newman tuvo lugar mientras trabajaba como asistente musical en la película Recklessde 1984 por lo que finalmente fue promovido a la posición de compositor. Desde entonces, ha contribuido con composiciones únicas y evocadoras en numerosas y aclamadas películas, tales como Desperately Seeking Susan, The Lost Boys, The Rapture, Fried Green Tomatoes, The Player, Scent of a Woman, Flesh and Bone, The Shawshank Redemption, Little Women, American Búfalo, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Oscar and Lucinda, The Horse Whisperer, Meet Joe Black, American Beauty, The Green Mile, Erin Brockovich, In The Bedroom, Road to Perdition, Finding Nemo, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, Cinderella Man, Jarhead, Little Children, The Good German, Revolutionary Road yWall-E. Sus proyectos más recientes incluyen The Debt, The Adjustment Bureau, The Help, The Iron Lady, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Skyfall, Spectre, Side Effects, Saving Mr. Banks, The Judge, Finding Dory, Passengers y el Puente de los Espías de Steven Spielberg. Newman también compuso la música para la aclamada miniserie de HBO (de 6 horas) Angels in America, dirigida por Mike Nichols. Recibió un premio Emmy por su tema para la serie original de HBO Six Feet Under.

#bso

[arda-marred]

Our memory of Smith is burdened with poignancy. He survived the entire five-month Battle of the Somme only to be hit by shrapnel from an exploding shell days after the battle had finished and miles from the trenches. The wound was so light that he walked to the casualty clearing station. Three days later he was dead from an infection, gas gangrene. His would seem just another of the innumerable futile deaths in that futile war but for the fact that it gave retrospective force to a letter he had sent Tolkien months earlier, telling him: ‘May God bless you, my dear John Ronald, and may you say the things I have tried to say long after I am not there to say them, if such be my lot.’ He was thinking of Tolkien’s invented mythology, of which Smith declared himself ‘a wild and wholehearted admirer’ – the first Middle-earth fan.

#Tolkien #Tolkien studies #Geoffrey Bache Smith #tolkien and the great war #tcbs fellowship #t.c.b.s. fellowship #tolkien's friends who died in wwi #g.b. smith #john garth

[arda-marred]

When Tolkien writes in the Foreword to The Lord of the Rings that ‘by 1918 all but one of my close friends were dead’, he is referring to his friends in a clique formed at school but later bonded by the First World War – the TCBS. Of these, Robert Quilter Gilson was the first to be killed, on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 100 years ago this July. Tolkien’s shock and grief infuses one of the first items in The Letters of JRR Tolkien: ‘His greatness is … a personal matter with us – of a kind to make us keep July 1st as a special day for all the years God may grant to any of us…’ Geoffrey Bache Smith never returned from the Somme either; only Tolkien and Christopher Luke Wiseman, a naval officer, survived the war. The letters written by Tolkien, Gilson, Wiseman and Smith form the heartbeat of my book Tolkien and the Great War. For Gilson, thanks to the wonderful generosity of his relatives, I was also able to draw a little from the many letters he wrote home from the training camps and trenches to his family and to the woman he loved. Now, with my help, Gilson’s letters have been used as the basis for a 40-minute documentary by the school, King Edward’s in Birmingham.

#Robert Quilter Gilson #Rob Gilson #Tolkien studies #Tolkien and the Great War #John Garth #tcbs fellowship #t.c.b.s. fellowship #Tolkien's friends who died in WWI #bawling my eyes out

[arda-marred]

The Last Meeting

We who are young, and have caught the splendour of         life,     Hunting it down the forested ways of the world, Do we not wear our hearts like a banner unfurled     (Crowned with a chaplet of love, shod with the sandals         of strife)?

Now not a lustre of pain, nor an ocean of tears     Nor pangs of death, nor any other thing That the old tristful gods on our heads may bring     Can rob us of this one hour in the midst of the years.

—Geoffrey Bache Smith, Spring Harvest (ed. J.R.R. Tolkien)

#Geoffrey Bache Smith #g b smith #gb smith #g.b. smith #spring harvest #wwi poetry #WWi poets #tcbs fellowship #t.c.b.s. fellowship #tolkien and the great war #Tolkien’s friends who died in WWI

[arda-marred]

One hundred years ago today, four young men convened in an English town, not having seen each other for some time. What makes this trivial event significant is that one of them was J R R Tolkien, and the four comprised his first ‘fellowship’, the TCBS – a group with a profound impact on his youth and on his legendarium. This reunion, on 25 and 26 September 1915, was the last time the four met before they were separated, permanently, by war.

Read more

#Tolkien #Tolkien studies #Tolkien and the Great War #John Garth #tcbs fellowship #t.c.b.s. fellowship #tolkien's friends who died in wwi #everyone knows of the inklings but I wish more tolkien fans would be aware of his earlier friend groups