Arda and Theme

One of the great gifts of the tolkien legacy was a framework by which the tales of middle earth held together. This consistent framework was begun, in the book known as the "Silmarillion" , a book which for the author - was a point of revision and underwent several draft versions before publication. And yet it still remained as a backbone of all of the great works of Tolkien. A theme by which any land of Arda may be built upon, would of first necessity include a careful consideration of this text .

Arda, which is the land before we see the lands of Middle Earth in the second and Third Age, is a world of the First Age and the most interesting of all three ages and of any land ever conceived in the canon. Several ideas present themselves to me regarding Arda, the first of which is the most intriguing - the creative aspect of the land. Things need to be built, all around. We start off with almost nothing but an idea.

To conceive of such lands would by first principle mean resolving fundamental forces of life, death, evil, good all in abstract form. And bringing a coherent narrative to them involves capturing not only the tales themselves, and the Silmarillion, but the themes behind them as well. It is something one cannot do in the abstract, and will require all of one's focus and strength. And it does not necessarily preclude the human conventions and relationships that would arise from such effort and within or even without such community. (The tyrant's face is red)

And what a war that must be fought, in ourselves and in other worlds - to succeed. The themes that were established both before the canon of Tolkien's work - the basis of his stories and the strong coherence that was established throughout - are a challenge, and also if you look carefully enough, given again, this only chance - truly. A blessing in disguise. [mortals never know]
nothing quite like being the lord of evil to keep you out of trouble.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Wow... Amazingly written... I did not know you knew how to create and maintain websites... I asked this once and I now ask again after reading over your writings. Were you a MENSA baby? High articulation coupled with unique insight, makes me scratch my brow pondering. Have a great day and take care.

Phoenix
Scott-

I am the son of three generations of surgeons and my mother was a descendant of the clan of william wallace. The mensa types weren't into kinky sex, so I hung out with the society for creative anachronism mostly.

If you want to know what I did with my short and fleeting youth - the stuff that I did not spend in a lab or a library somewhere - read the post about "double overhead from the back" .

Thanks for your kind words but these blogspot things are not really good metrics for web design.
I am just hacking HTML into the page every now and then.

More time to you man.