Eä Tolkien Society Meeting Notes for February 2018
a Tolkien Society
Present: Corey & Chris
1) Chris Book Review John Ronald’s Dragons by Caroline McAlister.
xxx stated he was fearsome & un-nerving. Farmer Giles. while dragons were a
terrible thing, they could be tamed; more like an armed armistice.
2) Dragon Lewis Caspian. Edmund turned into a dragon. Where did they get
that from. Kept them from sneaking past them. Dragons fearsome and rarely
good. I’ve never met a dragon that didn’t hoard gold. Beowulf -> Gold has a
negative spiritual storage “my precious.
A shadow of the storehouse of Gold.
Eastern dragons: Pete’s dragon. Live action remake. Fuzzy. Looks more like
an asian dragon; bearded face. Lion w/ a long neck and a tail.
Daughter enamored by The magician’s nephew. Horse turned into a winged
beast. BBC version is wonderful.
3)Children reading vs. adult reading. Children have flat readings; beasts
interacting with each other. Evil is shallow; good is shallow. Adults reads
at a deeper good vs. evil, and the beasts run in the background.
Tolkien doesn’t explain a lot of things. There is a lot of details that are
intentionally left up to the imagination. Barter society. What did the
elves give in trade for beer?
Embodiment of deeper things; money is a distraction from the story theme.
Was Gene Roddenberry influenced with that concept?Get to a societal
advancement of gold being worthless (deep space 9; gold was worthless). But
that wasn’t gene’s idea; copied from Babylon 5.
Chesterton had different economics. Everyone should be roughly equal.
Stones in an archway.
Why do we have money. If we make something and freely give, then we have no
need of money.
You don’t eat if you don’t work. But principle: God gives love without
recompense. If we are like him, money will disappear.
The darkness in Tolkien’s world is total control (enslavement) of
everything. The opposite is free men under free kingdoms.
A monarchy is a thing of the past. Tolkien had dim monarchies.The good king
transcends situations. Aragorn has a faint echo or shadow of something
greater, and it resounds in us.
Lore that Tolkien read has that same echo or shadow of something greater.
Ghosts the undead having unfinished business. Tolkien put that into his
story.
1) Barrow downs approach. The dead would have an influence.
2) Japan Shintoism. Honor your parents, even after death.
Terry Brooks. The lives that went before him. Un-natural river that the
dead would come up and talk to them. Black elf stone magic to absorb the
wisdom of the dead. When we read books by other people; it becomes a part
of us.
Tolkien is giving what the best of humanity is like. Frodo is carrying a
burden that we have to toss. We would like the world where the hero
overcomes difficulty. But Frodo and Bilbo didn’t The lost cause wasn’t
because of Frodo. Unable to accomplish his mission; but because of Gollum.
The Darkest Hour review. Churchill chooses a different path. Commits to a
long battle. Tolkien is the same long dark road. Our lives are not a bed of
roses.
Peter Jackson exaggeratied the racial features of the elves. specific
features; long blond hair, no beards, all same height; all same uniform.
The Dwarfs were different hooded.
Next Meeting; March 17th. aat Hawke's house.