Eä Tolkien Society June 2017 Meeting Notes

Notes for the June meeting of the Ea Tolkien Society (of the Inland
Northwest)

Location: back at Hawke’s residence on the back of 5-Mile Prairie
Attended: Hawke, Richard, Chris, Wesley, Stephanie, and Brian. Corey sent
apologies that he needs to miss due to illness.

1. We discussed some administrivia.

2. On July 15, our Tolkien Society meeting will be held in the midst of
Tolkienmoot, the annual table-top role-playing convention based on
adventures within Middle-Earth, in the spirit of Tolkien’s epic story. The
Society will meet at 1 pm as usual (although downstairs where there is more
room), but those interested in the full RPG adventure should look up more
info at www.tolkienmoot.org. It really helps if you use the RSVP, so that
we can generate your character ahead of time based on your description (or
take one of our pre-generated hero sheets if you prefer). That way we can
start on time.

3.  Discussion of Amazon’s purchase of Wholefoods. One stop-shop idea. This
oddly connects to making it both easier and harder to acquire books.
Knowing where to look is easier, but rare book dealers online such as
Abebooks have a harder time surviving.

4. We segued to H.G. Wells and his role-playing game, “Little Wars”, and
discussed how Wells set the stage for later RPG war-gaming.
Industrialization led to greater leisure time, and therefore made RPGs
possible. Hawke gave a “potted history” of role-playing evolution.
Follow-up question for July: did J.R.R. Tolkien and H.G. Wells ever meet?

5. Brian read May 2017 notes for our smial.

6. Hawke read Tolkien Letter 140. Discussion points:
• Names of 3 volumes of the Lord of the Rings… he preferred “The War of the
Ring” as the title of the last volume, to not give away the return of the
king prematurely.
• The Two Towers: Tolkien seems to have intended ambiguity and mystery
about which towers these are, although he suggests the best pairs. Compare
with George R.R. Martin & fans knowing where the story’s going. Our group
did some checking to see when (in the text) Tolkien gives away Aragorn’s
true identity. It’s in the council of Elrond, but it doesn’t state
Aragorn’s intent to return and rule as Isildur’s heir until his sword is
re-made and he takes up Isildur’s authority in the Paths of the Dead.

7. We chose to read selections from Christopher Tolkien’s latest edited
work of his father: Beren and Luthien was published at the beginning of
June.
• We read parts of the Preface
• We then read the overall synopsis of the story in “Notes on the elder
Days”. Note on Dorthonion: Christopher Lee sang Treebeard’s “song of the
seasons”.
• Link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9468-QKRoCg
• Christopher Lee reading Children of Hurin here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuUkLbOAWcU
• Michael Flower’s worthwhile blogpost re: Edith Tolkien’s dance that
inspired the Luthien story here:
https://www.tolkiensociety.org/blog/2014/06/a-hemlock-by-any-other-name/
• A reminder to consider joining us for Tolkienmoot July 15! Please RSVP so
we can plan for food, etc. Snack donations are welcome!
http://www.tolkienmoot.org/news/rsvp-now-available-for-tolkienmoot-xiii
• Our next meeting will be Saturday, July 15, 2017 in Hawke’s home at 1 pm.

Respectfully submitted by the secretary, Brian Huseland