J.R.R. Tolkien

Philologist and English professor J.R.R. Tolkien popularized an entire genre of literature when he wrote his fantasy epic “The Lord of the Rings.” A story built upon an elaborate mythology, set of languages, and detailed landscape that took years of work, “The Lord of the Rings” continues to collect devoted fans (and slavish imitators).

Early Days
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, on Jan. 3, 1892, to English parents. When his father, Arthur Reuel Tolkien, died in 1896, the family returned to England; both the countryside of the West Midlands and the bleak urban landscape of Birmingham had a profound effect upon his later writing.

Tolkien’s mother Mabel died from diabetes when he was 8, and he and his brother Hilary were brought up in a boarding house; a local priest served as a father figure to them both.

Tolkien graduated from Exeter College with a degree in English Language and Literature in 1915, after which he fought in World War I. He then worked for the Oxford English Dictionary for several years, before joining the English faculty at Leeds University. In 1925 he assumed the Rawlinson and Bosworth Professorship of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University, where he would spend the rest of his academic life.

Notable Accomplishments
After the war, Tolkien had begun to construct the mythology, landscape and languages of the world of Middle-Earth. He wrote a few Middle-Earth stories in the next several years, but no novel was in the offing until the summer of 1928. He was grading test papers when he scribbled the words, “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit” on a student’s blank answer sheet.

The chairman of the publishing house Allen & Unwin gave the manuscript to his 10-year-old son, and the boy’s favorable review convinced him to publish Tolkien’s fantastic tale. On Sept. 21, 1937, the first copies of “The Hobbit,” subtitled “There and Back Again,” appeared in English bookstores. With its illustrations and maps drawn by Tolkien, the book gained immediate popularity. By Christmas the publisher had sold out of its first printing. The book crossed the pond in 1938 and the American version sold 3,000 copies in the first two months.

After the first book’s popularity, Tolkien’s publishers demanded more. They were forced to wait for quite some time, but their patience paid off. The popularity of 1954 and 1955’s three-volume epic “The Lord of the Rings” far outpaced that of “The Hobbit.” Darker in tone than its predecessor, “The Lord of the Rings” concerns a quest to get rid of a magical ring once belonging to the evil Lord Sauron. Destroying the Ring will defeat Sauron forever, but he who bears the Ring must fight off the terrible temptation to claim the Ring’s power for his own. 

The books proved to be such a hit, in fact, that American publisher Ace released pirated paperback editions of the trilogy. After gaining wide appeal in the 1960s, “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy is ranked among the most-read literary works of the 20th century. Many of the fantasy novels written after the trilogy’s publication clearly owe a great debt to Tolkien.

The Rest of the Story
Although his life may seem to have been consumed by Middle-Earth, Tolkien did write a few stories that were not set there, including “Farmer Giles of Ham,” “Smith of Wootton Major,” and “Leaf by Niggle.” He also wrote several scholarly articles about language and the nature of storytelling, and made some important translations of Middle English poems, such as “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” and “Orfeo.”

Tolkien died Sept. 2, 1973, at the age of 81. He is buried in the same grave as his wife, Edith, with the inscription “Beren” below his name, and “Lúthien” below her name, in honor of a pair of tragic lovers from his Middle-Earth mythology.

After Tolkien’s death, his son Christopher Tolkien began collecting, editing and publishing various unpublished stories and incomplete story drafts that contributed to the early mythology of Middle-Earth. These collections include “The Silmarillion,” several volumes of “Lost Tales,” and most recently, “The Children of Húrin.” 

From 2001–2003, producer/director Peter Jackson released three blockbuster films based on the “Lord of the Rings.” He is currently producing two more Middle-Earth films for 2011 and 2012, one based on “The Hobbit,” the other a bridge between the events of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings.”

Thanks to http://www.findingdulcinea.com/features/profiles/t/J-R-R-Tolkien.html for all this information. We are all massive fans of Middle-Earth, The Lord of the Rings, and all the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and hope for the great success of The Hobbit and its bridge film in 2011-2012 by Guillermo del Toro and Peter Jackson. Check TheOneRing.net for the latest information and updates on every thing Tolkien, they have been serving Middle Earth since the First Age.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We hope you had an awesome day celebrating New Year’s on December 31st and January 1st. We have tons of splendid things that we want to learn and do in this New Year and feel awesomely blessed to have made it into 2009. Below are some really great quotes for a New Year!

Youth is when you’re allowed to stay up late on New Year’s Eve. - Bill Vaughn

New Year’s Day is every man’s birthday. - Charles Lamb

The Old Year has gone.  Let the dead past bury its own dead.  The New Year has taken possession of the clock of time.  All hail the duties and possibilities of the coming twelve months! - Edward Payson Powell

Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right. - Oprah Winfrey

One resolution I have made, and try always to keep, is this:  To rise above the little things. - John Burroughs

Of all sound of all bells… most solemn and touching is the peal which rings out the Old Year. - Charles Lamb

Christmas has always been a time for giving and helping out and this Christmas we went with our dad to Parland Children’s Hospital to give gifts and cards to the sick children that are there. It was such a splendid and very blessed experience because when you help others out and give from your heart, nothing can bring more Christmas joy. To us though, we shouldn’t only help out at Christmas time because to help and give isn’t just a once a year thing, instead it should be a on going, nonstopping act that we do where we live as Christ would have us to live. Our lives are not about us, instead they are about God and all that He has done for us and all that we should want to do for Him, our lives are about others and even as kids we should always be looking for a way to help others.

So everyday try to help someone as much as possible even if its just your mom or dad, sister or brother, or best friend or even your pet. Every day of our lives can be a time for giving - not just Christmas.

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful. - Norman Vincent Peale

It’s December 2nd and we’re now counting down for Christmas after having a really splendid Thanksgiving holiday. We hope you had a splendid Thanksgiving too. We found this story on Thanksgiving called The King’s Thanksgiving and wanted to share it with you, the author is unknown . Enjoy!

Every child in the village was very much excited on account of the news that had come down from the castle on the hill.

Because it had been such a rich harvest, the fields yellow with grain and the orchards crimson with fruit, the King was going to keep a thanksgiving day. He was going to ask some child from the village to come up the hill to the castle and eat dinner with the Prince and Princess. It was rumored, too, that this child would be given good gifts by the King. But it must be a very special kind of child indeed. That they all knew.

Then the village children remembered everything that had been told them by their mothers, and their grandmothers, and their great-grandmothers about the castle kitchen. Scores of cooks and scullery boys were kept busy there night and day. The fires always glowed to roast the rich fowls that turned on the spits. The cake bowls and the soup pots were never empty. Spices and herbs from far countries, strawberries when the ground was covered with snow, ices of all the rainbow colors, and cream so thick that a knife could cut it—all these were to be found in the King’s kitchen.

There were dishes of gold and silver upon which to serve the fine foods, and a hothouse of rare flowers with which to deck the table, and linen as fine as a cobweb and as beautiful in pattern as snowflakes to cover it. Oh, a thanksgiving day in the castle would be very wonderful indeed, the children thought, and each hoped that he or she would be chosen to go.

The day before this day of thanksgiving the messenger of the King came down from the castle and went from door to door of the homes in the village. He went first to the house of the burgomaster. It was a very pretentious house with tall pillars in front, and it stood on a wide street. It seemed likely that the burgomaster’s child might be chosen to go with the messenger to the castle for the thanksgiving. She was dressed in silk, and her hair was curled, and the burgomaster had packed a great hamper with sweets as an offering for the King.

“Are you ready to keep the feast as the King would like you to?” asked the messenger.

“Oh, yes!” said the burgomaster’s child. “I have on my best dress, and here are plenty of sweets to eat. Will you take me?”

But the messenger shook his head, for the child was not ready

Then the King’s messenger went on until he came to the house where the captain of the guards lived. The captain’s little boy was quite sure that he would be chosen to go with the messenger to the castle for the thanksgiving. He wore a uniform with silver braid and buttons like that which the guards wore. A sword hung at his side, and he wore a soldier’s cap. He held the cap in his hand, so that he could put it on quickly.

“Are you ready to keep the thanksgiving day as the King would like you to?” asked the messenger.

“Oh, yes!” said the child of the captain of the guards. “I have my sword here and I can fight any one who crosses our path on the way to the castle. Will you take me?”

But the messenger went on again and he came to the baker’s shop. The baker’s boy stood at the door, dressed in his best white suit, and holding an empty basket on his arm. He was quite sure that he would be chosen to go to the palace, for his father’s bake shop was an important place in the village. They measured their flour carefully, and weighed the loaves so that they might receive the utmost penny for each. They very seldom had any crumbs left for the poor, but they were selling a great deal of bread every day.

“Are you ready to keep the thanksgiving day as the King would like you to?” the messenger asked of the baker’s boy.

“Oh, yes!” the boy said. “I have this basket to gather up whatever remains of the King’s feast and bring it home with me. The King would not want anything wasted. Will you take me?”

But the messenger shook his head a third time, for the child was not ready.

Then he did not know which way to go, and he began to think that he would not be able to find any guest for the King’s feast. As he waited, he saw two children, a girl and a boy, coming toward him. They were poor children, and one was leading the other, for he was lame. The messenger looked at them. The little girl had eyes like stars and her hair, blowing in the November wind, was like a cloud made golden by the sunset. She held her head so high, and smiled so bravely that no one would have noticed her old dress and the holes in her coat. The messenger stood in the road in front of her and spoke to her.

“Are you ready to keep the thanksgiving day as the King would like you to?” he asked.

The little girl looked up in the messenger’s face in surprise.

“No, I am not ready,” she said, “but this child is. I am bringing him because he is lame, and because he is hungry. Will you take him?” she asked.

“Yes,” said the messenger, “and you, too. There is room at the King’s table for both.”

Last month, Dakota Wright e-mailed us a question on how to deal with her feelings for her best friend’s ex-boyfriend. Below is her question and our answer:

QUESTION: I like my friend Catline’s ex-boyfriend Braden and I DO NOT want her to know. And I know in your book it says: we do not belive in boyfriend & girlfriend stuff, so how do I tell so that I don’t have to hurt her feelings. And before you ask, yes, she still has feelings for him.

Help me! Cheers!
- Dakota
E-mail me back!

ANSWER: Dear Dakota:
Since we do not deal with boyfriend/girlfriend stuff as you already know and as you have already indicated, we really do not want to get into that kind of thing. However, I would lovingly say that I would stay away from your friend’s former boyfriend or boyfriends all together, because if you don’t, you are asking for a whole lot of trouble that you don’t need. And, you are jeopardizing your friendship with Catline as well. It is our prayer that you make the right decision. Pray and ask the Lord to help you.

Cheers and God Bless!
- Danita, Danae’, Daniqua, and Danyelle
______________________________________________

Afterwards, Dakota also emailed us a set of beautiful pictures and we wanted to share them with you. Here’s what she told us: “You only pass this way Once… I’ve never seen so much beauty contained in one e-mail before. Pass this on so someone else can enjoy, and maybe even make them smile.”  Enjoy!

“The mountains, rivers, earth, grasses, trees, and forests are always emanating a subtle, precious light, day and night, always emanating a subtle, precious sound, demonstrating and expounding to all people the unsurpassed ultimate truth.” - UnKnown

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find resources of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.” - Rachel Carson

The Moon and Star on Earth

Breithorn Peak

Comet (Make a wish)

The Night Scene of Eiffel Tower (We love France!)

Lavender Farm and Tree

Edge of Glacier

Neuschwannstein, King Ludwig’s Castle in Bavaria, Germany

Tundra

 Danita turned out most like Frodo. You’re very friendly, and you have a great personality. Although you like to have fun, you can also be pretty serious at times. It’s pretty hard to get you mad, but once you’re mad…everybody better look out! Keep that temper under control and realize that you’re better off than you may think.

 Danae’ turned out most like Galadriel. There’s just something about you that people like. A sort of aura. You’re very kind to people, and you like to help others succeed. You’re not as candid as most people would like. You don’t have to share your deepest darkest secrets, but be more honest about things! You’re more mature than most people your age, so don’t worry!

 Daniqua turned out most like Celeborn. You are normally a quiet person. Who needs to talk when actions speak louder that words? You are pretty popular, but your fame isn’t that big of a deal. What’s more important to you is making the world a better place.

 Danyelle turned out most like Frodo, as well.  You’re very friendly, and you have a great personality. Although you like to have fun, you can also be pretty serious at times. It’s pretty hard to get you mad, but once you’re mad…everybody better look out! Keep that temper under control and realize that you’re better off than you may think.

Last weekend we watched Finding Neverland with our younger brother and sister, it was really, really awesome.

It shows us that we must always believe in our dreams, have great imagination, and when we face tough times in this life, holding on to the wishes in our hearts can be very important. Difficulties come to us all at times, but thinking about things that are greater than us can really help us get through them. Like our dad told us once, its really great being a kid because its easier for us to believe in things, such as fairies and Neverland, we should just never lose that Kid Spirit and the thing we loved about Johnny Depp’s J.M. Barrie was that he didn’t lose it and that helped him through so many things, as well as the four boys. Over all it’s a really splendid movie and if you haven’t watched it already, you should, because like Peter Pan and his creator we should never want to really grow up no matter how old we get. It’s great to be mature, just never grow up because as long as we don’t a dog doesn’t have to be just a dog, it can be a fantastic dancing bear!

When the first baby laughed for the first time, the laugh broke into a thousand pieces and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies. - J.M. BARRIE, Peter Pan

We actually just found out about this really cool band through our favorite radio station last Saturday morning while listening to Bongo Rod and the Coconut Hut. It’s called Toby Mac just in case you haven’t heard about them already and they are awesome, now you can get a chance to see them live whenever they are coming to a town near you and also get their new DVD+CD with Bonus Features. We’ve heard some of their songs before but never really thought to look into them more but we’re so glad we did now so have fun. Watch their trailer below and go to TobyMac.com NOW!

We’ve been keeping up with the medal counts ever since the Olympics started and its been quite exciting. The US has more medals then any other country but China has the most golds, which is important. The teams we’re rooting for are China, France, and then the United States. We think it would be awesome if China comes out on top since this is their first time hosting the Olympics and doing a really great job at it but we also love the country of France and its people so we hope they get lots more golds especially in fencing, which is our favorite Olympic sport.

Swimming comes a close second, the US is turning out to be more than good at that, especially Michael Phelps who has now won his 8th gold medal, exactly half of all the US gold medals. That’s pretty good for one person to have gotten. And just like Michael Phelps, we also should do our best in all that we do, we should go for the gold in all our work, even if its not exactly in sports.

As Christians we should be determined to do our best for Jesus, we have to be faithful and committed and consistent in everything that He gives to us. The Bible tells us in Hebrews 12:1 “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” So in a way we are like atheletes running in the Christian race and our goal is to win as many souls for Christ as we can before He comes back, and when we’re done we’ll be able to go home to Heaven and be awarded our gold medals. Just like the Olympics!

Our journey is almost ended in Middle Earth and its been the best adventure we’ve been on this year.

Theoden King and all the host of Rohan did arrive to help the city of Gondor, there was a great and terrible battle but everything turned out alright in the end even though there was some sadness. Theoden King is dead, his son, Eomer was made King of Rohan right on the batttle field and both Eowyn and Merry are deadly wounded. Together they slew the Lord of the Nazgul which was perhaps the greatest victory that fateful day. I think its a very terrible thing when war comes to peaceful lands and good people have to die but then when victory is won and the blackness of the dark is past and the sun rises and the morning comes and a fleet of dark corsair ships comes sailing up the bend at the Harlond and hope springs new in all hearts and the tides are again turned against the enemy then it doesn’t seem so bad after all and when you’re fighting for a cause that’s good, it could be a really great thing.

During the fiece battle of the Pelennor Fields, the steward, Denethor, was completely out of his mind for he thought it better if they all just burned and he would have burned himself and his son, Faramir, but Pippin saved Faramir with the help of Gandalf. It was only Denethor that burned afterwards. Faramir was taken to the Houses of Healing where Eowyn and Merry were also bought, together they were all healed from the Black Shadow by the hand of the King and the healing herb athelas. It was like magic because they all came out of their darkness and do you know that the first thing Merry saiid when he woke up was, “I am hungry. What is the time?” It was just like a hobbit and all throughout the city of Gondor people are giving word that the King has come indeed, because Aragorn or Strider or Elfstone, as they have called him has returned as the King. Its one of the most amazing things.

In the very end, the last debate was held between Gandalf, Aragorn, Eomer, the Prince Imrahil, and the sons of Elrond. They have all agreed with Gandalf’s counsel and will go with Aragorn to the Black Gate to set themselves up as the bait and walk openly into the trap of Sauron. It seems to be their only hope of victory and as Gandalf said, “We cannot achieve victory by arms, but by arms we can give the Ring-bearer his only chance, frail though it be. As Aragorn has begun, so we must go on.” So all of the armies of the captains and the men of the West are assembled to march to the Dark Land of Sauron, walking open-eyed into a trap, with courage, but small hope for themselves that they will ever come out of Mordor and live to see a new age begun. Pippin was able to go with Gandalf and Aragorn and all of the big folk but Merry had to stay behind in Gondor. No one knows if they will ever come back out of that very great and dark Shadow for when they came before the Black Gate, all was silent until the Mouth of Sauron came forth and showed to them Frodo’s mithril coat and Sam’s sword. So all the host of Mordor has come forth - half trolls, orcs, and fell beasts which include the Ringwraiths. So began, it seems to me, the last great battle for the war of the Ring and still it seems all hopeless for they know that Sam or Frodo or even both of them are dead.

Meanwhile, while all of this was going on, Sam was really brillant again in Book 6, he showed such courage and strength and had a strong mind which helped him find Frodo and give the Ring back to him. Not to say that the Orcs didn’t help by having a gross battle and slaying each other over Frodo’s garments, but they are terribly evil and smelly creatures. Step by step, Frodo and Sam are coming ever closer and closer to Mount Doom, they are in Mordor now. Sam has noticed that something is happening for a dim light just leaked into that dark land like pale morning through the grimed window of a prison and he won’t give up hope. Unlike Sam though, Frodo still has no hope despite the light because the Ring is so heavy on him and all the time in his mind he sees it like a great wheel of fire, always burning and turning.

In the chapter called Mount Doom, was when the hobbits destroyed the Ring with the help of Gollum who played his part well and helped them, it was all very good and awesome because they did it. Both of them did it and Frodo lives! the smallest of all humans completed an almost impossible task that even many men would have failed to accomplish (like Isildur) and not even some wizards like Saruman would have been able to resist the will and power of the Ring as long as Frodo did without using it for themselves. Its completely amazing and the song that Sam imagined himself and Frodo in has been sung, Frodo of the Nine Fingers and the Ring of Doom for they have been reunited with Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and dear Merry and Pippin who are much taller than normal hobbits since they have both drunk the draught of the Ents, as well as Gandalf who talks less and laughs a lot more now. Gandalf was actually the one who went in to the Dark Land on Gwaihir the Windlord to save the hobbits from the terrible heat of the fire and all of the falling destruction.

Nothing will ever be the exact same since the quest to destroy the Ring began but its a good feeling to see all of the Fellowship, besides Boromir, together again and all did turn out really good at the end of all things. And in the morning after the Eve of May, the King Aragorn will enter his gates with the rising of the sun and a New Age will begin with that crowning.

We also loved this part about Frodo, it was one of the best scenes when Frodo was rid of that awful burden: ” ‘Well, this is the end, Sam Gamgee,’ said a voice by his side. And there was Frodo, pale and worn, and yet himself again; and in his eyes there was peace now, neither strain of will, nor madness, nor any fear. His burden was taken away. There was the dear master of the sweet days in the Shire.”