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News from the BBC
Christopher Tolkien, who edited and published the posthumous works of his father, Lord of the Rings writer JRR Tolkien, has died aged 95.
The news was confirmed by the Tolkien Society, which described him as "Middle-earth's first scholar".
After his father's death in 1973, Mr Tolkien published the acclaimed work The Silmarillion.
Scholar Dr Dimitra Fimi said the study of JRR Tolkien "would never be what it is today" without his input.
My first introduction to J.R.R. Tolkien's work was The Father Christmas Letters, which were written for Christopher and his siblings. In more recent years, I've dipped into Christopher's work on Middle Earth, both his History of Middle Earth, and the various pieces of his father's work that he edited and expanded upon.
What memories do Soylentils have of the Tolkiens' work?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Friday January 17 2020, @11:58PM
The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings have been criticized as "comfort food". The Silmarillion is definitely not comfort food. Much darker. And actually, I found some of the darkness overdone and illogical. Why couldn't Feanor make more Silmarils? Why did he stop at 3 when he made them? One could suppose that the substance of which they are made is exceedingly rare, and that's why there were only 3. But then, why do they have to be destroyed in order to revive the Trees? But, you know, it's more dramatic that way.
And even if it is comfort food, there's still a Neo-Goth tone to Lord of the Rings. Everything used to be greater, and has been in a long decline ever since the Elder Days. Lothlorien is fated to fade away. Win or lose, the elves must leave Middle Earth or decline, just because. The Ents are probably doomed, having become separated from the Ent-wives millennia ago. King Theoden says of the great horse Shadowfax that in him one of the great steeds of the morning has returned, and that such a return shall not happen again.