Bain becomes king of Dale

In the Year 2977 TA Bain, son of Bard, became King of Dale. 

As a refresher for the old memory, Bard was the man who killed the Dragon Smaug with the Black Arrow, this story is told in The Hobbit. Bard was also a key figure in The Battle of Five Armies and after all that, he was crowned king of Dale officially, though the people had obeyed him as soon as he killed the Dragon. Not only did he prove himself worthy of the crown through his bravery, but he really was king by blood, being related to the last king of Dale. But Dale had not had a king for a long time, and had instead a master, who proved himself a coward and a swindler in time of trouble. So the people decided on a Kind of Dale again, and of course Bard was chosen. So in the year 2977 TA, Bard's son Bain became King of Dale.

WEDDING OF DENETHOR AND FINDUILAS!!

In the year 2976 TA, Denethor son of Ecthelion married Finduilas of Dol Amroth. And I must say, Denethor was portrayed rather well in the movie by John Noble, however, his manner was different than the book. Denethor was a lot more polite and measured in the book, but in the movie, he was much too nasty and in front of guests too. In fact, the whole movie relationship between Denethor and Faramir was off. Possibly because Faramir was completely messed up in the movie. I mean, utterly messed up. In the book, Faramir basically takes one look at the ring and declares that he would not pick it up if it lay by the wayside, or something to that effect, but in the movie, he takes the poor hobbits prisoners and drags them all the way into Osgiliath.
But this is supposed to be about Denethor and Finduilas. In the movie Dol Amroth is nonexistent. I do not recall that is was mentioned even once. But in the books, the prince of Dol Amroth aids in the Battle for Minas Tirith. Aids a lot, he is actually a fairly important figure in the book. Related by marriage to the House of Stewards and all that.
Well anyway, that is the YEAR for this post, now lets see what happened on September 29th in the War of the Ring.

On September 29th 3018 TA, Frodo and the Hobbits reached Bree at night. Which means that this is also the fateful day on which they met Aragorn son of Arathorn. And were almost killed by the Black Riders. Other than that, not much happens on September 29th. I declare this day to be Butterburr day, in honor of poor dear Barliman.

Frodo is Born!!

My good Readers, I had intended to happy birthday Frodo and do this whole Post on September 22nd, but I didn't quite finish the ones that had to come first, so it is late. But, 
In the year 2968 TA September 22nd 
Frodo son of Drogo was born. Dear old Frodo. If his poor dear mother had had any idea what would have happened to him, she would have hidden him away, never to be found. I suppose it is a good thing that she didn't, otherwise someone else would have had to take the Ring to Mordor, or Bilbo would have kept it and gotten worse and worse, until the Ringwraiths came to the Shire and took it. Then Sauron would have power over all Middle Earth. 
Also, today, being September 28th, Frodo, Samwise, Merry, and Pippin were all captured by a barro-wight. And Gandalf reached Sarn Ford. 

Mount Doom is awake!

In the year 2954 TA, in the Land of Mordor, Mount Doom woke up. For some time, Sauron had been gathering his power in Mordor, and had declared himself openly in 2951 TA. But it was not until 2954 TA that the mountain burst into flame again. The last inhabitants of Ithilien fled over the Anduin, 

Just two years later, Aragorn son of Arathorn met Gandalf Stormcrow, Greyhame, The Grey, Mithrandir...etc etc. This was the time when that pivotal friendship began, the friendship that changed the fate of many. 

Now then, let me see what September 27th is the anniversary of. 

Not much really happened. The second night with Tom Bombadil, and Gandalf crossed the Greyflood. Hmm, since there is no special mention of this day I shall have to make it special by myself. I now declare that September 27th is National Goldberry Day, at least on this site it is. So my good friends, bring lilies to dear Goldberry today. Not that there are very nice lilies in late September. 

Why is Mordor in the East?

I am pretty sure that most Christians agree that Jesus came out of the East. Hence the name Easter.

So why did Tolkien, a very devout Christian, put the most terrible and evil place in the books, in the East? In The Lord of the Rings, everything bad, unpleasant and horrible comes from the East. However, the only hope for Middle Earth lies in the East also (the destruction of the Ring). The greatest threat and the only hope are in the same place. You could arguably say that Jesus and the Devil come from the same place in a way, they both came from Heaven originally. And I can bet that the whole time Jesus was on Earth, Satan was following Him around, trying to find a way to stop Him, or something to that effect. He failed, obviously, but the point remains. So you could, in some strange fashion tie these ramblings together, and make a decent enough reason for putting Mordor in the East. But wait! Tolkien disliked allegory. And (I could be wrong, but its a good idea) it is much more likely that Tolkien (from what I know of him) would have put Mordor in the East simply because there wasn't a real reason. He probably put Mordor in the East to avoid the allegory that a lot of people try to attach to his works, especially the behind the book nonsense that there would of been had Mordor been in the West. Of course it could have been some completely different reason. Or a combination of the two. But there was a reason. Morder didn't just happen to wind up in the East by accident, if you read closely and pay attention, it is wuite easy to see that Tolkien really did put a lot of thought into the matter. Mordor's direction was a carefully made a deliberate decision. And he must have had some reason, whatever it may be.

AN AMAZING TOLKIENITE BOOK

...For every Tolkien reader it is a must~Yorkshire Pose (U.K)

I have just acquired the The Complete Tolkien Companion by J. E. A. Tyler. 
For all those who journey to J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth, here is the complete guide to its lands, legends, histories, languages, and people. The Tolkien Companion explains, translates, and links every single reference - names, dates, places, facts, famous weapons, even food and drink - to be found in Tolkien's world...
I have found this book to be incredibly useful, and I don't believe the library will get it back for a good long while. It contains, not every word in Tolkiens books, but every reference and name. It has pointers to where you can find information in the books themselves, and references to other books with more information. In itself, it provides plenty of information regarding things even as obvious as the word "Mordor". It is indeed, the Dictionary of all Tolkienite terms. For anyone who loves the Lord of the Rings and wishes to know more about those references that they took for granted while reading, this is THE book to get. It is not to pricy if purchased on Amazon (ranging from ten to twenty dollars, but well worth the value) and most public Libraries should have a copy. Goodreads provides useful information on the book, author, and places to get it. 
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1120372.The_Complete_Tolkien_Companion

ALSO
Today is Bilbo's and Frodo's birthday!
Happy Birthday Bilbo and Frodo!

2951 TA: Aragorn learns his name and meets Arwen

In the year 2951 of the Third Age of Middle Earth, Elrond of Rivendell came to Aragorn son of Arathorn and told him of his lineage. Also in this year, Aragorn son of Arathorn met Arwen Undomiel, daughter of Elrond of Rivendell. 

   'But when Estel was only twenty years of age, it chanced that he returned to Rivendell after great deeds in the company of the sons of Elrond; and Elrond looked at him and was pleased, for he saw that he was fair and noble and was early come to manhood, though he would yet become greater in body and in mind. That day therefore Elrond called him by his true name, and told him who he was and whose son; and he delivered to him the heirlooms of his house.    "Here is the ring of Barahir," he said, :the token of our kinship from afar, and here also are the shards of Narsil. With these you may yet do great deeds; for I foretell that the span of your like shall be greater than the measure of Men, unless evil befalls you or you fail at the test. But the test will be hard and long. The Sceptre of Annuminas I withhold, for you have yet to earn it."   'The next day at the hour of sunset Aragorn walked alone in the woods, and his heart was high within him; and he sand, for he was full of hope and the world was fair. And suddenly even as he sang he saw a maiden walking on a greensward among the white stems of the birches; and he halted amazed, thinking that he had strayed into a dream, or else that he had received the gift on the Elf-minstrels, who can make the things of which they sing appear before the eyes of those that listen.   'For Aragorn had been singing a part of the Lay of Luthien which tells of the meeting of Luthien and Beren in the forest of Neldoreth. And behold! there Luthien walked before his eyes in Rivendell, clad in a mantle of silver and blue, fair as the twilight in Elven-home; her dark hair strayed in a sudden wind, and her brows were bound with gems like stars.    'For a moment Aragorn gazed in silence, but fearing that she would pass away and never be seen again, he called to her crying, Tinuviel, Tinuviel! even as Beren had done in the Elder Days long ago.   'Then the maiden turned to him and smiled, and she said: "Who are you? And why do you call me by that name?"   'And he answered: "Because I believed you to be indeed Luthien Tinuviel, of whom I was singing. But if you are not she, then you walk in her likeness."   '"So many have said," she answered gravely. "Yet her name is not mine. Though maybe my doom will not be unlike hers. But who are you?"

Excerpt taken from 
Appendix A>>Annals of the Kings and Rulers>>1. The Numenorean Kings>>(v) Here Follows Part of the Tale of Aragorn and Arwen

Tolkien the Catholic

CS Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia is very allegorical. You can read it once and easily put Aslan in the role of Jesus, Lucy in the part of The Holy Virgin. Edmund is symbolic of the betrayal of Man, so Aslan (as Jesus) had to die for his sins, that he might be saved. He eat the forbidden Turkish Delight. Jadis is given the part of the Devil. And if you look deeper, Peter is given the part of Peter, and Susan the part of heresy. Its alright in the beginning, but then it goes farther and farther away from the Truth.

So there you have it. Easy to see, not that it is all that simple...but this is not about CS Lewis, it is about his best friend JRR Tolkien. 

Tolkien rejected the thought that the Lord of the Rings was at all allegorical. He disliked Allegory. And, in fact, there is no reference to God, or the Church, anywhere in his stories, nor did he intend there to be. 

Some people, trying to make it fit an allegorical mindset, might say that Gandalf was cast as Jesus, and he died that other's might live. You could say that Galadriel was Mary, and Sauron the Devil. But you could just as well say that Frodo was given the part of Jesus, so he must Perish that all might live. Eowyn could be cast as Mary, and the Witch King as the devil. The truth of the matter is, you could cast any number of different characters in different roles. And it still wouldn't quite work. 

No one in this story has any reference to a god, or to any kind of religion or cult or anything at all like that. Gandalf once mentions what could be shown as Heaven, the white shores and the swift sunrise, but there is no mention of some king that dwells there that could be a god. Greater powers at work in the world are often mentioned, but not in a way that suggests that someone is responsible for them. 

And yet, somehow, the Lord of the Rings still has a very Christian message. How?

Some of the answer is found in The Silmarillion which (despite his dislike of allegory) contains a splendid allegorical retelling of the Creation and The Fall.
Here Tolkien does name the creator-God of Middle-earth, Eru ("the One,") as well as the mighty spirit Melkor, who rebelled against Eru and went into darkness. We also learn that Sauron, maker of the One Ring, is himself an agent of this Melkor. Tolkien thus establishes a direct relationship between the theistic, even Judeo-Christian cosmology of The Silmarillion and the war for the One Ring recounted in The Lord of the Rings.
And yet, The Lord of the Rings all on its own is still very Christian.
In the Lord of the Rings itself there is no mention of Eru, nor is there any explicitly religious component to the characters’ behavior. And yest, Tolkien’s Catholic worldview not only stands behind the saga of the Ring in its prehistory, but surrounds and suffuses it in its overarching themes and imaginative structures.

Ian Holm and JRR Tolkien

There is a surprising similarity between Ian Holm (BILBO) and JRR Tolkien

 The noses are almost identical. The dimples are very close. The lines coming from the nose to the mouth are strikingly similar and the ears have the same, strange shape. In the pictures aboce, the hairlines are almost the same. Tolkien's smile, however, is very different from Holm's 

 Ian Holm has a straight even smile and Tolkien's smile turns up at the corners.

But despite that, they really are very similar, something which I find interesting. 

A friendly visit, 2949 TA

I don't know if a I am the only one who gets sad towards the end of The Hobbit. Poor Bilbo. Some of his friends have died, and the others he will never see again. That is sad. But then you learn that Balin came to see him, and he went of on adventures with the dwarves many times. And the world is pleasant again.
So it was in the year 2949 TA that Balin and Gandalf came to visit Bilbo in the Shire.  A year after Theoden was born, and a year before Boromir's and Faramir's mother was born. That gives you an idea of how old dear Bilbo was. Very.

THE MOST POWERFUL THING IN HELM'S DEEP

There are many powerful moments in the Movie rendition of The Battle of the Hornburg. Many symbolic and beautiful moments

First, the elves come. Help out of the blue, completely unexpected and unlooked for. A last alliance of elves and men. Heroic, yes. Wonderful, yes. But that is not what made the battle what it was. 

There is something in that whole battle sequence that links it all together and makes it beautiful, heroic, brave, powerful, meaningful. 

It could be the love between Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli. It could be the moment when Haldir dies in Aragorn's arms. Perhaps it is when Aragorn and Theoden gather the rest of the Rohirrim and ride out to die in glory and fight the hopeless fight. It could be the love and loyalty of Eomer when he returns to save the man who banished him from his home. It could be the hope and light of Gandalf returning. The bravery of the men behind the walls. 

But even when you put all that together, you really just have a lot of fighting and death and no hope. Because there is still a big question. 

Why?

Why are the men behind the walls so brave?

Why did Aragorn and Theoden ride out?

Why did Eomer return?

Why were the men prepared to fight until they all died?

There could be many reasons. And there are many reasons. But the one that unites them all. That makes the battle more than a bunch of men and orcs killing each other. One thing that explains it all. 

And that is the women and children hiding in the caves.

These men are fighting for their wives, children, sisters, brothers, mothers, grandmothers. They are fighting for the people. Willing to die to defend the people. Brave for the people they are protecting. 

Peter Jackson captured this perfectly, but frequently cutting from the battle, to the women and children. Terrified, weeping, hiding in the caves and listening to their loved ones die. 

2948 TA

In the year 2948 of the Third Age in the Land of Rohan, Theoden son of Thengel, King of Rohan was born. 

Theoden became king of Rohan in the year 3980 and reigned until he was killed by the Witch King of Angmar on March 15^th 3019 TA. He was 71 years old at the time of his death. The story of his death and the battle for Minas Tirith is told in "The Battle of the Pelennor Fields" being chapter 6 of Book Five in The Lord of the Rings.

Theoden earned great renown in the Battle of The Hornburg on March 3rd and 4th 3018 TA when he and Aragorn son of Arathorn rode out into the midst of the enemy, with a small company of horsemen.

There also it is told how Eowyn and Meriadoc killed the Witch King and how Minas Tirith was saved.  

After Theoden died, his nephew, Eomer son of Eomund becomes King of Rohan.