The Nightmare World of Tolkien

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

I don't know, Lal. For down right blood-thirstiness, nothing in LotR beats some of the Psalms, to me at least.

You haven't met my daughter.

For real horror, read saints' lives.

Maybe where the influence came from. From my own experiences growing up with an ex-Catholic grandmother (both my grandmothers were cast from the church for being pregnant before marriage, one also from her family), I know just how Gothic and visceral the religion is. Stories of penance and flagellation, eating human flesh, and the gloomy prospect of going through a baroque system of judgement worthy of the civil service at death. We talked about this not so long ago, and a lot of the Gothic architects and designers were mysteriously also Catholics. For me, it has to be something in the religion which stirs the imagination to such Arts.

A Goth who doesn't like Tolkien? They're bringing them up wrong these days. It needs to be a strict diet of Bauhaus and scary things about Ringwraiths or they'll never get the urge to go out and buy a velvet cloak.