Learning about this website

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by Pitchwife

Also I'm afraid I've got burned out discussing Middle-earth over the years, or at least I'm not interested in discussing the world-building rather than the actual literary works, which is a direction many recent threads seem to be taking (i.e. I couldn't care less which kind of units were in Sauron's or Gondor's army in the War of the Ring, stuff like that); but I'll always be up for close reading and dissecting Tolkien's prose, so... time to revisit Chapter by Chapter, I guess?

This hits at the heart of what I've been feeling as well the past few years.

As I get older, I find myself treasuring Tolkien's works all the more, and becoming rather protective.
I am fearful of not heeding Gandalf's advice to Saruman, about not breaking something to discover its workings. I really have no interest now in how the books were constructed. I don't care about real or imagined symbolism. I know what I feel when I read of Tuor seeing the Great Sea for the first time, and spreading his arms as if to embrace it; or picturing Galadriel standing with Frodo in front of her Mirror, struggling with her own longing and temptation to use the Ring.

That's to say nothing of a relatively little-discussed work, Smith of Wooten Major, that can make me long to journey with Smith and meet the Queen by some shining water.

I love this forum, though. It's been here through a great many changes in my life, and it's always a comfort to know I can come back.