The AM Intrigue

Tag: lord of the rings

  • A Roadmap to Fairyland: an “On Fairy-Stories” Analysis

    A Roadmap to Fairyland: an “On Fairy-Stories” Analysis

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    The road to Faërie is a perilous one. For starters, the realm itself is indescribable (though not imperceptible). If we are to commit to this journey, “we must travel hopefully if we are to arrive.” While in early development of The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien wrote an essay titled On Fairy-Stories in which…

  • Art not Power

    Art not Power

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    J.R.R. Tolkien was a prolific letter writer, so much so that there is an entire tome compiling his correspondence. In Letter 131, Tolkien writes that “[Elvish] ‘magic’ is Art… and its object is Art not Power, sub-creation not domination.” Distilling this into a theme of Art versus Power, this magic of Tolkien had already meant…

  • The Magic of the Song of Durin

    The Magic of the Song of Durin

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    You, the first-time reader of The Lord of the Rings, experience the events of the story exactly as some of its more unknowing characters do; that is, you have no idea what’s going on: there’s all this talk about destroying the One Ring, which you’ve come to understand is essentially a symbol of pure evil,…