Curiouser and Curiouser

@muppetymels look it’s us!

Accurate

it’s just hard not to think about the fact that in 1915, JRR Tolkien went to war not with but certainly in the same army and many of the same battles as his 3 best school friends, all nicely upper class young men who had never known much loss, and only he and one other came back alive - and a couple decades later, he wrote a book in which 3 nicely upper class young men (and one very excellent gardener) who have never known much loss go to war together, or at least they start out together, and they all come home alive. (Though one cannot bear it, and does not stay.)

What more it wasn’t just losing his friends, he was a commanding officer of a battalion of working class men. All farmers and miners from the same area of Lancashire. He felt affinity for them, but wasn’t allowed to socialize between the ranks due to military protocol and he hated it. 

 "The most improper job of any man … is bossing other men. Not one in a million is fit for it, and least of all those who seek the opportunity.“

I don’t think it was even 6 months later that he contracted trench fever and was sent home. 

His entire command was wiped out in one charge shortly after, the majority of a whole countryside’s youths slaughtered while he survived. Youths who were brave and steadfast, but thought of as lesser than their superior officers while still being the ones carrying the actual battle. Youths who deserved fellowship, respect, and above all to go home and dance with their own Rosie.

“My Sam Gamgee is indeed a reflection of the English soldier, of the privates and batmen I knew in the 1914 war, and recognised as so far superior to myself”. 

TRIES NOT TO CRY

There is a reason Frodo, who represents the English gentry, in the end falls and is caught by Samwise, who represents the common man.

But there is a soldier in Lord of the Rings who does not come back, and I don’t mean Boromir.

I mean the being who was a common hobbit, but who became corrupted by darkness and poison, who’s face is described in ways reminiscent of a gas mask.

The soldier who doesn’t come home, who is poisoned by gas and stress and insanity.

Is Gollum.

The Lord of the Rings repeatedly stresses the horrors of war. Eowyn’s entire arc is about the truth of warfare versus the way it’s glorified. She starts out glorifying war and combat and soldiers, even when her own brother is telling her war sucks and is terrible. And then in the end, she sees first hand what war does to people.

Aragorn’s entire arc isn’t to be the steadfast hero saving the day, it’s to hold the line in terror and horror and blood while the overlooked folk are the people who save the world. And then, what makes him a king, is not his skill in battle, but his healing hands.

Which then ties into both Eowyn and Faramir’s arcs. Eowyn goes into healing not because she’s a weak and meek woman, but because war is horrible and saving lives is better than taking them. Aragorn is glorified within the text for his healing, and so is Eowyn.

Also, tying into the common man thing, in the movies it’s Faramir but in the books it’s SAMWISE who questions what brings a man so far from home to fight in a war and if he is really so different.

LOTR is anti-war propaganda.

And this is why I don’t get people who find Eowyn’s fate to be anti-feminist. She doesn’t become a healer because she’s a woman, she does because it’s the right thing to do. Both her and Faramir’s futures are to renew the world. That’s a good thing.

It’s because people still take Joss Whedon’s view of feminism, even in the year 2020 CE.

In 1914 Tolkien was just 22 years old.

You can check them out here

I’m also interested in book recommendations to add to my list.

Check out this awesome picrew!

I made an Etsy shop for digital stuff! Mostly things that I spent a ton of time designing for my library displays that I think other people could use–so far I’ve just listed the silhouette portraits I made for Black History Month, but there will be more variety soon! 

now available for $3.50! 

This is for all the people who have written to me over the years asking if I am coming anywhere near them to do a book signing.  I know that an online event isn’t the same, but I hope that no matter were you are, you can join me for the book launch on 6 October.

Also here is the link for the event registration https://www.eventbrite.com/e/megan-whalen-turner-return-of-the-thief-launch-tickets-116778011175

In addition please enjoy this picture of me not knowing what to do with myself that I used on my Christmas card

This is for all the people who have written to me over the years asking if I am coming anywhere near them to do a book signing.  I know that an online event isn’t the same, but I hope that no matter were you are, you can join me for the book launch on 6 October.

Also here is the link for the event registration https://www.eventbrite.com/e/megan-whalen-turner-return-of-the-thief-launch-tickets-116778011175

This is for all the people who have written to me over the years asking if I am coming anywhere near them to do a book signing.  I know that an online event isn’t the same, but I hope that no matter were you are, you can join me for the book launch on 6 October.

You can check them out here

I’m also interested in book recommendations to add to my list.

I made an Etsy shop for digital stuff! Mostly things that I spent a ton of time designing for my library displays that I think other people could use–so far I’ve just listed the silhouette portraits I made for Black History Month, but there will be more variety soon! 

IF YOU ARE UNMARRIED, DON'T HAVE KIDS, AND HATE YOUR PARENTS PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD HAVE A FUCKING WILL

this has been a public service announcement from your friendly neighborhood probate lawyer

Again:

1. The law doesn't care how long your parents and family have been out of your life

2. The law doesn't care about your long term friends or "found family"

If you don't have legal documents that say otherwise, your biological family calls all the shots.

This goes especially for LGBTQ+. Please do not get deadnamed in your obituary.

If you aren’t legally married (even if you are, to be safe), consider having:

1) a medical power of attorney. This allows you and your partner/spouse to make life saving or life ending decisions. Keep several copies in accessible places like your glove compartment, a lock box at your home. While love might have won in the courts, medical professionals only have to follow your wishes if they want - or unless you can beat them over the head with the legal documents and the threat of a lawsuit

2) a legal document stating that you, as the spouse/partner, have the right to claim your partner’s/spouse’s body should they pass away. Frighteningly, even estranged families have more rights than a queer partner/spouse when it comes to this macabre task

#they’ve been through so much together

sweaty