Tolkien In The Perilous Realm!

When one picks up a copy of Smith of Wootton Major and Farmer Giles of Ham you are getting one of J.R.R. Tolkien's earliest works alongside his final published work in his lifetime. These two stories are often sold together for two reasons, they both operate within Tolkien's fairy world, and both are quite short. Farmer Giles of Ham was first written in 1937 and published in 1949 while Smith of Wootton Major was published in 1967 and began as an essay on fairies but then Tolkien just decided to write a children's story instead. 

I first encountered these two tales when I picked up the sleek and handsome Ballantine Books paperback with the two stories. The cover showing Father Giles talking to the dragon Chrysophylax was a test for the Brothers Hildebrandt to see if they were up to painting more pieces for Ballantine's already successful Tolkien publications. 

Farmer Giles of Ham begins when his faithful dog Garm decides to raise the alarm that a giant decides to wander onto the property. Giles uses a blunderbuss full of nails and such to repel the giant. He becomes a local hero and is rewarded by the King with a neglected sword from the armory. Later the giant tells the dragon Chrysophylax that he found no knights in the little kingdom. That inspires the dragon to travel and begin to cause trouble by destroying property and gobbling up friars and suchlike. Giles is pressed to do something about it and is obviously reluctant, 

Turns out that the sword is called "Tailbiter" and is especially keen to kill dragons. The dragon is cowed and negotiates a deal to enrich the people if they let him go. They do and he reneges. The King wants those riches and sends Giles and more knights to get it. When Giles confronts Chrysophylax a second time, he comes up with a different scheme. 

This a lovely breezy whimsical story with lots of humor. Garm the dog is especially the focus of several jokes. The King is presented as a greedy bastard and deserves what he gets. The dragon is also a specific personality, not a wily I suppose as the more famous Smaug, but certainly of a devious bent. There's a haplessness to Farmer Giles at first, but he changes, not something that always happens in stories of this sort. 

The Smith of Wootton Major is a more somber story about how the magic of the fairies can slip into our world in almost unknown ways and delightful and lasting effects. The story takes place of course in a small village called Wootton Major and concerns a tradition of baking special cakes every twenty-four years for children who are lucky enough to have the right birthday. When the regular baker leaves unexpectantly his young apprentice is looked upon to help a substitute baker fill the order. That young apprentice is a quiet young man who himself does eventually become the baker. 

But the focus of the story is on a young boy named Smith who is at that party and gets a special prize in his piece of cake, a dazzling white star that gets embedded on his forehead and which seems to give him the power to perceive and even travel to the land of the fairies. 

But as a man and a husband and a father he meets the young man who was the baker and learns the true nature of gifts. What Smith decides to do warms the heart of any reader. 

I heartily enjoy both these stories and it's difficult to choose between them. But if pressed I'd have tos ay that the humor in the story of Farmer Giles and his dog Garm wins the day. These stories have been available in various collections over the years and currently you can find them both in Tales from the Perilous Realm along with many other of Tolkien's lighter supernatural tales. 

Rip Off

The Lord Of The Rings!

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien is the renowned and beloved fantasy of the 20th Century, a carefully constructed epic filled with elegiac romance, sprawling imaginary vistas, and pert memorable characterizations. I've read it a few times over the course of my lifetime, but I might have to say this most recent venture to Middle-Earth might be the best yet. I read the saga in a single volume edition given to me by a good friend decades ago. It's a robust version, known in the circles as the "Red Edition".  Let me discuss the book though as it is most commonly presented, a trilogy of connected novels. 

(Jack Gaughan did all three of the covers for the Unauthorized Ace Editions)

The Fellowship of the Ring is the first installment and is comprised of "Two Books". The first introduces our Hobbit heroes Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, Peregrin Took, and Meriadoc Brandybuck, as well reintroducing the enigmatic Gandalf. This saga was begun when Tolkien was not yet committed to an epic and so this early part of the story feels the most like The Hobbit. A group of doughty little people are on a mission and encounter an array of threats as they wend their way through the often-bewildering and sometimes dangerous countryside. As the story develops the seriousness of the mission becomes ever more evident as our heroes are pursed by Black Riders, strange magical creatures in service to Sauron, the Lord of Mordor. They are assisted at different times by the likes of the peculiar Tom Bombadil and later the mysterious man called Strider. Later a "fellowship" of Hobbits, Men, Elves, and Dwarves join forces to help destroy the one thing Sauron craves more than anything, the One Ring which will give him absolute power over Middle Earth. 

In The Two Towers, the "fellowship" of the previous novel has fallen apart and our Hobbit heroes Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee must work by themselves to find an entry into the deadly land of Mordor and take the One Ring to Mount Doom where they can destroy it once and for all. They get the help of Gollum, a strange, debased creature who once had the ring in his keeping before it came to Bilbo. The rest of our cast are likewise searching for one another. The other two Hobbits, Merry and Pippin fall into the hands of Orcs and later meet up with the enigmatic Treebeard, an Ent, one of the oldest races on Middle-Earth. Strider, Legolas, and Gimli search for these two but find an old ally returned from the grave. We meet the Riders of Rohan, a great warrior people and we go with them to Helm's Deep where they and some of our cast fight a great battle against an army of Orcs sent by Saruman, a great and powerful figure who also vies for the One Ring. 

The Return of the King wraps up this grand epic. Our two Hobbit heroes continue their quest to Mount Doom and give the reader a grim tour through a dark and depraved territory. Strider is revealed to be the next king of Gondor and that makes our villain Sauron quite upset who then sends his vast army to besiege the venerable city. The scale of the conflict has been steadily growing throughout the saga and reaches its climax here with a terrible war that even if won will mean little if the One Ring survives to find its way back into the clutches of the necromancer Sauron. The many characters who have been introduced in the novels get their moments to shine and the story winds down to its conclusion. After all the hubbub our Hobbit heroes find that their home the Shire has need of heroes as well as enemies have used the war to plunder. The Hobbits, having been tempered by adventure, danger and war, must fight again for their homes.  

(Barbara Remington)

It is much different reading the novel as Tolkien intended, as a single book. The trilogy we know is a result of the limitations of publishing which balked at issuing a book so massive and opted instead in the early 50's to bring out the saga in three mostly annual volumes, each given a memorable title of its own. I've always preferred The Fellowship of the Ring, but this reading with the focus on a different structure has given me new admiration for The Two Towers and The Return of the King.

(The Brothers Hildebrandt)

If each is seen as a single volume, there is almost inherently an expectation of a rise and fall within the narrative structure. That exists in abundance in the first part, the part of the story which introduces the majority of the characters and the milieu. Those characters follow a story arc which sees them become aware and finally resolved, transformed from bystanders into legitimate heroes. The depth of detail used to build this world, one so very similar to our own, intended to become our own after the passage of many millennia is stunning. Tolkien took a lifetime to create an environment fit for his created languages, and then he chose to tell a grand sweeping tale of heroism and sacrifice in that environment. 

(Frank Frazetta)

That said, neither of the other latter volumes really has a fair chance to recreate the arc seen so wonderfully in the first book, and for the most part don't. But seeing the story as one complete yarn, the latter stages of the epic come more fully into focus and build on the charming and sometimes quaint beginning with robust full-blooded heroic adventure on an every-increasing scale. This sweep works when the story is understood as a single narrative and not three individual ones. This unintended bias ingrained in my own understanding of the tale by its marketing, has limited to some small extent my appreciation of the latter stages. Until now.

Despite the clever marketing by Ballantine Books and others, when I'm thinking of The Red Book of the Westmarch in the future, it will always be one narrative and not three.  

Now it's time to tackle The Silmarillion.   

Rip Off

The Tolkien Years Of The Brothers Hildebrandt!

That said, with all things Tolkien on my mind, I was moved to finally pick up the relatively recent volume The Tolkien Years of the Brothers Hildebrandt. I was among those fortunate folk who was able to collect up the famous Hildebrandt Tolkien calendars as they appeared in 1976 through 1978.

Sadly, I wasn't prescient enough to hang onto them, but those classic images remained burned into my imagination. So, it's neat to finally have a collection of them to look at and examine alongside a raft of the prepping materials the brothers used.

This cover for Tolkien's Smith of Wooton Major and Farmer Giles of Ham from Ballantine was the Hildebrandt's first foray in Middle-Earth. It was evidently a test they were given, and they passed with flying colors, literally. I picked this paperback up at the time and it's still quite charming. 

Since the untimely passing of Tim Hildebrandt back in 2006, we are left limited insights from him, but his brother Greg is on hand to inject some behind-the-scenes perspective. The bulk of the text though in this volume is by Greg Hildebrandt Jr. who was a mere lad when the classic images were created, and he offers up a novel look at the work itself. Sadly, his perspective is not to my mind worth the space it is permitted in this volume, so I skipped over a lot of it. 

That said, the art is still the point of this book, and all the classic stuff is here presented as they were created for the three calendars and beyond. Looking at the Hildebrandt stuff now, it seems stiff and oddly fixed in time and the attempt at what the Brothers dubbed "Frodorealism" doesn't work as often as I remember. Their renditions of certain characters have been superseded by other artists over the decades, but there is no denying their lasting impact on the overall imagination, at least my imagination.

The Brothers produced the 1976, 1977, and 1978 calendars. The 1976 calendar is regarded as the best-selling calendar of all time. After that, multiple artists were brought in to create these annual celebrations of Professor Tolkien's creations. 

The Brothers were working on a fourth calendar while they were also working on Ushurak, an original fantasy tale they concocted themselves. They thought something had to give in their schedule and they called and backed out of the calendar work. The work done for the proposed 1979 calendar is included in this volume. 

It's nice to have this artwork in my mitts again, reminding me of the first times I traveled to Middle Earth.

Rip Off

My Goldberry!

Goldeberry is the utterly charming wife of Tom Bombadil, the enigmatic character from J.R.R. Tolkein's The Lord of the Rings. Goldberry was a water nymph who has golden hair and is a radiant figure who brings peace and love to those around her. My beloved Liz was like that. Gorgeous blonde hair and a bright winning smile that drove out the gloominess which all too often inhabits my spirit. 

Seven years have passed since I lost my Lizzie -- my wife and partner, the woman I've spent most of my lifetime with, and the woman who was the caring and doting mother of our two delightful, lovely and admirable daughters. I lost her much sooner than I expected, more quickly than seemed possible. But now seven years later, the wounds have begun to close over slightly. Nonetheless I will never betray the memory of the woman I loved, and the woman I still love to this day. 

My wife is no longer here for me to talk to and to laugh with and to take care of. And she's no longer here to help take care of me as I become more and more an old man. I step into the twilight, the unknown without her wisdom and guidance and support. 

The Dojo has taken a brief hiatus around this time in years past, and so too this year in loving memory of my beloved Lizzie. Normal activity (more or less) will resume in a week's time or thereabouts. Look for more Tolkien in this month of May. 

Be well my friends and cherish the ones you have -- they are not yours to keep for all time.

Dean

Frodorealism!

I'm closing out my summer with another reading of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic Lord of the Rings. It's been at least a decade since I've read any of this and longer still since I read the whole shebang, so it's a good thing all around. Like any book or story you think you know well, it's always fascinating to make fresh connections and find new things based on the differences you bring to the text as a reader.

That said, with all things Tolkien on my mind, I was moved to finally pick up the relatively recent volume The Tolkien Years of the Brothers Hildebrandt. I was among those fortunate folk who was able to collect up the famous Hildebrandt Tolkien calendars as they appeared in 1976 through 1978. Sadly I wasn't prescient enough to hang onto them, but those classic images remained burned into my imagination. So it's neat to finally have a collection of them to look at and examine alongside a raft of the prepping materials the brothers used.

Since the untimely passing of Tim Hildebrandt back in 2006, we are left limited insights from him, but his brother Greg is on hand to inject some behind-the-scenes perspective. The  bulk of the text though in this volume is by Greg Hildebrandt Jr. who was a mere lad when the classic images were created and he offers up a novel look at the work itself. Sadly his perspective is not to my mind worth the  space it is permitted in this volume, so I skipped over a lot of it. 

That said, the art is still the point of this book and all the classic stuff is  here presented as they were created for the three calendars and beyond. Looking at the Hildebrandt stuff now, it seems stiff and oddly fixed in time and the attempt at what the Brothers dubbed "Frodorealism" doesn't work as often as I remember. Their renditions of certain characters have been superseded by other artists over the decades, but there is no denying their lasting impact on the overall imagination, at least my imagination.

It's nice to have this artwork in my mitts again, reminding me of the first times I traveled to Middle Earth.

Rip Off

A Nora Hope!

The classic Star Wars poster by Tom Jung really captures the grandeur of the original movie, and it also seems to capture the likenesses of two of the stars. Both Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher seem to be represented by the two heroic figures in the foreground.


That's quite unlike the exceedingly similar Brothers Hildebrandt version of this classic image. This one seems to have been done without specific actor references from the film.



I spent the weekend watching classic Thin Man movies starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as the witty sleuthing couple Nick and Nora Charles, and after that prolonged exposure to the gorgeous Myrna as Nora, I noticed that the female figure on the Hildebrandt poster seems remarkably like her, especially her exotic narrow eyes and her lovely pouting mouth.

I put it out there for your consideration.

Rip Off

A War Among The Stars!

It's yet another "Star Wars Weekend" as George Lucas dusts off his creation and renovates it yet again, this time with 3-D. I assume all six parts will eventually get this treatment.

The Marvel Comics tabloid cover above by Dave Cockrum and Rich Hoberg echoes the classic image from the vintage Star Wars poster from a time when the movie was truly an impressive achievement and not a somewhat dreary marketing ploy.


You take the iconic image by the Brothers Hildebrandt and flip some of the elements.


And voila you have a handy template for a wonderful cover evoking the romance and adventure of the great film.


Above is the original artwork for this handsome cover, but I noticed one odd thing about it.


Rick Hoberg's name is removed from the credit box. This got covered up by copy on the published cover, but is quite clear here. Hoberg was the penciller here and his name seems to once upon a time to have been glued to the piece and now is gone. Perhaps Cockrum added that box when he inked the piece and clipped Hoberg's name to fit. That's just speculation of course.


And for the record, here's the equally handsome back cover for this Marvel Comic tabloid.


The cover art by Hoberg and Cockrum was also used for the exceedingly attractive paperback version of the story from Del Rey books. I have this tumbling around here somewhere, and it's my favorite version of this vintage comics tale.

Rip Off