Hello friends, new and old! Welcome to my new blog!

It’s hard to sell oneself in merely a header, title or description, so I figured - for the sake of anyone who wanders into this place - that I would organize a bunch of fundamental information right here!

Who am I?

Who are you?You needn’t think of that now, unless of course, you’d like to.

My name is Jules, I use he/they pronouns, and I am a lifelong fan of Tolkien’s work and world. As a small child, my mother read The Lord of the Rings to me, and by the age of six I had seen the films. I read the books for myself between the ages of eight and ten, and have done so some times since. 

Tolkien’s work shaped me fundamentally from that starry-eyed chapter in my youth, everything from my fantastical adventures and ambitious in my backyard to my perception of masculinity, femininity, love, power and comradery. The young man I am and grow to be each day is very much indebted to the characters and stories of all The Professor’s work.

What is this blog?

Obviously, this blog is themed around an appreciation for anything and everything Middle Earth. 

In particular, though, I intend to post a combination of quotes from the novels and/or films, and brief observations or notations I find in the margins of my copies of the novels as I re-read them, perhaps with some fresh notes to join them. In addition, I am taking a class this semester in University entitled “J. R. R. Tolkien and Counterculture,” (with our dear @wilderlandranger) and will likely post some notes, food for thought, or even scribbles for assignments. 

There will also likely be memes. Maybe some of my own writing. 

I am very much going to treat this blog like a more organized version of a very disorganized Word doc currently festering on my Desktop called “Tolkien Diary,” if that adds any briefer explanation or flavor to what you expect. 

Additives and Addendums

If I find anything more noteworthy to add to this post of great importance, then it will be listed under this section! But, for now, good day!

Gimli

- “Speak, or I will put a dint in your hat that even a wizard will find hard to deal with! ”

Arwen

- “ And to that I hold. I would rather share one lifetime with you than face all the ages of this world alone. ”

Boromir

- “To Let That Fear Drive Us To Destroy What Hope We Have - That Is Madness!”

Saruman

- “Moria… You fear to go into those mines. The Dwarves delved too greedily and too deep. You know what they awoke in the darkness of Khazad-dum… shadow and flame”

Bilbo

- “Sorry! I don’t want any adventures, thank you. Not Today. Good morning! But please come to tea – any time you like! Why not tomorrow? Good bye!”

Sam

- “But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer.”

Aragorn

-  "At last all such things must end but I would have you wait a little while longer: for the end of the deeds that you have shared in has not yet come.“

Frodo

- “I will take the Ring, though I do not know the way.”

Gandalf

- “I will not say do not weep, for not all tears are an evil.”

Legolas

- “Nay, time does not tarry ever, but change and growth is not in all things and places alike. For the Elves the world moves, and it moves both very swift and very slow.”

Inktober day 29: “Patch.” Grungy survivalist Aragorn is my favorite Aragorn.

Day 30: “Slither.” Smaug, Chiefest and Greatest of Calamities.

Day 31: “Risk.” The final stand at the Black Gate.

That’s a wrap on this year’s Inktober! *throws micron pens into the sea*

Inktober day 5: Raven - Thorin and Roäc

Day 6: Spirit - Melian the Maia

Day 7: Fan - Manwe Súlimo

Day 8: Watch - A fragment of the Two Watchers of Cirith Ungol