“Even the smallest person can change the course of history.” – Lady Galadriel
History. Such a simple word and yet, it holds the memories of a thousand words. History shapes time, the time in which we live and the times we remember. Laughs and cries, good and bad – it all becomes a fleeting moment in history. And history then becomes a story, some we tell more than others.
Stories are a way for individuals to transform into anyone they dream to be, and travel to unknown worlds of magic and mischief. But all of this comes for the power of words.
“A writer is a world trapped in a person.” – Victor Hugo.
Words can be the tales of a thousand stories, shaping that transforming the sleek pages of a book into the wings of a bird, soaring through the sky. Swooping across the vast ocean, looking for its next meal. Eyes gazing at the flood of blue until it catches the jump of a small fish, and it is then that the bird pivots towards the scaly animal. The fish watches intently, waiting for the words of the bird to scoop up what is left of their imagination and transform it into reality. And when the bird is finished, it glides down to the library of its nest, becoming history until the next fish comes along.
History has been shaped by the infamous J.R.R.Tolkien, with the four tremendous novels written between the years 1937 and 1955. The Hobbit, published in 1937 was originally a children’s book containing dragons and dwarfs written in a hospital bed in 1916 when Tolkien was invalidated for the Battle of the Somme due to trench fever. His history of the Somme was gruesome and became embodied in the brutal goblin attacks against the elvish defenders. His history was so tragic in fact, that director Dome Karukoski created a movie dedicated to the Tolkien Journal.
And boy was it a story to tell.
“The formative years of the orphaned author J.R.R.Tolkien as he finds friendship, love and artistic inspiration among a group of fellow outcasts at school.” IMDb.
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien’s story first takes place when he, his younger brother and mother must move home after the death of his father. However, his mother is tragically ill and also soon passes, leaving the two young boys in the arms of a pastor who happily takes them in. This pastor, enrols the boys into a boarding school, where Tolkien soon meets his fellowship – the T.C.B.S (Tea Club Barrovian Society). Within the King Edward’s school in Birmingham, Tolkien also meets the young Edith Bratt, who later becomes the love of his life. With love comes inspiration, and Tolkien soon found that without the companionship of his nearest and dearest pianist of king Edward’s school, the dictionaries of Tolkien – both English and constructed – had run dry. And so, Tolkien had to find inspiration from various other parts of life. For some, it may be wildlife – from the way a flower blooms to the roar of a lion stalking its prey. For others, think of a circus,, with the clowns galloping around the ring dressed in white suits, gathering the dust kicked up from the elephants.
But what was this artistic inspiration that Tolkien had?
Trees. It was trees.
