For the last post in this year’s September Series, it only seems natural to discuss the last work Tolkien published in his life, and the last of the tenuously-connected ‘Lesser Tales’ – Smith of Wootton Major. And discuss it we will – in a manner of speaking. Because this choice of mine to write about Smith is, alas, also a critical error of judgement on my part. Smith might be my favourite thing Tolkien ever wrote. Ever. There’s nothing like the richness of The Lord of the Rings, and On Fairy Stories might have had a more profound influence on…
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Give me a king whose chief interest in life is stamps, railways, or race-horses; and who has the power to sack his Vizier (or whatever you care to call him) if he does not like the cut of his trousers. J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 52 to Christopher Tolkien It is not difficult, I think, to see Farmer Giles of Ham as being at least somewhat representative of Tolkien’s idealised monarch. By all accounts, Giles is a perfectly decent ruler – the Little Kingdom grows and thrives under his reign. He treats his friends and allies generously, and his enemies (chiefly the…
Leave a CommentI didn’t much enjoy Disney’s Obi-Wan Kenobi, alas. I thought there was some good stuff in it…I liked pretty much all the actors and their performances. I especially thought the interplay between Ewan MacGregor and Hayden Christiansen worked well and both actors really added to the show, and actually really liked Vivien Lyra Blair’s performance as Leia (though the writing for her character was super uneven), and thought that the concept of her and Obi-Wan having shared a prequel adventure together actually held up well. I didn’t think it was terribly distinctive or striking visually, though. The score was, I…
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