I think it is time we put this matter to rest by revealing the fruits of my own confusing research. There is nothing to add concerning Druidic levels of consternation, be they Bard, Ovate or Wizardry. After all, ...

When we build our worlds, we may know some fine details. We may know whys and hows and ifs and whens. We may know a thousand years into the past to explain the finest details. Even if our readers may not see some of the subtleties, its a lot of fun to know these things.

Then, when we write, we have a huge amount of data to call on - as I've noted before, you may even know enough that your stories almost write themselves. Knowing your world, ...

A reading of the heroic relationships in

J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings



In his 1953 essay "Ofermod," J.R.R. Tolkien addresses the subject of the leader and the subordinate in the northern heroic epic. Of the subordinate's place in the Old English poem "The Battle of Maldon" he says that he was one: "...who had no responsibility downwards, only loyalty upwards. Personal pride was therefore in him at its lowest, and love and loyalty at their highest." The leader, in his role as provider "may indeed receive credit from the deeds of his knights, but he must not use their loyalty or imperil them simply for that purpose." Part of the heroic relationship, therefore, involves unswerving loyalty by the subordinate and the mastery of pride by the leader.

In Lord of the Rings, Tolkien develops several relationships in keeping with the ideas on loyalty he expresses in "Ofermod." These ideas can also be applied to the famous Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf, and thus a reading of Beowulf reveals many parallels to the leaders and subordinates in Lord of the Rings. Like Beowulf and Hrothgar, the dominant figures in the many quests and battles of Middle-Earth have characters who support them and follow their lead. While none of the individual participants in these relationships is depicted as perfect, the relationship itself is shown to stem from an ideal conception of the leader and servant dynamic, and the degree to which the relationship approaches this ideal helps to define the characters ...

QUESTION: I want to write religion in my continuity. What do I do?
ANSWER: Write it. ...

Yes, it's a corny title. I couldn't think of anything else. Besides, a certain film with a similar title recently got re-released, and I couldn't resist.

Though, when it comes to creating post-apocalyptic worlds, corny is usually the order of the day. I won't mince words - I find most post-apocalyptic storyworlds hideously silly and overdone. For every "Canticle for Liebowitz" there's a lot of after-the-end drivel. ...