Tom Emanuel

I mean, I have a tattoo that comes from Sam watching Frodo sleep and saying "I love him, whether or no." Make of that what you will.

I should say, favorite explicitly *romantic* couple. If we include the love story of Sam and Frodo—and theirs is without question a love story, even if not *necessarily* a romantic one (let the reader decide)—then Howl and Sophie must accept a tie.

a frying pan with a piece of bacon in it with the words may all your bacon burn Alt: Sophie from Howl's Moving Castle is frying bacon in an iron skillet. Beneath it flickers the fire-demon Calcifer, irritated at being forced to stoop to cooking breakfast. The caption reads: "May all your bacon burn."

And let us not forget Calcifer, whomst we cannot help but stan.

Howl isn't far behind her. "He may be selfish and cowardly, and sometimes he’s hard to understand. But his intentions are good! He just wants to be free!"

The vain, childish, melodramatic, playful, daring, noble, selfless wizard of my heart. The two of them are my favorite couple in fiction.

I love that Sophie doesn’t have any special powers. She’s not a Chosen One. She is, by turns, a feisty old lady and a shy young woman who learns how to be brave. What makes her a hero is her kindness.

That’s it. She’s kind. She sees the best in people, and she’s willing to fight for them.

Ha! That’s another one I want actually, exactly that line!

Oh same. To the point that I’m getting a tattoo of them at some point in the not so distant future - I’m just waiting for exactly the right occasion.

Old Sophie and Young Sophie are like Gollum and Sméagol if they were feisty and kind and courageous, Instead of tortured and cunning and pitiable.

I’ve said this before, but my 3-year-old is mad for Howl’s Moving Castle, and Sophie Hatter remains undefeated as my favorite character in anything ever. The shifting back and forth between old Sophie and young Sophie is perfect: two distinct characters but still the same person.

In this case I’ve always read Frodo accepting the Burden as a moment of genuine humility, especially since he experiences that powerful sense of calling or even destiny immediately before he speaks his choice aloud.

Maybe, though I’ve never thought of it that way! I do think one of Frodo’s faults is the flip side of his selflessness: he doesn’t want to accept help, e.g., trying to leave the Shire on his own, or trying to cross the Anduin without Sam. And the Ring uses a person’s best impulses against them.

As I’ve written elsewhere, choices in LotR, like Frodo accepting the burden of the Ring, ”carry all the existential force of a religious conviction without explicit religious motivation.“ It’s an incredible literary achievement for a man as devout as JRRT and it absolutely fucking rules.

I’m a Christian, but one of my favorite things about this moment and so many others in LotR is that Frodo doesn’t do this out of religious obligation. A sense of duty, even vocation? Absolutely. But his decision has everything to do with the good of this world and nothing to do with the next.

October 25 is the date of the Council of Elrond and, therefore, the date on which Frodo utters one of my favorite lines in all of literature.

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

That’s all we can ever do, I think: decide what to do with the time that is given us.

My furloughed father is so bored, he’s started rebuilding my busted old GameCube so that he can play Star Wars flight sims. This government shutdown must end.

You should be proud of a great book and all the positive attention it’s received, let alone the rest of it!

Renaissance would be fantastic, right in the band‘s mid-70s classic wheelhouse too.

YouTube video by Loreena McKennitt - Topic Dark Night Of The Soul

Link:

The cover of Loreena McKennitt's album The Mask and the Mirror, featuring the singer surrounded by images from the Unicorn Tapestries (c. 1500). The song 'Dark Night of the Soul' is playing in the streaming app.

I wished more Christian sacred music were like this poem of desperate, painful, erotic longing for God by St. John of the Cross. Loreena McKennitt's setting is perfect.

I'd love to hear Loreena's take on something like Galadriel's Song of Eldamar or, even better, Namárië.

We stan Josh Ritter in this house. I've had the pleasure of seeing him multiple times, he positively vibrates with how happy he is to be making music for people.

He often was, yes.

This explains the Dark Lord Paradox of immeasurably powerful demon-gods who can be also dumb as a box of rocks at critical moments.

Apropos of nothing going on in the Primary World at the moment.

YouTube video by Eleanor Morton cs Lewis tells JRR Tolkien about his new book

Though I can't help but think of this video whenever I read it now.

"Father Christmas? Father Chri--you can't have Father-shitting-Christmas in the same story as a faun!"

Mr. Tumnus the faun leading Lucy Pevensie into the snowy woods of Narnia in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Art by Pauline Baynes.

Happy 75th Birthday to The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe! C.S. Lewis and I have enough beef to fill a Reuben, but there are more things in Narnia I like than I don't, and Lion is easily one of my favorites. (The other is The Magician's Nephew.)

We’re covered on Tolkien and I haven’t heard that Shigesato Itoi (Earthbound), Toby Fox (Undertale), or Hayao Miyazaki (Howl’s Moving Castle, tat forthcoming) have caused any irreparable harm, so all clear?

I always liked Ursula Le Guin complaining about SFF authors only reading and imitating other SFF authors. Wished I could find the quote, but something like “I’d rather shoot for Tolstoy, myself.” She could be an exacting critic, and I think that’s good actually.

“Small wonder that spell means both a story told, and a formula of power over living men.”

My man JRRT, “On Fairy-stories”

It’s only since we went through the formal screening process with the kids that a doctor suggested it in my case! It certainly explains A Lot about me, just like bipolar and ADHD do. Though of course all three of those have overlapping traits too - such is neurodiversity.

Also, anybody who comes in here with antivax bollocks will be blocked on sight. I lost patience with you lot a long time ago, but especially now that I have kids who are endangered by your belligerent ignorance.

Are there any good resources *from within the autistic community* about parenting children on the spectrum? Asking for someone on the spectrum (me) who's raising two beautiful humans who are also on the spectrum. I'm finding some things challenging lately and would love additional support.