Image Courtesy of Jay Johnstone
I bow not yet before the Iron Crown,
nor cast my own small golden sceptre down
The Lord of the Rings, and indeed the whole Lengendarium of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien is among the greatest influences on my overall worldview. This “story… cast in terms of a good side, and a bad side, beauty against ruthless ugliness, tyranny against kingship, moderated freedom with consent against compulsion that has long lost any object save mere power…” seems to have an almost universal appeal, it touches something deep in the soul of mankind, that there is Good, and yet there is Evil, dark, powerful, and yet beyond all hope Good triumphs. However, for myself the enchantment of these myths and fictional histories is their deep connection with the increasingly forgotten histories and legends of my own Western Civilization.
