March 21, 2002

J.R.R. Tolkien

'How, given little over half a century of work, did one man become the creative equivalent of a people.'

  From a review of The Silmarillion
     -- The Guardian

Image ©copyright 1990, John Howe.  Used without permission.

"Glorfindel and the Balrog"

"Nonetheless they came thither, and beyond hope they climbed, in woe and misery, for the high places were cold and terrible, and they had among them many that were wounded, and women and children.
   There was a dreadful pass, Cirith Thoronath it was named, the Eagles' Cleft, where beneath the shadow of the highest peaks a narrow path wound its way; on the right hand it was walled by a precipice, and on the left a dreadful fall leapt into emptiness.  Along that narrow way their march was strung, when they were ambushed by Orcs, [...] and a Balrog was with them.  Then dreadful was their plight, and hardly would they have been saved by the valour of yellow-haired Glorfindel, chief of the House of the Golden Flower of Gondolin, had not Thorondor come timely to their aid.
   Many are the songs that have been sung of the duel of Glorfindel with the Balrog upon a pinnacle of rock in that high place; and both fell to ruin in the abyss. [...]  Then Thorondor bore up Glorfindel's body out of the abyss, and they buried him in a mound of stones beside the pass; and a green turf came there and yellow flowers bloomed upon it amid the barrenness of stone, until the world was changed."

"Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin", The Silmarillion
-- J.R.R. Tolkien

Ah, what more can I say here about him that has not already been said?  His works have inspired, created cults, and are rated amongst the best in fantasy fiction to this day.  His imagination must surely rank amongst the greatest in human history.  His books have been translated into innumerable languages, and are considered the preeminent works of fantasy of our time.  The highest accolade that can be given to works of modern fantasy is to compare them to Tolkien.