Or a Tale of Two Towers: Art and Archetypes in Middle-Earth
Tolkien’s Middle-Earth is conspicious in that it contains no places of worship. Few fantasy authors resist the urge to have temples and gods (usually malevolent ones with slimy and unappetizing minions, against which the hero uses guile, good sense or solid biceps in contests of thinly-disguised allegory). Tolkien limits himself to places of portent or places of wonder – places where the gods or great personages of the past have touched the earth, but have never consecrated. Continue reading “John Howe’s Journal: FROM BABEL TO BARAD-DÛR”
