Fra Athelas nr. 8, 1994, copyright Imladris - Danmarks Tolkienforening

Breve til Athelas

Pablo J. Ginés Rodríguez (Barcelona, Spanien) 30/7:

(...)I'm sending you Estel 6. Quite bad, I know, but the contents are interesting. I think you will like the jokes. I enjoyed the ones in Athelas 3! There's an interesting interview with José Miguel Odero, a theology profes-sor who wrote a magnificient work about Tolkien with the title Cuentos de hadas (that is, "fairy stories") that we think very near to the religious and creative feelings of Tolkien. I've written an article about "Aulë and the origin of the Dwarves". Have you ever thought that Sauron, Saruman and probably the Balrogs had all been Aulë's servants? Aulë himself had some problems with Ilúvatar, even though not by malice but by impatience. I also think that Sauron could not create the Black Speech, but he merely developed a bad copy of Khûzdul: that's the way evil works in Middle-earth (and there's a phonetic likeness).

Estel 6 was the only Estel in 1993. It was made in Barcelona, just like Estel 7 (...) It's devoted to our first national meeting: the Mereth Aderthad or Estel-con 94 in March (when the Ring was destroyed) in the northern and moun-tainous smial of Gondolin (Pamplona).

An exhibition of Tolkienalia, a lecture by Professor Odero in the university (...) debates about "Role in Middle-earth", "Critics to Tolkien", "Illustra-ting Tolkien's World" and "Tolkien and fantasy literature" (from Dunsany to LeGuin, from Cthulhu to Darkover, from Arthur Machen to Ann McCaffrey). There were 30 fans from the Smials of Doriath, Moria, Imladris, Nevrast, Mithlond, Tol-In-Gaurhoth and Gondolin and many other interested people. We read the trans-lation of Ferdy and I in a hobbitic student's pub while drinking tea and eating biscuits. And we had supper in the tavern of the White Horse, which is very similar to the Prancing Pony and was built with the stones of the old city wall. We told obscene jokes about Middle-earth but there were also many philosophical discussions about the Elves, the Valar and immortality. As usual, some people didn't sleep those last nights, wandering the old streets of the city at random and telling stories. People who didn't know each other became instantly friends. Gimli said that "everybody knows that Rose Cotton is the Hillary Clinton of the Shire".

(...) The journey from Barcelona to Pamplona (about 500 km) was hazardous. We were 9 members of Doriath, travelling with two cars. The one who didn't knew the way (he had just obtained his driving licence) was out of sight from the very beginning and we didn't find them until we arrived to a small mountain village where we slept in a half built dusty house, the property of one of our families. There were no beds or windows (only the holes in the walls) so we nine slept on the floor of the kitchen next to the fireplace, under huge spiderwebs. Next morning we arrived to the university of Pamplona. It was full of people who wanted to see the dead headmaster but everything was closed and we explored all the city, trying to find the other people of the STE [Sociedad Tolkien Española]. Finally we returned to the university and there they were. They received us handclapping for we were really late. The coming back was still worse: We got lost trying to arrive to the Castle of Loarre (a wonderful place) and the road was becoming increasingly older and worse until it looked like an ancient Roman road (in ruins).

Waldemar Møller Sørensen (Birkerød) 10/8:

(...) Det var godt, at du [LT] lod trykke din eventyrligt flotte afhandling "The Lord of the Rings: Baggrund og livs-syn"[i Athelas 6]. Læsningen heraf er krævende, men givende, og vil være et "must" for enhver nuværende og kommende dansk Tolkien-interesseret.

Med hensyn til en eventuel indled-ning af et kommende nummer af Athelas, håber jeg inderligt, at det trods alt ikke bliver nødvendigt at lide på mig, for jeg ved virkelig ikke, hvordan jeg skal kunne bidrage med noget nyttigt ud over melodierne. Et kluntet forsøg på at gøre noget, som man ikke er kvalificeret til, kan gøre mere skade end gavn. Men naturligvis står jeg ved mit tilbud, hvis redaktøren virkelig kommer i nød.

Tom Sherry (Glasgow, Skotland) 11/8:

Thank you for your last letter and the two copies of Athelas which I tho-roughly enjoyed. The English round-up of 1994 was very welcome indeed, especially for those unfortunates like myself who cannot understand Danish. I look forward to 1995's edition.

(...) Enclosed with this letter are two more illustrations for you: "Merry & Pippin Enter Fangorn" and "Trader Dave at the Bree Fayre". The last one is partly to blame for the delay in writing to you, as my friends were attempting to put together some sort of promotional brochure incorporating the features of both "Trader Dave" and "Armour Class". The drawing was originally for that. And while we are on the subject, I have also sent you a copy of Armour Class's brochure, which has details of some of the weaponry that they are producing.

Iain and Alan are really making a name for themselves. They were on the Scottish news broadcast recently when they received an award from Prince Charles, and they have won the Ham-mermen Award this year from the Metalworkers' Guild in Scotland. Bob Savage, the Ancient Weapons & Armour curator at the Kelvinbridge Museum in Glasgow, said that they are by far the best reproduction weapon-smiths in Britain (he helps them with authenticity). So, I recommend you buy something now before they get famous and the prices go up!

On the catalogue there are two prices for swords. The first price is for battle-reenactment quality (i.e. heavier and blunt so that they can be fought with) and the second price is for "sharps" (i.e. proper reproductions which should not be fought with as they will kill!). As I said, the catalogue features some examples but they are willing, if asked, to make fantasy blades, from "Glamdring" and "Andúril" to Elric's "Stormbringer", to the same degree of workmanship. And if you want the hilts etched with designs, that's where I come in. [Anyone interested in receiving this catalogue can write to Armour Class, 193A Dumbarton Rd, Clydebank, Glasgow G81 4XJ, Scotland ­ LT].

I have been quite busy of late. I am currently doing a painting of Eilean Sonan Castle (the one in the film High-lander) which is 2 feet by 1 1/2 feet, and was asked to do it in the style of the traditional paintings of Scotland ­ you know, Landseer and the like. I am also planning to do some full colour Tolkien illustrations, which I will send to HarperCollins to see if they will let me have a crack at a calendar. Do you think that is a good idea? Maybe you could get the readers of Athelas to send in their favourite moments or charac-ters that they would like to see depicted! Would anyone buy it though, that's the question?!

(...) I must confess that I also cringed a lot when I saw the drawings from 1988 being reprinted [p. 25 and 39 in Athelas 6] ­ I had forgotten all about them and had to utter that familiar cry "Aaargh! Did I do that?!"

Sergei Iukhimov (Odessa, Ukraine) 30/9:

(...) I accept your offer about publish-ing my work in your magazine with joy. From 1987 to 1993 I made a vast series of illustrations for The Lord of the Rings ­ it contains 100 colour pictures (in the Russian edition are only 32 included and not the best); in the latest years I have also made 23 colour illustrations for The Hobbit and 20 colour illustrations for The Silmarillion. And the road goes ever on and on... Alas, but in my posession are now only 3 very gloomy snapshots of my work for The Lord of the Rings.

Waldemar Møller Sørensen (Birkerød) 16/10:

Tillykke til redaktørerne med endnu et nummer af medlemsbladet [nr. 7], som fuldt ud holder dets sædvanlige, høje standad, hvad angår både indhold af tekst og billedmateriale og layout. Alle, som ser det, forbavses over, at det kan lade sig gøre at fremstille et så smukt produkt med så beskedne ressourcer, derfor også en kompliment til Copy Shop, Odense.

Jeg er ikke blot tilfreds med, men også taknemlig for, at du [Jø] har ladet noderne til "Vrøvlevise" maskinsætte. Jeg er stolt over at se mit pauvre nodeark i så professionel opsætning, og Erik Dyhrs tegning gør layoutet lettere og illustrerer fortinligt den lidt maniske stemning.

(...) At det specielle folde-ud-ark har givet mulighed for at gengive Jesper Ejsintte tegning i næsten A4-format er en yderligere gevinst. Måske kan dette princip også anvendes i andre tilfæde, hvor man gerne vil yde tegningerne mere retfærdighed.

Det har været specielt interessant at læse (og se) rapporterne om festivalen i Uppsala.

Det var også godt at se omtalen af AKS's Albatros-indspilning. Det er kompetente musikere inden for deres genre, og jeg holder meget af Carsten Rosenlunds musik, som jeg kender fra koncerten i Odense og fra båndet Rejsen over havet.

Poul Christian Tulinius (Varde) 27/10:

(...) Tolkiens forfatterskab fascinerede mig, da jeg mødte det, vistnok i 1974/75. I en periode ­ eller i nogle perioder ­ "dyrkede" jeg Tolkien meget, ligesom jeg fx også var optaget af C.S. Lewis. Det var dén fascination, der vågnede op i mig, da jeg hørte om Danmarks Tolkienforening, og derfor blev jeg abonnent på bladet. Siden er jeg nået til den konklusion, at J.R.R. Tolkiens forfatterskab let bliver et "enten-eller": Enten lader man sig opsluge af det, og gør det til "forfatter-skabet i sit liv", eller også lægger man det væk (efter at have glædet sig over det, selvfølgelig).

Jeg ved ikke, om alle har det sådan med Tolkien, men sådan tror jeg, at jeg har det, og jeg har valgt at "trappe ned". Derfor opsiger jeg mit abonne-ment. Jeg vil gerne tilføje, at jeg er imponeret over den entusiasme, der har præget bladet, og det er altså ikke fordi, jeg er skuffet over det.