Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth
YOU GUYS. I SAW IT!!! OH MY GOD IT WAS AMAZING. YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND. I saw Tolkien’s handwriting WITH MY OWN TWO EYES!
Some context: the largest exhibit of Tolkien art and manuscripts ever available to the public is showing at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York and it’s open until May 12. You have to buy tickets there (you can’t buy them online), so I recommend getting there first thing when it opens.
I spent a little over an hour in the exhibit. I don’t know how long you’d have to be in there before you were forcibly removed, but an hour actually felt like a good amount of time. I mean, let’s be real, I wanted to camp out in there and never leave—but I did get to see everything and take my time. If you can’t make the trip, never fear! They’ve published a book on the exhibit and you can get it online.
Okay, so. The exhibit was AMZAZING. They did such an incredible job. I wanted to let out continuous Nazgul shrieks of excitement the ENTIRE TIME but I think that’s probably not acceptable in museums.
As you enter, the title of the exhibit is painted on the wall to your left: Tolkien, Maker of Middle-earth, and it says the same thing in Elvish! Inside, each section has its title written like that! The entrance to the exhibit is a larger-than-life hobbit hole, and through it you can see a giant print of Tolkien’s watercolor of the Shire covering an entire wall.
The museum was packed. You don’t understand—it was so full of people that we were literally shuffling along in a line the whole time I was in there. Which sounds annoying, but it actually meant that I got to stare longingly at each picture or manuscript for a long, long time without being rushed to keep moving.
The first section was about Tolkien’s family, his childhood, how the countryside where he grew up inspired him to create the Shire, and how his mother encouraged his interest in philology. It was really cool to see one of her letters, and her handwriting looked almost just like his! Then there was stuff about how he met Edith, and photos of them, and a picture of their gravestone, which bears the names Beren and Luthien. I’M NOT CRYING, YOU’RE CRYING.
Next we moved on to the section about the Hobbit, and there was another floor-to-ceiling reproduction of one of Tolkien’s paintings, this time the one of Smaug and the treasure. And then we went around the corner and I saw THE FIRST EDITION OF THE HOBBIT, AND A WHOLE BUNCH OF TOLKIEN’S PAINTINGS ALL HANGING ON THE WALL.
It was that version of the Hobbit with the green cloth cover, you know the one. Let me say something about this green: it is SUPERB. Like the most perfect green you have ever seen in your LIFE. It’s a little grey, but not quite sage green—still very bright. It was so pretty…I wanted to snatch it out of the glass case and possess it for myself. Mine. My own. At this point, needless to say, I had already devolved into a Gollum-like creature intent upon hoarding the entire contents of the exhibit.
It was surreal to see Tolkien’s illustrations up close. You know they’re beautiful, you know they’re amazing, AND THEN YOU SEE THEM. They are real! There they are, hanging on the wall! You can actually see the paint on the paper. They’re not very big, but the detail is INCREDIBLE. The colors are perfect. I can’t believe I saw Tolkien’s painting of Rivendell WITH MY OWN TWO EYES. I’ve looked at that painting so many times over the years! And that was just one of them—they also had Hobbiton, and Smaug and the treasure, and the Eagle eyrie, and Bilbo on the river, and pen and ink drawings for the Hobbit, and the beautiful dust jacket he designed (!!!), and next to each one it said stuff about what art materials he used, and when he created them, or how he came up with the idea.
Next we went to the section on Lord of the Rings, which also had Tolkien’s original cover art for the three books, and MORE illustrations, and Elvish calligraphy! And letters! And maps! And timelines! And plot notes! And it was at this point that I completely lost my mind. I mean, to be fair, I lost my mind years ago, and yes it was because of Tolkien, but that’s not the point. Because in front of me. WAS. A MANUSCRIPT. IN TOLKIEN’S HANDWRITING. AND IT SAID:
Arise, arise, Riders of Théoden! Fell deeds awake: fire and slaughter! Spear shall be shaken, shield be splintered, a sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises! Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!
GUYS, I STRAIGHT UP DIED!!! But that’s not even all… because I was looking at THAT ENTIRE PAGE FROM THE RETURN OF THE KING! It’s just… that whole page… in Tolkien’s handwriting! WHAT?! WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT WHAT WHAT and it said that Tolkien thought this was one of the most moving passages in the book! It IS! IT IS!!!!! HOW DID HE KNOW I FELT THAT WAY. HOW DID HE KNOW
And there was one of the first maps of Middle-earth he EVER drew—one that he used throughout the years he spent writing the books—cobbled together from different pieces of paper, with faint notes on it in pencil, and ink stains, and ash stains from his pipe!
And I saw the Ring poem, written over and over in Elvish in different colors and styles, and the script is SO! BEAUTIFUL!!!!! And there was a page of notes in which Tolkien meticulously worked out how far hobbits can travel in a given period of time, relative to humans, to make sure the distances traveled in the book were realistic! THAT’S ADORABLE.
Then we went to the part on the Silmarillion, AND I SAW TOLKIEN’S FIRST MAP OF BELERIAND!!! With his notes on it! AND THEN I SAW HIS PAINTING OF TANIQUETIL! AND IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL IN REAL LIFE! HOW DARE HE?! You can actually see a much smaller Elvish ship in the distance—not just the larger one in the foreground—and you can really see Tirion! YOU CAN SEE IT! Never have I ever wanted so much to transport myself into a painting.
YOU GUYS, there was a detailed Elvish language tree that I had never seen before, not even in pictures. I freaking love language trees!!!!!!!!!!!!! And there was a page Tolkien wrote in VERTICAL ELVISH?!?!?!?!?!?! WHAT?! But this is PRE-TENGWAR ELVISH! Like…he wrote Elvish like you’d write hiragana. I knew he was inspired by Japanese and Chinese art for some of his paintings but I had NO idea he wrote Elvish like that!
And the exhibit explained how this whole world he created was meant to be a mythology for England, because he loved Norse myths, and Germanic myths, and Celtic myths, and Beowulf and the Kalevala, but he wanted England to have something like that—and I already knew this, of course, but it was pretty incredible being reminded of it in the middle of a museum exhibit about Middle-earth because he wanted to create a mythology for England and HE SUCCEEDED! Now his mythology is known all over the world, and it’s translated into hundreds of languages, and it’s in museums like sculptures of the Greek gods, with things labelled in the languages he invented… HELP! I love Tolkien so much! I HAVE ASCENDED TO ANOTHER PLANE OF EXISTENCE
In conclusion, this exhibit was SO WORTH IT, SEE IT IMMEDIATELY!
But lest you think it’s only for Tolkien-obsessed lunatics who have read the Silmarillion multiple times and taught themselves Tengwar, it’s not! The signs next to the pictures and manuscripts did a really good job explaining things, and the friend I went with—who is closer than I am to being a normal human—really enjoyed the experience too. So even if you’re a fan of the movies but haven’t read the books, or you’ve never even seen the movies, go see it while it’s still there! Before I stage an elaborate heist
This beautifully squeeful account of someone’s visit to the Maker of Middle-earth exhibition gives me life and brings back the happiest memory of last year’s trip to Oxford.
It’s all true, and you should all see it if you haven’t already!
