A Star Shines in the Hour of Our Meeting
An introduction to my second Substack
Welcome and well met, friends!
My name is Charles Larrivee, and I am a recent graduate of Purdue University with a degree in History and a minor in Jewish Studies. To share my insights into my interests, to hone my writing and presentation skills, and to improve myself through research and presentation, I recently started a personal blog, The Theresianum, named after the academy founded by Empress Maria Theresa of Austria to educate promising young men of the nobility and middle class for diplomatic and civil service. Here I have gotten into a nice rhythm of, every other week, reviewing various works of historical nonfiction in my library and historical drama films, and writing essays on various historical topics. However, I recently noticed something of a…curiosity, while doing some housekeeping.
As you can see, right in the middle of my articles dealing with historical topics sits a review of Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Actually, it’s not so much a review and more of a deep dive. This is clearly not a historical-themed essay. But it’s one I’m fairly proud of, and of all my articles so far this one has driven the most views, new subscribers and engagement. Clearly, there is an audience for people talking about Tolkien and works inspired by his world and his ideals. What to do? Easy. Start another blog that will be devoted to Tolkien exclusively.
But why exactly did I end up writing a 6 page essay on a show based on Tolkien’s work?
My Tolkien journey began in a way that seems oddly prescient given the least one of the story choices made by The Rings of Power. Like Isildur, I too was a naval cadet; in high school I was a proud member of the US Naval Sea Cadet Corps. In October of 2007, I was in Columbia, South Carolina for my unit's monthly drill with my dad and my sister. With the conclusion of Saturday's drill, I was free until Sunday morning. So after dinner, my sister suggested we rent a movie from Blockbuster Video. And what movie did we end up renting? Well, my sister had some familiarity with The Hobbit, so we decided to go with The Fellowship of the Ring. And thus, like so many other people before and since, I was introduced to the world of Tolkien through Peter Jackson's wonderful trilogy. I fell in love with its beauty, its epic scale, its characters, and its themes. By December of 2007 we had seen the next two films of the trilogy, and had also read the books. I instantly loved the books as well, with their epic and majestic style, their deep roots in a well-realized and ancient world, and their clear stand in favor of transcendent ideals. Next up was The Silmarillion, which I first read in the summer of 2008. As a history nerd who reads nonfiction historical books for fun, I found a lot to enjoy about this book and was never particularly turned off by its ponderous style. And there, things mostly stayed for the next several years; rereading the books several times a day, rewatching the films, unfavorably comparing Game of Thrones to them, stuff like that. The next big step was discovering Nerd of the Rings on Youtube in August of 2021, and through his videos discovering just how truly vast and complicated Tolkien's world was, which only increased my fondness for it.
So when the rumors and whispers of a new TV show that I'd been hearing since 2019 finally crystalized into some concrete information in February of 2022, I was primed to take the next step on my journey. While some criticism can be leveled at the manner in which Amazon went about releasing information about The Rings of Power, after nearly two years of secrecy, what we did end up getting did not seriously dampen my interest. Indeed, in that very first Vanity Fair article, when showrunners Patrick McCay and JD Payne confirmed that the show would not be veering into the sorts of adult content we have seen in Game of Thrones, and moreover that they wanted to show a worldview of hope and goodness, I was sold. And the finished product did not disappoint. You’ll be able to find out my full thoughts on it when I edit and re-release that review from The Theresianum here. And the journey continued, when for my birthday last year I got a physical copy of Unfinished Tales, which in turn made both the books I’ve read so far, the Jackson movies, and Rings of Power much richer. I imagine, therefore, that my Tolkien journey will continue. And I hope you’ll all be willing to accompany me. As happens throughout Middle Earth, adventures are more fun and more fruitful when taken as part of a group, and indeed my recent adventure with Rings of Power would not have been the same without so many wonderful people on Discord and Tolkien Twitter taking the same journey with me.
It is somewhat fitting that today is when this blog goes live. It would have been Tolkien’s 131st birthday today, a fact that my friends have made frequent commentary on. Obviously, I’m no Tolkien. Just a man who loves this world and wants to explore it more deeply and in a more focussed fashion. I hope you’ll join me. And to all who do, may the blessings of Elves and Men and all Free Folk go with you.
So glad to have found another Tolkien Substack! Looking forward to working my way through your archives and future updates too.