New Year, New Journeys
Reflections on 2024, and hopes for 2025
Well, friends, we made it. Two full years, plus a couple of days, at The Tales That Really Matter.
It’s a bit hard to believe. I had such big plans for 2024, as you may remember from my New Year essay from last time: finishing the drafts in my folder, sharing fanart, that I had made, starting a Rings of Power podcast with a friend, keeping up to date on all the new Tolkien media that was coming out that year…but the old saying goes, “If you want God to laugh, tell Him your plans.” I’m not sure if God was laughing at me, but those big beautiful plans ended up…not being completely realized. The podcast never did take off; of the upcoming Tolkien media from this year, only one of them I was able to pay attention to; I never did really explore doing fanart of my own, aside from one picture of the Siege of Gondor that was kind of cluttered and messy and confusing; and a few of the drafts that I had hoped to publish this year, plus a couple of new ones that began based on events (in particular one discussing the ramifications of Peter Jackson “returning” to Middle-earth with two new movies, one of which is the story of the hunt for Gollum), are still sitting in my drafts folder looking rather forlorn. Some of this is on me; I have ADHD and have difficulty with perfectionism. And some of this is due to factors outside my control, most notably my masters’ really heating up in 2024, and my holiday schedule simply leaving me unable to see War of the Rohirrim in theaters.
But as Rosa Diaz from Brooklyn 99 once put it, “Two steps forward, one step back, is still one step forward.” I’ve literally put this to the test, and it checks out; walking is just much slower this way. And thus it has proven as I’ve maintained Tales this year. I may not have made as much progress and accomplished quite as much as I had hoped, but what I have been able to do, I’m very proud of. Perhaps most of all, as Rings of Power debuted a successful Season 2, I was able to provide constant, honest, and thorough coverage. And not just while the season was in the process of airing; starting two weeks before the season officially kicked off, I was engaged in writing in-depth content, which resulted in an eight-week period where I was churning out weekly essays with news and episode recaps on a weekly basis; nothing worth crowing about for somebody who writes for a living and is used to writing articles almost every day, but for me, this was a huge development. And with this surge of sustained effort came inspiration for ways to expand my output and to try and keep all my followers involved in my work across all platforms. Interview compilations, the most recent of which was published on December 15. Turning some of my longer posts on social media into smaller essays for the benefit of my email subscribers who don’t follow me on Instagram, Threads or Notes. And all this activity and passion has had positive outcomes. As of this writing, I have 325 followers on Instagram, 81 subscribers to the blog, 232 followers on Facebook, I think 177 on Notes, and 502 on Threads. Progress and growth has been real and good. And being passionate and honest about Rings of Power has been a huge part of that.
With a new year come some new hopes and dreams, as I look back on what I have been able to do last year and what I look forward to in the next. I am…going to try to be realistic this time, and not make any promises that I can’t keep. Indeed, as my Master’s Course finally starts to wind down, I may not be able to do everything I say here. But I think this list is much more doable than last year’s:
Make progress on finishing those drafts.
Finish Tolkien’s letters; as you can see from the picture that opens this article, I’m still around 230.
Finally resume writing about Tolkien’s books, in particular his biography by Humphrey Carpenter and Tolkien and the Great War by John Garth.
When War of the Rohirrim finally becomes available to stream for free on HBO Max, watch it and give my honest reflections.
Finally start collaborating with other writers among my Tolkien friends and have a few guest articles.
Perhaps take a swipe at writing fanfic; it’s an idea I’ve toyed with in the past, but I’ve always felt that I am better at writing nonfiction. If I have time, it might be worthwhile to put that theory to the test.
Continue to provide honest coverage and content related to Rings of Power; thankfully the show is much less hated now than it was two years ago, but there will always be a need for the truth to be written.
And, of course, those are all just my new plans, hopes and dreams. A lot of the old things that I’ve done this year have clearly been popular, as can be seen by my slow and steady growth across my platforms. So of course, those will continue to happen. And this corner of the internet will continue to be a haven for anyone and everyone who loves Tolkien, adaptations of his world that are faithful to his themes and ideals even if it seems that everyone else hates them, real-world history that I can tie into the legendarium, the real-world counterparts of the many surprising animal friends who show up in his works, and Morfydd Clark who so wonderfully brings the Galadriel of Unfinished Tales, The Silmarillion and the Letters to life. All of these things bring me joy. And I hope that as I continue to explore them and discuss them, you all will also find joy, both old friends and new adventurers. As The Stranger from RoP (whom we know know to be Gandalf, in his pre-Third Age form as Olorin) says at the end of Season 1, “Now adventures, they must be shared”; in the short term his favorite traveling companion Nori has gone her separate way, but hopefully the two of them will be able to reunite. We’ve come a long way together, my friends, and I’m sure there is further to go. And I look forward to us sharing this journey together.
Thank you for reading The Tales That Really Matter. Please feel free to check out our Facebook, Instagram, Threads and Substack Notes profiles as well, that way we can continue to grow and reach more minds and hearts 😊
I would love for you to write some Young Galadriel fanfic, maybe showing her role in the Kinslaying, since that's when she really starts her transition from tomboy to adventurer.