"Wizards, again..."

J. R. R. Tolkien and me.

Gandalf the Grey, played by Sir Ian McKellen in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies.

“Ugh! Wizards, again.”

By chance (as we sometimes call it) I was flipping through a magazine and found a color photo of an old man in flowing robes and a pointy hat, leaning on a gnarled wooden staff. The caption said he was Gandalf the Wizard from a trilogy of novels (soon to be films) called The Lord of the Rings.

At thirteen, I had just finished reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. But unlike many other kids in my generation, I was not immediately impressed by the adventures of the boy wizard. I’d never heard of The Lord of the Rings or its author J. R. R. Tolkien. Coming off my disappointment with the Potter series, I was skeptical.

But perusing the article, I learned that Tolkien was no ordinary fantasy writer. His books were different — informed by his love of languages and his devout Catholic faith. As a boy with an intellectual bent, I was immediately intrigued. I needed to know more!

That summer, I bought paperback editions of the The Lord of the Rings trilogy. What I found astounded me: Tolkien’s writing was both beautiful and emotionally powerful. I laughed, I cried, I cheered. Discovering Middle-earth felt like coming home. 

The Lord of the Rings opened up broad new vistas for my imagination and kindled a smoldering fire within my soul. From that point on I knew that it was my vocation to be a writer — to share the beautiful power of stories well-told.

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Thanks for joining me on this brief nostalgia trip back to the beginning of my journey with Tolkien. My friend, writer

Karina Fabian

asked me to write a brief reflection on how Tolkien’s work has shaped my own creative life, and, after much dithering and delay, this is what I came up with!

If you’re interested in reading more about how the Middle-earth legendarium has influenced me as a writer, here’s an article I wrote back in 2022 for The Catholic World Report:

• “The Road goes ever on: A novice writer’s journey with J. R. R. Tolkien”

You can also listen to an audio essay I recorded about “Tolkien and me” for my old Perilous Realms podcast:

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Are you a fellow Tolkienian? If so, let’s get acquainted! I’d love to hear about your own Middle-earth journey. Leave a comment below so we can “share in an adventure” together.

Until we meet again, “The Road goes ever on . . .”