# Happy Birthday Dear Professor Tolkien **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 4, 2012, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-dear-professor-tolkien/608412 "2012-01-04T19:05:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-dear-professor-tolkien/608412/1 "2012-01-04T19:05:00Z")
Yesterday was J.R.R. Tolkien’s birthday. Fellow Middle Earthers, let’s honor him in this thread. Post a toast, a thank you, a link to your favorite parody, or mention your favorite scene or quote from his books; or mention your favorite fantasy novel that wouldn’t exist if he hadn’t re-invigorated the genre. Have at it! ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-dear-professor-tolkien/608412/2 "2012-01-04T19:08:55Z")
Alassëa nosta! ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2012, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-dear-professor-tolkien/608412/3 "2012-01-04T19:12:52Z")
I don’t know him half as well as I should have liked, and I like him less than half as much as he deserves. Happy eleventy-tenth birthday!! ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-dear-professor-tolkien/608412/4 "2012-01-05T00:54:38Z")
“…the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back and he beheld white shores, and beyond them a far green country under a swift sunrise.” This is the most beautiful quotation about death and dying I’ve ever read. I was thrilled that in one of the movies Gandalf said it to Pippin (or was it Merry) with a twinkle in his eye, and “that doesn’t sound so bad, does it?” No, it doesn’t sound so bad! ---
**Author:** ![Caveat\_lector\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@Caveat\_lector\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caveat_lector_1)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-dear-professor-tolkien/608412/5 "2012-01-05T02:09:53Z")
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.” The above is a good thing to remember some times. I can’t quite find words to describe how it makes me feel, but I’m a better person for having read it. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-dear-professor-tolkien/608412/6 "2012-01-05T04:55:28Z")
A star shines upon the hour of meeting your books! ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2012, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-birthday-dear-professor-tolkien/608412/7 "2012-01-05T05:10:54Z")
_**All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, A light from the shadows shall spring; Renewed shall be blade that was broken, The crownless again shall be king.**_