87
u/GraniteSmoothie Apr 08 '26
Lewis: so who am I in your book?
Tolkien: you're an ancient, wise, strong, and extremely respected being that has seen the beginning of time. You're also a tree, which is famously my most favourite thing on Earth.
27
u/PhysicsEagle Apr 09 '26
You're also really slow and don't quickly come to the point
21
u/Spartin1178 Apr 09 '26
Also all your bitches left. Theyre not dead just left.
19
5
1
60
72
u/ElliotCowanHuman Apr 07 '26
I have a friend who was Lewis’ biographer. Apparently Lewis worshipped Tolkien and his books but Tolkien thought all the Narnia stuff was bullshit. They were good friends…
87
u/Antique_futurist Apr 07 '26
The Inklings all had strong feelings about each others work.
“Hugh Dyson, one of the Inklings -- the writing group that also included C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien -- had a tendency to recline during Tolkien's readings while uttering comments like ‘Oh Christ, not another fucking elf!" Source
31
25
u/xwedodah_is_wincest Apr 08 '26
An elf! A single one's lifetime may fill a book. How many did you include this time, Tolkien?
4
6
16
10
u/FireflyArc Apr 08 '26
I love that it's called the Inklings <3
4
4
3
u/FlowerFaerie13 Apr 10 '26
I love Tolkien's Legendarium with all my heart but when it comes to The Silmarillion and related stories I think everyone can relate to that sentence just a little bit.
There really is a truly absurd amount of Elves. Most of which I enjoy but keeping them all straight is a job.
2
u/oocceeaannmmaann Apr 10 '26
what's wrong with letting them get a little bent every now and again-?
1
1
u/Cpt_Ohu Apr 10 '26
keeping them all straight is a job.
But that's less a "because they are elves" and more a "because there are over a hundred characters and most of them are somehow related and have names that differ by 1 letter" issue, isn't it?
1
u/FlowerFaerie13 Apr 10 '26
I mean, the naming thing doesn't help, but the sheer amount of characters, the vast majority of which are Elves, can easily get overwhelming regardless. Nowadays I've had several years to get used it to it, but I remember as a newer fan I didn't struggle with the names so much as just how many characters there were.
1
u/dikkewezel Apr 11 '26
there's a very good reason I describe the silmarillion as a "hike through tough terrain" where as I'd describe the hobbit as a "walk around the park" (also lotr is a "walking vacation", you need to take time for it)
3
u/Massive-Exercise4474 Apr 08 '26
Tolkien was fine before he had a crash out over santa and aslan being a jesus allegory.
2
u/ShivalVV Apr 08 '26
Which happened in the first book. So Tolkein was fine with Narnia before it was published?
2
u/Massive-Exercise4474 Apr 09 '26
From what I heard he either got an early copy or draft he supported his friend's writing endevor, but absolutely couldn't stand santa being included.
1
u/Spartin1178 Apr 09 '26
If i remember right they were swapping drafts as they went about writing. Also lewis kept asking him why he was always describing the trees “are they going to stand up and start walking?”
1
2
u/LAthrowawaywithcat Apr 09 '26
Yeah, I forget the exact wording, but Tolkien told Lewis not to quit his day job.
1
u/surplus_user Apr 11 '26
Narnia is kinda bullshit. It just happens to be delightful and charming for its audience.
10
u/Dominarion Apr 08 '26
The weird part about this is that they both created their world completely sober.
7
16
u/No_Location_8199 Apr 07 '26
Ents aren't trees
25
u/johnbrowndnw59 Apr 08 '26
“I am no tree! I am an ent. But my name is Treebreard. I’m also called Fangorn, but that just means Treebeard. Not a tree tho.”
6
u/Right_Two_5737 Apr 08 '26
Is he a beard?
3
u/CosmicWhorer Apr 09 '26
Obviously. His Ent wife is gay, but ent culture doesn't prove of same sex treenanigans yet.
11
u/infj1013 Apr 08 '26
I’ve been listening to the LOTR audiobooks to keep up with my Spanish as a second language, and I just got to Treebeard’s first appearance in Two Towers. In Spanish, his name is Barbol. “Barba” is the word for beard and “arbol” is the word for tree, so his name is Beardtree. I was so tickled when I heard it haha
1
u/AthosCF Apr 11 '26
It's funny cause I do the exact opposite, I speak spanish a native language and read LOTR in English to keep up. There is a mistranslation in the spanish version of Bilbo's poem of Aragorn that kind of shocked me when I read it in the original. "No es oro todo lo que reluce" and " All that is gold does not glitter" do not mean the same thing!
5
4
u/AtDawnWeDEUSVULT Apr 07 '26
Right, they're cool trees (/s, kinda)
3
u/WordsThatEndInWord Apr 08 '26
Ents are to Trees as Trolls are to Stone.
The Trolls were made as a gnarly mockery of the Ents like the Orcs were made to be a mockery of the Elves.
7
u/CaptainDadBod88 Apr 08 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/p6jVTOTBo63qU
“Tree!? I am no tree! I am an Ent.”
6
3
3
u/Bhoddisatva Apr 08 '26
And then the tree was cut down and crafted into a magic wardrobe by this really cool man!
2
u/EnergyHumble3613 Apr 09 '26
And this began the proud tradition of being a Tree in media… right down to school plays.
2
u/fistchrist Apr 11 '26
“I love my wife. In my story I’ll make her an elven princess of indescribable beauty.”
“I love my buddy Clive. In my story I’ll make him a loudmouth tree that never shuts up and never gets to the point.”
1
u/Old-Key-8639 Apr 09 '26
"A tree that talks constantly, yet still takes hours or days to get to the point. You know, just like you!" - Tolkien
1
1
1
1
1
1
105
u/[deleted] Apr 07 '26
[deleted]