The One Ring Forums: Tolkien Topics: Main: So it is - it was working when I tested it (honest!): Edit Log

The wood has been planked, seasoned and made into a variely of desk objects such a pen holders and paperweights, which were being sold at an open day last Saturday. I wonder whether those have all been sold now, and that's why the page has been removed?

They also made some boxes for bottles of whisky, and a link to that still seems to be working.

Another thing that didn't quite work in my post was that someone filmed the banches splitting off and I wanted to include a link (don't worry - nobody gets hurt! But you can hear people having to organise marshals quickly to keep anyone from wandering into the danger zone.)
And I can add some different types of fan reactions from when the tree had its accident:
1) The Scholar:

Quote

Dr Stuart Lee, an English academic at Oxford University who has studied the fiction and manuscripts of Tolkien and ran the 2013 Tolkien Spring School in Oxford, said: 'Tolkien hated the wanton destruction of trees for no reason but it sounds to me like this is for all the right reasons so whilst this is sad news, it is inevitable.

'It is often said that the black pine inspired the 'ents' in Lord of the Rings, and it may be he liked the tree and saw something it in that inspired Treebeard, but in fact the �ents� have many sources and �ent� means giant in Old English, and Tolkien�s love of trees goes all the way back to his childhood.'

https://www.ox.ac.uk/...ll-iconic-black-pine

This suggests to me that the ent inspiration theory is more meta-lore (lore about lore) than biography. But I'd be interested if anyone knows more about ideas associating this tree with Tolkien's writing, and where they may have come from.

But there is more to life as a Tolkien fan than scholarly study of the author's biography or sources. So here's:

2) A disappointed Tolkien fan ("Worcester fresher" translates into "a student about to start studying at Worcester College, Oxford" when the tree had to be felled):

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Worcester fresher Jeroen Rijks is one of many new students disappointed not to be able to see the famous black pine. He told Cherwell, �As a die-hard Tolkien fan, I was really looking forward to coming to Oxford and experiencing Tolkien�s inspiration first-hand. It�s upsetting to miss out on seeing the famous tree that Treebeard was based on.�

[elsewhere in the article the writer more cautiously says: "The pinus nigra had become one of the Garden�s most popular tourist attractions after its iconic twisting branches are said to resemble the �ents� in Tolkien�s The Lord of the Rings novels. "]

https://cherwell.org/...from-botanic-garden/

And of course the fanthropology collection would not be complete without

3) And the .... oh dear, oh dear!

Quote

The [Oxford Botanical] garden has received letters and emails from across the world about "Tolkien's Tree", not all of them positive. "Lots of fanatics who believe they are living in the Shire think [we] are murdering the tree. And they are deadly serious. One particular person has managed to find everyone's work emails, has complained to the city council, and probably a number of other people, actually alleging that we are Saruman," says Dr Foster, in reference to Tolkien's fictional character and main protagonist [sic - NoWiz] in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

https://www.independent.co.uk/...d-trees-9650390.html

All the more hard to bear when (other parts of the article make clear) the loss of the tree was quite an upset to the Gardens staff. It was a spectacular creature: I remember it well.

Oh: and a correction to my earlier post. The photo of Tolkien and this tree (reproduced in the last article) shows him standing next to it, not sitting under it.

~~~~~~
"I am not made for querulous pests." Frodo 'Spooner' Baggins.

(This post was edited by noWizardme on Dec 8, 8:01pm)

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