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Elizabeth
Half-elven
Jul 23 2013, 7:34am
Post #1 of 23
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In memory of Reverend (long)
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I suddenly realized that today is the 10th anniversary of the death of Reverend, a TORn "First ager" who was much beloved, especially in the Reading Room. Reverend was, in fact, a Baptist minister. He was extremely well-read in Tolkien ouvre and lore, and had refreshing and often witty insights on his works as well as interesting moral insights. Here are a few of my bookmarked Reverend posts. Since his entire TORn career was on the old boards, most of these are re-posts: On Sam's Speech in TTT movie:
Here I must sharply criticize the movie (which I generally endorse) for Just Not Getting It. Frodo and Sam carry on because carrying on is itself the right thing to do, NOT because there was some good worth fighting for. Frodo isn't holding on to anything; his despair has NOT lifted, and he is sure that there will be nothing good to come home to. But he has been given a duty, and will keep faith with those who entrusted it to him, even should they and he perish. Again, I think it a philosophy particularly relevant to the Trenches of the Somme, and not a bad one for life in general. The mysterious mail shirt. Made for the boy Earendil? A classic: On Balrog Wings Which Elves can sail West? Morgoth's Taint explained.
I find it very helpful to think of Morgoth's corruption of the earth in terms of radioactivity; there's a little bit of it everywhere (background Morgoth), and it can be concentrated and/or used as a power source. And a master-work: In Inquiry into the Waning of the Dunedain (are their lives really shorter as time passes?). Notes on Dwarven engineering Finally (thanks to a mathom from Entmaiden long ago), "is Legolas the greatest fighting Elf?" Not nearly. —Reverend— He's not even in sight of the top ten. My ranking; 1. Feanor; held off several Balrogs for some unspecified, but prolonged, time in single combat. And besides, he's just #1 in everything. 2. Fingolfin. Feanor's brother. Fought Morgoth one-on-one before the gates of Angband. Sure, he died, but would YOU mess with the guy who is the reason the Devil is lame? 3. Ecthelion. This one could be argued, but the Lord of the Fountain of Gondolin took down Gothmog, Lord of the Balrogs WITH TWO BROKEN ARMS. 4. Finrod Felagund. Took on Sauron in magical combat. He lost, but made it respectable. Then when a werewolf came to eat Beren while they were chained to a wall, Finrod broke his chains and killed the thing barehanded. I don't see Leggy-poo even trying that trick. 5. Maedhros. Son of Feanor, we don't have many records of his great deeds, but he's got to go in here somewhere. The greatest warrior of the Sons of Feanor, he lost his right hand, but became equally dangerous with his left. 6. Gil-Galad. With his Spear Agilos, with Elendil and Narsil at his side, the High King was 'invincible.' Together, those two took down Sauron WITH THE RING. 7. Mablung of the Heavy Hand; could easily be swapped with #8 below, Mablung was Thingol Greycloak's enforcer for about fifteen thousand years. 8. Beleg Strongbow. The greatest tracker of all time, the most loyal friend, and the hair-tearing death scene. Thingol's left-hand man. 9. Glorfindel. Anybody who kills a Balrog deserves a spot. And dying doesn't disqualify, since EVERYBODY who fights a Balrog dies. Besides, he got better. 10. Turgon. For his heroics at the fall of Gondolin. Below these ten you have the rest of the Sons of Feanor, and a truckload of other High Elves of the First Age (Including everybody whose name begins with 'Fin'). Gwindor of Nargothrond, led an ill-advised charge at the Battle of Unnumbered Tears that cut clean through the host of Morgoth, and BROKE THROUGH THE GATES OF ANGBAND. Cut off, captured, tortured, and enslaved, Gwindor survived, escaped, and made it cross-country back home. As Princes of the Noldor go, he's got to be considered a third-rater. THEN you can start to think about Third Age folk. Gildor and his troop are Exiles. Do you realize what that means? It means they marched out of the Undying Lands and fought through the whole War of the Great Jewels AND EVERY WAR SINCE. And I am sure that High-Elven spear-carriers like Erestor in the House of Elrond wouldn't have to break stride to whomp a late-born Sinda like Legolas. Elrond himself is no doubt a heavy hitter, what with the blood of Beren and Tuor in the mix. No, Legolas may be at the high end of the rankings among a rustic folk of a degenerate age, but he, like us all, can't hold a candle to the heroes of old.
(This post was edited by Elizabeth on Jul 23 2013, 7:43am)
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NottaSackville
Valinor
Jul 23 2013, 11:39am
Post #3 of 23
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I didn't "know" Reverend. I feel we must have overlapped on Torn in general for at least a few months, but I didn't stray from the Movie board for quite some time. So I only became aware of him after he passed. But there is no doubt that Reverend wove a significant part of the rich tapestry that makes up Torn, and I wish I'd been in the Reading Room while he was posting there. Notta
Happiness: money matters, but less than we think and not in the way that we think. Family is important and so are friends, while envy is toxic -- and so is excessive thinking. Beaches are optional. Trust is not. Neither is gratitude. - The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner as summarized by Lily Fairbairn. And a bit of the Hobbit reading thrown in never hurts. - NottaSackville
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entmaiden
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Jul 23 2013, 3:18pm
Post #4 of 23
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I miss Reverend. I got a lovely message from his family after I sent them a card when he died. His posts were such a gift, and I'm glad to know him for a brief time. His Khazad-dum posts were my favorite, in a long list of favorites.
(This post was edited by entmaiden on Jul 23 2013, 3:20pm)
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Rembrethil
Tol Eressea
Jul 23 2013, 3:28pm
Post #5 of 23
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I never met nor interacted with this person, but this memorializing post shows great respect and admiration for a great fan. My hat is off to him and any others whose voices may be silent, yet whose words will live on in our memory.
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Elizabeth
Half-elven
Jul 23 2013, 5:55pm
Post #6 of 23
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I didn't have time to work on the post till last night, and I live in the next-to-last time zone on earth.
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Jul 23 2013, 7:45pm
Post #7 of 23
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I remember so well reading his great posts in the RR, and the sad day we found out he had sailed west. I had no idea he ever used the phrase "Leggy-poo", though, even in jest :-) And I love this precious line: "The transition between the early Balrog and the late Balrog is preserved for us in ink; the Balrog came into the room without wings and left with them. "
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories leleni at hotmail dot com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(This post was edited by Aunt Dora Baggins on Jul 23 2013, 7:50pm)
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Elizabeth
Half-elven
Jul 24 2013, 7:04am
Post #9 of 23
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At the time, the impact was tremendous.
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His last post was only hours before the aneurism that killed him. His son got on his computer, and as he was still apparently connected to TORn he posted a brief announcement in RR. Our ever-vigilant mods moved it to Main, and a mammoth, long sequence of condolences followed. He was just a few months into a new job at a church in a small town in Iowa. TORn took up a collection that amounted to several hundred $$ as I recall (maybe someone here remembers how much) and sent it to his family. Curious (not Curious G, the original Curious) wrote, "He was as a brother to me."
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Rembrethil
Tol Eressea
Jul 24 2013, 1:35pm
Post #10 of 23
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So sad, he wouldn't be much older than my father is now, and he's still VERY active!
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Darkstone
Immortal
Jul 24 2013, 1:47pm
Post #11 of 23
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He always made it a point to welcome anyone new to, or long absent from, the Reading Room. A true Scholar of Tolkien.
****************************************** "The tragedy of territorial geeks is that they found the wonderful world of fantasy, then missed its point." -Luke McKinney
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Ethel Duath
Half-elven
Jul 25 2013, 2:47am
Post #14 of 23
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What a pleasure to get acquainted
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with such a legendary member of TORn. I didn't venture much onto the message boards in those days--just the news mostly, and over the years I've come to realize what I missed! Thank you so much.
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Silverlode
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Jul 25 2013, 3:32am
Post #15 of 23
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He was a gentleman and a scholar, and had a delightful sense of humor that made his posts always a pleasure to read. I believe he was also the one who coined the TORNism "Utterly Unsupported Theory" (UUT) which is still in use. Knowing the loss we felt here, I can only imagine what those who knew him in RL felt upon his passing. Thanks for the memorial, Elizabeth.
Silverlode "Dark is the water of Kheled-zâram, and cold are the springs of Kibil-nâla, and fair were the many-pillared halls of Khazad-dűm in Elder Days before the fall of mighty kings beneath the stone."
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Elizabeth
Half-elven
Jul 25 2013, 4:21am
Post #16 of 23
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I am enormously indebted to Alassea Elensar for PMing me the link to The Complete Root Posts of Reverend, a compilation lovingly collected by Linguilindale. Some are trivial, some profound. There are 34 posts as a discussion leader for the Bridge of Khazad-Dum (including the Balrog one), 16 posts as discussion leader for UT:The Gladden Fields, and a whole bunch more on Turin (currently being discussed in the Reading Room. Balrog fans mustn't miss Notes on Balrog evolution. A real treasure. Thanks again, Alassea Elensar!
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Alassea Elensar
Rivendell
Jul 25 2013, 4:27am
Post #17 of 23
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Glad I could help. I really didn't know Reverend very well, but after reading some of his posts, I wish that had known him better. Thanks for starting this thread, it's a nice memorial.
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dormouse
Half-elven
Jul 26 2013, 6:08pm
Post #19 of 23
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A quiet salute to someone I never knew....
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... but I'm thankful now that his posts live on. Thanks, Elizabeth - and thanks, Reverend.
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Kimi
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Jul 26 2013, 8:10pm
Post #20 of 23
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Thank you for that fine tribute, Elizabeth.
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It's wonderful to see those posts again. Ten years already? I still remember the shock of hearing the news, and the flood of condolences that followed. May he rest in peace. He will long be remembered here.
The Passing of Mistress Rose My historical novels Do we find happiness so often that we should turn it off the box when it happens to sit there? - A Room With a View
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Elwen
Lorien
Aug 1 2013, 5:17pm
Post #21 of 23
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I remember Reverend, and loved reading his posts. This was a very lovely (and fitting) tribute.
Before kids, exercising with LOTR meant listening to the soundtrack while I ran. After kids, exercising with LOTR means having an all out dance party with the little ones to the "Break the Dam Release the River" disco mix form the Lego game.
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wezan
Registered User
Sep 8 2013, 4:56pm
Post #22 of 23
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It seems impossible it has been ten years. His posts were amazing and I still miss him. Thanks.
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Dame Ioreth
Tol Eressea
Oct 8 2013, 1:38pm
Post #23 of 23
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I'm still wandering through this new and improved TORn ...
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... getting reacquainted after being away and I find this. Ten years and I've been there and now I'm back again. I remember laughing until I cried at some of the UUT posted by Reverend. His death was the first time I lost a "virtual" friend and it hurt just as much as if I had lost those I saw everyday in person. His posts were interesting, witty, fun, but always respectful of others. I tried very hard to take my tone from him back then. He was a gentleman and a scholar of the best sort. Thank you for posting these memories. I must make time to read them all!
“Where there's life there's hope, and need of vittles.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
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