Your answer says a lot about who you are as a person… Or perhaps an elf, hobbit, dwarf, or maybe a Nazgûl. Obviously, humanity is more nuanced than the boiled-down species and archetypes in The Lord of the Rings. In truth, there's a small part of all of us that's more hobbit than human, secretly yearning for 11 meals a day, lighthearted outdoor adventures, and the hard-earned peace of early retirement. None of us truly wants to work, hurry, or be busy all the time; we want our biggest dramas of the day to be about stolen carrots and poorly timed dragon fireworks.
Then, of course, the voice of Gollum appears in our heads, summoning us to fulfill our oath to society, clock in to our 9-5 jobs, and pay our taxes like a good little citizen. Alas, it's for this reason that LOTR fans escape into the pages or the extended editions of Tolkien's Middle Earth universe. It's here in a world of good and evil, where decisions are simplified. Bad guys are bad, and good guys are good. Heroes charge into battle on horseback, revealing their quality, but they also carry cast-iron skillets for hundreds of miles. Shield maidens fight side-by-side with their men, and elven witches strike fear in our hearts with spooky monologues.
Escaping into the world of the One Ring of power reminds us of all things good, evil, and in-between, helping us tackle our real-life problems with the mindset of a wizard, an elf, a ranger, or a hobbit gardener. When we channel the characteristics of our favorite characters in LOTR, suddenly our day-to-day lives as human beings on planet earth don't seem so tough anymore. For that, Tolkien, we all thank you. For he built a world so utterly magical and perfectly destroyed that it made our own broken world make more sense in the process.
So if you're facing a blight of foul weather on the horizon, don't forget that you always have the option of adventure in your home, with your 4k box set of The Lord of the Rings and a delivery pizza. Like Gandalf always says, "The world is not in your books and maps. It's out there."
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