Hello, dear reader…The fact that you’re reading this pointless introduction right now tells me that you are interested in learning about the adventure that J.R.R Tolkien has put me through. But first let me introduce myself.
My name is Robyn Alexis Tolkien and yes, if you haven’t picked it up already, I am indeed related to J.R.R Tolkien.
Yeah, most people…well most Lord of the rings fans would practically kill to be related to him…well maybe only the extreme ones…but anyways…even though the extreme ones would kill to be related to him…I used to not want to be related to him.
Don’t get me wrong here. My great great grandpa was awesome!
He’s a genius and my grandpa told me that he was a great grandpa and that he even sent them illustrated letters from “Father Christmas” when they were young. But it’s hard to be the great great granddaughter of a genius- or at least I used to think that way.
I had a reason to think that way.
Since I was young, my teachers expected me to be some kind of child prodigy in English that would sprout out some Shakespearean quotes.
They made me study Romeo and Juliet when I was just 10 years old…THAT’S SO INHUMAN! Also…do you have any idea on how many fans stalk me just to find out where Tolkien had worked on Lord of the rings?
Heck, my best friend is one of those stalkers. She followed me from school. I thought she was some kind of perverted scum and ran all the way home. TIRING MUCH!
Anyways…I used to think that being a Tolkien sucked but after reading his original transcripts of Lord of the rings…
Magic happened.
It all started in my grandpa’s funeral (God bless his soul, may he rest in peace)…It had been such a long ride. Saxon, Germany is far from England…let me tell you that. The moment I had stepped out of the car, I had instantly felt the hearse that surrounded the funeral.
I could hear my grandma crying, a distance away.
There were several people in the funeral. I was only able to name a few recognizable faces but everyone had things in common- we all had just lost someone valuable in our life and we were all wearing sad faces.
I remember that I had to bite my lip to stop myself from crying. I didn’t like crying…my father said it showed weakness. I lined up behind my mother to see my grandpa’s casket. The line wasn’t too long but my grandma had obviously taken it hard. She was still at the front of the casket, crying, she didn’t stop.
It had been hours. The crying never stopped…
My grandpa left quite a mark.
I recalled a thin, bald, man talking to my dad. Right after the funeral we had to go to that Lawyer…who was no doubt my grandpa’s Lawyer.
“I know that it’s a sad time for all of you and I appreciate you coming here to discuss the matter of your father’s will.”
My dad shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He didn’t like talking about money matters. My mother put her arm around my shoulders.
“Now, I will be reading out his will.” The lawyer took out some papers from a folder on his desk. “If Timothy is reading this out right now, that means that I have already come to pass. I have very few things but I felt rich because of the love you, my friends and family have given me. For that I would like to thank you. I want the orchard and the villa and the paintings in the gallery to stay with my loving wife, Scarlet. The farms will go to Derrick and his wife Eliza. The money from my bank account will go to Scarlet. My old Mercedes car will go to Mike…”
My ears lifted at the sound of my dad’s name.
“The library goes to Mike and the treasure that has been passed down from generation to generation will go to Mike as well.” Did he say treasure? What kind of treasure? “And that is all my belongings…May you treasure them as much as I have.”
Everyone stood up. They were all staring at my dad.
“Treasure…What is this?” Eliza said. “We got a farm and he gets treasure?” I could tell from her face that she wasn’t amused. “See, I knew this was what was going to happen, Derrick. We took him in and we took care of him and his wife and this is what we get!”
“Calm down Eliza. Show some respect! This is my dad we’re talking about.” Derrick shouted back. Him and Aunt Eliza had married out of an unintentional baby…I was surprised that they stuck through together for as long as they have.
“Look, if you want the treasure…by all means have it. I don’t want it.”
Okay…Let’s stop it here. If you’re wondering what’s with my dad’s attitude, it’s simple. He and my grandpa had a falling out.
My dad wanted to be a writer but my grandpa didn't approve of it. My dad was forced to study medicine and become a doctor. Since then, he wanted to be independent from my grandpa.
He paid for his own tuitions, moved out of the house and did whatever he wanted.
He never, not once, took anything from my grandpa from then on.
My dad has been teaching me to become independent since I was 5 years old. That meant…no crying, no owing anyone and no showing weaknesses.
It kind of felt like I was in boot camp every day until my mom and dad got divorced.
Oh don’t worry, I’m not sad or anything…in fact it’s like my parents had never gotten divorced at all. We all still live in the same house. They still fuss over what I should do. My mom wanted the opposite of what my dad wanted from me...
For me…I just wanted to have a normal life. We were all used to having strange people coming to our house asking about J.R.R Tolkien.
I wanted to be tough like my dad but I didn’t want to be all robotic and stuff…I also wanted to have heart but I didn’t want to be a wimp or a useless person who keeps depending on someone else.
Anyways back to the story…actually how about we skip these parts…they’re pretty boring.
What happened was, the lawyer brings out the so called treasure and we find out that it’s this huge as trunk. It looked like one of those trunks from pirate shows except this one wasn’t filled with gold. Instead it was filled with all of my great great grandfather’s junk.
Okay…maybe it wasn’t junk…it was the stuff that he considered his treasures. I saw some things that belonged to my grandpa. I’m guessing that it’s a trunk where you put the things you treasure most but to me it looked like junk…I guess the quote “Another man’s junk is another man’s treasure,” kind of applies to this huh?
I saw the original transcript of Lord of the rings and a letter stuck on it. My dad gave me everything, even the Mercedes. My dad didn’t even bother to read the letter…so I did.
“Dear, Christopher. As hope has found me, I pray that it gropes its way to thee. Though thou wilt not seek it, may it seek you. The answers are hidden within. If but only apparent. Look within, pull the covers that sheath your eyes and blind you. You always have a choice.”
When I first read it…I didn’t take much notice to it…Now that I go over it once more…I realized that it was essential to everything that happened…Anyways on with the story.
I scrounged my brows…what the heck did it all mean? I should’ve expected that J.R.R Tolkien would right in such a riddle formed manner.
I took the original transcript of Lord of the rings and started skimming through the pages. It was hard covered. It had a circle bulging out at the front and there was an inscription. I couldn’t understand what the inscription said…it was in some other language.
The swirls entwined with each other, united, almost perfectly bound together. I would’ve said it was perfect…except I was forced to believe that there were no such things.
As I skimmed through the pages my fingers felt something hard amongst them. One of the pages was thicker than the rest. My eyes scanned the page. It looked exactly like the rest of the page except it being thicker…It was the page where you write who you dedicated the book to.
It said, “To my morning star and my sons and daughters, John, Michael, Christopher and Priscilla.” The edges of the pages were bent. I realized that two pages were stuck together. I carefully pealed the dedication page off of the other page which was blank. To my surprise, it peeled off perfectly without any hassle.
“From henceforth come, the nine, none alike in appearance but alike in heart and soul.” I read aloud. “What the heck does that mean?” I continued to read through the page,
“All is well if the hole is shut. Look through the picture of King Tut. Look for scripts of Red and white. Look for The Sign to know you are right. Turn the knob and find what you desire. Within those knobs behold the way to the shire.” I squinted at the page.
My great great grandfather certainly has a way in writing everything as if they were riddles.
“But then again...it probably IS a riddle.” I read a bit more of the book and got up to the part where Bilbo had disappeared right in front of his friends and family but became sleepy due to the extensive use of old English. Before I knew it, I was fast asleep with the original transcripts of lord of the rings by my side.
If I can remember right…my dream that night was quite predictable. I was dreaming of falling into a well with the characters from Lord of the Rings.
It’s understandable since I was reading Lord of the Rings that night…
I guess the weird thing was that the characters from Lord of the Rings weren’t the characters from the movie. They weren’t Viggo Mortensen, Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom, John Rhys Davis, Ian Mckellen or any other actor from Lord of the rings, they were completely different people.
I remember watching the trilogy as a commemoration of my great great grandfather, Tolkien’s life and thinking, “Man, these actors suit their characters so well.” But the people from that dream seemed to fit their characters even more…It was as if they WERE the characters that Tolkien had described, that they were the characters that he based his characters upon.
And if I remember right…after that dream…there was no turning back.
“Who do you think she is?” Who is that?
“Perhaps she is John’s daughter?” Who is that too?
“Nay, the years have been too long and her years too little.” Were they guests? Maybe they are crazy fanatics again? I tried to open my eyes and my vision was hazy when it did open. I could see two heads bobbing above me. One was of a little man. He had gingery colored hair and beard. His beard tied in intricate knots. He had a roguish figure but his face was etched with friendliness. The second head was of an old man. He had white hair and he wore a white robe. He looked equally friendly.
“Good morning, Lady Tolkien.” The old man said with a huge smile on his face.
“Lady Tol. What the heck!” Who the hell where these people?! As a first instinct, I gathered my blanket around me as if to build a fortress to guard me from the weird people who had just suddenly appeared before me. “Who the hell are you people and what the hell are you doing here?!”
“Oh forgive us if we have startled you. Let me introduce myself. I am Gandalf the white. That is Gimli son of Gloin.”
“Good morning, Lassie.”
“I am Aragorn, son of Arathorn.” A man in a black tunic and black cape stepped out and bowed softly. His slightly waved hair cascaded to his shoulders as he bowed.
“I am Legolas, son of Thranduil.” A man with a green tunic and green cape with golden hair stepped out with his right hand to his chest. His hair had intricate braids and was tucked neatly behind leaf shaped ears. My first impression of him was of an O.C.D, Lord of the rings fan. Neat and all.
“I am Frodo Baggins. This is Samwise Gamgee. This is Perrigrin Took and this is Meriadoc Brandybuck.” They all looked back at me…smiling. It creeped me out!
“Hahahaha…” I laughed uncomfortably. “I get it…you guys are fans of Lord of the rings, right? So what do you want? Original transcript, is that what you came for?” I stood up from the bed and reached out for my cell phone. “If you guys don’t get out of here, I’m calling the police.”
“Police…what is this that she speaks of?” The young man who had said his name was Frodo turned to the old man who said his name was Gandalf.
“Is it some kind of food?” The ‘so-called’ Perrigrin asked, seeming giddy. “I like the sound of that, Po-lice.”
“She does not believe us.” The ‘so-called Legolas spoke gently.
“Ye be stating the obvious laddie.” Gimli stuck out his head up high in an ‘I-told-you-so’ manner.
“You were the one to summon us, my lady.” Aragorn explained. “We are friends of Tolkien.”
“Haha, like that’s the first time I’ve heard that. You know if I had a dollar for every fanatic who’s said that to me, I would be a millionaire by now.” I replied. “What is it that you want? Is it this?” I held out the original transcript of Lord of the rings. “Take it. I don’t want it anyway.”
“We have not come for that book. In fact we had no choice but to come to you. Like I have already said, you have summoned us and we cannot return without you returning us to our own land.”
I felt a sudden throb in my head…It was more of an epiphany… These strange people standing before me, were the same people in my dream that morning.
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