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Ben Emlyn-Jones's avatar

Tolkien spent his childhood in Hall Green which at the time saw a sweet little village, but it was swallowed up by what at the time was the fastest growing city on earth, Birmingham; which, let's face it, is not renowned for its aesthetic architecture. You can see where he got lots of his ideas from. The destruction of trees is a recurring image in LOTR, less so in the film, but it's still there. For Tolkien it was the essence of barbarism.

Troy Southgate's avatar

Very true and Tolkien was right to care so much about trees. For me, they have always been a symbolic bridge between two realms. I can only imagine what he would have thought about the recent felling of the famous tree at Sycamore Gap, as well as the destruction of so many of our great European forests.

Ben Emlyn-Jones's avatar

I live very close to his grave, almost walking distance. I'll go and see if he's turned in it! It's odd that the sycamore was cut down almost a year to the day after the shooting of the white stag in Merseyside. Could be coincidence, but the two events hold a lot of meaning.