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| Gandalf at Bag End, Maurice Sendak, 1967 |
"In the 1960's and 70's another phenomenon occurred which was to change the face of wargaming forever. J.R.R. Tolkien's wonderful book The Lord of the Rings was published in paperback and was discovered by an immense audience of young people. This epic adult fairy tale, without doubt the greatest work of fiction produced this century, inflamed the imagination of an entire generation. The story, as most readers now, involves the clash of great armies of men, elves, dwarves, goblins and magical creatures. The prelude to the epic, a children's classic, The Hobbit, is the tale of a quest to steal a dragon's hoard of gold. It wasn't long before wargamers were introducing armies of orcs and dwarves into their medieval battle plans"
-J. Eric Holmes, Fantasy Role-Playing Games, 1981, pg 63
See more Holmes on Tolkien.
I hope you are having a fine Hobbit Day 2013, which is also the first day of Fall this year.
I never knew Maurice Sendak had drawn these characters! He would have been perfect to illustrate the whole Hobbit book.Bilbo looks like the boy from "Chicken Soup With Rice" all grown up and full of a lifetime of soups, ready to go "Where the Wild Things Are", with or without a pocket-handkerchief.
ReplyDeleteThat having been said, Gandalf is tiny!
ReplyDeleteTolkien did have Gandalf as a "little old man" in the original version of The Hobbit.
DeleteGandalf wasn't eating properly in The Hobbit; but by the time of The Lord of the Rings he'd been souped up quite a bit by the author.
DeleteI love how comfortable Bilbo looks and how anxious Gandalf is. Great reversal of expectations.
ReplyDeleteAnd I think Gandalf's down on one knee, right?