Celebrating National Library Week, here is one in a series about how a library changed a fictional world.
In The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf suspects that Bilbo’s handy invisibility ring is in fact the (gasp!) Ring of Power worn by Sauron who used it to almost conquered Middle Earth. But Gandalf wants to be sure. So, like a good wizard, he does his research. He goes to the library.Gandalf leaves Frodo to find out about the ring and returns nine years later (in the book). (In the movie he returns in time to miss all the action and just catch up with the hobbits in Rivendell.) During those nine years of researching, he eventually winds up in the archives at Minas Tirith (aka the White City, the one with the very epic battle in the final movie). Denethor begrudgingly gives Gandalf access to the scrolls and books, and that, my friends, is where Gandalf learns the world-changing truth in Isildore’s description of the Ring. The library!
When I watch the movie version, my librarian heart shares the thrill of research to see Gandalf in the archive, but my librarian heart also quavers because he is smoking his pipe in there. Smoking! Next to all the paper!!
Anyway, just think--proper Library Science could have saved Middle Earth! Well... sooner.
How to Commemorate:
- Visit a library.
- Wear an extra ring.
- Stroke prized possessions, calling them "My Precious"
