Monthly Archives: September 2025

Plain and Grassy

24 Wednesday Sep 2025

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Welcome, as always, dear readers.

If you read this blog regularly, you know that, when I review something, I will see it/read it twice before I put fingers to keyboard and that I always try to understand, as best I can, what it is that the creators are intending, finding completely negative reviews of the sort which are too common on the internet simply unhelpful. 

 I’ve watched The War of the Rohirrim only once, so far,

and, after I’ve seen it a second time, I’m sure that I’ll want to say more, but one point struck me immediately and I thought that others might find it interesting—or puzzling, as I did.

To begin with, I very much enjoy anime and have seen all sorts of examples, from the adventures of Cowboy Bebop

to the sad and beautiful adaptation of When Marnie was Here

to the almost hallucinatory Mononoke.

My curiosity, then, was aroused to read that someone was making an anime-influenced film from section II, “The House of Eorl” of Appendix A of The Lord of the Rings, both because of the anime and because I’m always interested to see how different artists might imagine works with which I’m familiar.

Some years ago, for instance, a Russian artist, Sergey Yuhimov, had illustrated The Lord of the Rings in the style of Russian religious art, which was an intriguing idea.  Here’s the death of Boromir, as an  example–

(For more, see:  https://www.openculture.com/2014/06/russian-illustrations-of-the-lord-of-the-rings-in-a-medieval-iconographic-style-1993.html )

At the same time, I was a bit concerned about just what could be made of this material when there was so little of it—pages 1065-1067 in my 50th-anniversary edition of the book.

Remembering my dismay at “Azog”

and “Tauriel”

 in P. Jackson’s The Hobbit, where there was plenty of original material with which to work, I wondered if this would this mean the appearance of a number of characters never devised—or intended—by the author?  (for more on this see “A Fine Romance”, 15 February, 2023)

As I said, however, more on the film in general in a future posting, but for now I want to concentrate on a bit of geography.

Here’s a map of Rohan, the location of the film’s story

It’s divided into a couple of regions, their names based on Old English words—“Wold”, I’m presuming coming for “weald”, defined as “high land covered with wood”, which would be appropriate for land just outside Fangorn, “Emnet” from “emnett”, “a plain”—basically a level or flat area, and “Fold” from a word used in compounds, meaning “earth/land”.  (See Bosworth & Toller’s  Anglo-Saxon Dictionary here:  https://bosworthtoller.com/  )  So, the central area, at least, is, at best, rolling, I would say, and we know, from the text, covered in grass:

“Turning back they saw across the River the far hills kindled.  Day leaped into the sky.  The red rim of the sun rose over the shoulders of the dark land.  Before them in the West the world lay still, formless and grey; but even as they looked, the shadows of night melted, the colours of the waking earth returned:  green flowed over the wide meads of Rohan…” (The Two Towers, Book Three, Chapter 2, “The Riders of Rohan”)

“Mead” is from Old English “maed”, “meadow” (itself from Old English “maedwe”, which Etymonline, from the OED, glosses as “low, level tract of land under grass; pasture” (for more, see:  https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=meadow )

I’ve always imagined, then, something like this—

it being a perfect place for grazing for the herds of horses kept by the Rohirrim.

Unfortunately, New Zealand doesn’t appear to have such places and so Jackson, in his films, had to make do with this—

With those snowy mountains in the background, it makes an impressive scene, but it’s not really what JRRT had clearly—and rather beautifully–imagined.

I thought, however, that the makers of the new film would take advantage of the fact that, their landscape being anything which they could imagine and depict, and would restore to us Tolkien’s vision of the plains of Rohan as he described them.

Unfortunately, that’s not what happened:  instead, the artists simply copied the Jackson look of the nearly-barren countryside, far from anything a horse people would delight in—

Why do this?  The creators weren’t limited, as Jackson was, by the available landscape, and yet they simply followed what was already available on film, virtually down to the last detail.

Needless to say, I was disappointed, and it made me wonder what else I would see as the film progressed.  But that’s for another posting.

Thanks for reading, as ever.

Stay well,

May you always seek green—but not greener– pastures,

And remember that, as always, there’s

MTCIDC

O

Going Around in Cycles

17 Wednesday Sep 2025

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“It’s déjà vue all over again.”

(attributed to Yogi Berra, US baseball player, but see:  https://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/10/08/deja-vu-again/ )

Dear readers, as always, welcome.

In later life, James Joyce, 1882-1941,

was interested in the work of the 17-18th-century philosopher (among other things) Giambattista Vico, 1668-1744,

and his idea that history followed a definite repeated pattern in three ages, Divine, Heroic, and Human, posited in his 1725-1744 work, La Scienza Nuova (“the new understanding, knowledge, learning”).

(For more on Vico, see:  https://www.philosopheasy.com/p/the-eternal-return-giambattista-vicos  This is, potentially, a very large subject, and even more so when Joyce is combined with Vico.  For an introductory view, see:  https://archive.org/details/vicojoyce00vere_0/page/n5/mode/2up ) 

Joyce incorporated his understanding of Vico in his last work, Finnegans Wake, 1939, in which

the idea of repeated patterns cycling throughout appears in the very opening—and closing– lines of the book:

“A way a lone a last a loved a long the / riverrun, past Eve and Adam’s, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs.” 

which, in fact, are reversed, the opening of the book being:

“…riverrun, past Eve and Adam’s, from swerve of shore to bend of bay, brings us by a commodius vicus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs…”

and the last words of the book are:

“A way a lone a last a loved a long the…”

so that, by joining them, we have the effect of the serpent Ouroboros, tail/tale joined to mouth—and the book can begin again.

(For more on Finnegans Wake, see:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnegans_Wake  For more on the serpent, see:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouroboros )

I’ve always thought that leaving Tom Bombadil and the Barrow-wight

(Matthew Stewart—see more of his work here:  https://www.matthew-stewart.com/  See, in particular, his Middle-earth work, but then go through his other galleries to view his impressive ability to capture other imaginary worlds.)

out of the first Lord of the Rings film was a mistake, even though Tolkien himself once wrote:

“Tom Bombadil is not an important person—to the narrative.”  (letter to Naomi Mitchison, 25 April, 1954, Letters, 268—but read on, as JRRT has much more to say and, to my mind, justifies his position in the narrative, in fact, in a spiritual way.)

Tom is interesting in himself, being a kind of parallel for Treebeard, among other things (and the writers of the Rings of Power series thought highly enough of him to include him in their telling), but, for me, in the narrative, it’s what he gives them, particularly Merry, which is important—

“For each of the hobbits he chose a dagger, long, leaf-shaped, and keen, of marvelous workmanship…”

(probably something like this, but more elaborately-worked)

‘Old knives are long enough as swords for hobbit-people,’ he said…Then he told them that the blades were forged many long years ago by Men of Westernesse:  they were foes of the Dark Lord, but they were overcome by the evil king of Carn Dum in the Land of Angmar.”  (The Fellowship of the Ring, Book One,  Chapter 8, “Fog on the Barrow-downs”)

This is, of course, the weapon  which Merry uses to stab the chief of the Nazgul while he’s attacking Eowyn, the Nazgul being the very witch-king who had overcome the Men of Westernesse so long before.

(Ted Nasmith)

To keep Tom and the Barrow-wight in the film is then to underline the cyclic nature of much of the story.

 This unnamed but crucial sword is only one of the swords scattered throughout the later story of Middle-earth, however, and there is a cyclic potential for others, as well.

Think of the swords which Gandalf and Co. find in the trolls’ hideout in The Hobbit—

“…and among them were several swords of various makes, shapes, and sizes.  Two caught their eyes particularly, because of their beautiful scabbards and jeweled hilts…

‘These look like good blades,’ said the wizard, half drawing them and looking at them curiously.  ‘They were not made by any troll, nor by any smith among men in these parts and days; but when we can read the runes on them, we shall know more about them.’ “ (The Hobbit, Chapter Two, “Roast Mutton”)

In the next chapter, Elrond then identifies them:

“Elrond knew all about runes of every kind.  That day he looked at the swords they had brought from the trolls’ lair, and he said:  ‘These are not troll-make.  They are old swords, very old swords of the High Elves of the West, my kin.  They were made in Gondolin for the Goblin-wars.  They must have come from a dragon’s hoard or goblin plunder, for dragons and goblins destroyed that city many ages ago.  This, Thorin, the runes name Orcrist, the Goblin-cleaver in the ancient tongue of Gondolin; it was a famous blade.  This, Gandalf, is Glamdring, a Foe-hammer that the king of Gondolin once wore.’ “ (The Hobbit, Chapter Three.  “A Short Rest”)

And you’ll remember that Gandalf runs the king of later goblins through in the next chapter with that very sword:

“Suddenly a sword flashed in its own light.  Bilbo saw it go right through the Great Goblin as he stood dumb-founded in the middle of his rage.  He fell dead, and the goblin soldiers fled before the sword shrieking into the darkness.”  (The Hobbit, Chapter Four, “Over Hill and Under Hill”)

(Alan Lee)

The knife which Bilbo picks up from the trolls’ hoard “only a tiny pocket-knife for a troll, but it was as good as a short sword for the hobbit”, comes in handy later in The Hobbit, when Bilbo uses it to kill some of the spiders of Mirkwood,

(Oleksiy Lipatov—you can see more of his work here:  https://www.deviantart.com/lipatov/gallery/85631839/old-comic  )

but it will reappear many years later in The Lord of the Rings, when Frodo and Sam use it against another ancient evil, Shelob–

(Ted Nasmith again—and, unusually for his work, just plain weird—but vivid!)

Perhaps the most consequential sword  to return, however, is that which maimed Sauron many centuries ago, causing him to lose the Ring, and which, reforged, Aragorn shows him in Saruman’s palantir

(the Hildebrandts)

(itself appearing from a far older world, being as Aragorn says, “For this assuredly is the palantir of Orthanc, from the treasury of Elendil, set here by the Kings of Gondor.”  The Two Towers, Book Three, Chapter 11, “The Palantir”):

“…The eyes in Orthanc did not see through the armour of Theoden; but Sauron has not forgotten Isildur and the sword of Elendil.  Now in the very hour of his great designs the heir of Isildur and the Sword are revealed; for I showed the blade re-forged to him.  He is not so mighty yet that he is above fear; nay doubt ever gnaws him.”  (The Return of the King, Book Five, Chapter 2, “The Passing of the Grey Company”)

And there are more cyclings.

Consider the Ring itself:  forged in the fires of Mt Doom, it is eventually returned there and destroyed,

(another Ted Nasmith)

which causes the final end of Sauron, after several ages of struggle,

(and one more Ted Nasmith–and who better to paint a cataclysm?)

and which, in turn, brings the—return of the King.

(Denis Gordeev–and note that the artist has painted Aragorn’s crown as depicted by Tolkien in a letter to Rhona Beare, 14 October, 1958, see Letters, 401.)

After thinking about this, I can see that there are even more cyclic events, like the movement of the elves westwards, and  Gandalf traveling the same way, originally sent eastwards to oppose Sauron,

(one more Ted Nasmith)

but I think that this is enough for one posting—though considering all of the cycles I’ve already identified,  I’ll end with another (supposed) quotation from Yogi Berra:

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Stay well,

Remember one more piece of Yogi wisdom

And remember, as well, that there’s always

MTCIDC

O

AI?  Ay!

10 Wednesday Sep 2025

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Welcome, dear readers, as ever.

AI seems to be everywhere and talked about all the time, sometimes in the kind of excited tones that earlier centuries used for STEAM!  ELECTRICITY!  THE INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE!  NUCLEAR POWER!  COMPUTERS!  and sometimes in less than enthusiastic voices which point out the pitfalls, including the (apocryphal? urban legend? true?) story about the computer which refused to turn itself off, or the one which supposedly tried to blackmail its user (possibly the same story?).

The latter, for me, has brought up this—

and this fragment of dialogue, where the Terminator’s target is being given a crash course by her protector in why she is that target:

“SARAH

I don’t understand…

REESE

Defense network computer. New.

Powerful. Hooked into everything.

Trusted to run it all. They say it

got smart…a new order of intelli-

gence. Then it saw all people as

a threat, not just the ones on the

other side. Decided our fate in a

micro-second…extermination.”

(if you’d like to read what appears to be a late draft of the screenplay, see:

https://assets.scriptslug.com/live/pdf/scripts/the-terminator-1984.pdf?v=1729115040 )

This uneasiness about new technology—and robots, in particular, is hardly new.  In the early 20th century, as technology was rapidly accelerating, we see Karl Capek ‘s  (that’s CHA-pek), 1890-1938,

1920 play R.U.R.,

which stands for “Rossum’s Universal Robots”, a company which is supplying the world with mechanical workers, as one of the main characters says of the formula which produced the original successful models:

“Dr. Gall. We go on using it and making Robots. All the universities are sending in long petitions to restrict their production. Otherwise, they say, mankind will become extinct through lack of fertility.  But the R. U. R. shareholders, of course, won’t hear of it. All the governments, on the other hand, are clamoring for an increase in production, to raise the standards of their armies. And all the manufacturers in the world are ordering Robots like mad.” (R.U.R., Act II)

And you can see here the tensions which such an invention can—and do– bring:  those who can see the future are concerned, those who are only interested in profit—or death—are boosting production, regardless of any hazard.

This all comes apart when a limited number of robots (from the Czech word roboti, “workers”) gain sentience—“got smart…a new order of intelligence”—you can see that uneasiness started early—realize that they are far more intelligent and stronger, with more endurance, than humans, and revolt, determined to wipe out humanity and replace it with themselves.

They rally all of the other robots and, by the play’s end, only one human appears to be left.  That ending is perhaps a little more hopeful, but I won’t spoil it for you—you can read it (in its first English translation) here:  https://www.gutenberg.org/files/59112/59112-h/59112-h.htm

Tolkien was somewhat of a science fiction fan, enjoying, in particular, the work of Isaac Asimov, 1920-1992. (See the second footnote to a letter to Charlotte and Denis Plimmer, 8 February, 1968, Letters, 530)

He doesn’t list what he had read, unfortunately, but, as the letter in which he mentions (and misspells) Asimov dates from 1967, I’ve wondered whether he had read Asimov’s  1950 classic collection of short stories, I, Robot,

the first of a series of “Robot” novels, beginning with The Caves of Steel, 1954.

To Asimov’s annoyance, the publisher took the title of that short story collection from a 1939 short story by “Eando Binder” (pen name of Earl and Otto Binder) published in the January, 1939, issue of Amazing Stories.

It’s an odd little tale in which a robot, already an object of local fear, is mistaken for the murderer of his scientist creator (actually killed in an accident) and hounded to the point at which he commits mechanical suicide, the entire story being, as he terms it, his “confession”.  You can read it here:   https://archive.org/details/Amazing_Stories_v13n01_1939-01_cape1736  And read more about it here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Robot_(short_story)

Asimov tells us that he had read and been inspired by the 1939 short story, but his 1950 collection, of which a number of the stories had been published earlier, is told from the outside, and is a very interesting series of what might be seen as profiles of robots and their behavior over a number of years and events, narrated by Dr. Susan Calvin, a “robopsychologist”.   You can read the collection here:   https://dn720004.ca.archive.org/0/items/english-collections-1/I%2C%20Robot%20-%20Isaac%20Asimov.pdf   And read about it here:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I,_Robot

One aspect of Asimov’s early stories is that robot behavior—almost as if the creators there had seen or read R.U.R. and paid attention to the warning implied (and I’ll bet that Asimov, who appears to have read everything, probably had read the play)- – is governed by a set of basic laws, first appearing in the story “Runaround” in I, Robot:

“Powell’s radio voice was tense in Donovan’s ear: ‘Now, look, let’s start
with the three fundamental Rules of Robotics—the three rules that are built
most deeply into a robot’s positronic brain.’ In the darkness, his gloved
fingers ticked off each point.
‘We have: One, a robot may not injure a human being, or, through
inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.’

‘Right!’
‘Two,’ continued Powell, ‘a robot must obey the orders given it by
human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.’
‘Right!’
‘And three, a robot must protect its own existence as long as such
protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.’
‘Right! Now where are we?’ “

As we confront the extremely rapid growth of AI, still so much a mystery, even if we don’t believe stories about increasing—and potentially menacing—sentience, I’m only hoping that, as I suppose Tolkien did, at least some of the designers have read “Runaround” and built those laws into their experimental models.

Thanks, as ever, for reading.

Stay well,

Be interested in technology, but be aware, as Asimov was, that it should be addressed critically,

And remember that, as always, there’s

MTCIDC

O

PS

For more on the history of automata and droids, see:  “Eyeing Robots”, 8 April, 2021.  Capek came from a very interesting family.  Read about him and them here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karel_%C4%8Capek

PPS

As Tolkien was an admirer of Asimov, so Asimov was an admirer of Tolkien, see his article, “All and Nothing” in Fantasy and Science Fiction, January, 1981, which you can read here:  https://archive.org/details/Fantasy_Science_Fiction_v060n01_1981-01/mode/2up

Horse, Two

03 Wednesday Sep 2025

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Welcome , dear readers, as always, and, as always, I’m interested in Tolkien’s inspirations…

Enter Richard

King    A horse, a horse, my kingdome for a horse.

Cates   Withdraw my lord, ile helpe you to a horse.

King   Slaue I haue set my life vpon a cast,

And I will stand the hazard of the die,

I thinke there be sixe Richmonds in the field,

Fiue haue I slaine to daie in stead of him,

A horse, a horse, my kingdome for a horse.  (Wm Shakespeare, Richard III, Act V,  Scene 4,  First Quarto, 1597  You can read it here at the excellent Internet Shakespeare site: https://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/doc/R3_Q1/index.html    )

(artist?)

Richard III is clearly not having a good day:  one of his allies has waited out the battle until a fatal moment, then changed sides.  And Richard has lost his horse, which, as a good horseback soldier, gives him an advantage, in terms of mobility on the battlefield, height over enemy infantry,

(Adam Hook)

and even a better chance of escape.  Without it, surrounded by enemy soldiers, he’s about to be dead.  (In the Shakespeare play, he’s killed by the Earl of Richmond, Henry Tudor, who, in turn, is about to become Henry VII, but, in reality, we don’t know who did him in, but see here for more:  https://le.ac.uk/richard-iii/identification/osteology/injuries/how-richard-iii-died )

Soldiers in the West didn’t begin on horseback.  The Sumerians first had yoked wild asses to their battle cars.

The ancient Egyptians had, by the New Kingdom (1550-1070BC), yoked horses to chariots.

(Rameses II, c.1303-1213BC)

The Assyrians, breeding bigger horses, began to sit soldiers upon their backs.

Greeks in the Iliad went to battle in and sometimes fought from their chariots (sometimes called by classical scholars “battle taxis” under the mistaken impression that they used those chariots only for transportation, which a close reading of the text shows not to be the case), although cavalry, as cavalry, are briefly mentioned, though never shown in action.

But cavalry, when it finally appeared in the Greek world, was meant for scouting and pursuit.

(Angus McBride)

All of this changed with Philip II of Macedon. 382-336BC, and his son, Alexander.  Macedon was prime horse-breeding country and Philip was a military innovator, so, with chariots long gone, Philip trained real battle cavalry, which Alexander then led to victory.

(Peter Connolly)

Alexander had a famous horse, Bucephalus (“Ox Head”),

whom he alone could tame. (see Plutarch’s life of Alexander here—section.6:    https://www.lexundria.com/plut_alex/1-77/prr )

He also fancied himself a kind of descendent of the Trojan War hero Achilles, who had two famous horses, Balios (“Dapple”)  and Xanthus (“Palomino”), born of a Fury, Podarge (“Swiftfoot”), and Zephyrus, the god of the West Wind.

This divine lineage for horses made me think about a famous horse in another adventure story:  Shadowfax.

(Luca Michelucci—you can see more of his work here:  https://www.artnet.com/artists/luca-michelucci/  I like especially his image of Gwaihir rescuing Gandalf from Orthanc)

Shadowfax, according to Gandalf, is the chief of the Mearas, horses descended from one Felarof,  the horse of Eorl, the founder of Rohan.  Felarof was said to have understood the speech of men (Rohirric, we can presume) and may have been brought by Orome, the huntsman of the Valar, from across the sea, suggesting a horse of the Valar themselves.  (See The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, II, “The House of Eorl”)

Mearas is the plural of mearh, one of the Old English words for “horse” and this might suggest that, with his  interest in things early Germanic, we might imagine that Tolkien would have looked towards Grani,

(from the Ramsund Carving—for more:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigurd_stones )

the horse of Sigurd, descended from Odin’s 8-legged steed, Sleipnir

(on the Tjaengvide image stone—you can read more about it here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tj%C3%A4ngvide_image_stone     For the story of how Sigurd found Grani, see the Icelandic Volsunga Saga  in this bilingual edition, pages 23-24:   https://archive.org/details/vo-lsungasaga-text-translation-finch/page/n89/mode/2up

And I can’t resist this very clever way of producing a modern Sleipnir—

Lachlan Templar—his work appears at Deviant Art, but, when I try to find out more, the site is blocked.)

as an inspiration, but, remembering that Tolkien had begun his formal education in the traditional way:   studying Classics at King Edward’s School in Birmingham,

and, initially, continuing  in Classics at Oxford,

I wonder—and return to Balios and Xanthus.  These are horses with as distinguished a lineage as Grani, coming from a Fury

and the god of the West Wind.

As well,  Felarof—and, in turn, Shadowfax–understand human speech and Balios and Xanthus show emotion more human than equine, weeping when their temporary master and charioteer, Patroclus, is killed in battle by the Trojan hero, Hector, refusing to return to battle, but, instead—

“…but as a monument remains firmly in the ground, one set up on a tomb

For a dead man or woman,

So they remained, immobile, holding the very beautiful chariot [still],

Leaning [their] heads to the earth, and their hot tears

Flow down from under [their] eyelids to the ground

In longing for [their] charioteer.”  (Iliad, Book 17.434-439—my translation]

And  there’s more.   Felarof and Shadowfax may understand human speech, and Balios and Xanthus may grieve, in a human way for the death of Achilles’ friend and charioteer, Patroclus, but, in an eerie moment, one of them, Xanthus, actually speaks to Achilles, warning him of his own impending doom:

“We will still keep you safe for now, mighty Achilles,

But a deadly day is near to you.”  (Iliad, Book 19.408-409—my translation)

Could there be another link here?

“But lo!  suddenly in the midst of the glory of the king his golden shield was dimmed.  The new morning was blotted from the sky.  Dark fell about him.  Horses reared and screamed.  Men cast from the saddle lay groveling on the ground…Snowmane wild with terror stood up on high, fighting with the air, and then with a great scream he crashed upon his side; a black dart had pierced him.  The king fell beneath him…” 

(Ted Nasmith)

Although we have no idea of Snowmane’s lineage except that he’s “Lightfoot’s foal”, and he never speaks a word, he’s certainly involved in a death and, as Balios and Xanthus might have inspired Shadowfax, could this horse-speech be related to Theoden’s horse, Snowmane?

(Joona  Kujanen, aka Tulikoura, a bit more of whose work you can see here:  https://hole-intheground.blogspot.com/2012/03/fridays-at-mathom-house-joona-kujanen.html )

We have no idea of the fate of Achilles’ horses, though we are told that Achilles himself was buried in a mound—

as Agamemnon says to him in the Underworld, speaking of the cremated remains of Achilles and his friend, Patroclus (over whom Achilles’ horses mourned):

“And over them then we, mighty army of the Argive spearmen,

Heaped up a tumulus…”  (Odyssey, Book 24.81-81—my translation)

Just as Snowmane received a similar grave:

“And afterwards when all was over men returned and made a fire there and burned the carcase of the beast; but for Snowmane they dug a grave and set up a stone upon which was carved in the tongues of Gondor and the Mark:

‘Faithful servant yet master’s bane,

Lightfoot’’s foal, swift Snowbane.’

Green and long grew the grass on Snowmane’s Howe…”  (The Return of the King, Book Five, Chapter 6, “The Battle of the Pelennor Fields”)

All coincidence?   Or were JRRT’s many years of classical training still at work, when he’d long abandoned it for Germanic, Finnish, and Welsh?

As ever, thanks for reading.

Stay well,

Horses are wonderful, but remember that they, like us, have their limits—what would you do if a Nazgul on a frightful thing came down upon you?

(Craig J. Spearing—you can read more about him and his work here:  https://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Craig_J_Spearing )

And remember that, as ever, there’s

MTCIDC

O