Smaug and Bard the Bowman

In the intermission of my series on Faramir from Lord of the Rings (due to busyness and writer's block), I want to direct you to a Lord of the Rings related article written by a friend of Bodie and Brock Thoene. The Thoenes wrote a series of books about World War II, and this woman is one of the characters. I was delighted to discover that the character, Lori Kalner, was a real person (though her name is not really Lori Kalner). She has been sharing the insights gained from a long life and early experience inside Germany while submitting to the Nazi philosophies. Many of her letters warn Americans of the similarities she has noticed.

A fan of the Thoenes' books wrote to ask Lori what books were important to her, and I was surprised to hear that she was impacted by the writings of CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien. Tolkien's works were reputedly for children, popular in America, and not so very popular in the beginning. But Lori got a copy of the Hobbit shortly after it was published, and she shares how its message related to her spiritual life then and now.

To God be all glory.