Tea at Trianon: Things Only Book Readers Know About Gimli

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, June 24, 2022

Things Only Book Readers Know About Gimli

From GameRant:

This is part of the long resolution that is even more drawn-out in the books, but the fact is that Gimli saw a lot of places that no Dwarf had ever seen thanks to his close friendship with Legolas and his connection with Galadriel. In the books, Gimli and Legolas actually bonded over their disagreement over who was more beautiful, Arwen or Galadriel, with Legolas choosing the former and Gimli the latter.

The story of Gimli being gifted with three of Galadriel's strands of hair is well known, but a lesser-known fact is that her uncle Fëanor, the great smith who crafted the Silmarils, made a similar request of her. He was refused, but Gimli's ask was granted, perhaps because of the Dwarf's humility and sincere flattery. This version of the story appears in Unfinished Tales, one of Tolkien's later incomplete books that were edited by his son. (Read more.)