Myth, Meaning, and Morals

Some musings on the philosophical impact of stories

When I first encountered Tolkien’s work, I was stepping into a new phase of my adolescence. Not just due to my age - I was around 10 - but also because my family had recently gone through some earth-shattering changes. One was the tragic death of my half-brother, who was killed by one of his acquaintances. The second was our move from New Hampshire (where I spent nine years of my young life) to the mountains of Colorado. The world of my childhood was left in the rearview mirror - and what the future held I did not know.