“For thus is it spoken: Oft hope is born when all is forlorn.”

—Legolas, The Return of the King

“Every day that passes is a precious day lost.”

– Frodo, The Two Towers

“You must either go through or give up your quest. And I am not going to allow you to back out now, Mr. Baggins.”

– Gandalf

“Dangerous or not, a real sunrise is mighty welcome.”

– Frodo

“The hands of the King are the hands of healing.”

– Gandalf

“Despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt.”

– Gandalf

The word eucatastrophe (good catastrophe) was coined by J.R.R. Tolkien to describe what he believed was the essence and highest function of fairy-stories.

It is the sudden, unexpected joyous turn.

Tolkien explains, “In such stories when the sudden ‘turn’ comes we get a piercing glimpse of joy, and heart’s desire, that for a moment passes outside the frame, rends indeed the very web of story, and lets a gleam come through” (‘On Fairy-Stories’, 61).

Our latest content:

Beren, Lúthien, and Heroic Love

Beren, Lúthien, and Heroic Love

This month has an extra week, so we're including another piece of content this week. This talk was from our conference in 2017 by Lisa Coutras. If you heard our interview earlier this month, you'll remember Lisa mentioning her appreciation for Lúthien. Well, here's an...

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The Most Beautiful Song

The Most Beautiful Song

In the very beginning of Tolkien’s world, before the stories of the great heroes came to pass, the Ainur were created by Ilúvatar. They sang the world into existence in the “Great Music” (The Silmarillion, 3). Ilúvatar instructed them to use the gifts and powers he...

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Call for entries – August 2020

Call for entries – August 2020

August's theme is: The Splendor of Middle-earth In anticipation of our August content, the essay question is: If you could visit one locale in Middle-earth for a weekend, where would you go, and why? Describe the place, region, story-scene in your own words and what...

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Spotlighting Tolkien Resources

Spotlighting Tolkien Resources

Tolkien’s Theology of Beauty: Majesty, Splendor, and Transcendence in Middle-earth, by Lisa Coutras Reflections by Dan Cruver and John PletcherDuring summertime 2020, we are spotlighting several of exceptional Tolkien resources that are favorites of the Eucatastrophe...

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Déagol’s Baked Fish

Déagol’s Baked Fish

Since we are discovering the Splendor of the Lands that inspired Middle-earth, I thought a recipe influenced by Scandinavian cooking would be appropriate. You might want to accompany your fish with green vegetables, such as cabbage or green beans; some pickled beets...

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Appreciating Beauty & Wonder in Tolkien’s Legendarium

Appreciating Beauty & Wonder in Tolkien’s Legendarium

July 2020 theme: Appreciating Beauty & Wonder in Tolkien’s LegendariumHello friends of the Eucatastrophe fellowship! We’re in for a great July. Our theme is “appreciating beauty & wonder in Tolkien’s legendarium.” We’ve got a great slate of content each week....

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Tolkien’s Far-reaching Hope

Tolkien’s Far-reaching Hope

John Eldredge John Eldredge is an author, a counselor, and a teacher. He is also president of Wild at Heart, a ministry devoted to helping people discover the heart of God, recover their own hearts in God's love, and learn to live in God's Kingdom. John grew up in the...

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Frodos Dreme

Frodos Dreme

HOPE is the theme for June, and I have an easy, summery recipe to share with you. The simple, delicious taste of a beautiful fresh strawberry and pure heavy cream—two ingredients combine in a bowl to produce an almost spiritual, or even Platonic, representation of...

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As an author, Tolkien was a creator—or, as he would put it, a “sub-creator.”

 
Tolkien created a fully-imagined world. Middle-earth has a depth of diverse cultures, histories, geography, peoples, characters, family trees, languages, and calendars unrivaled in 20th- and 21st-century literature. Although Tolkien stated that The Lord of the Rings is not an allegory, he did say there’s always an abundance of applicability available for readers to use in their Present-earth lives and historical context.
 

Eucatastrophe.com strives to suggest new vistas of potential applicability for Tolkien fans to explore and enjoy, taking you deeper into Tolkien’s Middle-earth mythology.