What's in a name?

[Helen Dyer]

Hi Everyone,

At one time or another when doing a ‘search’ on ‘Christopher Lee’ you will have found that there are thousands of entries that relate to the names ‘Christopher’ and ‘Lee’ …..Well, I found a curious ‘name association’ recently………

As many of you know, Mr. Lee has read the Lord of the Rings Trilogy every year for a very long time. He not only was able to live one of his many dreams by participating in the film as Saruman*, but was the only person associated with the film trilogy that had actually met JRR Tolkien.

The Lord of the Rings though was only one aspect of JRR Tolkien’s lifetime achievement in the creation of Middle Earth, its inhabitants and languages. There is a whole history of Middle Earth; the ages before the Lord of the Rings.

Christopher Tolkien (JRR Tolkien’s son) has recently finished another of these histories based on his father’s extensive notes and unfinished tales in a book called ‘The Children of Húrin’.

As a collector of Tolkien’s works; I was reading about this new book, and I was struck by a curiosity……..
‘The Children of Húrin’ Edited by Christopher Tolkien with Illustrations by Alan Lee……

What’s in a name?
I thought this was a fun and interesting ‘Christopher Lee’ association….

Cheers,;)
Helen

*Note: Mr. Lee's dream early on in his life was to play the part of Gandalf...But I think he made a brilliant Saruman...........

[Andrés Verdú]

Hello everyone,

I'd noticed this as well, Helen! I agree it's a curious name association. I love anything to do with wordplay and associations, so I had spotted this quite a while ago, although I'm not quite sure in relation to which specific book or work of Tolkien. I didn't know you were a collector of Tolkien's work, Helen. I've only read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings so far, but I do plan to read more of his books... Perhaps you can recommend some titles for me? Anyway, thanks for the interesting association. Take care everyone:

Warmest regards,

Andrés

[Conny Nierobisch]

A while ago I had an advertisement in my post box to the release of The children of Hùrin with a picture of the book cover. And I noticed the name association too. I like the cover painted by Alan Lee very much.

Helen, I am a fan of JRR Tolkien's work too. So far I have read The Hobbit, LOTR and The Silmarillion. All great and fascinating stories with so much history of Middle Earth.

Andrés, I would recommend you to read The Silmarillion. I think it is in fact not easy to read, because of the plenty of informations and details, but it shows the whealth and deepness of JRR Tolkien's imagination in creating the history of Middle Earth. Reading The Silmarillion did help me to unterstand and to discover more about LOTR.

Helen, what do you think about The Silmarillion?
Mr. Lee made a brilliant Saruman and his opponent Ian McKellen's Gandalf was also excellent I think.

Cheers
Conny

[Helen Dyer]

Conny, That is great! Are you following in Mr. Lee's footsteps, by reading LOTR every year?

In answer to your question on The Silmarillion, since it is a bit away from Mr. Lee and this site, I will send you a PM....


Cheers,
Helen