So special a gift: The tender bond between J.R.R. and Christopher Tolkien
- Miriam Ellis
- 19 hours ago
- 3 min read
"And you were so special a gift to me, in a time of sorrow and mental suffering, and your love, opening at once almost as soon as you were born, foretold to me, as it were in spoken words, that I am consoled ever by the certainty that there is no end to this. Probable under God that we shall meet again, ‘in hale and in unity’, before very long, dearest, and certain that we have some special bond to last beyond this life..." Letter From J.R.R. to Christopher Tolkien, 1944.
A good father is unlike anything else in life. A father like J.R.R. Tolkien was filled with tenderness for his children, and stories, and rich terms of endearment. During the precious years of childhood, a good father can be like a great tree to his children, sheltering and protecting them from the world as if they were a nest of little birds who must be kept safe for as long as possible.
Here, in the back garden at 22 Northmoor Road in Oxford, father Tolkien enjoys the first blissful sunshine following a long winter. Do you know the sensation of how good that feels? The wicker rocking chair is filled with books - token of the life of scholarship that surrounded both the figures in this new painting, but for now, the father rests in the soft sun with his dear boy, Christopher, and it is a scene of such quiet happiness.
Father and son mirror the first crocus in the garden. Tolkien's green necktie is like the stem from which the little purple flower will bloom. The bond between these two must be one of the deepest in literary history. After Professor Tolkien had devoted his whole adult life to bringing us his lore, his son picked up the torch and carried on, giving us volume after volume of priceless story and context. My tribute to their joint adventure comes from the heart, and working at this painting from a 1928 black-and-white photo that was published by John and Priscilla Tolkien in The Tolkien Family Album decades ago, I hoped to bring living color to this portrait that has taken on a special meaning for me.
It's an image that makes me think about the world Tolkien would have wanted for his children, without the war he had to try to comfort and counsel them through, and without so much completely unnecessary man-made misery. When you consider the time the Professor spent on the Father Christmas letters he wrote to his little ones each year, it seems clear that he felt children deserved the best. I share this belief. Babies come into the world so loveable and full of grace. They are a shining little beings, emanating goodness. My society is not presently set up for the nurture, safety, health, or happiness of children and that these are not our immutable priorities is out of harmony with nature, in which other kinds of creatures typically live to protect the young. Tolkien knew this dilemma so well, and with all of a fond father's feelings, he had to see his sons and daughter go out into the rough world of Arda Marred.
I hope this scene of serenity offers an alternative view of priorities and possibilities. A little cot in a sunny garden with great love all around bespeaks what all children deserve, and I honor Professor Tolkien to giving his heart to his own family. It can be both stirring and sad to our spirits, I know, to look at this picture and understand that John Ronald and Christopher have sailed into the West, but their tandem legacy is so powerful that it continues to move generation after generation of readers young and old. Perhaps the new portrait may even remind you of this consoling quote from The Silmarillion:
"But Finrod walks with Finarfin his father beneath the trees in Eldamar."
What would a world fit for children look like to you? Perhaps you can imagine it for a moment while enjoying this video short:
