Synopsis
J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings meets Edward Gorey’s The Gashlycrumb Tinies in this darkly satirical illustrated parody of the Tolkien universe: ‘A is for Arwen broken by sorrows; B is for Boromir punctured by arrows. C is for Celebrimbor hung out to dry; D is for Denethor…’
‘Stories – frankly, human stories are always about one thing – death. The inevitability of death.’ J.R.R. TOLKIEN
A distinguished linguist and scholar, J.R.R. Tolkien is celebrated as the father of the fantasy genre, drawing on his knowledge of legends and folklore to create a new mythology and write the ultimate epic novel. He populated his books with Hobbits, Orcs, Elves, Dragons and Dwarves, but as in all epic tales, there can be only one fate for Mortal Men…
Doomed to Die is a uniquely irreverent glance at the world of Tolkien. It started life as an innocent Inktober project, but somehow grew in the telling to become a book.
Review
Believe it or not, this was an instagram ad for me from Hot Topic? Super odd, but once I saw it was real I had to have one.
Delightfully, deliriously different. A love letter to Tolkien’s Legendarium and Edward Gorey’s art style. Each letter of the alphabet representing a person, place, or item, that found, witnessed, or welcomed death.
What a cool idea. One that started as a Inktober idea just as a fan, that then blew up on instagram, and later became an actual book deal. I feel like things like that don’t happen anymore, especially with something as legendary as the Tolkien Estate. This is one of those truly ‘dream big’ moments.
Breezed through this in one sitting. As it’s a stylized poem, with each letter receiving a single sentence, it’s not a time-consuming read. However, the paragraph or so describing where each reference came from in the back of the book was awesome. This would be a really cool piece to get someone into the greater, deeper works of Tolkien, and the fact that the author cited his references, this might do just that. Middle-earth is an incredibly vast place with history and lore that many fans have only just scratched the surface of.
Here are two sets of favorites:
“C is for Celebrimbor hung out to dry
D is for Denethor who elected to fry”
“U is for Ungoliant whose last meal was gory
V is for the Valiant “They are coming!” By Ori”
Beautifully, inventively illustrated, with both that Gorey style and yet still a Tolkien feel. A must-have for Tolkien shelves.
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