This article accompanies the fable
Sacred Prostitute



The Lord of the Rings

Tolkien's and Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings is about the renunciation of power, of getting rid of the Ring. Evil must be destroyed - a mainstream Christian vision - and it must be destroyed in England. Oxford perhaps?

Is Middle-earth really Wales? It looks that way on maps, except I cannot show any...

This has encouraged fans (and enterprising locals) to think of Pontrhydfendigaid, near Tregaron, in Ceredigion as the Shire, which I suppose would make Cardiff Gondor and the Severn the Anduin. That England would be Mirkwood and Mordor works in very neatly with Welsh nationalism. So that is where the ring must be destroyed, no? In Tolkien's home town. Eh voilà, below is Mt. Doom, metaphorically speaking, of course.

Photo of Merton College: Wikipedia/Ozeve