Illustrated Blog Posts

Dec 124 min read

The Many Mercies of Bilbo Baggins

The fate of the Free Peoples of Middle-earth famously hinges on the pity of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. Yet, there is more to explore about...

62 views

Why Jane Austen's Persuasion is a Seasonal Masterpiece

Miriam Ellis

Dec 103 min read

Why Jane Austen's Persuasion is a Seasonal Masterpiece

The autumnal, brooding quiet in which Jane Austen's Persuasion begins feels as if it will never lift. Anne Elliot is fading away like a...

19 views

Miriam Ellis

Dec 93 min read

Come for Yule at Bag End in 1427

Do you hang seasonal art in your home to keep your dwelling in tune with the round of the year? It's a lovely, mindful custom and perhaps...

101 views

Why Mansfield Park is My Favorite Jane Austen Novel

Miriam Ellis

Dec 74 min read

Why Mansfield Park is My Favorite Jane Austen Novel

It does not sparkle like Pride and Prejudice , thrill like Persuasion , or even produce laughter like Northanger Abbey , but Jane...

44 views

Frogmorton and the Magic of Names on Tolkien's Maps

Miriam Ellis

Nov 303 min read

Frogmorton and the Magic of Names on Tolkien's Maps

If you love the hobbits as I do, you may wish that J.R.R. Tolkien had been granted the time to write a dozen more books about them and...

100 views

The Periannath as Seen by Men and Themselves

Miriam Ellis

Nov 264 min read

The Periannath as Seen by Men and Themselves

When Boromir attends the Council of Elrond, he nearly laughs aloud at the spectacle of an aged, tiny being called a hobbit offering to...

67 views

Why Northanger Abbey Charms and Captivates Me

Miriam Ellis

Nov 243 min read

Why Northanger Abbey Charms and Captivates Me

I treasure Northanger Abbey for the feeling it gives of a young Jane writing to a young us. The author knows what it is to be free from...

25 views

Ingwë, the Vanyar, and the Art of Contentment

Miriam Ellis

Nov 233 min read

Ingwë, the Vanyar, and the Art of Contentment

Had all J.R.R. Tolkien's elves been like the Vanyar, The Silmarillion would not exist. Ingwë, High King of all the elves, is satisfied...

73 views

Miriam Ellis

Nov 193 min read

Christopher Tolkien: Steward of a Star

When Eärendil is set to sail the skies with a Silmaril on his brow as a sign of hope for Middle-earth, Elrond is left behind to gaze from...

88 views

Miriam Ellis

Sep 265 min read

Why We Love Jane Austen

Why do we love Jane Austen with such devotion? Every reader's answers will be unique, but as I researched all known images and...

116 views

Illustrating Pride and Prejudice with Love and Respect for Jane Austen

Miriam Ellis

Sep 255 min read

Illustrating Pride and Prejudice with Love and Respect for Jane Austen

Elegant, gallant, beloved Pride and Prejudice is Jane Austen's most sparkling novel, with a plot that moves like a swift, crystal-clear...

123 views

Miriam Ellis

Aug 33 min read

The Voices of Ents in Tolkien

By the time Merry and Pippin escape from their orc captors, things have gotten quite momentous and arduous in The Lord of the Rings. But...

357 views

Thranduil, Dwarven Necklaces, and Elf-Friends

Miriam Ellis

Aug 14 min read

Thranduil, Dwarven Necklaces, and Elf-Friends

"I will take your gift, O Bilbo the Magnificent!" said the king gravely. "And I name you elf-friend and blessed..." - The Hobbit, Chapter...

387 views

Miriam Ellis

Jul 195 min read

The Golden Hall and the Silver Horn

For many readers, Tolkien offers a lavish, if temporary, escape from our increasingly-utilitarian culture into a realm of visual riches....

308 views

Miriam Ellis

Jul 133 min read

My Brand New Tolkien Patreon Announcement for Patrons of the Arts Like You!

It's a fascinating cultural development that just as tech giants are threatening to replace millennia of human history in the arts with...

118 views

The Fine Frailty of Gandalf and the Long Service of Círdan

Miriam Ellis

Jul 115 min read

The Fine Frailty of Gandalf and the Long Service of Círdan

Because many readers first encounter Gandalf through hobbit eyes, our lasting idea of him may be of a great, powerful figure, sometimes...

383 views

How The Hobbit Ends: Friends, Humility and Laughter

Miriam Ellis

Jul 14 min read

How The Hobbit Ends: Friends, Humility and Laughter

"'...You are a very fine person, Mr. Baggins, and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after...

152 views

5 Free Tolkien Quizzes and Lore Challenges You Can Play at Home

Miriam Ellis

May 217 min read

5 Free Tolkien Quizzes and Lore Challenges You Can Play at Home

Hobbits are good at games of skill, elves can be lore-masters, and in Tolkien's legendarium, "riddling talk" is not only irresistible to...

158 views

Miriam Ellis

May 136 min read

The Rousing of Hobbits

"What's come of his weskit? I don't hold with wearing ironmongery, whether it wears well or no," says the Gaffer of Sam's gilded mail...

233 views

The Liberation of Lobelia and the Gandalf-ication of Frodo

Miriam Ellis

May 115 min read

The Liberation of Lobelia and the Gandalf-ication of Frodo

Calling all Lobelia Sackville-Baggins fans! It's only in becoming more involved in the Tolkien community that I have realized the great...

434 views