Inklings Week 2025: Sharing my speech from The Christy’s
A fun bonus from The Christy’s 2025
It’s that time of year, where we celebrate all things Inklings for the annual Inklings Week and International Inklings Day on May 11th! This year marks the 10th year of Inklings Week (I don’t know how that is even possible, because WHAT?!) and is the 99th anniversary of when Tolkien and Lewis met. We have a great set of posts this year and even a giveaway, so be sure to subscribe and not miss a post. You can find all the posts here. And don’t forget to enter this year’s giveaway!
Last year I had the honor to speak at The Christy Awards about Imagination and J.R.R. Tolkien, as Tollers was honored as a legacy author as part of the event. It seemed like the perfect fit to share it with you all for Inklings Week. If you want to see the video instead, check out the end. And would any of you be shocked to know that I managed to bring up my cat? It’s his namesake!
It’s great to see the three of us share about Tolkien. There’s been an English poet and Anglican priest, the award-winning president of a fantastic literary agency who has a deep passion for fantasy and sci-fi (a quick note, sadly Steve wasn’t able to join), and me…an editor who grew up on the Lakers, Motown and Spanish music and only read Tolkien after I graduated from college. I mention the random facts about each of us because it shows how beautiful it is that his influence has spanned generations, locations, and demographics since 1954.
But if you look at the stories, it’s easy to understand why they bring us such hope. From the triumph of good over evil, the strength of unity, redemption, the resilience of the human spirit, and the potential for restoration, Tolkien reminds us that there is always hope for a better tomorrow.
There are two scenes that come to mind that illustrate this so well. First is with one of my favorite characters from literature (and my cat Gamgee Reepicheep’s namesake), Samwise Gamgee.
This scene happens at the end of The Two Towers movie, where Frodo almost fell to the power of the ring’s draw and Sam rescues him again. Frodo is sone. I’ll quote the movie here:
Sam: I know. It’s all wrong. By rights we shouldn’t even be here. But we are. It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.
Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?
Sam: That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo… and it’s worth fighting for.”
How that rouses the heart and encourages us when we’re in a dark spot! Not just for the movie but remembering these feelings when we’ve prayed and are still waiting for answers. When the hits keep coming, when there doesn’t seem to be an end or answer. That’s the power of divinely inspired imagination we have as writers, whether, as many of you here do, write fiction or nonfiction. Words make a lasting impact and have ripple effects that last far beyond our time. I have no doubt that even Tolkien could have imagined the impact his stories would have decades after he wrote them.
There is also a cheer worthy scene featuring Eowyn. Even if you haven’t seen the movies, you may remember the line: “I am no man!” from memes or clips. I want to read a short piece from the book, because it carries even more weight. Eowyn shows no fear when she begins, after stepping in front of King Theodon:
‘Begone, foul dwimmerlaik, lord of carrion! Leave the dead in peace!’
A cold voice answered: ‘Come not between the Nazgûl and his prey! Or he will not slay thee in thy turn. He will bear thee away to the houses of lamentation, beyond all darkness, where thy flesh shall be devoured, and thy shrivelled mind be left naked to the Lidless Eye.’
A sword rang as it was drawn. ‘Do what you will; but I will hinder it, if I may.’
Then Merry heard of all sounds in that hour the strangest. It seemed that Dernhelm laughed, and the clear voice was like the ring of steel. ‘But no living man am I! You look upon a woman. Éowyn I am, Éomund’s daughter. You stand between me and my lord and kin. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you, if you touch him.’
What a powerful scene for women. We don’t have to lose hope. We can find our strength in the One who is greater than any foul beast.
Throughout LOTR and his other works, Tolkien captivates us and I believe it’s because he understood the beauty found in hopeful story telling. I’ll end with a story he shared in a letter that reveals the depth and power words have to restore us.
During a sermon Tolkien heard the story of a young boy, whose outlook looked grim due to an illness, but who suddenly made a positive turn and asked for some food to the astonishment and joy of his parents. After this sermon, Tolkien wrote: “It is quite unlike any other sensation. And all of a sudden, I realized what it was: the very thing that I have been trying to write about and explain…For it I coined the word ‘eucatastrophe’: the sudden happy turn in a story which pierces you with a joy that brings tears (which I argued it is the highest function of fairy-stories to produce). And I was there led to the view that it produces its peculiar effect because it is a sudden glimpse of Truth, your whole nature chained in material cause and effect, the chain of death, feels a sudden relief as if a major limb out of joint had suddenly snapped back.” (From Letters of Tolkien)
My encouragement to you today is keep writing and keep giving others those sudden glimpses of Truth.
Because the hope we find reminds us that we are never alone.
And if you want to see the video, here’s the link from the livestream, it should start at my speech. Enjoy!
© 2025 Jamie Lapeyrolerie
A really lovely, succinct, and hopeful speech. Thanks for sharing it!