re: #167 The Pie Overlord!

Some Tolkien thoughts: I thought his biggest influence by far (for LOTR) was Wagner’s Der Ring Des Nibelungen which Wagner himself adapted from Nibelungenlied.

I was disappointed that Tolkien chose not to include Valkyies in Middle Earth.

Nordic Myth looms big, and that is kinda the point with these asshole whiners: it has been very much co-opted by the White and Aryan supremacists out there who don’t like to see it “tainted” by cultural miscegenation.

Meanwhile, I remember being struck when passing the islet of Strombolicchio of how the twisted magma shapes look like the landscape of Mordor, and the winding steps leading up to the lighthouse were like the Dark Tower and guess what?

Turns out Tolkien also visited there and the constantly-erupting volcano on Stromboli did indeed serve as Tolkien’s inspiration for Mount Doom.