We introduced the kids to The Lord of the Rings series this weekend.  This is the epic of all epics.  We prepared them as best we could for the graphic nature of the orcs, the black blood and guts of the battles, the magic of the elves. We reminded them that the wraiths were likely the caterers dressed in hoods and the orcs were really mechanics with fake teeth. (And yet my bride and I know that the story of good and evil is far more real than we want to admit).  The more caveats I put on the story, the more excited the boys got (one of them cried when I told them we were not watching all nine hours of the series in one sitting).  We told them we’d watch cartoons after as a mental cleanse before bedtime.

So off we went, straight into the deep end of good and evil.  The intro was dark, explicit and gruesome.  They were hooked.  The scenes then shifted to the shire, if you recall.  It’s a fantastical, lush place in New Zealand that took years to prep as I understand it.  Then more orcs. Twenty-five minutes into it my daughter left.  The darkness was too much for her (which was highly age-appropriate and very wise on her part).  Minutes later my son made an observation:

‘Dad. Isn’t this the same story as Star Wars and Harry Potter? The good guy goes away and comes back, the wizard dies, evil thinks it wins, but good wins in the end?’

‘Yep,’ I responded, humbled at his wisdom.

‘Why are they all the same?

‘Because this is our story,’ I offered, remembering that he needed help translating what he saw.  ‘Because this is your story.  Orcs may not be real, but good and evil is.  One day you’ll have to choose which side you’re on.  One day you’ll have to fight for what you love. One day you may have to pay that cost.'

‘Cool.’

He gets it because it’s written on his heart.  He knows that he’s part of a larger story.  He knows he is built to fight and rule.  He will fight for his independence and for a Beauty and for a cause and for his life.

He has no idea what he is up against. Tolkein did, which is why he wrote the books.
He doesn’t know what it will cost him. Tolkein did, which is why he wrote the books.
His battles may be very literal. Tolkein’s were, which is why he wrote the books.
But this story is written on his heart.  It resonates because it’s in his DNA.  Just as Tolkein, which is why he wrote the books.

I watched him as he watched the film: he cringed with each choice, he laughed in the Fellowship, he furrowed his brow at the gravity of the council and he mimicked Frodo, holding his ring finger out with one hand and mirroring the fight to put on the ring with the other.  This is his story.

May he find a Fellowship.
May he fight well.
May he choose rightly.
May he find a Beauty.
May he rule wisely.