Father Christmas Letters: 1927

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

I second the fact that the black picture is rather interesting (and I really like the "use the rest of the snowman for painting" idea). The whole picture has generally rather nice composition of colors, I'd say. Sort of "NASA"-colors, or something, too You know, the landscape could easily be on the Moon, with the Pole being some sort of landed rocket - or that's the impression it gives to me.

Originally Posted by Estelyn Telcontar

I find the "hiring" of a comet to give a bit of light amusing!

I like that idea, too. Curious question: does anybody know if this has any "RL relevance", i.e., if there was any comet visible in the sky from the northern hemisphere around December in 1927? Knowing Tolkien being rather interested in astronomy, I wouldn't be surprised.

The Man in the Moon shows up again, with a story similar to the poems in the Tom Bombadil Adventures - drinking too much and falling asleep. This apparently refers to a lunar eclipse which took place in December of that year, according to Hammond and Scull (Companion and Guide).

This is definitely an interesting thing, too. And something I wanted to mention already in relation to the 1926 stuff, but saved it for now, since it has more relevance: we are getting into the time when the idea of Roverandom began to shape. In Roverandom, there is the chapter about Roverandom meeting the Dragon from the Moon, and we are told something about the very same eclipse we are hearing about here (or that's at least what the story's background seems to point at). The Moon Dragon was known to cause eclipses from time to time, only the one which was "scheduled" after meeting Roverandom didn't work out because the Dragon was resting and tending his wounds. There is a note that the particular eclipse did not "work out well" in the RL since the astronomers/photographers (as mentioned in one of the early drafts of Roverandom; later omitted from the final text) in England could not observe it: it was cloudy on that day (it was the 8th December 1927). I just think it is rather interesting single event which had its appearance in two major (erm... minor ) works.