Letter 66

The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
← Letter 66 →
Recipient	Christopher Tolkien
Date	6 May 1944
Subject(s)	War, The Lord of the Rings, Faramir

Letter 66 is a letter written by J.R.R. Tolkien and published in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Summary

Tolkien expressed some comments about the slow airgraph system. The Professor and his son wrote a lot, but since their letters arrived late, they could not reply properly. He then related some memories of training camp, and comments about the war. He saw the war as a battle against Sauron with the Ring, but somehow they are winning it. The penalty for this war was, however, creating new Saurons, and turning Men and Elves into Orcs. He saw his son as "a hobbit among the Urukhai".

The next topic was the current state of The Lord of the Rings, where a new character had entered the scene: "(I am sure I did not invent him, I did not even want him, though I like him, but there he came walking into the woods of Ithilien): Faramir, brother of Boromir". Tolkien reported that there had been a battle, which included a monstrous Oliphaunt, but he looked forward to getting Sam and Frodo to Kirith Ungol at last.