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Jun. 23rd, 2025 11:30 amYesterday one of those deeply shitty things happened where my love of someone's creations got called into question because of their behavior.
No, not Neil Gaiman this time. No -- JRR Tolkien. I learned what's been going around for a long while, since 2003 at least.
1) That when JRRT's eldest son John Tolkien was a boy, he was sexually abused by one of his dad JRR's circle, potentially WH Auden.
2) That John Tolkien went on to abuse boys while an ordained member of the Catholic church.
I have read nothing about this from Tolkien's letters, nor from Carpenter's biography. But the silence here troubles me, especially because it's clear who the favorite son was, and clear that John grew up in an incredibly unfortunate moment in history where he could not get help or support for who and what he was.
I'm still chewing this over and trying to figure out how I feel about it all.
No, not Neil Gaiman this time. No -- JRR Tolkien. I learned what's been going around for a long while, since 2003 at least.
1) That when JRRT's eldest son John Tolkien was a boy, he was sexually abused by one of his dad JRR's circle, potentially WH Auden.
2) That John Tolkien went on to abuse boys while an ordained member of the Catholic church.
I have read nothing about this from Tolkien's letters, nor from Carpenter's biography. But the silence here troubles me, especially because it's clear who the favorite son was, and clear that John grew up in an incredibly unfortunate moment in history where he could not get help or support for who and what he was.
I'm still chewing this over and trying to figure out how I feel about it all.