Halfirian Archive

A curated collection of some of halfir's many contributions to the Tolkien scholarship on the Plaza.

Remembering halfir (David M. Gransby): Saranna, September 2020

Other members of both the old and the new Plaza knew halfir for much longer than I. It is a privilege to be asked to create a heading for the archive that will preserve as much of his work as can be saved.

When I joined the Plaza, hesitantly poking around the threads, unsure what to do, it was not long until I came across halfir. My nerdish side attracted me to the Lore threads, and in those it was inevitable that one would meet halfir.

His outstanding knowledge of, apparently, every word written by Tolkien, and many of those written about him, began my education in what is now known as Tolkien Scholarship. And he encouraged many others as well, not only to begin to see themselves as potential scholars, but also to have fun with, for example, story competitions. His sense of humour was idiosyncratic perhaps, but it was deep. Sometimes he was ‘subtle and quick to anger,’ in defence of Tolkien and of scholarship. He had a tendency to resign, then recant his resignation, amid a flurry of objections to what someone had said about something.

None of that detracts from his other signature quality of kindness. He was a good friend to many of us in times of trouble, supportive and consoling.

Something of a wizard, really. And a terrible loss to all who knew him, the High Lord of Imladris.

Now I think it’s important to think about the future, the future without halfir. In the future of the restored Plaza there will be many new members who never knew him and never can except through what we present in this memorial archive.

We don’t want them, or ourselves as old-timers, to feel we have to keep looking back at the past. The Plaza has a future, and halfir's work is a cornerstone of our new building. To quote Gandalf, saying what halfir might have said to us if he had been granted time to do so:

Do you not yet understand? My time is over: it is no longer my task to set things to rights, nor to help folk to do so. And as for you, my dear friends, you will need no help. You are grown up now. Grown indeed very high; among the great you are, and I have no longer any fear at all for any of you.

Should halfir be watching by palantir from the far west, that is what he would want to see.

Something of a wizard, really. And a terrible loss to all who knew him, the High Lord of Imladris.

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