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Me: Christian, reader and writer, married to D, work-at-home mother of T. I enjoy cooking, sunny days, colors, and photography.

What does "Rohanite" even mean anyway?

In "The Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R. Tolkien, the city of Rohan is an important location, in that it is one of the last strongholds of humanity in Middle Earth, but it also represents a culture and way of life that is waning and falling into obscurity due to the evil invading the land.

The portrayal of this city in the movie "The Two Towers" really impacted me - setting, music, characters, and evoked a sense of painful nostalgia. Nevertheless, the main Rohanite characters (Eomer, Eowyn, Theoden) had certain qualities in common that withstood the threats all around them: faithfulness, courage, determination, and simplicity. That is what I admire.

What does any of this have to do with this blog? I don't know, other than I find my writing often waxing nostalgic (perhaps annoyingly so) at times. And as a reader of good books, I sometimes find that fictional models work well to build aspirations and ideals upon. In the end fiction is just fiction, of course, but it is at once a beautiful art form and a helpful tool (Jesus himself often used it to illustrate his points), and in this instance I find that "Rohanite" not only sums up my admiration for the way this fictional city and its inhabitants are portrayed, but it helps me to envision and remember the qualities to which I should aspire, in a world where the influence of such qualities does seem to be waning.

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