My Son, the Orc!

Tikvah is a huge fan of  J.R.R. Tolkien.  Having read the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit, and currently reading The Silmarillion, she's infected her brother with a love of all things Tolkien. They have spent hours since The Prince got home watching the movies, and now she's started in reading the books to him.

These fantasy books take place in a fictional past (predating our history) and  in "Middle Earth."  I am neither a fan of fantasty nor of action packed battles so I won't pretend to understand Tolkien or his works.  (Please don't send me hate mail.)  In spite of me, many of my children have loved his writings - long before the movies were released.

If you (like me) don't follow the story, this is how I perceive the series.  It all centers around Hobbits, Elves, Men, Dwarves, Wizards and Orcs (aka goblins) over the power struggle to obtain possession of the Ring of Power.  The bad guys want to own it, the good guys want to destroy it.  Certainly simplified - my apologies to the Tolkien fans.

Isaac saw the movie "The Hobbit" with his foster family in China, and probably began his Tolkien fascination at that time.  His favorite character seems to be Legolas, an elf of the Woodland Realm.  This is likely because of his weapons!  Legolas was chosen to be a member of the Fellowship that intended to destroy the Ring.  He served as the group's archer.  An interesting side note:  Tikvah has begun begging for us to allow her and Isaac take up archery.  Oh help!

 Of course, being a boy, our Prince tends towards fascination with the fights, or epic battles if the little I've watched the movies are any indication.  The Orcs are the henchmen soldiers of the bad guys.  I'm not sure if Isaac dreams of fighting the bad guys or if he just likes the way the word ORC rolls off his tongue, but ORC seems to come up regularly in every day situations around here.

"What was that?"  An orc.

 "Did you hear that sound?" It was an orc.

 "Who did that?" An orc.  Well, you get the gist.   It has become somewhat of a family joke around here that whatever it is, it must be an orc.   

Another of Tikvah's hobbies is face painting.  She has been the creator of many a dog, cat, rabbit, etc. and shows enough interest in it that over the past few years she has amassed a collection of face paints and how-to books on the subject.  She surpassed it all this week when she made her brother into an ORC!  

 

Um... yeah.  I'm happy to say that after a little soap and water, he returned to his very handsome self! 

 Disclaimer: Neither Orcs nor Isaacs were harmed in the process.