Interview with bunn by Shadow by bunn, daughterofshadows

Bunn's work is beloved in the Tolkien fandom, where they are both an author and an artist. Along those lines, they will be creating both a story for Mereth Aderthad 2025 and a work of art for a different presentation. Shadow spoke with bunn about their Mereth Aderthad works, the appeal of Dwarves, and the many fruitful connections between Beowulf and Tolkien's own work.

Shadow: You're writing a story for cloudyhymn's presentation "The Design of Dragons and the Doom of Dwarves" and creating art for Savannah Horrell's presentation "By Guile Committed: Comparing Tolkien’s Thieves to Beowulf". Why did you choose these two presentations in particular?

bunn: It was hard to pick just two! I wanted to make one fic and one art for the event. I spotted "The Design of Dragons and the Doom of Dwarves" first, and a Tolkien quote helps explain why I picked it: “The dragon had the trade-mark Of Faërie written plain upon him. In whatever world he had his being it was an Other-world. Fantasy, the making or glimpsing of Other-worlds, was the heart of the desire of Faërie. I desired dragons with a profound desire" ("On Fairy-stories").

Dragons always catch my eye. I live in Wales, where of course we put dragons on everything, and they are also part of my job: I run an online shop that sells roleplaying games, of which by far the most famous is Dungeons and Dragons. Although like nearly everyone in Silmarillion fandom I love Elves (and have written a good deal about them), I am fascinated with the mystery of the Dwarves, with their very different, barely sketched out history, and their links to the ancient stories from Scandinavian and Germanic myth that inspired so much of Tolkien’s writing.

Cloudyhymns has come up with a really interesting idea, rooted in the Völsung Cycle, and springing from the Dwarven origins of Fáfnir: the dragon that Tolkien called "the prince of dragons". I hadn’t thought about this at all before, but what a fascinating idea, that Dwarves and dragons were by design of one origin, and that dragons were designed from the start to arise from Dwarves!

I’d previously imagined a more animal origin of dragons in Middle-earth, but this concept that Dwarves and dragons arose together is full of interesting connections.

And it was also a chance to write about one of my blink-and-you’ve missed it beloved Silmarillion themes: Nogrod and Belegost, the Dwarf-kingdoms of the Blue Mountains that traded with Doriath, enriched Caranthir, and supplied many knives, armour, jewellery, and helms that are scattered so generously through The Silmarillion and even down into The Lord of the Rings. I grabbed the prompt to illustrate “By Guile Committed: Comparing Tolkien’s Thieves to Beowulf" partly because of the Beowulf link—I’m a big fan of both Beowulf and Tolkien’s own Beowulf fanfic, Sellic Spell. But I was also intrigued by the idea of making connections with the various thieves in Middle-earth, from Beowulf’s unnamed thief-companion to Bilbo, and from Bilbo to Beren and Lúthien—and Sam and Frodo, too, though I suppose you could argue they aren’t so much thieves as Stealthy Recyclers. But in original D&D terms, at least, Frodo and Sam are definitely Thieves.

Shadow: Having had a chance to talk with cloudyhymns about his presentation, I agree, it's absolutely fascinating and I completely understand the draw of dragons and Dwarves. Beowulf, on the other hand, is something that continues to float at the edges of my Tolkien bubble, and I'm very curious to see what Savannah has to say about those connections you mention! I haven't really had a chance to look into Beowulf much at all.

You've talked about the mystery of Dwarves already, are there other aspects of Tolkien's works that keep you coming back to them?

bunn: Beowulf is a fascinating work in historic terms, but I do feel that Tolkien is, in a sense, a writer deliberately in the tradition of the Beowulf-poet. People often feel that Tolkien kind of appears out of nowhere with a bunch of ideas, but I think he's very much rooted in a tradition, it's just the tradition is ... about a thousand years old, and not much had been written in it in the intervening period. I feel Elrond would have loved Tolkien. Who cares about vast time-gaps anyway.

The Dwarves are fascinating to me in the same way, I suppose, because of the sheer depths of time about their work.

The first Dwarf of Nogrod most of us ever hear about is from the First Age, and yet he is mentioned by Aragorn in Rohan, and we don't even know he's a Dwarf:

Aragorn says, about his sword, Andúril: "Here I set it, but I command you not to touch it, nor to permit any other to lay hand upon it. In this elvish sheath dwells the Blade that was Broken and has been made again. Telchar first wrought it in the deeps of time."

And we have NO idea who Telchar was (he's from Nogrod) but wow, that gives you chills.

And the same applies to Gimli's song in Moria:

He's singing in the ruins of his people's greatest fortress, which was also the lost inheritance of his own family, and he mentions Nargothrond and Gondolin.

(And all right, that's partly because Tolkien is just robbing his own legendarium for colour.) But what does that say about the Dwarves that they have these deep, deep memories of places lost so long ago. Mount Gundabad is fascinating to me too. The holy mountain where Durin woke, and it's just a hive of Orcs now.

It's just ... they've lost so much.

And that is moving in itself, but also interesting in that the tradition Tolkien wrote in was so very nearly entirely lost, and all its treasures forgotten. Only one copy of the Beowulf-poem survived. A thousand years old, and one copy made it.

Shadow: Loss is definitely a prevalent and potent theme when looking at the Dwarves, and their memories are so long. Elves are often treated as the only ones who care about history, but Dwarves definitely care just as much if not more, because they don't have the advantage of immortality and they capture that history, those memories in poetry and stories. On the note of stories, would you be willing to share a small teaser of your works for Mereth Aderthad? Maybe tell us about some of the characters involved, or which themes you are incorporating in your creations.

bunn: The fic for "The Design of Dragons and the Doom of Dwarves" focusses on Gamil Zirak of Nogrod, who taught Telchar, and the theme is about hoarding and giving freely.

The art for "By Guile Committed" was one of those where you get absolutely seized by an idea and I'm not sure if I've done it credit, but at least I tried!

I started out sketching a picture where the focus was on Beowulf and his unnamed thief-companion, surrounded by Beren and Lúthien, Bilbo and Thorin, Frodo and Sam, and I was just wondering if Fingon counted as a thief for stealing Maedhros, when suddenly I became too clever for my own good and decided that since both the Beowulf-thief and Bilbo steal a great two-handed cup from a dragon's hoard, I should focus the picture around a two-handed cup, embossed with a design of Beren and Lúthien with the Silmaril and a hand that could be either Bilbo or the Beowulf-thief stealing it, but then I remembered Thorin's last words: "If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”

And so there's a second cup, small and wooden, with Frodo and Sam carved as tiny figures beside Mount Doom.

So probably it's so overcomplicated now that I'll have no idea what I was trying to communicate this time next year, but hey. I gave it a good earnest go with all the thought and skill I have.

And I hope that even Telchar would not ask more than that.

Shadow: Oh I love those ideas, that sounds amazing! You managed to pack so many parts of the presentation into that one piece of art! I'm very excited to see it once it's done. Your story also sounds very interesting, and will be an excellent fit for the presentation, I'm sure! Where can we find your previous creations to get a taste for your works before Mereth Aderthad? Feel free to highlight any pieces you are especially proud of!

bunn: A lot of my writing, particularly recent shorter works, is on SWG, and my art website is here.

Shadow: Wonderful! I hope our readers get the chance to check those out! One last question, then I'll let you go:

With Mereth Aderthad is fast approaching, what are you most looking forward to for the event?

bunn: I'm thinking that there's going to be tons of ideas sparked and inspiration from all the different and very varied presentations, art, and fic, I'm really looking forward to that explosion of ideas all together, rather than focussing on just one thing.

I think a lot of things will spring from this event, as you'd expect from a Mereth Aderthad. Hopefully though, there will be no kinslayings. 😄

Shadow: I sure hope not! Thank you so much for taking the time to speak to me about your works! I'm looking forward to seeing both of them at the event!