Lord of the Rings: The Animated Musical | Skills: Gardening
While gardening is not a skill typically associated with high fantasy literature, it was one of Sam Gamgee’s many talents. At the end of the scene in the Green Dragon in Book I, Chapter 1 “The Shadow of the Past” , the reader glances into Sam’s mind to learn that “there was a lot to do up in the Bag End garden… The grass was growing fast.” This short line references a continental divide in linguistics, European culture from the medieval period to the present, the politics of decolonization lawns, and environmental science, all of which I will unpack in this essay.