Letter 66

Letter 66 is a letter written by J.R.R. Tolkien and published in The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Summary

This fragment of an airgraph, dated May 6, 1944, is written to Christopher. Tolkien first expresses some comments about the slow airgraph system. The Professor and his son write a lot, but since their letters arrive late, they cannot reply properly. He then relates some memories of training camp, and comments about the war. He sees the war as a battle against Sauron with the Ring, but someway they are winning it. The penalty for this war is, however, creating new Saurons, and turning Men and Elves into Orcs. He sees his son as "a hobbit among the Urukhai".

The next topic is the current state of The Lord of the Rings, where a new character has entered the scene: "(I am sure I did not invent him, I did not even want him, though I like him, but there he came walking into the woods of Ithilien): Faramir, brother of Boromir".

External links

• V-mail, a mail system similar to airgraph, at Wikipedia.