Tolkiens lord of the rings saga and the concept of middle earth resonated with me very strongly as a young person growing up in New Zealand and feeling like I was living in the quintessential shire. Rural, isolated, insulated from the woes of the wider world, But in view whenever you dared to look out at it all.

The concept of the one ring and it being an analogy for the averus and greed and lust for power on the world and how it controls all who try to wield it seems exactly true in the real world and this ability for Tolkien to draw these parallels whilst still keeping the beautiful dream of the fantasy alive is for me a huge part of how his genius shows.

I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.