Experiencing a Different World

I love to read. I love to read many different kinds of books, from many different genres. But when I look at the shelf that holds my most-loved books, nearly all of them come from the fantasy genre. Filled with exciting stories of Hobbits, rabbits, and elves, even just glancing at the covers is enough to make me smile and feel excited. The heroes in these stories encourage me on bad days and cause me to be more determined on good ones. If fantasy didn’t exist, I’m sure I would still love to read, but until I started reading these types of books, I didn’t recognize how much impact characters and stories could have on people’s lives, for good or bad. Today, I am going to share the reasons fantasy is my favorite type of story to read.

Audrey Reads The Silmarillion

This week, I delved deeper into Middle-earth history and lore, and read The Silmarillion. I have had this book since Easter, and had read a few chapters of it, but was distracted by other books, and a little intimidated by all the characters and places in it. And there are A LOT of characters. But I realized that even if I couldn’t name all of Fëanor’s sons, I could still enjoy the book, and learning the history that came before the tales of Bilbo and Frodo. In this post, I’m going to give some of my thoughts on it and give some introductions to the main characters.

“But I Can Carry You”: A Star Wars: Bloodline Fanfiction

Suprise!! It’s a completely random mid-week post, a special treat for you!!

I’ve actually got something super special that I’ve never done for TEP before for ya today, and that is… a fanfiction!! This is a little thing that I wrote shortly after reading Claudia Gray’s Star Wars: Bloodline.

The Importance of Fiction: Why “Made Up” Stories Should Never Be Neglected

A couple of years ago in my Advanced Writing class, I chose to write many of the assigned papers about things I knew the best and felt the most comfortable around. Obviously, this includes things related to my fandoms. I did a presentation on the place comic books had during World War II, a compare-contrast paper on the lives and works of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, and even a cause-effect paper on fandoms themselves. I also wrote this essay on something that I’m especially passionate about: the importance of fiction.

A Farewell to Star Wars Rebels: part 1

In just a few days, the amazing show Star Wars Rebels will come to its conclusion.

We’ve had four seasons of the Ghost crew and their fight against the Empire, each member learning as they overcame challenges of all kinds together. I started watching this show only a year ago, and even though I know the Finale is going to be fantastic and well-thought out, I am extremely sad that it’s ending. It will be missed greatly. In honor of Rebels, the team of The Elven Padawan – Shay, Kitten, and I, Audrey – talk about our favorite characters, episodes, and why we love Rebels so much.

Why Fandoms are Important to Me

“Fairytales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us dragons can be beaten.” 

– G. K. Chesterton

To some people, books and movies are just books and movies. A way to entertain themselves, maybe use their imaginations for a short time and then go back to normal life. That’s not how it works for me.

The Elven Padawan: From Erebor to Echo Base – #13 – Featuring special guest, Aceofstars16!

SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY Official Teaser Drops!

Star Wars fans got a real treat during the Superbowl today: Our first look at May’s Solo: A Star Wars Story!!

What I Learned From Bilbo and Thorin’s Company: Lessons from The Hobbit

“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.”

Nearly a year ago was the first time I read those words and began the discovery of what is now one of my favorite books. More recently, I also had the chance to watch the movies based on the book. Both are amazing adventures in themselves, but one of my favorite things to do with any book or movie is to find things that point to God. The story means so much more when there are eternal things like Love, Hope, and Truth included. Since J. R. R. Tolkien was a believer in Christ, it makes sense that his stories reflect that, even though they aren’t designed to be an allegory. Let’s go on an adventure to find some of the lessons from both the book and the movies. (Don’t forget your pocket handkerchiefs!)