The Campbell Academy Blog (94)

Lembas Bread

In the first book of Lord of the Rings (The Fellowship of the Ring), the friends find themselves in the woodland realm of Lothlorien.

They meet the Elven Queen Galadriel, played by Cate Blanchett.

Galadriel is one of the most extraordinary characters in Lord of the Rings and the whole Lord of the Rings stories, but what she does there for the company is give them all a gift.

I wrote about this years ago in the blog so I won't repeat myself here.

She gives them all an individual gift specific to them and helps them in times of difficulty.

She also though gives them all food which is like rice cakes wrapped in leaves.

This is Elvin's bread called Lembas.

When all is well, and they're still in the woods of Lothlorien, safe, happy, and jolly, the lembas bread doesn't taste so good.

Sam complains to Frodo that it's dry and uninteresting, but what happens to lembas bread is it tastes better and better the harder things get.

Later, when Sam and Frodo find themselves in the worst possible circumstances, it becomes the world's most wonderful and beautiful food.

I have friends and people close to me that are a little bit like lembas.

I'd like to be lembas myself.

You don't need me when things are great; you're happy in yourself and can get on with whatever you're doing. The world seems good, and I can feed into the background.

I'll be here when it's difficult, when you need me the most, when things are really, really hard.

Every week, maybe every day, we all need a little bit of lembas from our friends, from our family, from our supporters.

Perhaps the first thing we can do is decide whose lembas we are going to be.