Susan and John Ruff, Fantasy Authors

The two pictures sat next to each other on the page in front of us. One was a photograph of Switzerland’s beautiful Lauterbrunnen Valley. The other was artwork done by J.R.R. Tolkien depicting the valley of Rivendell from his fantasy books. The similarities between the two pictures were striking.

We were on a train traveling from Wengen down to the floor of the Lauterbrunnen Valley. Our local tour guide showed us the two pictures as he explaned that Tolkien had hiked in Switzerland in his youth. Clearly, Tolkien’s experience in the valley helped to inspire some of the locations in the books he would later write.

My recent trip to Switzerland was actually the second time I had visited the Lauterbrunnen Valley. In the early 1970’s, my family had camped in the valley for a few days during a grand tour of Europe. Even as a teenager, I was impressed by the magnificent landscape. At the time, the Swiss mountains were among the highest peaks I had ever seen.

Fifty years later, when I arrived in the Lauterbrunnen Valley once more, I found myself enchanted anew by the loveliness of the region. Mountains rise steeply on the sides of the valley, with waterfalls cascading down rock faces. Pretty villages full of chalet-style houses dot the green slopes, and wildflowers fill the mountain meadows.

But this time the trip was even more magical because of the connection to Tolkien’s books. It is a great privilege to walk in the midst of another author’s writing inspiration. I could easily imagine Elves flitting through the woods or singing beneath the stars. It felt like having a personal conversation with the author: “Tell me about this place that made such a lasting impression on you. Let me experience it the way you did, with all its otherworldly beauty.”

When our guide introduced us to the three main peaks of the region — the Eiger, Monch, and Jungfrau — I immediately thought of Gimli’s description of the three peaks of the Misty Mountains in the Lord of the Rings:

“This is the land where our fathers worked of old, and we have wrought the image of those mountains into many works of metal and of stone . . . Yonder stands Barazinbar, the Redhorn, cruel Caradhras; and beyond him are Silvertine and Cloudyhead; Celebdil the White, and Fanuidhol the Grey, that we call Zirakzigil and Bundushathur.”

Our Swiss tour guide never told us whether those three mountains of the Bernese Alps inspired the ones in Tolkien’s books, so I can only speculate. Assuming that those peaks were part of Tolkien’s inspiration, which one might correspond with Caradhras, the mountain that gave the fellowship so much trouble when they tried to cross it?

My money is on the Eiger. Even during the early 20th Century, the Eiger’s north face was still confounding mountaineers. If any mountain is worthy of defeating Gandalf the Grey, that is certainly the one.

-Susan 7/7/2023