Tolkien wrote a draft to an unidentified reader, and in it he describes his affinity to Faramir. (Or should I say, his affinity “with” Faramir? Patrick, Grammar Guru, care to comment?)
14 January 1856
… There is hardly any reference in The Lord of the Rings to things that do not actually exist on its own plane (of secondary or sub-creationary reality): sc. have been written. (The cats of Queen Beruthiel and the names and adventures of the other 2 wizards (5 minus Saruman, Gandalf, Radagast) are all that I recollect.) The Silmarillion was offered for publication years ago, and turned down. Good may come of such blows. The Lord of the Rings was the result. The hobbits had been welcomed. I loved them myself, since I love the vulgar and simple as dearly as the noble, and nothing moves my heart (beyond all the passions and heartbreaks of the world) so much as “ennoblement” (from the Ugly Duckling to Frodo). I would build on the hobbits. And I saw that I was meant to do it (as Gandalf would say – I am not Gandalf, being a transcendent Sub-creator in this little world. As far as any character is “like me” it is Faramir – except that I lack what all my characters possess (let the psychoanalysts note!) Courage), since without thought, in a “blurb” I wrote for The Hobbit, I spoke of the time between the Elder Days and the Dominion of Men. Out of that came the “missing link”: The “Downfall of Numenor”, releasing some hidden “complex”. For when Faramir speaks of his private vision of the Great Wave, he speaks for me. That vision and dream has been ever with me – and has been inherited (as I only discovered recently) by one of my children.
In the sense of attraction, affinity may be followed by of, between, or with. Thus one may speak of the close affinity of James and Samuel, or of the affinity between James and Samuel, or of James’s affinity with Samuel. In its chemical use affinity is generally followed by for: a dye with an affinity for synthetic fabrics. ·One might want to avoid using affinity as a simple synonym for liking since 62 percent of the Usage Panel rejects the example Her affinity for living in California led her to reject a chance to return to New York. Nevertheless, the more sophisticated tone inherent in this use of the word can lend an archness to certain contexts, as when Barbara Tuchman writes of Kaiser Wilhelm’s affinity for coarse physical jokes practiced upon his courtiers. This may be why 65 percent of the Usage Panel approved of this quotation when it was presented as an example.
Dictionary.com :-)
Patrick, please marry me.
I’ll think about it.
Just picture it. We can sit and criticize grammar mistakes in billboards, signage, newspapers …
There would be worse things in life than that.
I love Gandalf as an outstanding character of LOTR. Those who dont like him dont know him just visit http://www.lord-of-the-rings.org/books/gandalf.html .
Gandalf:
You keep spamming my comments like that, with identical LOTR references, (Boromir and Gandalf now) and I’ll ban you.
Knock it off.