Patrick Leitzen

Dear J.R.R. Tolkien,

Your trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, is an amazingly large part of my life. When I finally finished reading The Return of the King, I felt an idea growing inside of me. It was an idea greater than the mighty Anduin River, more powerful than all the kings of Gondor. It was inspiration. Your trilogy inspired me to write.

Ideas started springing into my head of a mythical land filled with mystic races that lived in peace and, often, war. My own land, with raging rivers and majestic mountains. Plains, hills, deserts and forests covering multiple kingdoms. Dragons, griffons, centaurs, elves, dwarves, and creatures unimaginable to any crypto-zoologist. The land of Arkrulien was born.

These things arose like an eagle in flight through my head, and I had to pick up a pencil and write them down. Before I knew it I had ten, twenty, thirty pages! In a week there were one-hundred and nine pages in all. I was proud of myself.

So again I say you have inspired me. Everything has changed since I started reading your books. Thank you very much, for indeed, though I know you not, you have changed my life forever.