Ronald Dwale
Ronald Dwale is a a member of the Writing Society which meets regularly at The Bird and Baby Inn in Michel Delving. During the Yule Festivals, he is found in the back room of the Frostbluff Theatre finishing a play.
Description
Ronald Dwale is an analogue of Professor J. R. R. Tolkien, who was called Ronald by his family. The quests in which the NPC Ronald Dwale is involved are based on references to real-world events and elements related to Prof. Tolkien. Even Dwale refers to his own surname; also, in a comment on Dwaling he reminds translators of the old English meaning which is dull[1]. As one can read below, the names of the other Inkling "stand-ins" have been only changed slightly.
Further real-life references are found in the last section of this page.
Ronald Dwale (Evendim)
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![[21.2S, 64.5W]](/wiki/File:Evendim_map.jpg){kind=link}
Ronald Dwale is found at Hob Hillbrow's home in Glass-blowers' Camp in Evendim. He is currently in need of assistance in finding a lost leaf of paper on which an epic story begins, and a lost toy of his son's.
Quest Involvement
- [31] Lost Dog
- [31] Recovering the Lost Leaf
- [31] Missing the Meeting
- [65] In Their Absence, Chapter 4 - Fellowship
- See "Real Life Inspiration" below for curio about the quests.
Quotes
- "I've come all the from Dwaling to see my plays performed."
- "But what if they simply flew in on giant eagles? No...that would never work...."
- "Pardon me, but I am on the cusp of finishing the next play...."
Ronald Dwale (Frostbluff)
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During the Yule Festivals Ronald is found in the back room of the Frostbluff Theatre in Winter-home finishing a play.
Real Life Inspiration
Notice: Contains Quest Spoilers
In the quest Lost Dog, Ronald Dwale asks the player's character to retrieve a Small Lead Dog that his son lost by the Brandywine River. This is a reference to the story Roverandom which Prof. Tolkien created to appease his son Michael Tolkien when Michael lost his favourite toy, a lead dog. The quest dialogue relates the story of Ronald Dwale's son losing the favourite toy, and the description of the Small Lead Dog item makes reference story elements of Roverandom.
In the quest Recovering the Lost Leaf, Ronald Dwale asks the player's character to find and return a leaf of paper which contains the beginnings of a story he plans to write for his children. This most likely is a reference to The Hobbit which Prof. Tolkien wrote for his children. The Hobbit began as a single line on a leaf of paper: "On a blank leaf I scrawled: 'In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit" (JRR Tolkien, from The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, No 163, to W.H. Auden, dated 1955).[2]
In the quest Missing the Meeting, Ronald Dwale asks the player's character to travel to The Bird and Baby Inn in Michel Delving to inform Jack Lewisdown and his fellow Writing Society members that he will not be able to attend the meeting. This is a reference to the real world literary discussion group The Inklings, which included, at various times, Prof. Tolkien, C.S. "Jack" Lewis, Owen Barfield (Owen Farfield), and Charles Williams (Carlo Williams), who met regularly at the Oxford pub Eagle and Child. The quest even works in the use of the word "inkling" into the bestowal dialogue.