Q: What did J. R. R. Tolkien once describe as the "heart" of his Lord of the Rings epic? (Letters, 221).

A: Tolkien said the "heart" of the story was the description of Lothlorien in The Fellowship of the Ring: When Frodo first sees Lothlorien, "he stood awhile lost in wonder. It seemed to him that he looked on a vanished world. A light was on it for which he had no name. . . . In winter here no heart could mourn for summer or spring. No sickness or blemish or deformity could be seen in anything that grew upon the earth. On the land of Lorien there was no stain.

When Frodo rejoins Aragorn, the latter seemed "wrapped in some fair memory," with "the grim years removed from his face, he seemed clothed in white, a young lord tall and fair. . . 'Here is the heart of Elvendom on earth,' said Aragorn, 'and here my heart dwells forever, unless there be a light beyond the dark roads that we must tread, you and I. Come with me!' And taking Frodo's hand in his, he left the hill of Cerin Amroth and came there never again as living man." (Fellowship, Book 4, chapter 6).