Awesomeness

On the topic of people with time on their hands, I can only humbly bow down to the complete and utter awesomeness that is the creation of this guy and his friends. Not only did they recreate the Battle of Helm’s Deep last year in candy, this year they did one better and did a fantastic diorama of The Battle of Pelennor Fields.

I’m not sure which is higher, to be honest, my amazement at the coolness factor, or my amazement at the geek factor. He includes details like the head of the king over the entrance to the Tower of Ecthelion. And his commentary about the whole thing is also priceless. One could perhaps quibble with the fact that he chose to recreate the movie version of the Battle of Helm’s Deep rather than the book version, but I think he has the artistic license to do whichever he pleases. This is a man of vision we’re talking about, after all
I can’t imagine what he might do next year. The fall of Gondolin? But that’s not described in nearly the same level of detail as Minas Tirith, so I don’t know that it would have the same visual impact, even if it were to be done.

I think that a great many things could be said about this artistic endeavour, about the sort of statement it’s making by the artist’s choice of a material like candy rather than something more lasting. How it’s a statement about the fleeting nature of all our accomplishments. How stories last forever, yet any sort of visualization is inherently temporary.
Furthermore, on a deeper level, that artificial distinctions of “good” and “evil” are as arbitrary as the differences between the colors of gummy bears. Looking even further, that truth and beauty can be found in all manner of things, even circus peanuts.
But most of all, we find that marshmallow plants are way cooler than ordinary plants. And that, yes, the Tower of Ecthelion is truly a biotchingly pimpin’ tower.