Recommendation: A Video Essay About Tolkien

"The fact that Tolkien can write the human (or Elf or Hobbit, as the case may be...) condition so well is because he had first-hand experience with most of the human condition is. Mostly, it's pain."

Encyclopedia Realmgardica: The Great Siege of Northgate

"Haakon’s pirates slowly advance through the city, though the defenders continued to make them pay as they advanced. The city’s defenders were ultimately driven back to Northgate’s citadel, though the pirates would never manage to breach the citadel’s impressive defences."