silwritersguild | Mereth Aderthad Interview: Interview with Cynthia Gates a.k.a. pandemonium

Mereth Aderthad 2025 Interview with Cynthia Gates a.k.a. pandemonium_213 by Grundy. "Tolkien, Lunatic Physicists, and Abnegation."

Fans of Tolkien will typically identify love, loyalty, nature, and hope as defining themes in his work. Less often do they see the legendarium as fertile grounds for exploring the use of science and technology. Cindy Gates, who has written under the pseudonym pandemonium_213 and retired from a scientific career last year, has written fanworks and meta for much of the SWG's history that do the opposite, presenting Middle-earth as a land where people face the same questions about science and technology that we do. Grundy spoke to Cindy about her upcoming Mereth Aderthad 2025 presentation, "Tolkien, Lunatic Physicists, and Abnegation" and the many fruitful connections between the Manhattan Project and The Silmarillion.

You can read Grundy's interview with Cindy here.