UPDATE 6/2/25: AND now for a word from our commercial sponsor, The 144,000 Were Women. A few years have passed since I wrote that piece, so my recollection may be a little rusty, but if I recall correctly, the many Medieval portraits of ladies were implied to be candidates for Millennial Kingdom inhabitants. I even said as much here in my 11/20/23 UPDATE. It cannot be overstated how profound Tolkien’s description truly is. I’m talking about the part where Frodo slips on the ring and sees Glorfindel’s true spiritual self rather than his material counterpart. That tells us all we need to know about the resurrected saints hidden-in-plain sight game. Now that I’m thinking about it, we might want to consider that option when Michelangelo the Divine comes into play as well.
Every parent out there knows what happens when you give a mouse a cookie. He will ask for milk. A similar thing happened to me a couple of years ago when reporting on Frodo’s vision of Glorfindel. Months afterwards, still thirsty for that glass of milk, I took the children to the Smithsonian Institution, though it will always be the Smithsonian Institute to me, when I happened upon their Medieval collection. Let’s just say I was in heaven on earth.
It was while staring at the sculpture of an unknown angel in armor, complete with two Judah lions for shoulder plates, which sparked the next stage of my revelation. I’ve since shown him to others, and without even suggesting the possibility, they immediately blurt out how much he resembles one of Tolkien’s elves. I even spy the Green Man on his breastplate, and where had I seen that before? First of all, there is my Green Man paper for your consideration, but then, ‘The Rings of Power’ includes an elf character named Arondir, and he too wears a Green Man on his breastplate. Incredible. I call my weekly roundtable meetups KINGDOMVERSE for a reason, and you are all invited to them. Don’t you just love it when the research comes together?
If that is an angel, then it is only an angel as perceived through the mortal’s lens if you get my drift. His skin is smooth, and his cheeks are rosy when in fact he should be a flaming torch, blinding us all with his brilliance, and he isn’t. The case has already been made in Wastelands of the Seraphiym that spiritual entities can only be perceived through the left and right sides of our brain informing the other. But then, what of his armor? It is beautiful to behold. Beautiful but material none-the-less. I think I know what is going on. This will require some exposition.