Journey to the Lands of The One – part 2

Travel diary of the Sur les Terres de l’Unique convention in Plouha, Brittany.

Part 1 is available here.

Sunday started with a blissful sleep in, after which Ted, his partner and I were at our station a little before 10 in the conference room for the signing session.

The other guests were Arnaud Lehue, one half of the pair responsible for the parodic comic book La Terre du Milieu mais un peu sur la gauche (“Middle-earth but slightly on the left”), Pascal Boillet, storyteller and artist, Jean-Rodolphe Turlin, specialist of Hobbits and of the geography of the Shire, Flavien Olry, author of a book comparing Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings to J.R.R. Tolkien’s, and Stéphane Arson, cartographer who was commissioned to redrawn Karen Fonstad’s maps for the translation of her Atlas of Middle-earth. Sadly, Ted didn’t have time for drawings, but he was very gracious and often offered to take pictures with visitors who didn’t dare ask.

We then had lunch delivered in the guest room, where I was surprised with the gift of a “Sea of Rhûn” print (Ted’s artwork for the poster of the event). I’d been eyeing that print like Gollum eyeing the Ring, because it was sadly a bit over my budget, so you can imagine my squeak when I was presented with the Precious. I felt I’d just received an Academy Award .

Shortly after it was time for the Q&A session that had replaced the concert originally planned. Audience members were a little shy at first, but the questions came in a steady flow.

After that, Ted and his partner went back for a nap (sleep kept evading him) and I took my time walking around the convention, listening to Evelina Simon’s harp concert, and spending a bit of time with my friends from Tolkiendil.

Ted and his partner were back in time for the end-of-convention parade. We brought up the rear in the company of Lúthien aka Aurore the photographer and were back in time to witness the epic Good vs Evil battle (and not get trampled in the process). There were, of course, a few farewell speeches worthy of a Hobbit thanking each and every attendee, as they should. And just like that, Sur les Terres de l’Unique 2023 was over. At least for visitors: dozens of people got busy putting everything away. For a few hours, ending in complete darkness, they worked on restoring the location to its parking-lot glory. Ted found a quiet spot to sign some prints. We had a late but merry dinner of leftovers, including leftovers from the pie contest and we not late to seek our beds before the second half of our Brittany adventures.

Because yes, our journey did not stop here! Part 3 includes a journey shrouded in mystery.

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