The Darker Side of Sodor

Dear Solitary Reader,

I’ve got this week off of work (woohoo!) and right now I’m having some quality time with the boy; by quality time I mean I’m on the computer and he’s on the floor playing trains and watching Thomas the Tank Engine.

Normally I’m a fan of Thomas, but I just made a bit of connection and now I’m a little weirded out by everyone’s favourite tank engine and the world in which he lives/rules.

In this particular episode an engine by the name of Fearless Freddie is trying to organize a party for his friend Colin, who just happens to be a crane, and in the process is screwing things up royally. Freddie is ordering humans around all over the place and they obey his every whim as if he were the very voice of reason. This is not an isolated incident; all over the island of Sodor trains are ordering around their human counterparts.

So what was the connection that weirded me out? Well if you take away some letters from the word Sodor and add some more and then shift them around a bit you get this word: Kitten. Oh wait, sorry wrong letters there… lets start over… from Sodor if you take out the S, add an M and a strategically placed R you get Mordor. And as we all know, that’s where the Shadow’s Lie.

If you’ve seen Thomas, Solitary Reader, and are over the age of five, you’ve probably also wondered why the humans on the island of Sodor obey the trains, who have the intellect of your average three year old; I believe I have discovered the reason: Thomas and his eight friends are the Ringwraiths from the Lord of the Rings.

The parallels are there for those who have the eye to see them (use two eyes, as often as you can spare them).

Sir Topham Hatt, the one “human” whom everyone seems to obey is actually Sauron, the Dark Lord. After his defeat by the newly forged Armies of the West and the destruction of the Ring of Power, Sauron was not in fact ended, he was merely diminished; no longer able to even inhabit that heavy armour, he took the form of a portly gentlemen and found an island to recuperate his strength.

He also realized that whereas everyone looks at the picture to the left and sees evil incarnate; the picture on the right conveys the image of only a bumbling fool and therefore is not to be feared; there were advantages to this new form.

But what of the Nine you ask? The Ringwraiths, what happened to them?

In the opening song for Thomas & Friends, eight trains are mentioned. Thomas, Edward, Henry, Gordon, James, Percy, Toby and Emily. That’s Eight Trains. In the canonical piece Thomas & The Great Discovery Thomas encounters a new train whose name is Stanley. In the closing lyrical piece Stanley is inserted into that opening song making for a song of 9 trains.

Nine Trains. Nine Ringwraiths. To quote Filmore from Cars: “I’m not the only one seeing this right?”

Thomas as the number one train on Sir Sauron Hatt’s railway is obviously the Witch King of Angmarr.

Percy, James, Gordon, Henry, Edward, Emily, Toby and Stanley. All Ringwraiths.

When you think of it, it makes even more sense. The Nazgul started out on horseback and then moved into the aeronautical form of travel, becoming the winged wraiths. These evil beings are very obviously early adopters, and probably saw the advantages of train transports; Thinking it the wave of the future. Really, its only the fact that trains need track that saved us.

And this explains why the humans on Sodor obey the trains; they’re afraid not to…

Oh, and one final comparison:

Sir Percival

=

Mouth of Sauron

One track to rule them; one track to find them
One track to bring them all in the darkness bind them
On the Island of Sodor, where the railway lies...

Sincerely,

Me