Making Light:  Open thread 132 ::: November 27, 2009, 05:48 PM

AKICIML:  In an NPR interview, Daniyal Mueenuddin likens Palestine's
madrassas to The Lord of the Rings, in which (he says)

  there's a wonderful scene in that in which the evil lord, whose
  name I forget, is sort of building an army out of clay and dust
  and underground, these vats, making these evil warriors.

Does everyone agree that he's got the wrong book?  Anyone care to
venture a guess what work he's actually remembering?