Lots more Middle-earth on the way as new things are previewed and fans assemble on Bilbo & Frodo’s birthday this year.
Tales of the Shire preview & new release date
Weta Workshop & Private Division gave select fans and gamers a playable demo of Tales of the Shire, a console & PC game coming to all platforms – Nintendo Switch, Xbox, Playstation, PC, and mobile via Netflix Games. Developers also announced the release date has been pushed to March 25, 2025. We have a full writeup and video playthroughs in another article.
Game producer Calliope Ryder was at TwitchCon San Diego this weekend for a panel on Tales of the Shire, and posted a “fun facts” thread about shirefolk on X.
so lovely to chat all things cosy and Hobbity!! thank you @MerryKish and @itscozyk for looking after us so well đ
It was also revealed that the duck with a dwarven helmet is a featured character, and its name is Ladle (sp?)!
If my ears do not deceive me, the name of the armored duck in Tales of the Shire is Leidel?@talesoftheshire can probably correct me if am wrong… pic.twitter.com/OLtMDm0N9b
Richard Taylor and the team at Weta Workshop posted a 20-minute behind the scenes video of the game in progress.
War of the Rohirrim gets a poster & Warhammer tie-in
New Line Cinema’s feature anime film The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim debuted its theatrical poster for Hobbit Day!
Also announced, Warhammer is bringing Rohirrim into its Middle-earthâą Strategy Battle Game with TheLord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrimâą â Battle of Edoras starter set. The 56 piece package includes a board map, some Edoras structures, and a ton of miniature painted figures that the Tabletop RPG is known for. Get all the details over at Warhammer website.
Official WB social accounts reawaken
The Hobbit Movie posted a charming little video to celebrate Hobbit Day.
Today of all days, donât forget your second breakfast! Happy #HobbitDay. Donât miss #LOTR The War Of The Rohirrim only in theaters this Christmas. pic.twitter.com/gzpAl3DfiJ
Fans spotted that an orchestra concert of ‘The music of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit’ is coming to Pasadena in March 2025, and tickets are now available at Ticketmaster. (Note this is not the full scores being played with the movie – stay tuned for news of The Return of the King with live orchestra coming to NYC early next year!)
Prime Video celebrates Sauron on Hobbit Day
Also posting on Bilbo’s birthday was official accounts for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, focusing on Sauron. This fan wants to know: is Harfoot Nori’s birthday also September 22?
While a lot of your favorite Tolkien influencers are being featured in official The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power marketing, including our own greendragon, more fans are getting into the TolkienTube game. The newest is Makers of Middle-earth from Anna MarĂa, who has previously joined us for SDCC panels and livestreams. Her first interview is with the legendary Jed Brophy!
Fans celebrate together worldwide for Hobbit Day 2024
New Zealand fans visited Hobbiton with Red Carpet Tours.
Header photo is from Diane in the TORN Discord, taken under the party tree at Hobbiton! We hope all our fellow fans had a happy, hobbity day of fun and festivity – and are enjoying the riches of this era in the Tolkien fandom.
Have you ever wanted to try your hand at stocking your hobbit larder with some deliciously crunchable dill pickles, but didn’t want to fuss with the mess of canning them? Then you’re in luck! Whether you use homegrown cucumbers or those you have purchased at your local market, learn how to pickle them with this quick and easy recipe! Watch the new episode.
Quick Refrigerator Dill Pickles
To begin: Wash your cucumbers and chop off their heads and tails before measuring them against your jar and cutting them down to size. Next, slice your cucumbers into spears, chips, or both! I recommend placing the solid ingredients into the jar before stuffing the jar with cucumbers. You can even prepare a cute little jar just to bring on a picnic! Feel free to experiment with the ingredients.
Brine:
1Œ cups distilled white vinegar (5% acidity)
3 tablespoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 cups cold water
1Ÿ to 2 pounds Kirby cucumbers (about 6), cut into halves or spears
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
6 large garlic cloves, peeled and halved
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
16 or so dill sprigs
Instructions:
Combine the vinegar, salt and sugar in a small non-reactive saucepan (such as stainless steel, glass, ceramic or teflon) over high heat. Whisk until the salt and sugar are dissolved. Transfer the liquid into a bowl and whisk in the cold water. Refrigerate brine until ready to use.
Stuff the cucumbers into two clean 1-quart jars. Add the coriander seeds, garlic cloves, mustard seeds, red pepper flakes, dill sprigs, and chilled brine into jars, dividing evenly. If necessary, add a bit of cold water to the jars until the brine covers the cucumbers. Cover and refrigerate about 24 hours, then serve. The pickles will keep in the refrigerator for up to one month or two.
Happy Hobbit has brought Middle-earth to its viewers’ daily lives since 2012! Learn more hobbity recipes, crafts, and more by watching new episodes and/or perusing the 10+ years worth of videos on their YouTube channel. đ» New episodes debut every other Saturday, so be sure you are subscribed to Happy Hobbit so that you don’t miss out!
Get even more slow-living hobbit content by following Happy Hobbit on Instagram,Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok! If watching the show has left you with an appetite for more, know that Kili (Kellie) has a podcast where Tolkien is often mentioned called Forests, Folklore & Fantasy.
September 22nd is the birthday of both Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. On September 21st 1937, The Hobbit was published. So this weekend is a great time to celebrate in ‘Shire-ish’ style – and we have suggestions for you if you’re near New York or Los Angeles!
On Saturday 21st, TORn’s good friend Donato Giancola is hosting an Open Studio in Brooklyn. This is an incredible opportunity to meet the artist himself, see where he works, and gaze upon his latest large scale Middle-earth painting, Bridge of Khazad-dĂ»m. If you’re very lucky, you may even go home with a Giancola original of your own! Here are the details:
Donato Giancola Open Studio, 11am – 6pm Saturday 21st September
397 Pacific Street Brooklyn, NY 11217
Donato says:
This Fall (or the end of Summer) will see the annual hosting of an Open Studio here at our home and studio in Brooklyn. Open to you, friends, and anyone who you may like to bring along.
I will be showcasing the newly finished, large scale Middle-earth canvas, the Bridge of Khazad-dĂ»m, alongside handfuls of new oil paintings including recent work for Tad William’s Stone of Farewell, D&D themed drawings, Empathetic Robot projects, as well as scores of classics from my 30+ year career as an illustrator.
Of lucky significance for this event is that September 21st is also the 87th Anniversary of the publication of The Hobbitby J.R.R. Tolkien!
I cannot be more thrilled by this opportunity to celebrate the writings and art of Middle-earth. Keep your eyes out for some very special offerings as I plan events and give-a-ways for this day including a lottery for copies of Middle-earth: Visions of A Modern Myth, a signed The Hobbit featuring my cover art from the Science Fiction Book Club edition (signed just by me, not Tolkien, sorry!), and other original art and prints to be announced in the coming weeks.
Anchoring the studio for the second year in a row is another massive Middle-earth work, at 66″ x 80″, and this time – framed! The successful Kickstarter which just ended this past week will allow me to offer that special print for visitors to examine first hand and enter a lottery for a free large canvas giclee of the art if you missed out on the campaign!
The Lottery will include numerous items in the offering- from an original oil painting, to a Middle-earth original drawing (Moon-Letters – see the image above), to prints, books and Magic Artist Proof paintings – and more to be added as we get closer to the date. (In-person Lottery drawing will be held at 5pm on Saturday, entrants need not be present to win.)
We are also thrilled that the artist & pianist Colleen Quint will be playing live on our piano throughout the day and artists Kelley Hensing and Carter Gill will be present to assist once again this year! New works from Magic: The Gathering as well as interior art for projects with Grim Oak Press will be on display throughout the studio.
For those who may be Darrell Sweet fans, I have his original acrylic painting of the Hobbit cover hanging in our home. This was the artwork used on the paperback book I first read as a young teenager!
Heavy discounts on prints and select original artworks will be offered. I will also have a handful of sketchbooks around for browsing and a few portfolios filled with large, preliminary drawings and studies will also be on display for perusal. Stop by, take in some art, and kick back in the backyard while you enjoy a lemonade in a little part of the Shire in Brooklyn and raise a toast to Tolkien!
Even if you can’t attend in person, you could enter the Online Lottery!
For all the online audience who may not make it to Brooklyn for the Open Studio, Donato is offering an online lottery for give-a-ways, closing September 21st 11:59 PM ET. To register for the lottery to win one of the incredible gifts (listed below) simply visit Donato’s social media pages (Facebook, Instagram or Twitter) and enter a comment on the respective post for the Lottery. Or email lottery@donatoarts.com with ‘Enter’ in the subject field/message.
Items for the Online Lottery include:
– Original watercolor, Micro Painted Magic: The Gathering Artist Proof
– Bridge of Khazad-dĂ»m 24″ x 28″ foiled and embossed print (US shipping only)
– The Great Dragon Smaug 14″ x 11″ print (US shipping only)
– Trifold Keepsake of the Bridge of Khazad-dĂ»m and 6″ x 9″ print of Gandalf and the Balrog
One entry per person.
Sunday 22nd September – TORn’s annual Baggins Birthday Bash
Come and eat, drink and be Hobbity with TORn! Staffers Garfeimao and Quickbeam (and others!) will be there to greet folks from 11.30am. Bring food for the potluck; or maybe even enter the Baggins Birthday Cake contest. Costumes strongly encouraged. Enjoy this very popular annual gathering of fans; all are welcome!
You can find all the details about the event here. Please note, this is event is FREE, and will be held in the Mineral Wells Picnic area of the park. There may be other happenings at Griffith Park that day – so double check the details so you know where to find us.
No doubt many fans will be gathering for festivity this weekend; let us know how you’ll be celebrating the Baggins Boys’ birthdays!
If you have read The Lord of the Rings, there is a good chance that you skipped over one or more of the 75 songs and poems in J.R.R. Tolkienâs fantasy epic. Yet long before he was the âfather of modern fantasyâ, Tolkienâs great ambition was to be a poet.
He wrote hundreds of poems throughout his life, running the gamut from playful limericks to lengthy verse epics in Old English alliterative meter (verse that focuses on alliteration, the repetition of consonant sounds in two or more words or syllables). But despite his prolific poetic output, Tolkien remains best-known for his prose. Published by Harper Collins, The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien â the first tome to bring together all of his poetry â will not alter its authorâs reputation as a storyteller first and foremost, but it will offer readers illuminating new insights into this oft-neglected side of his personality.
This new book has been in the works since 2016, when Christopher Tolkien sent editors Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull several folders of his fatherâs unpublished poetry. Hammond and Scull are two of the worldâs most respected Tolkien scholars, having written painstaking reference works such as the J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide (2017) and The Lord of the Rings: A Readerâs Companion (2008). They have also edited previous works by Tolkien, including the short poetry collection The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (2014).
Between them, Hammond and Scull have precisely the obsessive eye for detail and encyclopaedic knowledge of Tolkienâs corpus required to pull off such an undertaking. And once you hold this deluxe, three-volume, 1,500-page tome in your hands, you will grasp just how monumental an undertaking it is.
The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien contains nearly 250 individual works spanning more than five decades, 70 of them previously unpublished.
Hammond and Scull do not present the poems as standalone texts. They meticulously document the manuscript history of each poem from initial fragments to final drafts, tracing their evolution over the course of years or even decades.
This is because Tolkien would frequently return to the same poem throughout his life, revising and reworking it over and over â much as he did with his literary mythology.
The Sea-Bell is a perfect example. In 1934, Tolkien published a poem in The Oxford Magazine entitled Looney. It describes a manâs voyage to an enchanted other-world and his desolation upon returning to ordinary life afterwards.
Almost 30 years later, Looney underwent major redrafting to become The Sea-Bell, which was published in The Adventures of Tom Bombadil in 1962. The poemâs basic narrative arc remained the same, but the imagery was darker, more evocative, more devastating. The protagonist is utterly cut off from his contemporaries, with no words to communicate an experience they cannot understand.
But The Sea-Bell is not merely a revision of its predecessor. Looney was conceived and published as an independent work. In The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, on the other hand, The Sea-Bell is framed as a text written by an unnamed hobbit within Middle-earth, which Tolkien had discovered and translated for modern readers. This conceit invites readers to put the poem in direct conversation with the themes of melancholy and sea-longing which run throughout The Lord of the Rings.
By charting how the poem and its context changed over time, Hammond and Scull show how its meaning changed too.
Many of us live with a nagging sense that industrialised modernity has cut us off from the cosmos, from nature and from our authentic selves. The Romantics and their inheritors believed that art could reconnect us to what is deepest and truest in ourselves and in the world around us â could re-enchant the world.
This is one way to read Tolkienâs entire literary project. He suggests as much in his famous essay On Fairy-Stories (1947).
Eminent Tolkien researcher Verlyn Flieger reads The Sea-Bell as a profound expression of disenchantment, a reflection perhaps of Tolkienâs service in the first world war. But the powers of re-enchantment are at work elsewhere in his work, in the elven-realm of LothlĂłrien for instance. This dialectic of disconnection and reconnection lies at the heart of Tolkienâs enduring appeal.
As The Collected Poems of J.R.R. Tolkien attests, that same dynamic is at play in his poetry as much as his prose. But be forewarned: this book is not for the faint of heart. Its massive scope, and the academic presentation of the material, are better suited to the Tolkien scholar than the casual reader â certainly not the one who leapfrogs the songs in The Lord of the Rings.
But if you, like me, feel a compulsion to own everything released under the professorâs name, that is hardly going to stop you.
If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem youâd like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net. One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.
This week in Reflections from the Shire we have a guest post from Tolkien lover, and Tiktok and Threads regular, Lea/Silmarilleanne about The Shibboleth of FĂ«anor and it’s appearance in The Rings of Power episode four. Enjoy!
~ Staffer Kelvarhin
Reflections from the Shire – The Shibboleth of FĂ«anor
Guest post by: Lea/Silmarilleanne
Keen-eared Tolkien fans may have noticed an interesting linguistic quirk spoken by Adar at the end of episode four of The Rings of Power. He greets Galadriel with a familiar Quenyan phrase â one used by Frodo to greet Gildor Ingolrion in The Lord of the Rings: âelen sĂla lĂșmenn omentielvoâ, to quote Frodo. But Adarâs is slightly different, raising some interesting possibilities about his original elven identity.
Firstly, thereâs the fact that Adar is speaking Quenya at all. This suggests he is a Noldo of Valinor â just as Galadriel is; Quenya the language originated in Valinor and is the the language of the High Elves. It was dropped in favour of Sindarin shortly after the exiled Noldor arrived in Middle-earth, thanks to the ban placed upon it being spoken by the Sindar King, Elu Thingol, after he was informed of the Kinslaying at AlqualondĂ«, the victims of which were his own people, the Teleri. It was never spoken by any of the other elves of Middle-earth, becoming something of an archaic language of lore. Furthermore, Adar calls Galadriel âAltĂĄrielâ, the Quenyan form of the name Galadriel â an epessĂ« (a kind of nickname) she was given in Valinor, and which was Sindarised to Galadriel in Middle-earth. This is all to say, were he anything other than a Noldo, it is extremely unlikely he would have spoken Quenya and known Galadrielâs Quenyan epessĂ«.
The most intriguing part of all this though is instead of sĂla, Adar pronounces the word as thĂla â or, more accurately ĂŸĂla. This usage of the thorn in place of s suggests he is not only speaking Quenya, but a very specific dialect of Quenya â FĂ«anorian Quenya, known amongst many fans as âthe FĂ«anorian lispâ (indeed, those who spoke this way were dubbed âthe Lispersâ).
In The Shibboleth of FĂ«anor, published in The Peoples of Middle-earth, volume 12 of the History of Middle-earth, Tolkien at his philological best describes how sociopolitical matters affect language and vice versa. As the Shibboleth explains, the Noldor and the Vanyar, two of the three tribes of elves, once lived together in the city of Tirion in Valinor and shared a language, Quenya. The Vanyar relocated to the city of Valmar to be closer to the Valar, and as a result of this distancing, dialectical shifts occurred between the two peoples. The Vanyar retained the ĂŸ in their language, but amongst the Noldor there was a âconscious and deliberate changeâŠbased primarily on phonetic âtasteâ and theoryâ to s.
The change was attacked and opposed by loremasters, who believed it would cause damage âin confusing stems and their derivatives that had been distinct in sound and senseâ. The chief linguistic loremaster at this time was FĂ«anor, who as well as being a fastidious loremaster also had a very personal reason for objecting to the change. FĂ«anorâs mother, and first queen of the Noldor, was MĂriel Ăerinde. While the linguistic shift is said to have happened (or at least began) within her lifetime, MĂriel herself adhered to the pronunciation ĂŸ, and âdesired that all her kin should adhere to it also, at least in the pronunciation of her nameâ, therefore ĂerindĂ« as opposed to SerindĂ«.
However, unprecedented amongst the elves of this time, MĂriel died, and refused to be re-embodied. Embittered by this, her husband FinwĂ« himself switched away from ĂŸ in favour of s, which had at this point become almost universal amongst the Noldor bar MĂrielâs kin. Matters were worsened further when his second wife, Indis of the Vanyar, followed suit. As a Vanya, Indis had hitherto retained the ĂŸ in her speech, but she declared, âI have joined the people of the Noldor, and I will speak as they doâ. FĂ«anor, hating Indis and seeing her as somewhat of a usurper in his motherâs rightful place, believed her switch to be a grave insult and belittlement of his mother, and came to view the rejection of Ă as a symbol of rejection of both his mother MĂriel, and by extension himself, her son, as the chief of the Noldor next to FinwĂ«.
Thus, he became yet more vehement in his objection of the shift, even while his behaviour turned those who had previously agreed with him to the opposing side:
âHad peace been maintained there can be no doubt that the advice of FĂ«anor, with which all the other loremasters privately or openly agreed, would have prevailed. But an opinion in which he was surely right was rejected because of the follies and evil deeds into which he was later led.â
FĂ«anor remained steadfast in his opposition, pointedly calling himself âSon of Ăerindeâ and telling his sons, when they queried the difference in their speech from that of their kin, that they âspeak as is right, and as King FinwĂ« did before he was led astrayâ.
So even before the Rebellion of the Noldor and their exodus to Middle-earth, s in place of ĂŸ had become dominant, and this was further cemented in exile: âThe s was certainly used in Beleriand by almost all the Noldor,â Tolkien writes, and this is followed by the note âIt is not even certain that all FĂ«anorâs sons continued to use Ă after his death and the healing of the feudâ between the FĂ«anorians and the family of Fingolfin, though it seems almost certain any elf who did retain the thorn would have been counted amongst the FĂ«anorian followers â thus is raised the question of Adarâs identity.
But Adar saying it to Galadriel adds yet another layer of significance. The Shibboleth of FĂ«anor further details how Finarfin, Galadrielâs father âloved the Vanyar (his motherâs people)â and that because of this love in his house, ĂŸ remained in standard use and he was moved neither one way nor the other by FĂ«anorâs shibboleth, acting purely as he wished. Galadriel therefore grew up in a household that retained the ĂŸ. However:
âopposition to FĂ«anor,â Tolkien writes, âsoon became a dominant motive with Galadriel⊠so while she knew well the history of their tongue and all the reasons of the loremasters, she certainly used s in her own daily speech.â
In other words, she purposely transitioned to using s to spite FĂ«anor. Adarâs own usage of it then could also be retaliative or in a similar vein: he is aware of its import and meaning to Galadriel and could potentially be purposely using it as a means of aggravating her.
Regardless of whether Adarâs use of the âFĂ«anorian lispâ becomes significant and plot-relevant, or remains a little easter egg for keen-eared viewers, it has certainly conjured a lot of discussion, and a wonderful new level of interest in more casual fans, who have begun seeking out a once fairly obscure text like The Shibboleth of FĂ«anor.
About the author:Lea aka Silmarilleanne is a long-time lover of Tolkien’s works with a penchant for his languages and the House of FinwĂ«. When her nose isn’t buried in a book or a PlayStation controller in her hands, she can most often be found talking Tolkien on Tiktok and Threads.
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If youâd like to discuss “The Shibboleth of FĂ«anor” further, or just want to discuss all things Tolkien in a welcoming, troll-free environment check out TheOneRing.netâs Discord or message boards.
If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem youâd like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net. One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.
