Blunt the Knives 5In our latest Library feature, Katelyn Rushe shares her theory that the Dwarves pre-wrote the song “Blunt the Knives” to deliberately tease the hobbit, Bilbo Baggins and get him “all fired up”.

Continue reading “Did the Dwarves Pre-write “Blunt the Knives””

If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d 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.

GreenBooks LogoIf you’ve been around TheOneRing.net for a while… correction: if you’ve been around TheOneRing.net for a really, really long time, you might remember the section of our site called GreenBooks. GreenBooks’ tag-line was: Exploring the Words and Worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien, and that’s exactly what our staff and guest contributors did there for many years. Sections included Quickbeam’s Out on a Limb, Turgon’s Bookshelf, Anwyn’s Counterpoint, and others, and explored topics on everything Tolkien with some movie and Peter Jackson articles thrown in for good measure.

Unfortunately, the old TORn site crashed early in 2007, which turned out to be a good thing as it forced us into the 21st century, adopting a new format that allows our readers to comment directly to articles (what a concept). However, GreenBooks became relegated to our old archived site, and the cobwebs grew thick there. Some of us oldies who know the right paths to take, still delight in poking around the old place every now and then, and while doing so recently it occurred to me that there’s no reason to leave such literary gems languishing in the cobwebs. So, once a week or so, I thought I’d dust one off and re-post it.

The one I selected for this week is titled: “Justice, Mercy and Redemption” by staff member, and co-author of TheOneRing.net’s books: “The People’s Guide to J.R.R. Tolkien,” and “More People’s Guide to J.R.R. Tolkien,” Anwyn. Also, if you’d like to take a peek, the old GreenBooks section is here. If you find something of interest that you’d like to discuss in this weekly feature, shoot me an email at altaira@theonering.net and I’ll put it towards the top of the queue.

Enjoy!

Continue reading “GreenBooks Redux: Justice, Mercy and Redemption”

If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d 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.

Hobbit Eagle There’s always a great deal of amusement and comic humour to be derived from the Eagle-sized problem in The Lord of the Rings.

But as even newbie Tolkien readers understand: Eagles — they’re not a taxi service.

Of course, Tolkien himself was well-aware of the potential of Eagles to derail suspension of disbelief. Here, Benita J. Prins outlines just a few reasons why “one does not simply fly into Mordor”. (For a slightly different, but related, “you must earn your happy ending” perspective, I also recommend this feature by Gibbelins over on io9.)

Continue reading “One does not simply fly into Mordor”

If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d 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.

BofurIn our latest Library feature, Katelyn Rushe shares her theory that Bofur was left behind in Lake-town by Thorin Oakenshield on purpose. She raises some interesting ideas, and though they are based on the character of Bofur, they also throw some additional insight into the character of Thorin, as both characters are depicted in the three Hobbit films.

Continue reading “Was Bofur Left in Lake-town On Purpose?”

If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d 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.

LEGO Rivendell_16125000049_l A little while back, we featured a story on a 120,000 piece Lego replica of Weta’s rendition of Peter Jackson’s Rivendell from The Hobbit.

Here, the designer and builder — Ben Pitchford — chats with us about his enormous creation, and how Lego has since asked him to submit a smaller, potentially commerciable, version to their Lego Ideas site. (If you’d like to see it become a reality — it needs 10,000 supporters to move to the next stage and is already almost halfway there — then head over to Ben’s page on Lego Ideas and add your backing.) Continue reading “Meet Ben Pitchford, builder of the 120,000-piece Lego Rivendell”

If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d 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.

Bakshi On March 28, 2015 TheOneRing.net livestreamed an interview with animation pioneer Ralph Bakshi to discuss the first-ever “The Lord of the Rings” film (1978), and to parse the differences between homage and rip-off (and the not-so-nebulous chains of inspiration from one artist to another).

Bakshi revealed to us that his Studio’s “LOTR” character designs and artwork were sent down to Three Foot Six in New Zealand; elevating the conversation of his impact on the live-action epic.

The subversive director has lived through numerous controversies, yet remains undervalued by Ringer fans and feels personally slighted by Jackson. He carries on vigorously at 77 years old with a new crowdfunded animated work, “The Last Days of Coney Island” and his intent to direct a “Wizards 2” follow-up to his 1977 cult hit. Continue reading “The Bakshi Interview: Uncloaking a Legacy”