It’s a topical question as the final film of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit approach: Tolkien emphasises that the bridge over to Lake-town functions as a protection against enemies — and especially the dragon of the Mountain. But why would Smaug need to cross a bridge in order to attack Lake-town? After all, he has wings. Continue reading “Why would Smaug need to cross a bridge to attack Lake-town?”
Category: Green Books
In his newest piece, TORn friend and regular Tolkien blogger Michael Martinez considers the intriguing proposition of how Sauron might have distributed the seven rings of power to the dwarf lords (in their halls of stone).
It’s also a great little primer if you’re not aware of, or had forgotten, your history of the seven great families of dwarves — the Broadbeams and Firebeards of Ered Luin, the Longbeards of Moria and the Ironfists, Stiffbeards, Blacklocks and Stonefoots that dwelt in the eastern reaches of Middle-earth.
Continue reading “How did Sauron give the Seven Rings to the Dwarven kings?”
Don’t forget to follow the link to read the entire article; it’s definitely worth the time.
Continue reading “Tolkien research recovers long-lost magazines of famous WWI poet Wilfred Owen”
Similarities and differences. Or as Tolkien might have put it, bones and soup. It’s the never-ending, never truly answerable question of who owes whom what.
In this recent article on the BBC, Jane Ciabattari examined how The Lord of the Rings has influenced the creator of A Song of Ice and Fire, George RR Martin.
Fair enough. Continue reading “Fantasy authors, media tropes and Tolkien’s great shadow”
In our latest Library piece, TORn feature writer Tedoras discusses 10 key excerpts from J.R.R. Tolkien’s famous lecture On Fairy Stories.
In case you’ve never read it, On Fairy Stories (which Tolkien first delivered as a lecture in 1939) examines the fairy-story as a literary form, and explains Tolkien’s philosophy of what fantasy is, and how it ought to work. As Verlyn Flieger and Douglas A. Anderson write in their introduction to the expanded 2008 reprint, On Fairy Stories is “[Tolkien’s] most explicit analysis of his own art”.
The virtues of fairy-stories
By Tedoras
Professor Tolkien—as he was known then—was a very busy man in 1938. Not only was he beginning to develop what would become The Lord of the Rings, but he also delivered at this time one of his most famous lectures, titled “On Fairy-stories.” Continue reading “Tolkien and the virtues of fairy-stories”
Why do some Nazgûl thrive when commanded to hunt their master’s stolen Ring while others falter under pressure?
Why do some revel in the responsibility of throwing down their enemy when others wither like fog in strong sunlight?
You might not know it, but nine (count them!) keenly honed success habits keep them hot on the trail.
Nazgûl apprentices, here are those nine instinctive habits that the most successful Ringwraiths employ to keep the Dark Lord number one.
Read and learn. Continue reading “The nine habits of the highly successful Nazgûl”