This weekend, Hall of Fire returns to discussing the Silmarillion. Chapter 12 — Of Men — begins with the Valar withdrawing more and more from Middle-earth and its inhabitants, both elves and Men. Why is Ulmo — perhaps the one least suited to the task — the only one who seems to care?
Does this seem like a wise move? If the Valar were at all interested in the Children of Ilúvatar, why do they they turn away and leave them to Morgoth?
Could it be that the Valar themselves are weakening, and less capable of intervening in Middle Earth except as allies? Or having been burnt in trying to befriend the Elves, are they simply wary of the greater pitfalls that may await if they are to meddle with the fate of the more mysterious Second Children?
Instead, it appears as though the human race was simply turned loose on the earth. No Vala came to guide them. Is this the core reason why they come to fear rather than love the Valar? But then, if they had no contact, how would humans know to fear the Valar? How mcuh of this is the responsibility of Morgoth and how much may be due to those first early dealings with the Moriquendi — the elves that never went to Valinor?
We are told that at the rising of the Sun, humans awoke in a place called Hildórien in the eastward regions of Middle-earth. Is there any significance to this location? And why does the Sun first rise in the West? Is it to draw them towards the Valar?
We are also given a list of names, in true elven style, for the newcomers:
Atani : the Second People Hildor: the Followers Apanónar: the After-born Engwar: the Sickly F’rimar: the Mortals
They are also called Usurpers, Strangers, Inscrutable, Self-cursed, Heavy-handed, Night-fearers, and Children of the Sun.
From these names alone, we get a picture of elves as standoffish, resentful, and fearful. Was this the attitude of the Eldar in the beginning, or is this an example of revisionist storytelling? Is the attitude justified?
And why are humans characterised as being at strife with the world and at variance with the Powers? They are creations of Ilúvatar, after all, just as the elves are, so why should they be portrayed as being at odds with their creator?
Join us in the Hall of Fire on Sunday September 18 at 2:00pm EDT as we discuss Of Men – Chapter 12 of the Silmarillion.
Asia-Pacific 4.00am (Monday) Brisbane 4.00am (Monday) Sydney 6.00am (Monday) Wellington
Chats usually last 45 mins to an hour, and are very newbie friendly. Simply drop in and join the conversation!
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Chat happens on #thehalloffire on irc.theonering.net – the TORn IRC server. You can connect instantly via our java chat client that works inside your web browser (find it here! ) or choose to install a dedicated chat program such as mIRC on your computer.
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Upcoming topics:
Sun September 18 – Silmarillion Ch 12 Sat September 24 – Silmarillion Ch 13 Sun October 2 – Silmarillion Ch 13 Sat October 8 – Were Merry, Pippin, Gimli and Legolas essential to the quest? Sun October 16 Were Merry, Pippin, Gimli and Legolas essential to the quest?
Got a topic? Let us know your idea!
If you have a burning desire to discuss something in Hall of Fire, drop us a line with your topic at halloffire@theonering.net. If we like it, we’ll probably give it a run in the coming weeks – you might even get to guest moderate the session!
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Note that this is a Sunday, not our usual Saturday, and a day later than originally suggested in July–though I did send this date out in August.
David Lenander writes: SUNDAY, Sept. 25, the Rivendell Group of The Mythopoeic Society and The Minnesota Tolkien Society will assemble at the home of Margaret Gates to celebrate the birthdays of Frodo and Bilbo Baggins. This is the same home that we’ve celebrated the party at for some years–but this year we will have to celebrate without host Richard (Dick) Gates, who died last month. I suggested moving the party, but Margaret (my mother) felt that it would be good for her to keep to this tradition, and remembered that Richard always enjoyed having the Hobbit partiers visit his home.
Begin arriving about 1:30 p.m., but we’ll probably stretch out the meeting over different activities all afternoon, with people coming and going as their schedules dictate. We’ll talk about things Tolkien, from the original Hobbit to the Lord of the Rings films. I’ll have a few Tolkien-y mathoms to hand out.
I’d appreciate ideas for the party–if you’d like to do something, bring something, whatever, let me know! Sharin’ Schroeder, who’s written a manuscript about Tolkien-themed parties, has a million ideas–I just don’t know which one to try out this year! It might depend upon who comes and who has the energy to put something together. We’ll try to start a proper discussion by about 3:00, for those who want a proper discussion. This year we expect to be joined by members of the Minnesota Tolkien Society (MTS), and I imagine that they will bring along some of their display materials for anyone who missed our previous joint meetings, over the past several months. Please let me know if you can or can’t make it, especially if interested in future meetings—next month we’ll be putting on a Tolkien Mini-Festival with the MTS’ers at the Southdale Public Library, and the MTS has all kinds of activities planned for the next few months. In fact, you should check out their new web-site at www.mntolkien.com
If you need a ride (or can provide one), let me know and I’ll see what I can coordinate.
No need to bring anything (though Tolkien memorabilia to show off is always appropriate)! We generally have some displays, including most of the past Tolkien Calendars back to 1974–always good for a discussion topic. Costumes, whether Tolkien or SF or Renaissance Festival-inspired are welcome, and we will admire them, but most do not wear costumes.
And bring any musical instruments or copies of the Swann/Tolkien Road Goes Ever On and The Middle-earth Song Book–or the like. I expect to provide tea, coffee and probably other non-alcoholic beverages, and some form of (birthday) cake-like accompaniment, we’ve generally warmed up some hot-dish such as lasagna somewhere in the mid-afternoon, and you are welcome to bring something if you want to, but please avoid anything containing nuts (including such unobvious ingredients as almond paste or extract, or peanut butter). One of our members is very seriously allergic to the presence of these ingredientsin the room. We will probably have several children and teenagers present, kids are o.k. I’d be interested in collecting some Middle-earth recipes, by the way–whether or not you want to try preparing any food. If you ever have, or just have an interesting recipe for _lembas_ or ent-drink or seed-cake or whatever (orc-gruel??) bring along a copy of the recipe for sharing!
Any smoking will have to be outside.
If it rains, we’ll have some Tolkien-related videos and audio recordings. But I hope it’s a fairly nice day, perfect for watching the river flow by and walking around the Banfill Locke grounds.
Directions to the Gates’ place:
Located on the east bank of the Mississippi River, 6668 NE East River Road, in Fridley–right next door to the Banfill Locke Center for the Arts nature preserve (6666 NE East River Rd).
Take I-694 east or west towards the Mississippi River (you can take I-94 north to 694, and then go east to the next exit). Just east of the river, take the East River Road exit and travel north about 1.3 miles (Dick’s rough estimate), crossing Mississippi Street. Just beyond this street, get into the left-turn lane in the middle of the road (which is mostly intended for the Banfill Locke entrance, you may notice the the sign by the side of the road). Turn left, either into the Gates’ driveway or the Banfill Locke entrance. There is a large parking lot on the Banfill Locke site, and this might be a good place to park, especially if you’d care to take a tour of their gardens and parkland—or if you want to avoid having to get other cars to move when you want to leave. There are paths and picnic areas for anyone who’d care to bring a picnic lunch and eat before the party. Margaret’s and Dick’s home is not the house by East River Road, but the one at the end of their separate driveway, separated from the Banfill Lock drive and parking by a fence.
From St. Paul, I take I-94 west, which eventually curves north to 694, which I then take briefly to the east, just across the river to the first exit, which comes out on East River Road.
Under separate cover, I’ll forward a longer list of activities coming up in September and October and afterwards, one notable addition to previous lists is Arcana, the Dark Fantasy convention held each fall in St. Paul. Because of the death in my family, I’ve been slow to get to updating web-pages and send these notices, but I hope to get caught up over the next few days.
Please don’t publish these directions on the web or widely distribute them over e-distribution lists, outside of Rivendell and the MTS. We’d like to have some idea of how many people to expect (we’ve never had more than about 25, and never had that many at once, I think–one year it may have been as few as about a dozen. But I’m happy to forward this invitation to anyone in the area who’s interested.
This weekend, Hall of Fire returns to discussing the Silmarillion. Chapter 12 — Of Men — begins with the Valar withdrawing more and more from Middle-earth and its inhabitants, both elves and Men. Why is Ulmo — perhaps the one least suited to the task — the only one who seems to care?
Does this seem like a wise move? If the Valar were at all interested in the Children of Ilúvatar, why do they they turn away and leave them to Morgoth?
Could it be that the Valar themselves are weakening, and less capable of intervening in Middle Earth except as allies? Or having been burnt in trying to befriend the Elves, are they simply wary of the greater pitfalls that may await if they are to meddle with the fate of the more mysterious Second Children?
Instead, it appears as though the human race was simply turned loose on the earth. No Vala came to guide them. Is this the core reason why they come to fear rather than love the Valar? But then, if they had no contact, how would humans know to fear the Valar? How mcuh of this is the responsibility of Morgoth and how much may be due to those first early dealings with the Moriquendi — the elves that never went to Valinor?
We are told that at the rising of the Sun, humans awoke in a place called Hildórien in the eastward regions of Middle-earth. Is there any significance to this location? And why does the Sun first rise in the West? Is it to draw them towards the Valar?
We are also given a list of names, in true elven style, for the newcomers:
Atani : the Second People Hildor: the Followers Apanónar: the After-born Engwar: the Sickly F’rimar: the Mortals
They are also called Usurpers, Strangers, Inscrutable, Self-cursed, Heavy-handed, Night-fearers, and Children of the Sun.
From these names alone, we get a picture of elves as standoffish, resentful, and fearful. Was this the attitude of the Eldar in the beginning, or is this an example of revisionist storytelling? Is the attitude justified?
And why are humans characterised as being at strife with the world and at variance with the Powers? They are creations of Ilúvatar, after all, just as the elves are, so why should they be portrayed as being at odds with their creator?
Join us in the Hall of Fire on Saturday September 10 at 5:30pm EDT as we discuss the decisions made by Elrond and Cirdan at the end of the Last Alliance of men and elves, and the beginning of the Third Age.
Asia-Pacific: 7.30am (Sunday) Brisbane 7.30am (Sunday) Sydney 9.30am (Sunday) Wellington
Chats usually last 45 mins to an hour, and are very newbie friendly. Simply drop in and join the conversation!
Where?
Chat happens on #thehalloffire on irc.theonering.net – the TORn IRC server. You can connect instantly via our java chat client that works inside your web browser (find it here! ) or choose to install a dedicated chat program such as mIRC on your computer.
To find out more about using mIRC to connect to TORn IRC server, check out these instructions.
Upcoming topics:
Sat September 10 – Silmarillion Ch 12 Sun September 18 – Silmarillion Ch 12
Got a topic? Let us know your idea!
If you have a burning desire to discuss something in Hall of Fire, drop us a line with your topic at halloffire@theonering.net. If we like it, we’ll probably give it a run in the coming weeks – you might even get to guest moderate the session!
Join HoF Announce!
Did you know that Hall of Fire has a mailing list? Join today and get topic announcements and news delivered regularly to your inbox!
Peter Klassen writes: On 10th September, the Russian fan-made parody of Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy will be released on DVD for purchase worldwide. The project which originated from the Russian LotR website “Henneth-Annun”, was created in three years of work, each part following after Peter Jackson’s theatrical releases of LotR. The project was realised uncommercially, and the total budget of $5000 (for the whole trilogy!) as well as costumes and props were brought up by enthusiasts and supporters from the forum. What did came out, were three movies with 75 minutes running time each: “The Trouble of the Rings: The Fellowship”, “The Trouble of the Rings 2: The Towers” and “The Trouble of the Rings Returns: King-Size”.
The films were shot on various locations of Moscow, which sometimes resemble Peter Jackson’s New Zealand landscapes in an astonishing way. For means of transport in Middle-Earth, some original solutions have been designed. So, the menacing 8 1/2 Nazgul are riding on bicycles; the pony Bill is a scooter; Gandalf’s horse Shadowfax is played by a motorbike, and the Haradrim’s mumakil are…. well, be ready for a surprise. Another topic of the TOTR parody is “restoring the justice” for all the changes which Peter Jackson undertook in his screen version of LOTR. So we get to see, how Arwen came to Asfaloth, why Haldir brings word from Elrond and what Balrog really wants from Gandalf…
The movies premiered in Moscow in December of 2002, 2003 and 2004, and had good success on public screenings on Zilantkon (Russia) and Tolkien-2005 (Birmingham, UK).
Now, this no-budget parody trilogy is hitting the DVD medium. The 4 Disc Collector’s DVD set contains the 3 movie DVDs as well as a bonus DVD full with various extra features. Here are the specs of the set:
“The Trouble of the Rings: Collector’s Edition”
Language: Russian 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: English, German (films and bonus materials) Picture: 4:3 fullscreen Color System: PAL Region Code: 0 Rated: O (Restricted for Orcs)
Bonus material on the Film DVDs (subtitled): – Audio Commentaries of the makers – Trailers for each part of the trilogy – Ring*Con 2004 Trailer – Behind the Scenes: “How it was” – On TOTR2 und TOTR3: bilingual end credits (Russian/English) – Animated menus with music
Bonus Materials on the Bonus DVD (subtitled): – Making of: “The Trouble of the Rings: The Road Goes Ever On…” (~30 Min) – “Moscow As Middle-Earth”: Interactive Atlas of Locations – “Our Fellowship” – Interview Featurette – “All Of You Are Worthy, All Of You Are Great”: Music Video About the Mass Extras – TV Report About the Filming (Russian TV) – TV Interview (NBC EUROPE) – TOTR1: Premiere Report – TOTR2: Outtakes – “Theoden’s Kitchen”, “Crow’s Drink” – TOTR3: Casting Auditions – Photo Gallery – Promotion Gallery – Complete Credits
More information on this DVD release, as well as screenshots, trailers, dialogue quotes and much more can be found at TheHutt’s TOTR page.
Ringer Celebriel attended the Dragon*Con Sunday panel on “Ringers: Lord of the Fans” with filmmakers Cliff Broadway and Jeff Marchelletta. This, the last of their three panels at Dragon*Con, focused directly on the development and forthcoming release of the film. Cliff mentioned that, while “Ringers” is being released on DVD, it is possible there will be theatrical screenings in key markets, which will generate interest in the film (and provide opportunity for line parties and other Ringer events!). The panel opened with a rousing performance by Emerald Rose, whose music is featured on the soundtrack. (There may be a film soundtrack album in the future as well.)
“Ringers” is a 97-minute feature length film examining Tolkien’s books and their franchise from the 1950s to the 21st century. It’s based on over 150 hours of interviews. Development sped up when Jeff pitched Tom DeSanto (X-Men) and he came aboard as Executive Producer. They got Ian McKellen to make a surprise appearance at ComicCon in San Diego when McKellen was on his way to New Zealand to start working on “The Lord of the Rings.” At ComicCon in 2003, they recorded fan impressions in a “confessional booth,” many of which were used in the film.
After the release of “The Fellowship of the Ring,” Cliff and Carlene Cordova recorded cast and crew at various award season events, realizing along the way that the story was becoming much bigger than first imagined.
Making the film took them to England and New Zealand and all over the United States. On the New Zealand visit, Cliff was able to appear as an extra in “The Return of the King,” playing a Gondorian looking over the walls of Minas Tirith toward the battlefield, standing next to Irolas. His comment: “My little geek heart almost burst out of my little geek chest!”
The November DVD release by Sony Pictures will include not just the film but also added value material such as “The Ring Comes Full Circle,” a making-of documentary. Other bonus features include the deleted scene “Tatoo You,” memorable confessionals from fans not used in the final film, interview footage with Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, and Andy Serkis, “Making Lord of the Rings Cool Again” (a segment about Peter Jackson’s filmmaking), and an alternative film soundtrack that’s like a party conversation. Cliff summed up, “We made it because no one else would. We are bigger geeks than you can imagine.”
Celebriel’s report and photo gallery – Dragon*Con Saturday parade and Sunday evening photo op
The Saturday morning parade through the streets of downtown Atlanta, now in its fourth year, is a popular event among all convention attendees, drawing a large contingent of Ringers as well as fans of Star Wars, Star Trek, pirates, and many other book, film, and game franchises. Several thousand other Dragon*Con attendees and Atlanta locals fill the streets, cheering and photographing each contingent. Arms of Middle Earth undertook the organizing of the parade contingent. The hobbits were at the front, followed by a large group of elves, including Galadriel, Arwen, and Legolas, some from the race of men, including Aragorn and Theoden, Haradrim, the Witch King, an entwife, Varda the Valar, Gollum, and even a balrog. Gollum and a Ringwraith dashed about, interacting with both observers on the sidewalks and parade participants.
John Noble (Denethor) was one of the parade marshals, riding in an open car. At the end of the parade, the contingent gathered on the steps of the hotel for a group picture. Count them – there are about 50 people in the photo with John! John and Bruce Hopkins (Gamling) were also available for photos and autographs on the convention’s Walk of Fame for much of the day, along with a host of other celebrities.
Sunday evening, before the convention’s masquerade program, the Lord of the Rings group gathered again in the lobby of the Marriott for a massive photo op, enlivened by re-enactments of several scenes from the films. Hope you enjoy the photo gallery! Questions or feedback? Email me!
