Happy Birthday Baggins and National Hobbit Day!
September 22, 2017 at 10:39 am -It’s a day packed with Hobbity Goodness! Bilbo and Frodo Baggins share their birthdays today, September 22nd. Special celebrations are shared all over the world in honour of these most beloved characters of Professor J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
Today in Middle-earth, September 22
September 21, 2017 at 8:00 pm -The following event(s) took place in Middle-earth on September 22: Birth of Bilbo in the Shire (1290) Bilbo and the barrels reach Lake-town just after sunset (S.R. 1341) Birth of Frodo in the Shire (1368) A long expected party!! (S.R. 1401) Bilbo and Frodo’s birthdays (S.R. 1418) The Black Riders reach Sarn Ford at evening…
The Hobbit celebrates 80-year Anniversary
September 21, 2017 at 1:23 am -Today represents a landmark anniversary for fans of J.R.R. Tolkien. Eighty years ago, what started as a bedtime story for his children became an enduring tale that would eventually be translated into over 40 languages. Published on September 21, 1937, The Hobbit, Professor Tolkien’s tale of Bilbo Baggins and his great adventure through Middle-earth with…
New Bakshi LOTR shirt, pants available
September 20, 2017 at 3:03 am -(TORn) Just when you think your fandom has run out of Middle-earth related pants, along comes Bakshi Productions with something fresh. For those of you who don’t know — hopefully none of you — Ralph Bakshi was the director of the 1978 animated “Lord of the Rings” that was both an introduction to many of…
Weta Workshop’s Hobbit Day Party Business Bundle
September 15, 2017 at 5:13 pm -Next Friday, September 22, is both Bilbo and Frodo’s birthday, and has been proclaimed by the Tolkien Society as Hobbit Day. Many fans of J.R.R. Tolkien, including TORn, are planning parties of special magnificence for the auspicious day, and Weta Workshop is front-and-center, ready to help put on the best party ever with their Hobbit…
The Silmarillion reaches its 40-year Anniversary!
September 15, 2017 at 11:43 am -The Silmarillion is J.R.R. Tolkien’s first and last book. Professor Tolkien’s notes first dated to 1917 as he began developing the characters, stories and ideas for what was to become a Middle-earth mythology while recovering in a WWI military hospital from trench fever.
‘There and Back Again’ Auction
September 14, 2017 at 7:01 pm -We just found out that the Changeling Artist Collective is currently having a ‘There and Back Again’ online auction of Tolkien-inspired artwork. The Collective is comprised of fantasy artists, many of whom specialize in all things Tolkien, from Hobbits to dragons to landscapes. A wide variety of other fantasy-related artwork can also be found there….
A Week of Special Magnificance!
September 13, 2017 at 7:33 pm -Remember the solar eclipse phenomenon we recently had over the U.S.? Tolkien lovers haven’t quite got an eclipse coming up, but it’s definitely a phenomenon!
Collecting The Precious – Weta Workshop’s Weta Collecta and win a trip to Middle-earth
September 7, 2017 at 11:17 pm -Our friends at Weta Workshop have an awesome new goodie called the Weta Collecta. This item contains a collectible from all the ranges of collectibles that Weta makes: t-shirt, and various mystery items. The coolest part about the box is that it’s a key to a chance to win a trip to Middle-earth. That’s right!…
Collecting The Precious – Weta Workshop’s 1:30 Dol Guldur Environment Review
September 4, 2017 at 12:23 pm -We here at TORn have teamed up with our friends at Weta Workshop for a special review of the 1:30 scale Dol Guldur Environment set with figures. This set made its debut during Comic-Con 2016 and since then each piece has come up for order. This entire setup is really awesome! There is so much…
Save the Date: Baggins Birthday Bash Sept. 23, 2017 in LA
September 3, 2017 at 3:01 am -Come One, Come All, the Baggins Birthday Bash is coming in just 3 weeks, time to party like Hobbits, Dwarves, Elves and Men, and maybe the more well behaved Orcs. We are moving back to Griffith Park, huzzah, and to the Mineral Wells location we’ve used the past 5 or 6 years before last year’s…
In Remembrance of J.R.R. Tolkien
September 2, 2017 at 9:51 am -It was 44 years ago on September 2, 1973 when we heard the sad news that J.R.R. Tolkien passed away.
Collecting The Precious – Weta Workshop’s The Torturer of Dol Guldur and the Colondate: Dol Guldur
August 31, 2017 at 10:33 pm -Our friends at Weta Workshop have two new awesome pieces for us tonight and both come from the Dol Guldur sequence of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. The first piece is The Torturer of Dol Guldur who Galadriel easily dispatches when she comes to help save Gandalf the Grey. This piece is…
Collecting The Precious – Weta Workshop’s The Lady Galadriel at Dol Guldur Review
August 31, 2017 at 10:32 pm -My favorite piece from Comic-Con 2016 has arrived and I’m super excited to finally get a chance to review it. The Lady Galadriel by our friends at Weta Workshop and sculpted by the phenomenally talented Lindsey Crummett is without a doubt the best Galadriel that’s ever been done. It just blew me away back during…
DragonCon, Atlanta – Sept 1st to 4th
August 31, 2017 at 10:20 pm -The Dragon is upon us! It’s only Thursday and yet, even though DragonCon doesn’t officially start until tomorrow, there was merriment and partying even last night here in the Marriott Marquis in Atlanta. Deej and greendragon are at DragonCon to represent TORn, and we’re looking forward to a fun weekend with our fellow fans! Here’s what’s…
The Great Hall of Poets
August 27, 2017 at 4:47 am -Welcome to The Great Hall of Poets, our regular monthly feature showcasing the talent of Middle-earth fans. Each month we will feature a small selection of the poems submitted, but we hope you will read all of the poems that we have received here in our Great Hall of Poets. So come and join us by…
Collecting The Precious – Weta Workshop’s Moria Orc Mini and Dol Guldur Competition
August 23, 2017 at 10:08 pm -If space in your collection is at a premium then the mini line of statues from our friends at Weta Workshop has to be one of your go to lines. These great statues carry all the detail you expect from Weta Workshop but are scaled down into a smaller statue. Tonight we get a new…
Sylvester McCoy appearing in the Edinburgh Fringe
August 22, 2017 at 7:47 am -As we mentioned on our Facebook page last week, Sylvester McCoy is currently appearing (along side fellow geek-favourite Robert Picardo, of Star Trek: Voyager fame), in a play in the Edinburgh Fringe. Dan Freeman’s comedy A Joke stars McCoy and Picardo, along with Richard Oliver – and is a brilliant piece of absurdist comedy and…
Today in Middle-earth, August 22
August 22, 2017 at 1:00 am -The following event(s) took place in Middle-earth on August 22: Bilbo fights off spiders (1341) They come to Isengard; they take leave of the King of the West at Sunset (1419)
Middle-earth Artist Donato Giancola – Artist Guest of Honor at GenCon this weekend
August 15, 2017 at 9:10 am -Many of our readers will be familiar with the superb work of artist Donato Giancola, whose stunning paintings have graced the covers of many books, including editions of both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. He’s a good friend of TORn’s, and some of you may have met him at one of our…