Kelvarhin: What are your thoughts on superstring theory?

MrCere: Well, theoretical physics isn’t quite my area of specialty, mostly because math is my own personal Durin’s Bane. But like others, I am troubled by the five different string theories. However, I buy into some of the possible crazy, theoretical ramifications of the theory, especially when dealing with the eternal nature of intelligences.

Wait – that question was a joke, wasn’t it? (Kelvarhin: Paging Demosthenes )

Kelvarhin: Which is your preferred form of transport; Planes, Trains or Automobiles?

MrCere: The correct answer is, “It depends” but for purposes of getting to know me better, I will say that money makes all the difference when it comes to transportation and I don’t have much these days.  To really answer I need to know: Am I driving a Bugatti or riding in a crowded Pinto or driving through a hurricane with Quickbeam, Justin and Grimlock?  If I have top-notch rail accommodations, “train” is my answer. Windows and scenery and freedom to move or recline are pretty great and the point of the journey is not always to arrive.

Having said that, I never fly first class but due to the kindness of one person, one time, I have. And wow, that was a great experience. I have travelled a lot in the last three years and I enjoyed some of each but the more money a person can spend on transportation, the better it is.  There is nothing wrong with a bicycle or a bus.  Thinking a bit, I think in the last three years I have more miles behind me than the rest of my life combined.

Kelvarhin: Do you buy any of the movie related Collectibles?

MrCere: Is this another trick question? [Kelvarhin:  Now would *I* do anything like that? 3:) ]

Assuming that Middle-earth movies are what is being asked about, yes. I was a heavy collector during the LOTR days and I also did freelance writing for Sideshow Collectibles, which allowed me to pick up items way beyond my reach otherwise.

I find the high-end collectibles of Middle-earth monsters to be much more satisfying than the character figures.  I love, love, love the series of mini-helms that Sideshow made and Weta Workshop now releases. I have many, including some really rare ones (the crown of the Witch King and King Elessar’s crown) but I am missing a few in the line and they are all but impossible to get now. They are all displayed and look cool.

I also bought all the LOTR action figures, and family literally gave them to me as Christmas presents, but they are boxed and in storage and I should sell them. I display some LOTR things in my Man Cave other than just the helms. The most dramatic piece I have is a large armoured Sauron figure that is displayed with a different piece, his mace, and a large, heavy and metal helm that might be 1:4 scale so I guess it is a shrine to Sauron on one shelf. I have a sweet Lurtz and a few others.

Now I really only collect Middle-earth books, including Tolkien books, because I am a student instead of a working man and there is no disposable income. I haven’t picked up Weta’s Hobbit movie books yet but I saw them in the production phase and they are mind-alteringly good. How can everybody not want those?

Really crazy pop-culture stuff still entices me though. For example I have a two full sets of the Burger King FOTR toys; one set opened, one set still in individual plastic bags. I had to eat a lot of Whoppers to get those. When the LOTR Pez sets came out, they were a must-buy.

What I really collect are comic book character Daredevil items which has been a life-long effort, but nobody here wants to read about that.  I am a hopeless collector is so many ways.

Kelvarhin: How did you find TORn and why did you stick around?

MrCere: Well, the short version is Chris (Calisuri) adopted me. A couple of face-to-face exposures to him and he invited me to contribute, which changed my life. I love being part of a team that I feel is working for a good cause and I admired and still admire the TORn staff for doing what they do because of passion and not money. I also was really passionate about TORn Line Parties for the LOTR films.

But, before being asked to join the staff, I read the message boards from very early on but didn’t contribute for a long, long while and then contributed a lot. I am back to not contributing these days because my exposure to the Hobbit films is such that anything I type there can and will be used against me in a court of law and because I don’t quite feel like I fit in with all the speculating that goes on. I make it less fun for others I suspect.

Kelvarhin: And how is it to be invited by WB to attend the world premiere of The Hobbit? How much stress does it bring along? Can you do anything fun or is it just being ordered around where you have to be for the next press moment?

MrCere: Warner’s invitation brought zero stress with it. I was a journalist for much of my adult life and covering things like that event are pretty easy. I was very anxious before the invitation came because I felt strongly that TORn should be there and should be reporting and needed to not only regurgitate other news agencies but understand the fan’s viewpoint in our coverage.

This might be too much disclosure but that was shortly after the death of my father and so in real life perspective, covering a studio-generated event to generate press for its film is super easy, even relaxing and fun.

The real stress started when the logic board on my laptop died on the day of the premiere, which means I had no way to send news back to TORn. I had to beg and borrow time on others’ computers to even post what I managed to post. I hated that and felt that I let the site down and fans down. There was abundant coverage, but not doing all I could, as well as I could, left me heartsick. However, we had the live feed, so that was better than anything I could write.

The saving grace? I had a video camera and friend Dan who paid his own way to be there, to shoot it and edit it. So, there was things like this I could share later.

Also, the rest of the TORn staff killed it that day, so no readers suffered.

I did some other stories from the same trip.

The answer to the second part of the question: Nearly all my time was scheduled, which was absolutely fine with me. We visited and reported on a lot of the people who made the films, not just the one-day event.

The literary legacy that members of the Tolkien Estate want to protect

By:  Brian Tither

Introduction

I think that the reason why some members of the Tolkien Estate have sued Saul Zaentz and its subsidiaries over JRR Tolkien’s literary legacy is because of their overriding concern for protecting that legacy above all else. In particular I think that this is the intention of Christopher and Priscilla Tolkien, the surviving children of Tolkien. And as a former student of Tolkien’s academic speciality in Old and Middle English and Old Icelandic in New Zealand I personally support this intention after being frustrated at The Hobbit production being only valued for the other Hollywood productions and tourist dollars that it may bring into New Zealand. I am also frustrated at the way a lot of the people involved in the production seem to only value it for its enhancement of their individual film projects.

The literary legacy of JRR Tolkien

Tolkien was the Professor of Anglo Saxon at Oxford University in the years that Christopher and Priscilla and their deceased brothers John and Michael were children and Tolkien would come home and tell them stories based on the literature that he was teaching at Oxford. This came from Old Icelandic texts like Voluspa, which describes the rise and fall of Midgard, the Old Icelandic Middle-earth, where Tolkien got his names for his Dwarves, and The Saga of the Volsungs, where Tolkien got his ideas for Bilbo’s encounters with Gollum and Smaug from the God Loki taking off Andvari the Dwarf a ring which causes problems for its bearers and Sigurd’s slaying of Fafnir the dragon, which are supplemented by similar things in the Old English poem Beowulf. This was also supplemented by Tolkien getting his ideas for Beorn, which translates as ‘warrior’ from Old English and as ‘bear’ from Old Icelandic, and Bilbo Baggins, which translates as ‘dweller in a dwelling in a bag’ from Middle English and ‘dweller with a sword from ones in a bag’ from Old English, from characters such as Bodvar Bjarki, which translates as ‘the bear warrior’, and Hott Hjalti, which translates as ‘the small sword hilt’, from The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki, where Hott’s parents are described as living in what appears to be a house built in a hole in the ground.

Given that the name Hott and the Old English word holbytla for ‘hole-builder’ conflate together as hobbit, which means ‘small hole-builder’, and given the oral tradition that developed between Tolkien and his children, it is easy to see how Tolkien took it a step further with his children and got them to help him with creating a story from him one day writing down the words: ‘In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit’. And from there the story developed as an oral tradition between them until Tolkien decided to write it down in a manuscript and this was published as The Hobbit some years later after he happened to show it to someone who recommended that he got it published. Then he wrote The Lord of the Rings, in which he referred to the mythology, later published as The Silmarillion, that he had been creating since before his children were born, while incorporating a character that he and his children devised from a doll that they owned, which they named Tom Bombadil.

The legacy of the Tolkien Estate

But the story of his children’s involvement did not stop there because Tolkien consulted Christopher on virtually every turn of The Lord of the Rings as he wrote it, while Christopher went on to become a university lecturer in Old and Middle English and Old Icelandic as well. Then when Tolkien passed away he had Christopher appointed as his literary executor and charged him to complete The Silmarillion, which Christopher did. And he also appointed him with John, Michael and Priscilla to take care of other estate matters as well.

This included taking care of matters regarding his selling off the film rights to the books to Saul Zaentz, which Tolkien did to cover the high inheritance taxes that the books accrued upon his death, all which grew out of his experiences with being swamped by the royalty taxes that he had to pay due to the sale of the books from the popularity that he did not anticipate for them. And this included the estate ensuring that Saul Zaentz and its subsidiaries did not step out of parameters that were set by Tolkien to protect the literary legacy of his works, which by implication stretched into his academic speciality to the original texts where he got his ideas from that have no copyright on them. And this experience grew out of seeing what Walt Disney did to the works of the Grimm’s Brothers the latter who Tolkien had a particular affinity for because the Grimm’s brothers also created philological principles, which Tolkien applied in his academia and works. Hence Tolkien did not want to see tangible things like this in his works being turned into intangible things like theme parks, which by implication extends into things like video games and gambling outlets such as slot machines.

And there is a need to protect this literary legacy if this literature is not to become something only valued by the money that people might make out of it at the expense of accessing that literature to many. And one of the things that I have been perturbed about as a student of Old and Middle English and Old Icelandic is experiencing both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit productions consulting linguistic and Old and Middle English and Old Icelandic experts for the purpose of developing the movies without considering how such expertise comes from the collective intellectual property of teachers and students in these specialities, even though such intellectual property was strangely fused with Hollywood action movie conventions in the films. And possibly this is why The Hobbit movies have so far not had such experts promoting them like The Lord of the Rings movies had, which probably made it expedient for the first trilogy of movies to be nominated for Oscars in categories like Best Director and Best Film, which they won on the third movie, while the second trilogy so far has not received any such nominations.

The valuation of the legacy in New Zealand

Meanwhile, as I said above, The Hobbit movies have been only valued as a means to bring more Hollywood productions and tourist dollars into New Zealand and it has been seen by people involved in the production as only a means to develop their individual film projects. The latter was made clear to me in October 2010 when allegedly there was industrial action going on which was allegedly having Warner Brothers considering moving the production elsewhere. The impression I got then from such individuals was that if the production went offshore it would severely jeopardise their projects, which was enhanced to me by someone who spoke at The Hobbit rally, which occurred a few days before Warner Brothers decided to keep the production in New Zealand. This person referred to how The Lord of the Rings production created a community of filmmakers, which has left me the impression that this community has been dependent on both that and The Hobbit production for its existence.

Consequently I have decided that I will only support the film projects of individuals involved in these productions if they demonstrate to me sufficient appreciation for the intellectual property that was drawn on for these productions. And for me the benchmark that has been set for that is that shown to me by a prominent New Zealand Maori writer, some of whose works have been turned into films, who supported the teaching of Old and Middle English and Old Icelandic at the New Zealand university that he used to work for. He also left me with the impression that the term ‘Middle-earth’ should not be used as a means for cultural groups to promote their culture to gain tourist dollars without acknowledging the culture that Middle-earth comes from as Tolkien acknowledged and intended it, who said Middle-earth was a use of the Middle English middel-erde, which derived from the Old English Middangeard and is thus related to the Old Icelandic Midgard.

Meanwhile, universities have had to cut their Old and Middle English and Old Icelandic courses even when they have had a reasonable number of students doing them due to a reallocation of university funding from a government who has used The Hobbit production so far for political gain. And I think that this is abysmal given the free promotion that The Lord of the Rings movies got from the New Zealand experts in these specialities through public lectures that they delivered like other experts in the specialities in other places in the world on the release of each movie, which if it had of been picked up on by The Hobbit production might have meant that the media surrounding the movies would have been less focussed on the apparent lack of material in the first Hobbit movie and the technology used, which not all the movie viewers were happy with.

The actual legacy in New Zealand

Also, for the New Zealand world premiere of the first Hobbit movie such experts could have highlighted how it was part of New Zealand’s culture and heritage that our education system produced Kenneth Sisam, a graduate of both Auckland and Oxford Universities, who was Tolkien’s New Zealand born tutor when Tolkien first started learning these specialities. Sisam introduced texts to Tolkien that Tolkien said that he had previously never heard of before, which included the Old English poem Crist, which had words in it translated as: ‘Hail Earendil, brightest of angels/ above the middle-earth sent unto men’. This led to the first draft of the poem of Earendil the mariner that Bilbo sings in Rivendell the night before the Council of Elrond in The Lord of the Rings, which, in turn, Tolkien wrote after his first year of having Sisam as his first tutor, which was the beginning point of his legendarium.

In addition, these New Zealand specialists could have also highlighted how Tolkien alluded in his valedictory address, when retiring from being Professor of English language and literature, to the contribution that New Zealanders (and Australians) made to the Oxford School of English and the close contest which he had with Sisam for Professor of Anglo Saxon. The latter was also referred to in an interview just before the first Lord of the Rings movie’s release with an English born former lecturer in the speciality at a New Zealand university who was at Oxford when Tolkien was Professor there at the time the book was published who said that most undergraduates thought that Sisam should have been Professor.

Conclusion

This lecturer also told my classmates and me that the undergraduates at Oxford formed the basis for the Hobbits in Tolkien’s legendarium, them being derived from the undergraduates living in study groups with a tutor and a servant called a scout who looked after their personal needs assigned to each group. That is, Frodo Baggins and his cousins were based on the undergraduates, Bilbo Baggins on the tutor and Samwise Gamgee on the scout. And hence, whereas The Hobbit was something derived by Tolkien from his telling of stories to his children based on his academia, The Lord of the Rings was derived from his actual teaching of that academia. And I experienced an evolved version of that at university from a former PhD graduate of Oxford who got some of her Bilbos to teach Sams like me our letters like Bilbo does for Sam in the book. And according to one of those Bilbos my classmates and I are the envy of many who learn these letters around the world for having had this lecturer as a teacher, which is a sure foot in the door for any of her Frodos into universities such as Oxford and Cambridge. And it is such legacies that Christopher and Priscilla Tolkien are concerned with protecting knowing full well that without it their father’s legendarium would not even exist.

Brian lives in Wellington New Zealand on the main drag to both Victoria University where he was he was taught Old and Middle English and Old Icelandic at undergraduate level by an Oxford University PhD graduate and the Embassy Theatre where the red carpet rolled out for all New Zealand premieres for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies. He goes under the pen name of Brian Boru, which refers to his family descent from a famous Gaelic warrior-king of a millenium ago called Brian Boroimhe who is part of a Gaelic literary canon that he also wants to study.

In the ever popular Reading Room, Lightfoot is re-reading LOTR and asked us this, “I was re-reading the Lord of The Rings today and noticed something new in the chapter “The Council of Elrond” Two quotes mention Saruman having/making his one rings. I am intrigued as I have never noticed this before. Does this mean that he actually forged his own ring of power?? Your thoughts…”

On LOTR Movie Board, Radagast-Aiwendil wants to know if you cried when Gandalf fell in The Fellowship of the Ring?

All the talk on Hobbit Movie Board has been about the announcement of the Extended Editions release and speculating on what the extended scenes will be.  Add your voice here.

We’ll share more topics next week. We hope you’ll come and join in the conversations!  Don’t forget, TheOneRing.net’s message boards have over 9,900 registered Tolkien fans, just like you.  Let your voice be heard!

Kate Madison as Elgarain in Born of Hope. Photo by Richard Unger

When Kate Madison’s fan prequel to the Lord of the Rings, Born of Hope, was released in December 2009 it instantly raised the bar for fan film productions and was hailed as an accomplished and in every respect a worthy addition to Peter Jackson’s trilogy.

Three years and 23 million online views later Kate has revealed that she is now planning to raise the bar for fantasy web series.  ”Web series have become a popular and important way for independent filmmakers to showcase their work and compared to a film, the potential for shaping an on going story line for, and with, the fans is really appealing”.

Ren encounters the leader of the Kah’Nath. Concept art by Max von Vier

Ren is the story of a young woman, who lives a quiet life in a small village until her face is branded by a powerful ancient spirit and she becomes feared by all who see her.  Dramatic events, involving the ruling warrior order of the Kah’Nath, force her to leave her safe existence and journey across the land to find the truth behind the web of lies she’s believed in all her life.

“The first season will consist of 6 ten minute episodes and is scheduled to go into production in the next few months.  It’s so exciting to be creating a brand new fantasy world and I’m already working with concept and story artists to brainstorm what the next season could bring” says Kate.

Ren and Hunter’s dramatic escape. Concept art by Max von Vier

The inspiration for the show is rooted in great fantasy stories like The Lord of the Rings, but epic books and TV series like Game of Thrones and the more lighthearted Legend of the Seeker have also influenced the creation of REN. One of the most important features of Born of Hope was the fan base that helped finance, design and even act in the film and we are keen to involve the fans even more in this project. The series is in the very early stages, with only the first season written, so we will look to the online fan community to influence what happens… and yes, even be in it!

Kate needs your help to get the show off the ground and has launched a Kickstarter campaign which runs until the 19th August.  There are some great rewards to getting involved and she is releasing exciting updates throughout the campaign.

Voting is now open and will remain open till 11:59pm Monday (UK time).  Click here to register your vote!

We’re making a  ”thank you” video for PJ and the cast and crew and we’d like you to take part!

Simply email Justin an iPhone video or something from your laptop tonight and he will string them all together and upload to YouTube in the morning.

The new project is a web series called REN after its lead character, who lives a quiet life in a small village until dramatic events, involving an ancient powerful spirit and the ruling warrior order of the Kah’Nath, forces her to leave her safe existence and find the truth behind the web of lies she’s believe in all her life.

“The inspiration for the show is very much rooted in great fantasy stories like The Lord of the Rings, but epic books and TV series like Game of Thrones and the more lighthearted Legend of the Seeker have also influenced me in the creation of REN” says Kate. She adds that one of the most important features of Born of Hope was the fan base that helped finance, design and even act in the film and that she is keen to involve the fans even more in this project “The series is in the very early stages, with only the first season written, so we will look to the online fan community to influence what happens… and yes, even be in it!”

Join Kate and her motley crew from 20:00 UK time on www.rentheseries.com

MAKING SENSE OF THE LATEST TOLKIEN LAWSUIT

By Douglas C. Kane

INTRODUCTION

As most here probably know, there is yet another litigation winding its way through the U.S. federal court system related to Tolkien’s Middle-earth subcreation.  This follows numerous past law suits and legal scuffles, including efforts by both the Tolkien Estate (the entity charged with protecting Tolkien’s literary legacy) and Middle-earth Enterprises (a division of the Saul Zaenz Company, which owns the film rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit and related rights, the exact scope of which is at the heart of this current litigation) to prevent third parties from making unauthorized use of the names, characters, places, and other material that they each respectively (and sometimes competingly) claim legal control over.  It also includes several past lawsuits against New Line, one by Peter Jackson himself, and others by actors and other individuals involved with the Lord of the Rings films who claimed that they were not paid the compensation that they were contractually due for their efforts on those films.  And, of course, it included the big one, the lawsuit by various individuals and entities related to the Tolkien Estate and Tolkien’s publisher against New Line alleging that the film company had failed to pay the royalties that it was due from the wildly successful films pursuant to the original agreement by which Tolkien had first sold the film rights, which was finally settled for an undisclosed (but clearly large) sum in September 2009.  That litigation was particularly of interest to fans of Tolkien and of Jackson’s Middle-earth films because, in addition to being about large sums of money, it also included a threat by the plaintiffs to stop further production on the films based on The Hobbit.  The settlement of that case removed that threat, and the current litigation does not threaten the productions in any direct way.  But it does have potentially dramatic long term ramifications regarding the future of the Tolkien-related universe.  The other big difference between this litigation and the previous Tolkien versus New Line case is that, unlike in that case in which it was all about whether New Line had failed to meet its legal obligations, in this case the two sides have competing claims against each other, each claiming that the other has acted in bad faith and infringed upon their rights.  The determination of who is right will go along ways towards defining what that future will be like.

The Claims

The lawsuit was initially filed on November 19, 2012 by the Tolkien Estate and related entities, as well as the publisher, Harper Collins and related entities (together referred to as “plaintiffs”, against Warner Brothers, New Line, and related entities (together referred to as “WB”) and most particularly Saul Zaentz and his Middle-earth Enterprises (usually referred to as “Zaentz” and together with WB referred to as “defendants”).  Interestingly, Christopher Tolkien is not a named plaintiff this time, but his sister Priscilla is, as a trustee of the Tolkien Trust. There is also entity entitled Fourth Age, Ltd., which was not a party to the last suit (it was actually formed in November 2011, well after that suit was settled). Although court records related to the lawsuit do not reflect this, according to U.K corporate records this entity actually changed its name on February 21, 2013, to Tolkien Estate, Ltd. Its directors include Tolkien family members Baillie Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien, Priscilla Tolkien, Simon Tolkien and Michael George Tolkien, as well as the Tolkien Estate attorney, Steven Andrew Maier.

Unlike the previous lawsuit, which alleged that New Line breached the original agreements selling the film rights by failing to make the royalty payments that those agreements require, the main complaint this time is copyright infringement.  There are two main activities that plaintiffs claim defendants infringe upon rights that plaintiff assert they still hold: (1) Lord of the Rings themed slot machines; and (2) online and downloadable video games. The basis of the claims is that the original agreement in which the film rights were sold only granted limited merchandising rights that cover “personal property that can physically be purchased,” and that these activities exceed the scope of those limited merchandising rights. The plaintiffs also claim that Zaentz has been infringing trademark rights. These disputes have been brewing for a long time, but apparently were brought to a head when one of the Estate’s attorneys received a “spam” email advertising the Lord of the Rings slot machines. Plaintiffs claim they have engaged in settlement discussions since 2010, to no avail, and that Zaentz has instead indicated that he intends to expand the merchandising.

The Counter-Claims

On January 18, 2013, Zaentz and WB each responded to the lawsuit by, in addition to denying the allegations, filing counterclaims for declaratory relief and for damages for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing inherent in all contracts under U.S. law. They each subsequently filed amended counter-claims on March 11, 2013. These claims are essentially based on the argument that by filing their lawsuit, plaintiffs breached the implied covenant by repudiating the agreement granting the rights to defendants. Defendants cite correspondence going back to 1996 in which Harper Collins and the Estate’s attorney concede that Zaentz has the right to online video games based on The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Perhaps most interesting, they cite a September 2010 “regrant” agreement in which the Estate confirms the rights held by Zaentz, and licenced to Warners/New Line. That must be the agreement that was referred to in Entertainment Weekly back in October 2010, in which Jackson was quoted as saying that one of the issues causing the delay in beginning production on the Hobbit films was negotiations with the Estate over rights issues. The interpretation of what that agreement actually says and means is clearly at the heart of this dispute.

The damages claim is based on the allegation that they entered into the “regrant” agreement in September 2010, and then the Estate immediately started complaining about actions that (at least in Zaentz and WB’s opinion), they had just agreed Zaentz and WB could do.  They assert that this “repudiation” of the agreement has prevented them from entering into “license agreements for online games and casino slot machines in connection with The Hobbit — a form of customary exploitation it previously had utilized in connection with the Lord of the Rings trilogy — which has harmed Warner both in the form of lost license revenue and also in decreased exposure for the Hobbit films.”

Most recently famous for this little bit of uber geekery

but as many of us know, there’s much more to our favourite Hobbit pair and they join us this month to answer your questions.

Kelvarhin: As always we begin with grammas favourite question, what was (is) your favourite cartoon when you were growing up?

Fili: It’s a tie between Wild Thornberries and Rugrats.

Kili: We didn’t have much TV when I was little, but when I was older I loved Batman: The Animated Series. When I was younger, though, my Lion King obsession was just as fierce as my love of Middle-earth.

Kelvarhin: What do you both love to do in your spare time?

Fili: I love to horseback ride, photography, run, write stories (and occasional fanfics!), hang out with the goats, take the dogs for walks, go for hikes, read, bake, and make Happy Hobbit, of course!

Kili: I like to go for hikes and walks, read and write, shoot my bow, and spend time with my friends and family and our dogs! Hearing from Happy Hobbit fans is also great fun and very rewarding, so thank you all so much for the support!

Kelvarhin: What new thing would you like to do in the next five years?

Happy Hobbits: We would love to travel, especially to the British Isles and New Zealand!

Kelvarhin: What is your favourite type of exercise?

Fili: Running cross-country/long distance, soccer, horseback riding, hiking and swimming are great.

Kili: I most love hiking in the woods and exploring new wild places, but running, swimming, horseback riding, climbing trees, and archery are all favourites! I also love to dance even if I’m no good at it.

Kelvarhin: How many animals do you have?

Happy Hobbits: We currently have twenty-one animals, which is actually a small amount for us since we recently had to say goodbye to two horses and several cats, which was difficult.

Houdini is an American Quarter Horse who is a blue roan. We knew him since before he was born, and as such, he treats us like other horses and is often an annoying little brother, but we love him to pieces.

The goats Cora, Patch, and Tumnus are all related. Cora and Patch are spunkier than Tumnus. Even though Tumnus is the size of a small pony, he was bottle raised by Fili (his mother died shortly after giving birth) so he is very affectionate and sweet.

Peaks the peacock is fond of catfood, fanning his feathers to dance for the hens, and running up whenever we call the dogs because he wants a piece of cheese as a reward. He has the little-known talent of goat herding!

Kili:  I petitioned to start calling him Gonzo since he was weird, blue, and loves chickens, but it didn’t take.

Happy Hobbits: We have ten hens, but most of them don’t have names, because you never know the moment (for example, a black chick I’d named Sirius died a few days ago ) but there are three surviving chicks named Penny, Guin, and Kirby, along with an old hen named Bathilda and another named Grandpa Ed, even though she’s a lady. But they are all nice enough if they aren’t broody, and we love their eggs!

Comanche is a twelve-year-old half yellow lab, half golden retriever who is a wonderful brother to us. He is gentle and loves to snuggle, go for adventures, and steal gophers from the traps on the lawn! He chases off deer and coyotes from our property and loved to come along for horseback rides when the land around our house used to be open for such adventures. So far he has aged very well, and we are blessed to have his sunshine presence in our lives. Plus, he shares a birthday with Bilbo and Frodo!

Teyla (or “Toot”) is a seven-year old Australian Shepherd and is our “littlest sister.” She is so intelligent and such a nosebone (busybody, to us non-US based folks ) that she even catches us when we spell out words to try to hide conversations from her. She is strong-willed and grumpy to strangers, but her tenacity has seen her through many trials. She had an FCE, which is a stroke-like event in the spine, when she was four and was nearly completely paralysed and could only lift her head and move her front left paw. No one knows why FCEs occur, only that they often happen in young dogs at rest. With her courage and our support, she has recovered to the point that she can once again walk and run! She still requires special care but we are so proud of her. She inspires me every day!

Kelvarhin: What’s the most exciting/beautiful/intriguing place you’ve ever been to – or want to go to?

Happy Hobbits: Of course, we would love to go to Middle-earth, or second-best, New Zealand!

Kili: Hogwarts would be an incredible experience. I’ve always wondered what sort of witch I would make! But really nothing compares to home. I find excitement, beauty, and intrigue in little things, like soaring hawks, howling coyotes, and falling rain. That said, I do love the Sierra Nevada Mountains where we camp!

Fili: Catalina Island and Yosemite National Park are beautiful, along with the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Kelvarhin: If you could spend a day with one Middle-earth character, who would it be?

Kili: I once had a nightmare that Bilbo was on his way over for dinner and I couldn’t find the right shoes to wear! As much as I would love to gaze at Aragorn all day, I think I would most like to spend time with Pippin since he would be fun to run around the Shire with. Plus, he knows a lot of hobbits and could introduce me to all of his friends and we’d have a great time at the Green Dragon!

Fili: This is a very deep question. I would love to go for a horseback ride with Éomer, but the Shire has always called to me so I think I would also choose Pippin because he’s been my favourite since I was ten.

Kelvarhin: Which do you prefer, Gondor or Rohan?

Happy Hobbits: We both prefer Rohan since there are so many horses and so much open land. Gondor is beautiful but the idea of living on a stone ledge is a little claustrophobic. We need to walk on the grass and soil, not rock or pavement, and besides, Éomer is in the land of the Horse Lords!

Kelvarhin: How do you prepare your vlogs?

Happy Hobbits: We pick a subject that we know something about which we think others will find interesting then think about what we’re going to say. We tried writing lines but it always came out too stilted, so instead, we speak off the cuff, which explains some of the bloopers! The trickiest part is figuring out how to film since there are only two of us and a tripod, but we’ve been doing it for years making YouTube parodies of our favourite shows, so it’s a welcome challenge. Our family is very cooperative and quiet when we need them to be!

Kili: After we film, I put the footage on my laptop, edit it, and then post it to our YouTube page!

Kelvarhin: dernwyn says: Greetings, gals! First off: how old are you, and do you share your videos with your parents? I ask this, of course, as a mom whose own kids are geeky – but they’ve never woken me up in the middle of the night with screeching at Elves watching them!

Kili: Mae Govannen, Dernwyn! Yes, our parents often watch our episodes and like to help out when they can. They are very encouraging, as evidenced by their supporting me through grad school and now as I try to make it as a novelist even though I’m twenty-nine!

Fili: I’m twenty-one, but though we’re eight years apart, Kili is my other half.

Kelvarhin: How cool was it to appear on Peter Jackson’s facebook page (and many other fan sites after that)? What did your friends and families say?

Happy Hobbits: Beyond cool, it was mind-blowing and changed our lives in a wonderful way and gave us so much happiness that we are delighted to share with the world. Our friends started pretending that we were famous and boasted that they knew us, along with our family. When we woke our mom up at 3AM, however, and she asked what was going on, we said “Peter Jackson shared our video and Orlando Bloom is laughing at us,” and she said “Oh, neat, tell me about it in the morning,” then went back to bed!

Kili: At first, all of the attention was overwhelming and my inner Katniss wanted to run off and hide in the woods, but then I calmed down and enjoyed doing the interviews, talking to new fans, etc. once it was clear that everyone just wanted to celebrate with us.

Fili: It was so awesome to see that we made the Elves happy after ten years of being made happy by LOTR. It was so wonderful to be able to return an ounce of that excitement to the cast and crew.

Kelvarhin: Lee Pace, Orlando Bloom and Evangeline Lilly suddenly appear at your front door! What are your immediate reactions? Do you invite them in, and what do you offer them to eat and drink?

Kili: Firstly, I would wonder how the heck they found our house since we’re a bit out of the way! Then I would invite them in and hope they weren’t secretly murderers. I would offer them water, tea, or orange juice, along with whatever the current baked good was. If they were feeling especially wild, I would offer them my blackberry wine! I would also remind them that if Peter Jackson were to stop by, he could ride my dad’s tractor, which is an honour bestowed to very few.

Fili: I would be stunned and excited, invite them in, and make them their favourite food and treat them like Elven royalty! Then we would go on a hike and I would give them a tour of our patch of the Shire.

Kelvarhin: Kili, how excited were you to see your first novel, Darkling, in print? What inspired you to write it?

Kili: I think the fact that one of my books is available to the public still hasn’t sunk in yet! Hearing friends and strangers alike praise the novel and ask for more is very exciting and humbling. Exposing yourself on the page like that, even with a work of fiction, can be very intimidating, but the response has been incredibly positive and has given me such courage to share more of my work.

Darkling was actually inspired by a dream where I wandered into a haunted house and had to help the inhabitants find peace before they could move on. Many of the details of the book were in my dream, and it stuck with me for so long that I was moved to tell the story. I tend to write like a madwoman and my first draft was completed in fifteen days!

Kelvarhin: Do you plan to write any more novels?

Kili: Yes, in fact, Darkling is actually the third novel I wrote. The first two belong to a series that is too dear to my heart to risk self-publishing until I have established a readership. I wrote and illustrated my first book while in Kindergarten and don’t plan to stop any time soon! I’m currently working on a New Adult series since that is a popular market. Tentatively called Afterworld, the books have a strong Irish influence and blend a contemporary setting with a Victorian mystery. You can always expect to see a touch of whimsy and elements of the fantastical in my books! Tolkien’s reverence for the natural world also reflects my own and can be seen in everything I write.

Thank you Kili and Fili for taking part this month, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed chatting with you both.  If you’d like to say hi to the Happy Hobbits this weekend, they’ll be at TheOneRing.nets booth at ComicCon.

As always thanks to all our message board regulars, DanielLB,  Ataahua, kareniel,  dernwyn, and grammaboodawg, for this month’s questions.

If you would like to ask any questions yourself, just head over to our Message Boards, the sign up process is pretty painless. A lead post for questions is made at the beginning of each month on the Main board. Or you can just check Main for each months interviewee and email me your questions at kelvarhin@theonering.net.

Till next time from TORn’s resident Tiger.

Kelvarhin

Evangeline Lilly Hits San Diego Comic-Con to Introduce New Children’s Book

The Squickerwonkers

Los Angeles, CA – July 12th, 2013 – Coming to San Diego’s Comic-Con next week, Evangeline Lilly, known for starring as Kate Austen in ABC’s LOST and as Tauriel in the upcoming The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug film, will be introducing her first children’s book, The Squickerwonkers.

In her new role as an author, Lilly wrote The Squickerwonkers with illustrator Johnny Fraser Allen, of Weta Workshop, spinning a masterful tale. The book tells the story of a young girl who falls in with an interesting troupe of characters. As you delve deeper into the story, the dark and cautionary message delivered to the young reader is deliciously surprising.

“When Johnny and I sat down to create this book together we wanted to make a book that we would like to have read as children and that we would still enjoy as adults today…and that is exactly what we did,” Evangeline said.

In support of her new book, Lilly will be signing and selling limited edition, first run copies of The Squickerwonkers at the Weta workshop booth (#3513B) with illustrator, Johnny Fraser-Allen. The book features a foreword by The Hobbit and Lord of The Rings director and writers, Peter Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens.

Evangeline Lilly Signing Appearances at San Diego Comic-Con at the Weta booth #3513B:

Thursday, July 18th: 11am – 12pm and 4pm – 5pm
Friday, July 19th: 11am – 12pm and 4pm – 5pm
Sunday, July 21th: 11am – 12pm
Johnny Fraser-Allen will also be available at the booth

Weta – The Hobbit signing

Evangeline Lilly will also be joining Weta Workshop Creative Director Richard Taylor for signing of Weta’s range of Hobbit collectibles, including a very limited edition of Tauriel’s daggers prop replicas

Thursday, July 18th: 2pm – 3pm
Friday, July 19th: 2pm – 3pm

This week on Main, noWizardme is having a casting call for Beren and Luthien, with you as the director, who would you cast?

On LOTR Movie Board, Ziggy Stardust is talking about The Mouth of Sauron, how he was portrayed in ROTK and how it differed from their vision of him.  What did you think of The Mouth of Sauron, did you love his depiction or did you see him completely differently?

Meanwhile on Hobbit Movie Board, The Mitch King is telling us about their number one problem with AUJ and wants to know what yours is.

And on Off Topic this week, Salmacis81 is asking us about the worst tasting food we’ve ever tried.

We’ll share more topics next week. We hope you’ll come and join in the conversations!  Don’t forget, TheOneRing.net’s message boards have over 9,800 registered Tolkien fans, just like you.  Let your voice be heard!

This week on LOTR Movie Board Jay236 wants to know “Who is Tom Bombadil?” Come and see what our members have to say about this most mysterious character.

The hot topic on Hobbit Movie Board comes from jtarkey who ponders “Will The Hobbit trilogy finally be understood once it is completed? Or will it go down as a failed attempt to push the envelope of technology?”

Lindele decided to make a revised edition of the DOS trailer, you can take a peek at it over on Fan Art, see if you can spot the changes

We’ll share more topics next week. We hope you’ll come and join in the conversations!  Don’t forget, TheOneRing.net’s message boards have over 9,770 registered Tolkien fans, just like you.  Let your voice be heard!