I’m fairly obsessed with The Hobbit’s Benedict Cumberbatch, I have been since I first saw him take on the role of Sherlock Holmes in BBC’s ‘Sherlock’. This is why it’s great to hear that Benedict will be awarded for his talent at the upcoming Britannia awards.

Benedict whose credits include ‘The Fifth Estate’, ‘Star Trek: Into Darkness’ and ‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’, as well as obviously ‘Sherlock’ and the upcoming ‘Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug’, where he’ll be playing the titular dragon antagonist Smaug, will be receiving the award for British Artist of the Year at the Britannia Awards in Beverley Hills.

The award itself is dedicated to paying tribute to the British artist who represents the best of UK talent, and looking at the year that Cumberbatch has had I’m hard pressed to think of someone more deserving. Previous winners of the prestigious award are Kate Winslet, Michael Sheen, Rachel Weisz, Helena Bonham Carter, Emily Blunt and Tilda Swinton, which as you can see is a fairly impressive selection of names to be joining. It’s also nice to get another male winner to go with the fantastic actresses that have been honoured.

Also winning at the Britannia awards are George Clooney, who will receive the Stanley Kubrick Britannia Award for Excellence in Film, Kathryn Bigelow, who will receive the John Schlesinger Britannia Award for Excellence in Directing and Sir Ben Kingsley will receive the Albert R. Broccoli Britannia Award for Worldwide Contribution to Entertainment.

[Read More]

In this feature, Ringer Captain Salt assembles what we know already form various actor blog posts, video logs and magazine articles and tries to tie it all together.

…Official TORn spoiler space
…Official TORn spoiler space
…Official TORn spoiler space
…Official TORn spoiler space
…Official TORn spoiler space
…Official TORn spoiler space
…Official TORn spoiler space

Analysing the role of The Necromancer in The Hobbit

By Ringer Captain Salt

The Dol Guldur storyline was only a minor portion of the first Hobbit film. Yet it set in motion things which will expand into a major story thread in The Desolation of Smaug after Gandalf leaves the company early on to deal with “some pressing business away south”.

Just how will the Necromancer story play out in the second film? It appears this depends on how many of the other story lines are tied into that which most serves as a direct prequel to The Lord of the Rings.

The widespread rise of evil

As Gandalf establishes in An Unexpected Journey, the rise of evil preceding The War of the Ring is not localized to Dol Guldur or Mirkwood; trolls and orcs on the move seem to spark concern that the watchful peace may be coming a close. Certainly, it seems that Azog is connected to the Necromancer, at the very least through his son/wretched offspring, Bolg. According to leaked Bridge Direct descriptions from last year:

It was said that Azog the Desecrator fell many years ago in the great battle between the Orcs and the Dwarves. But now he appears again at the top of a deadly horde of killer orcs. For Gandalf begins a race against time because he has to figure out the connection between the most dangerous orc commander and the growing evil, which takes shape in the ruins of the fortress of Dol Guldur. One thing is totally clear: no one will deter Azog from his intention to destroy Thorin Oakenshield’s companions to the last dwarf.

Bolg is the offspring of Azog the Desecrator — like his father, he is huge pale orc. He is the overseer in the dungeons of Dol Guldur — torturing is his hobby. He garnishes his armor with the bones and the blood of his victims. This husky Orc fears nothing and nobody — until he suddenly meets an unexpected opponent.

Azog — Sauron’s newest undead minion?

Azog the Defiler

Also as some have noted, during the final confrontation with the Gundabad Orcs Sting gleams brightly until Bilbo lands across the head of Azog’s warg, at which point the blade dims. Why? Because Sting recognizes that Azog is not a “living” Orc? And why is Bolg, himself a formidable Orc chieftain of the north in Tolkien’s writings, serving as Sauron’s interrogator? Does he owe the Dark Lord a debt for raising a slain Azog from the abyss?

Despite many fans’ probable preference that Azog and Smaug remain independent agents rather than thralls of Sauron, the Bridge Direct description would not mention a connection between Azog and Sauron if there were not one. Additionally, in An Unexpected Journey Gandalf makes mention that he fears “the enemy” — meaning Sauron — could use Smaug “to terrible effect”.

(As an aside, this actually ties closely with Gandalf’s thoughts on the importance of Thorin’s mission and the northern theater in Tolkien’s The Quest for Erebor as published in Unfinished Tales).

And keep in mind that even before he had signed on to the project, but apparently after he had read the then-in-progress scripts, Ian McKellen mentioned that Peter Jackson and Co. had been quite clever about tying the various elements in The Hobbit together. The implication is that we would get a more cohesive narrative than the seemingly largely unrelated linear plot-lines that played out separately in An Unexpected Journey.

Kumbuya connects like-minded individuals through common interests.  Join communities to share content and buy and sell products.  On Kumbuya, users join and create themed communities. Within each community, members connect over the things they love by posting topic-related media, comments, and user-generated content. Because communities are curated by the most enthusiastic fans, members get to engage in a beautiful medium that caters directly to their interests.

You may wonder if there is a community of Tolkien fans already on Kumbuya. The answer is Yes! In fact, it is run by TheOneRing.net’s own Quickbeam, aka Clifford Broadway. You can see that community right here. [Tolkien Community on Kumbuya]

TheOneRing.net would like to thank Kumbuya for their generous support and we are glad to include their logo as a corporate sponsor on our ‘Tale of Honour’ page for 2013/2014.

Did you want to support our pledge drive? Check out The Tale of Honour to see how you can show your support for TheOneRing.net and keep us online for years to come! [ The Tale of Honour]

Vanderstelt Studio, home of the amazing artist Jerry Vanderstelt, have generously added their own pledge to TORn’s fundraising efforts.  Jerry Vanderstelt is a formidable painter who is an ardent fan of sci-fi and fantasy, and particularly of C S Lewis and J R R Tolkien.  His paintings include work inspired by The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Star Wars and Indiana Jones.

Jerry has donated some stunning artwork to TORn’s current auction.  These pieces are exclusive prints, personally signed and with unique sketches by Jerry added to the print.  One auction item is for three Lord of the Rings pieces, and the other is for a wonderful painting of Dwalin the Dwarf.  You can find the auctions items here and here; don’t miss this chance to own some extraordinary pieces of Middle-earth art!

TheOneRing.net would like to formally thank Vanderstelt Studios for their continued support of TheOneRing.net!

[Visit Vandersteltstudio.com] [Pledge Your Support Today]

First off was the panel featuring the players of the re-telling of the Hobbit. Graham McTavish, the Blustery Dwalin, Sylvester McCoy, Radagast of the Woods, and Manu Bennett, that Evil Pale Orc Azog.

Then the sights and sounds of the gathering overwhelmed them, and DragonCon had them in it’s sharp talons. They visited Ed Asner, the Patriarch of the floating balloon house. They tarried among the different different vendors, (noticing that The One Ring’s booth was VERY busy, way to go Ringers), and eventually ended up at “An Evening in Bree” — where there was a marriage proposal!

Bree, City of Men and Hobbits! All the free peoples of Middle-earth had traveled from the corners of the realm to bless this rustic city with their culture and kin. There were hobbits a plenty, men in shining mail, elves in cool thought, and dwarves grumbling into their mugs. Even the closely guarded female dwarves were there, taking a break from their merchant duties among the mountain paths.

There was song and dance, after which the guests of honor arrived to inscribe mementos, well wish followers, and judge the varied garments of the festival based on cut and craftsmanship. There was even a mockup of the dreaded fire drake Smaug! So real it had mothers grasping their children, and armed folk clutching their hilts in angry remembrance.

Last on the list was picking up a tabletop re-telling of the beloved Hobbit story from the fine storytellers at Cryptozoic. Tis a fine game that the company will play without ceasing.

They have arrived, but the true adventure is just beginning.

Tune in tomorrow for the next installment of “Cryptozoic’s Lost Tales” on The Road To Dragon Con!

Doug Brochu.

Twas a long ride filled with much entertaining and lore-banter via the crystal slab. They talked of the rings of power and heir respective fates, the Line of Durin and what sealed their doom, and of the secret greed of Sauruman, coveter of the One.

As the sun set below middle-earth so did they set down in the bustling metropolis of Atlanta, City of the Sweet Fruit. The company unloaded their precious cargo of outerwear and delved into the fabled convention.

What will the fellowship of “Cryptozoic’s Road to Dragon-Con” encounter on the morrow? Find out live at Theonering.net/live or stay tuned for tomorrow’s installment of “Cryptozoic’s Lost Tales”!

Seriously, thanks to the Ringers who were gracious enough to have us in your home. Your kindness will not be forgotten.

Cheers, Doug.

We’d like to continue to thank Cryptozoic - our official sponsor of our Road to DragonCon! Cryptozoic has an amazing line-up of trading card and traditional games, including their recently released Hobbit Board Game and newly released The Two Towers Deck-Building Game .

Please support our adventures and our 2013 pledge drive!

• Pledge Levels
• Donate any Dollar Amount

Ways to contact our adventurers…

• LIVE Event page
• @theoneringnet #tornlive #road2dcon
• email roadtrip@theonering.net
• call 530.64FRODO (530.643.7636)
• text 530.64FRODO (530.643.7636)
• Map of Route

Just look at some of these numbers.

33,467. News articles, spy reports and features published on the TORn front page since 2007 alone.

22,300. Spy photos, movie screencaps and fan images in the old TORN scrapbook, and the new one.

616,739. Posts from 9,981 TORnsibs on the “new” TORn gossamer forums since 2007.

700. Megabytes of plain text people have written in our Barliman’s chat since 1999. That’s several million lines of type from thousands of visitors.

These numbers are constantly growing. And it’s all from the passion and enthusiasm of the TORn community.

Your community is an enormous patchwork of brilliant, clever and Tolkien-literate people from all around the world who are passionate about Tolkien and love the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit movies.

And they love sharing that passion with each other — through stories, anecdotes, events, videos, music and fan art.

The TORn community is you

We don’t simply mean TORn staff. The community is you, the message board posters from the USA, Canada or France. It’s you, the chatroom regulars from Finland, the Netherlands or New Zealand. It’s you, the folks from Australia, Singapore and Brazil who participate in Hall of Fire and watch TORn Tuesday each week.

If you’ve ever sent in an article, submitted a photo or report, posted on our messageboards, visited our chat, or commented on our twitter, facebook or g+, you’re the reason TheOneRing.net is among the largest and most-respected pillars of the Tolkien community on the web.

Keeping all this afloat, though, takes as much money as it does love and passion.

For new servers. For software upgrades and social media integration apps. For web hosting bills.

If you’d like to make a Pledge to help TORn cover bills to help your community continue to grow, we’d be grateful and appreciative.

Just use the links below.

If you can’t, that’s ok! Keep on contributing to your community whichever way you can — through your thoughts, comments and recommending TheOneRing.net to your friends!

Make a Pledge today

General Pledge Pledge anywhere from $5 to $20!

Bronze Pledge Pledge $25. All Bronze Pledges are listed for one year on TheOneRing.net’s ‘The Tale of Honour’ web page.

Silver Pledge Pledge $50. All Silver Pledges are listed for one year on TheOneRing.net’s ‘The Tale of Honour’ web page and receive a TORn supporter t-shirt!

Gold Pledge Pledge $75. All Gold Pledges are listed for one year on TheOneRing.net’s ‘The Tale of Honour’ web page and receive a TORn supporter t-shirt and a commemorative pin!

Platinum Pledge Pledge $150. All Platinum Pledges are listed for one year on TheOneRing.net’s ‘The Tale of Honour’ web page and receive a TORn supporter t-shirt and a commemorative pin + MORE COOL STUFF!

Mithril Pledge Pledge $400. All Platinum Pledges are listed for one year on TheOneRing.net’s ‘The Tale of Honour’ web page and receive a TORn supporter t-shirt and a commemorative pin + SUPER COOL STUFF!

Or make a custom pledge

Among them them was this interesting piece by Arandir analysing the Battle of the Five Armies. We felt it was deserving of a wider audience and are delighted to — with Arandir’s permission — reproduce it for you as a TORn Library piece.

How many fought at the Battle of the Five Armies?

by TORn staffer Arandir

It is well known that in his stories, especially concerning battles, Tolkien does not give his readers much information about the size of the armies involved. This is the case with the Battle of Five Armies, as described in The Hobbit. This article shall lay out all findings regarding the battle -– focusing on the statistics, quoting passages from the text and providing speculative remarks.

There is no question that from its name, we can make out that the five armies involved are: elves, dwarves, men, goblins and wargs (but also including eagles – to which I refer later on). In The Hobbit the battle is described in the chapter ‘The Clouds Burst’ but in the previous chapters leading to it (and the one that follows after) contain some hints and information about all armies involved.

Before the battle

Taking into consideration the fourteenth chapter from the book, ‘Fire and Water’, during Smaug’s attack on Lake-town, we are presented with the following quotes:

“… every warrior was armed, every arrow and dart was ready.”
“… a hail of dark arrows leaped up and snapped and rattled on his scales and jewels …”
“… cheering on the archers” – Bard
“… there was still a company of archers.”

There is no doubt that Lake-town had some form of army as words like warrior, archers and company are clear references to such a military structure. Regarding numbers, we are not told at this point but one can only guess that since during the town’s destruction many had died or fled (but some remained to fight the Battle of the Five Armies alongside the Elves) a few hundred would have certainly been present.

After the death of Smaug, in the same chapter, we are told about the Wood Elves’ army coming to the men’s rescue.

“He [the Elvenking] had not boats or rafts enough for his host, and they were forced to go the slower way by foot.”

The word host here implies quite a large number of infantry. In fact, if one looks it up in the dictionary, it is described as: “a great multitude, a muster” – just like the mustering of Rohan at the time of the War of the Ring. It can only be assumed that in order to help the men of Lake-town, and carry the large supplies we are told of in the book, the Elvenking would have needed as many elves as he could gather.

“… all the men of arms who were still able, and the most of the Elvenking’s array, got ready to march …”

So now we know that the remaining men who had survived the attack on Lake-town and the majority of the Elf army headed towards the Mountain. Once again array is used to describe the Elven force.

Proceeding towards the next chapter, ‘The Gathering of the Clouds’, the events set in motion by the death of Smaug start to unfold and the strategies of each army will slowly be laid out as the narrative continues. At this point, Thorin and the Company are hiding on top of Ravenhill, but soon receive word of the dragon’s demise by Roäc — along with the following statement:

“… many are gathering hither beside the birds … Already a host of the elves is on the way …”

Smaug Destroys Lake Town – John Howe

With the progression of the chapter, the dwarves find themselves captives inside Erebor as the Mountain is besieged. Yet again, we find further ambiguous references to the size of the armies:

“There came a night when suddenly there were many lights as of fires and torches away south in Dale before them [...] ‘They have come!’ said Balin. ‘And their camp is very great.’”

The next chapter, ‘A Thief in the Night’, contains only one relevant quote -– it is, ironically, one out of two in all The Hobbit that gives any reference to the size of the armies. Thorin soon receives information that a dwarf host has been dispatch to aid in his struggle:

“… Dáin and more than five hundred dwarves, hurrying from the Iron Hills …”

The idea that five hundred dwarves participated in the Battle of Five Armies is something that almost every reader of the book is aware of.

But this is still unclear since it cleverly uses the words more than. How much more than that figure they could have been is impossible to state, but what is definitive is that by including Thorin, his company, Dáin and possibly dwarf scouts and other military workforce, between 525 and 550 might have been present that day of the battle.

On the way out of the trading metropolis of Denver they picked up a new member, Katalena! A master of masks and trickery, makeup and mirrors. She joined them to be a player in the masquerade that is Dragon Con.

The flat, empty, fly-ridden plains of Kansas opened up like a hungry maw before them, they had no choice but to enter and cross. All across the never-ending plains they shared stories with their companions watching via crystal slab, and chatted awhile with Cliff the Unmoving, The Adamant Wizard.

Finally the weary band made their way in the outskirts of Kansas City, where after multiple tries they found an inn to rest their weary heads.

What is next in store for the Fellowship of the Dragon? Moridan himself can’t tell you that secret.

- Doug Brochu

We’d like to continue to thank Cryptozoic - our official sponsor of our Road to DragonCon! Cryptozoic has an amazing line-up of trading card and traditional games, including their recently released Hobbit Board Game and soon to be released The Two Towers Deck-Building Game (Aug 28th).

Enjoy the pics below and as always, please support our adventures and our 2013 pledge drive!

• Pledge Levels
• Donate any Dollar Amount
• Request a Topic
• Feed or Fuel the Team
• Personalized Shout-Out

Ways to contact our adventurers…

• LIVE Event page
• @theoneringnet #tornlive #road2dcon
• email roadtrip@theonering.net
• call 530.64FRODO (530.643.7636)
• text 530.64FRODO (530.643.7636)
• Map of Route

Azog the Defiler

In particular, he examines whether persistent criticism of this key villain might be a result of flaws inadvertently introduced by the relatively late switch from two films to three.

Did Azog defile An Unexpected Journey?

By Rud the Spud

Azog is an aspect of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey that has perturbed me for some time now.

Did he or didn’t he work in An Unexpected Journey? And, if not, was he the victim of the late change from two to three films?

I don’t know if it was the massive hype (which I’m glad there is less of for Desolation of Smaug), the huge expectations off the back of The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy or whether it was simply the basic love for the book itself, but I found An Unexpected Journey mildly disappointing.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it and I loved so many aspects of it but there remains an uneasy feeling that I’ve only recently been able to define.

And that is Azog.

AZOG IN THE TOLKIEN’S LEGENDARIUM

The Battle of Azanulbizar.

In Tolkien’s Legendarium, the Battle of Azanulbizar was fought in retaliation for this dishonour.

In An Unexpected Journey, the battle is condensed into Thrór’s large-scale attempt to retake Moria. It is during this battle that Azog decapitates him in the film. Events are altered: in the book it was Náin, father of Dáin Ironfoot, who Azog slew. And it was Dáin (who will be played by Billy Connolly in There and Back Again) who leapt after Azog and hewed off his head before Moria’s East Gate.

At Azanulbizar, Thorin did fight off several orcs with an oak branch, but Tolkien does not report that he went near Azog. But the upshot is that Azog was truly slain in the battle. He does not return; it is his son, Bolg, who nurses the grudge against Dáin and the dwarves. And it is Bolg who leads the wargs and goblins into the Battle of the Five Armies. Bolg’s role in the movies is yet to unfold.

The alteration of events for the sake of making a concise screenplay is understandable and acceptable. The filmmakers instead use the Azanulbizar to emphasise the heroism of our central character Thorin and establish back stories for Balin and Dwalin. Even the survival of Azog wasn’t a major issue for me initially. It was a little contrived how Thorin believed him to be dead (doesn’t he know how movies work?) but even that was acceptable.

It was the depiction of Azog that irks me the most.

Goblin’s in Arizona??

The Road to DragonCon team is frolicking around the mountains of Colorado today on their way to the first fan meet-up in Denver. Details on that in a little bit! First a bit of a recap from yesterday.

We’d like to welcome Cryptozoic as an official sponsor of our Road to DragonCon! Cryptozoic has an amazing line-up of trading card and traditional games, including their recently released Hobbit Board Game and soon to be released The Two Towers Deck-Building Game (Aug 28th).

Justin, Doug and Ryan woke up in the rain at Lake Powell, Utah – allowing them only 4 hours of sleep that night. Rain in the desert is not as uncommon as one might think! They made their way to a local Denny’s where the manager and waitress gave them the all-star treatment.

The made their way to the Four Corners Monument – the quadripoint in the Southwestern United States where the states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah meet. While there, they found an unusual arrow, that seemed worth enough of a possible auction item. Coming soon!

After driving through Monument Valley, they ended up for the night in Salida, CO.

Today they’ve already trekked through Alma, CO, the highest incorporated town in the country on their way to Denver. In Denver visited Casa Bonita (yes, that one from South Park) and then are getting a rare after-hours Dino tour at the Denver Natural History Museum.

They’ll spend the night in the Best Western Denver (@bestwestdenver). The Best Western was kind enough to donate a night stay for our weary travelers.

The night will be spent playing Cryptozoic games and taking your requests for topics! We hope you can join us!

Enjoy the pics below and as always, please support our adventures and our 2013 pledge drive!

• Pledge Levels
• Donate any Dollar Amount
• Request a Topic
• Feed or Fuel the Team
• Personalized Shout-Out

Ways to contact our adventurers…

• LIVE Event page
• @theoneringnet #tornlive #road2dcon
• email roadtrip@theonering.net
• call 530.64FRODO (530.643.7636)
• text 530.64FRODO (530.643.7636)
• Map of Route