Wētā Workshop has another exciting Middle-earth collectible heading our way, as the new Faramir – Charge on Osgiliath statue is officially up for pre-order! Capturing Faramir during the desperate battle for Osgiliath in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, this impressive piece is limited to an edition size of just 860 pieces worldwide. Collectors looking to add the Captain of Gondor to their displays will need to set aside $999 USD, with the statue currently expected to begin shipping in Q1 2027.
Dragon Con, Atlanta’s annual gathering of pop culture enthusiasts, is upon us. A Labor Day fixture, Dragon Con celebrates fascinations from science fiction to fantasy, gaming to comics, literature to art, and music to media. The Con attracts roughly 75,000 fans spread across multiple downtown hotels and much of the city’s AmericasMart. It also offers 35 different “tracks”, or mini-conventions. They focus on everything from Anime to Young Adult Literature.
One of Dragon Con’s founding fandoms has focused on J.R.R. Tolkien and the creative passion that his works have inspired. Whether it’s part of the programming now scheduled for D*C’s “High Fantasy” track, or Elvish (etc.) enthusiasm spilling out across the broader fandom, there will be much Middle-earth merriment in this 40th installment of Atlanta’s Geek-Fest (Nerdi-Gras?)!
Here’s a quick overview of what’s happening for Tolkien fans!
Our Marquee Hobbit: Sean Astin
Here on the 25th anniversary of Peter Jackson’s Fellowship of the Ring, it’s wonderful to have such an excellent and admirable cast member joining us. Sean will be available for autographs and photo opportunities, and will also be a featured panelist over the course of the Con. One of those panels will focus on his experiences embodying Sam Gamgee. Saturday, 9/5 at 11:30 am in the Hyatt Centennial Ballroom II-IV
Hobbity Home bases:
Staffer deej has got all your answers, plus t-shirts and buttons!
If you simply need some help orienting to the sprawling splendor that is Dragon Con, you can find help here:
The OneRing.net fan table, located on the Exhibit Level of the Hyatt Regency, right across from the Art Show entrance. Find staffers greendragon, deej, and Wee Tanya there, along with buttons, t-shirts, links to some of our favorite purveyors of Middle-earth merchandise, and maybe a few surprises!
The High Fantasy Track Room, on the Lobby Level of the Marriott Marquis, rooms 401-403 (just across the hall from Dragon Con Safety). Staffer Madeye Gamgee also volunteers for the track, and several Tolkien inspired panels will take place there this weekend.
Parties!
An Evening in Bree (photo courtesy of Tim Lenz)
A unique hallmark of Dragon Con is an abundance of fan-forward partying opportunities. The Tolkien fandom will not miss out!
An Evening in Bree: A long-term landmark for partying periannath, Bree is back in all its glory. That includes a high fantasy costume contest (you can fill out entry forms at TheOneRing fan table or the High Fantasy track room – please do SIGN UP IN ADVANCE), a choral performance of special magnificence by the wondrous Elf Choir, and of course dancing! The three featured performers this year are the Brobdingnagian Bards, Landloch’d, and Beth Patterson. Friday, September 4, 8:30 pm in the Courtland Grand Ballroom
Hobbit Drinking Songs: billed as a concert, breakout dancing and partying is an inevitability whenever the Brobdingnagian Bards are involved. Let those furry feet fly! Sunday, September 6, 7:00 pm on the Marriott Atrium level, A 601-602
The Goblin Ball: Hosted once again by our OneRing DJ deej, the theme this year appropriately celebrates the music of the mid-80s and the 40th anniversary of Labyrinth’s Goblin King throwing a ball of his own. The cosplay mashups should be spectacular. Sunday, September 6, 10:00 pm on the Marriott Atrium level, A601-602
Panels!
Remembering panels in Covid times…
This is the ten-year mark for the High Fantasy Track at Dragon Con, now the Con’s home for Tolkien content, which always ranges from the playful to the profound. This year’s lineup includes:
Rings of Power Season 3 Speculation. With Prime Video’s latest installment of the Second Age saga now scheduled for a November release, rumors and speculation on what’s in store are swirling. Greendragon will be moderating, with Madeye Gamgee and other close OneRing friends participating, to bring Dragon Con fans up to speed! Friday, September 4, 1:00 pm, Hyatt International South
Sing with the Elf Choir. Another Dragon Con classic, this is less of a musical panel and more of a choral rehearsal as a host of Middle-earth denizens prepare to bring their harmonious offerings to The Evening in Bree. Come and learn your part for two or three staples in the high fantasy musical canon! Friday, September 4, 5:30 pm, Courtland Grand Ballroom
Who Could Resist? A smorgasbord of speculation as panelists consider the corollary to “Who could wield Thor’s hammer”, but through the lens of being able to withstand the power of the Ring. Was Aragorn right about the Ring answering to only one Master? Or is Steve Rogers, Jean-Luc Picard, or Aslan up for the challenge? Saturday, September 5, 1:00 pm, HF Track Room
An Hour with TheOneRing.net. Greendragon, joined by staffers deej and Madeye Gamgee, along with Tolkien Lore Master Willie Jenkins (knewbettadobetta), will unpack as much as we can cover in an hour about what’s coming up for Middle-earth fans, from media to merchandise, publications to parties. We’ve been polishing our palantíri, so expect secrets and rumours! Saturday, September 5, 4:00 pm, Hyatt International North
The Greatest Swordsman. In this tournament-style panel, attendees will get to choose who is the greatest wielder of the blade in all of High Fantasy. After Aragorn, of course. Sunday, September 6, 10:00 am, HF Track Room
Bilbo Baggins – Renaissance Hobbit of Middle-earth. Tolkien scholar, author, and long-time OneRing mellon Constance G. J. Wagner leads a panel conversation about the “bravest little hobbit of them all”. From teacher, mentor, peacemaker, storyteller, and friend, Bilbo’s impact on the history of Arda is extraordinary for such a little fellow in a wide world. Sunday, September 6, 11:30 am, Hyatt Centennial I
Delving Into Dwarves. It’s been a minute since the High Fantasy track considered the Sons and Daughters of Durin. But “khazâd ai-mênu!” The dwarves shall be upon us indeed! We may even figure out just how discourteous Gimli was being in the Extended Edition scene. Sunday, September 6, 4:00 pm, HF Track Room
Too Beautiful to Let Go: The Cost of Creation in Middle-earth. Tolkien content will wrap up for this year’s Dragon Con with a more deeply philosophical conversation around the broad theme of “Subcreation gone wrong”. This panel will consider artifacts of extraordinary beauty, but also with deeply and sweepingly corrupting power, and the where’s and wherefores that had the Professor integrating them into his Legendarium. Monday, September 7, 10:00 am, HF Track Room
Beyond the Panels
Like TheOneRing.net, Dragon Con markets itself as a “by fans, for fans” experience. This leads to one of the most unique and entertaining dynamics of the Con: the near certainty that nerdish enthusiasm will break out in unscheduled, often enduringly viral ways. Dragon Con first-timers may not understand the “Cult of the Marriott Carpet” or “Saint John the Deliverer” (our friends at Geek Orthodox certainly do!), but even newbies should keep a sharp eye out for the exuberance that happens outside of “our regularly scheduled programming”. For Middle-earth fans, that includes:
The Dragon Con Parade, a riotous and colorful celebration of all things nerdish. Open to everyone to watch, with no badges required, the downtown Atlanta crowds swell into the six figures as Superheroes, Troopers, and Spartans (oh, my) travel down Peachtree Street in costumed glory. Tolkien fans have been longtime participants, marching behind the “Arms of Middle-earth” banner. This year, at least 20 of us will be representing the Legendarium we love. Be sure to wave! Saturday, 10:00 am, down Peachtree Street from North Avenue through a U-turn into the Marriott Marquis We’d suggest arriving early to grab a good viewing spot!
The “Passing of the Elves” Procession. A more focused choral ensemble that’s closely connected to the “Sing with the Elf Choir” programming, this group practices particularly elvish music, all dress in elvish attire, and process around the halls and connecting bridges between Dragon Con hotels in their melodious passage toward the West. Lanterns and bells mark their ethereal comings and goings. The Procession typically occurs on Sunday evenings. You can find out more by searching for the Elf Choir on social media platforms.
The Lord of the Rings Fan Club. New this year! TORn is working with our friends at the Fan Club to finalize a series of quests designed especially for members attending Dragon Con. If you’re part of the Club already, stay tuned on the app for announcements! If you’re not, there will also be ways to sign up at the Con! Collect those mathoms and join the fun!
See you in the belly of the beast – Dragon Con may be 40 but we’re all still young at heart!
Recently we shared news of the newOfficial Lord of the Rings™ Fan Club – where ‘everyone is welcome, as long as they welcome everyone'! We are excited to join the club as one of their ‘Heralds’ – and we want to invite YOU to join us! May we entice you with a special mathom…?
Since TheOneRing.net started out – in the dim and distant past that was the late 20th century! – we’ve always sought to create a positive atmosphere. We aimed to have our little corner of the interwebs be a place where folks could meet, chat, support each other, and celebrate shared passions together. In recent years, however, you may have noticed toxicity creeping in to the online experience! If you weren’t around to share in the heady, early days of online fandom, now is your chance to experience another kinder, more generous-spirited place to interact online – a place after TORn’s own heart. That, at least, is the goal of the new Official LotR Fan Club – spearheaded by none other than one of our own founders, Calisuri. So of course TORn wanted to be part of it!
Being a ‘Herald’ means we have our own official page, with a ‘sub-community’ at the club. It will allow TORn to share news to a wider fanbase, through the club. Fear not – we are certainly not giving up our own places for fans to gather! (In fact, if you haven’t dropped by our message boards lately, you should definitely swing by: they are all shiny and new, thanks to the hard work of supremo First Age staffers Altaira and BG!) And you’ll still be able to find us on our discord; the Fan Club just gives us another way of letting fans know what we’re up to, and of sharing the love of this Fellowship.
We hope you’ll pop by and check out the Fan Club. There are fun ‘fireside chats’, bulletin boards, and daily puzzles to be solved! (Riddles in the dark, anyone…?) And for those of you who love to collect – there are many amazing ‘mathoms’ you can gather, to create a record of your own Fan Club journey. Use this referral link to head over to the Club and you’ll secure TORn’s very own, exclusive mathom! And look for more fun mathoms to collect during DragonCon, later this week!
Come on in – you are welcome any time, don’t bother knocking!
Middle-earth collectors have another exciting project to keep their eyes on! SYZYGY FORGE are creating The Helm of the Witch-king of Angmar, based on the legendary design created by Tolkien artist and conceptual designer John Howe. The helm is the latest release in Syzygy’s John Howe Collection, giving fans the opportunity to bring one of the most intimidating designs associated with the Lord of the Nazgûl into their collections.
This is a stunning piece, which will be available in two different scales; and there are a number of other incredible items, such a coins, plaques, and signed prints, on offer as well. The Helms are very limited – you won’t want to delay on this one! The connection to John Howe’s original design makes this an especially interesting release for fans of the visual history of Middle-earth.
Check out the full details here; if the 1:1 scale Helm of the Witch-king is calling to you, you’ll need to move quickly! After all, the Nine may be patient—but collectors rarely are!
Another San Diego Comic-con is water under the Brandywine Bridge, but the memory of many exciting Lord of the Rings events remains, such as TORN’s packed panel which focused on adaptations of Tolkien’s work.
Justin Sewell, host of TORN Tuesdays moderated the panel of guests which included Richard Taylor (WETA), Kellie Rice (Happy Hobbit; author), Clifford Broadway (TORN Tuesdays Host, Ringers: Lord of the Fans), Matt Graf (Nerd of the Rings), Cathy Udovch (TORN Special Events Coordinator), and Jim Wert (TORN Special Events Coordinator).
L-R: Justin Sewell, Richard Taylor, Kellie Rice, Clifford Broadway, Matt Graf, Cathy Udovch, Jim Wert
Justin first showed TORNs SDCC exclusive Prancing Pony wood tankard created in partnership with Middle-earth Enterprises and designed to make you feel like a Hobbit. Besides the tankard, other TORn items at the booth included an exclusive Tom Bombadil and Goldberry T-shirt and our now infamous Prancing Pony Club T-shirt. He also announced the new The Lord of the Rings Fan Club and told everyone to sign up.
Sign up–adventure awaits!
Jim pointed out that the very first adaptation is when a reader first reads a book and they bring their own imagination to what the characters and landscapes look like. Kellie said that adaptation takes longer than writing one’s own stories because it has to be done in a respectful and nuanced way. Richard added that “we say…I love the movie, but it was not as good as the book.” He said the book is as big as the imagination of the reader, but the movie is only as big as the budget. “And the imagination of the reader is pretty bloody big, right?”
This will be our 24th edition of the Bagginses Birthday Bash in Griffith Park. Head to the link below to RSVP and list what you will bring to the party. You can also email me at Garfeimao(at)TheOneRing.net to RSVP if you are not on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/events/1369087481317252/
The party will start at 11:30am on Sunday, September 20, 2026 and will be a potluck sort of party, as usual, so please do mention what you plan to bring so we know what to expect and what holes need filling.
There will be fun and games, including a Dessert Contest for the best Fellowship of the Rings themed cake or cupcakes, or just theme it around 25 (for the 25th anniversary of FOTR). Costumes most welcome, there will be prizes.
