Most of this past week’s action has been on The Hobbit Message Board where the speculations are flying!  Could we have seen a picture of Beorn?  Some say yes, some say no (very Elven!); but we’d like to hear what you think!

 So the Hobbit Message Board is wondering about the new Favourite Elven Couple.  Join in the conversation here.

And we can’t help but wonder about The Desolation of Smaug spoilers.  Is there a battle?  And there’s more in a recent article on the film?  We’d love to hear from you!

We’ll share more topics next week and hope you join in on the conversation!  Don’t forget, TheOneRing.net Message Boards have over 9,936 registered Tolkien fans, just like you.  Let your voice be heard!

Join TheOneRing.net as we share ‘The Hobbit’ with schools to encourage literacy.

TheOneRing.net is raising money to send copies of J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic, ‘The Hobbit,’ to schools . In a time when education funding is on the decline, books like ‘The Hobbit’ are simply not purchased for children on a regular basis. As a result, those students are not introduced to the wonderful world of J.R.R. Tolkien, a world we have all learned to love and appreciate.

Today, we are honored to use our extensive international reach to announce the S.H.I.R.E. Project, a real world initiative to help improve the reading skills of children worldwide. The S.H.I.R.E. Project stands for Sharing the Hobbit to Improve REading.

Through helping Schools and Teachers get copies of The Hobbit, and other works of J.R.R. Tolkien, we can hope to expand the world of Tolkien to new readers and improve the reading skills of the world’s youth at the same time.

The first Teacher we want to help is Derek Wright who teaches at Alpharetta High School in Fulton County Georgia. Derek wants to help spread the love of Tolkien to his students, love of fantasy, and help improve the reading of his students. He needs 120 copies of The Hobbit to do this. So we’re calling on all of you to help us help Derek in his goals as a first year teacher.

Please help donate via this PayPal button to get Derek and his students those books. We are looking to raise $1000 to make this purchase. Please consider a donation of $10 or more! Thank you in advance and look for an update from us when we reach our goal!

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.

To mark this special anniversary we will have a lot of material to cover, and let’s all take a closer look at the Extended Edition of THE HOBBIT: AUJ that is coming out — so please bring your questions and comments to the chat!

We launch TORn TUESDAY every week at 5:00PM Pacific: brought to you by host Clifford “Quickbeam” Broadway and producer Justin “Nothing Up My Sleeve” Sewell — Our innovative live show includes worldwide fans who join us on the Live Event page with a built-in IRC chat (affectionately known as Barliman’s Chat room). Be part of the fun and mischief every week as we broadcast *live* from Meltdown Comics in the heart of Hollywood, U.S.A.!

And yes our YouTube channel will have this archived later.  You can find us on www.youtube.com/the1nering

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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.

Krasnov calls the work “The Guardians” and created it from completely scratch using little more than plastics, foam sponge, PVA glue, gypsum, cardboard and a dremel. Oh, and some paint!

The scale is, apparently, 1:100, and the diorama measures 40 centimetres by 28 centimetres. The Argonath figures of Isildur and Anarion are 65 millimetres high and are based on the movie (and subsequent Weta collector sculpts), rather than the bookends released with the Collector’s DVD Gift Set of The Fellowship of the Ring.

We’re not certain about the boat. Apparently it’s elvish-inspired but it doesn’t much resemble either Peter Jackson’s ship of Cirdan at the Grey Havens, nor Ted Nasmith’s famed illustration. Definitely not a swan ship of Aqualonde either.

Regardless, it’s a visually stunning piece. Scroll down to check out the work in progress photos, and the finished product from a variety of angles.

Oh, and if you’re reading, Alex, get in touch because we’d love to find out more about how you did it!

The Guardians by Alexander Krasnov. Click for full gallery.

The Guardians by Alexander Krasnov. Click for work-in-progress gallery.

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!

Everyone gather round for our weekly live webcast TORnTUESDAY! We have some great footage from our livestream at San Diego Comic-Con and above all we have coverage of the final days of shooting THE HOBBIT films down in New Zealand.  They just completed all their photography a couple of days ago.

We will have lots of mischief today — so please bring your questions and comments to the chat!

We launch TORn TUESDAY every week at 5:00PM Pacific: brought to you by host Clifford “Quickbeam” Broadway and producer Justin “I Make Damn Good Shirts” Sewell — Our innovative live show includes worldwide fans who join us on the Live Event page with a built-in IRC chat (affectionately known as Barliman’s Chat room). Be part of the fun and mischief every week as we broadcast *live* from Meltdown Comics in the heart of Hollywood, U.S.A.!

And yes our YouTube channel will have this archived later.  You can find us on www.youtube.com/the1nering

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Follow us on Twitter:  @theoneringnet

Follow Cliff Broadway:  @quickbeam2000

Like us on Facebook:  www.facebook.com/theoneringnet

The booth folks at Comic Con are the same people working back at home as tradespeople and Tolkien fans and they were behind this year’s excellent poster. They also made the “Good Luck” pins worn by the folks from the LOTR and Hobbit productions that were nominated for academy awards. They make a lovely One Ring too — obviously! They financially sponsored our Live Stream this year from Con so we are always in their debt. Here is their website so enjoy!

This weekend’s Roundup brings you The Reading Room as it hosted the very first TORn Amateur Symposium.  Many Message Board Members have found it difficult to attend national symposiums and conferences that include studies on J.R.R. Tolkien and his works.  As a result, TORn has conducted its own Symposium.  Members have contributed personal essays on philosophic opinions, scientific theories, or analytic approaches to understanding or highlighting some facet of Tolkien’s writings and world.  Please enjoy the following topics offered in this first TORn Amateur Symposium.

Day One – The Physics of Middle-earth

Day Two – Fauna of Middle-earth

Day Three – Geography and Literature, Art & Language

Day Four – The Hobbit Topics

Day Five – The Lord of the Rings Topics

Day Six – The Silmarillion Topics

Want Hobbit Movie News?  Each week, TORn poster DanielLB ventures into the very rich and fast-moving Hobbit Discussion Board to collect The Hobbit Headlines of the Week.  Check out this week’s action here.

We’ll share more topics next week and hope you join in on the conversation!  Don’t forget, TheOneRing.net’s Message Boards have nearly 9,900 registered Tolkien fans, just like you.  Let your voice be heard!