Meet The Hobbit Artists

Meet several of the artists who worked on The Hobbit and learn more about what they’re up to, along with several other talented folks at Weta, including Greg Broadmore and the comedic antics of Daniel Falconer! [Happy Hobbit Goes to SDCC: Meet the Hobbit Artists]

Collectibles

Meet the lads! From Bridge Direct Toys to our very own Elessar and Weta’s Senior Model Maker David Tremont, learn a bit more about collecting and miniature-making… and have plenty of laughs along the way. These guys are a kick! Read David Tremont’s story of creating Barad-Dur here: http://www.wetanz.com/the-making-of-barad-dur-article-series-by-david-tremont/  [Happy Hobbit Goes to SDCC: Collectibles]

Badali Jewelry

Check out Badali’s latest Lord of the Rings/Hobbit jewelery and find out more about the stories behind each piece! [Happy Hobbit Goes to SDCC: Badali Jewelry]

The Hobbit Extended Edition

Hear a little bit about the upcoming DVD/Blu ray of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and glimpse what Comic-Con is like long after the crowds have departed! [Happy Hobbit Goes to SDCC: Extended Edition Teaser and Farewell]

Meeting Evangeline Lilly

And of course, the completion of “Hobbitception!” [Hobbitception: Meeting Evangeline Lilly]

You can join in the fun at the Happy Hobbit Facebook page!

Join Kili, Fili, and several surprise guests to learn how to camp like a Dwarf! [Happy Hobbit: Dwarven Camping Tips - Episode 21]

This week on Main saw the return of stormcrow20s Caption Contest.  Check out some of the crazy responses here.

In the Reading Room, Brethil is leading us in a discussion of “Law and Arda” by Douglas Kane.  Come and share your views here.

Meanwhile in The Pollantir Sam90 would like to know if you believe in Ghosts? Come and vote and leave your thoughts here.

In Feedback, The Grey Elf was wondering if we should have an official De-lurk Day, to encourage more people to step out of the gloom of Lurkwood and into the Light of the Boards.  See what everyone has to say 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 9,700 registered Tolkien fans, just like you.  Let your voice be heard!

Catlin is also the artist for a brand new illustrated edition of The Hobbit, which will be released this Fall and will contain 150 new, colour illustrations.  More visual goodies from Middle-earth!  You can preorder both the book and the calendar at Amazon – click on the links below!

[Pre-order Tolkien Calendar 2014]   [Pre-order new Illustrated Hobbit]

Thanks to ringer spy Bomby for the heads up!

As we all know, J R R Tolkien was, from an early age, fascinated by myth and heroic legend, reading all he could of the romances and epics of many nations.  In a letter to Milton Waldman, which appears in the Preface to the second edition of The Silmarillion, he wrote that he was ‘grieved by the poverty of my own beloved country: it had no stories of its own … Of course there was and is all the Arthurian world, but powerful as it is, it is imperfectly naturalized, associated with the soil of Britain but not with the English; and does not replace what I felt to be missing…’

The Professor, then, had little time for the legends of King Arthur; but he did make one foray into those tales, and we are about to be able to read for ourselves the results of those labours!  Tomorrow, publishers Houghton Mifflin Harcourt release Tolkien’s narrative poem The Fall of Arthur, edited as ever by his son Christopher.  HMH’s press release tells us:

‘The Fall of Arthur, the only venture by J.R.R. Tolkien into the legends of Arthur, king of Britain, may well be regarded as his finest and most skillful achievement in the use of Old English alliterative meter, in which he brought to his transforming perceptions of the old narratives a pervasive sense of the grave and fateful nature of all that is told: of Arthur’s expedition overseas into distant heathen lands, of Guinevere’s flight from Camelot, of the great sea battle on Arthur’s return to Britain, in the portrait of the traitor Mordred, in the tormented doubts of Lancelot in his French castle.’

Alas, Tolkien never finished his poem; but amongst his manuscripts were sketches and drafts, which included ‘significant tantalizing notes. In these notes can be discerned clear if mysterious associations of the Arthurian conclusion with The Silmarillion, and the bitter ending of the love of Lancelot and Guinevere, which was never written.’

It’s a day of celebration for Tolkien fans whenever we have a chance to read more of the Professor’s work, and gain further insight into the explorations which lead to his great myth of Middle-earth.  You can read Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s full information about the book here; and you can order your copy from Amazon by clicking here. The Fall of Arthur will also be available as an e-book.  Happy reading!

[Order The Fall of Arthur from Amazon]

I found The Wisdom of the Shire to be funny, insightful, thought provoking and a thoroughly enjoyable read. It brought back to mind several aspects of Tolkien’s world. Over the years I’ve read much of the good professor’s work, some works more than once. Noble’s book had me looking at familiar passages in a way I hadn’t before.

The Wisdom of the Shire is a nice enhancement to reading Tolkien, taking nothing away or for granted from what long time readers know of Middle-earth already. Who knows, Noble Smith’s book may hold some surprises for new and not so new Tolkien fans alike. Fans will love “The Hobbit Test” towards the end of the book (no I’m not going to tell you how I scored ) Noble’s instructions on how to make a small Hobbit garden had me smiling as I thought of Sam tending his beloved garden .

Noble’s knowledge and understanding of Tolkien’s work shines through on every page. His comparisons to contemporary situations are presented with finesse and  don’t detract from the flow and overall Middle-earthy feel of the book. The Wisdom of the Shire quotes at the end of each chapter are excellent summations; I fully expect to hear them repeated by Tolkien fans in the years ahead.

This is definitely a book I’m happy to have living on my bookshelf amongst the rest of my Tolkien books.

You can get your copy here  The Wisdom of the Shire: A Short Guide to a Long and Happy Life

Noble Smith is an award-winning playwright who has worked as a video game writer, a documentary film executive producer and the media director of an international human rights foundation.  He lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and children.  To read even more about Noble and his book you can visit www.shirewisdom.com or follow him on Twitter @shirewisdom .

After reading The Wisdom of the Shire I had the great pleasure of talking to its author Noble Smith.

Kelvarhin:  You’ve read many of Tolkien’s books, which one, if any, is your most favourite?

Noble:   My most favourite Tolkien book is The Lord of the Rings. I’ve probably read it twenty-five or thirty times in my life. I read the entire book out loud to my girlfriend in college. (We’re still together, by the way, a quarter of a century later, and we’re still Tolkien freaks!) But there are certain scenes in LOTR I’ve read fifty times or more. I’ve had the big single-volume red leather edition since 1981 and it’s been my constant companion. I bought it with my Christmas money. It has sat on every bookshelf in every house or apartment I’ve lived in since the age of 12. I pick up that book when I’m sad or stressed. It’s like therapy. Anyway, there are certain scenes that I go back to: Gandalf the White returning in Fangorn; Éowyn and Merry slaying the Witch King of Angmar on the Pelennor Fields. Those two scenes always make me sob. Don’t get me wrong. I love The Hobbit. And Thorin’s death scene is one of the great moments in literature. The part where he says to Bilbo “If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” That’s essentially the foundation of my book The Wisdom of the Shire. Thorin’s quest for gold and redemption and revenge was a chimera. His friendship with Bilbo was the most important thing in his life. And he didn’t learn the true lessons of the Shire-folk (and life) until he was about to leave Middle-earth and journey to the Halls of Waiting.

Kelvarhin:  I know you first got your idea for “Wisdom of the Shire” about 30 years ago, what was it about Tolkien’s world that kept you inspired to keep going and write your book?

Noble:  Yes. I actually thought of the idea when I was a kid. I had a copy of The Tao of Pooh, and I thought it was so clever. I said to my best friend Daniel, “We should do a book like this about Hobbits and Middle-earth and call it “The Tao of Hobbits!” Daniel, by the way, had all of the Tolkien record albums (on vinyl) memorized, and would recite them word for word (even the skips in the record!) on car trips. The thing about Tolkien that a lot of people don’t understand is that you keep discovering things every time you read the books, whether it’s The Silmarillion (which my wife just read for about the fourth time) or LOTR or even The Hobbit. I recently read Corey Olsen’s book Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and he pointed out so many cool things I had never thought of before. His “Riddles In The Dark” chapter analysis should be required reading for Tolkien fans. Amazing book. Corey and Ethan Gilsdorf (author of Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks) and I did a podcast last week and we talked for nearly two hours…and we were just getting warmed up. Ethan’s book, by the way, is a wonderful example of somebody rediscovering his love of Tolkien and how that rediscovery opened up all of these new doors in his life.

Kelvarhin:  If you had the chance to sit down and chat with Christopher Tolkien, what would you love to ask him? Do you think he’d like your book?

Noble:  I would love to sit down and talk to Christopher Tolkien. Without him we wouldn’t have The Silmarilion, or Unfinished Tales or The History of Middle-earth! I respect him so much. You know he typed all of the manuscripts for those books on his father’s old manual typewriter? There’s an illuminating interview that was done with him this year in Le Monde. He feels like his father’s work has been “eviscerated.” I feel, however, that at some point an author’s work has to be allowed to enter the public domain. Nobody can ever go back and rewrite J.R.R. Tolkien’s books. They are sacred and safe. I have no idea what Christopher would think of my book. It never would have been published without the blessing of The Tolkien Estate, so I am incredibly grateful to them. I think J.R.R. Tolkien would like my book because it’s essentially trying to get people to live more like Hobbits. I don’t see how the creator of The Shire could disagree with that!

Kelvarhin:  You’ve been given the opportunity of travelling to Middle earth, which realm would you definitely have to visit?

Noble:  This is such a great question. The Shire, of course. No doubt in my mind. I want to walk from Bag End to The Golden Perch and finally taste that beer everyone has been talking about! And then, oddly enough, I would want to visit Tom Bombadil’s house. And then I’d have to go to Minas Tirith and pay my respects to King Elessar’s tomb. Now that would be a great spinoff book: A Virtual Travel Guide to Middle-earth. Hit all the highpoints. But stay away from Bree. Total tourist trap.

Kelvarhin:  What is it about Hobbits that resonates so strongly with you? Why do you think they appeal to so many of us?

Noble:  The Hobbits live in an egalitarian society. They practice sustainability (living off what they grow in the Shire) and sufficiency (taking only as much as they need). They’re kind, cheerful, funny and devoted friends. They know how to live well without being greedy (except when it comes to mushrooms). They also stand up for what they believe in and will fight for what is right. How can you not love Hobbits?

Kelvarhin:  I loved the wisdom of the shire quotes at the end of each chapter, my personal favourite is “Bear your own Ring of Doom only for as long as you deem necessary. When the time is right, cast it into the fire and be free of the burden”. Are there any you’re particularly fond of?

Noble:  Thanks! I love those quotes too. I can’t wait to hear Simon Vance (one of the great book narrators working today) read those. He’s actually doing the recording for my book this weekend and yesterday we went over all the proper Elven pronunciations. Now back to your question. My favourite is “To grow your dinner from a seed planted and tended by your own hand is more wondrous than a wizard’s sorcery.” That’s from my chapter “The Gaffer’s Garden” which encourages people to grow their own Hobbit garden. Tolkien tells us that the Hobbits had this deep friendship with the earth. I feel that anybody can create this friendship by growing your own food. Or even just herbs for cooking! (Sam Gamgee would agree with me about the importance of fresh herbs.)

Kelvarhin:  When did you first hear about TORn? Have you ever visited our Message Boards or Barlimans Chatroom?

Noble:  Oh yes! I’ve visited the TORn message boards and chatrooms. I commented a few times in the early days of the site. I think my user name was Farmer Cotton. I’ve been following TORn since it first started. I remember you guys posted one of the first images from The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Like a year before The Fellowship of the Ring came out! It was that shot of the Hobbits posing in front of a big farm cart. I set my Safari homepage to TORn after that! TORn helped keep me going during some really tough times. I felt like there was this fellowship of Tolkien fans out there. People just like me for whom these books and movies really are a significant part of our lives. When I wrote the proposal for my book I mentioned TORn as the greatest fan site out there. I used your site as proof that Tolkien fans are here to stay.

Thanks so much, Kelvarhin. This has been an honor. May the Shire live for ever unwithered in everyone’s heart!

Thank you Noble, for taking the time to talk to us, I thoroughly enjoyed our chat.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – Chronicles

As we’ve come to expect, Weta and Harper Collins have produced another sumptuous, richly-bound volume detailing the process of turning words and imagination into the films we see. It’s written by Daniel Falconer, who’s had a hands-on overview of the road to executing Jackson’s vision since the beginning of LOTR. Thus you see many sketches exploring the different concepts that inform the finished designs we see on screen, and a wealth of objects you only dream of studying at leisure and in detail. It’s full of insights into how the film’s creators saw the character and history of The Hobbit’s people, creatures and places. The actors get to speak about their characters too, so we learn for instance that Sylvester McCoy loves animals in real life – he whistles to birds and they whistle back! Definitely a book to treasure. It’s full of spoilers too promising scenes that we can hope to see in the extended edition DVDs if nowhere else – scenes with the Old Took and Belladonna Took, Gandalf’s first meeting with Bilbo when he was a young boy, and a closer look at more Shirefolk such as Lobelia Sackville-Baggins, Old Gammidge and Old Hob. Check out some scans below. [Purchase Today!]

THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY  VISUAL COMPANION by Jude Fisher

**Foreword by Martin Freeman**

Join the hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf the wizard and the Company of Dwarves on their Quest to recover treasure stolen by the Dragon, Smaug the Magnificent. Leaving the comfort of Bilbo’s home they must face many perils before they can claim their long-lost gold — Trolls, Elves, Goblins, Wargs, and worse…

Richly illustrated with more than 100 color photos from the film, and featuring a fold-out map charting the journey from Bag End to Wilderland, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Visual Companion begins the Quest for the Lonely Mountain in spectacular style.

On-sale November 6, 2012 * ISBN 978-0-547-89856-8 * $19.95 hardcover

Pre-order (Kindle edition) at Amazon.

THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY  OFFICIAL MOVIE GUIDE by Brian Sibley

Enter Bilbo Baggins’s world through exclusive interviews with director Peter Jackson, Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen and all the principal cast and filmmakers, who share film-making secrets and tales of what it was actually like making movie magic in Middle-earth.

Lavishly illustrated with hundreds of behind-the-scenes photos of the actors, locations, sets, creatures and costumes, this essential guide has been produced in collaboration with the filmmakers who have brought J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic novel into breathtaking three-dimensional life.

On-sale November 6, 2012 * ISBN 978-0-547-89855-1 * $14.95 paperback

Pre-order at Amazon.

THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY ACTIVITY BOOK

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Activity Book is packed with stunning photos, facts, and activities from the brilliant new movie. Join Bilbo Baggins on his unexpected journey across the wilds of Middle-earth with Gandalf the wizard and a company of thirteen Dwarves. For ages 8 and up.

On-sale November 6, 2012 * ISBN 978-0-547-89871-1 * $12.00 hardcover

Look for it at Amazon.

THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY  THE MOVIE STORYBOOK

Relive the story of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in this fantastic photo-filled book. Battling against Goblins, Wargs and other forces of evil, will Bilbo Baggins and the Company of Dwarves find the strength to help recapture the lost Kingdom of Erebor? With this amazing retelling of the movie, you too can visit Middle-earth.  For ages 8 and up.

On-sale November 6, 2012 * ISBN 978-0-547-89872-8 * $9.95 paperback

Pre-order at Amazon.

THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY  THE WORLD OF HOBBITS

Enter the amazing World of Hobbits. Packed with photos from the new film, this book will tell you all you need to know about these amazing creatures – their appearance, appetites, homes, friends, deadly foes and much more. For ages 8 and up.

On-sale November 6, 2012 * ISBN 978-0-547-89873-5 * $9.95 paperback

Pre-order at Amazon.

Look for these great tie-in books in your local bookstores next week – or track them down on Amazon.com, which of course ships worldwide!  (The links above are for Kindle editions for these books – Amazon also stocks regular editions.)

If you enjoy the journal and would like to contribute, they are currently accepting submissions for Issue 5, which is themed on The Hobbit.  Deadline for submissions is 1st February 2013; further information here.

TheOneRing.net has reached a[nother] milestone!  Members have contributed to a collectible magazine called “The Hobbit – A Tribute to the Unexpected Prequel to The Lord of the Rings“.  Have a look at how the announcement unfolded on the Hobbit Discussion Board and on the Main Discussion Board.  This is a one—time chance to see a unique collection of articles authored by TORNadoes, so watch for them on magazine stands everywhere!

TORN poster Magpie is always on top of any news about film-related music and soundtracks.  She’s been keeping an eye (and ear) open for news of the soundtrack release for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.  Check this post where she sorts out all of the rumors and the most current news from Doug Adams, author of The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films and the upcoming The Music of The Hobbit Films.

We finally have a detailed look at the wizard, Radagast the Brown, with the appearance of this fantastic poster.  This one image tells us so much about the world of this nature-loving Istari.  Join in the discussion here and tell us what you think!

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 can join in on the conversation!  Don’t forget, TheOneRing.net’s Message Boards have over 8,200 registered Tolkien fans, just like you.  Let your voice be heard!

PS… Just 2 months to go!!