The day-to-day operation of the website, and the events we host, require a lot more resources than when we first started nearly 15 years ago. We sometimes find it hard to ask our readers for the help we need to keep running, so we began discussing what it is that makes TheOneRing.net worth helping out. It started out as a search for the Top Ten Moments of TORn, but the list got so long because each staff member had their own idea of important moments in TORn history. Here, instead, is something more encompassing: Ten Ways TORn helps serve Tolkien and Lord of the Rings fandom (listed in no specific order).

And, if you enjoy what we do, consider a donation (no amount too small, because every bit does help!) to keep us running!

If you can’t, that’s fine as well — keep reading, commenting and contributing. Because TORn is as much you as it is us!

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.

• Spy Reports

• Spy reports were a big part of our content when the website first started. From casting announcements to secret location pictures to leaked images of important plot points, spy reports were our bread and butter stories. Some of the reports were from random, anonymous sources, while others were official leaks from cast and crew. In fact, there were many production members who said they used TheOneRing.net to keep track of what some of the other filming units were doing. Other spy reports were just someone stumbling upon a film location and sending in a story or images and then we’d all try and guess what location it actually was. Some of our biggest spy reports were of Arwen at Helm’s Deep (which subsequently didn’t happen), Saruman’s prone body on a spiky wheel (which did happen), and TheOneRing.net was given the honor of introducing Thorin to the world. And very soon, we will be seeing stories from MrCere’s visit to the set from his Production Embed last year.

• Hall of Fire Chats and the Message Boards

• Literary discussions on the message boards and Hall of Fire chats – From the very beginning of TheOneRing.net, discussions of the books, chapter by chapter, has been a hallmark. After all, while we waited for news on who would be cast, where filming would take place, and rumors of what might be cut out, we had the books to talk about. Discussions worked by talking about one chapter at a time, and luckily, there are enough books with enough chapters, to keep those discussions going on for a long while. Since the beginning, we’ve looped through the books several times, but luckily, there are always new readers joining the discussion, and new interpretations to be had. And for something a little more dynamic, there are the Hall of Fire chats in Barlimans. Sometimes the talk is about a specific chapter, or a certain character, and sometimes it is about current events, such as new character images or reviews of a recently released trailer. No matter which forum you use, there is always someone to talk to about some aspect of Tolkien, the books or our fandom.

• TORns Live Videos

• We began with TORn Live, which consisted of Red Carpet interviews at premieres, awards ceremonies and special events like Cannes 2001 and SDCC. These would be recorded, edited and released online a few days or weeks later. But technology now allows for live streaming interviews and vlogs and the like. Quickbeam hosts a weekly TORn Tuesday event with interviews and discussions, while he interacts with a live chatroom. The Happy Hobbit ladies record and post their vlogs and post them within a day or two of their recordings, for a much quicker turnaround on video content. And right now we have the Road to DragonCon in full swing with live streaming from across the country.

• Conventions

• Convention appearances – Calisuri and Quickbeam hosted a panel at San Diego Comic Con in 2001, before the release of FOTR, and since then barely a year has gone by that TORn hasn’t had a presence at at least one convention. At many of the conventions we appear at we also have a presence on the exhibit hall floor where we have sold some of our classic TORn shirts. We love it when we get up on stage for a panel and half the people in the audience are wearing some of our older shirts.

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  Baggins Birthday Party sign

  Line Parties and Fan Events

• Line Parties and other fan hosted events – TheOneRing.net has always been a grass roots type of fan-site and that is no more apparent then looking at the Line Parties of years past. Whether it is just a few friends, or some hundreds of people signing up on the website to attend, fans like you all over the world hosted Line Parties. A few even took place over several days, and included costume contests and trivia games for prizes. Other fan hosted events over the years have been the Hobbit Day/Baggins Birthday Bash events on Sept. 22, the Tolkien Toast on Jan. 3 and the Tolkien Reading Day on March 25. TORn staff in Los Angeles have been hosting a Baggins Birthday Bash party for 11 years now, but there are fan groups around the world that have hosted similar events. Smaller moots happen around the world all the time, there is a very active group in Wellington and one in Croatia. If you are hosting a fan event in the next year or two, please feel free to tell us about it.

• The Oscar Parties

• Originally conceived as a fan event to help raise funds to buy TORn a new server, who could have imagined the Cast and Crew actually showing up to the FOTR oscar party? Even more surprising, who could have imagined the ROTK sweep and all those Oscars on stage at a fan hosted party?

• O.R.C and E.L.F.

• TheOneRing.net hosted conventions – The One Ring Celebration on the West Coast (O.R.C.) and the Eastern Lord of the Rings Festival on the East Coast (E.L.F.) were co-productions with a professional convention company, but they definitely had a TORn stamp on them. The conventions allowed us to combine our love of the films by interacting with cast and crew with our love of the books through academic discussions, the art shows and costume displays. We really did break the mold on how a commercial scifi convention is run and hope everyone who attended had a blast.

• Academic essays and editorials

• TORn has long standing relationships with many in the academic community who have posted guest essays and editorials. Over the year several staffers have posted in depth analysis to fan questions on the site as well. In fact, we have a whole section on the ‘old TORn’ (pre-crash) called Green Books for academic posts. This section had so much good stuff in it, we published a book called “The People’s Guide to J.R.R. Tolkien” and a sequel book as well.

• Driving fan initiatives

• After Return of the King was done and Peter Jackson moved on to do King Kong, the fans waited to see what would happen with The Hobbit afterwards. Months turned to years and still no word while studios went bankrupt, copyrights issues got tangled up and various lawsuits were filed for missing payments. Finally, a few fans decided they had had enough and started a petition to ‘Make the Hobbit Happen’. They brought it to TORn and we got thousands of you to sign so that a big pile of names was delivered to TPTB. A similar thing happened when there was talk that the production would be moved out of New Zealand. The fans could see no where else as Middle-earth, so the ‘Keep the Hobbit in NZ’ campaign was born, but this time on Social Media. And most recently, there was an explosion of Tolkien fan love over the #Votebilbo twitter event prompted by an MTV Audience Award.

• TORn Community

• This list compiles many of the things that TheOneRing.net does to keep you informed, entertained and engaged, but there is really just one thing that makes TheOneRing.net so important to keep around. And that is the community of fans that convene on our message boards, in Barliman’s chat, on Facebook and Twitter.

This site was built by fans getting together to discuss what they hoped for from Peter Jackson long before FOTR ever saw the light of day. The fact that a long existing fan-base gathered here meant engaged and informed discussion began from day one, including analyzing all the spy reports about casting and location details. We didn’t have to wait for the release of the films, or for several episodes of a new show to take off before we could discuss the minutia of every detail because our fan base was already well established.

And what is ‘fandom’ if not a community of like minded people passionate about the same thing. Sure, everyone has their own opinions, so every time a new image was released, or a new trailer appeared, the message boards and chatroom erupted into heated discussions. But as the years wore on friendships were made, some turning into marriage, and we all began meeting up at various moots, conventions, concerts, premiere events, trips to New Zealand or just coffee and a movie. How many of you newer fans were galvanized by the #Votebilbo campaign and now have a wider array of Twitter friends because of it? The fact that TORn was able to continue to exist during all those lean years between film productions is due mostly to you, the readers, sticking around to discuss anything and everything to do with Tolkien, and sometimes other bits of pop culture. We know that after the release of The Hobbit: There and Back Again we will see another decline of readership, but we also know that the community is strong, the friendships have been forged and all of you take that fandom with you where ever you go next.

So again, if you are so inclined to help support us and keep the website going, please do make a pledge or bid on one of the many cool auction items we’ve been posting about the past few days. On behalf of the All Volunteer Staff at TheOneRing.net, you have our deepest gratitude for all the support over the years.

You will find here links to all the events, helpful hints on what to print and what to bring with you, and a timeline. Further attendee information will be given out with your registration materials when you arrive on Sunday afternoon.

The festivities begin today with An Unexpected Art Show at Lot 613 in Downtown LA, just 10 miles south of Hollywood. Doors open at 7pm and the event will run until 1am. You can find more info Right Here including a discount coupon for entry tonight, just print it and bring it with you. And here is a sample of the artwork you will find at the Art Show.

On Saturday, the LA area Smial of the Tolkien Society, Tolkien Forever, will be hosting a Pub Moot for fans to gather. The Moot will be at The Cat n’ Fiddle Pub in Hollywood (6530 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028) from 1:30pm until 5pm. Check out their Facebook event page for details.

Hobbit Oscar weekend culminates with The One Expected Party on Sunday afternoon, right here in Hollywood, just a couple blocks from the Academy Awards telecast. Here is a check list of things you will want to bring, check on, and ask us about while there is still time to do so.

• Print your tickets and bring them with you. If you do not have them, please email us ASAP at Oscarparty@theonering.net with your name and email. Doors will open at 3pm till 1am.
• Parking, we have sent out emails to everyone regarding parking, but if you did not get that message, or if you have a special need, please contact us at Oscarparty@theonering.net

                               *Lot opens at 2pm

                               *Shuttle will run until 2am and the lots will close after that

                               *You will need your printed Party Ticket to get into the lot

• There is a Dress Code for our party. It’s the basic Black Tie and Pointy Ear optional code we had for the three previous Oscar Parties. You can see the Costume FAQ for more details
• The Rivendell room at the party will be hosting a silent Auction and special Prize Drawings. The items you will be bidding on or entering for the drawing will be on display in the Rivendell room throughout the night. You may use a Credit Card for any large transaction, but if you just wish to purchase a prize drawing ticket, you will want to bring Cash with you. The TORn store will be in this same room, which is where you will find items like TORn shirts, buttons and the like.
• We have not quite sold out yet, so if you still have some friends on the fence, knock them off and bring them along. We will make an announcement if we should sell out before the start of the show on Sunday. Tickets may still be purchased online until Sunday morning, and after that, they can be purchased at the door, if it is not sold out by then. Purchase Tickets Now

And here is a little sneak peak at one of our Auction Items.

There are no panels on Preview night, so this is the perfect time to explore the exhibit hall and visit all the vendors that will have LOTR and Hobbit related products. Here is a still growing list of booths to visit, including the booths that we will be sharing space with:

Badali Jewelry – #530/532 (and one home of TORn during SDCC)

Sideshow Collectibles – #1929

Warner Bros. – #4545

WETA – #3513B (second home to TORn)

Donato Arts – #4503

Gentle Giant – #3513

LEGO – #2829

Make sure to stop by and visit the TORn staff at both booth locations to purchase shirts and buttons, and have the chance to play any number of LOTR themed games. You will also  be able to get more information about TORn’s Hobbit Premiere Tour in November. And starting on Thursday the WB is going to have a full on fan experience located outside the convention center between Hall H and the Hilton Bayfront Hotel. Included in that experience will be some LOTR events such as video game play of Guardians of Middle-earth and LEGO the Lord of the rings: 3D Street Art. You will find all the details at http://comiccon.thewb.com/

THURSDAY:

Please accept our invitation to join TheOneRing.net in one of the convention’s opening panels. We will be in room 6DE starting at 10:15am, please pay attention to the convention center’s instructions on the proper entrances and exits for the panel room. Remember to wear your Tolkien themed costumes, we will be having a Cosplay meetup directly after the panel, out on the Terrace behind the Sails Pavilion. Later in the afternoon you will be able to choose from seeing Elijah Wood on the Wilfred panel, at 4pm in the Indigo Ballroom at the Hilton Bayfront, or of seeing Karl Urban moderate the Masters of the Web presentation at 4:30pm in room 24ABC.

FRIDAY:

This will be a fairly light day for Tolkien programming, but you can see a few LOTR cast members today. First up will be Sean Astin at 10:15am in room 6BCF for the Go Green: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles presentation. You can then have fun the rest of the day, enjoying the WB event outside, or wandering the exhibit hall, and then end your day with John Noble. At 7:15pm in room 6A, you can see a presentation for Dark Matters: Twisted but True, a show on the Science channel hosted by John Noble.

SATURDAY:

With the WB panel in Hall H in the afternoon, it is expected that some of you may line up, maybe even as early as Friday night. In that instance, TORn will be there to help you out. Maybe not the whole night, but don’t be surprised if we pop up from time to time to host a game or two, give out some goodies, and basically, turn the Line into a Line Party. If you feel like taking a break from waiting to get into Hall H, you can find John Noble signing autographs for an hour, starting at 1:30pm out under the Sails Pavilion at table AA19. But please do make sure you are inside Hall H by no later than 2:30pm for the WB panel. The schedule listing promises looks at Pacific Rim, directed by Guillermo Del Toro, a quick look at Man of Steel, and a presentation for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey with Peter Jackson and numerous cast on hand.

SUNDAY:

The last item where you can find a LOTR connection is the Fringe Panel, starring John Noble, running at 10am in Hall H. After this, treat yourself to a complete run through the exhibit hall to ensure you have not missed any collectibles, games and fun before heading home. TheOneRing.net will be there till the very end, so please stop by, as often as you wish. Mae Govannon.

Here at TheOneRing.net, we are very proud of the community we have helped create, and like any community, we experience losses. One such loss occurred this weekend in Los Angeles, where the Tolkien fan community, and the costuming community as a whole, lost one of its brightest and most creative individuals. Kent Elofson died on May 18 of an apparent suicide in his Pasadena home, leaving behind a huge community of fellow costumers, all mourning his passing.

More behind the break.  

Kent was born and raised in Southern California and began his creative life at Disneyland, where he worked first in the Character department, and then moved over into the Art Department and Imagineering. Chances are that if you’ve been to Disneyland in Anaheim or Paris, that you have enjoyed a little bit of Kent’s creativity. Beyond that, Kent was an early proponent of the Original Renaissance Pleasure Faire and a long standing genre costume re-creator. Amongst Tolkien fandom, Kent is best known for his Aragorn costumes, both as Strider and as Aragorn at the Black Gates. But anyone who has attended San Diego Comic con in the past decade can attest, Kent was a master costumer in many genres and across numerous media.

Kent’s connection with TheOneRing.net and the Tolkien Fandom in Los Angeles goes back to the early days of the Lord of the Rings films when he showed up to an event dressed as Strider. It was clear he was really talented, and his subsequent impact on the LOTR costuming community in LA is the richer for it. Kent helped put together our Costuming Display at our first ORC convention and was a panelist for the event. He appeared in the Ringers: Lord of the Fans documentary and came to subsequent screenings for the film to celebrate. He recently was involved in the Todd of the Rings parody as none other than Strider, seen above in green screen, and he helped create many props and decorative items used at LA Tolkien events, such as an Eye of Sauron pinata. Locals always knew they would see amazing costumes from him, but that he was also always open to discussing how someone else could achieve and actualize their costume dream.

Some of his most recent costumes include Zaphod Beeblebrox, Riff-Raff, Batman, Green Lantern, Van Helsing and more. Above are just some images of Kent and his work, and we encourage his friends and partners in costuming to post their images and memories of Kent here too. [Forum Thread] [Facebook] As yet, no formal announcement has been made regarding a memorial service.

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Calisuri here – the other day a friend sent along the picture below after hearing of Kent’s passing. While it obviously features an extremely embarrassing moment in my life (I lost a bet to my wife and the Tolkien community), it showcases just how fun natured and charismatic Kent could be. For someone who took costuming to such a masterful level, it was really impressive of him to take a moment to participate in the silliness of the moment. He genuinely looks smitten with my version of Arwen right? lol –  I’m not ashamed to share this very humbling pic because it brings back some great memories. God speed Kent – you will be missed!

Drawn from the original molds that Samwise Gamgee’s (Sean Astin’s) ears were drawn from for the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, these prosthetics are as authentic as can be.

Hand made here at Weta Workshop by Makeup Supervisor Frances Hawker and her team. Made from latex, they can be blended to look like part of your anatomy for your next costume event or convention.

These are Sam’s ears and are slighty larger than Frodo’s ears. They measure 3.3in (84mm) from the bottom of the earlobe to the “top of the tip”.

The distance between where your earlobe meets your cheek and where the top of your ear meets your temple is 2.4in (60mm).

See image No 3 above for more info on how to measure.

Drawn from the original molds that Frodo Baggins’ (Elijah Wood’s) ears were drawn from for the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, these prosthetics are as authentic as can be.

Hand made here at Weta Workshop by Makeup Supervisor Frances Hawker and her team. Made from latex, they can be blended to look like part of your anatomy for your next costume event or convention.

These are Frodo’s ears and are slighty smaller than Sam’s ears. They measure 3.1in (80mm) from the bottom of the earlobe to the “top of the tip”.

The distance between where your earlobe meets your cheek and where the top of your ear meets your temple is 1.7in (45mm).

See the middle image above for more info on how to measure.

The ‘Stansborough Grey’ sheep wool is spun and then woven on 1890’s looms at the Stansborough Weaving Mill in Wellington.

Your Gandalf Cloak will be made to order by Stansborough and and can take 6-12 weeks for delivery.

Comes in three lengths, S, M and L with a 6-inch (15 cm) difference in length.