At this present moment at the beginning of the 21st Century, the realm of fantasy and its influences is visible in every form of the media, from computer games to literature to television, and has quickly become one of the most popular genre’s in modern day literature. However, sixty years ago fantasy didn’t even exist and it wasn’t until the latter part of the 20th Century that it became remotely popular. This weekend, the Hall of Fire crew are discussing whether J.R.R Tolkien was the father of Modern Fantasy.

It wasn’t until the first installment of Lord of the Rings was published in 1954 that the world at large was introduced to fantastical creatures such as orcs and elves. Today, these creatures are staples of modern fantasy culture. Tolkien, through his magical adventure through the world of Middle-Earth, inspired people to think differently about the world in which they lived and how stories could be written.

But did Tolkien inspire a generation of fantasy writers? Can he be attributed to the popularity of Dungeons and Dragons and to the level of respect the genre he pioneered now has? Just as Tolkien was inspired by Anglo Saxon and Norse literature, from Beowulf to The Poetic Edda, Tolkien’s influence can be seen in currents works, such as Terry Pratchett’s fantastic Discworld series. We hope you join us for this fantastic debate this weekend as we explore an excellent topic.

Thanks to jincey for this weeks topic!

Upcoming Discussions
May 19 & 20: TTT Chapter by Chapter – The Uruk-hai
May 26 & 27: The Effects Of War Of The Ring On Frodo

Place:
#thehalloffire on theonering.net server; come to theonering.net’s chat room Barliman’s and then type /join #thehalloffire .

Saturday Chat: 5:30 pm ET (17:30) [also 11:30 pm (23:30) CET and 7:30 am Sunday (07:30) AET]

Sunday Chat: 7:00 pm (19:00) CET [also 1:00 pm (13:00) ET and 4:00 am (04:00) Monday morning AET]

ET = Eastern Time, USA’s East Coast
CET = Central European Time, Central Europe

Questions? Topics? Send ‘em here.

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The new Elijah Wood (Frodo) film ‘Ash Wednesday’ will be premiered this afternoon at the Tribeca Film Fest in New York City. Elijah is expected to be there. [More]

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Graham writes: Just a heads up to let you know that Port Credit Secondary School in Mississauga, Ontario is putting on their annual Spring Concert, Thursday May 16th at 7pm. [More]

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This could be good news for those Orli fans out there – Ringer spy Tim reports: “It would seem that the Bloom/Ricci story is false–apparently Ricci had a magazine interview shortly after involving her live-in boyfriend, who is not Bloom! So most likely not true!” [that Bloom is dating Ricci.] Anyhow, that Orli/Ricci report talked about him ‘whispering sweet nothings in her ear’ while she was being sick. Yeah, right! We just know Orlando would have a better sense of timing than that.

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Colleen sends in word that our very own Elijah Wood (Frodo) is listed in the ‘Power’ list in Premiere Magazine this month. [More]

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From: Colleen

Have you seen the latest Premiere magazine? There’s an article (page 64) on the 25 power people under 35, and our Elijah Wood is in it. Interesting to note that Kirsten Dunst is on this list, but Tobey Maguire is not, Natalie Portman is in, but not Hayden Christensen:

Elijah Wood Age: 21

Avalon’s tot is now at the center of the multi-billion-dollar ‘Lord of the Rings’ phenomenon, from which he can either Harrison-Ford-it to super-stardom or Mark-Hammill himself into oblivion. We suspect the former.

Next up: ‘Try Seventeen’, an indie comedy (his first).

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