>Might be old news for some, but check out ‘Sponge Bob Squarepants’ on Nickelodeon to hear John Rhys-Davis (Gimli) provide the voice for the super evil villian ‘Manray.’ Check the following link for a complete list of Sponge Bob Episodes. [More]
Month: July 2002
Many pieces of modern day fantasy are clearly influenced by the literature of J.R.R Tolkien, a man who played a prominent part in bringing the genre to the fore. Similarly, Tolkien was influenced by Norse mythology and its many forms of poetry and literature. However, the Hall of Fire staff invite you to join us this weekend as we debate whether Tolkien was influenced by Catholicism. [More]
Smithroz and AndrewTheHobbit both wrote in to say that Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring has passed The Lion King to reach number 9 in the all-time United States Domestic Gross. Next up? That Harry Potter kid, $5m ahead of FotR. [More]
Many pieces of modern day fantasy are clearly influenced by the literature of J.R.R Tolkien, a man who played a prominent part in bringing the genre to the fore. Similarly, Tolkien was influenced by Norse mythology and its many forms of poetry and literature. However, the Hall of Fire staff invite you to join us this weekend as we debate whether Tolkien found inspiration from his own religion.
The influence of Catholicism on Tolkien’s writings
In the beginning of The Silmarillion there was Eru, a supreme being who created all life and a world upon which they could live, Middle-earth. In the beginning of the Bible God, a supreme being, created man and woman and a place upon which they could live called Earth. Though over-simplified, there are clear parallels between the two. Another key event in The Silmarillion is when Kane commits the first murder and kills his brother Able; similarly, Feanor is the first Elf to ever kill one of his own kin.
Tolkien was known to be a prominent follower of the Catholic church and was surrounded by people of the same nature, most notably his dearest friend and writer C.S. Lewis. All these facts suggest that Tolkien drew some inspiration from religion..but do you agree? Join us this weekend and make your views known as we debate one of the most discussed aspects of the great author himself.
Upcoming Discussions
July 27 & 28: TTT Chapter Discussion: The Road to Isengard
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.
It looks like some Europeans have had their wishes come true as The Fellowship of the Ring DVD became available to rent in the Netherlands yesterday, a full two weeks before the worldwide release in August. Dutch Ringers can check out our Dutch affiliate TheFellowship.nl for further information on the release. [More] [Buy]
Following on from the ‘Nazgul fossil’ story Matt sent us is a description of another living wonder that could come straigth from Middle-earth – and it’s actually been called the ‘Iluvatar Tree.’
It’s from a book called Forest Trees of the Pacific Coast [here on Amazon.com]
Matt says, “Illuvatar is described in the book as “the Creator of the universe in Tolkien mythology”. The book is very well done. There’s a drawing of each tree featured (difficult to do, since not all of them stand far enough from other trees to afford a clear view) and a photo or two of each as well. Detailed measurement are provided for each tree (height, volume of wood in cubic ft., branching complexity “points” and diameter at various heights).
The Illuvatar Tree (a Coast Redwood) is indeed described as “the most architecturally complex tree on earth”. It has to do with the number of branches, their offshoots and the total volume covered by the branching/leaf area. The tree is 300 feet tall (I recently saw a 241 foot tree in Portland, and *that* was incredible!) and was only recently discovered and named. One of the cool things about the book is that it shows that the prime specimens of many of the tree types covered in the book were only identified in the last few years. Lots of adventure still out there, if you’re a tree seeker…”