The war in the Northern lands of Middle-earth cannot be won by one race alone. In The Lord of the Rings: War in the North, the ferocious battle axe of the dwarves; the long range arrows of the elves; the sword of the human — will need to fight together to defeat evil. It will take the Fellowship of the three to save these combat-ravaged lands. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Snowblind Studios have released a new gameplay vignette, featuring the varied styles of battle employed by the races of the upcoming game, The Lord of the Rings: War in the North. Orcs take heed.

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Thanks to Alientraveller for this one: Game of Thrones, HBO’s adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s first book in his bestselling series, premieres April 17. From Ladyhawke to Raiders of the Lost Ark to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Martin curates his list of all-time favorites…Fans of the books should also read “10 Secrets of HBO’s Game of Thrones,” to find out about casting direwolves, forging the Iron Throne, creating the Dothraki language, and many other behind-the-scenes details.

1. Fellowship of the Ring/ The Two Towers/ Return of the King: “I suppose I could list these as my Top 3, but they are really one long movie (very long if you watch the extended cuts with their extra footage, which are my preferred versions) just as the Tolkien “trilogy” was actually one long novel sliced into three parts by publisher fiat…” More..

From hollywood.com Bosses at Royal Mail have marked the 50th anniversary of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) by printing images of actors in classic William Shakespeare stage productions. Lord of the Rings star McKellen is shown with Francesca Annis from when they played Romeo and Juliet in 1976, while Tennant is pictured during his stint as Hamlet in 2008. RSC’s artistic director Michael Boyd says, “I am delighted Royal Mail has chosen to celebrate our fiftieth birthday with this set of stamps. It has been an almost impossible job to sift through 50 years of performances to choose images which represent the extraordinary range of work we have produced.”

Lord of the Rings fans will see a small LOTR reunion when the May 6th season finale of  FOX’s FRINGE hits the airwaves. Actor John Noble (Denethor) has been one of the highlights of the sci-fi series, winning critical praise for his unique and always captivating role as Dr. Walter Bishop. According to TVLine.com, joining the cast for the season finale is actor Brad Dourif, who played Grima Wormtongue in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Mr. Dourif will play Moreau, a brand new character for the series. Follow the link to for the exclusive report from TVLine. [Read More] (Thanks to Ringer Irfon for the heads up!)

In a recent interview with the LA Times, Saiorse Ronan, who is rumored to play the part of ‘Itaril’ in the Hobbit films, confirmed that it was still only a rumor with this interesting tidbit:

“Pete is adding a lot of characters in the film adaption,” she said. “Hopefully they have a part for me.”

A few days later, she said in an interview with Total Film that they wanted her to be in The Hobbit, though as whom remains to be seen.

We already know that PJ is bringing a lot of characters from The Lord of the Rings to The Hobbit films, including some who were only briefly mentioned in the book and were not mentioned in the LOTR films at all (such as Radagast and Drogo). How many characters, however, has he invented solely for the films? Is this rumored Itaril a special case, or are there more to come?

What roles could be played by characters created for the films? (Hobbit Book Spoilers ahead!)

Continue reading “Film-only Characters in ‘The Hobbit’”