UC2928 Orcrist Sword on Display_smAs we get ready to go into Comic-Con we wanted to remind you all of a contest we’re doing with our friends at BUDK/United Cutlery. We’ve teamed up with them to give away one of their awesome Orcrist Replicas that you see Thorin use during The Hobbit: An Unexpeted Journey. There are only 17 days left in the contest and with all the excitement of what you’re going to see at Comic-Con we wanted to make sure you got your entries in before the end of the contest sneaks up on you.

Orcrist Sword Contest: Entry Form

 

If you have followed all the off-screen drama related to the film adaptation of “The Hobbit,” you know that teams of lawyers have been central to the nearly unbelievable plot. There is a history of legal maneuvering that stretches back around Middle-earth movies for decades.

LOTR_Online_Slots.jpgIn the current round of court battles the Tolkien Estate brought a lawsuit in Nov. 2012 against Warner Bros. for $80 million that centered on online slot machines and digital merchandise. By March, WB and the Middle-earth Enterprises (that owns the rights purchased from J.R.R. Tolkien and grants them to Warner Bros.) filed a counter-claim saying the lawsuit had damaged them and undermined rights to the property.

The Estate, and an entity called The Fourth Age Ltd. filed to dismiss the counter suit, saying it was simply a legal move to get rid of the original suit. The victory for Warners and Middle-earth Enterprises was judge Audrey Collins stamping a “denied” against the motion to dismiss, allowing the suit to go forward. As you might guess, it is far from settled and many lawyers will collect significant money yet hashing it all out. Most of our information comes from Deadline.com where you can read more details if you wish, including the six-page decision. Kudos to Deadline for its reporting but their decision to watermark this public document is a tad silly.

Deadline’s latest story can be found here. There are others, including by bizjournals.com, while Deadline’s story about the original suit can be read here.

The judge concludes with some clear language:

“For the foregoing reasons, Fourth Age’s Motions to Dismiss Amended Counterclaims and Special Motions to Strike Amended Counterclaims (docket nos. 40, 41, 42, and 43) are DENIED
.
IT IS SO ORDERED.

The key players in The Lord of the Rings are probably some of the most-written about characters in literature. Everyone loves the leading lights such as Frodo, Aragorn, Sam and Gandalf.

Yet there are a number of minor (some even without a name!) characters who either serve an important purpose, give us a great deal of food for thought, or even go against established yet hard-to-overcome stereotypes about the content of Tolkien’s writing.

In no particular order, here are my leading six. Continue reading “Six overlooked yet important characters from The Lord of the Rings”

If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net. One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.

Barliman's Chat Last weekend in the Hall of Fire, bouncing off Gandalf’s famous “For I also am a steward” rejoinder to Denethor, we discussed exactly what made a steward in Middle-earth. For those who couldn’t attend, here’s a log.

And remember, tomorrow (July 13 at 6pm EDT (New York time)) we’ll be discussing the next chapter of The Two Towers: The Voice of Saruman. Continue reading “Hall of Fire chat log: the stewards of Middle-earth”

If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net. One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.

tolkien-and-the-great-war- In this extract from his acclaimed book Tolkien and the Great War: the Threshold of Middle-earth, John Garth outlines some of the earliest antecedents of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Legendarium, in around March 1916, shortly before he left for the Somme. Even for someone who’s only read as far as, say, The Silmarillion, there are tantalising threads of familiar and semi-familiar names.

Continue reading “An essay on Tolkien’s earliest mythology of Middle-earth”

If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net. One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.

evangeline-lilly-on-playing-a-grittier-type-of-elf-in-the-hobbit-the-desolation-of-smaug-135649-a-1369409045-470-75This is just in from our friends on the Shadow and Flame message boards.

Evangeline Lilly Hits San Diego Comic-Con to Introduce New Children’s Book

The Squickerwonkers

Los Angeles, CA – July 12th, 2013 – Coming to San Diego’s Comic-Con next week, Evangeline Lilly, known for starring as Kate Austen in ABC’s LOST and as Tauriel in the upcoming The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug film, will be introducing her first children’s book, The Squickerwonkers.
Continue reading “Evangeline Lilly Hits San Diego Comic-Con to Introduce New Children’s Book”