Tolkienia MonumentWelcome to our collection of TORn’s hottest topics for the past week.  If you’ve fallen behind on what’s happening on the Message Boards, here’s a great way to catch up on the highlights.  Or if you’re new to TORn and want to enjoy some great conversations, just follow the links to some of our most popular discussions.  Watch this space as every weekend we will spotlight the most popular buzz  on TORn’s Message Boards.  Everyone is welcome, so come on in and enjoy the fun!

Continue reading “TORn Message Boards Weekly Roundup – September 29, 2013”

Thranduil Anyone who’s read both The Silmarillion and The Hobbit will have noted the strong similarities between the Elvenking of Mirkwood and Thingol Greycloak. In this article, Tolkien scholar Michael Martinez examines whether, at the time Tolkien was writing The Hobbit, the Elvenking was intended to be Thingol himself.


John Rateliff addressed this question in The History of The Hobbit without really closing the issue, although he favors the view (based on the available evidence) that the Elvenking of The Hobbit (whom we learn is named Thranduil in The Lord of the Rings) is NOT to be equated with King Thingol in The Silmarillion. Continue reading “Was the Elvenking of The Hobbit supposed to be Thingol?”

bilbo on gold Audience reaction to Hollywood’s first high frame rate movie, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was decidedly mixed, but frame rates—along with higher resolution, laser light, immersive sound and second screen experiences were very much on the minds of digital cinema leaders last week at the International Broadcasters Convention.

During the event, this community debated how to respond to the advancements taking place in home entertainment. “TV [technology] is moving faster,” admitted Disney’s vp production technology Howard Lukk during a panel discussion. “What keeps us up at night is how [cinema] stays the premium experience.” Continue reading “IBC wrap-up: ‘We would be fools if we didn’t learn from The Hobbit’”

HobbitAUJOSTWe are happy to finally announce that the 5 lucky winners of TORn & WaterTower Music’s “Hobbit Day” mathom are Iván, TammyConnor, Reagan V & Meaghan M.

You can expect an email from our friends at WaterTower Music with the code to download your very own digital copy of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey soundtrack. Congratulations and we hope Howard Shore’s wondrous music brings you many enjoyable moments.

Many thanks also to the few hundred fans who entered this giveaway. If you don’t already have the soundtrack, consider purchasing the Standard Edition from iTunes or Amazon, or better yet, the Special Edition from iTunes or Amazon.

Robert Quilter Gilson (left) and Tolkien in 1910 or 1911.
Robert Quilter Gilson (left) and Tolkien in 1910 or 1911. Photo courtesy of Julia Margretts.
John Garth, writer, researcher and author of Tolkien and the Great War recently published online for the first time — with previously unseen photographs — a paper first published in Tolkien Studies 7 in 2010 (Tolkien Studies: An Annual Scholarly Review is an annual journal of scholarship on J.R.R. Tolkien and his works).

Garth introduces the feature as follows: A salutary lesson in his youth taught Tolkien that fairy-stories are not only or mainly for children. Here I uncover the who, the where and the when. Continue reading “Tolkien and the boy who didn’t believe in fairies”

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.