Join Kili and Mike the Guide for a tour of several Lord of the Rings filming locations, including Isengard, Anduin, and Rivendell!

Book your own Middle-earth adventure with Mike the Guide, recommended by not only Kili but Ian Brodie, author of the official locations guidebook, himself! Click here to learn more.

Enjoy the photos below and remember to check out our Happy Hobbit YouTube channel for many more videos from New Zealand and the California shire! A great place to start is this playlist:

 

LEGO Rivendell_16125000049_l A little while back, we featured a story on a 120,000 piece Lego replica of Weta’s rendition of Peter Jackson’s Rivendell from The Hobbit.

Here, the designer and builder — Ben Pitchford — chats with us about his enormous creation, and how Lego has since asked him to submit a smaller, potentially commerciable, version to their Lego Ideas site. (If you’d like to see it become a reality — it needs 10,000 supporters to move to the next stage and is already almost halfway there — then head over to Ben’s page on Lego Ideas and add your backing.) Continue reading “Meet Ben Pitchford, builder of the 120,000-piece Lego Rivendell”

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.

IMG_3394He just went on sale and we have an exclusive first look at this fantastic statue. We’ve teamed up with our friends at Weta Workshop to give you the first chance to see just how awesome the Bolg statue from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug turned out.

Bolg is an impressive statue with some gruesome metal implanted into his body. All the fanstastic details were put there by the talented Gary Hunt and Greg Tozer. Bolg has an edition size of 1000 pieces world wide and comes with a price tag of just $279, which for something this size, detail, and paint is a really good deal.
Continue reading “Collecting The Precious- Weta Workshop’s Bolg Statue Exclusive First Look Review”

Bakshi On March 28, 2015 TheOneRing.net livestreamed an interview with animation pioneer Ralph Bakshi to discuss the first-ever “The Lord of the Rings” film (1978), and to parse the differences between homage and rip-off (and the not-so-nebulous chains of inspiration from one artist to another).

Bakshi revealed to us that his Studio’s “LOTR” character designs and artwork were sent down to Three Foot Six in New Zealand; elevating the conversation of his impact on the live-action epic.

The subversive director has lived through numerous controversies, yet remains undervalued by Ringer fans and feels personally slighted by Jackson. He carries on vigorously at 77 years old with a new crowdfunded animated work, “The Last Days of Coney Island” and his intent to direct a “Wizards 2” follow-up to his 1977 cult hit. Continue reading “The Bakshi Interview: Uncloaking a Legacy”

Barliman's Chat This weekend, Hall of Fire will be focusing on mortality and immortality in Tolkien’s legendarium. A lot of people seem to feel that immortality is superior. But is that truly the case?

But the Lords of Valinor forbade [the Dúnedain] to sail so far westward that the coasts of Númenor could no longer be seen; and for long the Dúnedain were content, though they did not fully understand the purpose of this ban.

But the design of Manwë was that the Númenóreans should not be tempted to seek for the Blessed Realm, nor desire to overpass the limits set to their bliss, becoming enamoured of the immortality of the Valar and the Eldar and the lands where all things endure.

Continue reading “Hall of Fire this weekend. Mortality. Immortality. Is the grass really greener?”