There are some big names in these four match-ups that will determine each division winner.
Who is more beautiful? (3) Galadriel or (9) Varda?! How can one choose. This reporter believes Galadriel will pull out the favored victory based on name recognition alone…but is it right?
In the Brains division we have two popular characters head to head…(2) Gandalf vs. (8) Elrond. Seems like a match-up that could go either way.
The Brawn divison as the two top seeds facing off for bragging right. (1) Beorn vs. (2) Eowyn.
And last, but not least, the Baddies division has the top seed, (1) Morgoth, facing fan-favorite (3) Smaug. Should be a match-up for the ages!
Voting is now open and will remain open until April 2nd at 10pm ET. We will calculate the winners at that point and post the next round on April 3rd. Follow after the break for a complete bracket image (download it), and to vote on all of our Round 4 match-ups! [Elite Eight Bracket] [Sweet Sixteen Bracket] [Round 2 Bracket] [Round 1 Bracket]
Just a couple of days to go until the fourth (and final?) HobbitCon gets underway in Bonn, Germany. Fans and cast members alike are getting on planes around the world and making their way to the Hotel Maritim – and TORn staffers greendragon and deej are looking forward to being there too! We’ll have t-shirts and buttons for sale, some prizes to giveaway, and we’ll be giving two panels over the weekend:
Saturday 2nd April 2pm in Saal Maritim
A Party of Special Magnificence – Behind the Scenes of The One Last Party
February 2015 in Hollywood – TheOneRing.net and fellow fans gathered with some of the cast and crew from Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth movies, to celebrate this fandom we all love – ‘one last time’… TORn staffers greendragon and deej share tales of fundraising on an epic scale, preparing for this special event, and trying to keep elves, dwarves, hobbits and men – and the occasional dragon – happy! Plus we’ll show some footage from the night itself – and maybe some extra video clips of cast who sent along their support.
Sunday 3rd April 12pm in Saal Maritim
There and Back Again – Looking Back on an Extraordinary Journey
Seventeen years ago, a film maker in New Zealand began his work bringing Middle-earth to the screen; and TheOneRing.net began a mission… quest… thing. In the years which followed, we’ve travelled far and wide, in cyberspace and in the real world; meeting cast and crew; getting magical glimpses behind the scenes; and most importantly, sharing an epic journey with our fellow fans across the globe. Join staffers from TheOneRing.net to share reminiscences about the highs and lows of this Unexpected Journey with a Fellowship of Fans.
Hope you can join us at the panels – and of course come by our table to say hello! We’re really looking forward to seeing everyone there – and of course we’ll report back with photos so everyone can share the fun.
Hold the presses! The Sweet Sixteen has been set, but not without a bit of controversy. For the first time in the storied history of Middle-earth March Madness, we’ve had a tie – yes, a TIE!
In the Beauties bracket, the Cinderella story (16) Feanor tied with (9) Varda when voting ended at 10pm ET today. To solve this tie-breaker, we decided to randomly pick one to win…no no, we wouldn’t do that. Instead, we did something a bit more logical. We took the total votes from round 1 and 2 and combined them for each contestant. The general idea being, if one contestant got more overall votes in those first two rounds, they should win. After the tally, (9) Varda made it through to face (5) Melian. Should be an interesting match-up!
However, one could argue that is not the most interesting match-up of the Beauty Bracket…we have (3) Galadriel facing a fan favorite (10) Legolas!
In the Brains bracket (8) Elrond managed to slip by the number one seed Tom Bombadil and will face (4) Luthien. Two of the top seeds, (3) Faramir and (2) Gandalf will face off in the other match-up.
Both the Brawn and Baddies brackets are advancing all the top seeds into the Sweet Sixteen.
In the Brawn bracket we have (1) Beorn facing (4) Eomer, while (3) Boromir will face (2) Eowyn. Will we have a sibling battle in the Elite Eight??
The Baddies contestants read like a who’s who of bad-arse Middle-earth antagonists. We’ve got (1) Morgoth facing (4) Sauron, and (3) Smaug facing (2) The Balrog of Moria. I only wish we had a couple hundred million dollars and the special effects wizards at WETA to visualize these match-ups for us!
Voting is now open and will remain open until March 30th at 10pm ET. We will calculate the winners at that point and post the next round on March 31st. Follow after the break for a complete bracket image (download it), and to vote on all of our Round 3 match-ups! [Sweet Sixteen Bracket] [Round 2 Bracket] [Round 1 Bracket]
We have some incredibly close contests as we choose our Middle-earth Sweet Sixteen. In the Brains bracket, can (5)Treebeard overcome (4)Luthien, or does (7)Aragorn have a strategy to come from behind and win over (2)Gandalf? (10)Gimli and (2)Eowyn are locked in a tight battle – who will prevail in the Brawn bracket? What about the Beauties (10)Legolas and (2)Arwen? Can anyone defeat (1)Morgoth in Baddies?
Voting ends March 26 at 10 PM ET, so pick your winners now! Here’s a link to the poll: Round 2 voting.
A note on how the bracket combatants were determined. TheOneRing.net created a document containing all combatants, sub divided into divisions. We asked staff to cast sixteen votes per division, with the votes having a weight of 1-4. Each staffer cast four 4 votes, four 3 votes, four 2 votes and four 1 votes in each division. We then totaled all the votes from each division to determine their rank, and ultimately placed those into our bracket for seeding.
Last year, The Forge Studios released the pilot for their epic action adventure fantasy, “The Rangers”.
Now, the independent film studio is releasing a new, 40-minute cut of their pilot on Youtube — and they’re giving TORn readers the chance to have a look first before officially announcing it to the world on Thursday.
The Rangers film project is about a special force of soldiers, known as Rangers, who were founded long ago by King Alirion to guard and watch the borders of the Kingdom of Olaran. The series invites you to follow the adventures of the unit of Rangers led by Brander Noke, also known as Wolf, and their new rookie Soren Fell. Continue reading “Get first look at The Rangers: A Shadow Rising’s new 40-minute cut”
Middle-earth March Madness Round 2 is here! With 1000+ votes for each match-up, some of our first round match-ups came down to just 5 votes!
In the Beauty Bracket, and with the biggest upset of the tournament so far, (1) Goldberry was beaten by the (16) Feanor! In the Brains Bracket, (6) Gwaihir managed to hold off (11) Turgon. In the Brawn Bracket, the battle of the dwarves was won by (11) Gimli when he took down (7) Dwalin. And in the Baddies Bracket, (3) Smaug decimated (14) Lurtz.
Round 2 has its share of interesting match-ups – what are your favorites?
Voting in Round 2 will remain open until March 26th at 10pm ET. At that point, we’ll calculate the winners and post the next round on March 27th. Follow after the break for a complete bracket image (download it), and to vote on all of our Round 2 match-ups! [Round 2 Bracket] [Round 1 Bracket]
We have our Elite Eight! 
Last year, The Forge Studios released the pilot for their epic action adventure fantasy, “The Rangers”.