The Rings of Power S3 Trailer is big, dark, and the best of peak TV.
Continue ReadingSauron, Nazgul, and the importance of not being earnest.
Fans are currently dissecting every detail in the official S3 trailer over on Discord. Look for the Rings of Power room, or the ROP Leaks channel for open discussion of everything known and unknown!
Season 3 drops Nov 11 on Prime Video with the first 4 episodes.
Join TheOneRing.net Friday, October 9th at 7:30pm as we return to NYC for our annual gathering of fans! [Tickets] This year, we’re delighted to be teaming up with our good friends at The Lord of the Rings Official Fan Club, LOTR.com, for a night of fellowship, food, prizes, and geekery! Details below.
Once again, we’ll be at our favourite venue, the Joyce Public House in Times Square (W 39th St), for a party of special magnificence! Join us FRIDAY 9th October, 7.30-10.30pm. All welcome, no NYCC pass required to attend.
This year’s gathering has a particularly Hobbity focus. Come along for food, fun, and fellowship with your fellow fans. An appetite worthy of a Hobbit is encouraged. There will be dessert!
Tickets are $45, which includes your first drink, a buffet (including dessert), and two tickets for the raffle, drawn on the night. PLUS every party goer will take home a “goody baggins” filled with treasures from our friends. AND we’ll be shipping a special surprise directly to every attendee!
To claim your special mathom, look out for the link in your confirmation email. Follow the link to Shopify and arrange for your gift to be mailed directly to you. While you’re there, have a browse through our temporary store. Perhaps a Tom Bombadil and Goldberry 2026 shirt will find its way into your order, too!
We’ll have more raffle tickets available to purchase at the party. We’re keeping extra raffle ticket sales for the night itself this year, so come ready to try your luck! Check out some of the generous folks providing prizes and goodies below.
And more…!
All this for $45. Now there’s a reason to raise a glass!
You never know who will turn up at one of our events. We hope to see YOU there! Numbers are limited, and we expect tickets to go fast. Grab yours now!
Grab your tickets now – see you there!
San Diego Comic Con returns next week with tons of The Lord of the Rings related fun! TheOneRing.net will be holding court at Booth 1934 near door C.
Amazon Prime Studios is bringing Season 3 of Rings of Power to Hall H on Friday, with a few other fun LOTR related panels from the fan community. Add them to your favorites on the official SDCC app.
We are excited to bring a “State of The Rings” panel on Sunday with fan reactions from the Rings of Power SDCC reveal, updates from The Hunt for Gollum currently filming in NZ, previews of The Hobbit MTG cards, and who know what special guests may join!
Getting into Hall H is always a fun romp, and many fans are already organizing line ups & camp outs Thursday afternoon to be first in line for The Rings of Power Season 3 Hall H preview. It’s all happening in the TORN Discord channel for conventions – check the pinned comments for links.
TheOneRing.net Booth 1934 is hosting a few signings! First up is a small detour to the Weta Workshop booth 3613 where author Kellie Rice (aka TORn staffer and Happy Hobbit Kili) will be joined by Sir Richard Taylor to sign copies of the hardcover Middle-earth Script to Screen book, Wednesday Preview Night at 8pm.
ALL WEEKEND – Artist & founder of Kings Wild cards, Jackson Robinson, will be at the TORN booth with an EXCLUSIVE Tom Bombadil art print he will sign upon request. Details to get free poster below.
We’re very excited that Bear McCreary will be joining us on Friday, to sign some recordings! He won’t be at the booth for very long – so if you want to be SURE to have a chance to meet him, here’s what you need to do:
Come to our booth any time before Friday 12.30 and purchase one of Bear’s recordings (The Singularity and/or Rings of Power soundtrack). We’ll give the first 50 purchasers a special ticket; then on Friday those 50 folks – with their tickets in hand! – will make one line to meet Bear. Anyone who doesn’t have a ticket will get in another line, and will meet Bear (time permitting) after the first 50 have gone through. So to GUARANTEE you’ll get to meet Bear, come and purchase some vinyl (or a CD) from us! (Also pro-tip: once you’ve bought it, leave the contents safely in the cool of your hotel room, and just bring the cover to the signing!) Maximum three items per person to be signed.
Other LOTR related signings we aren’t affiliated with but sound fun:
Unlike recent years, Jed Brophy will not be attending SDCC this year (does this mean he’s busy being a working actor on a certain new movie…?)
There are currently no Rings of Power or The Lord of the Rings events open to the public which have been announced – of course we’ll let you know if we hear of any! But Guillermo del Toro is celebrating the 20th anniversary of Pan’s Labyrinth with a Friday night party that requires completion of a scavenger hunt to get in.
It comes in pints! TheOneRing.net is proud to offer the official Prancing Pony wooden tankard & shot glass bundle. Designed & manufactured by Burgschneider and Lumengrave with full licensed support from Middle-earth Enterprises, these were the most requested items from last year’s incredible Prancing Pony booth experience.
These food safe drinking cups are hobbit-scaled – large enought to make you feel like a halfling. Made from mango wood, natural food safe polish, genuine leather bands, with a pure jute bag for storage, the tankard measures 6″ tall, capable of holding 27 oz of libations. It pairs with an oversized 7oz shot glass, featuring laser etched dwarves runes encircling the Prancing Pony logo -which was designed by Daniel Falconer. Did we mention these are officially licensed?
Due to the very limited run of only 500 units, and to give all attendees the opportunity to get it, the Tankard & Glass combo is up for pre-order online. FOR PICKUP ONLY AT SDCC. We are not shipping these. Select the day you’ll be at SDCC, and we will hold one set guaranteed for you at Booth 1934. AND if you pre-order, you get an exclusive pin, only available as part of the pre-order, at no extra cost! LINK
We have some incredible new merch available at booth 1934 this year! Following up on the love & support fans gave our Prancing Pony Club shirt last year (nominated for best merch 2025!) we are happy to announce that shirt is coming back this year, complete with glitter ink, women’s cuts, and the same dance hall attitude.
SDCC Unofficial Blog got the scoop on our brand new shirt inspired by one of the greatest albums in rock history – introducing Merry Dol, River-daughter! These artist designed & hand silkscreened shirts will be available in both unisex Bella Canvas premium cotton/poly blend and in Women’s dolman scoop neck. The RUMORS are true: there will be an 🚨 EXCLUSIVE 🚨 Preview Night limited edition variant, only available Wednesday night, featuring the classic tan-colored album artwork in black & white.
Jackson Robinson and Kings Wild are joining us IN PERSON in the booth for the first time, bringing their successful $2 million kickstarter LOTR playing cards with lots of extra goodies. Available EXCLUSIVELY at TORn booth 1934 are these letterpress gold foil original art prints of the Tom Bombadil playing card artwork. Jackson is at the booth all weekend to sign these free prints – available by simply signing up to his anticipated Hobbit playing card deck preview list. Details on site at the booth.
In addition to TORN shirts & the official tankards, we have a full assortment of LOTR products from Oscha Slings, Geek Orthodox, Shire Post Mint, Happy Hobbit, and free goodies from our friends at Tea with Tolkien and Books Immersed Soundscapes. Including some new product reveals we can’t show online (yet!) so be the first to stop by Booth 1934.
Middle-earth Enterprises is bringing the oversized hobbit-scaled Prancing Pony experience back to the convention floor at Dark Horse booth 2615 – don’t miss it!
Acclaimed artist SHAG is offering a LOTR inspired SDCC exclusive art print at his booth 3920
Weta Workshop return to the show floor, right in front of Hall E at booth 3613
There also seems to be a scavenger hunt involved with the cryptic LOTR.com... What could it be, precioussss…?
Can’t wait to see folks there! Now for a merry meeting!
No doubt about it, shoehorning Celeborn (the Wise) into The Rings of Power storyline is one of the trickiest problems that the show must navigate. Importantly, for it to matter, I feel the show has to do it soon — this coming season, even.
But as my TORn Discord colleague, Webcrawler, points out, this is a self-inflicted challenge — the showrunners did this to themselves. They consciously chose to absent Celeborn from the story (a story where, by some of Tolkien’s drafts, he plays more than a minor part in events). Thus, I would assert (I would hope) that they must have some clever idea or resolution in mind.
Once you grasp this rather important fact, it also prompts the question: “Why did they choose to do this?”.
Hold that thought, we’ll return to it later. First, I’d like to posit four different scenarios for finally bringing Celeborn into the story.
Of course, keep in mind this is my own theory-crafting, not set rumours.
This is the most straightforward solution I can think of right now. Per Laws and Customs Among the Eldar (sometimes abbreviated to LACE) in HOME Volume X, it is possible for elves to re-embody post-death after a time spent in the Halls of Mandos.
Tolkien Gateway has an excellent and succinct summarisation of the process Tolkien outlined in LACE:
A houseless fëa that chose or was permitted to return to life was typically only able to be reembodied through childbirth. The reborn fëa would experience childhood again, but would only remember its previous life upon achieving mastery of its body. Through the joy of this second childhood, the griefs of the fëa’s previous life could be redressed.
The most well-known instance is that of Glorfindel, re-embodied after his death in the Fall of Gondolin and subsequently sent back to Middle-earth by the Valar to assist with the Second and Third Age struggle against Sauron. (Aside: arguably, if the show had been going to introduce Glorfindel, then S2 and the destruction of Eregion would have been the ideal time since as Tolkien outlines in HOME XII: Last Writings, assisting survivors out of the destruction and pairing up with Elrond and Gil-galad against Sauron’s war in Eriador is his big Second Age moment.)
What if the show were to, instead, apply this re-embodiment to Celeborn?
What if Celeborn had, in fact, perished on the field of … the Nirnaeth, I guess, that we saw in the S1 prologue, and his spirit was summoned to the Halls of Mandos.
It would provide a thoroughly logical explanation for exactly what Celeborn has been doing for the last 1,000 years and more: he’s been stuck in the Halls of Mandos, and then, quite literally, growing up all over again – and for an elf to grow to adulthood is around 100 years, minimum — in Valinor.
It would fit with Galadriel’s words to Theo in S1: “When he went to [the war], I chided him. His armour didn’t fit properly. I called him a silver clam. I never saw him again after that.”
Now, at the right time, he might return to Middle-earth either of his own volition, or at the behest of the Valar. That’s right, kindasorta stealing Glorfindel’s role.
This is a complete invention at odds with, well, every variation of the Galadriel and Celeborn story. But given the many unresolved contradictions within Celeborn’s (and Galadriel’s) textual history, it’s probably better for The Rings of Power to strive for its own internal consistency.
Re-embodied Celeborn might actually offer the cleanest resolution.
A re-embodied Celeborn could also be an interesting boost to his character — LACE states that “the Re-born (they say) are stronger, having greater mastery of their bodies and being more patient of griefs.” Galadriel, in LOTR, tells the members of the Fellowship that “…the Lord of the Galadhrim is accounted the wisest of the Elves of Middle-earth, and a giver of gifts beyond the power of kings.”
Re-embodiment could help make him less anodyne than the “Cele-boring” we see in PJ’s rendition.
This idea is, I think, kinda cracked, but it’s inspired by recently re-reading The Hobbit. What if Thranduil* had imprisoned Celeborn at the turn of the Second Age, and simply not informed anyone?
Just riffing off what occurs with Thorin in Mirkwood:
“Very well!” said the [elven]-king. “Take him away and keep him safe, until he feels inclined to tell the truth, even if he waits a hundred years [emphasis mine].'”
Then the elves put thongs on him, and shut him in one of the inmost caves with strong wooden doors, and left him.
Flies and Spiders, The Hobbit
But what could even prompt Thranduil to imprison Celeborn — a fellow Sindar — for more than 1,000 years, and not tell anyone? Simple trespassing seems an enormous stretch.
One explanation that comes to mind from The Silmarillion is Thingol’s choice to not join Maedhros and Fingon’s assault on Angband that becomes the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, and his reluctant assent for Mablung and Beleg to join Fingon’s force.
This feels a bit of a reach, but, what if Celeborn (a kinsman of Thingol according to the Silmarillion tale) had also gone to the battle, but without Thingol’s permission? Galadriel does state in The Rings of Power that she “chided him”, and that his armour did not fit. This sounds tender, but could also hint at some underlying “sneaking away” subterfuge — if the writers chose to interpret it like that.
Further, what if, much, much later, he somehow, ended up in Thranduil’s realm. Might Thranduil (also a Sindar elf of the former realm of Doriath) imprison him, exactly like with Thorin, as a long-delayed punishment for such an disobedience.
Like I said, it does feel a crack theory. Holding a continuing (well-documented) grudge against dwarves for perceived ancient wrongs is one thing; holding one against one of your own folk over someone else’s ban on consorting with the Noldor seems quite another. More, you have to set against that the technicality that Thranduil and Oropher spent much of the early Second Age in Lindon and did not migrate to Greenwood, east of the Misty Mountains until at least SA750.
* I’ve written Thranduil here since I feel for the sake of story simplification, we’ll never see his father Oropher in The Rings of Power. Simple as that.
Consider, first, the situation of Thingol and Melian, lost in each other’s eyes in the deep woods of Nan Elmoth for a vast stretch of time.
Alternatively, consider how Old Man Willow trapped Pippin and Merry by the Withywindle, or how Nimrodel goes missing for a long time after being separated from Amroth on the long journey from then-Lorinand to Edhellond in Gondor’s south.
Or consider how Morwen goes conveniently missing between Glaurung’s assault on Nargothrond, and the end of the Narn i Hîn Húrintale where she meets Húrinat Cabed-en-Aras.
I think it’s fair to conclude from these handful of examples that folks get lost or trapped (in the woods) in Middle-earth now and then.
I want to pair this observation with Celeborn’s curious warning to the members of the Fellowship against Fangorn.
‘Yet [the Fellowship] should not go too far up that stream, nor risk becoming entangled in the Forest of Fangorn. That is a strange land, and is now little known. But Boromir and Aragorn doubtless do not need this warning.’
Farewell to Lórien, The Lord of the Rings
Aragorn also says in LOTR in an exchange with Legolas:
‘Yes, it is old,’ said Aragorn, ‘as old as the forest by the Barrow-downs, and it is far greater. Elrond says that the two are akin, the last strongholds of the mighty woods of the Elder Days, in which the Firstborn roamed while Men still slept. Yet Fangorn holds some secret of its own. [emphasis mine]’
The Riders of Rohan, The Lord of the Rings
What if Celeborn’s long disappearance involved Fangorn? Might he have been trapped there somehow — long-captured by some angry Huorn in an episode resembling what happened to Pippin and Merry in the Old Forest? Even if something like that occurred though, there’s the challenge of elegantly explaining how Celeborn got all the way from Beleriand to Fangorn (or even to the Old Forest if you used that area).
Perhaps the best option here is actually the old lost-my-memory-and-ran-away trick (similar to Nienor’s experience) as the consequence of some significant battlefield trauma. Perhaps even as the result of a confrontation with Glaurung. I’m pretty sure the showrunners did at one point say at an event or convention that they wanted a dragon, and there’s been discussion of the possiblity since.
Bringing him all the way to Fangorn (a place that, despite the “strangeness” Celeborn describes, does not seem hostile towards elves) might be a little hard to convincingly sustain, but it is usefully close to Lorien — a location we will hopefully be introduced to in Season 3.
I’m worried that amnesia is a little too much like what happened with Gandalf. I’m not sure I like that. Convenient amnesia is one of the Celeborn theories that Cliff and Justin considered on TORn Tuesday a while back as well. If you want to listen in, the discussion starts around 25 minutes into the VOD.
Alternatively, Morgoth might have imprisoned Celeborn. Angband contained many elven thralls during the First Age. We could see a scenario where Celeborn was captured in the aftermath of the battle Galadriel refers to in The Rings of Power and forced to labour for the Enemy until the War of Wrath and Morgoth’s overthrow.
Many of the Noldor and the Sindar they took captive and led to Angband, and made them thralls, forcing them to use their skill and their knowledge in the service of Morgoth.
Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin, The Silmarillion
Alone that’s insufficient to explain Celeborn’s thousand-year absence. But consider also the experience of the vast majority of escaped elven thralls…
…ever the Noldor feared most the treachery of those of their own kin, who had been thralls in Angband; for Morgoth used some of these for his evil purposes, and feigning to give them liberty sent them abroad, but their wills were chained to his, and they strayed only to come back to him again. Therefore if any of his captives escaped in truth, and returned to their own people, they had little welcome, and wandered alone outlawed and desperate [emphasis mine].
Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin, The Silmarillion
Yes, there are exceptions such as the ease with which Gwindor son of Guilin slots back into the hierarchy of Nargothrond. Yet Húrin Thalion is shunned by his folk — and Turgon — after his release from Angband. Even once he realises he is no longer Morgoth’s thrall, “he wanders out of all knowledge” and supposedly throws himself into the sea.
Similarly, even if the source of the angst is different, Maglor commits himself to a perpetual exile of regret, wandering the shores of Middle-earth after he and Maedhros take the remaining Silmarils from Eönwë by force in the wake of the War of Wrath.
What if, in The Rings of Power, after the overthrow of Angband, Celeborn was one of the “multitude of slaves” who came forth from its deep prisons, “looked upon a world that was changed” and, whether through shame or PTSD, turned away to become a solitary recluse who avoids all society.
One might protest that this overlaps Adar’s background. But Adar’s corruption is a bit different. He has become an Uruk. In this instance the thrall concept is not a rerun; it’s exploring a different phenomenon entirely.
Where would Celeborn be, though? Well, there’s an awful lot of Middle-earth coastline that hermit!Celeborn could share with Maglor. A lot of dense, unexplored forest, too, especially around Eryn Vorn given that during the Second Age much of southern Eriador was still heavily forested.
…in the earlier days, at the time of the first explorations of the Númenóreans… Minhiriath and Enedwaith were occupied by vast and almost continuous forests, except in the central region of the Great Fens.
The History of Galadriel & Celeborn, Unfinished Tales of Númenor & Middle-earth
There’s something appealing, to me at least, about the thought of the Telerin/Sindar Celeborn hiding out (maybe even with a handful of Ents or some of the Drúedain) somewhere around Drúwaith Iaur, or even the Belfalas coast and spending S3 raging against the rapacious logging efforts of Kemen and friends. It’d be a nice nod to the temporary Third Age sojourn of Galadriel and Celeborn in that area that Tolkien described in his initial iteration of their story.
The reality is that it doesn’t really matter where Celeborn actually is in this scenario — the showrunners will manufacture a way and a reason for Galadriel to find him.
What is more important, I think, is why Celeborn exists — the role he’ll play in the drama.
Of course, Celeborn is a box that The Rings of Power needs to tick if only for continuity. Mechanically, to not have Celeborn co-ruling Lorien with Galadriel so that together through ages of the world they can fight “the long defeat” would be, well, outrageous.
And that need to ultimately match both the book text and PJ’s LOTR is why I’ve always thought it was a bit mad to insist “Celeborn is dead”, and should stay that way.
But the showrunners have always stated that The Rings of Power is about the characters becoming the individuals we know at the end of the Third Age.
Right now, Galadriel’s personality flips between “Artanis” and “Nerwen”: she’s very capable of being the lady of the court — the noble woman of her father-name — but undeniably The Rings of Power has leaned heavily into the “man-maiden” warrior nature of her mother-name.
Still in Season 2 she regularly wears her hair in some sort of crown. It’s surely a nod to “Galadriel” — the epessë (a nickname or honorific) given to her by none other than Celeborn. What better way for Galadriel to rediscover her true self (and stop being torn every which way) than by finding the lover who gave her that name in the first place?
This does not have to be boring.
In the first instance there’s the fact that, in-show, Galadriel seems to have blithely assumed that Celeborn perished in the Nirnaeth yet spent 1,000 years obsessively criss-crossing Middle-earth trying to hunt down Sauron.
Depending on Celeborn’s recent history, the obverse could apply, too — especially if he’s hidden himself away. The text of LACE mentions that elven couples “do not necessarily dwell or house together at all times” despite remaining wedded forever, so the passage of time should not be an insurmountable barrier to the pair reconnecting. Still, they must decide if (and why) it’s worth resurrecting their relationship in such circumstances.
What if Celeborn is mentally, or physically, scarred from his experiences? Consider Gwindor’s return to Nargothrond:
At first his own people did not know Gwindor, who went out young and strong, and returned now seeming as one of the aged among mortal Men, because of his torments and his labours…
Of Túrin Turambar, The Silmarillion
It feels reductive to say this a “she can fix him” situation, but there’s a precedent with what happened with Nenya and Adar in the final episode of S2. It could help bring a blighted Celeborn back to himself. More prosaically, Galadriel also (inadvertently) uses Nenya to heal a fellow elf in S2 E4.
In “fixing” Celeborn (props to Webcrawler for pointing this out), Galadriel can also heal herself. It’s a chance to recognise a healthy partnership and true love — as opposed to the poisonous, controlling version that Sauron/Halbrand keeps trying to offer. One with things like not using each other for personal gain, and not flipping out when you get corrected. Simple stuff!
It’s still going to be a long journey for Galadriel to reach that point where she has the strength to reject the One Ring when Frodo finally offers it. But, for The Rings of Power, accepting Celeborn should be the start.
About the author: Staffer Demosthenes has been involved with TheOneRing.net since 2001, serving first as an Associate News Editor, then as Chief News Editor during the making of the Hobbit films. Now he focuses on features and analysis. The opinions in this article are his own and do not necessarily represent those of TheOneRing.net and other staff.
Unless you’re very new to Tolkien fandom, you know that the rights to The Professor’s creations are shared by various groups, making for sometimes complicated copyright ownership. Tolkien himself sold movie and merchandising rights to United Artists back in 1969; those rights are now owned by Middle-earth Enterprises, which is part of the Embracer Group – now known as Fellowship Entertainment. Rights to television adaptations of eight episodes or more remain with the Tolkien Estate – so Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is licensed directly by the Estate. Furthermore, the rights Tolkien sold were only for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings; so all other literary works by The Professor (including The Silmarillion) remain with the Estate.
Today Curtis Brown Heritage announced that The Tolkien Estate has joined the roster of writers and estates they represent. Curtis Brown are literary agents with a long history, and their ‘Heritage’ department represents literary estates including those of A.A. Milne, Iain Banks, and Douglas Adams. Their press release shared their delight in ‘working with the Tolkien Estate to preserve and celebrate J.R.R. Tolkien’s extraordinary literary legacy’. Here below is the full press release:
Curtis Brown Heritage is delighted to welcome the Tolkien Estate to their list of the literary estates of many of the twentieth century’s most renowned writers.
A writer, artist, scholar and philologist, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892–1973) is best known for his tales set in the world of Middle-earth, widely considered foundational to the modern fantasy genre. Beloved by readers, writers and creators across the world, in almost every language, through literature and artworks, J.R.R. Tolkien set the standard for all that has come after.
Norah Perkins, Head of Curtis Brown Heritage, said, ‘It is a great honour and a joy to be working with the Tolkien Estate to preserve and celebrate J.R.R. Tolkien’s extraordinary literary legacy, and to help to bring new readers (and viewers and listeners) to his writing. I am thrilled to be joining the Estate on the next part of the journey.’
The Tolkien Estate said, ‘As a family, we remain deeply conscious of the responsibility of looking after J.R.R. Tolkien’s literary works and legacy. We are committed to keeping his stories alive for generations to come. In Curtis Brown Heritage we have found partners who share that passion, and we are delighted to be working with them.’
Jonny Geller, CEO of The Curtis Brown Group, said: ‘I’m delighted on behalf of Curtis Brown to welcome one of the great literary estates of the world to the agency. All of us who grew up passionate about reading have been influenced and dazzled by the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, and we are committed to help to bring a new generation of readers to the enduring pleasure of these great books.’
J.R.R. Tolkien was born in the Orange Free State (now in South Africa) in 1892. He came to England aged three, and was brought up in and around Birmingham. He graduated from the University of Oxford in 1915, and saw active service in France during the First World War. After the war he worked on the Oxford English Dictionary as a lexicographer, and pursued an academic career teaching Old and Middle English. Alongside his professional life as an academic at the University of Oxford, he invented his own languages and began to create what he called a ‘Legendarium’, from which emerged The Hobbit (1937), The Lord of the Rings (1954/55) and The Silmarillion (published posthumously in 1977 by Christopher Tolkien). He was a member of the Inklings along with C.S. Lewis, and he wrote and illustrated children’s stories for his family such as Letters from Father Christmas, Mr Bliss and Roverandom, as well as fairy tales for adults, including Farmer Giles of Ham, Leaf by Niggle and Smith of Wootton Major.
The Tolkien Estate (comprising The Tolkien Estate Limited and The Tolkien Trust) is the custodian of the works and legacy of J.R.R. Tolkien published in his lifetime, and the joint custodian with the Christopher Tolkien Estate of the works published after J.R.R. Tolkien’s death in 1973. Christopher Tolkien, J.R.R. Tolkien’s third son, was his father’s literary executor from 1973 until 2017, and produced twenty-four books of his father’s unpublished manuscripts, which significantly extend the accessible Tolkien canon. The Tolkien Estate remains managed directly by the descendants and family of J.R.R. Tolkien.
The Tolkien Trust is a UK registered charity established in 1977 by J.R.R. Tolkien’s children to enable the Tolkien family to give to charitable causes on a regular basis. Through the Trust, the Tolkien family continues to support a wide spectrum of causes and concerns in the UK and around the world.
Curtis Brown Heritage was launched in 2016 and is the first bespoke literary estates division of a literary agency in the world. Built on Curtis Brown’s 125-year history, Heritage has a track record of success in creatively and sensitively managing the literary estates of beloved British writers (including those of Douglas Adams, Iain Banks, Gerald Durrell, Laurie Lee, Fay Weldon, A.A. Milne and Barbara Taylor Bradford) and some of the finest historians, poets and philosophers of the 20th century (including Isaiah Berlin, E. H. Carr, Nevill Coghill, C.L.R. James, Iris Murdoch and Stephen Spender). We recognise the immense cultural, literary and historical value of our writers, and it is our mission to combine our strong heritage with commercial savvy and passionate advocacy to celebrate, nurture and preserve their work for generations to come.
Founded in 1899 by Albert Curtis Brown, the company has a long and distinguished history as a world-renowned literary agency representing many famous writers, including Daphne du Maurier, John le Carré and A. A. Milne. Today, Curtis Brown also houses many other industry-leading divisions including a global
Talent agency, representing leading actors and performers, as well as Unscripted and Entertainment and Musical Theatre & Production Arts. CBG is also home to a prestigious Theatre, Film and Television department (representing leading screenwriters, directors, producers, playwrights, and writer-performers) as well as a Media Rights department. The Curtis Brown Group is now home to over 250 members of staff and a vibrant ecosystem of companies that span the arts and culture sector. The Curtis Brown Group includes boutique literary agencies C&W (formerly Conville & Walsh) and Ed Victor Ltd, our in-house writing school Curtis Brown Creative, talent agencies Tavistock Wood and Markham Froggatt & Irwin and production company Cuba Pictures. In June 2022, United Talent Agency acquired The Curtis Brown Group.
Breaking news: rights to bring The Silmarillion to life have finally been released, but it’s not to any of the media giants you might have expected.
Ever since Prime Video started work on The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, there has been much speculation and anticipation as to whether the Tolkien Estate would finally sell the rights to bring The Silmarillion stories to life. In an exclusive reveal, our friends at Middle-earth Enterprises have told us that it looks like that will happen now; but it is the folks behind The Lord of the Rings – A Musical Tale who have gained the long sought-after permission.
The recent revival of the musical, which features music by A.R. Rahman, Värttinä, and Christopher Nightingale, with book and lyrics by Shaun McKenna and Matthew Warchus, has proved such a hit that it seems to have persuaded the Tolkien Estate that more live Middle-earth on stage could only be a good thing. The latest musical production began at The Watermill Theatre in the UK, in 2023; it has since played in Chicago, Auckland, and is currently touring in Australia, to great acclaim.
In addition, composer Paul Corfield Godfrey has in recent years been given permission by the Estate to release recordings of his operas based on The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. This indicated to some that there was a move towards allowing more performance work based on the Professor’s writings; but this most recent announcement will nonetheless no doubt take folks by surprise.
The same composition and libretto team who brought us The Lord of the Rings – A Musical Tale will now be creating The Silmarillion – An Adventure Three Ages in the Making (working title). It is as yet unconfirmed who the stage director and design team will be for this epic show, but we do know that producer Kevin Walrus is on board. He expressed his excitement to us, and hinted at the possibility for a series of shows:
We are thrilled to build on the global momentum that we’ve already seen in our world tour of The Lord of the Rings – A Musical Tale production, with this expanded opportunity to play in the realms that Professor Tolkien created. Our first task will be to decide how many shows these new landscapes allow us to produce!
Rumour is that the production will open in New Zealand, sometime in late 2027. Middle-earth Enterprises’ Fredrica Doritos told us:
We know that the epic stories of the early ages of Middle-earth, found in The Silmarillion, are beloved by fans. The great drama, romance, peril and poetry of these tales makes them perfect for the stage; and the track record of the team who created The Lord of the Rings – A Musical Tale means that we know these sagas are in safe hands. We can’t wait to see Eru Ilúvatar and Manwë brought to life on stage. What song of Lúthien Tinúviel was powerful enough to lull Morgoth to sleep? Perhaps we’ll hear such a song in this stage show. We hope the fans will be as excited as we are, to see Fëanor forge his gems on stage.
We’ve also heard that artists already known for their Tolkien-inspired paintings may be brought in to be part of the design team. Could some of the folks whose masterpieces we’ve been enjoying in Middle-earth March Madness be part of these future shows? Certainly TORn friend Donato Giancola would make epic scenery designs; and Kip Rasmussen’s ‘Eru and the Gods singing the First Song of Creation’ would make a wonderful show poster.
We here at TheOneRing.net are very excited by the news of this forthcoming stage production (or productions!), and staffers have started speculating as to exactly which stories will appear on ‘the boards’. Look for more content to explore our thoughts; and of course we’ll bring you updates as we receive them.