This year marks the 50th anniversary of Oxonmoot, an annual event hosted by The Tolkien Society in Oxford, UK. The event will be available to stream live from Thursday, August 31 through Sunday, September 3.
Bear McCreary
Bear McCreary will join Oxonmoot for an exclusive chat on Friday, September 1st at 4:40pm UK-time (8:40am PDT / 11:40am EDT / 5:40pm CET), and the session will be available live to online attendees.
McCreary, a lifelong Tolkien fan, composed the 37 tracks that make up the score for Prime’s Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power. His work for the show received acclaim from fans and critics alike. The gorgeous themes he developed for the show were completely new yet still reflective of the scores that Howard Shore composed for Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings. McCreary is also know for his work on Battlestar Galactica, The Walking Dead, and Outlander, among other television series. McCreary is articulate in speaking about his methodology, and he is just plain fun in an interview.
Brian Sibley
Brian Sibley will also be a guest at Oxonmoot. His session is called “‘The Fall of Númenor’: An Editor’s Journey.” As the name of the event implies, Mr. Sibley edited the volume of J.R.R. Tolkien’s writings titled The Fall of Númenor: And Other Tales from the Second Age of Middle-earth, which was illustrated by Alan Lee. Sibley will speak about the “pleasures and pitfalls” in editing the book.
Sibley has written extensively for radio dramas such as BBC Radio 4’s adaptation of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia. He is well known for authoring many “making of” books about films, including those for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, as well as the Harry Potter series. He is incredibly knowledgeable about Tolkien and fascinating to listen to.
The Hollywood Reporter in conjunction with Prime Video recently posted a series of behind-the-scenes videos focusing on the set design in the Prime Video series “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”.
The “Building Middle-earth” series of videos show details that can be missed while watching the series at home. The commentary by set designers, actors, and craftspeople reveals insights and secrets about the decisions that went into the direction the series took and how it was made. The craft and care that went into the sets is truly amazing! It’s the type of stuff Ringers everywhere are trying to spy out about the Season 2 of the show.
After two weeks of discussing, debating, and voting, the original 64 characters from The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power who began in the four categories of Middle-earth March Madness 2023: Rings of Power Edition have been whittled down to just one. Who is our Champion for this year?
We come to it at last – the great battle of our time… Just twelve days after it started, with 64 characters from The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power divided amongst four categories, Middle-earth March Madness 2023, Rings of Power Edition is drawing to a close. Only two remain – and only one battle. Here’s how the Final Four played out.
From sixty-four to just four: Middle-earth March Madness 2023, Rings of Power Edition has reached the Semi Final stage. Which are the characters who make up our Final Four? Let’s take a look at how each bracket closed out.
Elves, Dwarves and Monsters
Only Elves remained from the trio of beings which started out in this bracket! Galadriel and Elrond, long time friends and supporters in The Rings of Power, came up against each other in the final round within the group, having conquered Durin and Disa in the Sweet Sixteen round.
Galadriel took the lead fairly early on in this dual, and she held her future son-in-law at bay throughout, claiming victory with 55% of votes.
It was Elves versus Dwarves in the Sweet Sixteen round in this bracket, with the monsters already defeated. Galadriel faced Durin IV, while his wife Disa took on Elrond. We were expecting these battles to be real nail-biters; but in fact, the Elves had a reasonably easy time of it. Galadriel defeated Durin by taking 57% of the votes, and Elrond claimed almost two thirds of the votes in his dual with Disa. Sorry, Dwarf fans; Aulë’s children are out of Middle-earth March Madness for this year.
Now the Elven friends face each other, in the final match within the bracket. Does the Halfelven have any chance against the daughter of Finarfin? Which of them will continue on to a potential battle against Sauron himself, in the Semi Finals? You decide – place your votes now!
