Since all hobbits are drawn to the green world, many of us feel a tinge of sadness as autumn creeps in and slowly steals away our beloved wildflowers, vegetables, and green tree leaves. But what if there was a simple way to preserve some of those bright summer hues to enjoy all year long?
As summer in the Shire winds down, now is an excellent time to try your hand at pressing flowers! You can use the dried petals, leaves, and whole blossoms to create endless crafts, from bookmarks to candle decor. Join Kili as she guides you through selecting blooms in this new episode of Happy Hobbit. She then shows how to assemble the flower press and reveals the finished results.
Have you ever pressed flowers before? Did you use a press or a book? How did it turn out? Let us know in the comments on the video!
Happy Hobbit has brought Middle-earth to its viewers’ daily lives since joining TheOneRing.net in 2012! Learn hobbity recipes, crafts, and more by watching new episodes and/or perusing the 13+ years worth of videos on their YouTube channel. 🌻 Be sure you are subscribed to Happy Hobbit on YouTube and check back here at TheOneRing.net so that you don’t miss out!
Get even more slow-living hobbit content by following Happy Hobbit on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok! If watching the show has left you with an appetite for more, know that Kili (Kellie) has a podcast where Tolkien is often mentioned called Forests, Folklore & Fantasy. She is also the co-author of the recently re-released Middle-earth from Script to Screen.
Dragon Con, Atlanta’s annual gathering of pop culture enthusiasts, is upon us. A Labor Day fixture, Dragon Con celebrates fascinations from science fiction to fantasy, gaming to comics, literature to art, and music to media. The Con attracts roughly 75,000 fans spread across multiple downtown hotels and much of the city’s AmericasMart. It also offers 35 different “tracks”, or mini-conventions. They focus on everything from Anime to Young Adult Literature.
One of Dragon Con’s founding fandoms has focused on J.R.R. Tolkien and the creative passion that his works have inspired. Whether it’s part of the programming now scheduled for D*C’s “High Fantasy” track, or Elvish (etc.) enthusiasm spilling out across the broader fandom, there will be much Middle-earth merriment in this 40th installment of Atlanta’s Geek-Fest (Nerdi-Gras?)!
Here’s a quick overview of what’s happening for Tolkien fans!
Our Marquee Hobbit: Sean Astin
Here on the 25th anniversary of Peter Jackson’s Fellowship of the Ring, it’s wonderful to have such an excellent and admirable cast member joining us. Sean will be available for autographs and photo opportunities, and will also be a featured panelist over the course of the Con. One of those panels will focus on his experiences embodying Sam Gamgee. Saturday, 9/5 at 11:30 am in the Hyatt Centennial Ballroom II-IV
Hobbity Home bases:
Staffer deej has got all your answers, plus t-shirts and buttons!
If you simply need some help orienting to the sprawling splendor that is Dragon Con, you can find help here:
The OneRing.net fan table, located on the Exhibit Level of the Hyatt Regency, right across from the Art Show entrance. Find staffers greendragon, deej, and Wee Tanya there, along with buttons, t-shirts, links to some of our favorite purveyors of Middle-earth merchandise, and maybe a few surprises!
The High Fantasy Track Room, on the Lobby Level of the Marriott Marquis, rooms 401-403 (just across the hall from Dragon Con Safety). Staffer Madeye Gamgee also volunteers for the track, and several Tolkien inspired panels will take place there this weekend.
Parties!
An Evening in Bree (photo courtesy of Tim Lenz)
A unique hallmark of Dragon Con is an abundance of fan-forward partying opportunities. The Tolkien fandom will not miss out!
An Evening in Bree: A long-term landmark for partying periannath, Bree is back in all its glory. That includes a high fantasy costume contest (you can fill out entry forms at TheOneRing fan table or the High Fantasy track room – please do SIGN UP IN ADVANCE), a choral performance of special magnificence by the wondrous Elf Choir, and of course dancing! The three featured performers this year are the Brobdingnagian Bards, Landloch’d, and Beth Patterson. Friday, September 4, 8:30 pm in the Courtland Grand Ballroom
Hobbit Drinking Songs: billed as a concert, breakout dancing and partying is an inevitability whenever the Brobdingnagian Bards are involved. Let those furry feet fly! Sunday, September 6, 7:00 pm on the Marriott Atrium level, A 601-602
The Goblin Ball: Hosted once again by our OneRing DJ deej, the theme this year appropriately celebrates the music of the mid-80s and the 40th anniversary of Labyrinth’s Goblin King throwing a ball of his own. The cosplay mashups should be spectacular. Sunday, September 6, 10:00 pm on the Marriott Atrium level, A601-602
Panels!
Remembering panels in Covid times…
This is the ten-year mark for the High Fantasy Track at Dragon Con, now the Con’s home for Tolkien content, which always ranges from the playful to the profound. This year’s lineup includes:
Rings of Power Season 3 Speculation. With Prime Video’s latest installment of the Second Age saga now scheduled for a November release, rumors and speculation on what’s in store are swirling. Greendragon will be moderating, with Madeye Gamgee and other close OneRing friends participating, to bring Dragon Con fans up to speed! Friday, September 4, 1:00 pm, Hyatt International South
Sing with the Elf Choir. Another Dragon Con classic, this is less of a musical panel and more of a choral rehearsal as a host of Middle-earth denizens prepare to bring their harmonious offerings to The Evening in Bree. Come and learn your part for two or three staples in the high fantasy musical canon! Friday, September 4, 5:30 pm, Courtland Grand Ballroom
Who Could Resist? A smorgasbord of speculation as panelists consider the corollary to “Who could wield Thor’s hammer”, but through the lens of being able to withstand the power of the Ring. Was Aragorn right about the Ring answering to only one Master? Or is Steve Rogers, Jean-Luc Picard, or Aslan up for the challenge? Saturday, September 5, 1:00 pm, HF Track Room
An Hour with TheOneRing.net. Greendragon, joined by staffers deej and Madeye Gamgee, along with Tolkien Lore Master Willie Jenkins (knewbettadobetta), will unpack as much as we can cover in an hour about what’s coming up for Middle-earth fans, from media to merchandise, publications to parties. We’ve been polishing our palantĂri, so expect secrets and rumours!  Saturday, September 5, 4:00 pm, Hyatt International North
The Greatest Swordsman. In this tournament-style panel, attendees will get to choose who is the greatest wielder of the blade in all of High Fantasy. After Aragorn, of course. Sunday, September 6, 10:00 am, HF Track Room
Bilbo Baggins – Renaissance Hobbit of Middle-earth. Tolkien scholar, author, and long-time OneRing mellon Constance G. J. Wagner leads a panel conversation about the “bravest little hobbit of them all”. From teacher, mentor, peacemaker, storyteller, and friend, Bilbo’s impact on the history of Arda is extraordinary for such a little fellow in a wide world. Sunday, September 6, 11:30 am, Hyatt Centennial I
Delving Into Dwarves. It’s been a minute since the High Fantasy track considered the Sons and Daughters of Durin. But “khazâd ai-mênu!” The dwarves shall be upon us indeed! We may even figure out just how discourteous Gimli was being in the Extended Edition scene. Sunday, September 6, 4:00 pm, HF Track Room
Too Beautiful to Let Go: The Cost of Creation in Middle-earth. Tolkien content will wrap up for this year’s Dragon Con with a more deeply philosophical conversation around the broad theme of “Subcreation gone wrong”. This panel will consider artifacts of extraordinary beauty, but also with deeply and sweepingly corrupting power, and the where’s and wherefores that had the Professor integrating them into his Legendarium. Monday, September 7, 10:00 am, HF Track Room
Beyond the Panels
Like TheOneRing.net, Dragon Con markets itself as a “by fans, for fans” experience. This leads to one of the most unique and entertaining dynamics of the Con: the near certainty that nerdish enthusiasm will break out in unscheduled, often enduringly viral ways. Dragon Con first-timers may not understand the  “Cult of the Marriott Carpet” or “Saint John the Deliverer” (our friends at Geek Orthodox certainly do!), but even newbies should keep a sharp eye out for the exuberance that happens outside of “our regularly scheduled programming”. For Middle-earth fans, that includes:
The Dragon Con Parade, a riotous and colorful celebration of all things nerdish. Open to everyone to watch, with no badges required, the downtown Atlanta crowds swell into the six figures as Superheroes, Troopers, and Spartans (oh, my) travel down Peachtree Street in costumed glory. Tolkien fans have been longtime participants, marching behind the “Arms of Middle-earth” banner. This year, at least 20 of us will be representing the Legendarium we love. Be sure to wave! Saturday, 10:00 am, down Peachtree Street from North Avenue through a U-turn into the Marriott Marquis We’d suggest arriving early to grab a good viewing spot!
The “Passing of the Elves” Procession. A more focused choral ensemble that’s closely connected to the “Sing with the Elf Choir” programming, this group practices particularly elvish music, all dress in elvish attire, and process around the halls and connecting bridges between Dragon Con hotels in their melodious passage toward the West. Lanterns and bells mark their ethereal comings and goings. The Procession typically occurs on Sunday evenings. You can find out more by searching for the Elf Choir on social media platforms.
The Lord of the Rings Fan Club. New this year! TORn is working with our friends at the Fan Club to finalize a series of quests designed especially for members attending Dragon Con. If you’re part of the Club already, stay tuned on the app for announcements! If you’re not, there will also be ways to sign up at the Con! Collect those mathoms and join the fun!
See you in the belly of the beast – Dragon Con may be 40 but we’re all still young at heart!
Recently we shared news of the newOfficial Lord of the Rings™ Fan Club – where ‘everyone is welcome, as long as they welcome everyone'! We are excited to join the club as one of their ‘Heralds’ – and we want to invite YOU to join us! May we entice you with a special mathom…?
Since TheOneRing.net started out – in the dim and distant past that was the late 20th century! – we’ve always sought to create a positive atmosphere. We aimed to have our little corner of the interwebs be a place where folks could meet, chat, support each other, and celebrate shared passions together. In recent years, however, you may have noticed toxicity creeping in to the online experience! If you weren’t around to share in the heady, early days of online fandom, now is your chance to experience another kinder, more generous-spirited place to interact online – a place after TORn’s own heart. That, at least, is the goal of the new Official LotR Fan Club – spearheaded by none other than one of our own founders, Calisuri. So of course TORn wanted to be part of it!
Being a ‘Herald’ means we have our own official page, with a ‘sub-community’ at the club. It will allow TORn to share news to a wider fanbase, through the club. Fear not – we are certainly not giving up our own places for fans to gather! (In fact, if you haven’t dropped by our message boards lately, you should definitely swing by: they are all shiny and new, thanks to the hard work of supremo First Age staffers Altaira and BG!) And you’ll still be able to find us on our discord; the Fan Club just gives us another way of letting fans know what we’re up to, and of sharing the love of this Fellowship.
We hope you’ll pop by and check out the Fan Club. There are fun ‘fireside chats’, bulletin boards, and daily puzzles to be solved! (Riddles in the dark, anyone…?) And for those of you who love to collect – there are many amazing ‘mathoms’ you can gather, to create a record of your own Fan Club journey. Use this referral link to head over to the Club and you’ll secure TORn’s very own, exclusive mathom! And look for more fun mathoms to collect during DragonCon, later this week!
Come on in – you are welcome any time, don’t bother knocking!
Thirteen years ago, I interviewed Peter Kenny, as part of my Getting to Knowseries of features. He very graciously agreed to answer the, sometimes, well often, crazy questions. Revealing a truly Hobbit-like enjoyment of our world and the world of Middle-earth.
Now Peter has released his memoir, My Unexpected Journey. His memoir takes the reader on an unexpected journey of a life full of adventure, good and bad. Peter describes how Tolkien, and Middle-earth, helped him navigate these devastating lows and amazing highs. He discusses the lifelong friendships he has formed, and his ongoing delight with the Tolkien fandom.
“My Unexpected Journey is a remarkable piece of work for which the writer himself thanks Tolkien. I recommend this memoir highly. You will love the book; you will love the man.” – John Callen, actor and director.
My Unexpected Journey will make a wonderful addition to any Tolkien fans bookshelf. It is an honest, heartfelt reflection on facing misfortune and overcoming it. It is a lovely homage to J.R.R. Tolkien, and all the fans who love Tolkiens work.
I guess I would like to be recognised for my contribution I have given to Tolkien Fandom over the years and my Memoir is my Magnum Opus and tribute to J.R.R. Tolkien. – Peter Kenny.
My Unexpected Journey is available for purchase at online bookstores.
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.
Welcome to The Great Hall of Poets, our poetry feature showcasing the talent of Middle-earth fans. Grab your favourite beverage, and come and join us by the hearth. Enjoy!
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.
An evening in the Writer’s Den
by: Tom Frye
I sit here at my rolltop desk, my mind a million miles away, deep in a realm of castles and dragons.
A mushroom lamp sits on my computer tower, two gnomes, ever vigilant, sit bathed in the mushroom’s yellow light, watching me.
To my right, is a picture of Bilbo Baggins, seated at his desk in the comforts of Rivendell, a quill pen in hand.
The elderly Hobbit is surrounded by books, a tall tankard, a long-stemmed pipe, and a bag of pipe-weed, ready for the smoking.
Behind Bilbo sits a picture of my Doberman, Bummer, who has been gone now for 20 years, yet she still graces me with her presence.
My pens rest in my chipped mug, depicting a herd of deer racing toward my second mug, steam rising from dark caramel coffee within.
My feet are bare, rubbing constantly on carpeted floor, taking in the comforts of my haven away from the world.
A rose scented candle burns beneath my three lion heads on my wall, flickering flames illuminating the jewels in their eyes.
Before me, magic happens on the screen, words bring a story to life, creating images, displaying visions, destined to make an impact.
A sword rises, a sword falls, another dragon is slain, another shadow prince fallen.
A white horse races across green fields, an Elven rider upon his back, his golden hair trailing in the wild winds.
Gems spill out of a mountain cave, hidden there for centuries, by the dragon who first stole them.
Ah, I sigh as I lift my hands from my keyboard to sip at my coffee, yet before my third sip, I’m back to work.
Sparks fly from my keys as the visions from my head are transferred to to the screen, then to the page.
Just one more book, is my silent prayer, don’t let me die before the Legendry is completed, until the last dragon slain.
I take a break, sipping once more at my coffee, the wood smoke from a campfire still lingering from my story.
Geesh, I say, sniffing at my shirt. Is that really smoke I smell? Or simply my imagination?
This will be our 24th edition of the Bagginses Birthday Bash in Griffith Park. Head to the link below to RSVP and list what you will bring to the party. You can also email me at Garfeimao(at)TheOneRing.net to RSVP if you are not on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/events/1369087481317252/
The party will start at 11:30am on Sunday, September 20, 2026 and will be a potluck sort of party, as usual, so please do mention what you plan to bring so we know what to expect and what holes need filling.
There will be fun and games, including a Dessert Contest for the best Fellowship of the Rings themed cake or cupcakes, or just theme it around 25 (for the 25th anniversary of FOTR). Costumes most welcome, there will be prizes.
