Official Amazon Prime LOTR reveals now include the recent 23 character torsos, a slick title reveal, a single frame image from episode 1 (but not even 2nd Age), a now one-year-old synopsis and a lovely map of wider Arda; all of which may have left Lord of the Rings fans puzzled as to what this billion-dollar TV show is really all about. We asked the fans to list their most burning current questions that we could ask the Showrunners, just 8 months before the show’s debut on September 2, 2022.
Two decades ago, previous Middle-earth director Peter Jackson famously took “20 Questions” direct from the online fandom on AICN; facing innocent inquiries on just about everything. He returned with surprisingly generous answers to assuage the broadest of fan curiosities: offering up the earliest details of what Weta Digital’s MASSIVE software could create and even addressing for the first time “How will Gollum be created?” (we had no idea yet what motion capture miracles Andy Serkis and WETA had in store for us). It was a genuine treat.
In honor of 23 poster images we submit these 23 Questions in that same spirit as twenty years ago.
What weighs heavily on a Ringer’s soul?
Will there be singing in the show? Songs (and poetry) are a big part of Tolkien’s world.
Describe the challenge in writing a show with such extensive established lore – that yet has the least full narrative written by Tolkien himself? How do your writers approach this?
Will we see the various different types of beings within a race (example: Noldor Elves vs. Teleri Elves)?
Where is Sexy Sauron? No, really; where?
Will the production seek to film in other locations globally?
Why Harfoots? Did Halflings in the 2nd Age seem essential for continuity?
Fans are mainly concerned if this show will be true to the lore – Who is the Lore expert(s) on the show?
Will David Salo return as Languages expert?
What percentage of characters will be Tolkien canon versus newly created for the show?
Looks like this is shaping up to have the most diverse casting of any Tolkien adaptation as the scope of the story expands across the planet of Arda. What do the Showrunners have front-of-mind when presenting these new characters and cultures through a wider lens?
With many thousands of years of tumultuous events in the 2nd Age, when will the main timeline of the show focus on?
Is John Howe involved (beyond the marketing Map)?
Are the Showrunners fans of Tolkien? We know that they wrote a Star Trek screenplay, but would love to know more about their personal tastes as geeks.
Are the accomplished people in the Writer’s Room pre-existing fans themselves?
Why did Amazon decide to leave New Zealand as a filming location, especially when it has become so synonymous with Middle-earth all this time?
Is Weta Workshop involved with physical props, weapons, costumes, and practical sets (not just Weta Digital)?
Is Industrial Light & Magic involved with their “Mandalorian” digital screen set technology?
Does this show connect with P.J.’s previous six films set in Middle-earth?
Was Tolkien scholar/author Tom Shippey’s departure from the production amicable?
End credits songs!!! We had some gems in the form of end credits songs for the movies. With a TV show, might we expect something similar at the end of each season?
The Lurtz vs. Azog thing: will we get more practical makeup effects or more CGI creatures?
The stories of the 2nd Age are notably bereft of magical creatures like Dragons and Balrogs. Is there a desire to include fantastical beasts and (houses of) dragons per the recent wave of poplar TV?
To what degree is Howard Shore involved, since one of the most desired components of this entire enterprise is the returning embrace of his music?
Let’s hope all this recent marketing activity means the fans of J.R.R. Tolkien’s works have some more information to fuel their anticipation, sooner rather than later!
We welcome our readers here to join the conversation on our Discord and also join us live for TORn Tuesdays every week at 5:00pm Pacific Time on all our social channels.
Last year we launched our Collecting The Precious Podcast, and were able to film 2 episodes before 2021 ended. Today, we bring you the third episode of our little collectibles chat. In episode 3, we were able to get Ben back with us, and we’re really really grateful that he was willing to take time out of his schedule to sit down with us. In this episode, we talk about price, edition size, and “value”, and really how subjective these three things are, as we collect these absolutely fantastic pieces. This was a set of topics I wanted to chat about, since it’s something that comes up all the time over the years and has been a point of contention I think, as prices rise and new companies like Prime One enter the game. I hope you all enjoy this one, and thank you for the support! Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Collecting The Precious Podcast Episode 3”
Fili gets VIP tickets to see Aragorn as the lead in the Nutcracker in ice and Kili wants to bring the stars some gifts. Not knowing if that’s appropriate or not, Fili has an excellent idea! Recipe below.
Thoroughly cream butter, sugar, and vanilla. Add flour, mix well. Stir in chocolate and nuts. Press into an ungreased pan (13×9). Bake 350 F (0r 358 F) for 20-25 minutes or until brown. While warm, cut into bars or squares. Cool before removing from pan.
Staff from TheOneRing.net will be presenting panels, in-person, at two separate conventions in Southern California over the next week and a half.
First up is San Diego Comic-con’s Special Edition event this coming weekend. Our panel will be on Friday night, November 26 at 7 pm, and will be in room 7AB. If you have ever wanted to go to SDCC, but have been unable to get tickets, they are still available for this event. It’s a great way to get your feet wet, as it were, and buying a pass to the Special Edition will allow you to be on the Past Attendee list when the 2023 SDCC goes on sale. To check out our listing in the schedule, click here.
Our second stop on this whirlwind tour of SoCal conventions will be the Los Angeles Comiccon the following weekend, on Saturday morning, December 4 at 11 am, and will be in room 410. Both panels will be very similar, unless any new announcements about the Amazon LOTR drop between this weekend and the next. Feel free to visit us at both, but at least this way fans in both LA and San Diego have options to hang with the wonderful Fellowship that makes up Tolkien fandom.
Welcome to The Great Hall of Poets, our regular monthly feature showcasing the talent of Middle-earth fans. Each month we will feature a small selection of the poems submitted, but we hope you will read all of the poems that we have received here in our Great Hall of Poets.
So come and join us by the hearth, and 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.
Art of Fate
by: Milan
How can so much darkness exist, while there is light?
How can the Black Eye of Mordor stare, while hobbit children skip through the grass?
Do all the troubles wash away down the River Anduin, great and wide, mysteriously,
Or do they pop up like hobbit children in a game of hide and seek, ready to come out for Elevenses?
How does life move on, to the beauty of the Lorien,
To come into the songs of old,
To relinquish the art of fate,
To come back stronger than you came,
What will the minstrels sing?
What will they say in their songs when you’re gone,
When you look into Galadriel’s Mirror, what will you see?
A sad reflection of yourself, of everything you are,
The destruction of your home, a black eye of fowl menace,
Who are you? Can you face yourself for me?
Weren’t we all just hobbits, letting our days unwind, in a safe haven for a time,
When the Carrion fowl take your body,
What will you think?
Will you watch from your ship at sea,
Or paddle forward, to find what awaits you in lands of bliss,
What will be your regrets, your wishes, your lies to yourself?
-Milan
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Middle Earth haiku
by: H Herz
Strider's valiant, but...
Not all who wander can cook.
Where's second breakfast?
www.henryherz.com
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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.
