With the human face of Beorn finally revealed (Warning: visual spoilers on that link!), I thought readers might be interested in a little bit of book character history and background.
The most common questions that people ask concern his ability to change shape. Is it magical? Is he cursed? Does he have control over it? Did Tolkien mean Beorn to be some kind of beserker?
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.
Earendil and Elwing by Jenny Dolfen. In this new TORn Library piece, Gibbelins writes about the deep, yet extraordinarily subtle faith underlying Tolkien’s legendarium, and why it works for readers of all faiths — even those who profess to no faith at all. Continue reading “Why Tolkien works for readers of all faiths”
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.
Earlier today, the second (third, if you count the abbreviated international trailer shown in some regions) trailer for the Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug debuted internationally.
If you haven’t already seen it, you can check it out here. If you have, then here’s five things that we particularly loved about this trailer. Have a read, then let us know whether you agree? What were your favourite moments?
Dragonfire and ruin. That is what you will bring upon us! He cannot see beyond his own desire! Bard the Bowman
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.
Robert Quilter Gilson (left) and Tolkien in 1910 or 1911. Photo courtesy of Julia Margretts. John Garth, writer, researcher and author of Tolkien and the Great War recently published online for the first time — with previously unseen photographs — a paper first published in Tolkien Studies 7 in 2010 (Tolkien Studies: An Annual Scholarly Review is an annual journal of scholarship on J.R.R. Tolkien and his works).
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.
In this new TORn Library piece, our newest feature writer Gibbelins examines the difference between skill and knowledge and whether the former has an unjustly sullied reputation in Middle-earth as a result of the rash and self-seeking acts of craftsmen such as Saruman and Fëanor.
Two paths of Wisdom
by Gibbelins
The concepts I wish to discuss are best expressed with the Quenya roots ‘curu-‘ and ‘nolo-‘, but I will try not to subject you to the Elvish for the entire essay. Both of these roots have at times been translated as ‘wisdom’, and yet they represent different sides of wisdom and different inclinations. I’ll use the English glosses ‘skill’ and ‘knowledge’ as reasonable approximations. The contrast between the two ideas is, I think, fundamental to Tolkien’s understanding of how to live righteously. Continue reading “On Tolkien’s two paths of wisdom”
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.
Today is September 22 — which means that (in the Shire Reckoning) it’s the birthdays of Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. To celebrate here are fourteen fabulous quotes (and we’re sure you, dear reader, could think of many more) from Bilbo in The Hobbit.
Enjoy!
This hobbit was a very well-to-do hobbit, and his name was Baggins. The Bagginses had lived in the neighbourhood of The Hill for time out of mind, and people considered them very respectable, not only because most of them were rich, but also because they never had any adventures or did anything unexpected: you could tell what a Baggins would say on any question without the bother of asking him.
This is a story of how a Baggins had an adventure, found himself doing and saying things altogether unexpected. He may have lost the neighbours’ respect, but he gained-well, you will see whether he gained anything in the end.
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.