LotR GoogleSo, you’re going out for a Sunday drive. You travel down the street, you make a left turn on Aragorn… what’s that you say? You don’t have streets in your neighborhood named after Tolkien characters? Well, plainly you don’t live in the town of Geldrop, in the Netherlands.

As residents of the area can tell you, every street in this neighborhood is named after a character or location from Professor Tolkien’s Middle-earth. You’ll find names from The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and even The Silmarillion. Continue reading “Tolkien characters found at every turn in Dutch neighborhood”

smaug sculptureWe all know, of course, that Tolkien’s characters and locations spring vividly to life in the imagination, whenever his books are read. One artist, however, has taken that a step further, and created a sculpture of Smaug from the pages of a copy of The Hobbit. The scaly, menacing dragon leers around the cover of the book, seeking a tiny Bilbo, who cowers under his searching gaze. See more pictures and read about this amazing art work here – it’s really stunning.

[Incredible Smaug book sculpture]

headFrom scientific american.com: What does a narcissistic flying reptile that loves the taste of crispy dwarves have in common with a beetle that shoots hot, caustic liquid from its butt? More than you think.

A few weeks ago, audiences were finally treated to the Cumberbatch-infused reptilian villain from J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic The Hobbit. Smaug (pronounced and interpreted as if you smashed together “smug” and “smog”) is a terrible dragon that long ago forced a population of dwarves from under a mountain. He laid claim to all their treasures. He burned all their homes. The titular character of the book is then tasked with helping a company of these displaced dwarves take back the mountain from the beast. It wouldn’t be easy—the most common descriptor of a dragon is “fire-breathing,” after all. But unlike other aspects of the book and now the film that are wholly magic, Smaug’s burning breath is actually one of the least magical, and can be wrangled into plausibility. Doing so involves looking inside a beetle’s butt, a Boy Scout’s satchel, and a bird’s throat. [Read More]

knitted hobbitWe know that Tolkien fans are a creative bunch – we’ve seen fan made paintings, drawings, sculptures, even cakes!  The latest Hobbity handicrafts to come to our attention are the brilliant creations of a lady in Wales.  Denise Salway knits characters from the Hobbit films, planning her own designs and sometimes taking over a month for one piece!  Readers may have seen her work on twitter, where she is @KnittingWitchUK, and where Stephen Hunter and Graham McTavish have admired her knitted Dwalin and Bombur! Read more about her amazing work – and see some stunning photographs – in this article.

Share your own artistic endeavours from Middle-earth at our ‘Fan Art’ page on the message boards.

332284-the-hobbit-the-desolation-of-smaug-tauriel Xenite.org founder and Tolkien scholar Michael Martinez discusses the history and inter-relationships of the Silvan elves of Mirkwood and their Sindarin kings — and whether and where Tauriel could have fitted in. Interesting piece. Follow the link at the bottom to read the complete feature.


Q: Is Tauriel in the Book, the Hobbit?

Continue reading “Silvan and Sindarin elves: Legolas, Tauriel, Thranduil… and Oropher”

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.

First, for those who celebrate, hope you had a Merry Christmas! But if you are here at TheOneRing.net and looking, we need to provide some post-holiday content. With “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” entertaining audiences around the world (now including Australia) we thought it was time to share a fan-made video complete with original song by a group in New Zealand. Some of the faces may be familiar, some of these folks are rumored to be extras in the film as well. Now, don’t take any of this too seriously, the gang is just having fun and actually thinks highly of all involved, as they will tell you if stick around for the post-credits.