Sideshow Collectibles is joining in the celebration today:
“This weekend, Sideshow Collectibles.com is proud to join fans of J.R.R. Tolkien world-wide in celebrating the 70th Anniversary of the publication of ‘The Hobbit’! To help add to the celebration, we’ve arranged some special Sideshow mathoms for you! Check out our special LOTR discounts, our new Balrog Legendary Scale bust preview, a brand new LOTR-themed poll, and our ‘Ode to Bilbo’ comment contest, in which you could win a Shelob statue, King of the Dead Statue, a Cave Troll Hammer, or a Crown of the King of the Dead simply for participating. Follow the link to get all the details”
Sideshow Celebrates the Hobbit
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While there is no official news on ‘The Hobbit’ movie yet, we can always count on Houghton Mifflin to continue to put out wonderfully crafted publications from Tolkien’s universe. The lastest batch of new books, ‘The History of the Hobbit,’ are coming this Friday to stores new you, just in time for the 70th Anniversary of the publication of ‘The Hobbit!’
“A beautiful boxed set: the definitive examination of how Tolkien came to write his original masterpiece, including the complete unpublished draft and little-known illustrations and unpublished maps, along with a new edition of the classic work itself.”
The books are being sold individually and released on Friday, Sept 21st in bookstores nationwide. However, if you are interested in purchasing the two books together, along with the speciacl Anniversary Edition of ‘The Hobbit,’ you’ll need to wait until October 26th. All are available right now on Amazon.com for pre-order.
History of the Hobbit – Part 1 Part 2 Set
The Hobbit: 70th Anniversary Edition Discuss
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TAMPA – “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit …” That famous first line, now 70 years old, introduced J.R.R. Tolkien to a small readership, and so began the cult of Middle-earth. After his “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy hit bookstores in the mid-1950s, Tolkien was fast becoming a worldwide cultural phenomenon. As complex as they appear, Tolkien’s literary fantasies all grew from kernels, branching out into an interconnected family tree. But where did these ideas come from and how did he develop them? [More]
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‘Why, Sam,’ [Frodo] said, ‘to hear you somehow makes me as merry as if the story was already written. But you’ve left out one of the chief characters: Samwise the stouthearted.’ “I want to hear more about Sam, dad. Why didn’t they put in more of his talk, dad? That’s what I like, it makes me laugh. And Frodo wouldn’t have got far without Sam, would he, dad?”
One of the most beloved characters in Tolkien’s trilogy is without question, Samwise Gamgee. That ordinary hobbit, representative of all that’s sound and sane against a background of darkness and despair, who was able to do the extraordinary, even the impossible, and live to tell the tale.
Do you see Sam as a faithful friend and kind hearted companion, or the dim-witted klutz and comic-relief, sort of Sancho Panza to Frodo’s Don Quixote? Or is he the “everyman” of Middle Earth, the character Tolkien himself said he most related to? Or is Sam the true, courageous hero of Lord of the Rings? Was Sam just an ordinary hobbit? Was he tempted by the Ring? Was he the cause of Gollum’s ultimate damnation? These questions and more will be explored as we look at this amusing, confusing and delightful character.
Come join us and our special guest moderator, SamGamgee7, this week in #thehalloffire as we discuss “Samwise Gamgee, Hobbit Hero”.
Upcoming Topics:
Sept 4-5: The Hobbit: Chapter 13: Not At Home
Sept 11-12: Middle Earth’s Greatest Hero
Sept 18-19: The Hobbit: Chapter 14: Fire and Water
Sept 25-26: The Downfall of Numenor
Oct 2-3: The Hobbit: Chapter 14: The Gathering of the Clouds
Place:
#thehalloffire on theonering.net IRC server. Need instructions? Go here: [here]
Chat Times:
Saturday Chat:
5:30pm EST (17:30)
[also 11:30pm (23:30) CET and 7:30am Sunday morning AEST]
Sunday Chat:
8:00 pm (20:00) CET
[also 2:00pm (14:00) EST and 4:00am Monday morning AEST]
EST = Eastern Time, USA’s East Coast
CET = Central European Time, Central Europe
AEST = Australian East Coast
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After Eru created the music that spawned his Children, he offered the creation of their home to his immortal, angelic beings known to the Elves as the Valar. After Arda’s creation, dissension erupted between the Valar who stood for goodness and beauty and the jealous, destructive Melkor, and the land became their battle ground. Eventually, the Valar retreated from Arda to their own lands in the West. Once the Elves awakened, they became the new battle ground between the two sides.
The Valar’s Intervention in ME: Adequate or Abandonment?
To protect the newly awakened Elves from Melkor, the Valar persuaded them to leave Middle Earth. What resulted was the most fruitful and enlightening time for the Elves who followed them but the darkness in their departure estranged them from the Valar. Led by Manwe, the Valar hid themselves and most discontinued their involvement with the Elves.
What was the Valar’s actual responsiblity in Middle Earth and it’s affairs? Did they abandon the Elves and Men to Melkor’s evil, or was their involvement more subtle? Why couldn’t they strike a balance in their intervention, that seemed neither too much nor too little? Who was more responsible for how the races of Middle Earth evolved through four ages, Melkor or the Valar?
Come join us this week in #thehalloffire as we discuss the Valar’s Intervention in Middle EArth.
===
Upcoming topics:
Aug 28-29: Samwise Gamgee
Sept 4-5: The Hobbit: Chapter 13: Not At Home
Sept 11-12: Middle Earth’s Greatest Hero
Sept 18-19: The Hobbit: Chapter 14: Fire and Water
Sept 25-26: The Downfall of Numenor
Oct 2-3: The Hobbit: Chapter 14: The Gathering of the Clouds
===
Place:
#thehalloffire on theonering.net IRC server. Need instructions? Go here: http://www.theonering.net/barlimans/instructions.html
===
Chat Times:
Saturday Chat:
5:30pm EST (17:30)
[also 11:30pm (23:30) CET and 7:30am Sunday morning AEST]
Sunday Chat:
8:00 pm (20:00) CET
[also 2:00pm (14:00) EST and 4:00am Monday morning AEST]
EST = Eastern Time, USA’s East Coast
CET = Central European Time, Central Europe
AEST = Australian East Coast
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Kate writes: Barnes and Noble University is having an online Tolkien course: This course provides an overview of The Hobbit and LOTR by JRR Tolkien. We’ll look first at Tolkien’s biography, his writing life, the origins of the stories, and their publication history. We’ll continue with lessons on each book, concentrating on Tolkien’s construction of a mythological world and its peoples and languages, his characters and their development, and his thematic concerns. Finally, we’ll look at Tolkien’s lasting influence on 20th-century fantasy literature, as well as on cultural movements such as neo-paganism and environmentalism. [More]
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