The 2015 edition of Middle-earth Madness officially starts today! We’ve split our field of 64 characters and objects into four divisions: The Silmarillion,The Hobbit,The Lord of the Rings and The Others.
This is a brand new format for the competition this year – implemented to encourage interesting match-ups, intriquging final four and ultimately education on the breadth of works from our favorite author, J.R.R. Tolkien.
A note on how the bracket combatants were determined. TheOneRing.net created a document containing all combatants, sub divided into divisions. We asked staff to cast sixteen votes per division, with the votes having a weight of 1-4. Each staffer cast four 4 votes, four 3 votes, four 2 votes and four 1 votes in each division. We then totalled all the votes from each division to determine their rank, and ultimately placed those into our bracket for seeding.
As you can imagine, our staff is diverse and the results were very interesting! What was very exciting when creating the bracket was the realization that we have some amazing and story related match-ups in this first round.
Voting in Round 1 will remain open until March 21st at 10pm ET. At that point, we’ll calculate the winners and post the next round on March 22nd. Follow after the break for a complete bracket image (download it), and to vote on all of our Round 1 match-ups! [Round 1 Bracket]
Continue reading “Middle-earth March Madness – Round 1 Bracket – Vote Now!”
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Amazing artist Jerry Vanderstelt is back with some more great pieces.
Tonight, we’re pleased to let you know that he has created a series of portrait prints capturing The Nine Walkers, aka The Fellowship of the Ring. These prints are stunning and capture the personalities of the characters we’ve come to love so much.
As of now only Gimli, Legolas, Merry, and Pippin are up for sale. You can get them in either 12×16 at $39 or 17×22 at $69.
If you’re a fan of The Lord of the Rings films then these are a must have for your collection.
Update: Jerry has now added Strider and Samwise.
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Mathematics aficionados have had fun this year with the once-in-a-lifetime PI Day — 3.14.15. 9:26:53. Symphony Silicon Valley has more numbers for the inner geek in all of us.
Continue reading “Nine is a Pretty Good Number”
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Yes folks, Middle-earth March Madness is back for 2015! If you are new to TheOneRing.net, Middle-earth March Madness is our adaptation on the popular NCAA Basketball tournament that takes place every March/April in the United State. It is our chance to have some fun matching up middle-earth power players against each other. Past winners include Samwise Gamgee, Gandalf, Thranduil.
Based on feedback from our past years, we are switching things up a bit to include the entirety of J.R.R. Tolkien’s works. So in reality, this could be called J.R.R. Tolkien March Madness!
This year, our four divisions will be representative of a book (or series of books):
The Hobbit
The Lord of the Rings
The Silmarillion
Other Works (Lost Tales, Father Christmas, Children of Hurin, etc)
This allows each division to crown a champion for each book, and then they all face off against each other in the final four!
Our staff are sorting out the field of 64 combatants now, and we’ll be posting the first bracket and polls very soon. Stay tuned to the front-page of TORn for the announcement to start voting, and follow along on Twitter and FB with #middleearthmarchmadness @theoneringnet
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The Lord of the Rings voice of Sauron and the One Ring, Alan Howard, passed away on Saturday, February 14, after being hospitalized for pneumonia. Mr. Howard was 77 years old. His chilling performance as the voice of Sauron gave power to the specter of the Dark Lord.
Continue reading “Alan Howard, the Voice of The Lord of the Rings’ Sauron, has passed away”
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List of some of the Auction and Raffle prizes:
Here are some of the items we will have available for the silent auction and raffle, including something for the Non-Attending Supporters of our Indiegogo campaign. We have some rather big ticket prizes, numerous autographed items, and some original artwork for you, and at least one item offered for a Charity Auction. Everything on this list will be split fairly evenly between the silent auction and the raffle, giving everyone a chance to walk away with something very cool. This is not a complete list, things are still arriving, but it will give you an idea of what you will have a chance to either bid on or try and win in a Chinese style raffle drawing.
Artwork –
Gollum Stained Glass Window – handmade
Prancing Pony Mug – handmade
Green Dragon Mug – handmade
Bilbo’s Teacups – handmade
Mallorn Leaf Serving Plate – handmade
Signed Items –
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King “For Your Consideration” script – signed by numerous LOTR cast and crew
DOS Bilbo Poster – signed by numerous Hobbit cast and crew
DOS Cast Poster – signed by numerous Hobbit cast and crew
TOPPS Autograph Cards – One each for Cate Blanchett, Liv Tyler, Billy Boyd, Sean Astin and Elijah Wood.
Big Ticket Items –
Sideshow Artist Proof of Sauron statue
Sideshow Artis Proof of Galadriel
One note for those of you not attending the party, two of the Signed TOPPS cards, the Sam and Frodo cards, will be raffled off for the Non-Attending supporters during our Live Stream of the party.
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The 2015 edition of Middle-earth Madness officially starts today! We’ve split our field of 64 characters and objects into four divisions: The Silmarillion,The Hobbit,The Lord of the Rings and The Others.
