As you know, over the next couple of weeks or so TORn is conducting a pledge drive to…
Continue ReadingAs you know, over the next couple of weeks or so TORn is conducting a pledge drive to raise funds and keep our servers running. But, as you might know, we also have some very exciting auctions going on over at ebay.
We have some fabulous, exclusive pieces up for grabs – including some things which, usually, money can’t buy! Here’s just three that might tickle your fancy: Continue reading “TORn Light the Beacons auction: Happy Hobbit guest slot, Children of Hurin hardcover and Bag End bookends!”
Welcome to our collection of TORn’s hottest topics for the week ending August 18, 2013. If you’ve fallen behind on what’s happening on the Message Boards, here’s a great way to catch up on the highlights. Or if you’re new to TORn and want to enjoy some great conversations, just follow the link to some of our most popular discussions. Watch this space as every weekend we will spotlight the most popular buzz on TORn’s Message Boards. Everyone is welcome, so come on in and join the fun!
Continue reading “TORn Message Boards Weekly Roundup – August 18, 2013”
On Friday message board member narflet let us know that images and details for the Tie-in books were available for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. According to the current list, there are going to be seven (count them!) tie-in books for film two. The United States Publication dates for all the books looks to be November 5th with the lone exception being the Weta Chronicles book which debuts on December 13th. The publication dates for the books in the United Kingdom are November 7th with the lone exception being the Annual being August 29th. Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Book Tie-Ins”
Last night, (in their most recent newsletter) our friends at Weta Workshop released a new collectible that we first saw at Comic-Con 2013.
This item is the stunning Arwen mini-statue from The Return of the King. Sculpted by the artists at Weta Workshop, this piece is going to be one you want to add to your collection and for only $75 it’s quite affordable. Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Weta Workshop Reveals Arwen, Bookmarks, and a new Con”
Tom Bombadil has always been the most enigmatic of characters in the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth. When he didn’t make the cut in the movies, despite not being central to the plot, many fans objected and wondered why. The answer is revealed below at last from the Brotherhood Workshop!
Tolkien wrote a few times about his character, especially in letters to those who asked. In one such letter to Peter Hastings he says in part,
“I don’t think Tom needs philosophizing about, and is not improved by it. But many have found him an odd or indeed discordant ingredient. In historical fact I put him in because I had already ‘invented’ him independently (he first appeared in the Oxford Magazine) and wanted an ‘adventure’ on the way. But I kept him in, and as he was, because he represents certain things otherwise left out. I do not mean him to be an allegory – or I should not have given him so particular, individual, and ridiculous a name – but ‘allegory’ is the only mode of exhibiting certain functions: he is then an ‘allegory’, or an exemplar, a particular embodying of pure (real) natural science: the spirit that desires knowledge of other things, their history and nature, because they are ‘other’ and wholly independent of the enquiring mind, a spirit coeval with the rational mind, and entirely unconcerned with ‘doing’ anything with the knowledge: Zoology and Botany not Cattle-breeding or Agriculture . Even the Elves hardly show this : they are primarily artists. Also T.B. exhibits another point in his attitude to the Ring, and its failure to affect him. You must concentrate on some pan, probably relatively small, of the World (Universe), whether to tell a tale, however long, or to learn anything however fundamental – and therefore much will from that ‘point of view’ be left out, distorted on the circumference, or seem a discordant oddity. The power of the Ring over all concerned, even the Wizards or Emissaries, is not a delusion – but it is not the whole picture, even of the then state and content of that pan of the Universe.”
To those wishing to read further, we recommend the “Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien”. Also, check out some great LOTR LEGO sets. A couple of our favorites are The Mines of Moria and The Battle For Helm’s Deep.
It may only be the end of May, but many of us have already been thinking ahead to the end of the year, as we speculate about The Desolation of Smaug and wonder just how that dragon will look. Publishers HarperCollins are clearly thinking ahead too – it’s already possible to preorder their Tolkien Calendar 2014! This year the calendar features illustrations by British artist Jemima Catlin, and the ‘wicked worm’ himself takes pride of place on the cover. It’s great to see another take on the magnificent fellow!
Catlin is also the artist for a brand new illustrated edition of The Hobbit, which will be released this Fall and will contain 150 new, colour illustrations. More visual goodies from Middle-earth! You can preorder both the book and the calendar at Amazon – click on the links below!
[Pre-order Tolkien Calendar 2014] [Pre-order new Illustrated Hobbit]
Thanks to ringer spy Bomby for the heads up!