This week marks the second of the three week Weta post Comic-Con Extravaganza. Fans of Middle-earth now have the chance to add the Uruk-hai Swordsman who was part of Saruman’s army attack on Helm’s Deep to their collections. The Uruks were some of the coolest creatures we’ve seen in any movie, and this statue does such a fantastic job capturing all that amazing work by our friends at Weta. You can snag the Uruk-hai Swordsman for $299, he comes with an edition size of 1500 pieces world-wide.
Category: Merchandise
Available for pre-order now is allegedly one of Tolkien’s darkest stories, which (if any of you are familiar with my books) has me all kinds of excited.
Here’s the official press release we have received:
THE STORY OF KULLERVO
The world first publication of a previously unknown work of fantasy by J.R.R. Tolkien, which tells the powerful story of a doomed young man who is sold into slavery and who swears revenge on the magician who killed his father.
- • The Story of Kullervo is the first piece of prose fiction that J.R.R. Tolkien wrote
- • This is its first appearance in book form
- • 2015 is the centenary of its creation
- • Illustrated on the cover by one of Tolkien’s own paintings
Kullervo son of Kalervo is perhaps the darkest and most tragic of all J.R.R. Tolkien’s characters. ‘Hapless Kullervo’, as Tolkien called him, is a luckless orphan boy with supernatural powers and a tragic destiny.
Brought up in the homestead of the dark magician Untamo, who killed his father, kidnapped his mother, and who tries three times to kill him when still a boy, Kullervo is alone save for the love of his twin sister, Wanona, and guarded by the magical powers of the black dog, Musti. When Kullervo is sold into slavery he swears revenge on the magician, but he will learn that even at the point of vengeance there is no escape from the cruellest of fates.
Tolkien himself said that The Story of Kullervo was ‘the germ of my attempt to write legends of my own’, and was ‘a major matter in the legends of the First Age’. Tolkien’s Kullervo is the clear ancestor of Túrin Turambar, tragic incestuous hero of The Silmarillion. In addition to it being a powerful story in its own right, The Story of Kullervo – published here for the first time with the author’s drafts, notes and lecture-essays on its source-work, The Kalevala – is a foundation stone in the structure of Tolkien’s invented world.
The book will be released in the UK on the 27th of August 2015 and is scheduled for release in April 2016 in the US.
While I doubt the rights will be released any time soon, this sounds like an edge-of your seat read that would make a fantastic film. With stories like this kicking around in his desk drawers (or wherever the Professor kept them!), one has to wonder what would be his chosen medium if alive and publishing today. Would he be like J.K. Rowling and write not only novels, but for the stage, and the screen as he expanded his magical world? Or do you think he would’ve just stuck to books? Before you go into a lecture about Jackson’s films “ruining everything,” remember that Tolkien willingly sold the rights to The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, knowing full well their stories would be told on the big screen with all kinds of changes to match the cinematic storytelling medium.
A group, that displays one man with 500+ Facebook friends, has started a GoFundMe page to build a 1 to 1 scale replica “of Peter Jackson’s depiction of Minas Tirith, as seen in his Lord of the Rings films.”
For American readers, if my pounds to dollars calculator is working right, that is about $2.8 billion, an ambitious amount to raise on IndieGoGo, or really any crowd funding site, or really, by any method. Still, the project would be a dream to visit and would create an economy all its own and would provide years of good media material as the world watched its progress.
“We aim to create both residential and commercial properties, allowing for sustainable growth and a high quality of life,” Jonathan Wilson says on his intro page. He also breaks down the cost, a little bit, to say, “The vast majority of this expense will cover building costs – £15m for land, £188m for labour and £1.4bn for material.”
He hopes to raise £1.8 billion. Continue reading “Crowd funded Minas Tirith pricetag: £1.8 billion”
Bill Hunt over at Digital Bits.com came out with two updates on The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies yesterday afternoon. The first, which you can read here, is that the street date for the DVD release looks to be Tuesday, November 17th, according to Amazon.ca which, according to Bill, almost always coincides with with Warner Bros. release date. The second update is that the official running time appears to be 164 minutes, which means the EE will be around 20 minutes longer than the theatrical version, not 30 minutes as intimated by Peter Jackson in various news outlets last December.
The shorter running time has been rumored for the last week or so, with the reaction from our Hobbit forum users mostly reflecting disappointment regarding the ‘lost’ 10 minutes. Of course, there are also the ‘glass half full’ fans that are hoping that quality will beat out quantity in this case. Let us know what your reaction is in the comments, on the forum, or in Barliman’s chatroom. In the mean time, Bill believes an official announcement from Warner Bros should be forthcoming in the next few days.
Our good friends at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt this week released Tolkien’s wonderful translation of Beowulf in paperback – and to celebrate, they are offering YOU a chance to win a copy of the paperback, as well as a poster of the beautiful cover art (drawn by Tolkien himself).
To enter, all you have to do is click here and complete the entry form. The contest winner will be selected on August 18th – so don’t delay! (Alas, this US based competition is only open to those who are over 18 and who have a valid US address – sorry!)
If you didn’t grab a copy of Beowulf in hardback, now is your chance to own this fabulous translation by the Professor. You can read TORn staffers’ reviews of this edition here and here; suffice to say, it’s well worth adding to your library. Snap up a copy or try your luck to win the poster as well!
[Click here to enter the HMH giveaway]
Tubine, Inc. has announced that they will be shutting down 19 of the servers that host their Lord of the Rings Online interactive game. The worlds that are currently hosted on those servers will be consolidated to the remaining ten worlds. Characters that exist in one of the worlds being shut down will be able to transfer to one of the remaining worlds free of charge. According to gamer Lady_Celebrian:
“We’re losing 10 US and 9 EU servers. In the U.S.: Elendilmir, Riddermark, Firefoot, Nimrodel, Windfola, Imladris, Dwarrowdelf, Silverlode, Vilya, and Meneldor. In the European Union: Estel, Gilrain, Eldar, Anduin, Morthond, Maiar, Vanya, Withywindle, and Snowbourn. Servers remaining are: U.S.: Arkenstone, Crickhollow, Landroval, Gladden, and Brandywine. European Unoin: Belegaer, Gwaihir, Sirannon, Laurelin, and Evernight.”
You can read and lean more about it in the World Transfers article, which also contains a good FAQ.
“The Barliman’s group who play together on Imladris are all moving to Arkenstone. You can come join their kin if you wish. They include the chatters Lady_Celebrian, Delta, Pippin, wisey, Lord_Elrond, and LadyArwen. Shadowfax is currently on Firefoot, I think. Message me (Lady_Celebrian) If you have questions, and we’ll try to help any players who need it.”