LOS ANGELES, January 3 — LearnOutLoud.com, an online resource for audio and video educational products, presents the J. R. R. Tolkien Audio Resource Page (http://www.learnoutloud.com/tolkien). This web page is a one-stop portal for every audio book by the author. Included are multiple audio book editions of the books in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King). In addition, other popular Tolkien titles such as The Hobbit and The Silmarillion are featured. “J. R. R. Tolkien has produced such an amazing body of literature and we wanted to do our best to highlight the titles that are available in audio format,” said LearnOutLoud.com CEO and Founder Jon Bischke. “We’ve searched high and low to find 60 titles including multiple versions of The Lord of the Rings titles. It’s a great way to experience his work.” [More]
Category: Silmarillion
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.
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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
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Place:
#thehalloffire on theonering.net IRC server. Need instructions? Go here: http://www.theonering.net/barlimans/instructions.html
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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
Ted Nasmith has confirmed that he will be signing copies of his new illustrated edition of the Silmarillion at Forbidden Planet, 179, Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8JR on September 15th from 5.30-6.30. This new edition of Tolkien unsung masterpiece will include 28 previously unseen Nasmith illustrations. If you are unable to attend the signing but would like to receive a copy, please call 020 7420 3666 and the shop will be able to reserve you a copy.
We hope to see you there!
More on the new revised and illustrated Silmarillion…
The Silmarillion
Revised and Illustrated edition
J. R. R. Tolkien
Illustrated by Ted Nasmith
A beautifully presented revised and reset edition of The Silmarillion, illustrated by celebrated Tolkien artist Ted Nasmith – designed to match and complement the illustrated Lord of The Rings
J R R Tolkien’s SILMARILLION is the core work of the Middle-earth canon. It is in this dense and often neglected masterpiece that the entire cosmology for the background for THE HOBBIT and, particularly, THE LORD OF THE RINGS is documented.
This revised and reset volume contains fabulous tales of heroes and monsters, and the history of the Elves and of the Silmarils – the magical jewels produced by the Children of Iluvatar, or Elves (humans being the Younger Children of Iluvatar); it tells of the creation of Middle-earth, and the coming of Men into the world; it chronicles the early battles between good and evil, forces of light and dark, which foreshadow the great conflict with Sauron, the Dark Lord, in LORD OF THE RINGS.
These tales of Middle-earth were published posthumously in 1977. Tolkien worked on THE SILMARILLION all his life – long before THE HOBBIT or LORD OF THE RINGS – and his son and literary executor Christopher Tolkien edited the material he left behind into its current form.
With the close collaboration of Christopher Tolkien, THE SILMARILLION has now been completely reset, using the Second Edition text, and redesigned and repackaged to complement the stunningly illustrated hardbacks of THE LORD OF THE RINGS and COMPLETE GUIDE TO MIDDLE-EARTH, providing the reader with a definitive text.
Furthermore, acclaimed Tolkien artist Ted Nasmith has been commissioned to provide 28 breathtaking new paintings, making this new illustrated edition of THE SILMARILLION the most sumptuous and desirable ever published.
‘How, given little over half a century of work, did one man become the creative equivalent of a people?’ The Guardian
‘Demanding to be compared with English mythologies… at times rises to the greatness of true myth’ Financial Times
‘A creation of singular beauty… magnificent in its best moments’ Washington Post
Ted Nasmith has contributed to a range of illustrated works including The Tolkien Calendar, the Complete Guide to Middle-earth, Realms of Tolkien and Tolkien’s World.