final-fourThe Final Four are set! And in a stunning turn of events, Middle-earth has gone ‘Hot!’ In an unexpected twist of fate, the final four combatants are arguably the most swoon-worthy group of Middle-earth combatants ever.

First up, we have Thranduil facing off against Aragorn. Some staff are already dubbing this match-up as ‘Team Sparkle’ (Thranduil) vs. ‘Team Stubble’ (Aragorn).

And with Legolas dispatching Gandalf in the Elite Eight, we now have a Hobbit (film) showdown of epic proportions – Legolas vs. Thorin Oakenshield.

Will this be the first year we have an all Elven final? Can Aragorn finally put Team Sparkle out of the competition? Will the Richard Armitage Army dispatch Legolas? All is up in the air as the final four voting has begun!

Voting will last until 10pm ET on April 5th in this round. So let the Middle-earth March Madness continue! Happy Voting!
Continue reading “Vote in the Middle-earth March Madness Final Four! Some like it ‘Hot!’”

10168055_10152111500504821_1141258775_nWhile we are running our own little March Madness tournament, Middle-earth style, the folks over at io9 went for a more global approach and ran a full Scifi/Fantasy themed tournament. In just a few short hours their final bracket closes, and only we can help decide between Star Wars and the LOTR franchises. “All that is left to us is to decide what to do with the time given us” and voting for the next few hours and sharing the contest amongst your friends sounds like a decent way to spend the evening.

You may vote HERE! Polls close at Midnight Pacific Time, so vote, vote, vote.

middleearthmarchmadness14-verticalWe’ve reached arguably the most exciting round of this year’s Middle-earth March Madness – The Elite Eight! Eight combatants have tested their gruff against some impressive opponents, and now face a battle for the ages! In the Lonely Mountain division we have the (16) Elrond taking on fan fav (6) Aragorn. In Erebor, (1) Thorin Oakenshield faces a much bigger challenge than gold fever when he faces (3) The One Ring. The Bag End match-up is a battle of the top seeds as (1) Bilbo takes on the trending (2) Thranduil (aka Sparkles). And last but not least, Mirkwood gives us a battle of two all-time Middle-earth juggernauts – (1) Gandalf vs. (14) Legolas. This is a round for the ages!

Voting in this round will end on April 1st (we promise to give you real results) so don’t delay – fight for your choices. Share! Tweet! Comment!

Continue reading “We’ve reached the Elite Eight! Vote Now in Middle-earth March Madness Round 4!”

middleearthmarchmadness14-verticalThe second round of the 2014 edition of Middle-earth March Madness mostly saw sweeping victories for those who moved through into the third round — except in one extremely close-fought vote.

Voting for Round Three is now open below. Here are the match-ups!

Continue reading “Vote now in Round Three of Middle-earth March Madness 2014 edition!”

beowulfopening


“Ac se wonna hrefin | But the black raven
fus ofer fægum | eager over the doomed
fela reordian, | speaking many things
earne secgan | telling the eagle
hu him æt æte speow, | how he is succeeding in eating,
þenden he wið wulf | when he with the wolf
wæl reafode.” | despoiled the slain.
Thus reads a section of the Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf, or at least, thus reads my translation of the section from my university studies. The epic is written in Old English, or Anglo-Saxon, the language of the invaders of Britain. Modern English (and German) is a direct descendant of this language because a people speak the language of their conquerors.
Continue reading “Tolkien’s Beowulf translation to be published in May”