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And then there were eight… Middle-earth March Madness 2025: The Art of Middle-earth Round Four voting is open now! And we have a GIVEAWAY for you to enter! And if that were not enough, we have livestreams today and Tuesday with very special guests! Read on to find out more…
How the art works lined up in the Sweet Sixteen
The battles are getting closer; in Round Three, most victories were by a margin of less than 60%. The biggest conqueror was Matthew Stewart’s The Horn of Boromir, which took over 70% of the votes to defeat Michael Hague’s Rescued from Wolves. It seems people have a soft spot for art which echoes Peter Jackson’s movies.
The Horn of Boromir, by Matthew Stewart
In the Groups/Montages region, there was one match up which went right down to the wire. In the end, David Wenzel’s Gandalf at Your Service (from his The Hobbit graphic novel) beat Eric Velhagen’s Encounter at Amon Sûl. The charms of the Shire overcame the dynamic but violent battle with Ringwraiths – but by a margin of only 4% of the votes.
Gandalf at Your Service, by David Wenzel
So now we are down to the final pairing in each of our four regions. This Elite Eight features some big names in the world of Tolkien art; and some with which you may not be so familiar. Which will go all the way, to become the Grand Champion of 2025? If you can predict that, you might be one of our lucky winners!
Thanks to our good friends at Warner Bros. we have copies of The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim to giveaway. (What better way to celebrate the Art of Middle-earth than with this epic anime film?) During the Elite Eight round, you can enter to be in with a chance of winning, by guessing which of the remaining masterpieces you think will be the ultimate victor. Simply complete this form with your prediction; once Middle-earth March Madness is over, we’ll pick winners at random from those who successfully predicted the Grand Champion. (Sorry, this giveaway is only open to residents of the USA or Canada.)
Then make sure to give your chosen winner the best chance, by VOTING!
How does it work, you ask? Simple! Click on the button below. This will take you to the voting site, where you can view the entire bracket, and also view individual works in all their glory (and details of the artist). Place your votes for Round Four: Elite Eight!
Staffer Madeye Gamgee shares his thoughts on the pieces in the Elite (or ‘Elegant’ or ‘Engaging’) Eight:
In Landscapes, iconic Lord of the Rings scenes by incredible and well-know masters of their craft, Donato Giancola and Alan Lee. These two have emerged from possibly the strongest region, stacked with well-known artists and strong lesser know ones
In Story Moments, a focus on tragedy and death, curiously, whether it’s Boromir’s last tragic stand and redemption, or one of the darkest days (literally) in the story of the Silmarils, a mixture of beauty and Elven genocide.
-In Portraits, it’s light against dark in a battle of divine strength, with the fair (and powerful) River Daughter facing the specter of Morgoth, perhaps drawing inspiration from Luthien’s triumph in a similar artistic match
In Groups, perhaps a surprising and much more peaceful pairing, and all Shire-centric, with David Wenzel’s familiar meeting between Gandalf and Bilbo up against, well, who are those hobbits fishing by the little Shire river? It seems like a wonderful spot to look for a more peaceful adventure!
You have until the end of the day Tuesday April 1st to vote in Round Four; on Wednesday 2nd the Final Four will begin! But first – please join us TODAY, Sunday 30th, for a very special livestream. 3pm PST/6pm EST Ted Nasmith will join us, to discuss his incredible The Kinslaying of Alqualondë, which features in the ‘Story Moments’ bracket. Then join us again on Tuesday 1st April, when artist Donato Giancola will be with us during TORn Tuesday to discuss his masterpiece The Walls of Moria. We hope you’ll be there to hear from both these fantastic artists, as you make decisions on the Elite Eight round. And don’t forget to VOTE!
And just like that, we’re on to Round Three of Middle-earth March Madness 2025: The Art of Middle-earth. From 64 works of art which started in the four brackets, now we’re down to the Sweet Sixteen; and in this round, you only have three days to vote. Round Three voting is open now!
Round Two for the most part had pretty clear winners in the match ups. The one VERY close battle was between Angelo Montanini’s Radagast the Magician and Turner Mohan’s Lúthien and Morgoth. These two very different works were in a stalemate for most of the round. A brief flurry of votes in the final hour saw them continue to swap places for the lead, until finally, when voting closed, Mohan’s extraordinary work come out the victor – but by just ONE VOTE!
Lúthien and Morgoth by Turner Mohan
One perhaps surprising departure in Round Two was John Howe! His Barrels out of Bond was narrowly defeated by Kip Rasmussen’s Thingol and Melian, which claimed 56% of the vote. Both are gorgeous pieces; it just shows how difficult it is to choose when all these artists are so talented, and their visions are so different. It now looks like Alan Lee and Donato Giancola may meet in the Elite Eight, to decide the overall winner in the ‘Landscapes’ bracket; but first, they have to make it through this next round!
Thingol and Melian, by Kip Rasmussen
Some thoughts from staffer Madeye Gamgee on the contest so far:
In the Sweet 16, as far as book “Conferences” go, we have representation from:
The Silmarillion — 4
The Hobbit — 3
The Lord of the Rings – 9
We had some very familiar artists get knocked out of the tournament this round, including John Howe, Justin Gerard, Jerry VanderStelt, and Colleen Doran. Surviving are newer artists like Anna Lee, Edvige Faini, Soni Alcorn-Fender, and Eric Velhagen. Art from titans Donato Giancola and Alan Lee may be heading to a face-off in the Landscape finals. Can Ted Nasmith’s work prevail over less well-known but formidable competing artwork? Will the comfort of David Wenzel’s classic Hobbit graphic novel be enough to overcome what may be the most diverse group of competing artwork in the Groups/Montages region? It’s not getting any easier!
Take a look at the fours brackets as they now stand; which masterpiece do you think is en route to becoming to champion for 2025? As always, we encourage you to take some time enjoying the art, and perhaps follows some links to check out other works by the artists, before you place your next votes. (You can also always access the earlier rounds at the voting link; so all these incredible pieces are still there for your viewing pleasure!)
Decisions are getting harder, as the field narrows. How you make your choice is up to you!
How does it work, you ask? Simple! Click on the button below. This will take you to the voting site, where you can view the entire bracket, and also view individual works in all their glory (and details of the artist). Place your votes for Round Three: Sweet Sixteen!
You have until the end of the day Saturday March 29th to vote in Round Two; on Sunday 30th we’ll open voting for Round Four! That Sunday, we’ll also have a very special livestream at 3pm PST, when none other than Ted Nasmith will join us, to discuss his ‘The Kinslaying of Alqualonde’, which features in the ‘Story Moments’ bracket – and he may even share some preliminary sketches with us! We hope you’ll join us for that, as you make decisions on the Elite Eight round; but first, go and examine the Sweet Sixteen! Vote well!
With thousands of votes over all the pairings, Round One of Middle-earth March Madness 2025: The Art of Middle-earth is done; and half the wondrous works of art have been eliminated. If you joined us for any of our livestreams, you’ll know how tricky those choices were; and from here on, it only gets tougher! Voting is open now for Round Two!
Round One saw some VERY close battles – and indeed, few works won by really wide margins. In the ‘Landscapes’ bracket, Mary Fairburn’s Gandalf on the Tower of Orthanc beat Federico Cimini’s Rhosgobel by less than 1% of votes cast! That same bracket, however, saw one of the biggest victories: Alan Lee’s Edoras took 86% of votes, to defeat Paul Gregory’s Caradhras – a beautiful work which might well have made it through to Round Two, had we not set it up with such a challenging opening round battle!
Edoras by Alan Lee
Check out the bracket now, to see which pieces made it through. Then we hope you may linger a while, spending some time with the 32 remaining pieces, before you place your next votes.
How you choose is up to you! How you vote is explained below:
How does it work, you ask? Simple! Click on the button below. This will take you to the voting site, where you can view the entire bracket, and also view individual works in all their glory (and details of the artist). Place your votes for Round Two!
You have until the end of the day Wednesday March 26th to vote in Round Two; on Thursday 27th we’ll open voting for Round Three! We’ll have more livestream discussions of the featured art – and look out for some very special guests coming up, as well as some giveaways! Join us on Tuesday 25th for TORn Tuesday where Jerry VanderStelt will be our guest, to discuss his piece in the ‘Montages’ bracket, The Fellowship of the Ring. We hope to see you then – perhaps you may want to wait to vote until after that stream, in case it changes your mind…?
As you no doubt know, March 25th is Tolkien Reading Day – a tradition begun by The Tolkien Society in 2003. Not that we need any excuse to celebrate the works and worlds of the Professor! But on Reading Day – and the days around it – there are often special events. And this year is no exception!
You may recall that last year, composer and sound engineer Jordan Rannells (the creator of the Long-expected Soundscape: music and ambient sounds to create a world around you, as you read The Lord of the Rings) teamed up with ArdaCraft to bring us a live stream event, where parts of The Fellowship of the Ring were read over the corresponding chapters of the Soundscape. This year, Rannells is doing it again!
On Sunday 23rd March you can listen along to readings from The Return of the King, surrounded by ambient sound – immerse yourself in Middle-earth! Enjoy readings from folks such as artist Ted Nasmith, composer Stephen Gallagher, and TORn’s own Quickbeam and greendragon – plus a whole host of familiar faces and wonderful folks from the fandom.
The whole thing kicks off at 12pm EST on Sunday, and you can find it here. Set your calendar – get ready to spend the day in Middle-earth!
If you’ve read any of staffer greendragon’s past interviews with cast (not just for The Rings of Power, but going back to PJ’s Hobbit movies) you’ll know that craft and creation of character is something she loves to explore. So Gravelle was the ideal interviewee, gladly taking a deep dive (ha, suitable for Númenor) into what motivates and drives Pharazôn, and what might be in store for the character in Season Three. He also talks about growing up in Wales, and how that land of myth may have prepared him to be a part of Tolkien’s world.
Trystan Gravelle as Pharazôn
Here’s what he had to say:
greendragon: Hi, Trystan, good morning. It’s an absolute pleasure to chat with you; thanks for taking the time this morning. How are you doing?
Trystan Gravelle: I’m good, thank you! I’ve been enjoying the series. I’ve been sitting down like everybody else and just getting blown away by some of the battle scenes and the fantastic scenes between the two Charlies [Edwards and Vickers], Sauron and Celebrimbor. I’ve absolutely been loving it.
GD: How amazing is both the writing of that battle of wills, and their playing of it? Just spectacular.
TG: Oh yeah, really fantastic. You can really empathize with Charlie [Edwards] and you sympathize with him and you feel for him, but also you can see that, like everybody else, he’s fallen for it; fallen for the charms of this master manipulator. It’s fantastically done I think.
GD: It is! If I had any complaint about Season Two, it might be that I didn’t get enough of Pharazôn, one of my favourite characters – I love the Númenor scenes and plots. But we did get that amazing moment with the eagle! That was pretty spectacular. Were you pleased when you saw that finished and brought to life, when the episode came out?
TG: Oh, yes, absolutely. Yes. You know, you’re always living the dream when you’re on set, and it’s always great when you’re in these epic scenes. It’s just fantastic, the whole experience of it; to see it brought to life like that is something else.
I also like doing the intimate scenes, with Cynthia [Addai-Robinson, who plays Míriel] and Kemen [Leon Wadham]. It’s always lovely because you’ve got two different ways of being, I guess. You’re held accountable to Queen Míriel – or have been, in the past, to the Queen Regent- and with Kemen you have free rein to be yourself. I enjoy doing those scenes with those two, because there is one where there is this glass ceiling and you have to watch what you say; there are consequences to what you say and do with Cynthia. Then with Leon there are none, and it’s interesting to see. You know, they say the true measure of a person is how he treats people he doesn’t need to be polite to. I mean, that should never be the case in any scenario in life, it’s ridiculous – but you know what I mean…
Pharazôn uses the eagle for his own political ends
Father/son relationships
GD: Yes, totally. I was actually going to ask you, how do you perceive his relationship with Kemen? Because there doesn’t seem to be much fatherly love going on there. Why is he the way he is with Kemen?
TG: It’s definitely an abusive relationship, for sure. One could argue that he is utilitarian, that he maybe doesn’t feel the same way as other people. Another argument, as well, is that he is just a little bit more old-fashioned, a bit more traditional in his approach to his own son, and demands these high standards be met. Which is very hypocritical, because Pharazôn knows where he came from. He knows his roots; whereas Kemen, as we saw in episode five, doesn’t. So there’s a kind of rootlessness to Kemen, I believe.
Whereas with Pharazôn, he is very much aware of who he is and where he comes from. So the whole thing, you know, when you have the older generation going, to the younger generation, ‘Oh, you’re too soft, you’re lazy, you’re ill-disciplined.’ And maybe the older generation just had it easier than the younger generation! Times were simple, and you knew who you were. You didn’t have all this complexity to deal with.
Or it could just be that, as we saw, that sort of sociopathic behavior is just intrinsic within him. I mean, I know the truth [of the character] – but I think there’s an argument for both there.
Climb every mountain…
GD: So what is his real goal? Season Two has very much been the tale of the two Charlies, of Celebrimbor and Annatar, and that face-off and the forging of rings. And with Númenor, although obviously key things have happened, I feel very much that it’s been setting the pieces on the board for what we’re presumably going to see in Season Three. It has set us up in a very precarious and significant place, with Elendil going west, and Pharazôn and Míriel, and all of their tension.
So what do you perceive as being his real goal? Is it just power in Númenor? Is he looking beyond that? He mentioned immortality, and obviously there’s some envy of the Elves there. What’s driving him?
TG: I think he always had this glass ceiling. We saw him in the first season, and the beginning of the second, where Chancellor is as high as it could possibly get for him; and there you have to, like I was saying, watch what you say and what you do. You’re a totally different person to when the reins are off. And there’s an argument – some might say he’s more suited to be king, than Míriel was to be queen. But there’s also another argument as well, that if it was never meant for you to be king – because it was meant to go to Míriel anyway – then are you, as a person, ready yourself; have you prepared your own mind?
And I think what we saw in episode five is that now he realizes there’s no ceiling for him. He can act with impunity. There are going to be no repercussions, whatever he does. He is the most powerful person in the most powerful kingdom in Tolkien’s earth. So what does that do to you? You start looking outwards and you go, ‘Well, what else is there?’
We’re getting to the core of him now, actually; maybe he’s been lying to himself. What it is, is: ‘I don’t want to die. I found this second wind and it’s actually better than what I used to be’ – when Pharazôn was in his prime, you know, on the high seas and everything. We haven’t seen that, with him as Chancellor. We’ve seen him in the role of Chancellor. And now we’re going to get to see this guy rediscover his past glories; and it might be better than what he had [before]. He’s never been in this position before, where he’s not accountable to anybody.
GD: It sounds a bit like whatever he attains, he’s always going to be looking for what’s over the next mountain; it’s never like, ‘Oh, good, I’ve got this!’
TG: That’s a very human thing, because everything just sometimes seems to be such a chore, you know? We don’t help ourselves sometimes; we make it harder for ourselves. I think that in the human world – in Tolkien’s realm, the world of men – everything is to be overcome. Nature is to be overcome. You’re not meant to have this incredible relationship with nature like the Elves do; and – more complex and slightly brutal, I guess l, but it’s still in sympatico – what the Dwarves have; and what the Hobbits have. The world of men, they have to really work hard to overcome it. They don’t have that time; even though Númenoreans live longer than your average man, they still don’t have that time to be at peace with the ocean and watch trees grow, and have the same relationship with mountains and everything. Everything is to be overcome. There is hardship in their world; and when they overcome that, I guess it’s just in them [to look for] what’s next. The grass is always greener; there will always be something that needs doing; and it’s fast lane till crash! I think that kind of typifies us men, you know – where we go in this world and in Tolkien’s world!
What does the Palantír reveal?
The vision in the Palantír
GD: That’s really interesting, what you’re saying – that even for the Númenoreans with their longer life, it’s still a finite amount of life. And so there’s always that sense of the sands of time running – and fear as a motivator. I’m interested in the motivator of fear for Pharazôn, with what he saw in the Palantír; what has that done to him and his outlook, or his drive?
TG: I mean, it’s really plugged something and it’s really channeled something in him: fear, desperation, anger, a loss of pride, I would say. Because I think he thinks that he’s the ultimate chess player. He is Garry Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen rolled into one, he likes to think! So the fact that somebody may have violated his mind is galling, and it’s something that he may never get over.
I think we’re going to see the repercussions from that; and everything that he does from now on is as a direct result, maybe, from that. If you’ve built yourself up to be sort of physically and psychologically impenetrable, and to have the measure of everybody, and then to get foiled – or at least there’s something may have happened which didn’t come to your attention, which you weren’t aware of; what does that make you do, how does that make you feel? I think we’re going to see somebody who is hurting from that. That really smacked hard, I think!
GD: That’s fascinating. So for you, a lot of the damage that the Palantír does for him is not necessarily what he sees in it, but the fact that he sees anything; that whoever is on the other end of that ‘call’ has the power to present things into his mind.
TG: Exactly! And also, I always say that being a King’s man is an idea, an ideology, and the Faithful is more like a religion; and all of a sudden this antiquated religion has this resource that is far beyond anything that you’ve comprehended before. But you’re down this path now; and you know it’s the right path…
And the fury that these people kept this from you – this form of sorcery, or whatever it is, has been kept from you! You’ve lived in ignorance because your uncle decided to keep you in ignorance, and so did your cousin. There’s going to be repercussions for anybody who is involved there, I think! How dare they do that? How dare they live with that knowledge and not share it?
Because you’ve got to remember, Pharazôn’s knowledge, everything that Pharazôn is, he’s worked hard for. That’s him. You could say it’s pure talent and discipline for Pharazôn, pure discipline and hard work. He’s earned that place. Whereas if Míriel has had this wisdom from looking at a crystal ball – it’s almost a cheap trick! And that’s infuriating – that you [Míriel] have just been given this privileged life, whereas I’ve had to work hard for everything to be me. I’ve had to go through everything that I’ve gone through, whereas maybe you’ve taken a shortcut. I don’t think that’s fair! And I think I’m going to let people know about that as well – things are about to change!
The Pharazôn/Annatar chess match to come
GD: Well, obviously not giving anything away for the content of future episodes, but we know – those of us who’ve read the book – that if it was the Annatar/Celebrimbor show in Season Two, it’s going to be your turn to face off with Sauron coming up. It’s very interesting, what you say about Pharazôn’s belief in his own ability to play chess; and that pride is possibly going to cost him dear when he comes up against the ultimate deceiver. But he presumably feels like, ‘No, no, I can definitely have the upper hand here!’
TG: Well, yeah, it’s funny because, you know, with the relationship between Annatar and Celebrimbor, they were going towards a goal. They were inspiring each other – even though Celebrimbor was being gaslit like you couldn’t believe, poor guy! But they had this goal that they were going towards, and they produced their best work… Whereas I think the relationship between Sauron and Pharazôn is going to be… I’m not predicting anything, but it is starting out where Pharazôn might feel sort of 1-0 down in some game.
I definitely think Pharazôn is going to be very front-footed, and try to establish dominance. I mean, that’s the way he is anyway, but especially after he’s seen what he’s seen; I think there’s definitely going to be… well, we’re not going towards some goal here.
Everything exists on Númenor – like the animals – everything exists there now for the world of men. It didn’t used to be like that; and way back when, before Pharazôn’s time, I think there was a disenchantment with everything on the island, and there was a change, wasn’t there? Even though we live longer [than ordinary men], it’s like they seem to age just a little bit quicker with their bitterness towards the Elves and stuff. I [Pharazôn] think Sauron is going to be just another a tool [he can use] to sort of, I don’t know, just unlock the meaning of life for me, I think.
GD: Or so he hopes!
TG:[laughs] Exactly!
Growing up in Wales
GD: We’ve got three fabulous Welsh lead actors in this show. There’s you, there’s Morfydd [Clark, who plays Galadriel], and there’s Owain [Arthur, who plays Durin IV]. I was reading an interview the other day with Morfydd where she was saying how great it was to be able to speak a little Welsh on set. It made me think… Obviously there are a lot of fantastic Welsh actors! But I wonder also if there’s something about mythology and this kind of high fantasy, which is sort of in the blood for the Welsh. Wales is such a land of myth, and dragon, and King Arthur and Uther Pendragon, and all of that. I wonder if that perhaps gives you guys a bent towards this kind of storytelling?
TG: I think the landscape… Definitely we are, for the most part – and definitely historically – we’re molded by our environment; as everybody is molded by their environment. I think, looking at Season Two with the Elves, when they speak Quenya, Sindarin, it does sound Welsh. It’s like, ‘Oh, that’s Welsh, but I can’t really decipher it. Oh, I kind of understood that word there.’ You know, it sounds very, very similar. It’s as if somebody is speaking Welsh, but you go, hang on a second…They’re in the next room or something!
And I think growing up in Wales… My childhood was growing up in the South Wales coalfield there. I grew up in a council estate on the edge of town with all these woods, and the beach not far. So, yeah, it was climbing trees; it could be an Elven lifestyle, if you like. It could be a Hobbit lifestyle sometimes -people going down the pub and regaling each other with tales. And rugby was a big part of the community; so it’s kind of like that very Dwarven, sort of masculine culture. Yeah, it does lend itself, definitely, to Tolkien’s world, being Welsh. I definitely saw it as an advantage for me to get into character and everything, for sure. Or – because obviously Númenor is different – at least to have a sense of it all.
I mean, seeing the films and reading the books, you know it does speak to you. You go, ‘Oh that is like my childhood: idyllic, rough and tumble and very tough at times…’ You know the boys that you grew up with, they’re all tough. Nothing comes easy; but it is idyllic at the same time.
The Rings of Power ensemble at SDCC
The wonders of San Diego Comic Con
GD: I wanted to finish by asking you, how did you enjoy San Diego Comic Con this year and Hall H? Was that your first time experiencing something on that scale?
TG: The first time I experienced it was in 2022, and that blew me away; and this time as well! I’m always blown away by it! I have such fond memories every time I go to America anyway; I have fond memories whichever city I’m in, whichever state I’m in. They’re so generous, they’re so welcoming and hospitable, and everybody just has been so friendly every time I’ve gone to America. I really have had the champagne experience of it! It’s a wonderful place; and San Diego is definitely a place I hold dear in my heart, for sure.
GD: Well I, for one, can’t wait to see how your story will unfold in Season Three. I’m a big fan of what we’ve seen in Númenor, and of all of the cast who create that world. It’s interesting that you use the chess metaphor; I feel like that chess board is just so delicately poised right now. And we’re going to plunge in there – which is perhaps unfortunate terminology to use for Númenor! – but we’re going to plunge in there for Season Three.
TG: Very apt! Yeah, it’s going to be fun to do; and fun to watch it unfold, I think.
The complete The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 2 is now available on Prime Video. You can find the Rings and Realms Season 2 Retrospective here.
Our friends at Sideshow Collectibles and Iron Studios have teamed up to create an exclusive statue for Iron Studio’s 1:10 The Lord of the Rings statue line.
