Entertainment Weekly delivers again with this fabulous new still shot of Tauriel and Legolas from The Desolation of Smaug.

One does note that there’s been a lot of focus on elves in Warner Bros. marketing lately, though. What gives?

Some readers are starting to wonder whether the tale of the hero, Bilbo, is taking a back seat in the Desolation of Smaug. Or is it just that elves are easier for Warner Bros. to market out there in the main-stream media?

What are your thoughts? Leave a comment below, or visit our chatroom and see what fellow readers are thinking! Continue reading “New Tauriel and Legolas still from EW”

During the first month of this century, Tolkien fans were asking the following questions to our Green Books staff at TheOneRing.net…

Baggins Birthday PartyQ: Dear Everybody, I was just curious as to when it is Frodo’s and Bilbo’s birthday according to our calendar? I really enjoy your site, keep up the great work.

– Dan

A: Frodo and Bilbo shared their birthday on September 22nd, as stated in “The Long-Expected Party.” The Hobbits called this month Halimath. The duration of the solar year for Middle-earth was the exact same as that of our Earth; namely 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 45 seconds (see Tolkien’s note in The Return of the King, Appendix D, “Shire Calendar”). So we are basically measuring the same span of time but with a different enumeration of days. Small differences in each month’s duration make it a little tricky to compare the Shire Calendar to our Gregorian Calendar. We have months with 28, 30, or 31 days, but every Shire month is exactly 30 days. But look very closely, and you’ll see Tolkien added days like 1 Yule, 2 Yule, the Midyear’s Day, etc. It’s enough to cross your eyeballs!

I managed to do a simple overlay of our current year 2000 (which is a Leap Year here in the United States) with the Shire Calendar table. I added the Overlithe holiday the Hobbits would have used for their Leap Year (as we would add February 29th) and counted forward to find the equivalent of Halimath 22nd. It turns out Frodo and Bilbo’s birthday falls on the day we call September 23rd… at least this Leap Year. Any other year it would fall on September 22nd. But don’t ask me to calculate for the Chinese or Hebrew calendars, I claim no talent in mathematics!

– Quickbeam

Update!

I saw the question you answered about Frodo and Bilbo’s birthday in relation to our calendar, and looked it up in Appendix D. I noticed that it says that the hobbits’ Midyear’s Day corresponded to the summer solstice, making our New Year’s Day the hobbits’ January 9. Therefore, Bilbo and Frodo’s birthday would be September 12th (13th in leap years).

– David Massey

Interesting process of calculation, David! I am afraid I’ve spent too many years counting my own branches and little else, leaving me ill-equiped for higher forms of algebra.

– Quickbeam

Continue reading “Q&A – Birthday Calculation, Legolas’s Fate, Gondolin’s Secrecy, Dwarven Rings, Ungoliant’s Origin and more!”

Barliman's Chat
A couple of weekends back in the Hall of Fire, we discussed the events of the Two Towers chapter Flotsam and Jetsam, and the reunion of five of the Fellowship’s members. For those who couldn’t attend, here’s a log.

And remember, tomorrow (July 13 at 6pm EDT (New York time)) we’ll be discussing the next chapter: The Voice of Saruman. Continue reading “Hall of Fire chat log: Flotsam and Jetsam”

If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net. One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.

Barliman's Chat A couple of weekends ago, we delved into the aftermath of the battle of Helm’s Deep and joined Gandalf, Legolas, Gimli and Aragorn on the short, but interesting, The Road to Isengard.

For those who couldn’t attend, here’s a log. Plus, as a reminder: this weekend (Saturday June 29 at 6pm EDT) the Hall of Fire topic is the next chapter of The Two Towers: Book III Chapter IX – Flotsam and Jetsam. See you then! Continue reading “Hall of Fire chat log: The Road to Isengard”

If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net. One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.

Empire’s Desolation of Smaug edition cover is here, and it’s pretty nice. Interesting that it’s all elves, featuring Tauriel (Evangeline Lilly), Thranduil (Lee Pace) and Legolas (Orlando Bloom). Come to think of it, the teaser trailer had a heavy focus on elves too. Some are suggesting that this might indicate we should expect a much larger elven presence in Desolation of Smaug as a result.

Anyway, Empire promises many more insights into this second installment of The Hobbit — all accrued on set in New Zealand. How many? More “than you can shake a wizard’s staff” at apparently. Continue reading “Say hello to Empire’s Desolation of Smaug edition!”

Barliman's Chat A couple of weekends ago, we dedicated an entire, spoiler-filled session to exploring the new character Tauriel, the Silvan captain of guards that Jackson, Boyens and Walsh are introducing into their adaptation of The Hobbit. .

For those who couldn’t attend, here’s a log. And a reminder: tomorrow (Saturday June 22 at 6pm EDT) we’ll be discussing the Desolation of Smaug trailer. Continue reading “Hall of Fire chat log: Tauriel, captain of guards”

If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net. One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.