beowulf.large The opening line ‘Listen!’ is not a proclamation and should not have an exclamation mark, according to new research by an academic at the University of Manchester.


It is perhaps the most important word in one of the greatest and most famous sentences in the history of the English language.

Yet for more than two centuries “hwæt” has been misrepresented as an attention-grabbing latter-day “yo!” designed to capture the interest of its intended Anglo-Saxon audience urging them to sit down and listen up to the exploits of the heroic monster-slayer Beowulf.

According to an academic at the University of Manchester, however, the accepted definition of the opening line of the epic poem – including the most recent translation by the late Seamus Heaney – has been subtly wide of the mark. Continue reading “Listen! Beowulf opening line misinterpreted for 200 years?”

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Evangeline Lilly as Tauriel.
(Evangeline Lilly as Tauriel.)

Desolation of Smaug poster artworkWELLINGTON, New Zealand — Those outside of the movie making business often don’t understand what The Producer does on a film. The quickest answer is: They get the movie made. They get things done.

In the case of Zane Weiner on “The Hobbit,” it meant getting in touch with someone nobody was meant to get in touch with.

Evangeline Lilly.

Living in Hawaii, she was a month removed from the birth of her child, email turned off, not taking calls about work and still confined to bed rest.

“So I was still in bed with the baby,” she told TheOneRing.net in full Tauriel outfit and gear during a lunch break on a full day of filming on “The Hobbit.”

This lunch tent, while perhaps not glamorous, is an essential part of Stone Street Studios and making Peter Jackson movies, designed to feed and shelter quite an enormous crowd. Breakfast was served there for anybody wanting to start the day off right. Coffee and tea were available on any sound stage but also in the tent — a first stop for many on a shoot. Continue reading “Evangeline Lilly gets personal with TORn about Tauriel and ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’”

Elendil, High King of Arnor and Gondor.
Elendil, High King of Arnor and Gondor.
Tolkien scholar Michael Martinez examines the question of whether the line of Númenorean kings and queens expired with the destruction of Númenor in the Akallabêth and the vanquishing of Ar-Pharazôn and his great fleet.

It’s also a nice little history lesson for those interested in learning more about the heritage of Arnor and Gondor, and Aragorn’s forebears. Continue reading “Was Elendil the Rightful King of the Númenoreans?”

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.

The Sun, the Moon and the Stars of Tolkien's universe - Eä.
The Sun, the Moon and the Stars of Tolkien’s universe – Eä. Note: As Larsen explains in the article, there is no evidence that Luinil or Nénar correspond to Neptune and Uranus. Sadly the artist got a bit over-enthusiastic.
The other day, we posted an essay by Ringer DarkJackal over at Heir of Durin exploring the confusion surrounding exactly when Durin’s Day occurs. But even more widely, star lore — and astronomy — plays a significant role in the shaping of Middle-earth, both figuratively and literally.

In this fantastic essay, first presented at the RingCon Tolkien convention in November 2002, Dr. Kristine Larsen, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Central Connecticut State University discusses the evolution of Tolkien’s star lore, and its links with our own stars and constellations. It’s a long read, but quite worthwhile.


The astronomy of Middle-earth

One question we might ask ourselves when embarking on a critical study of Tolkien’s work is “are we just reading too much into a story?” Christopher Tolkien argued for the authenticity of such analysis: “Such inquiries are in no way illegitimate in principle; they arise from an acceptance of the imagined world as an object of contemplation or study valid as many other objects of contemplation or study in the all too unimaginary world.” Continue reading “The astronomy of Middle-earth”

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.

Last Tuesday, Peter Jackson and Warner Bros. finally released the second official trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

If you need to refresh your memory … who are we kidding? … you’ve memorised it all! But if you’d like to see it again, check it out on Youtube or on TheHobbit.com.

In the intervening time, staff here at TheOneRing.net have watched the trailer again and again… and again… We’ve also been poring over large screencaps, with a magnifying glass, to spot any tiny details which just might give us some further insight into what we will see when the movie is finally released in cinemas in a little more than 60 days’ time.

Check out what we spotted below! You can click on the small thumbnail screencaps to see large, high-resolution versions. A warning for spoilers!. But you’re expecting them if you made it this far, surely? Continue reading “TORn’s official frame-by-frame analysis of trailer two for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug!”

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.