It’s just over a week since DragonCon 2024 drew to a close, after a fabulous weekend of panels, special guests, parties and merriment. TheOneRing.net was delighted as always to spend time with fellow fans, and to host An Evening at Bree, a long time tradition at DragonCon (and part of the High Fantasy Track).
As usual, there was incredible cosplay to be seen all around the con, from all kinds of fandoms. We thought we would share here just a few of our favourites (there were so many!) seen at the Evening at Bree costume contest (with big thanks to photographer Jonathan Franklin). Enjoy!
From The Rings of Power: Annatar promises he is just a giver of gifts; but Arondir has his suspicions…Bilbo is quite happy relaxing in his dressing gown; until the arrival of Lobelia sends him off on an adventure. (Anything to get away…!)Elves from PJ’s films: Haldir and ‘dark queen’ Galadriel.Two different Tom Bombadils enjoy the beautiful company of the River-woman’s daughter.Staffer greendragon chats with Gimli; and Denethor’s favourite son gives him the greatest gift of all – a tomato. (Faramir was there too, but obviously didn’t deserve to be in the photo.)
TORn always loves hosting An Evening at Bree, and it was wonderful after so many years to see the dance floor packed, and the fandom celebrating together, as folks jigged to musical acts The Brobdingnagian Bards, Beth Patterson and Landloch’d. It was indeed a night to remember – thanks to all who came along, and to the High Fantasy track for allowing us to host!
In January I was reading a skeet on Bluesky about how people feel after every re-reading of The Lord of the Rings. Do they still feel the same emotions, have the same reactions as they did when they first read it?
Some of the responses reflected that you can never feel or react the same way as you did during your first reading, as everything you were reading was new and fresh to you, which is very true. A much-shared readers lament is that you can never feel the way you did the first time you read a well-loved story.
Several responses went onto clarify that every re-read still affects them, though in different ways. Could this be due to being older? Having a greater understanding of world-issues? Being able to comprehend more nuances from Tolkien’s writing?
For myself it’s probably a combination of all of these, after all, I was only 8 years old when I first read LOTR. The complexities of the world-building have grown on me as I’ve gotten older, and I’m far more appreciative of these now than I was as a precocious 8-year-old. My main reason for reading LOTR back then was to join in with the discussions my mother and older brothers were having about LOTR. My mother tried to get me to read The Hobbit, but I just wasn’t interested: Mum and the boys were discussing LOTR, and I wanted to join in with that. I did say I was precocious 😉
This led to a life-long love of Tolkien’s work. Many of my fondest memories are related to LOTR. My brothers and I saved up to buy our mum a box set of Tolkien’s books when The Silmarillion was published, those books now live on my bookshelf, along with all my other copies. Many of my responses when re-reading LOTR reflect where I was at that time in my life. Re-reading the books my brothers and I bought our mum reminds me strongly of when I first read LOTR and how much I enjoyed discussing them with my mum and brothers. They also remind me of the wonder she introduced us to when she first shared her love of LOTR with us, and how excited we all were to buy her the box set, so she finally had her own copies.
Now, every time I re-read them; I’m constantly finding new insights. I’ve mentioned the world-building, something that all fans of Tolkien’s work love, the themes of friendship, fellowship, enduring love, and simple joys are what resound with me and lead me back to read these books over and over again.
I’ve mainly mentioned LOTR, as since that was the work that the fans over on Bluesky were discussing, but I also regularly re-read Tolkien’s other Middle-earth books. My favourite is The Silmarillion, probably because I’ve always been a bit of a history geek too, so I really love the deeper insight into Middle-earth that The Silmarillion provides. I’ve honestly lost count how many times I’ve read it, and LOTR. At one point I could quote whole sections of it from memory, but that was a few years ago, before children and other RL interests came along. Still, I can remember quite a bit of its lore. Every time I re-read The Sil I uncover deeper meaning, beauty, and sorrow and it draws me firmly into Middle-earth.
I must admit that I appreciate The Hobbit much more now I’m an adult, than I did as a child. Being a quite advanced reader from a very young age, I absolutely hated anything that I felt was “talking down” to children. As an 8-year-old, that’s how it struck me, I disliked the narrator talking directly to me and skipping things they felt I was too young to witness or understand. Now it just seems a quaint way of telling the story and doesn’t distract me from the tale. I find I can more fully enjoy Bilbo’s travels “there and back again” a lot more from an adult perspective, and I notice and enjoy the nuances far more than I did as a child. Maybe that’s just me.
I know many fans that have come to Tolkien’s works via Peter Jackson’s movies, and, more recently, via Amazon Studios’ The Rings of Power TV. One of the first questions I was asked when I finally crept out of Lurkwood and joined our Message boards was if I was a “book-firster or a movie-firster”. The question wasn’t asked to belittle me, it was asked out of genuine interest as to how I discovered Tolkien, and led to a truly enjoyable discussion about Tolkien’s work and how wonderful it was that more people were discovering his work due to the release of the films. That, while I enjoy the films, the books will always hold the number one spot in my heart, and it’s this first love that draws me back to Middle-earth over and over again.
We’re seeing this again with the TV series, with people finding out about Middle-earth for the first time and wanting to know more. We regularly have new members join our Discord chat, wanting to know about Tolkien’s books, which order they should read them in. Then they share their joy with us all as they read the stories. I have no doubt that we will see another influx after The War of the Rohirrim is released in December.
We are so lucky today to have so many more adaptations set in Middle-earth. As a child the only film I ever saw was the Bakshi Lord of the Rings. While I left the cinema with many questions for my mother, over changes and omissions, it didn’t rob me of my original love: the books. I did immediately re-read the books, and was surprised at how Bakshi’s film, while not perfect, led me to a greater appreciation of the written work.
It’s wonderful, and a privilege, watching others begin their journey into the wonder that is Middle-earth, and having new memories added to my own ongoing journey. As I, and others, have found, I am sure that those who have come to discover, and love, Middle-earth through the recent adaptations will discover the greater realm that awaits them within the written works. At least, this remains my belief and hope.
I wish them well as they embark on their own journey of discovery, of deeper understanding and wonder of the amazing world that we’ve been gifted by J.R.R. Tolkien. This wonderful Middle-earth. I envy their new discoveries, their first steps into this immense literary world, but rejoice that they are joining our Fellowship. Welcome!
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 greatest gathering of fans happens next week! That’s right San Diego Comic-Con 2024 is coming up, so once again it’s time for MadEyeGamgee and myself to speculate on the Middle-earth collectibles we might see.
Our special guest is Tyler McClim who helps hosts The Lord of the Collections podcast on YouTube. Over our 90 minute conversation we chat about what we want to see not only at SDCC, but also in the time after Comic-Con.
We hope you enjoy this episode and we look forward to reviewing what we saw post SDCC.
Once again our friend Eirik Bull shares with us their exclusive interview, this time Eirik sat down to chat with Sir Richard Taylor of Weta Workshop. We think you will enjoy the journey they take, as they cover the early years of Weta, the making of the The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Gollum, and much much more.
In unrelated posts on Instagram, Evangeline Lilly and Nazanin Boniadi announced they are stepping away from acting after being in high profile, but separate, Middle-earth franchise projects.
Tauriel finds her dharma
Evangeline Lilly played Tauriel in The Hobbit trilogy of films, becoming a fan favorite and inspiring some of the best cosplay of that era. She had lines around the block for her SDCC signings at the Weta Workshop booth and became a champion for the fangirl experience.
She parlayed the success of The Hobbit into a title role as The Wasp in the MCU Marvel Cinematic Universe. But being a part of two giant franchises bears a heavy burden. Lilly was on the receiving end of much online criticisms about those movies. As the only main female character in The Hobbit – a book that does not feature any women – she stepped up into a creative situation with everything to prove. Tauriel is now generally appreciated by fandom, but it was a hard-earned.
Instead of wanting to be the people I admire, I now find myself rooting for them. Instead of wanting to compete with my peers, I now want to see them succeed. Instead of seeing little merit in the young, I want to invest in them.
Evangeline Lilly, on IG
On instagram, LOST fans found an old video from her breakout role describing where she wanted to be in 10 years – “Retired.”
Nazanin Boniadi, an accomplished Iranian actress who fans were excited about in the lead up to the debut of Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, posted on Instagram about her reasons for leaving the show.
To everyone’s surprise, THR broke the story that Boniadi would not be returning for Season 2 of ROP. Sources in the article claimed she was leaving acting and the show to commit full time to her activism work on behalf of Iranian women. But hours later, Boniadi posted to IG to correct the record, stating “This was unrelated to my subsequent decision to prioritize my advocacy,” and that leaving the show was intentional.
The values I have held most dear are honesty, empathy and integrity. My character Bronwyn was committed to these same ideals in striving for a fairer world, which is why I connected so deeply with her.
Nazanin Boniadi, via IG
The casting process of Prime Video’s The Rings of Power was met with celebration – and some small but loud online vitriol. It’s been no secret that actors of non-white descent received a large amount of negativity directed toward them — including death threats and phone hacking, creating an unsafe environment. There have historically been those dark corners of internet discussion, even going all the way back to Ian McKellen being accused of ruining Tolkien’s story because he was a gay actor playing Gandalf. McKellen eventually responded to the online trolls in his personal blog. But true devotees of Tolkien’s writings understand the core themes of The Lord of the Rings: there is strength in diversity of experience and variety of personhood. LOTR fans continue to embrace the ever-growing casts of these adaptations with open arms. To this blogger, Nazanin’s exit from The Rings of Power is a huge loss to the show.
Deadline reported that the role of Bronwyn has not be recast, unlike the recasting of Adar and – during filming of S1 – of Celebrimbor. Then eagle-eyed fans watching the recent ROP trailers spotted a funeral pyre and Bronwyn’s son Theo crying.
Peter Jackson and other luminaries from all quadrants of the Film Business celebrate the life of Sir Christopher Lee (who played Saruman in both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit) in a new feature-length documentary. We caught up with the director of the film, Jon Spira, to get the real story on Lee’s personal mythology.
The new documentary is completely finished, and pre-orders for the DVD and Blu-ray editions are available on Kickstarter now. With self-distribution, the documentary bonus features will include the full, unexpurgated Peter Jackson interview as well as many other goodies. See a clip here:
Director Jon Spira talks with Quickbeam
Quickbeam: When we were making Ringers: Lord of the Fans, we were just walking around and asking all kinds of people, would you like to share your reflections on the the whole Lord of the Rings fandom. Everybody from David Carradine right on down to Peter Jackson and everyone in between was very happy to say yes. The stories just profusely came out of people. Did you find that people were just really eager to talk about Sir Christopher Lee?
Jon Spira: People really wanted to talk about Christopher Lee because he left an indelible mark on everyone he met. He was loved and admired; and and I say that as two very separate things. The people who knew him truly loved him, and the people who maybe didn’t know him as closely, truly admired him. One of the things that I found really kind of heartening and fascinating to learn was that he was somebody who was completely egalitarian. He would talk to anybody, he treated everybody as his equal, and he would sit down. He loved being on film sets, and he was just as happy talking to a runner as he would be talking to the director.
Christopher Lee didn’t differentiate between people he really didn’t see differently from someone who came from genuine aristocracy. He didn’t see that divide in people. And so he he left a legacy of genuine affection. And that was something which really kind of came out in the film.
Allowing Sir Christopher to be His Own Voice
Quickbeam: I love that that you can discover new insights into your subject without knowing you’re going to arrive there. You you begin as a filmmaker, as a documentarian, you start somewhere and you always surprise yourself and ending up with new places and new information you’ve discovered that actually does recontextualize what you’re trying to present (as a filmmaker).
Jon: There’s some apocryphal stuff out there, but most of those crazy lists are completely true. Really weird stuff. Like, he met Rasputin’s killers and he witnessed the last-ever guillotined person in Paris. You know, all that strange stuff is true!
I trust the process now. I don’t always know going into it. I don’t always know what I’m making. One thing that I really knew was that I wanted Christopher Lee to narrate this film somehow. Like, I knew that he had to be the narrator of the story, because I knew that he was the unreliable narrator.
Christopher Lee is descended from Emperor Charlemagne of the Holy Roman Empire, related to Robert E. Lee the Confederate general, and nearly married into the Crown Equerry to the King of Sweden pic.twitter.com/iUa1AxDUsY
(Editor’s Note: Jon helped us clarify that Sir Christopher was indeed NOT related to Gen. Lee)
Sir Christopher’s Deep Fascination with Tolkien
Jon: He was completely obsessed with Tolkien. He read Lord of the Rings when it first came out, like, you know, chapter by chapter. And he read it every year. He would read the whole of Lord of the Rings cycle once a year. He was completely obsessed with it. When it was announced that Peter Jackson was going to make the films, he basically grabbed hold of his son-in-law, who was, to a degree, his defacto manager at the time, and basically said: “You have to get me in these films, no matter what. You have to get me in these films–so get online.” Because he personally was a very early adopter of the internet as well, and using it for his fan base, he was like, “Get online, make sure all the fans are talking about this, and make sure that these people know that I need to be in these films!”
I think one of the greatest parts of the documentary is a part that I didn’t direct. Throughout the film we use lots of animation and lots of kind of crazy stuff to tell his stories, and we got a guy called Dave McKean.
Jon: Yes! The crazy thing is, I said to him, “You don’t need to consult with me on this.” Without much time, I was expecting kind of a series of slightly moving images like an animatic. But his animatic was really good. How is he going to do it better than this? He ended up doing a whole studio shoot. He created full masks for people. He created a set. And he composed a score for it.
The best part is, Dave Mckean chose to animate the moment where Christopher Lee met J.R.R Tolkien!
The filmmakers express gratitude to @archmodelstudio for their great assistance creating this puppet!
On the Future of Saruman
Justin: For these recreation scenes, now there’s A.I. where you can do voice duplication.
Jon: We went even better than that. Have you heard of Peter Serafinowicz?
Justin: Darth Maul?
Jon: He was our first choice. And he was absolutely amazing. He’s very famous over here as a comedian. Had his own comedy show, and he was on a lot of other kind of shows. And he actually does great work.
Justin: With new Lord of the Rings coming from Peter Jackson and Prime Video, is the technology advanced enough to digitally recreate Christopher Lee’s Saruman? Or do you think recasting Saruman in these new tales is a better path?
Jon: I think recasting. I’ve talked to a lot of people and I’ve looked at deepfakes a lot, but he has qualities that can’t be echoed. I always think back to Rogue One where they kind of tried to do Peter Cushing, and you just go: “But it’s not him!” And at the end they did Carrie Fisher and you just go: “But it’s not her.” It feels off. You can’t recreate life. Not close up. Not that kind of thing. You can’t. The human eye is something which can’t be replicated because it’s the window to the soul. Everything that’s ever happened to someone is kind of behind their eyes.
It’s great for creating creatures and it’s great for creating original things. But if you’re trying to replicate a human being, I honestly don’t think it’ll ever get there. I think there is an anarchy in organic chemistry which will never quite be replicated.
Order the Compete Documentary on Blu-ray
You can watch the entire 90-minute conversation with the director of The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee on YouTube. Clifford “Quickbeam” and Justin dive in deep with Jon Spira about the myths and legends about Lee, his core drives in life, and how much LOTR fandom really meant to him. Order your copy of the full documentary + bonus features, including interviews with Peter Jackson and Lee’s family, on Kickstarter now.
