Our friend Jerry Vanderstelt has an amazing new print out – if you haven’t already added this to your collection!
This gorgeous print captures the beautiful Rivendell – but from a different viewpoint than his previous print of the same location. We see a quiet moment between Aragorn and Arwen, most likely before Aragorn sets out to help Frodo destroy the One Ring. Fans can purchase this print right now, ranging in sizes from 16×24 to 24×36, with prices between $85-170 USD depending on the size chosen. If you know Jerry’s work you already know this is another home run piece by him. Get it now, as the paper editions have an edition size of only 2000 pieces.
“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”
– a final thought from Thorin Oakenshield
For many of us Children of the Kindly West, these early weeks of 2026 have been less than kind. Whether it’s weather that has been especially challenging, or news stories more reminiscent of Mordor than Michel Delving, perhaps your thoughts have begun to turn toward seasons of respite and restoration, ideally ones reminiscent of a “proper 1420” in the Shire filled with food, cheer, and friendship.
And we have some options for you! Consider laying out that hoarded gold for one or more of a myriad of opportunities for Tolkien-themed gatherings and events that are richly decorating the 2026 calendar. What better way to celebrate the 25th anniversary of that culture-shaping event of the 2001 release of Peter Jackson’s The Fellowship of the Ring than finding a Fellowship of your own?
All you have to decide is what to do with all the options that have been given to you. Here are some 2026 gatherings in the US to get you started.
Following a successful inaugural event in May 2025, our friends at The Tolkien Society are assembling a host of speakers, activities, entertainment, and other Middle-earth goodness for their second annual gathering this spring in Minneapolis. Happening at the Royal Sonesta Minneapolis Downtown, the Moot will feature the Tolkien Society’s classic array of talks, quizzes, lectures, workshops, performances, papers, and discussions. Featured guests already include Signum University’s Sara Brown, an active scholar and podcaster, as well as scientist and writer Kristine Larsen. Making a special appearance will be cartoonist and Edward Gorey fan Tom Racine. Here’s your chance to get an autograph for your copy of his recently published Doomed to Die: An A to Z of Death in Tolkien! Attendees will also have an opportunity to take in a private showing of The Theater in the Round’s new and unique adaptation of The Hobbit. Full conference registration for Tolkien Society members is $350, and $375 for non-members. Virtual participation will also be an option.
This annual gathering of uber-fans hardly needs an introduction. Those Middle-earth mavens fortunate enough to have snagged their badges last fall are now left to speculate: just how much Tolkien content can they expect. Will we see a Rings of Power panel in Hall H should season three be a 2026 possibility? What might we see in the way of unique collectibles, first glimpses and show exclusives during this 25th anniversary of the PJ films? Who knows what untold discoveries are in store for those wandering among artists and exhibitors (like last year’s Middle-earth Enterprises and Weta booths, not to mention our own booth!)? Here’s our recap from last year’s SDCC to whet your appetite.
Our colleagues at The Mythopoeic Society are offering an opportunity to “get your fantasy kicks ” at their 54th more-or-less annual conference, this year held in Weatherford, Oklahoma and taking particular inspiration from the state’s centennial celebration of the famed Route 66. Hosted at the Stafford Air and Space Museum, this year’s Mythcon will feature the Society’s classic combination of scholarship, literary exploration, local color, and cordial common interest in themes fantastic and mythic. As such a classic “Mother Road” might suggest, you can expect discussions revolving around quests and traveling adventures, written and oral traditions, and archived memories worthy of the Great Library of Minas Tirith. Featured guests include author David R. Slayton (White Trash Warlock, which is not about Saruman, and Dark Moon, Shallow Sea); and scholar Dr. Joe R. Christopher, a retired professor of English at Tarleton State University and a prolific essayist with a particular focus on Inklings studies. Mythcon typically attracts 100-200 attendees, and registration is now open, with the full conference set at $110 for Mythopoeic Society members and $125 for non-members. Virtual attendance is also possible.
For any elves, dwarves, hobbits, or humans who happen to reminisce fondly about their summer camping days, this may be exactly the gathering you’re looking for. Brought to us by the same planning team behind the sesquiennial celebration of “A Long-Expected Party” (ALEP), the first ever Camp Eledhrim stays in the Harrodsburg, Kentucky area, but will shift from ALEP’s traditional Shaker Village setting to the new environs of “Camp Horsin’ Around”. This five bunkhouse complex will offer communal (non-private) living arrangements for 140, with dedicated air-conditioned cabins for each of your favorite Tolkien-inspired races (presumably excluding orcs). The classic ALEP offerings of fully catered and Middle-earth-themed meals, immersive decor, lore-driven programming, contests of Third Age skill (including Elvish canoe races), and campfire gatherings will all be available. The new venue will also expand these ALEP traditions to a swimming pool, a rope obstacle course, and – brace for it – Hobbit mini-golf (surely ‘Hobbit-sized-golf’?). A “Bullroarer Memorial Open” seems somehow appropriate. Join and then stay tuned on the ALEP Facebook page for developing details. Having experienced an ALEP event for the first time last September, I can attest that the Fellowship is restorative, the welcome for newcomers as genuine as any Hobbit could wish, the lore conversations deeply satisfying, and the shared merriment infectious. It’s encouraging that our ALEP friends are experimenting with new opportunities to gather more frequently!
Held every Labor Day weekend, Atlanta’s mega-fan gathering is celebrating its 40th year of gathering gamers and geeks, cosplayers and comics enthusiasts, partygoers and patrons of the fantasy arts. And this includes, of course, fans of that great-grandfather of modern fantasy, J.R.R. himself. Dragon Con is a collection of more than 30 mini-conventions, or “tracks” designed to appeal to the full spectrum of interest in fantasy, science fiction, gaming, and fandoms of the fantastic. Across its five downtown host hotels and the Atlanta Merchandise Mart, attendees have the challenge of prioritizing over 1,000 panel offerings, a “Walk of Fame” offering signature opportunities from more than 100 celebrity guests, a four-floor vendors hall and artists market, and themed parties lasting into the wee hours every night. For Tolkien fans, official programming falls under the “High Fantasy” track, and includes everything from a dance party in Bree, to costume contests, to scholarly panels, to creative content like trivia contests and Hobbit drinking songs, to speculation about what we’ll see in upcoming movie and television releases along with other pending Middle-earth fun, all straight from TORn staffers greendragon, deej, and MadeyeGamgee. Beyond the programming, Dragon Con also offers a stunning array of cosplay craftsmanship and photo ops, elven choirs wandering the halls between hotels, and an opportunity to march with fellow Tolkienites in the annual parade down Peachtree Street, an event that attracts many additional thousands. You can purchase passes that cover all five days of the convention, and also individual day passes.
The inaugural Brandywine Festival in October 2025 introduced a completely new North American experience for those wishing to deeply embed themselves in the Hobbit lifestyle through Live Action Role-Playing. Specializing in producing medieval and fantasy-inspired clothing and equipment, the Burgschneider Group is also one of the world’s premier producers of large-scale LARP events. Burgschneider and Middle-earth Enterprises established a licensing arrangement last year that saw a successful Kickstarter campaign mobilizing roughly 1200 Hobbit-hued LARPers, most of whom had never before participated in this kind of event, to assemble for Buckland’s 259th annual Brandywine Festival. It is an astonishing thing to take up residence amongst so many excellent and admirable Hobbits, each with their own backstories, and each fully committed to engage with one another entirely in the spirit and attire of the Shire. A merrier world indeed. Burgschneider’s Chief Creative Officer, Thomas “Beol” Miller, along with the Group President Markus Böhm, describe last year’s Brandywine Festival as a “pilot” event, one offering substantial opportunities for learning and improvement, while also reflecting a spirit and array of fan experiences that was so encouraging that the second annual event this October was automatic. Having been part of that Hobbit throng last year, nearly everyone I spoke with was heartily hoping to be able to return in 2026, from LARP newbies to the few with deep experience at other role-playing events.
The 2026 challenge for Burgschneider will be to apply important lessons learned – improved load-in logistics, a more confined footprint for LARP challenges and game play, some alterations in the camping layout to enhance community interaction, and a better approach to the celebratory banquet toward the end of the event. Simultaneously, they’ll be seeking to preserve those magical elements that so many participants enjoyed – a spontaneously effusive talent show, lore-driven story-lines and non-player characters (we see you, Nerd of the Rings!), and above all the rich array of opportunities to become a part of a thriving Hobbit community, surrounded by feasting and dancing, storytelling and generosity, mathoms and memorable moments. As the on-site lead “Beol” remarked, “Brandywine is providing a Shire sandbox, not an amusement park.” And it’s a wonderful sandbox, indeed. For a firsthand account of the 2025 Brandywine experience, see our very own Happy Hobbit’s (or “Thistle’s”) report here.
For any wondering, the Brandywine Festival 2026 will once again be set in the fall of SR 1418, shortly after one Frodo Baggins has left Bag End, presumably to take up residence in Crickhollow. Every player is invited to develop their own unique character and backstory, and named LotR characters are excluded. While the Shire timeline and venue settings in 2026 repeat last year’s, the LARP story-line and challenges will draw from different elements of Tolkien’s legendarium. We can expect variations on last year’s Ruffians and Spiders and Rangers and Elves (oh my!). Tickets are still available, but being claimed rather rapidly.
Should the San Diego version not be an option, you might consider joining its East Coast cousin for their 20th anniversary this October in the Big Apple! (And yes, that was a subtle second breakfast allusion.) Similar in design to the California convention, NYCC is promising to “pull out all the stops” this year. In addition to all the nerdy goodness you’ll find at the Javits Center in Manhattan, from programming to LotR-focused vendors on the show floor, you’ll also be close to, well, everything else Manhattan has to offer. That includes the classic annual TORn NYC Gathering, which will take place on the Friday evening of the Con. Here’s a reminder of some of the Tolkien fun which was on offer at last year’s event!
Of course, this list is just a sampling of possibilities! There are many other events we could have mentioned, both in the US and internationally: such as WonderCon in Anaheim next month (TORn staffers will be there!); Orlando’s Mega Con in late March, with MANY LotR movie guests; Oxonmoot in Oxford in early September; or the Deutsche Tolkien Gesellschaft’s mid-October Tolkien Seminar 2026 in Augsburg. While Fathom Event’s January theater screenings of the PJ trilogy are now behind us, many other theaters are now following suit as we press deeper into this 25th anniversary year. Or you may wish to take in one or more of the movies accompanied by a live orchestra, with a number of European and North American options already scheduled. And of course in September we’ll host our annual Baggins Birthday Bash on the West Coast – which is always a gathering of special magnificence.
We wish you all the best as you seek your 2026 Fellowship(s)! May they bring you joy and hope! And may the hair on your toes never fall out!
Our friends at Weta Workshop have unveiled their latest amazing statue fans can pre-order for their collections. If you’re like me and love The Battle of the Last Alliance sequence from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring then you’re going to want to add this to your collection.
Elrond as we see him during the battle is now available for pre-order in 1:6 scale. He joins Elendil, Sauron, and Gil-Galad to create an amazing 4 statue setup of this sequence. Elrond comes in with a price tag of $699 USD, 1350 piece edition size, and will be shipping towards the end of this year. If you’re a fan of The Hobbit Trilogy then you have a chance to add the re-opened open edition of the Smaug Bust or the limited version of Smaug the Golden with an edition size of 900. The open edition of Smaug is $499 USD while the limited edition is coming in at $599 USD, with both due to ship in quarter 2 of this year.
Back in October we shared the news that our friends at Syzygy Forge were going to be bringing us some new items in 2026. They didn’t give many hints about that these items would be – adding to the collectible whisky they already make. But now their first new items have been revealed!
They tell us:
We will be producing three engraved wooden barrel lids: one featuring the primary The Lord of the Rings logo, one The Prancing Pony, and one The Green Dragon. Each design will be limited to 500 pieces, individually numbered on the reverse.
Feast your eyes!
The Prancing Pony and The Green Dragon artwork were designed by none other than Daniel Falconer, whose work at Weta Workshop, and particularly on Peter Jackson’s movies, is of course well known to us all.
Syzygy’s team go on to tell us:
The pieces themselves are quite rustic. They are made from authentic reclaimed whiskey barrels, and hearken to the “Barrels Out of Bond” chapter in The Hobbit, and are well suited for an office, study, or collector’s space.
They’re available for pre-order now. (When visiting Syzygy’s site, you’ll notice they also have a John Howe Collection coming soon! Can’t wait to see that!) And even better news – you can use the code theonering15 to receive 15% off your order! Order yours before they’re gone!
Christmas came a bit early for Tolkien fandom as we learned about Fathom Entertainment bringing the Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Trilogy back to theaters in early 2026. Yup – the real-deal Extended Editions that stole whole weekends from us for the last 25 years. (No complaints here!) The LOTR Theaters 2026 event gives us another chance to go there and back again!
Tickets are on sale now, and honestly, it feels like the perfect excuse to get back into a theater, turn off the rest of the world, and remember what it was like to sit shoulder-to-shoulder with fans who cheer when Gandalf arrives at dawn and cry when Sam says he can’t carry it for you, but he can carry you.
This isn’t just about seeing the films again; it’s about feeling the Fellowship again. And, honestly, after the last few years, that feels long overdue.
So here’s our ultimate TORn guide to what makes these screenings special and why you absolutely should not miss them.
1. It’s the 25th Anniversary – Crazy!
Twenty five years ago, The Fellowship of the Ring strolled into theaters with tons of hype and basically rearranged our emotional connection to film for an entire generation. A quarter century later (holy crud are we really that old now?!), we’re getting a chance to celebrate the moment that changed fantasy filmmaking forever.
If you saw it in 2001, maybe you get to relive that excitement and nostalgia. If you weren’t old enough or somehow missed it, this is your moment to join the rest of us and say: I finally saw it on the big screen!
2. D-BOX Motion Seats – You Will Literally Feel Middle-earth
If you haven’t tried D-BOX before… oh boy. We think some of these screenings will have this available…
Imagine this:
The Mines of Moria quake underneath you
The Balrog roar vibrates through your seat
The cavalry charge at Helm’s Deep moves your entire body
Troll hits actually jolt your chair
It’s ridiculous and fun and honestly the closest we’ll get to signing waivers saying Yes, please physically toss me around during the Battle of Pelennor Fields.”
If you want immersion, D-BOX is the deluxe tier. It is not for the faint of heart though – so fair warning!
One of the pieces I had been dying to get my order in for, since I saw it at SDCC 2024, was the classic series Boromir. The reason? Well, I fell in love with the choice of the pose and the look of the piece. This is a version I wasn’t sure we’d ever get but was blown away when it happened. When this statue went up for pre-order there were two versions like the recent Legolas statue. You could get the Boromir with 1:4 Horn of Gondor, which was limited to 400 pieces total or you could get the standard classic series. That version is still available for $399 and in-stock. I think this statue is just fantastic with great paint, details, and likeness. I could not be happier to have this in my collection and I hope you will do the same.
