Already we’re down to just EIGHT items remaining in the Clash of Collectibles – this year’s Middle-earth March Madness. Here’s how the bracket looks:
Connecting to Middle-earth through favourite figures
Perhaps surprisingly, BOTH Weta Workshop items were defeated in this region, with the Balrog taking out the entire Fellowship, and the Argonath conquering Bilbo in Bag End. So now we see if Aragorn’s ancestors can beat the ancient, (winged?) demon.
Prime 1 Gandalf vs Balrog statue
Experiencing Middle-earth in Print and Music
Another upset of sorts here – both the Maps and Tolkien’s own art have fallen at this fence! So now we face a tough decision: soundtrack vs DVDs. If you had to save only one, which would you choose?
As it’s the DVD box set with statues, we’ve got two sets of Argonath in the Elite Eight!
Inhabiting Middle-earth through Environments and Replicas
Weta Workshop’s Rivendell survived the Sweet Sixteen round; their Edoras environment, however, was not so lucky! Now Rivendell faces off against the incredible Red Book of Westmarch prop replica.
The Red Book
Playing in Middle-earth with toys, games and other curiosities
This writer has been proved SO wrong. I thought LEGO Rivendell was almost unbeatable – but I’m delighted to see that the gorgeous stained glass art from Geek Orthodox has done it, and made it through to the Elite Eight! In the other pairing in this region, the Hobbiton mug vanquished the LotR Monopoly. Now I’m rooting for the stained glass to go all the way to be Grand Champion. But you may wish to vote otherwise!
More incredible stained glass art
How the bracket looks now:
Elite Eight Clash of Collectibles
Time to vote! But how does it work, I hear you ask. Simple! Click on the button below. This will take you to the voting site, where you can view the entire bracket, region by region. Click on each pairing of items, to view all the details – and there place your vote. Let’s get voting!
You have until the end of the day Tuesday April 7th to vote in Round Four; that evening on TORN Tuesday we’ll reveal the winners, and on Wednesday April 8th we’ll launch the semi-final! Place your votes now!
Let us know YOUR thoughts – join us on TORn Tuesday each week during the competition, and tell us how you feel about the choices so far. And if you want to discuss the votes with other fans, head on over to the Collectibles channel on our Discord.
A week has already passed since we launched this year’s Middle-earth March Madness – and now the contest is down to just sixteen collectibles of special magnificence. Let’s take a look at the bracket now:
Connecting to Middle-earth through favourite figures
This region was really tough – sculptural masterpieces facing off! The Balrog defeated Sauron; Bilbo conquered a Ringwraith; and perhaps most surprisingly, the Argonath beat Theoden and Snowmane. Now we’re wondering who will win when, in a repeat of the scene from the story, the Fellowship take on the demon of the ancient world…
Argonath bookends
Experiencing Middle-earth in Print and Music
Well here’s a lesson in humility! The biggest defeat in Round Two was found in this bracket. To be fair, a t-shirt probably didn’t really belong in this group; but TORn’s Prancing Pony Club shirt couldn’t even muster 10% of the vote against The Lord of the Rings soundtracks. Harsh but fair.
Our Prancing Pony Club shirt – soundly vanquished!
Inhabiting Middle-earth through Environments and Replicas
The pairings in this region were very close; how does one choose between the Phial of Galadriel and the Arwen Evenstar pendant? The Noble Collection’s necklace was the ultimate winner; but there was only 10% in it. Even closer, only 6% separated the Illuminating Gandalf Staff from the Red Book of Westmarch replica; the highly detailed book survives to go up against Weta Workshop’s Edoras environment in the Sweet Sixteen round.
The Noble Collection’s Evenstar Pendant of Arwen
Playing in Middle-earth with toys, games and other curiosities
Can anything defeat the might of LEGO Rivendell? Surely a strong contender for Grand Champion this year, in this round the LEGO set easily conquered LotR Trivial Pursuit. Monopoly, however, held up the banner for board games, very narrowly beating the pinball machine.
Is Gandalf a pinball wizard?
How the bracket looks now:
The Sweet Sixteen bracket
Time to vote! But how does it work, I hear you ask. Simple! Click on the button below. This will take you to the voting site, where you can view the entire bracket, region by region. Click on each pairing of items, to view all the details – and there place your vote. Let’s get voting!
You have until the end of the day Saturday April 4th to vote in Round Three; on Sunday April 5th we’ll launch our Elite Eight round! Will your personal favourite for Grand Champion for 2026 still be in the mix? Do your best to make it so – VOTE NOW!
Let us know YOUR thoughts – join us on TORn Tuesday each week during the competition, and tell us how you’re making your choices. And if you want to discuss the votes with other fans, head on over to the Collectibles channel on our Discord.
We hope you placed your votes in the first round of Middle-earth March madness: Clash of the Collectibles! It certainly was hard to choose amongst all those treasures – so many things we’d like to have on our shelves… But half of them have been voted out, and we’re down to 32. Let’s see how Round One played out:
Connecting to Middle-earth through favourite figures
In the first of our four brackets, we gathered statues and figures in a range of styles – even including Royal Selangor’s beautiful pewter goblets, crafted to present their own versions of various well-loved Tolkien characters. The closest dual in this bracket was between two stunning pieces from Weta Workshop – their Smaug the Terrible figure vs the charming image of Gandalf and Frodo, as the wizard arrives ‘precisely when he means to’ at the Shire. Bucolic delight triumphed over fearsome majesty, but only by 2%. At the other end of the range, a tabletop figure of the Rankin Bass Gollum was totally overwhelmed by those Argonath bookends we all know and love – only 8% of the vote went Gollum’s way!
Royal Selangor’s Aragorn goblet
Experiencing Middle-earth in Print and Music
Calendars and LPs and maps, oh my! From Howard Shore’s epic soundtracks to Alan Lee’s stunning art, there were incredible works to choose from in this bracket. It’s really hard to see some of these beauties go! But choices had to be made. The closest face-off in this bracket saw TORn’s own ‘Prancing Pony Club’ t-shirt take on the sheet music for Donald Swann’s musical settings for seven of Tolkien’s poems. That was tough competition for our shirt to face! – but somehow the apparel snuck through with just over half of the vote. Personally, this writer is sad to see the Rankin/Bass Hobbit LP fall at the first fence – I have many fond memories of listening to that LP as a kid! But coming up against The Professor’s own art, it’s not really surprising it should be defeated; it did well to secure even 18% of the vote against an item which could well go on to be this year’s Grand Champion.
The Rankin/Bass Hobbit LP
Inhabiting Middle-earth through Environments and Replicas
For many, replica props are the most coveted collectibles. Who doesn’t dream of wielding their own Sting, or wearing their own Evenstar pendant? Familiar companies such as The Noble Collection, United Cutlery and Badali Jewelry went up against the might of Weta Workshop in this bracket. This section of the round saw the most tight contests, with many vote percentages in the 40s and 50s. Even the Ring itself (as made by Jens Hansen) could not overcome Weta’s incredible Edoras environment – but it was close, with Rohan taking just 52% of the vote.
The ‘movie ring’ from jeweler Jens Hansen
Playing in Middle-earth with toys, games and other curiosities
Can anything defeat the might of LEGO in this bracket? The stunning Rivendell set took over three-quarters of the vote (against the beautiful playing cards from Kings Wild). There were some fabulous vintage items in this section; alas, the buttons from the 1960s could not defeat the pinball machine, though it was a closely fought dual! And once again, this writer was sad to see a personal fave vanquished so early in the contest – those Burger King goblets hold a special place in my heart, but only one-third of voters agreed with me! So out they go, defeated by the worthy Hobbiton Green Dragon mug.
Who could forget those Burger King goblets?
How the bracket looks now:
How the bracket looks now – down to 32!
Time to vote! But how does it work, I hear you ask. Simple! Click on the button below. This will take you to the voting site, where you can view the entire bracket, region by region. Scroll down to find the buttons to click (under ‘Open Voting’) to view each pairing of items, in all their glory – and there place your vote. Let’s get voting!
You have until the end of the day Tuesday March 31st to vote in Round Two; we’ll take a look at how the vote is going on TORn Tuesday this week, and then launch the Sweet Sixteen the next day, Wednesday April 1st. The choices will get tougher with each passing round – which precious item do you hope to see crowned Grand Champion for 2026? Rally the troops to vote for your favourites – and VOTE NOW!
Let us know YOUR thoughts – join us on TORn Tuesday each week during the competition, and tell us how you’re making your choices. And if you want to discuss the votes with other fans, head on over to the Collectibles channel on our Discord.
With the announcement of a second upcoming Lord of the Rings movie in the works written by Stephen Colbert, Philippa Boyens, and Peter McGee,and the release of its synopsis, speculation about what the movie will be about is only just beginning.
Stephen Colbert in his “Lord of the Rings” fan film “Darrylgorn“
The synopsis in the Warner Brothers and New Line Cinema press release about The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past is: “Fourteen years after the passing of Frodo – Sam, Merry, and Pippin set out to retrace the first steps of their adventure. Meanwhile, Sam’s daughter, Elanor, has discovered a long-buried secret and is determined to uncover why the War of the Ring was very nearly lost before it even began.”
For reference, let’s take a look at the timeline that is mentioned.
3rd Age 3021/Shire Reckoning 1421, September 29: “Frodo and and Bilbo depart over Sea with the Three Keepers. The end of the Third Age.”
Fourteen years after Frodo’s departure means the movie takes place in S.R. 1435/Fourth Age Year 14.
Elanor the Fair is born March 13, S.R. 1421, the same year that Frodo sets sail for the Undying Lands. Her birth day is also the start of the Fourth Age of Gondor.
In book canon, Elanor will be fourteen years old at the time Shadow of the Past will take place, giving the film a young female Hobbit lead.
We’ve just learned that for the past few years, Stephen Colbert and his son Peter have been working on a script for the six chapters that were left out of Peter Jackson’s film version of Fellowship of the Ring, and will be named after one of the missing chapters: The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past.
These six chapters fall between Three is Company and Fog on the Barrow-Downs, and happen right before Merry stumbles out of the Old Forest in Fellowship.
During Peter Jackson’s Tolkien Reading Day announcement, he brought Colbert onto a video call to announce the movie.
One of the very last things Jackson asked him was, “Now, do you have the time for this?”
And Colbert said, “I did not think I would have the time, as much as I love it. I knew I couldn’t do that and do this show at the same time, but it turns out that I’m going to be free starting this summer, so…”
“Isn’t that fortunate!” Jackson interjected.
“Isn’t that a ‘eucatastrophe’ right there?” Colbert finished.
Our Tolkien-loving hearts here at Theonering.net glowed at Colbert’s use of eucatastrophe, because the word is symbolic of this production on a number of levels. Not only is “eucatastrophe” a word that Tolkien invented for his paper On Fairy-Stories to mean “The sudden turn toward the good in a hopeless situation,” but Tolkien also posits that all good stories NEED this happy ending.
For Colbert, the eucatastrophe is that after the news that his show was cancelled, he had the time and opportunity to play in the world that he loves, with other creative people that he adores.
For us fans, the eucatastrophe is that we too get another happy ending — we get to play more in this world. Not only will the addition of the chapters add sorely missed content, including Tom Bombadil and the barrow wights (and who knows what else — will we see Freddy Bolger? Knowing Colbert, we might), but the framing of the movie will undoubtedly draw from material that Tolkien himself had to remove from the many endings to Return of the King.
Fans of the books know that the original ending of Return of the King was much longer with MANY more eucatastrophies. This is all detailed in the drafts of Lord of the Rings that Christopher Tolkien preserved in several books — the book of drafts pertaining to Return of the King is Sauron Defeated.
One of the framing devices of the movie, per the Newline presser, is that Elanor Gamgee “has discovered a long-buried secret and is determined to uncover why the War of the Ring was very nearly lost before it even began.”
“What?” You might ask. “Why Elanor?”
Well. We find out in Sauron Defeated that Tolkien’s unpublished (except in draft form) original ending of Return of the King is all about the relationship between Sam and his daughter Elanor, and her excitement about meeting the King and Queen of Gondor as they go on a state procession up to Aragorn’s northern kingdom. (Read Sauron Defeated chapter The Epilogue for more!) Yes, the original ending of Return of the King made a hard pivot to Elanor Gamgee as the main character — and the Colberts are restoring this eucatastrophe to us!
It is also fitting that Colbert is working with his son on this script, because the original very last eucatastrophe of Return of the King was Samwise passing on his love of Elves to his daughter, including — eventually — the Red Book of Westmarch (Frodo’s story-within-a-story of Lord of the Rings) itself.
One more easter egg: The name that Christopher Tolkien gave to the book of drafts for Fellowship was Shadow of the Past, taken from the chapter that will begin this fun further adventure. If you want another deep dive into the history behind the writing, start there!
It’s that time of year again! Time when hares are boxing, Spring is springing, basketballs are being thrown, and TheOneRing.net brings you our annual Middle-earth March Madness contest.
This year our theme is Clash of the Collectibles.
Are your shelves and walls filled with Middle-earth masterpieces? What are your most treasured works? Do you have items from the First Age of Fandom, before even the faintest whiff of a Peter Jackson movie? Do you stroke an Etsy-crafted piece, muttering ‘Myyy Precioussss…’? Or perhaps you are particularly enjoying a Renaissance in your collection, snapping up every new release from Weta, or revelling in the work of artisans and artists who continue to add their ‘other minds and hands’ to the legacy of the Professor?
Whatever your collecting style, no doubt some of the goodies you love will be included in our bracket – and no doubt you’ll be outraged by some with have been overlooked! Remember how hard it was to choose from all the amazing artworks in our bracket last year? Our team of volunteer staffers have been grappling for weeks, to come up with a list of 64 varied collectibles to start you off. Now it is up to YOU!
The entire opening bracket of 64 treasures!
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, region by region. Scroll down to find the buttons to click (under ‘Open Voting’) to view each pairing of items, in all their glory – and there place your vote. (A word of warning – some items will have links where you can buy them – so maybe lock your wallet away before you check out the bracket!). Let’s get voting!
You have until the end of the day Saturday March 28th to vote in Round One; on Sunday 29th voting will open for Round Two! But – I hear you ask – how am I supposed to choose from such an embarrassment of riches?? HOW you choose is up to you – pick the items you own, or the ones you long to own, or simply toss a coin. Vote how you wish – but VOTE NOW!
Let us know YOUR thoughts – join us on TORn Tuesday each week during the competition, and tell us what we SHOULD have included. And if you want to discuss the votes with other fans, head on over to the Collectibles channel on our Discord.
