Tolkien, Lord of the Rings (LotR), etc.

From an older post's OP's comment:

Before the LOTR movies were released in 2001, a company named Decipher made a CCG based on the films, and was given early access to the reams of film that Peter Jackson had produced, more than made it into the films itself.

In this weekly series of posts, we will take a look at some of these cards to shine a light on the scenes we never got. This week, we'll sail off into uncharted waters and take a look at the so-called Book Cards, depicting characters and concepts developed by Weta Workshop for characters cut from the films.

In 2003-2004, Decipher partnered with Weta Workshop (the special effects team that worked on the Lord of the Rings films) to create representations of characters that had been cut from the films at one stage or another. Some like the infamous Tom Bombadil had been chopped right from the start, while others like Radagast had actually gone as far as costume tests and casting before being dropped.

Daniel Falconer of Weta was tasked with resurrecting old concepts and repurposing various on-screen costumes and prosthetics for use in the Book Cards, and in a flurry of about a month managed to leverage the expertise of Weta Workshop to produce the images on the cards shown above. Radagast's old costume was brought out of storage, with a new staff created just for this project, and other props and costumes were repurposed: Arwen's wig went on Elladan/Elrohir, Theodred's armor went on Erkenbrand, and an old rejected Gandalf concept was dyed blue and became Tom Bombadil's coat, with a Hobbit hat on top.

Decipher then took the final product and placed them on the Book Cards, and the rest is history. It's an interesting look into what could-have-been, in particular for characters which would years later show up in the Hobbit films, such as Radagast and Dain Ironfoot.

There's many more tidbits and details for this particular batch than can be recorded here, as Decipher released a series of articles on the development process including more behind-the-scenes photos and an interview with Falconer. A summary with links to the 4 BTS articles can be found on the LOTR-TCG wiki here: https://wiki.lotrtcgpc.net/wiki/Weta_Book_Cards

(If you are interested in checking out the game as depicted on these cards, you can play the LOTR-TCG in your browser! See https://play.lotrtcgpc.net/ and https://lotrtcgpc.net/discord )

These cards took my interest not long after the movies came out because I read The Hobbit and saw Dain Ironfoot's card in the movie style. I hoped back then that some spinoff footage with him is available somewhere.

by fate, I don't mean what happened to them physically, the Silmarillion says that they died of starvation in the forests of Doriath. I mean their cosmological fate, what happened to their spirits. they are, as far as I know, the only half-elves who were not given an explicit choice about whether they would be considered Elves, and go to the Halls of Mandos or be allowed to sail to the Undying Lands, or whether they would be considered Men, and go to their unknown fate.

their father, Dior, was the son of Beren, a Man, and Lúthien, an Elf who explicitly chose the fate of Men, and therefore he is a Half-elf also given the fate of Men. their mother, Nimloth, was an Elf. their sister, Elwing, explicitly chose the fate of the Elves, and her descendants were also given the ability to choose

so their father has the fate of Men, and their mother has the fate of Elves, and they died without a chance to choose their fate. it is not stated that Lúthien's choice also extends to her descendants, as it does for Elwing. so there seems to be no clear answer whether they should be bound to the fate of Elves, or of Men, or allowed to choose

I have begun compiling a list of online texts that attempt bringing to a complete form the stories the Professor left unfinished: not mere fanfiction, but reasoned works that try to stay in the spirit of what Tolkien would have done if he stayed on the topic.

"Lost Tales": Gilfanon's Tale - https://redlib.catsarch.com/r/tolkienfans/comments/1uwrt3v/finishing_the_lost_tales_a_harmonised_version_of/

"Lost Tales": Eärendel - https://redlib.catsarch.com/r/tolkienfans/comments/1v0u8nq/finishing_the_lost_tales_the_lost_tale_of_e%C3%A4rendel/

"Lost Tales": Prologue and End - https://redlib.catsarch.com/r/tolkienfans/comments/1v7qppi/finishing_the_lost_tales_the_end_of_the_tales_and/

"Lost Tales" (general): https://lotrfanon.fandom.com/wiki/The_Book_of_Lost_Tales,_Remade

The Lost Road - https://lotrfanon.fandom.com/wiki/The_Lost_Road

Does anyone know other ones?

I don't like how often and how seemingly lightly various characters in The Rings of Power use Morgoth's name in passing, as if they were talking about their neighbors. It demystifies him, takes away his power, makes him less abstract.

In the entirety of The Silmarillion, if I recall correctly, it is uttered in dialogue but a few times by legendary characters such as Fëanor, Húrin and Fingolfin.

I know this sounds like a minor detail, but words have power and I would like to recall that in some of our own legends and myths knowing the name of an adversary granted some power over them. I can't seem to recall exact examples, but perhaps King Arthur's tale? Help me out...

PS: I'm not a RoP hater. :)

I have almost finished half of Unfinished Tales and there are MAJOR spoilers of The Children of Húrin. Unfinished Tales is a must read if you are a fan of Tolkien, since it literally contains unfinished manuscripts and alternate versions of various stories. However, the conclusion of many of these DO NOT deviate from their finished version.

Wow... Had I not already read The Children of Húrin, I would have not been able to recover from the shock that the "spoiler" contained in Unfinished Tales would have given me for some time... 😱

I just sat down in a corner of the dining room at my workplace and read the linked text out loud. Some of my coworkers looked upon me in awe and amazement, while others frowned upon my seemingly strange, socially unacceptable behavior. But I cared not, for I have recently come to find reading books out loud fulfilling and calming, although most of the books that I read in this manner are written in Hungarian, one of my first languages.

Having finished listening to The Silmarillion, read by Martin Shaw, and The Children of Húrin, read by Sir Christopher Lee before that, I am now listening to Unfinished Tales, read by Samuel West and Timothy West.

My love for Tolkien's world grows steadily.

As I'm revisiting the Professor’s works, I came across these essays: one, two, three, four, which examine—in some cases quite technically—how he understood death differently for Elves and for Men.

One thing that particularly struck me is that, when it came to Men, Tolkien never assigned them a view of mortality that was fully consistent with the theological perspective of Catholicism, and this had a certain impact, for example, in Athrabeth.

I’m curious about how, for example, that text might have differed if Tolkien had realized he wasn’t aligned with Catholic theology: as can be seen from the essays I mentioned earlier, Elvish and human mortality would have been exactly mirror images of one another.

IMPORTANT: I really wanted to put in the post some actual info about the 'misconception', but unfortunately it's a quite technical theological issue, and English isn't my first language, so it would be very difficult for me to summarize it in brief; I warmly invite you to have a look at the essays I linked.

Am I the only one who's absolutely captivated by some of the poignant conversations and powerful one liners that Tolkien's character have? The storytelling main text is of course great too, but the back and fort of

Heavy spoiler nsfw meme below:

nsfw

Warhorse Studios confirm they are making an open-world Middle-earth RPG, setting their sandbox style in the Lord of the Rings universe.

I just found a local Swedish copy of The Silmarillion that had an unexpected albeit - in a sense - sensible cover depicting Melkor's head/helm, wearing his iron crown, embellished with the silmarils. Check it out.

I think it is sensible because I believe that it was Melkor who pushed Fëanor over the edge. I am in no way diminishing Fëanor's responsibility and shortcomings, but without Melkor, Finwë would still be alive and the silmarils would still be safe in their iron safe.

Which The Silmarillion cover do you appreciate the most and why? I have linked some covers for you to check out, but if you know of any variations not listed there, please do share!😊💎💎💎

I have been a Tolkien fan since I first saw The Fellowship of the Ring in the movie theaters over ten years ago. I have since read The Silmarillion , Hobbit and The Children of Húrin and am about to start reading Unfinished Tales.

One of my siblings shared this short comic with me today and made my day. I know the words of Durin's Song by heart and often sing it as arranged by Clamavi de Profundis, so you can imagine how stoked I was to read this.

It's a short comic depicting Durin's awakening in Mount Gundabad, his travels southwards through the Misty Mountains, his discovery of Kheled-Zâram - the Mirrormere - and the founding of Khazad-dûm, the first home of the dwarves.

Have a nice day!

Jackson has had discussions about the filming rights with the Tolkien estate and it seems that it could actually happen.

Could be great, could be awful, depending if it would go the LOTR or The Hobbit way.

I read Tolkien’s works years ago, and for a while I was very interested in various aspects of the fictional world, such as languages, geography, and calendars; then, as often happens, I moved on to other interests. I recently discovered that, over the millennia, our planet’s rotational speed has been slowing down, and therefore the length of the tropical year is decreasing (while the orbital period remains more or less unchanged). I recalled having done some calculations on the length of year across various calendars, and I had seen that in the Elven calendar, the average length of the year was:

365 days x 11 times + 368 days (the 12° year doubles the three enderi) = 4383 days in 12 years

4383 days x 12 times = 52596 days in 144 years (1 normal yén)

52596 days x 2 times + 52593 g (in the 144° year of the third of three yéni the enderi aren't doubled) = 157785 days in 3 yéni (432 years cycle)

The average length of a year in this system is therefore 157,785/432 = 365.2430556 days

In addition to this, I recalled reading something about what Tolkien said regarding the setting of his stories in a distant imaginary past:

Letter to Rhona Beare (1958) - 3019 T.A. is 6,000 years before 1958, so 1 F.A. would be 11,091 B.C.

The Awakening of the Quendi (1960) - 310 F.A. is 16,000 years before 1960, so 1 F.A. is 14,349 B.C.

BBC interview (1964) - 3019 T.A. is 7,000–8,000 years before 1964, so 1 F.A. is 12,085 / 13,085 B.C.

Why did I specifically mention the hypothetical correspondences with 1 F.A.? Because that would be the period when the Elvish solar calendar began to be used as the Sun began it's cycle. And guess what? The year duration was 365.2430556 days... approximately around 11,000-12,000 B.C. !

Started on Friday and it was for the first films 25th anniversary. My local cinema is small and locally owned so it does fun things like this from time to time.

Crowds were small but it was a good time.

I want to make a homebrew dnd one shot in the world of lotr (most paid modules are whole campaigns)

My idea would be the prelude to the final battle of sauron during the siege of barad-dur.

The players will have to sneak into the enemy camp and get recognized enough by the soldiers that they listen to them.

They will spread the idea of striking back at the besiegers and during this counter attack either Sabotage or fight saurons forces so that he can be slain.

What are your thoughts on this and what parts of the simarilion should I reread beforehand

The fact that it takes forever to watch all three movies is part of the charm for me, and I think it is for others. It is something of a commitment that has to be planned for. I think it's similar to the tactile slowness of listening to a vinyl album vs. just pulling the songs up on your phone. The length of the movies necessitates a mini-ceremony and that itself becomes part of the fun. But it struck me that it's the kind of story that should seem like it takes forever. Like, getting through it and feeling like you've struggled a little bit to achieve something that at times feels impossible is very on theme. Fighting Sauron is hard and it feels like it takes forever and there's no guarantee that you'll actually make it to the end, even if you do somehow manage to make some progress sometimes. Your fellowship might break up. Hell you might not even have a fellowship to begin with. You might also be alone, in a place full of people who, if they saw you, would happily see you dead if not kill you themselves. You might have to be there for a long time, and it's gonna suck almost the whole time. That's what it can feel like when you're fighting Sauron.

I did a cosplay at the edge of Wistman's Woods in Dartmoor which is similar to Fangorn Forest. Though I did not venture inside because that is illegal and only stuck to places we were allowed to with sign posts. If you want to see more Lord of the Rings cosplays come visit: https://www.instagram.com/christophers_cosplays/