A blog for fans of J.R.R. Tolkien, from complete beginners to avid enthusiasts, exploring the author's imaginary world, influential writing and cinematic adaptations.
Ladies and Gentleman, we have the island of Númenor!
LOTRonPrime tweeted earlier today an update to their interactive Middle-earth map … and a confirmation that the series will, in some way, reference the Second Age. Continue reading “Second Age confirmed! LOTR Amazon Series”
I’m chuffed by the eager response asking me to post the paper I presented at this year’s Oxonmoot. Well, here it is in full (with a few additional notes) for your enjoyment, if such be its fate. Continue reading ““The Shadows Where the Mewlips [really] dwell” – Mapping the road to Mordor?”
(C) New Line Cinema
When reading accounts of battles and warfare, numbers are important. They help provide context and scale to the conflict, allowing readers to assess the situation in terms of balance in favour or against an ally or enemy. Which is why I have often found it somewhat baffling that Tolkien gives us so little information on army numbers in his Middle-earth stories. Continue reading “Army numbers in Middle-earth”
Making a brief appearance almost halfway into The Return of the King is the character of Ioreth; a woman from Lossarnach and one of the healers in the city of Minas Tirith. No matter the limited number of pages she is present in, she nevertheless maintains a memorable presence in the book. Continue reading “Ioreth of Gondor”
© New Line Cinema
This is something I’ve noticed whenever re-reading The Lord of the Rings. I find myself thinking that he is the most reproached individual out of all the characters. He often serves as the audience’s bridge to the story, speaking the reader’s mind when interacting with other characters. For that reason, he finds himself reprimanded, sometimes quite severely.
I really empathise with Gimli and his fruitless attempts to try and win an argument or a conversation. His statements and questions are constantly put down by the other characters he finds himself with. Continue reading “Gimli: Most reproached character in Middle-earth”
It’s finally done! It took me over 2.5 years to complete this review of The Fellowship of the Ring. Well, I say “review” but in truth, it’s more of an analysis and an appreciation of the film.
Here’s hoping the next series of posts on The Two Towers and The Return of the King won’t take as long (yes, I said the same thing when I posted Part II of this review 7 months ago.)
Well, here it is. Almost two years later, here follows the continuation of the massive The Lord of the Rings review.
I’m ashamed to state it took me so long. But finally, here it is.
Mind you, this is only Part 2 of 3 of The Fellowship of the Ring, which I’m hoping won’t take as long to write. In the meantime, you’ve got much reading to do in this second part.
I hope you enjoy 🙂 … Continue reading “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition – Review (Part II)”
The comparisons are obvious and the decision to include an initial confrontation between Azog and Thorin at the end of An Unexpected Journey, cleverly foreshadows the eventual meeting at the end of film 3.
It is my intention to analyse the two scenes and work out why one works better than the other.
For the purposes of this analysis, I will be referring to the Thorin/Azog scene at the end of An Unexpected Journey as the “Pine Forest Confrontation”; whilst the scene in The Battle of the Five Armies will be referred to as the “Ravenhill Conflict”.
Time and time again, I have found that the Pine Forest Confrontation has been a constant tear-jerker since my very first viewing of the film. With the Ravenhill Conflict, the emotional resonance lies only AFTER the conflict has ended.
I do not want to go into much detail on the Ravenhill Conflict, as I’ve already said much in a previous post (The Problematic Climax of ‘The Battle of the Five Armies’).
What follows is a personal opinion and is not meant to generalise the overall feeling of any fans or viewers of the film. Continue reading “The Thorin vs Azog Duels: An Analysis”
I have been a Peter Jackson apologist for a number of years: attempting to understand and explain to others certain decisions done by the filmmaker when adapting the Middle-earth stories tothe silver screen.
Never being a narrow-minded “Jacksonphile”, I tried – as much as possible – to understand his reasonings; but not always found myself in full agreement with the outcome of specific choices. However, I always accepted Jackson’s own thoughts behind the alterations he employed.
However, after viewing The Battle of the Five Armies, I have come to the conclusion that Peter Jackson has probably done some shocking errors of judgement in its third act; something I will undoubtedly find extremely difficult to accept why he made the choices that eventually ended up on the screen.
I can most certainly understand why, but I don’t think I’ll be able to agree or sympathise with those decisions.
Continue reading “The Problematic Climax of ‘The Battle of the Five Armies’”
I’ve decided to tackle 7 theories constructed by readers of Tolkien’s Middle-earth, that are rather extraordinary in concept and make perfect sense (though some can be disproved or contested).
There are many arguments in discussion around the characters and stories of Middle-earth; but I’ve decided to focus on a few which have struck me the most.
Starting from the impossible and busted arguments to the more plausible ones, here we go … Continue reading “7 Fantastic Middle-earth Theories”
A Tolkienist's Perspective 