The Red Book of Westmarch (Archives)

Legendarium
This week in Middle-earth history: February 28 – March 6
03.02.10 | Kunochan | Permalink | Speak, friend and comment!

This week in Middle-earth history: Frodo and Sam capture Gollum in the Emyn Muil; Aragorn is born; the Second Battle of the Fords of Isen; Isengard destroyed.
Events, Tolkien 101
Happy eleventy-eighth birthday to ‘Lord of the Rings’ author JRR Tolkien
01.03.10 | Kunochan | Permalink | Speak, friend and comment!

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE, Oxford University professor, and author of the globally beloved fantasy epics The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, was born eleventy-seven years ago today, on January 3rd, 1892, in Bloemfontein in the Orange Free State, a British colony and a province of the Union of South Africa.
Features
Ten new year’s resolutions for fans of ‘The Lord of the Rings’
12.31.09 | Kunochan | Permalink | Speak, friend and comment!

Whether you were introduced to Tolkien by Orlando Bloom’s shield-surfing antics, or if you have read The Lord of the Rings every summer since the 3rd grade (guilty), there is always more you can do to become the Tolkien superfan you have always aspired to be.

Here are ten suggestions…
Features
Today in Middle-Earth history: September 29th
09.30.09 | Kunochan | Permalink | Speak, friend and comment!

In 3021, Bilbo and Frodo, joined by Gandalf, Galadriel and Círdan, leave Middle-earth, sailing west presumably to Tol Eressëa, off the shores of the Undying Lands.
News
‘The Hobbit’ first published 72 years ago this week
09.22.09 | Kunochan | Permalink | Speak, friend and comment!

Seventy-two years ago yesterday, JRR Tolkien’s first novel, The Hobbit, was published by George Allen & Unwin, Ltd. of London.

The 1,500 copies of the first printing sold out by the end of that year, 1937.
Features, Humor
If LOTR Had Been Written By a Game Developer
08.11.09 | Kunochan | Permalink | 3 Comments

“Frodo!” Gandalf cried, as the old man rose up suddenly proud and strong like an elf king of old. “The armies of Mordor stand at the gates of Minas Tirith! Rohan has fallen, and Erebor is is besieged! The hour is late, and the Ring must be destr—is that really a Silmaril?”
Language
Tolkien word of the day: ‘mathom’
08.11.09 | Kunochan | Permalink | Speak, friend and comment!

A mathom is an item, usually received as a gift, which has no genuine use, but cannot be thrown away because it is too valuable, or because the gift-giver will be offended.
News
‘Fellowship’ Published 55 Years Ago Today
07.19.09 | Kunochan | Permalink | Speak, friend and comment!

On July 19th, 1954, 55 years ago today, The Fellowship of the Ring, the first volume of The Lord of the Rings, was published in London. The book was published in three volumes (instead of JRR Tolkien’s preferred seven) over the course of more than a year
Tolkien 101
Tolkien 101: Sauron Gorthaur
06.29.09 | Kunochan | Permalink | 1 Comment

Sauron is the titular character and primary villain of The Lord of the Rings. He is introduced as The Necromancer in The Hobbit; and his origins and history are recounted in The Silmarillion. But who is Sauron? Why is he so evil? And how did he become so obsessed with locating missing jewelry?
Features, Opinion
Jackson versus Tolkien – a long-overdue list of gripes
02.16.09 | Kunochan | Permalink | Speak, friend and comment!

Let me be clear — I love the movies. Love them. I genuinely do not believe that any other filmmaker on the planet would have done as good a job as Mr. Jackson… But here are my major gripes, as far as changes from the books.