https://tolkiengateway.net/w/api.php?action=feedcontributions&user=Sancho+proudfoot&feedformat=atomTolkien Gateway - User contributions [en]2024-03-29T08:55:40ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.39.3https://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=File:Priscilla_Tolkien.jpg&diff=15748File:Priscilla Tolkien.jpg2006-04-17T20:11:06Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: Priscilla Tolkien (taken in 2005)</p>
<hr />
<div>Priscilla Tolkien (taken in 2005)</div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Hyarion&diff=15746User talk:Hyarion2006-04-17T19:58:15Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: /* Uploading pictures */</p>
<hr />
<div>==Need Help With Footnotes!==<br />
Hyarion, I need help getting the footnotes working on the [[Chamber of Mazarbul]] page. Could you help? Thanks so much.<br />
<br />
-Old Took<br />
<br />
:I saw you added that on the [[Talk:Chamber of Mazarbul|talk page]] but wasn't sure what you meant as the links work fine for me. What doesn't seem to be working for you? When I click them it sends the page down to align the top line with the relevant footnote, and when you click the up arrow it will jump you back up to the in-text citation. Am I missing something? Keep in mind the footnotes aren't very effective as the page can only scroll so much, thus rending it incapable of going all the way down to the correct reference. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 22:24, 3 April 2006 (EDT)<br />
<br />
::Sorry, it was a browser problem of mine. Everything's fine now! -Old Took<br />
<br />
==Question==<br />
Hello, Hyarion!<br />
<br />
I hope this is the right place to send messages - if not, please erase this.<br />
<br />
Well, I was suprised to see that I was the second person to register in here, but that's even better: there's plenty of room to fill in. <br />
<br />
I found these pages - as you might guess - via the Finnish Kontu forum, where the administrator Merri had posted a message informing about possibilities for co-operation. So I hope there will be more Finns to register in. I'll send my contributions when I have time to do that - quite irregularly, I'm afraid, but let's hope the best.<br />
<br />
yours, Tik<br />
<br />
By the way, how does one start writing a new article to which there exists no previous <br />
link? I couldn't figure that out, being quite unaccustomed to Wiki. The only way I could start writing a new article was to edit a previous one and add there a new internal link and continue editing that one.<br />
<br />
:I have a feeling that will be a common one (because I had to figure that one out myself) so I'll post that on the help page. All you have to do is type in your address bar, something like http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Title of Page (it will even insert the underscores for you) and you will be directed to a page that does not exist and you can edit it that way. <br />
<br />
:Also, something I broke my own rule on, its a good idea to type a 'signature' when adding a comment to a discussion, otherwise no one knows who wrote it. I wish mediawiki would do it automatically, but until I fix that, a good standard to use is like mine below, just type "&mdash ;" but take the space out between the h and the semicolon...I can't figure out how to show those literally. You can also use -- it's just a matter of preference. And then type 4 ~ in a row. The first one prints out your name, second the time, 3rd the date, and 4th the timezone I believe.<br />
<br />
:EDIT: Hm...looks like your one step ahead of me, on your pages, you have exactly that.<br />
<br />
:EDIT: On second thought I'm going to move this to User:Hyarion because I'll probably keep this page to say what the English translation of Hyarion is. -- [[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 11:41, 12 Jun 2005 (EDT)<br />
<br />
== Answer To Your Question ==<br />
<br />
A lot of my stuff is at my LJ, [http://www.livejournal.com/users/brighty11/ ~~Black Sun~~], and some is at Parma, OF and Elfsheen, but a lot is just on my hard disk. :)<br />
<br />
&mdash; [[User:BrightSideoftheDark|Brighty]] 6:22, 25 Aug 2005 (EDT)<br />
<br />
== Bokkie Moans ==<br />
<br />
Hey<br />
<br />
Can you try and make a [[Special:Sandbox]] for us users to try stuff out in?<br />
makes editing family lines and such easier...<br />
<br />
I've spotted a difference of opinion... 8-)<br />
I've been trying to remove all the '''Hobbits Category''' entries from the different hobbits, but I see you add them still... It did make it easier for me to check who had been edited...<br />
I guess we want them back?<br />
<br />
* Ah, hehe. That is something I was debating. I wonder if it is possible to have a 'Hobbits' cateogry and in it, list the hobbit family names, but have it also contain a list of all the hobbits since those are sub-categories. I guess when it comes down to it I just want a page that lists all the Hobbits, whatever way works I'm fine with. Sorry I totally forgot you were removing those, heh, I'll look into it to see what way will work. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 16:44, 9 Sep 2005 (EDT)<br />
::I'll leave the Hobbit category be then. I guess it would be just as useful to have all the hobbits in one big list, as it was. Just add a category for the specific family too, like you did 8-)<br />
I've got my doubts about double pages like [[Sam Gamgee]] and [[Samwise Gamgee]].<br />
It basically is one and the same person, only a nickname or shortform. I would rather see 1 article with a list of "aliases"... --[[User:Bokkie|Bokkie]] 17:42, 14 Sep 2005 (EDT)<br />
:I understand where you're coming from and I'll keep thinking about it, but for the time being I still say that it would be more beneficial to have the names on seperate pages, because each name has a specific meaning. For example [[Aragorn Elessar]] and [[Strider]] and such, you can go into great detail about the different names and people who called him that, places he used it, and the [[Elvish]] translations along with the old english meanings, etc. This would tend to drag down the [[Aragorn Elessar]] page to list all the names/information on it. For things like [[Sam Gamgee]] there is not going to be as much information to talk about it, but just to keep the same system I think it's best to keep it. In the future we can list when he is referred to as 'Sam' and by whom. Just my opinion though. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 00:15, 15 Sep 2005 (EDT)<br />
<br />
== Sandbox ==<br />
<br />
Good idea, I'll add that to the to-do list while I upgrade the new wiki software, which should greatly improve the left menu, I'm going to be able to add things like links to the letters A-Z or links to races or to whatever we want and in different tables, if you have any suggestions let me know. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 16:39, 9 Sep 2005 (EDT)<br />
<br />
==What Happened to Me?==<br />
This is Brighty - what happened to me? I tried to log in and it said I don't exist. Weird.<br />
::Were you using "BrightSideoftheDark"? Your still on the userlist, odd. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 21:51, 3 November 2005 (EST)<br />
<br />
== Cirith Gorgor and related bands ==<br />
<br />
Hey Hyarion,<br />
<br />
Like Blind Guardian not all songs relate to Tolkien, but the ones that do stick to theme. Do you want bands to stick with just a band page?<br />
:Honestly it's up to you, that's the best part, no one person has full control and we as a community can make decisions, but with the [[Blind Guardian]] page I just copied that from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_Guardian for now and have yet to remove the unnecessary links, which was my fault because you were basing your articles off that. With Blind Guardian, as with [[Cirith Gorgor (band)|Cirith Gorgor]] it is tricky because the [[J.R.R. Tolkien|Tolkien]] theme is greater in some albums and songs than others so there is no easy fine line. In the end more information is always better than less and if in the future we deem the articles as unnecessary it won't take any effort to remove them. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 18:05, 28 November 2005 (EST)<br />
::Ah ok. I was gonna just throw up a band page but saw all the information on Blind Guardian I figure I better not slack and add some more :P I'll clean it up and keep it that way in the future.<br />
<br />
== Barrowdowns Mb ==<br />
<br />
Hey Hyarion,<br />
<br />
I like your idea about the barrowdowns.com MB, I say lets do it.-Goldfinger<br />
<br />
<br />
==Spam==<br />
Hi Hyarion Firstly love this site! Secondly we have a troll adding porn links: Hfskodweyb I have edited and deleted the nonesense twice but it reappears. you may need to block this spammer {{unsigned|Sancho proudfoot}}<br />
:Good morning Sancho! Yes unfortunately we do get bots from time to time. Luckily they are just trying to gain PageRank so they normally try to hide the links. In an upcoming patch we will be forcing unregistered users to type in some random numbers/letters from an image to stop the bots. This one managed to register which makes it a bit more difficult to stop but the best we can do is add an extension that only allows people to edit X amount of pages in X amount of minutes which I'm looking into as well. Thanks for keeping an eye on it.<br />
--[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 10:57, 14 April 2006 (EDT)<br />
<br />
<br />
== Ñoldor vs. Noldor ==<br />
Hello. You asked about the use of ñ, and the answer's pretty complicated. First let me say the I changed the n to ñ just to be consistent in the text - I really don't care much one way or the other. And here's the long story behind it all...<br />
<br />
Ñ is used as a nasal plosive by Tolkien, so it would sound something like "ng" in "song" or "king". This is Quenya in its purist form. The Vanyar in Aman would say "Ñoldor", not "Noldor". Occasionally you will even see "Ñoldor" spelled "Ngoldor". However, in Middle Earth, the mixing of languages changed pronounciations, so by the Third Age an elf would just as likely say "Noldor", as "Ñoldor". Older pronounciations did continue into the Third Age; for example the name "Elrond". Quenya in the Third Age tended to drop the "d" at the end of words, but Elrond was always referred to by his archaic name, rather than by "Elron". <br />
<br />
You wanted citations, but I can't name them off the top of my head. Check out this page: http://www.uib.no/people/hnohf/ndnn.htm for more info. He's a linguist that knows his stuff and where I got my knowledge of Quenya.<br />
<br />
So there you go, the sordid tale of "ñ". The whole thing comes down to whether the text is referring to ancient "Ñoldor" or the "Noldor" of the Third Age. If a final decision needs to be made, I would use "Noldor" throughout the site and mention in passing that "Ñoldor" is the older spelling and pronounciation of the word.<br />
<br />
Hope this helps.<br />
<br />
== More on Spam ==<br />
In regards to the spam comment above: since the site uses MediaWiki, it's very easy to disallow anonymous editing. While it will slightly slow down the growth of the site, it adds a layer of protection that a wiki needs to stay relevant to its audience. Few bots can handle the complexity of registering, especially if email confirmation is required. It's a bit of a pain for casual users, but it's worth it in the long run. Just my two cents.<br />
<br />
== Uploading pictures ==<br />
<br />
I Have been trying to add a photo, but I get the message ".jpg]] is not a valid picture format"<br />
<br />
What am I doing wrong ( perhaps you can give an 'idiot's guide' on adding photos. (The one I wish to upload is saved in my hard drive)<br />
<br />
:Odd, I've never had any problems with uploading images. What is the destination filename you are using? From here it looks like you are maybe typing the destination filename as "<nowiki>[[Blah.jpg]]</nowiki>" when all you really need to say is "Blah.jpg", no need for any brackets. Let me know if that helps. When I upload images I don't even bother altering the destination filename as it will automatically insert whatever your file is called on your computer. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 15:52, 17 April 2006 (EDT)<br />
<br />
Ok that worked, but haven't any idea of how to link it to the relevant page. Can you move it please?</div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Hyarion&diff=15743User talk:Hyarion2006-04-17T19:48:02Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: Uploading pictures</p>
<hr />
<div>==Need Help With Footnotes!==<br />
Hyarion, I need help getting the footnotes working on the [[Chamber of Mazarbul]] page. Could you help? Thanks so much.<br />
<br />
-Old Took<br />
<br />
:I saw you added that on the [[Talk:Chamber of Mazarbul|talk page]] but wasn't sure what you meant as the links work fine for me. What doesn't seem to be working for you? When I click them it sends the page down to align the top line with the relevant footnote, and when you click the up arrow it will jump you back up to the in-text citation. Am I missing something? Keep in mind the footnotes aren't very effective as the page can only scroll so much, thus rending it incapable of going all the way down to the correct reference. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 22:24, 3 April 2006 (EDT)<br />
<br />
::Sorry, it was a browser problem of mine. Everything's fine now! -Old Took<br />
<br />
==Question==<br />
Hello, Hyarion!<br />
<br />
I hope this is the right place to send messages - if not, please erase this.<br />
<br />
Well, I was suprised to see that I was the second person to register in here, but that's even better: there's plenty of room to fill in. <br />
<br />
I found these pages - as you might guess - via the Finnish Kontu forum, where the administrator Merri had posted a message informing about possibilities for co-operation. So I hope there will be more Finns to register in. I'll send my contributions when I have time to do that - quite irregularly, I'm afraid, but let's hope the best.<br />
<br />
yours, Tik<br />
<br />
By the way, how does one start writing a new article to which there exists no previous <br />
link? I couldn't figure that out, being quite unaccustomed to Wiki. The only way I could start writing a new article was to edit a previous one and add there a new internal link and continue editing that one.<br />
<br />
:I have a feeling that will be a common one (because I had to figure that one out myself) so I'll post that on the help page. All you have to do is type in your address bar, something like http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Title of Page (it will even insert the underscores for you) and you will be directed to a page that does not exist and you can edit it that way. <br />
<br />
:Also, something I broke my own rule on, its a good idea to type a 'signature' when adding a comment to a discussion, otherwise no one knows who wrote it. I wish mediawiki would do it automatically, but until I fix that, a good standard to use is like mine below, just type "&mdash ;" but take the space out between the h and the semicolon...I can't figure out how to show those literally. You can also use -- it's just a matter of preference. And then type 4 ~ in a row. The first one prints out your name, second the time, 3rd the date, and 4th the timezone I believe.<br />
<br />
:EDIT: Hm...looks like your one step ahead of me, on your pages, you have exactly that.<br />
<br />
:EDIT: On second thought I'm going to move this to User:Hyarion because I'll probably keep this page to say what the English translation of Hyarion is. -- [[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 11:41, 12 Jun 2005 (EDT)<br />
<br />
== Answer To Your Question ==<br />
<br />
A lot of my stuff is at my LJ, [http://www.livejournal.com/users/brighty11/ ~~Black Sun~~], and some is at Parma, OF and Elfsheen, but a lot is just on my hard disk. :)<br />
<br />
&mdash; [[User:BrightSideoftheDark|Brighty]] 6:22, 25 Aug 2005 (EDT)<br />
<br />
== Bokkie Moans ==<br />
<br />
Hey<br />
<br />
Can you try and make a [[Special:Sandbox]] for us users to try stuff out in?<br />
makes editing family lines and such easier...<br />
<br />
I've spotted a difference of opinion... 8-)<br />
I've been trying to remove all the '''Hobbits Category''' entries from the different hobbits, but I see you add them still... It did make it easier for me to check who had been edited...<br />
I guess we want them back?<br />
<br />
* Ah, hehe. That is something I was debating. I wonder if it is possible to have a 'Hobbits' cateogry and in it, list the hobbit family names, but have it also contain a list of all the hobbits since those are sub-categories. I guess when it comes down to it I just want a page that lists all the Hobbits, whatever way works I'm fine with. Sorry I totally forgot you were removing those, heh, I'll look into it to see what way will work. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 16:44, 9 Sep 2005 (EDT)<br />
::I'll leave the Hobbit category be then. I guess it would be just as useful to have all the hobbits in one big list, as it was. Just add a category for the specific family too, like you did 8-)<br />
I've got my doubts about double pages like [[Sam Gamgee]] and [[Samwise Gamgee]].<br />
It basically is one and the same person, only a nickname or shortform. I would rather see 1 article with a list of "aliases"... --[[User:Bokkie|Bokkie]] 17:42, 14 Sep 2005 (EDT)<br />
:I understand where you're coming from and I'll keep thinking about it, but for the time being I still say that it would be more beneficial to have the names on seperate pages, because each name has a specific meaning. For example [[Aragorn Elessar]] and [[Strider]] and such, you can go into great detail about the different names and people who called him that, places he used it, and the [[Elvish]] translations along with the old english meanings, etc. This would tend to drag down the [[Aragorn Elessar]] page to list all the names/information on it. For things like [[Sam Gamgee]] there is not going to be as much information to talk about it, but just to keep the same system I think it's best to keep it. In the future we can list when he is referred to as 'Sam' and by whom. Just my opinion though. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 00:15, 15 Sep 2005 (EDT)<br />
<br />
== Sandbox ==<br />
<br />
Good idea, I'll add that to the to-do list while I upgrade the new wiki software, which should greatly improve the left menu, I'm going to be able to add things like links to the letters A-Z or links to races or to whatever we want and in different tables, if you have any suggestions let me know. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 16:39, 9 Sep 2005 (EDT)<br />
<br />
==What Happened to Me?==<br />
This is Brighty - what happened to me? I tried to log in and it said I don't exist. Weird.<br />
::Were you using "BrightSideoftheDark"? Your still on the userlist, odd. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 21:51, 3 November 2005 (EST)<br />
<br />
== Cirith Gorgor and related bands ==<br />
<br />
Hey Hyarion,<br />
<br />
Like Blind Guardian not all songs relate to Tolkien, but the ones that do stick to theme. Do you want bands to stick with just a band page?<br />
:Honestly it's up to you, that's the best part, no one person has full control and we as a community can make decisions, but with the [[Blind Guardian]] page I just copied that from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_Guardian for now and have yet to remove the unnecessary links, which was my fault because you were basing your articles off that. With Blind Guardian, as with [[Cirith Gorgor (band)|Cirith Gorgor]] it is tricky because the [[J.R.R. Tolkien|Tolkien]] theme is greater in some albums and songs than others so there is no easy fine line. In the end more information is always better than less and if in the future we deem the articles as unnecessary it won't take any effort to remove them. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 18:05, 28 November 2005 (EST)<br />
::Ah ok. I was gonna just throw up a band page but saw all the information on Blind Guardian I figure I better not slack and add some more :P I'll clean it up and keep it that way in the future.<br />
<br />
== Barrowdowns Mb ==<br />
<br />
Hey Hyarion,<br />
<br />
I like your idea about the barrowdowns.com MB, I say lets do it.-Goldfinger<br />
<br />
<br />
==Spam==<br />
Hi Hyarion Firstly love this site! Secondly we have a troll adding porn links: Hfskodweyb I have edited and deleted the nonesense twice but it reappears. you may need to block this spammer {{unsigned|Sancho proudfoot}}<br />
:Good morning Sancho! Yes unfortunately we do get bots from time to time. Luckily they are just trying to gain PageRank so they normally try to hide the links. In an upcoming patch we will be forcing unregistered users to type in some random numbers/letters from an image to stop the bots. This one managed to register which makes it a bit more difficult to stop but the best we can do is add an extension that only allows people to edit X amount of pages in X amount of minutes which I'm looking into as well. Thanks for keeping an eye on it.<br />
--[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 10:57, 14 April 2006 (EDT)<br />
<br />
<br />
== Ñoldor vs. Noldor ==<br />
Hello. You asked about the use of ñ, and the answer's pretty complicated. First let me say the I changed the n to ñ just to be consistent in the text - I really don't care much one way or the other. And here's the long story behind it all...<br />
<br />
Ñ is used as a nasal plosive by Tolkien, so it would sound something like "ng" in "song" or "king". This is Quenya in its purist form. The Vanyar in Aman would say "Ñoldor", not "Noldor". Occasionally you will even see "Ñoldor" spelled "Ngoldor". However, in Middle Earth, the mixing of languages changed pronounciations, so by the Third Age an elf would just as likely say "Noldor", as "Ñoldor". Older pronounciations did continue into the Third Age; for example the name "Elrond". Quenya in the Third Age tended to drop the "d" at the end of words, but Elrond was always referred to by his archaic name, rather than by "Elron". <br />
<br />
You wanted citations, but I can't name them off the top of my head. Check out this page: http://www.uib.no/people/hnohf/ndnn.htm for more info. He's a linguist that knows his stuff and where I got my knowledge of Quenya.<br />
<br />
So there you go, the sordid tale of "ñ". The whole thing comes down to whether the text is referring to ancient "Ñoldor" or the "Noldor" of the Third Age. If a final decision needs to be made, I would use "Noldor" throughout the site and mention in passing that "Ñoldor" is the older spelling and pronounciation of the word.<br />
<br />
Hope this helps.<br />
<br />
== More on Spam ==<br />
In regards to the spam comment above: since the site uses MediaWiki, it's very easy to disallow anonymous editing. While it will slightly slow down the growth of the site, it adds a layer of protection that a wiki needs to stay relevant to its audience. Few bots can handle the complexity of registering, especially if email confirmation is required. It's a bit of a pain for casual users, but it's worth it in the long run. Just my two cents.<br />
<br />
== Uploading pictures ==<br />
<br />
I Have been trying to add a photo, but I get the message ".jpg]] is not a valid picture format"<br />
<br />
What am I doing wrong ( perhaps you can give an 'idiot's guide' on adding photos. (The one I wish to upload is saved in my hard drive)</div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Humphrey_Carpenter&diff=15740Humphrey Carpenter2006-04-17T19:39:05Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>'''Humphrey Carpenter''' (1946 - 2005)<br />
<br />
Carpenter wrote the Authorised Biography of J.R.R. Tolkien published by [[Allen & Unwin]] in 1977, as well as helped edit [[The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien]] (1981). He died at the young age of 58 from heart failure.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Authors]]</div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=The_Lord_of_the_Rings&diff=15739The Lord of the Rings2006-04-17T19:34:20Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: /* The New Line Cinema films */</p>
<hr />
<div>'''''The Lord of the Rings''''' is an epic fantasy story by [[J.R.R. Tolkien]], a sequel to his earlier work, ''[[The Hobbit]]''. It was published in three volumes in 1954 and 1955. Three movie productions have been made, the first, by animator [[Ralph Bakshi]] was released in 1978 (as part one of what was originally to be a two-part adaptation of the story), the second being a 1980 television special, and the third being director [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]] released in 2001, 2002, and 2003.<br />
<br />
<br />
The story's titular character is the Dark Lord [[Sauron]] of [[Mordor]]. The primary villain of the work, he created the One Ring to control nineteen other Rings of Power, and is thus the "Lord of the Rings." Sauron, in turn, was the servant of an earlier Dark Lord, [[Morgoth]] (Melkor), who is prominent in Tolkien's ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', the history of Middle-earth.<br />
<br />
==Books and volumes==<br />
<br />
===Writing===<br />
<br />
Tolkien did not originally intend to write a sequel to ''[[The Hobbit]]'', and instead wrote several other children's tales, including ''[[Roverandom]]'' and ''[[Farmer Giles of Ham]]''. As his main work, Tolkien began to outline the history of [[Arda]], telling tales of the [[Silmarils]], and many other stories of how the races and situations that we read about in the Lord of the Rings trilogy came to be. Tolkien died before he could complete and put together ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', but his son [[Christopher Tolkien]] edited his father's work, filled in gaps and published in 1977.<br />
<br />
Tolkien had a deep desire to write a mythology for England, especially after his horrific experiences during the First World War. He was also influenced by the effects of continued industralisation, where he saw much of the England he loved passing away and became aware of the immense evil in the world. Thus to understand his writings we must be aware of how Tolkien the scholar influences Tolkien the author. His writing of this mythology emerges as an Oxford philologist well acquainted with Northern European Medieval Literature including the great mythic works such as the [[Hervarar saga]], the [[Völsunga saga]], the influential [[Beowulf]] as well as other Old Norse, Old and Middle English Texts. He was also inspired by non-Germanic works such as the Finnish epic [[Kalevala]]. A man who had created his first language by the age of seven, he was driven by a desire to write a mythology for England influenced by his exposure and expertise of these ancient traditions. The need for such a myth was often a topic of conversation in his meetings with the [[Inklings]], fellow Oxford scholars who have been described as Christian Romantics, meeting weekly and discussing Icelandic myths and their own unpublished compositions. Tolkien agreed with one of the other members of the group, [[C.S. Lewis]], that if there were no adequate myths for England then they would have to write their own. Tolkien's work has been commonly interpreted in this light.<br />
<br />
Persuaded by his publishers, he started 'a new hobbit' in December 1937. After several false starts, the story of the One Ring soon emerged, and the book mutated from being a sequel to the Hobbit, to being, in theme, more a sequel to the unpublished ''[[The Silmarillion|Silmarillion]]''. The idea of the first chapter (''A Long-Expected Party'') arrived fully-formed, although the reasons behind Bilbo's disappearance, and the significance of the Ring did not arrive, along with the title ''The Lord of the Rings'' until spring 1938. Originally he was going to write another story in which Bilbo had used up all his treasure and was looking for another adventure to gain more; however he remembered the ring and the powers it had and decided to write about that instead. He started to write it with Bilbo as the main character but decided that the story was too serious to use the fun loving Hobbit so Tolkien looked to use a member of Bilbo's family. He thought about using Bilbo's son but this generated some difficult questions &mdash; Where was his wife? How could Bilbo let his son go into that kind of danger? &mdash; so he looked for an alternate character to carry the ring. In Greek legend, it was a hero's nephew that gained the item of power, and so into existence came the Hobbit Frodo. <br />
<br />
Writing was slow due to Tolkien's perfectionism, and was frequently interrupted by his obligations as an examiner, and other academic duties. In fact, the first sentence of ''[[The Hobbit]]'' was written on a blank page a student had left on an exam paper that Tolkien was grading &mdash; "In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit". He seems to have abandoned the book during most of 1943 and only re-started it in April 1944. This effort was written as a serial for [[Christopher Tolkien]] and [[C.S. Lewis]] &mdash; the former would be sent copies of chapters as they were written while he was serving in [[Africa]] in the [[Royal Air Force]]. He made another push in 1946, and showed a copy of the manuscript to his publishers in 1947. The story was effectively finished the next year, but Tolkien did not finish revising earlier parts of the work until 1949.<br />
<br />
A dispute with his publishers, [[Allen & Unwin]], led to the book being offered to [[Collins]] in 1950. He intended ''the Silmarillion'' (itself largely unrevised at this point) to be published along with ''The Lord of the Rings'', but A&U were unwilling to do this. After his contact at Collins, Milton Waldman, expressed the belief that ''The Lord of the Rings'' itself 'urgently needed cutting', he eventually demanded that they publish the book in 1952. They did not do so, and so Tolkien wrote to Allen and Unwin, saying "I would gladly consider the publication of any part of the stuff".<br />
<br />
===Publication===<br />
<br />
For publication, due largely to post-war paper shortages, but also to keep the price of the first volume down, the book was divided into three volumes (''[[The Fellowship of the Ring]]'': Books I and II; ''[[The Two Towers]]'': Books III and IV; and ''[[The Return of the King]]'': Books V and VI, 6 appendices). Delays in producing appendices and maps led to these being published later than originally hoped &mdash; on the 29 July and 11 November 1954 and 20 October 1955 in the United Kingdom, slightly later in the United States. ''The Return of the King'' was especially delayed. He did not, however, much like the title ''The Return of the King'', believing it gave away too much of the storyline. He had originally suggested ''[[The War of the Ring]]'' which was dismissed by his publishers.<br />
<br />
The books were published under a 'profit-sharing' arrangement, where Tolkien would not receive an advance or royalties until the books had broken even, but after then take a large share of the profits.<br />
<br />
An index to the entire 3-volume set at the end of third volume was promised in the first volume. However, this proved impractical to compile in a reasonable timescale. Later, in 1966, four indices which were not compiled by Tolkien were added to ''The Return of the King''.<br />
<br />
Because the three-volume binding was so widely distributed, the work is usually referred to as the ''Lord of the Rings'' "trilogy". Tolkien himself made use of the term "trilogy" for the work, though he did at other times consider this incorrect, as it was written and conceived as a single novel. <br />
<br />
A 1999 (Millennium Edition) British (ISBN 0-261-10387-3) 7-volume box set followed the six-book division authored by Tolkien, but with the Appendices from the end of Book VI bound as a separate volume. The letters of ''Tolkien'' appear on the spines of the boxed set which includes a CD.<br />
The individual names for books in this series were decided posthumously, based on a combination of suggestions Tolkien had made during his lifetime, title of the volumes, and whole cloth<!--whole cloth?--> &mdash; viz:<br />
<br />
* T Book I: ''The Ring Sets Out''<br />
* O Book II: ''The Ring Goes South''<br />
* L Book III: ''The Treason of Isengard''<br />
* K Book IV: ''The Ring Goes East''<br />
* I Book V: ''The War of the Ring''<br />
* E Book VI: ''The End of the Third Age''<br />
* N Appendices<br />
<br />
The name of the complete work is often abbreviated to ''''LotR'''', ''''LOTR'''', or simply ''''LR'''', and the three volumes as FR, FOTR, or FotR (The '''F'''ellowship '''o'''f '''t'''he '''R'''ing), TT or TTT ('''T'''he '''T'''wo '''T'''owers), and RK, ROTK, or RotK (The '''R'''eturn '''o'''f '''t'''he '''K'''ing).<br />
<br />
Note that the three titles ''The Return of the Shadow'', ''The Treason of Isengard'' and ''The War of the Ring'' were used by [[Christopher Tolkien]] in [[The History of The Lord of the Rings]].<br />
<br />
Some locations and characters were inspired by Tolkien's childhood in [[Sarehole]], then a [[Warwickshire]] village, now part of [[Birmingham]], and in Birmingham itself.<br />
<br />
== Publication history ==<br />
<br />
The three parts were first published by [[Allen &amp; Unwin]] in 1954&ndash;1955 several months apart. They were later reissued many times by multiple publishers, as one, three, six or seven volumes. Two current printings are ISBN 0-618-34399-7 (one-volume) and ISBN 0-618-34624-4 (three volume set).<br />
<br />
In the early 1960s, Donald A. Wollheim, science fiction editor of the paperback publisher [[Ace Books]], realized that ''The Lord of the Rings'' was not protected in the United States under American copyright law because the US hardcover edition had been bound from pages printed in the UK for the British edition. Ace Books proceeded to publish an edition, unauthorized by Tolkien and without compensation to him. Tolkien made this plain to US fans who wrote to him. Grass-roots pressure became so great that Ace books withdrew their edition and made a nominal payment to Tolkien, well below what he might have been due in an appropriate publication. However, this poor beginning was overshadowed when an authorized edition followed from [[Ballantine Books]] to tremendous commercial success. By the mid-1960s the books, due to their wide exposure on the American public stage, had become a true cultural phenomenon. The Second Edition of the Lord of the Rings dates from this time &mdash; Tolkien undertook various textual revisions to produce a version of the book that would have a valid U.S. copyright.<br />
<br />
The books have been translated, with various degrees of success, into dozens of other languages. <br />
Tolkien, an expert in philology, examined many of these translations, and had comments on each that illuminate both the translation process and his work.<br />
<br />
The enormous popular success of Tolkien's epic saga greatly expanded the demand for fantasy fiction. Largely thanks to ''The Lord of the Rings'', the genre flowered throughout the 1960s. Many well-written books of this genre were published (comparable works include the ''Earthsea'' books of Ursula K. Le Guin, the ''Thomas Covenant'' novels of Stephen R. Donaldson, and in the case of the ''Gormenghast'' books by Mervyn Peake, and ''The Worm Ourobouros'' by E. R. Eddison, rediscovered. It also strongly influenced the role playing game industry that achieved popularity in the 1970s with ''Dungeons & Dragons'' which featured many creatures that could be found in Tolkien's books.<br />
<br />
As in all artistic fields, a great many lesser derivatives of the more prominent works appeared. The term "Tolkienesque" is used in the genre to refer to the oft-used and abused storyline of ''The Lord of the Rings'': a group of adventurers embarking on a quest to save a magical fantasy world from the armies of an evil "[[Dark Lord|dark lord]]", and is a testament to how much the popularity of these books has increased, since many critics initially decried Lord of the Rings as being "[[Richard Wagner| Wagner]] for children" (a reference to the [[Ring Cycle]]) &mdash; a specially interesting commentary in light of a possible interpretation of The Lord of The Rings as a Christian response to Wagner, for exemple following [http://atimes.com./atimes/others/spengler.html ATimes' pseudo-Oswald Spengler].<br />
<br />
== The books ==<br />
<br />
''The Lord of the Rings'' began as a personal exploration by Tolkien of his interests in philology, religion (particularly Roman Catholicism); fairy tales, and Norse and Celtic mythology.<br />
Tolkien detailed his creation to an astounding extent; he created a complete mythology for his realm of Middle-earth, including genealogies of characters, languages, [[runes]], calendars and histories.<br />
Some of this supplementary material is detailed in the appendices to ''The Lord of the Rings'', and the mythological history was woven into a large, biblically-styled volume entitled ''[[The Silmarillion]]''.<br />
<br />
J. R. R. Tolkien once described ''The Lord of the Rings'' as "''a fundamentally religious and Catholic work''" he wrote to his friend, the English Jesuit Father Robert Murray, "''unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision.''"(''[[The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien]]'', 142). There are many theological themes underlying the narrative, the battle of good versus evil, the triumph of humility over pride, the activity of grace, Death and Immortality, Resurrection, Salvation, Repentance, Self-Sacrifice, Free Will, Humility, Justice, Fellowship, Authority and Healing.<br />
In it the great virtues of Mercy and Pity (shown by Bilbo and Frodo towards Gollum) win the day and the message from the Lord's Prayer "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" was very much on Tolkien's mind as Frodo struggled against the power of the One Ring (''Letters'', 181 and 191).<br />
<br />
Religious motifs other than Christian can be discerned as strong influences in Tolkien's Middle Earth. The pantheon of the Valar and Maiar (greater and lesser gods/angels) responsible for the creation and maintenance of everything from skies (Manwe) and seas (Ulmo), to dreams (Lorien) and dooms (Mandos) suggest a pre-Christian mythology in style, albeit that these Valar and Maiar are themselves creations of a monotheistic entity &mdash; Illuvatar or Eru, "The One". <br />
<br />
Other pre-Christian mythological references can be seen in the representations of: a "Green Man" &mdash; Tom Bombadil, wise-men &mdash; the Istari (commonly referred to as the Wizards, perhaps more of angels), shapechangers &mdash; Beorn, undead spirits &mdash; Barrow Wights, Oathbreakers, sentient nonhumans &mdash; Dwarves, Elves, Hobbits, and, of course, Ents. Magic is utilised freely in Middle Earth, and may be found not only in the incantations of Wizards, but in the weapons and tools of warriors and craftspeople, in the perceptions and abilities of heroes, and in the natural world itself. <br />
<br />
Tolkien did repeatedly insist that his works were not an allegory of any kind, and even though his thoughts on the matter are mentioned in the introduction of the book, there has been heavy speculation about the Ruling Ring being an allegory for the atom bomb. However, Tolkien had already completed most of the book, and planned the ending in entirety, before the first atom bombs were made public to the world during the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. However there is a strong theme of despair in front of new mechanized warfare that Tolkien himself had experienced in the trenches of World War One. The development of a specially bred orc army, and the destruction of the environment to aid this have modern resonances. Nevertheless, the author's own opinion on the matter of allegories was that he disliked them, and it would be irresponsible to dismiss such direct statements on these matters lightly. <br />
<br />
The plot of ''The Lord of the Rings'' builds from his earlier book ''[[The Hobbit]]'' and more obliquely from the history in ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', which contains events to which the characters of ''The Lord of the Rings'' look back upon in the book.<br />
The [[hobbit]]s become embroiled in great events that threaten their entire world, as [[Sauron]], an evil spirit, attempts to regain the lost [[One Ring]] which will restore him to full potency.<br />
<br />
=== The Verse of the One Ring ===<br />
:''Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,''<br />
:''&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,''<br />
:''Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,''<br />
:''&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne''<br />
:''In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.''<br />
:''&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,''<br />
:''&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them''<br />
:''In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.''<br />
<br />
The lines :<br />
:''&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,''<br />
:''&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them''<br />
are inscribed in the language of Sauron and Mordor (the Black Speech) on the One Ring itself. Phonetically it would be:<br />
:''Ash nazg durbatul&ucirc;k, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatul&ucirc;k agh burzum-ishi krimpatul''<br />
<br />
=== The storyline ===<br />
See the articles on ''[[The Fellowship of the Ring]]'', ''[[The Two Towers]]'', and ''[[The Return of the King]]'' for plot summaries.<br />
<br />
=== Criticism ===<br />
The book was characterized as "juvenile balderdash" by American critic [[Edmund Wilson]] in his essay "[http://www.jrrvf.com/sda/critiques/The_Nation.html Oo, those awful Orcs]", and in 1961 [[Philip Toynbee]] wrote, somewhat prematurely, that it had "passed into a merciful oblivion" [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/1695926.stm]. Although she had never read ''The Lord of the Rings'', [[Germaine Greer]] wrote "it has been my nightmare that Tolkien would turn out to be the most influential writer of the twentieth century. The bad dream has materialized." <br />
<br />
[[W.H. Auden]] also criticized the book in a 1968 ''Critical Quarterly'' article, "Good and evil in ''The Lord of the Rings''," objecting to Tolkien's conception of sentient species that are intrinsically evil without possibility of redemption.<!-- an actual quote from this article would be nice--> (This is a criticism often directed at [[Dungeons and Dragons]]-like fantasy worlds as well as at fantasy literature in general, and a criticism that Tolkien himself increasingly struggled with during his last years.) On the other hand, in a 1956 ''New York Times'' book review, "At the end of the Quest, Victory," Auden also called the book "a masterpiece of its genre" that "succeeded where [[John Milton|Milton]] failed" in depicting an epic battle between good and evil, and wrote that it "never violated" the "reader's sense of the credible."<br />
<br />
Science-fiction author [[David Brin]] has criticized the books for unquestioning devotion to a traditional elitist social structure, their positive depiction of the slaughter of the opposing forces, and their romantic backward-looking worldview [http://www.davidbrin.com/tolkienarticle1.html].<br />
<br />
Another notable SF writer Michael Moorcock wrote a long and piercing critique of the book under the title Epic Pooh advancing the thesis that it was simply a child's tale written in the language of epic myth.<br />
<br />
China Mieville, a modern fantasy writer, criticised Tolkien's works as "reactionary." Mieville is also a detractor of later fantasy which draws heavily upon Tolkien's work, based on the idea that such work is cliche.<br />
<br />
===Praise===<br />
"The English-speaking world is divided into those who have read ''The Lord of the Rings'' and ''The Hobbit'' and those who are going to read them." &mdash; ''Sunday Times''<br />
<br />
"Among the greatest works of imaginative fiction of the twentieth century." &mdash; ''Sunday Telegraph''<br />
<br />
"Here are the beauties which pierce like swords or burn like cold iron." &mdash; C.S. Lewis<br />
<br />
"J.R.R. Tolkien's epic trilogy remains the ultimate quest, the ultimate battle between good and evil, the ultimate chronicle of stewardship of the earth. Endlessly imitated, it never has been surpassed." &mdash; ''Kansas City Star''<br />
<br />
"A story magnificently told, with every kind of colour and movement and greatness." &mdash; ''New Statesman''<br />
<br />
Peter Jackson said, "&hellip;it is as if Tolkien found some secret scroll about the real history of earth&hellip;".<br />
<br />
== ''The Lord of the Rings'' on film ==<br />
===Early efforts===<br />
There were plans for [[the Beatles]] to do a version of ''The Lord of the Rings'' but they came to nothing. It was even said that Stanley Kubrick had looked into the possibility of filming the story, but he abandoned the idea as too "immense" to be made into a movie. In the mid-1970s, renowned film director [[John Boorman]] collaborated with film rights holder and producer [[Saul Zaentz]] to do a live action picture, but the project proved too expensive to finance at that time. Boorman would later use many of the locations and sets in his Arthurian epic "Excalibur" <br />
<br />
In 1978, [[Rankin/Bass]] studios produced the first real film adaptation of any ''Lord of the Rings'' related material with an animated television version of ''[[The Hobbit]]'', which was a precursor to ''The Lord of the Rings''.<br />
<br />
Shortly after, Saul Zaentz picked up where Rankin-Bass left off by producing an animated adaptation of ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' and part of ''The Two Towers'' in 1978.<br />
<br />
''[[Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings|The Lord of the Rings]]'', originally released by [[United Artists]] was directed by [[Ralph Bakshi]] and used an animation technique called rotoscoping in which footage of live actors was filmed and then traced over.<br />
<br />
The film was part one of what was originally to be a two-part adaptation of Tolkien's story, Part I ending after the battle of Helm's Deep, but before Sam, Frodo and Gollum traverse the [[Dead Marshes]], and Part II picking up from where the first film left off. Made for a minimal budget of $8 million dollars, the film earned $30 million dollars at the box office. <br />
<br />
United Artists viewed the film as a flop, and refused to fund a Part II (covering the rest of the story), leaving the door open for Rankin-Bass to do the work for him with the 1980 animated television version of ''[[Rankin/Bass' The Return of the King|The Return of the King]]''.<br />
<br />
However, the Rankin-Bass film picked up from where the book began, and not from where Bakshi's film left off. Additionally, the change in style and character design was quite noticeable. <br />
<br />
Since this film was targeted to a younger audience, adult enthusiasts have complained that much of the depth and darkness of the book was discarded.<br />
<br />
===The New Line Cinema films===<br />
<br />
''Main article [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]''<br />
<br />
[[Miramax]] Films developed a full-fledged live-action adaptation of ''The Lord of the Rings'', with [[Peter Jackson]] as director. Eventually, Miramax became uneasy with the sheer scope of the proposed projectand wanted to combine the suggested three films into two. [[Peter Jackson]] struck a deal with Miramax that if he could not find a fresh studio to back the project, he would walk away and leave the rights and all the work so far completed with Miramax. However, in 1998, [[New Line Cinema]] assumed production responsibility (while Miramax executives [[Bob Weinstein]] and [[Harvey Weinstein]] retained on-screen credits as executive producers on the films).<br />
<br />
The three live action films (supplemented with extensive computer-generated imagery, for example in the major battle scenes, using the "[[Massive]]" software) were filmed simultaneously. ''[[Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring|The Fellowship of the Ring]]'' was released on December 19, 2001. ''[[Peter Jackson's The Two Towers|The Two Towers]]'' was released on December 18, 2002 and ''[[Peter Jackson's The Return of the King|The Return of the King]]'' was released worldwide on December 17, 2003. All three films won the Hugo Award for Best (Long-form) Dramatic Presentation in their respective years.<br />
<br />
Although some have criticized these films because they have altered the story somewhat and, arguably, have a noticeably different tone from Tolkien's original vision, others have hailed them as remarkable achievements. [[Peter Jackson]] has defended his changes by stating that he views the films as merely one man's interpreatation.<br />
<br />
[[Peter Jackson]]'s film adaptations garnered seventeen Oscars (four for ''The Fellowship of the Ring'', two for ''The Two Towers'', and eleven for ''The Return of the King''); these cover many of the awards categories (in fact, ''The Return of the King'' won all of the eleven awards for which it was nominated, including Best Picture). With 30 total nominations, the trilogy also became the most-nominated in the Academy's history, surpassing the ''Godfather'' series (28).<br />
<br />
''The Return of the King''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Oscar sweep is widely seen as a proxy award for the entire trilogy. ''The Return of the King''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s 11 Oscars at the 2004 Academy Awards tied it for most awards won for one film with ''Titanic'' six years earlier and the 1959 version of ''Ben-Hur''. It also broke the previous "sweep" record, beating ''Gigi'' and ''The Last Emperor'' (which had gone 9 for 9).<br />
<br />
The visual-effects work has been groundbreaking, particularly the creation of the emotionally versatile digital character [[Gollum]].<br />
The scale of the production alone &mdash; three films shot and edited back to back over a period of little more than three years &mdash; is unprecedented.<br />
<br />
The films have also proven to be substantial box office successes. The premiere of ''The Return of the King'' took place in [[Wellington]], [[New Zealand]], on December 1, 2003 and was surrounded by fan celebrations and official promotions (the production of the films having contributed significantly to the New Zealand economy). It has made movie history as the largest Wednesday opening ever. ''The Return of the King'' was also the second movie in history (after ''Titanic'') to earn over 1 billion $US (worldwide). Note, however, that these numbers are all unadjusted for inflation, making their significance questionable. Adjusted for inflation, as of 24 March 2005, the three films rank (in order of release) as the 71st, 56th, and 48th highest-grossing films in the United States [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm].<br />
<br />
Fanatics of the films have also flocked to the locations where the trilogy was filmed in New Zealand, with many tour companies being totally devoted to taking fans to and from the filming locations that Director Peter Jackson chose for the adaption of Tolkien's epic trilogy.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_Of_The_Ring]<br />
<br />
== ''The Lord of the Rings'' on radio ==<br />
<br />
The BBC produced a 13-part radio adaptation of ''The Lord of the Rings'' in 1956, and a 6-part version of ''The Hobbit'' in 1966.<br />
It is uncertain whether Tolkien ever heard either series. No recording of the 1956 series is known to exist, but ''The Hobbit'' has survived.<br />
It is a very faithful adaptation, incorporating some passing references to ''The Lord of the Rings'' and the [[Silmarillion]].<br />
<br />
A 1979 dramatization was broadcast in the USA and subsequently issued on tape and CD. No cast or credits appear on the audio packaging.<br />
Each of the actors was apparently recorded separately and then the various parts were edited together.<br />
Thus, unlike a BBC recording session where the actors are recorded together, none of the cast are actually interacting with each other and the performances suffer badly as a result.<br />
<br />
In 1981 the BBC broadcast a new, ambitious dramatization of ''The Lord of the Rings'' in 26 half-hour instalments. See: ''[[The Lord of the Rings (1981 radio series)]]''.<br />
<br />
== ''The Lord of the Rings'' on stage ==<br />
<br />
[[Ed Mirvish|Mirvish Productions]] has started rehearsals for a three-hour stage musical adaptation of ''The Lord of the Rings'' that will have a cast of over 65 actors and cost C$27 million (£11.5 million). The show will be written by Shaun McKenna and Matthew Warchus with music by [[A. R. Rahman]] and [[Värttinä]], collaborating with [[Christopher Nightingale]] and will be directed by [[Matthew Warchus]]. It will open on March 23 2006 at Toronto's Princess of Wales Theatre, with preview performances from February 2 until March 22. It is planned to premiere in London in autumn 2006 and New York City within two years.<br />
<br />
The director explained his vision of the play’s format by saying, "We have not attempted to pull the novel towards the standard conventions of musical theatre, but rather to expand those conventions so that they will accommodate Tolkien's material. As a result, we will be presenting a hybrid of text, physical theatre, music and spectacle never previously seen on this scale. To read the novel is to experience the events of Middle-earth in the mind’s eye; to watch the films is to view Middle-earth as though through a giant window. Only in the theatre are we actually plunged into the events as they happen. The environment surrounds us. We participate. We are in Middle-earth."<br />
<br />
<br />
=== Satire and parody based on ''The Lord of the Rings'' ===<br />
*An independent film company in South Carolina released [http://west2productions.com/LOTRparody.htm this treatment] as a college humor project.<br />
* A soft core porn comedy entitled "Lord of the G-Strings".<br />
* The Harvard Lampoon satire ''[[Bored of the Rings]]'', and its prequel ''[[The Soddit]]''.<br />
* A little-known BBC Radio series, ''Hordes of the Things'' (1980) attempted to parody heroic fantasy in the style of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''.<br />
* A German resynchronization of the ''Fellowship'''s first twenty minutes, called ''[http://www.bpk-entertainment.de Lord of the Weed - Sinnlos in Mittelerde]'', portrays the characters as highly drug addicted.<br />
* Quickbeam and Bombadil, ''[http://www.lordsoftherhymes.com/ the Lords of the Rhymes]'', mix Tolkien's fantasy world with hip-hop.<br />
* Two New York City based authors, Jessica and Chris, parody Tolkien's work in combination with [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]] in ''[http://omwh.com/ Once More With Hobbits]''.<br />
* Several former members of Mystery Science Theater 3000 created ''[http://www.scifi.com/edwardtheless/ Edward the Less]'' which parodies the trilogy.<br />
* The episode of South Park entitled "The Return of the Lord of the Rings to the Two Towers" spoofs Peter Jackson's version of the trilogy. A few elements from Jackson's ''The Return of the King'' appear in the episode "Best Friends Forever".<br />
* The first chapter of ''The Woad To Wuin'' by Peter David is entitled "Lord of the Thing".<br />
* ''[http://flyingmoose.org/tolksarc/book/book.htm The Lord Of The... whatever]'', a "transcribed electronic text version", written by the Tolkien fans of the rec.arts.books.tolkien newsgroup as a reply to those who ask where can they download an electronic copy of the book. It has lots of fan in-jokes, like whether Balrogs have wings or not, a long-standing debate in the Tolkien fandom.<br />
* [[Flight of the Conchords]] claim that their parody ''Frodo'' was rejected as a theme song for Peter Jackson's movies. Incidentally, Bret McKenzie (one half of the band) played an elf in the ''Fellowship'', and his character (now known as [[Figwit]]) has become an unusual web celebrity, attracting [http://www.figwitlives.net/ fan sites] and even a [http://www.geocities.com/figwit_is_evil/Evil_figwit.html hate site].<br />
* [[The Ring Thing]] - a Swiss parody of [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]], however it has received mixed reviews.<br />
* MADtv spoofed the series with ''The Lords of the Bling'', with various actors/actresses portraying characters as Gandalf, Frodo, Legolas, etc.<br />
* ''[http://www.lysator.liu.se/~ekman/en/article1.html Kingdom O' Magic]'', by Fergus McNeill. He became famous during the eighties for games such as ''Bored of the Rings'' (influenced by, but not adapted from, the Harvard Lampoon book) and ''The Boggit''.<br />
* ''[http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/columnists/dave_barry/5023564.htm Why can't they just lose the ring in the sink?]'', humour columnist Dave Barry's satire.<br />
* ''Dead Ringers'', BBC Radio/TV satirical comedy show regularly features Lord of the Rings-themed sketches, usually with the characters of Gandalf, Saruman and Frodo.<br />
* Bobo, a very popular Serbian voice-over video on scene from the first film, which features Boromir and Frodo as gay lovers. It spawned many other voice-overs.<br />
* British Comedy duo [[French & Saunders]] have also satired and spoofed in detail Peter Jackson's ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' in a BBC 2002 Easter Special entitled "The Egg".<br />
* A parody entitled ''teh l0rd of teh Ringz0r'' has done the rounds of bulletin boards systems. Based on the Counter-Strike indebted '1337 speak' it retells scenes, primarily from the Peter Jackson films, in the style of a '1337 hax0r' or online gamer.<br />
* A Spanish voice-over video of Gollum debating about which is the best football (soccer) video game.<br />
* ''[http://www.onemanstarwars.com/lotr.html One Man Lord of the Rings]'' A one man show by [[Charles Ross]], reciting and parodying the three films in an hour.<br />
*In an episode of The Simpsons, The Simpsons go on a picnic with someone named Cookie. When they have finished, Marge asks Cookie what to do with their garbage. Cookie says to leave it for 'Cleany'. On hearing his name, Cleany comes out and wraps up their garbage in their picnic rug, saying Gollum's tagline 'My Precious'. Cleany was voiced by Andy Serkis (the voice of Gollum in the Lord of the Rings).<br />
* ''[http://www.recstudios.net/Videos/LOTR/FOTR.wmv REC Studios' Fellowship of the Ring]'' A parody starring four people portraying multiple characters each and condensing the first third of the story to under a quarter of an hour.<br />
*In another episode of The Simpsons, Principal Skinner announced to Springfield Elementary School that they are going to have school medieval festival. Class bully Nelson excitedly asks, "You mean like The Lord of the Rings?!", and Skinner replies, "No! Nothing like The Lord of the Rings!"<br />
* MTV produced the [[Lord of the Piercing]], a parody with Sarah Michelle Gellar about the [[Council of Elrond]], in which [[Frodo]] uses the [[One Ring]] in a piercing. The 4 minute episode comes as a hidden extra in the first DVD of the 4-disc set of [[Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring|The Fellowship of the Ring]].<br />
* [[Fellowship!]] - A musical parody of The Lord of the Rings<br />
<br />
<br />
'''See also:'''<br />
* [[References to The Lord of the Rings]]<br />
<br />
<br />
{{lotr}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Books]]</div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=The_Lord_of_the_Rings&diff=15738The Lord of the Rings2006-04-17T19:32:19Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: /* The New Line Cinema films */</p>
<hr />
<div>'''''The Lord of the Rings''''' is an epic fantasy story by [[J.R.R. Tolkien]], a sequel to his earlier work, ''[[The Hobbit]]''. It was published in three volumes in 1954 and 1955. Three movie productions have been made, the first, by animator [[Ralph Bakshi]] was released in 1978 (as part one of what was originally to be a two-part adaptation of the story), the second being a 1980 television special, and the third being director [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]] released in 2001, 2002, and 2003.<br />
<br />
<br />
The story's titular character is the Dark Lord [[Sauron]] of [[Mordor]]. The primary villain of the work, he created the One Ring to control nineteen other Rings of Power, and is thus the "Lord of the Rings." Sauron, in turn, was the servant of an earlier Dark Lord, [[Morgoth]] (Melkor), who is prominent in Tolkien's ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', the history of Middle-earth.<br />
<br />
==Books and volumes==<br />
<br />
===Writing===<br />
<br />
Tolkien did not originally intend to write a sequel to ''[[The Hobbit]]'', and instead wrote several other children's tales, including ''[[Roverandom]]'' and ''[[Farmer Giles of Ham]]''. As his main work, Tolkien began to outline the history of [[Arda]], telling tales of the [[Silmarils]], and many other stories of how the races and situations that we read about in the Lord of the Rings trilogy came to be. Tolkien died before he could complete and put together ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', but his son [[Christopher Tolkien]] edited his father's work, filled in gaps and published in 1977.<br />
<br />
Tolkien had a deep desire to write a mythology for England, especially after his horrific experiences during the First World War. He was also influenced by the effects of continued industralisation, where he saw much of the England he loved passing away and became aware of the immense evil in the world. Thus to understand his writings we must be aware of how Tolkien the scholar influences Tolkien the author. His writing of this mythology emerges as an Oxford philologist well acquainted with Northern European Medieval Literature including the great mythic works such as the [[Hervarar saga]], the [[Völsunga saga]], the influential [[Beowulf]] as well as other Old Norse, Old and Middle English Texts. He was also inspired by non-Germanic works such as the Finnish epic [[Kalevala]]. A man who had created his first language by the age of seven, he was driven by a desire to write a mythology for England influenced by his exposure and expertise of these ancient traditions. The need for such a myth was often a topic of conversation in his meetings with the [[Inklings]], fellow Oxford scholars who have been described as Christian Romantics, meeting weekly and discussing Icelandic myths and their own unpublished compositions. Tolkien agreed with one of the other members of the group, [[C.S. Lewis]], that if there were no adequate myths for England then they would have to write their own. Tolkien's work has been commonly interpreted in this light.<br />
<br />
Persuaded by his publishers, he started 'a new hobbit' in December 1937. After several false starts, the story of the One Ring soon emerged, and the book mutated from being a sequel to the Hobbit, to being, in theme, more a sequel to the unpublished ''[[The Silmarillion|Silmarillion]]''. The idea of the first chapter (''A Long-Expected Party'') arrived fully-formed, although the reasons behind Bilbo's disappearance, and the significance of the Ring did not arrive, along with the title ''The Lord of the Rings'' until spring 1938. Originally he was going to write another story in which Bilbo had used up all his treasure and was looking for another adventure to gain more; however he remembered the ring and the powers it had and decided to write about that instead. He started to write it with Bilbo as the main character but decided that the story was too serious to use the fun loving Hobbit so Tolkien looked to use a member of Bilbo's family. He thought about using Bilbo's son but this generated some difficult questions &mdash; Where was his wife? How could Bilbo let his son go into that kind of danger? &mdash; so he looked for an alternate character to carry the ring. In Greek legend, it was a hero's nephew that gained the item of power, and so into existence came the Hobbit Frodo. <br />
<br />
Writing was slow due to Tolkien's perfectionism, and was frequently interrupted by his obligations as an examiner, and other academic duties. In fact, the first sentence of ''[[The Hobbit]]'' was written on a blank page a student had left on an exam paper that Tolkien was grading &mdash; "In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit". He seems to have abandoned the book during most of 1943 and only re-started it in April 1944. This effort was written as a serial for [[Christopher Tolkien]] and [[C.S. Lewis]] &mdash; the former would be sent copies of chapters as they were written while he was serving in [[Africa]] in the [[Royal Air Force]]. He made another push in 1946, and showed a copy of the manuscript to his publishers in 1947. The story was effectively finished the next year, but Tolkien did not finish revising earlier parts of the work until 1949.<br />
<br />
A dispute with his publishers, [[Allen & Unwin]], led to the book being offered to [[Collins]] in 1950. He intended ''the Silmarillion'' (itself largely unrevised at this point) to be published along with ''The Lord of the Rings'', but A&U were unwilling to do this. After his contact at Collins, Milton Waldman, expressed the belief that ''The Lord of the Rings'' itself 'urgently needed cutting', he eventually demanded that they publish the book in 1952. They did not do so, and so Tolkien wrote to Allen and Unwin, saying "I would gladly consider the publication of any part of the stuff".<br />
<br />
===Publication===<br />
<br />
For publication, due largely to post-war paper shortages, but also to keep the price of the first volume down, the book was divided into three volumes (''[[The Fellowship of the Ring]]'': Books I and II; ''[[The Two Towers]]'': Books III and IV; and ''[[The Return of the King]]'': Books V and VI, 6 appendices). Delays in producing appendices and maps led to these being published later than originally hoped &mdash; on the 29 July and 11 November 1954 and 20 October 1955 in the United Kingdom, slightly later in the United States. ''The Return of the King'' was especially delayed. He did not, however, much like the title ''The Return of the King'', believing it gave away too much of the storyline. He had originally suggested ''[[The War of the Ring]]'' which was dismissed by his publishers.<br />
<br />
The books were published under a 'profit-sharing' arrangement, where Tolkien would not receive an advance or royalties until the books had broken even, but after then take a large share of the profits.<br />
<br />
An index to the entire 3-volume set at the end of third volume was promised in the first volume. However, this proved impractical to compile in a reasonable timescale. Later, in 1966, four indices which were not compiled by Tolkien were added to ''The Return of the King''.<br />
<br />
Because the three-volume binding was so widely distributed, the work is usually referred to as the ''Lord of the Rings'' "trilogy". Tolkien himself made use of the term "trilogy" for the work, though he did at other times consider this incorrect, as it was written and conceived as a single novel. <br />
<br />
A 1999 (Millennium Edition) British (ISBN 0-261-10387-3) 7-volume box set followed the six-book division authored by Tolkien, but with the Appendices from the end of Book VI bound as a separate volume. The letters of ''Tolkien'' appear on the spines of the boxed set which includes a CD.<br />
The individual names for books in this series were decided posthumously, based on a combination of suggestions Tolkien had made during his lifetime, title of the volumes, and whole cloth<!--whole cloth?--> &mdash; viz:<br />
<br />
* T Book I: ''The Ring Sets Out''<br />
* O Book II: ''The Ring Goes South''<br />
* L Book III: ''The Treason of Isengard''<br />
* K Book IV: ''The Ring Goes East''<br />
* I Book V: ''The War of the Ring''<br />
* E Book VI: ''The End of the Third Age''<br />
* N Appendices<br />
<br />
The name of the complete work is often abbreviated to ''''LotR'''', ''''LOTR'''', or simply ''''LR'''', and the three volumes as FR, FOTR, or FotR (The '''F'''ellowship '''o'''f '''t'''he '''R'''ing), TT or TTT ('''T'''he '''T'''wo '''T'''owers), and RK, ROTK, or RotK (The '''R'''eturn '''o'''f '''t'''he '''K'''ing).<br />
<br />
Note that the three titles ''The Return of the Shadow'', ''The Treason of Isengard'' and ''The War of the Ring'' were used by [[Christopher Tolkien]] in [[The History of The Lord of the Rings]].<br />
<br />
Some locations and characters were inspired by Tolkien's childhood in [[Sarehole]], then a [[Warwickshire]] village, now part of [[Birmingham]], and in Birmingham itself.<br />
<br />
== Publication history ==<br />
<br />
The three parts were first published by [[Allen &amp; Unwin]] in 1954&ndash;1955 several months apart. They were later reissued many times by multiple publishers, as one, three, six or seven volumes. Two current printings are ISBN 0-618-34399-7 (one-volume) and ISBN 0-618-34624-4 (three volume set).<br />
<br />
In the early 1960s, Donald A. Wollheim, science fiction editor of the paperback publisher [[Ace Books]], realized that ''The Lord of the Rings'' was not protected in the United States under American copyright law because the US hardcover edition had been bound from pages printed in the UK for the British edition. Ace Books proceeded to publish an edition, unauthorized by Tolkien and without compensation to him. Tolkien made this plain to US fans who wrote to him. Grass-roots pressure became so great that Ace books withdrew their edition and made a nominal payment to Tolkien, well below what he might have been due in an appropriate publication. However, this poor beginning was overshadowed when an authorized edition followed from [[Ballantine Books]] to tremendous commercial success. By the mid-1960s the books, due to their wide exposure on the American public stage, had become a true cultural phenomenon. The Second Edition of the Lord of the Rings dates from this time &mdash; Tolkien undertook various textual revisions to produce a version of the book that would have a valid U.S. copyright.<br />
<br />
The books have been translated, with various degrees of success, into dozens of other languages. <br />
Tolkien, an expert in philology, examined many of these translations, and had comments on each that illuminate both the translation process and his work.<br />
<br />
The enormous popular success of Tolkien's epic saga greatly expanded the demand for fantasy fiction. Largely thanks to ''The Lord of the Rings'', the genre flowered throughout the 1960s. Many well-written books of this genre were published (comparable works include the ''Earthsea'' books of Ursula K. Le Guin, the ''Thomas Covenant'' novels of Stephen R. Donaldson, and in the case of the ''Gormenghast'' books by Mervyn Peake, and ''The Worm Ourobouros'' by E. R. Eddison, rediscovered. It also strongly influenced the role playing game industry that achieved popularity in the 1970s with ''Dungeons & Dragons'' which featured many creatures that could be found in Tolkien's books.<br />
<br />
As in all artistic fields, a great many lesser derivatives of the more prominent works appeared. The term "Tolkienesque" is used in the genre to refer to the oft-used and abused storyline of ''The Lord of the Rings'': a group of adventurers embarking on a quest to save a magical fantasy world from the armies of an evil "[[Dark Lord|dark lord]]", and is a testament to how much the popularity of these books has increased, since many critics initially decried Lord of the Rings as being "[[Richard Wagner| Wagner]] for children" (a reference to the [[Ring Cycle]]) &mdash; a specially interesting commentary in light of a possible interpretation of The Lord of The Rings as a Christian response to Wagner, for exemple following [http://atimes.com./atimes/others/spengler.html ATimes' pseudo-Oswald Spengler].<br />
<br />
== The books ==<br />
<br />
''The Lord of the Rings'' began as a personal exploration by Tolkien of his interests in philology, religion (particularly Roman Catholicism); fairy tales, and Norse and Celtic mythology.<br />
Tolkien detailed his creation to an astounding extent; he created a complete mythology for his realm of Middle-earth, including genealogies of characters, languages, [[runes]], calendars and histories.<br />
Some of this supplementary material is detailed in the appendices to ''The Lord of the Rings'', and the mythological history was woven into a large, biblically-styled volume entitled ''[[The Silmarillion]]''.<br />
<br />
J. R. R. Tolkien once described ''The Lord of the Rings'' as "''a fundamentally religious and Catholic work''" he wrote to his friend, the English Jesuit Father Robert Murray, "''unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision.''"(''[[The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien]]'', 142). There are many theological themes underlying the narrative, the battle of good versus evil, the triumph of humility over pride, the activity of grace, Death and Immortality, Resurrection, Salvation, Repentance, Self-Sacrifice, Free Will, Humility, Justice, Fellowship, Authority and Healing.<br />
In it the great virtues of Mercy and Pity (shown by Bilbo and Frodo towards Gollum) win the day and the message from the Lord's Prayer "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" was very much on Tolkien's mind as Frodo struggled against the power of the One Ring (''Letters'', 181 and 191).<br />
<br />
Religious motifs other than Christian can be discerned as strong influences in Tolkien's Middle Earth. The pantheon of the Valar and Maiar (greater and lesser gods/angels) responsible for the creation and maintenance of everything from skies (Manwe) and seas (Ulmo), to dreams (Lorien) and dooms (Mandos) suggest a pre-Christian mythology in style, albeit that these Valar and Maiar are themselves creations of a monotheistic entity &mdash; Illuvatar or Eru, "The One". <br />
<br />
Other pre-Christian mythological references can be seen in the representations of: a "Green Man" &mdash; Tom Bombadil, wise-men &mdash; the Istari (commonly referred to as the Wizards, perhaps more of angels), shapechangers &mdash; Beorn, undead spirits &mdash; Barrow Wights, Oathbreakers, sentient nonhumans &mdash; Dwarves, Elves, Hobbits, and, of course, Ents. Magic is utilised freely in Middle Earth, and may be found not only in the incantations of Wizards, but in the weapons and tools of warriors and craftspeople, in the perceptions and abilities of heroes, and in the natural world itself. <br />
<br />
Tolkien did repeatedly insist that his works were not an allegory of any kind, and even though his thoughts on the matter are mentioned in the introduction of the book, there has been heavy speculation about the Ruling Ring being an allegory for the atom bomb. However, Tolkien had already completed most of the book, and planned the ending in entirety, before the first atom bombs were made public to the world during the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. However there is a strong theme of despair in front of new mechanized warfare that Tolkien himself had experienced in the trenches of World War One. The development of a specially bred orc army, and the destruction of the environment to aid this have modern resonances. Nevertheless, the author's own opinion on the matter of allegories was that he disliked them, and it would be irresponsible to dismiss such direct statements on these matters lightly. <br />
<br />
The plot of ''The Lord of the Rings'' builds from his earlier book ''[[The Hobbit]]'' and more obliquely from the history in ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', which contains events to which the characters of ''The Lord of the Rings'' look back upon in the book.<br />
The [[hobbit]]s become embroiled in great events that threaten their entire world, as [[Sauron]], an evil spirit, attempts to regain the lost [[One Ring]] which will restore him to full potency.<br />
<br />
=== The Verse of the One Ring ===<br />
:''Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,''<br />
:''&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,''<br />
:''Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,''<br />
:''&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne''<br />
:''In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.''<br />
:''&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,''<br />
:''&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them''<br />
:''In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.''<br />
<br />
The lines :<br />
:''&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,''<br />
:''&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them''<br />
are inscribed in the language of Sauron and Mordor (the Black Speech) on the One Ring itself. Phonetically it would be:<br />
:''Ash nazg durbatul&ucirc;k, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatul&ucirc;k agh burzum-ishi krimpatul''<br />
<br />
=== The storyline ===<br />
See the articles on ''[[The Fellowship of the Ring]]'', ''[[The Two Towers]]'', and ''[[The Return of the King]]'' for plot summaries.<br />
<br />
=== Criticism ===<br />
The book was characterized as "juvenile balderdash" by American critic [[Edmund Wilson]] in his essay "[http://www.jrrvf.com/sda/critiques/The_Nation.html Oo, those awful Orcs]", and in 1961 [[Philip Toynbee]] wrote, somewhat prematurely, that it had "passed into a merciful oblivion" [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/1695926.stm]. Although she had never read ''The Lord of the Rings'', [[Germaine Greer]] wrote "it has been my nightmare that Tolkien would turn out to be the most influential writer of the twentieth century. The bad dream has materialized." <br />
<br />
[[W.H. Auden]] also criticized the book in a 1968 ''Critical Quarterly'' article, "Good and evil in ''The Lord of the Rings''," objecting to Tolkien's conception of sentient species that are intrinsically evil without possibility of redemption.<!-- an actual quote from this article would be nice--> (This is a criticism often directed at [[Dungeons and Dragons]]-like fantasy worlds as well as at fantasy literature in general, and a criticism that Tolkien himself increasingly struggled with during his last years.) On the other hand, in a 1956 ''New York Times'' book review, "At the end of the Quest, Victory," Auden also called the book "a masterpiece of its genre" that "succeeded where [[John Milton|Milton]] failed" in depicting an epic battle between good and evil, and wrote that it "never violated" the "reader's sense of the credible."<br />
<br />
Science-fiction author [[David Brin]] has criticized the books for unquestioning devotion to a traditional elitist social structure, their positive depiction of the slaughter of the opposing forces, and their romantic backward-looking worldview [http://www.davidbrin.com/tolkienarticle1.html].<br />
<br />
Another notable SF writer Michael Moorcock wrote a long and piercing critique of the book under the title Epic Pooh advancing the thesis that it was simply a child's tale written in the language of epic myth.<br />
<br />
China Mieville, a modern fantasy writer, criticised Tolkien's works as "reactionary." Mieville is also a detractor of later fantasy which draws heavily upon Tolkien's work, based on the idea that such work is cliche.<br />
<br />
===Praise===<br />
"The English-speaking world is divided into those who have read ''The Lord of the Rings'' and ''The Hobbit'' and those who are going to read them." &mdash; ''Sunday Times''<br />
<br />
"Among the greatest works of imaginative fiction of the twentieth century." &mdash; ''Sunday Telegraph''<br />
<br />
"Here are the beauties which pierce like swords or burn like cold iron." &mdash; C.S. Lewis<br />
<br />
"J.R.R. Tolkien's epic trilogy remains the ultimate quest, the ultimate battle between good and evil, the ultimate chronicle of stewardship of the earth. Endlessly imitated, it never has been surpassed." &mdash; ''Kansas City Star''<br />
<br />
"A story magnificently told, with every kind of colour and movement and greatness." &mdash; ''New Statesman''<br />
<br />
Peter Jackson said, "&hellip;it is as if Tolkien found some secret scroll about the real history of earth&hellip;".<br />
<br />
== ''The Lord of the Rings'' on film ==<br />
===Early efforts===<br />
There were plans for [[the Beatles]] to do a version of ''The Lord of the Rings'' but they came to nothing. It was even said that Stanley Kubrick had looked into the possibility of filming the story, but he abandoned the idea as too "immense" to be made into a movie. In the mid-1970s, renowned film director [[John Boorman]] collaborated with film rights holder and producer [[Saul Zaentz]] to do a live action picture, but the project proved too expensive to finance at that time. Boorman would later use many of the locations and sets in his Arthurian epic "Excalibur" <br />
<br />
In 1978, [[Rankin/Bass]] studios produced the first real film adaptation of any ''Lord of the Rings'' related material with an animated television version of ''[[The Hobbit]]'', which was a precursor to ''The Lord of the Rings''.<br />
<br />
Shortly after, Saul Zaentz picked up where Rankin-Bass left off by producing an animated adaptation of ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' and part of ''The Two Towers'' in 1978.<br />
<br />
''[[Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings|The Lord of the Rings]]'', originally released by [[United Artists]] was directed by [[Ralph Bakshi]] and used an animation technique called rotoscoping in which footage of live actors was filmed and then traced over.<br />
<br />
The film was part one of what was originally to be a two-part adaptation of Tolkien's story, Part I ending after the battle of Helm's Deep, but before Sam, Frodo and Gollum traverse the [[Dead Marshes]], and Part II picking up from where the first film left off. Made for a minimal budget of $8 million dollars, the film earned $30 million dollars at the box office. <br />
<br />
United Artists viewed the film as a flop, and refused to fund a Part II (covering the rest of the story), leaving the door open for Rankin-Bass to do the work for him with the 1980 animated television version of ''[[Rankin/Bass' The Return of the King|The Return of the King]]''.<br />
<br />
However, the Rankin-Bass film picked up from where the book began, and not from where Bakshi's film left off. Additionally, the change in style and character design was quite noticeable. <br />
<br />
Since this film was targeted to a younger audience, adult enthusiasts have complained that much of the depth and darkness of the book was discarded.<br />
<br />
===The New Line Cinema films===<br />
<br />
''Main article [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]''<br />
<br />
[[Miramax]] Films developed a full-fledged live-action adaptation of ''The Lord of the Rings'', with [[Peter Jackson]] as director. Eventually, Miramax became uneasy with the sheer scope of the proposed projectand wanted to combine the suggested three films into two. [[Peter Jackson]] struck a deal with Miramax that if he could not find a fresh studio to back the project, he would walk away and leave the rights and all the work so far completed with Miramax. However, in 1998, [[New Line Cinema]] assumed production responsibility (while Miramax executives [[Bob Weinstein]] and [[Harvey Weinstein]] retained on-screen credits as executive producers on the films).<br />
<br />
The three live action films (supplemented with extensive computer-generated imagery, for example in the major battle scenes, using the "[[Massive]]" software) were filmed simultaneously. ''[[Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring|The Fellowship of the Ring]]'' was released on December 19, 2001. ''[[Peter Jackson's The Two Towers|The Two Towers]]'' was released on December 18, 2002 and ''[[Peter Jackson's The Return of the King|The Return of the King]]'' was released worldwide on December 17, 2003. All three films won the Hugo Award for Best (Long-form) Dramatic Presentation in their respective years.<br />
<br />
Although some have criticized these films because they have altered the story somewhat and, arguably, have a noticeably different tone from Tolkien's original vision, others have hailed them as remarkable achievements. <br />
<br />
[[Peter Jackson]]'s film adaptations garnered seventeen Oscars (four for ''The Fellowship of the Ring'', two for ''The Two Towers'', and eleven for ''The Return of the King''); these cover many of the awards categories (in fact, ''The Return of the King'' won all of the eleven awards for which it was nominated, including Best Picture). With 30 total nominations, the trilogy also became the most-nominated in the Academy's history, surpassing the ''Godfather'' series (28).<br />
<br />
''The Return of the King''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Oscar sweep is widely seen as a proxy award for the entire trilogy. ''The Return of the King''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s 11 Oscars at the 2004 Academy Awards tied it for most awards won for one film with ''Titanic'' six years earlier and the 1959 version of ''Ben-Hur''. It also broke the previous "sweep" record, beating ''Gigi'' and ''The Last Emperor'' (which had gone 9 for 9).<br />
<br />
The visual-effects work has been groundbreaking, particularly the creation of the emotionally versatile digital character [[Gollum]].<br />
The scale of the production alone &mdash; three films shot and edited back to back over a period of little more than three years &mdash; is unprecedented.<br />
<br />
The films have also proven to be substantial box office successes. The premiere of ''The Return of the King'' took place in [[Wellington]], [[New Zealand]], on December 1, 2003 and was surrounded by fan celebrations and official promotions (the production of the films having contributed significantly to the New Zealand economy). It has made movie history as the largest Wednesday opening ever. ''The Return of the King'' was also the second movie in history (after ''Titanic'') to earn over 1 billion $US (worldwide). Note, however, that these numbers are all unadjusted for inflation, making their significance questionable. Adjusted for inflation, as of 24 March 2005, the three films rank (in order of release) as the 71st, 56th, and 48th highest-grossing films in the United States [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm].<br />
<br />
Fanatics of the films have also flocked to the locations where the trilogy was filmed in New Zealand, with many tour companies being totally devoted to taking fans to and from the filming locations that Director Peter Jackson chose for the adaption of Tolkien's epic trilogy.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_Of_The_Ring]<br />
<br />
== ''The Lord of the Rings'' on radio ==<br />
<br />
The BBC produced a 13-part radio adaptation of ''The Lord of the Rings'' in 1956, and a 6-part version of ''The Hobbit'' in 1966.<br />
It is uncertain whether Tolkien ever heard either series. No recording of the 1956 series is known to exist, but ''The Hobbit'' has survived.<br />
It is a very faithful adaptation, incorporating some passing references to ''The Lord of the Rings'' and the [[Silmarillion]].<br />
<br />
A 1979 dramatization was broadcast in the USA and subsequently issued on tape and CD. No cast or credits appear on the audio packaging.<br />
Each of the actors was apparently recorded separately and then the various parts were edited together.<br />
Thus, unlike a BBC recording session where the actors are recorded together, none of the cast are actually interacting with each other and the performances suffer badly as a result.<br />
<br />
In 1981 the BBC broadcast a new, ambitious dramatization of ''The Lord of the Rings'' in 26 half-hour instalments. See: ''[[The Lord of the Rings (1981 radio series)]]''.<br />
<br />
== ''The Lord of the Rings'' on stage ==<br />
<br />
[[Ed Mirvish|Mirvish Productions]] has started rehearsals for a three-hour stage musical adaptation of ''The Lord of the Rings'' that will have a cast of over 65 actors and cost C$27 million (£11.5 million). The show will be written by Shaun McKenna and Matthew Warchus with music by [[A. R. Rahman]] and [[Värttinä]], collaborating with [[Christopher Nightingale]] and will be directed by [[Matthew Warchus]]. It will open on March 23 2006 at Toronto's Princess of Wales Theatre, with preview performances from February 2 until March 22. It is planned to premiere in London in autumn 2006 and New York City within two years.<br />
<br />
The director explained his vision of the play’s format by saying, "We have not attempted to pull the novel towards the standard conventions of musical theatre, but rather to expand those conventions so that they will accommodate Tolkien's material. As a result, we will be presenting a hybrid of text, physical theatre, music and spectacle never previously seen on this scale. To read the novel is to experience the events of Middle-earth in the mind’s eye; to watch the films is to view Middle-earth as though through a giant window. Only in the theatre are we actually plunged into the events as they happen. The environment surrounds us. We participate. We are in Middle-earth."<br />
<br />
<br />
=== Satire and parody based on ''The Lord of the Rings'' ===<br />
*An independent film company in South Carolina released [http://west2productions.com/LOTRparody.htm this treatment] as a college humor project.<br />
* A soft core porn comedy entitled "Lord of the G-Strings".<br />
* The Harvard Lampoon satire ''[[Bored of the Rings]]'', and its prequel ''[[The Soddit]]''.<br />
* A little-known BBC Radio series, ''Hordes of the Things'' (1980) attempted to parody heroic fantasy in the style of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''.<br />
* A German resynchronization of the ''Fellowship'''s first twenty minutes, called ''[http://www.bpk-entertainment.de Lord of the Weed - Sinnlos in Mittelerde]'', portrays the characters as highly drug addicted.<br />
* Quickbeam and Bombadil, ''[http://www.lordsoftherhymes.com/ the Lords of the Rhymes]'', mix Tolkien's fantasy world with hip-hop.<br />
* Two New York City based authors, Jessica and Chris, parody Tolkien's work in combination with [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]] in ''[http://omwh.com/ Once More With Hobbits]''.<br />
* Several former members of Mystery Science Theater 3000 created ''[http://www.scifi.com/edwardtheless/ Edward the Less]'' which parodies the trilogy.<br />
* The episode of South Park entitled "The Return of the Lord of the Rings to the Two Towers" spoofs Peter Jackson's version of the trilogy. A few elements from Jackson's ''The Return of the King'' appear in the episode "Best Friends Forever".<br />
* The first chapter of ''The Woad To Wuin'' by Peter David is entitled "Lord of the Thing".<br />
* ''[http://flyingmoose.org/tolksarc/book/book.htm The Lord Of The... whatever]'', a "transcribed electronic text version", written by the Tolkien fans of the rec.arts.books.tolkien newsgroup as a reply to those who ask where can they download an electronic copy of the book. It has lots of fan in-jokes, like whether Balrogs have wings or not, a long-standing debate in the Tolkien fandom.<br />
* [[Flight of the Conchords]] claim that their parody ''Frodo'' was rejected as a theme song for Peter Jackson's movies. Incidentally, Bret McKenzie (one half of the band) played an elf in the ''Fellowship'', and his character (now known as [[Figwit]]) has become an unusual web celebrity, attracting [http://www.figwitlives.net/ fan sites] and even a [http://www.geocities.com/figwit_is_evil/Evil_figwit.html hate site].<br />
* [[The Ring Thing]] - a Swiss parody of [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]], however it has received mixed reviews.<br />
* MADtv spoofed the series with ''The Lords of the Bling'', with various actors/actresses portraying characters as Gandalf, Frodo, Legolas, etc.<br />
* ''[http://www.lysator.liu.se/~ekman/en/article1.html Kingdom O' Magic]'', by Fergus McNeill. He became famous during the eighties for games such as ''Bored of the Rings'' (influenced by, but not adapted from, the Harvard Lampoon book) and ''The Boggit''.<br />
* ''[http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/columnists/dave_barry/5023564.htm Why can't they just lose the ring in the sink?]'', humour columnist Dave Barry's satire.<br />
* ''Dead Ringers'', BBC Radio/TV satirical comedy show regularly features Lord of the Rings-themed sketches, usually with the characters of Gandalf, Saruman and Frodo.<br />
* Bobo, a very popular Serbian voice-over video on scene from the first film, which features Boromir and Frodo as gay lovers. It spawned many other voice-overs.<br />
* British Comedy duo [[French & Saunders]] have also satired and spoofed in detail Peter Jackson's ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' in a BBC 2002 Easter Special entitled "The Egg".<br />
* A parody entitled ''teh l0rd of teh Ringz0r'' has done the rounds of bulletin boards systems. Based on the Counter-Strike indebted '1337 speak' it retells scenes, primarily from the Peter Jackson films, in the style of a '1337 hax0r' or online gamer.<br />
* A Spanish voice-over video of Gollum debating about which is the best football (soccer) video game.<br />
* ''[http://www.onemanstarwars.com/lotr.html One Man Lord of the Rings]'' A one man show by [[Charles Ross]], reciting and parodying the three films in an hour.<br />
*In an episode of The Simpsons, The Simpsons go on a picnic with someone named Cookie. When they have finished, Marge asks Cookie what to do with their garbage. Cookie says to leave it for 'Cleany'. On hearing his name, Cleany comes out and wraps up their garbage in their picnic rug, saying Gollum's tagline 'My Precious'. Cleany was voiced by Andy Serkis (the voice of Gollum in the Lord of the Rings).<br />
* ''[http://www.recstudios.net/Videos/LOTR/FOTR.wmv REC Studios' Fellowship of the Ring]'' A parody starring four people portraying multiple characters each and condensing the first third of the story to under a quarter of an hour.<br />
*In another episode of The Simpsons, Principal Skinner announced to Springfield Elementary School that they are going to have school medieval festival. Class bully Nelson excitedly asks, "You mean like The Lord of the Rings?!", and Skinner replies, "No! Nothing like The Lord of the Rings!"<br />
* MTV produced the [[Lord of the Piercing]], a parody with Sarah Michelle Gellar about the [[Council of Elrond]], in which [[Frodo]] uses the [[One Ring]] in a piercing. The 4 minute episode comes as a hidden extra in the first DVD of the 4-disc set of [[Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring|The Fellowship of the Ring]].<br />
* [[Fellowship!]] - A musical parody of The Lord of the Rings<br />
<br />
<br />
'''See also:'''<br />
* [[References to The Lord of the Rings]]<br />
<br />
<br />
{{lotr}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Books]]</div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=The_Eagle_and_Child&diff=15734The Eagle and Child2006-04-17T19:23:15Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>[[Image:The Eagle and Child.jpg|thumb]]<br />
The pub that the [[Inklings]] would meet at on Tuesday mornings.<br />
<br />
In the back room, there is a small plaque on the wall commemorating The [[Inklings]] meetings.<br />
<br />
In April 2006, British Consumer Campaign "The Campaign for Real Ale" (CaMRA) announced that they would be placing commemorative plaques outisde British pubs of historical or cultural significance.<br />
In the initial list of 14 proposed plaques, The Eagle and Child" was named.</div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=The_Fellowship_of_the_Ring/Quotations&diff=15694The Fellowship of the Ring/Quotations2006-04-17T09:57:30Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>"One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them."<br><br />
''The Fellowship of the Ring (1954) epigraph''<br><br><br />
----<br />
"Gandalf was shorter in stature than the other two; but his long white hair, his sweeping beard, and his broad shoulders, made him look like some wise king of ancient legend. In his aged face under great snowy brows his eyes were set like coals that could suddenly burst into fire."<br><br />
''The Fellowship of the Ring (1954) Many Meetings''<br><br><br />
----<br />
"Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger."<br><br />
''The Fellowship of the Ring (1954) Three is Company''<br><br><br />
----<br />
"Go not to the Elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes" <br><br />
''The Fellowship of the Ring (1954) Three is Company''<br><br><br />
<br />
----<br />
"Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens"<br><br />
Gimli addressing Elrond<br><br />
''The Fellowship of the Ring (1954) The Ring goes south''<br><br><br />
----<br />
"Deserves it! I dare say he does. Many that live deserve death and some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be so eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the wise cannot see all ends"<br><br />
''Gandalf talking to Frodo about Gollum''<br><br />
''The Fellowship of the Ring, The Shadow of the Past''<br><br><br />
----<br />
"Radagast the Brown! Radagast the Bird-tamer! Radagast the Simple! Radagast the Fool! Yet he had just the wit to play the part I set him. For you have come, and that was the purpose of my message. And here you shall stay, Gandalf the Grey, and rest from your journeys. For I am Saruman the Wise, Saruman the Ring-maker, Saruman of Many Colours!"<br><br />
''Gandalf recounting Saruman The Fellowship of the Ring, Council of Elrond''<br><br><br />
----<br />
"'And he who breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom'"<br><br />
''Gandalf recounting speaking to Saruman The Fellowship of the Ring, Council of Elrond''<br><br><br />
----<br />
''Gil-galad was an Elven-king'' <br><br />
''Of him the harpers sadly sing:'' <br><br />
''the las whose realm was fair and free'' <br><br />
''between the Mountains and the Sea.'' <br> <br><br />
<br />
''His sword was long, his lance was keen,'' <br><br />
''his shining helm afar was seen;'' <br><br />
''the countless stars of heaven's field'' <br><br />
''were mirrored in his silver shield.'' <br> <br><br />
<br />
''But long ago he rode away,'' <br><br />
''and where he dwelleth none can say;'' <br><br />
''for into the darkness fell his star'' <br><br />
''in Mordor where the shadows are.'' <br><br />
<br />
:''The Fellowship of the Ring (1954) A Knife In The Dark told by Sam Gamgee''<br />
<br />
----<br />
<br />
''Seek for the Sword that was broken:'' <br><br />
''In Imladris it dwells:'' <br><br />
''There shall be counsels taken'' <br><br />
''Stronger than Morgul-spells.'' <br><br />
''There shall be shown a token'' <br><br />
''That Doom is near at hand,'' <br><br />
''For Isildur's Bane shall waken,'' <br><br />
''And the Halfling forth shall stand.'' <br> <br><br />
<br />
:Fellowship of the Ring (1954) The Council Of Elrond, The Dream of Boromir<br />
<br />
----<br />
<br />
''Cold be hand and heart and bone,'' <br><br />
''and cold be sleep under stone:'' <br><br />
''never more to wake on stony bed,'' <br><br />
''never, till the sun fails and Moon is dead.'' <br><br />
''in the black wind stars shall die,'' <br><br />
''and still on gold here let them lie,'' <br><br />
''till the dark lord lifts his hand'' <br><br />
''over dead sea and withered land.'' <br> <br><br />
<br />
:Fellowship of the Ring (1954) Fog On The Barrow-Downs, The incantation Frodo hears at the Barrow-Downs</div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=The_Treason_of_Isengard&diff=15427The Treason of Isengard2006-04-15T14:25:49Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>The Treason of Isengard continues the account of the creation of [[The Lord of the Rings]] started in the earlier volume, [[The Return of the Shadow]]. It traces the great expansion of the tale into new lands and new peoples south and east of the Misty Mountains: the emergence of Lothlorien, of Ents of the Riders of Rohan, and of Saruman and White in the fortress of Isengard. In brief outlines and pencilled drafts dashed down on scraps of paper are seen the first entry of Galadriel, the earliest ideas of the history of Gondor, and the original meeting of Aragorn and Eowyn, its significance destined to be wholly transformed. The book also contains a full account of the original map which was to be the basis of the emerging geography of [[Middle-earth]]; and an appendix examines the Runic alphabets, with illustrations of the forms and an analysis of the Runes used in the Book of Mazarbul found beside Balin's tomb in Moria.<br />
<br />
<br />
{{home}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Books|Treason of Isengard]]<br />
<br />
<div id="kbektt12387" style="overflow:auto;height:1px;"></div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=User:Sancho_proudfoot&diff=15374User:Sancho proudfoot2006-04-14T19:37:48Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>I joined the (British) Tolkien Society in the early 1970s - through the Society I met my first wife. I edited the Society's Bulletin [[Amon Hen]] for several years. I have met Priscilla, Fr.John and Michael Tolkien, and knew [[Humphrey Carpenter]] ( the biographer of [[Tolkien]]) quite well - he inscribed my copy of his biography "with thanks for all you have done for JRRT".</div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=User:Sancho_proudfoot&diff=15373User:Sancho proudfoot2006-04-14T19:37:20Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>I joined the (British) Tolkien Society in the early 1970s - through the Society I met my first wife. I edited the Society's Bulletin [[Amon Hen]] for several years. I have met Priscilla, Fr.John and Michael Tolkien, and knew [[1Humphrey Carpenter]] ( the biographer of [[Tolkien]]) quite well - he inscribed my copy of his biography "with thanks for all you have done for JRRT".</div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=User:Sancho_proudfoot&diff=15372User:Sancho proudfoot2006-04-14T19:36:44Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>I joined the (British) Tolkien Society in the early 1970s - through the Society I met my first wife. I edited the Society's Bulletin [[Amon Hen]] for several years. I have met Priscilla, Fr.John and Michael Tolkien, and knew Humphrey Carpenter ( the biographer of [[Tolkien]]) quite well - he inscribed my copy of his biography "with thanks for all you have done for JRRT".</div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=The_Lord_of_the_Rings&diff=15371The Lord of the Rings2006-04-14T19:27:23Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>'''''The Lord of the Rings''''' is an epic fantasy story by [[J.R.R. Tolkien]], a sequel to his earlier work, ''[[The Hobbit]]''. It was published in three volumes in 1954 and 1955. Three movie productions have been made, the first, by animator [[Ralph Bakshi]] was released in 1978 (as part one of what was originally to be a two-part adaptation of the story), the second being a 1980 television special, and the third being director [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]] released in 2001, 2002, and 2003.<br />
<br />
<br />
The story's titular character is the Dark Lord [[Sauron]] of [[Mordor]]. The primary villain of the work, he created the One Ring to control nineteen other Rings of Power, and is thus the "Lord of the Rings." Sauron, in turn, was the servant of an earlier Dark Lord, [[Morgoth]] (Melkor), who is prominent in Tolkien's ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', the history of Middle-earth.<br />
<br />
==Books and volumes==<br />
<br />
===Writing===<br />
<br />
Tolkien did not originally intend to write a sequel to ''[[The Hobbit]]'', and instead wrote several other children's tales, including ''[[Roverandom]]'' and ''[[Farmer Giles of Ham]]''. As his main work, Tolkien began to outline the history of [[Arda]], telling tales of the [[Silmarils]], and many other stories of how the races and situations that we read about in the Lord of the Rings trilogy came to be. Tolkien died before he could complete and put together ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', but his son [[Christopher Tolkien]] edited his father's work, filled in gaps and published in 1977.<br />
<br />
Tolkien had a deep desire to write a mythology for England, especially after his horrific experiences during the First World War. He was also influenced by the effects of continued industralisation, where he saw much of the England he loved passing away and became aware of the immense evil in the world. Thus to understand his writings we must be aware of how Tolkien the scholar influences Tolkien the author. His writing of this mythology emerges as an Oxford philologist well acquainted with Northern European Medieval Literature including the great mythic works such as the [[Hervarar saga]], the [[Völsunga saga]], the influential [[Beowulf]] as well as other Old Norse, Old and Middle English Texts. He was also inspired by non-Germanic works such as the Finnish epic [[Kalevala]]. A man who had created his first language by the age of seven, he was driven by a desire to write a mythology for England influenced by his exposure and expertise of these ancient traditions. The need for such a myth was often a topic of conversation in his meetings with the [[Inklings]], fellow Oxford scholars who have been described as Christian Romantics, meeting weekly and discussing Icelandic myths and their own unpublished compositions. Tolkien agreed with one of the other members of the group, [[C.S. Lewis]], that if there were no adequate myths for England then they would have to write their own. Tolkien's work has been commonly interpreted in this light.<br />
<br />
Persuaded by his publishers, he started 'a new hobbit' in December 1937. After several false starts, the story of the One Ring soon emerged, and the book mutated from being a sequel to the Hobbit, to being, in theme, more a sequel to the unpublished ''[[The Silmarillion|Silmarillion]]''. The idea of the first chapter (''A Long-Expected Party'') arrived fully-formed, although the reasons behind Bilbo's disappearance, and the significance of the Ring did not arrive, along with the title ''The Lord of the Rings'' until spring 1938. Originally he was going to write another story in which Bilbo had used up all his treasure and was looking for another adventure to gain more; however he remembered the ring and the powers it had and decided to write about that instead. He started to write it with Bilbo as the main character but decided that the story was too serious to use the fun loving Hobbit so Tolkien looked to use a member of Bilbo's family. He thought about using Bilbo's son but this generated some difficult questions &mdash; Where was his wife? How could Bilbo let his son go into that kind of danger? &mdash; so he looked for an alternate character to carry the ring. In Greek legend, it was a hero's nephew that gained the item of power, and so into existence came the Hobbit Frodo. <br />
<br />
Writing was slow due to Tolkien's perfectionism, and was frequently interrupted by his obligations as an examiner, and other academic duties. In fact, the first sentence of ''[[The Hobbit]]'' was written on a blank page a student had left on an exam paper that Tolkien was grading &mdash; "In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit". He seems to have abandoned the book during most of 1943 and only re-started it in April 1944. This effort was written as a serial for [[Christopher Tolkien]] and [[C.S. Lewis]] &mdash; the former would be sent copies of chapters as they were written while he was serving in [[Africa]] in the [[Royal Air Force]]. He made another push in 1946, and showed a copy of the manuscript to his publishers in 1947. The story was effectively finished the next year, but Tolkien did not finish revising earlier parts of the work until 1949.<br />
<br />
A dispute with his publishers, [[Allen & Unwin]], led to the book being offered to [[Collins]] in 1950. He intended ''the Silmarillion'' (itself largely unrevised at this point) to be published along with ''The Lord of the Rings'', but A&U were unwilling to do this. After his contact at Collins, Milton Waldman, expressed the belief that ''The Lord of the Rings'' itself 'urgently needed cutting', he eventually demanded that they publish the book in 1952. They did not do so, and so Tolkien wrote to Allen and Unwin, saying "I would gladly consider the publication of any part of the stuff".<br />
<br />
===Publication===<br />
<br />
For publication, due largely to post-war paper shortages, but also to keep the price of the first volume down, the book was divided into three volumes (''[[The Fellowship of the Ring]]'': Books I and II; ''[[The Two Towers]]'': Books III and IV; and ''[[The Return of the King]]'': Books V and VI, 6 appendices). Delays in producing appendices and maps led to these being published later than originally hoped &mdash; on the 29 July and 11 November 1954 and 20 October 1955 in the United Kingdom, slightly later in the United States. ''The Return of the King'' was especially delayed. He did not, however, much like the title ''The Return of the King'', believing it gave away too much of the storyline. He had originally suggested ''[[The War of the Ring]]'' which was dismissed by his publishers.<br />
<br />
The books were published under a 'profit-sharing' arrangement, where Tolkien would not receive an advance or royalties until the books had broken even, but after then take a large share of the profits.<br />
<br />
An index to the entire 3-volume set at the end of third volume was promised in the first volume. However, this proved impractical to compile in a reasonable timescale. Later, in 1966, four indices which were not compiled by Tolkien were added to ''The Return of the King''.<br />
<br />
Because the three-volume binding was so widely distributed, the work is usually referred to as the ''Lord of the Rings'' "trilogy". Tolkien himself made use of the term "trilogy" for the work, though he did at other times consider this incorrect, as it was written and conceived as a single novel. <br />
<br />
A 1999 (Millennium Edition) British (ISBN 0-261-10387-3) 7-volume box set followed the six-book division authored by Tolkien, but with the Appendices from the end of Book VI bound as a separate volume. The letters of ''Tolkien'' appear on the spines of the boxed set which includes a CD.<br />
The individual names for books in this series were decided posthumously, based on a combination of suggestions Tolkien had made during his lifetime, title of the volumes, and whole cloth<!--whole cloth?--> &mdash; viz:<br />
<br />
* T Book I: ''The Ring Sets Out''<br />
* O Book II: ''The Ring Goes South''<br />
* L Book III: ''The Treason of Isengard''<br />
* K Book IV: ''The Ring Goes East''<br />
* I Book V: ''The War of the Ring''<br />
* E Book VI: ''The End of the Third Age''<br />
* N Appendices<br />
<br />
The name of the complete work is often abbreviated to ''''LotR'''', ''''LOTR'''', or simply ''''LR'''', and the three volumes as FR, FOTR, or FotR (The '''F'''ellowship '''o'''f '''t'''he '''R'''ing), TT or TTT ('''T'''he '''T'''wo '''T'''owers), and RK, ROTK, or RotK (The '''R'''eturn '''o'''f '''t'''he '''K'''ing).<br />
<br />
Note that the three titles ''The Return of the Shadow'', ''The Treason of Isengard'' and ''The War of the Ring'' were used by [[Christopher Tolkien]] in [[The History of The Lord of the Rings]].<br />
<br />
Some locations and characters were inspired by Tolkien's childhood in [[Sarehole]], then a [[Warwickshire]] village, now part of [[Birmingham]], and in Birmingham itself.<br />
<br />
== Publication history ==<br />
<br />
The three parts were first published by [[Allen &amp; Unwin]] in 1954&ndash;1955 several months apart. They were later reissued many times by multiple publishers, as one, three, six or seven volumes. Two current printings are ISBN 0-618-34399-7 (one-volume) and ISBN 0-618-34624-4 (three volume set).<br />
<br />
In the early 1960s, Donald A. Wollheim, science fiction editor of the paperback publisher [[Ace Books]], realized that ''The Lord of the Rings'' was not protected in the United States under American copyright law because the US hardcover edition had been bound from pages printed in the UK for the British edition. Ace Books proceeded to publish an edition, unauthorized by Tolkien and without compensation to him. Tolkien made this plain to US fans who wrote to him. Grass-roots pressure became so great that Ace books withdrew their edition and made a nominal payment to Tolkien, well below what he might have been due in an appropriate publication. However, this poor beginning was overshadowed when an authorized edition followed from [[Ballantine Books]] to tremendous commercial success. By the mid-1960s the books, due to their wide exposure on the American public stage, had become a true cultural phenomenon. The Second Edition of the Lord of the Rings dates from this time &mdash; Tolkien undertook various textual revisions to produce a version of the book that would have a valid U.S. copyright.<br />
<br />
The books have been translated, with various degrees of success, into dozens of other languages. <br />
Tolkien, an expert in philology, examined many of these translations, and had comments on each that illuminate both the translation process and his work.<br />
<br />
The enormous popular success of Tolkien's epic saga greatly expanded the demand for fantasy fiction. Largely thanks to ''The Lord of the Rings'', the genre flowered throughout the 1960s. Many well-written books of this genre were published (comparable works include the ''Earthsea'' books of Ursula K. Le Guin, the ''Thomas Covenant'' novels of Stephen R. Donaldson, and in the case of the ''Gormenghast'' books by Mervyn Peake, and ''The Worm Ourobouros'' by E. R. Eddison, rediscovered. It also strongly influenced the role playing game industry that achieved popularity in the 1970s with ''Dungeons & Dragons'' which featured many creatures that could be found in Tolkien's books.<br />
<br />
As in all artistic fields, a great many lesser derivatives of the more prominent works appeared. The term "Tolkienesque" is used in the genre to refer to the oft-used and abused storyline of ''The Lord of the Rings'': a group of adventurers embarking on a quest to save a magical fantasy world from the armies of an evil "[[Dark Lord|dark lord]]", and is a testament to how much the popularity of these books has increased, since many critics initially decried Lord of the Rings as being "[[Richard Wagner| Wagner]] for children" (a reference to the [[Ring Cycle]]) &mdash; a specially interesting commentary in light of a possible interpretation of The Lord of The Rings as a Christian response to Wagner, for exemple following [http://atimes.com./atimes/others/spengler.html ATimes' pseudo-Oswald Spengler].<br />
<br />
== The books ==<br />
<br />
''The Lord of the Rings'' began as a personal exploration by Tolkien of his interests in philology, religion (particularly Roman Catholicism); fairy tales, and Norse and Celtic mythology.<br />
Tolkien detailed his creation to an astounding extent; he created a complete mythology for his realm of Middle-earth, including genealogies of characters, languages, [[runes]], calendars and histories.<br />
Some of this supplementary material is detailed in the appendices to ''The Lord of the Rings'', and the mythological history was woven into a large, biblically-styled volume entitled ''[[The Silmarillion]]''.<br />
<br />
J. R. R. Tolkien once described ''The Lord of the Rings'' as "''a fundamentally religious and Catholic work''" he wrote to his friend, the English Jesuit Father Robert Murray, "''unconsciously so at first, but consciously in the revision.''"(''[[The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien]]'', 142). There are many theological themes underlying the narrative, the battle of good versus evil, the triumph of humility over pride, the activity of grace, Death and Immortality, Resurrection, Salvation, Repentance, Self-Sacrifice, Free Will, Humility, Justice, Fellowship, Authority and Healing.<br />
In it the great virtues of Mercy and Pity (shown by Bilbo and Frodo towards Gollum) win the day and the message from the Lord's Prayer "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" was very much on Tolkien's mind as Frodo struggled against the power of the One Ring (''Letters'', 181 and 191).<br />
<br />
Religious motifs other than Christian can be discerned as strong influences in Tolkien's Middle Earth. The pantheon of the Valar and Maiar (greater and lesser gods/angels) responsible for the creation and maintenance of everything from skies (Manwe) and seas (Ulmo), to dreams (Lorien) and dooms (Mandos) suggest a pre-Christian mythology in style, albeit that these Valar and Maiar are themselves creations of a monotheistic entity &mdash; Illuvatar or Eru, "The One". <br />
<br />
Other pre-Christian mythological references can be seen in the representations of: a "Green Man" &mdash; Tom Bombadil, wise-men &mdash; the Istari (commonly referred to as the Wizards, perhaps more of angels), shapechangers &mdash; Beorn, undead spirits &mdash; Barrow Wights, Oathbreakers, sentient nonhumans &mdash; Dwarves, Elves, Hobbits, and, of course, Ents. Magic is utilised freely in Middle Earth, and may be found not only in the incantations of Wizards, but in the weapons and tools of warriors and craftspeople, in the perceptions and abilities of heroes, and in the natural world itself. <br />
<br />
Tolkien did repeatedly insist that his works were not an allegory of any kind, and even though his thoughts on the matter are mentioned in the introduction of the book, there has been heavy speculation about the Ruling Ring being an allegory for the atom bomb. However, Tolkien had already completed most of the book, and planned the ending in entirety, before the first atom bombs were made public to the world during the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. However there is a strong theme of despair in front of new mechanized warfare that Tolkien himself had experienced in the trenches of World War One. The development of a specially bred orc army, and the destruction of the environment to aid this have modern resonances. Nevertheless, the author's own opinion on the matter of allegories was that he disliked them, and it would be irresponsible to dismiss such direct statements on these matters lightly. <br />
<br />
The plot of ''The Lord of the Rings'' builds from his earlier book ''[[The Hobbit]]'' and more obliquely from the history in ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', which contains events to which the characters of ''The Lord of the Rings'' look back upon in the book.<br />
The [[hobbit]]s become embroiled in great events that threaten their entire world, as [[Sauron]], an evil spirit, attempts to regain the lost [[One Ring]] which will restore him to full potency.<br />
<br />
=== The Verse of the One Ring ===<br />
:''Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,''<br />
:''&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,''<br />
:''Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,''<br />
:''&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne''<br />
:''In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.''<br />
:''&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,''<br />
:''&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them''<br />
:''In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.''<br />
<br />
The lines :<br />
:''&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,''<br />
:''&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them''<br />
are inscribed in the language of Sauron and Mordor (the Black Speech) on the One Ring itself. Phonetically it would be:<br />
:''Ash nazg durbatul&ucirc;k, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatul&ucirc;k agh burzum-ishi krimpatul''<br />
<br />
=== The storyline ===<br />
See the articles on ''[[The Fellowship of the Ring]]'', ''[[The Two Towers]]'', and ''[[The Return of the King]]'' for plot summaries.<br />
<br />
=== Criticism ===<br />
The book was characterized as "juvenile balderdash" by American critic [[Edmund Wilson]] in his essay "[http://www.jrrvf.com/sda/critiques/The_Nation.html Oo, those awful Orcs]", and in 1961 [[Philip Toynbee]] wrote, somewhat prematurely, that it had "passed into a merciful oblivion" [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/1695926.stm]. Although she had never read ''The Lord of the Rings'', [[Germaine Greer]] wrote "it has been my nightmare that Tolkien would turn out to be the most influential writer of the twentieth century. The bad dream has materialized." <br />
<br />
[[W.H. Auden]] also criticized the book in a 1968 ''Critical Quarterly'' article, "Good and evil in ''The Lord of the Rings''," objecting to Tolkien's conception of sentient species that are intrinsically evil without possibility of redemption.<!-- an actual quote from this article would be nice--> (This is a criticism often directed at [[Dungeons and Dragons]]-like fantasy worlds as well as at fantasy literature in general, and a criticism that Tolkien himself increasingly struggled with during his last years.) On the other hand, in a 1956 ''New York Times'' book review, "At the end of the Quest, Victory," Auden also called the book "a masterpiece of its genre" that "succeeded where [[John Milton|Milton]] failed" in depicting an epic battle between good and evil, and wrote that it "never violated" the "reader's sense of the credible."<br />
<br />
Science-fiction author [[David Brin]] has criticized the books for unquestioning devotion to a traditional elitist social structure, their positive depiction of the slaughter of the opposing forces, and their romantic backward-looking worldview [http://www.davidbrin.com/tolkienarticle1.html].<br />
<br />
Another notable SF writer Michael Moorcock wrote a long and piercing critique of the book under the title Epic Pooh advancing the thesis that it was simply a child's tale written in the language of epic myth.<br />
<br />
China Mieville, a modern fantasy writer, criticised Tolkien's works as "reactionary." Mieville is also a detractor of later fantasy which draws heavily upon Tolkien's work, based on the idea that such work is cliche.<br />
<br />
===Praise===<br />
"The English-speaking world is divided into those who have read ''The Lord of the Rings'' and ''The Hobbit'' and those who are going to read them." &mdash; ''Sunday Times''<br />
<br />
"Among the greatest works of imaginative fiction of the twentieth century." &mdash; ''Sunday Telegraph''<br />
<br />
"Here are the beauties which pierce like swords or burn like cold iron." &mdash; C.S. Lewis<br />
<br />
"J.R.R. Tolkien's epic trilogy remains the ultimate quest, the ultimate battle between good and evil, the ultimate chronicle of stewardship of the earth. Endlessly imitated, it never has been surpassed." &mdash; ''Kansas City Star''<br />
<br />
"A story magnificently told, with every kind of colour and movement and greatness." &mdash; ''New Statesman''<br />
<br />
Peter Jackson said, "&hellip;it is as if Tolkien found some secret scroll about the real history of earth&hellip;".<br />
<br />
== ''The Lord of the Rings'' on film ==<br />
===Early efforts===<br />
There were plans for [[the Beatles]] to do a version of ''The Lord of the Rings'' but they came to nothing. It was even said that Stanley Kubrick had looked into the possibility of filming the story, but he abandoned the idea as too "immense" to be made into a movie. In the mid-1970s, renowned film director [[John Boorman]] collaborated with film rights holder and producer [[Saul Zaentz]] to do a live action picture, but the project proved too expensive to finance at that time. Boorman would later use many of the locations and sets in his Arthurian epic "Excalibur" <br />
<br />
In 1978, [[Rankin/Bass]] studios produced the first real film adaptation of any ''Lord of the Rings'' related material with an animated television version of ''[[The Hobbit]]'', which was a precursor to ''The Lord of the Rings''.<br />
<br />
Shortly after, Saul Zaentz picked up where Rankin-Bass left off by producing an animated adaptation of ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' and part of ''The Two Towers'' in 1978.<br />
<br />
''[[Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings|The Lord of the Rings]]'', originally released by [[United Artists]] was directed by [[Ralph Bakshi]] and used an animation technique called rotoscoping in which footage of live actors was filmed and then traced over.<br />
<br />
The film was part one of what was originally to be a two-part adaptation of Tolkien's story, Part I ending after the battle of Helm's Deep, but before Sam, Frodo and Gollum traverse the [[Dead Marshes]], and Part II picking up from where the first film left off. Made for a minimal budget of $8 million dollars, the film earned $30 million dollars at the box office. <br />
<br />
United Artists viewed the film as a flop, and refused to fund a Part II (covering the rest of the story), leaving the door open for Rankin-Bass to do the work for him with the 1980 animated television version of ''[[Rankin/Bass' The Return of the King|The Return of the King]]''.<br />
<br />
However, the Rankin-Bass film picked up from where the book began, and not from where Bakshi's film left off. Additionally, the change in style and character design was quite noticeable. <br />
<br />
Since this film was targeted to a younger audience, adult enthusiasts have complained that much of the depth and darkness of the book was discarded.<br />
<br />
===The New Line Cinema films===<br />
<br />
''Main article [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]''<br />
<br />
[[Miramax]] Films developed a full-fledged live-action adaptation of ''The Lord of the Rings'', with [[Peter Jackson]] as director. Eventually, with Miramax becoming increasingly uneasy with the sheer scope of the proposed project, [[Peter Jackson]] was given the opportunity to find another studio to take over. In 1998, [[New Line Cinema]] assumed production responsibility (while Miramax executives [[Bob Weinstein]] and [[Harvey Weinstein]] retained on-screen credits as executive producers on the films).<br />
<br />
The three live action films (supplemented with extensive computer-generated imagery, for example in the major battle scenes, using the "[[Massive]]" software) were filmed simultaneously. ''[[Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring|The Fellowship of the Ring]]'' was released on December 19, 2001. ''[[Peter Jackson's The Two Towers|The Two Towers]]'' was released on December 18, 2002 and ''[[Peter Jackson's The Return of the King|The Return of the King]]'' was released worldwide on December 17, 2003. All three films won the Hugo Award for Best (Long-form) Dramatic Presentation in their respective years.<br />
<br />
Although some have criticized these films because they have altered the story somewhat and, arguably, have a noticeably different tone from Tolkien's original vision, others have hailed them as remarkable achievements. <br />
<br />
[[Peter Jackson]]'s film adaptations garnered seventeen Oscars (four for ''The Fellowship of the Ring'', two for ''The Two Towers'', and eleven for ''The Return of the King''); these cover many of the awards categories (in fact, ''The Return of the King'' won all of the eleven awards for which it was nominated, including Best Picture). With 30 total nominations, the trilogy also became the most-nominated in the Academy's history, surpassing the ''Godfather'' series (28).<br />
<br />
''The Return of the King''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Oscar sweep is widely seen as a proxy award for the entire trilogy. ''The Return of the King''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s 11 Oscars at the 2004 Academy Awards tied it for most awards won for one film with ''Titanic'' six years earlier and the 1959 version of ''Ben-Hur''. It also broke the previous "sweep" record, beating ''Gigi'' and ''The Last Emperor'' (which had gone 9 for 9).<br />
<br />
The visual-effects work has been groundbreaking, particularly the creation of the emotionally versatile digital character [[Gollum]].<br />
The scale of the production alone &mdash; three films shot and edited back to back over a period of little more than three years &mdash; is unprecedented.<br />
<br />
The films have also proven to be substantial box office successes. The premiere of ''The Return of the King'' took place in [[Wellington]], [[New Zealand]], on December 1, 2003 and was surrounded by fan celebrations and official promotions (the production of the films having contributed significantly to the New Zealand economy). It has made movie history as the largest Wednesday opening ever. ''The Return of the King'' was also the second movie in history (after ''Titanic'') to earn over 1 billion $US (worldwide). Note, however, that these numbers are all unadjusted for inflation, making their significance questionable. Adjusted for inflation, as of 24 March 2005, the three films rank (in order of release) as the 71st, 56th, and 48th highest-grossing films in the United States [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm].<br />
<br />
Fanatics of the films have also flocked to the locations where the trilogy was filmed in New Zealand, with many tour companies being totally devoted to taking fans to and from the filming locations that Director Peter Jackson chose for the adaption of Tolkien's epic trilogy.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_Of_The_Ring]<br />
<br />
== ''The Lord of the Rings'' on radio ==<br />
<br />
The BBC produced a 13-part radio adaptation of ''The Lord of the Rings'' in 1956, and a 6-part version of ''The Hobbit'' in 1966.<br />
It is uncertain whether Tolkien ever heard either series. No recording of the 1956 series is known to exist, but ''The Hobbit'' has survived.<br />
It is a very faithful adaptation, incorporating some passing references to ''The Lord of the Rings'' and the [[Silmarillion]].<br />
<br />
A 1979 dramatization was broadcast in the USA and subsequently issued on tape and CD. No cast or credits appear on the audio packaging.<br />
Each of the actors was apparently recorded separately and then the various parts were edited together.<br />
Thus, unlike a BBC recording session where the actors are recorded together, none of the cast are actually interacting with each other and the performances suffer badly as a result.<br />
<br />
In 1981 the BBC broadcast a new, ambitious dramatization of ''The Lord of the Rings'' in 26 half-hour instalments. See: ''[[The Lord of the Rings (1981 radio series)]]''.<br />
<br />
== ''The Lord of the Rings'' on stage ==<br />
<br />
[[Ed Mirvish|Mirvish Productions]] has started rehearsals for a three-hour stage musical adaptation of ''The Lord of the Rings'' that will have a cast of over 65 actors and cost C$27 million (£11.5 million). The show will be written by Shaun McKenna and Matthew Warchus with music by [[A. R. Rahman]] and [[Värttinä]], collaborating with [[Christopher Nightingale]] and will be directed by [[Matthew Warchus]]. It will open on March 23 2006 at Toronto's Princess of Wales Theatre, with preview performances from February 2 until March 22. It is planned to premiere in London in autumn 2006 and New York City within two years.<br />
<br />
The director explained his vision of the play’s format by saying, "We have not attempted to pull the novel towards the standard conventions of musical theatre, but rather to expand those conventions so that they will accommodate Tolkien's material. As a result, we will be presenting a hybrid of text, physical theatre, music and spectacle never previously seen on this scale. To read the novel is to experience the events of Middle-earth in the mind’s eye; to watch the films is to view Middle-earth as though through a giant window. Only in the theatre are we actually plunged into the events as they happen. The environment surrounds us. We participate. We are in Middle-earth."<br />
<br />
<br />
=== Satire and parody based on ''The Lord of the Rings'' ===<br />
*An independent film company in South Carolina released [http://west2productions.com/LOTRparody.htm this treatment] as a college humor project.<br />
* A soft core porn comedy entitled "Lord of the G-Strings".<br />
* The Harvard Lampoon satire ''[[Bored of the Rings]]'', and its prequel ''[[The Soddit]]''.<br />
* A little-known BBC Radio series, ''Hordes of the Things'' (1980) attempted to parody heroic fantasy in the style of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''.<br />
* A German resynchronization of the ''Fellowship'''s first twenty minutes, called ''[http://www.bpk-entertainment.de Lord of the Weed - Sinnlos in Mittelerde]'', portrays the characters as highly drug addicted.<br />
* Quickbeam and Bombadil, ''[http://www.lordsoftherhymes.com/ the Lords of the Rhymes]'', mix Tolkien's fantasy world with hip-hop.<br />
* Two New York City based authors, Jessica and Chris, parody Tolkien's work in combination with [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]] in ''[http://omwh.com/ Once More With Hobbits]''.<br />
* Several former members of Mystery Science Theater 3000 created ''[http://www.scifi.com/edwardtheless/ Edward the Less]'' which parodies the trilogy.<br />
* The episode of South Park entitled "The Return of the Lord of the Rings to the Two Towers" spoofs Peter Jackson's version of the trilogy. A few elements from Jackson's ''The Return of the King'' appear in the episode "Best Friends Forever".<br />
* The first chapter of ''The Woad To Wuin'' by Peter David is entitled "Lord of the Thing".<br />
* ''[http://flyingmoose.org/tolksarc/book/book.htm The Lord Of The... whatever]'', a "transcribed electronic text version", written by the Tolkien fans of the rec.arts.books.tolkien newsgroup as a reply to those who ask where can they download an electronic copy of the book. It has lots of fan in-jokes, like whether Balrogs have wings or not, a long-standing debate in the Tolkien fandom.<br />
* [[Flight of the Conchords]] claim that their parody ''Frodo'' was rejected as a theme song for Peter Jackson's movies. Incidentally, Bret McKenzie (one half of the band) played an elf in the ''Fellowship'', and his character (now known as [[Figwit]]) has become an unusual web celebrity, attracting [http://www.figwitlives.net/ fan sites] and even a [http://www.geocities.com/figwit_is_evil/Evil_figwit.html hate site].<br />
* [[The Ring Thing]] - a Swiss parody of [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]], however it has received mixed reviews.<br />
* MADtv spoofed the series with ''The Lords of the Bling'', with various actors/actresses portraying characters as Gandalf, Frodo, Legolas, etc.<br />
* ''[http://www.lysator.liu.se/~ekman/en/article1.html Kingdom O' Magic]'', by Fergus McNeill. He became famous during the eighties for games such as ''Bored of the Rings'' (influenced by, but not adapted from, the Harvard Lampoon book) and ''The Boggit''.<br />
* ''[http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/living/columnists/dave_barry/5023564.htm Why can't they just lose the ring in the sink?]'', humour columnist Dave Barry's satire.<br />
* ''Dead Ringers'', BBC Radio/TV satirical comedy show regularly features Lord of the Rings-themed sketches, usually with the characters of Gandalf, Saruman and Frodo.<br />
* Bobo, a very popular Serbian voice-over video on scene from the first film, which features Boromir and Frodo as gay lovers. It spawned many other voice-overs.<br />
* British Comedy duo [[French & Saunders]] have also satired and spoofed in detail Peter Jackson's ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' in a BBC 2002 Easter Special entitled "The Egg".<br />
* A parody entitled ''teh l0rd of teh Ringz0r'' has done the rounds of bulletin boards systems. Based on the Counter-Strike indebted '1337 speak' it retells scenes, primarily from the Peter Jackson films, in the style of a '1337 hax0r' or online gamer.<br />
* A Spanish voice-over video of Gollum debating about which is the best football (soccer) video game.<br />
* ''[http://www.onemanstarwars.com/lotr.html One Man Lord of the Rings]'' A one man show by [[Charles Ross]], reciting and parodying the three films in an hour.<br />
*In an episode of The Simpsons, The Simpsons go on a picnic with someone named Cookie. When they have finished, Marge asks Cookie what to do with their garbage. Cookie says to leave it for 'Cleany'. On hearing his name, Cleany comes out and wraps up their garbage in their picnic rug, saying Gollum's tagline 'My Precious'. Cleany was voiced by Andy Serkis (the voice of Gollum in the Lord of the Rings).<br />
* ''[http://www.recstudios.net/Videos/LOTR/FOTR.wmv REC Studios' Fellowship of the Ring]'' A parody starring four people portraying multiple characters each and condensing the first third of the story to under a quarter of an hour.<br />
*In another episode of The Simpsons, Principal Skinner announced to Springfield Elementary School that they are going to have school medieval festival. Class bully Nelson excitedly asks, "You mean like The Lord of the Rings?!", and Skinner replies, "No! Nothing like The Lord of the Rings!"<br />
* MTV produced the [[Lord of the Piercing]], a parody with Sarah Michelle Gellar about the [[Council of Elrond]], in which [[Frodo]] uses the [[One Ring]] in a piercing. The 4 minute episode comes as a hidden extra in the first DVD of the 4-disc set of [[Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring|The Fellowship of the Ring]].<br />
* [[Fellowship!]] - A musical parody of The Lord of the Rings<br />
<br />
<br />
'''See also:'''<br />
* [[References to The Lord of the Rings]]<br />
<br />
<br />
{{lotr}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Books]]</div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Ace_Books&diff=15364Ace Books2006-04-14T19:16:21Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>'''Ace Books''' is infamous for their unauthorized United States publication of [[The Lord of the Rings]].<br />
<br />
In 1965 Ace Books discovered a copyright loophole in the American edition of The Lord of the Rings by [[J.R.R. Tolkien]]. The [[Houghton Mifflin]] edition had been bound using pages printed in the United Kingdom for the [[George Allen & Unwin]] edition. This placed them outside of U.S. copyright law as it stood at the time. Exploiting this loophole, Ace Books published the first ever paperback edition of Tolkien's work, featuring cover art and hand-drawn title pages by [[Jack Gaughan]] which, startlingly, depicted a lion in (presumably)[[The Shire]]. After considerable controversy and the release of a competitive, authorized (and more complete) edition by [[Ballantine Books]], Ace agreed to pay royalties to Tolkien and let its still-popular edition go out of print.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Publishers]]</div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Ace_Books&diff=15363Ace Books2006-04-14T19:15:58Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>'''Ace Books''' is infamous for their unauthorized United States publication of [[The Lord of the Rings]].<br />
<br />
In 1965 Ace Books discovered a copyright loophole in the American edition of The Lord of the Rings by [[J.R.R. Tolkien]]. The [[Houghton Mifflin]] edition had been bound using pages printed in the United Kingdom for the [[George Allen & Unwin]] edition. This placed them outside of U.S. copyright law as it stood at the time. Exploiting this loophole, Ace Books published the first ever paperback edition of Tolkien's work, featuring cover art and hand-drawn title pages by [[Jack Gaughan]]which, startlingly, depicted a lion in (presumably)[[The Shire]]. After considerable controversy and the release of a competitive, authorized (and more complete) edition by [[Ballantine Books]], Ace agreed to pay royalties to Tolkien and let its still-popular edition go out of print.<br />
<br />
[[Category:Publishers]]</div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Andy_Serkis&diff=15356Andy Serkis2006-04-14T17:53:20Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>[[Image:Andy Serkis as Gollum (in motion capture suit).jpg|thumb|125px|''Andy Serkis'' wearing a motion capture suit.]]<br />
'''Andy Serkis''' played [[Gollum]] in [[The Lord of the Rings]].He based the gulping swallow sound "gollum" on his pet cat coughing up a furball!<br />
<br />
He is married to actress Lorraine Ashbourne, having met her while both were performing at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre in the play "Your Home in the West" <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
[[Image:Andy Serkis as Smeagol (holding the One Ring).jpg|thumb|300px|left|''Andy Serkis'' in the opening scene to [[Peter Jackson's The Return of the King]]]]</div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Andy_Serkis&diff=15355Andy Serkis2006-04-14T17:52:01Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>[[Image:Andy Serkis as Gollum (in motion capture suit).jpg|thumb|125px|''Andy Serkis'' wearing a motion capture suit.]]<br />
'''Andy Serkis''' played [[Gollum]] in [[The Lord of the Rings]].He based the gulping swallow sound "gollum" on his pet cat coughing up a furball!<br />
<br />
He is married to actress Lorraine Ashbourne, having met her while both were performing at Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre in "Your Home in the West" <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
[[Image:Andy Serkis as Smeagol (holding the One Ring).jpg|thumb|300px|left|''Andy Serkis'' in the opening scene to [[Peter Jackson's The Return of the King]]]]</div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Legolas_of_Mirkwood&diff=15354Legolas of Mirkwood2006-04-14T17:46:32Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>'''Legolas Greenleaf''' is an [[Elves|Elf]], a [[Sindar|Sinda]] prince who becomes a member of the [[Fellowship of the Ring]]. With his superior Elven eyesight and hearing, together with excellent skill at arms, particularly archery, Legolas is a valuable resource to the other eight members of the Fellowship. In ''[[Unfinished Tales]]'', however, Tolkien states that in comparison to the rest, Legolas accomplishes the least of the nine members of the Fellowship.<br />
<br />
Legolas serves as a link to the earlier story, ''[[The Hobbit]]'', because he (like [[Gimli]] the [[Dwarves|Dwarf]]) is the son of a character from the previous tale. <br />
<br />
==Biography==<br />
Legolas is the son of King [[Thranduil]] of the [[Woodland Realm]] of Northern [[Mirkwood]], who appears as "the Elvenking" in ''[[The Hobbit]]''; his father rules over the [[Silvan Elves]] who dwell there. Although he lived among them, was exposed to their culture, and inferred that he considered himself one of them, Legolas was strictly ''not'' one of the Silvan Elves ([[Wood-elves]]). His father Thranduil had originally come from [[Doriath]]; he and his son were actually [[Sindar]] (singular ''Sinda'' - "[[Sindarin]]" is their language). A small minority of Sindar ruled the predominantly Silvan Woodland Realm, a minority which Thranduil headed. The Sindarin minority in that realm, who should have been more noble and wise than the Silvan Elves, can be seen as having "gone native" at the end of the First Age: after [[Morgoth]] was defeated and all of the grand Elf-kingdoms of [[Beleriand]] were destroyed, they can be seen as going back to "a simpler time" in their culture. The realm of [[Lothlórien]] is similar to the Woodland Realm in that a community of Silvan Elves is ruled by non-Silvan ones, i.e. [[Galadriel]] and [[Celeborn]].<br />
<br />
===Pre-War of the Ring===<br />
Though his father and his kingdom appear in ''The Hobbit'', he does not appear himself. Of course, his character had not been created yet (though his name had; see below). However, some have theorized that he may well have fought in the [[Battle of Five Armies]]. The events in ''The Hobbit'' take place less than one hundred years before the Quest of Mount Doom. Unlike Men, the Eldar (which included the Sindar) reached adulthood on or before they reached a hundred years of age. <br />
<br />
:''Not until the fiftieth year did the Eldar attain the stature and shape in which their lives would afterwards endure, and for some a hundred years would pass before they were full-grown.'' — from the essay ''Laws and Customs Among the Eldar'', found in ''[[Morgoth's Ring]]'', part of ''[[The History of Middle-earth]]''. <br />
<br />
Legolas is older than Aragorn and Gimli, who are, according to their birthdates in the Appendices, 87 and 139 respectively at the time of the War of the Ring; he even calls them "children" (see Age discussion below). Thus, he must have been alive during the events of ''The Hobbit''. Logically, as a retcon he could quite conceivably have been present in his father's halls at the time, and may have even fought at Erebor.<br />
<br />
===[[War of the Ring]]===<br />
He is introduced in the first part of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', ''[[The Fellowship of the Ring]]'', at the council of [[Elrond]] of [[Rivendell]], where he comes as a messenger from his father to discuss the escape of [[Gollum]] from their guard. Tolkien describes him as "''a strange Elf, clad in green and brown''". Legolas volunteers or is chosen to become one of the members of the Fellowship that sets out to destroy the [[One Ring]]. He accompanies the others in their travels from Rivendell to [[Amon Hen]]. <br />
<br />
When the Fellowship is snowed down while crossing [[Caradhras]], he scouts ahead to find the Sun, while [[Aragorn]] and [[Boromir]] drive a path through the snow. Unlike them, he is little affected by the blowing winds and snow; he does not even wear boots, only light shoes, and his feet scarcely make imprints on the snow. <br />
<br />
After their attempt to cross Caradhras is foiled, their leader [[Gandalf]] takes them on an underground journey through [[Moria]], an ancient Dwarf-kingdom, though some (including Legolas) do not wish to go there. Before they reach Moria, however, Legolas helps fend off an attack of Sauron's wolves in [[Hollin]]. Once in Moria, he helps fight off the Orcs whom they encounter there, and recognizes [[Durin's Bane]] as a [[Balrogs|Balrog]] of [[Morgoth]].<br />
<br />
After Gandalf is lost while facing the Balrog, Aragorn takes charge of the Fellowship and leads them to the Elven realm of [[Lothlórien]], the Golden Wood. Legolas serves as the initial spokesperson for the company, speaking with the inhabitants, the [[Galadhrim]], whom he considers close kin.<br />
<br />
Within the Fellowship, there is friction between Legolas and the [[Dwarves|Dwarf]] [[Gimli]], because of the ancient quarrel between Elves and Dwarves after the destruction of [[Doriath]] in the [[First Age]], and also because his father, Thranduil, once threw Gimli's father, [[Glóin]], in prison (as described in ''[[The Hobbit]]''). Legolas and Gimli become friends, however, when Gimli greets the [[Galadriel|Lady of the Golden Wood]] with gentle words.<br />
<br />
They take leave of Lothlórien, but not before receiving several gifts. There, he receives a new longbow from the [[Galadhrim]], along with the other gifts that [[Galadriel]] and [[Celeborn]] give him and the rest of the Fellowship, such as special cloaks and ''[[lembas]]''. While the Fellowship is travelling over the River [[Anduin]], he shoots down a nearby [[Fell beasts|Fell beast]] with one shot.<br />
<br />
After Boromir is killed and [[Meriadoc Brandybuck|Merry]] and [[Peregrin Took|Pippin]] are captured by Orcs in ''The Two Towers'', he, Aragorn and Gimli set forth in pursuit of the two ([[Frodo Baggins|Frodo]] the [[Ring-bearer]] and [[Samwise Gamgee|Sam]] had gone ahead on the road to Mordor). They meet the revived Gandalf and the [[Rohirrim]], fight in the [[Battle of the Hornburg]], and witness [[Saruman]]'s (partial) downfall at Isengard, where they are reunited with the two abducted hobbits. In the Battle of the Hornburg, he and Gimli engage in an [[Orcs|Orc]]-slaying contest (Gimli wins by one, killing 42 to Legolas's 41, but the real result is stronger mutual respect).<br />
<br />
In ''The Return of the King'', he and Gimli accompany Aragorn on the [[Paths of the Dead]], along with the [[Rangers of the North|Grey Company]]. After Aragorn summons the [[Army of the Dead|Dead Men]] of [[Dunharrow]] to fight for him, he watches them scare away the [[Corsairs of Umbar]] from their ships at [[Pelargir]]. He fights in the Battles of the [[Pelennor Fields]] and the [[Morannon]], and watches as [[Sauron]] is defeated and [[Barad-dûr]] collapses.<br />
<br />
===Post-War of the Ring===<br />
After the destruction of the [[One Ring]], he stays in [[Minas Tirith]] for some time, as Aragorn is crowned King of the [[Reunited Kingdom]] as King [[Elessar]] and marries his love Arwen. Later, Legolas and Gimli go off travelling together through [[Fangorn Forest]]. Eventually, Legolas comes to [[Ithilien]] with some of his people, with his father's leave, to live out his remaining time in [[Middle-earth]] helping to restore the devastated forests of that war-ravaged land. <br />
<br />
It is told in the Red Book (first written by [[Bilbo Baggins]], continued by [[Frodo Baggins]] and supposedly finished by [[Samwise Gamgee]]) that after the death of [[Aragorn|King Elessar]], Legolas builds a grey ship in [[Ithilien]], and leaves Middle-earth to go over the Sea to [[Valinor]], the Blessed Realm, and Gimli the Dwarf goes with him.<br />
<br />
==Portrayal in adaptations==<br />
<br />
Legolas was voiced by [[Anthony Daniels]] (who had played the droid C3-PO of ''Star Wars'' fame) in [[Ralph Bakshi]]'s 1978 animated version of ''[[Ralph Bakshi's The Lord of the Rings|The Lord of the Rings]]''. In the film, he takes [[Glorfindel]]'s place in the Flight to the Ford sequence; he meets Strider and the hobbits on their way to [[Rivendell]], and sets Frodo on his horse before he is chased by the Nazgûl to the ford of [[Bruinen]] (In Peter Jackson's version, [[Arwen]] takes Glorfindel's place and rides to the Ford herself with Frodo). Here, he is apparently from Rivendell, because he answers to [[Elrond]]; he is not identified as a Wood-elf.<br />
<br />
Legolas was voiced by [[David Collings]] in the [[The Lord of the Rings (1981 radio series)|1981 BBC Radio 4 adaptation]]. <br />
<br />
In [[Peter Jackson]]'s [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings|''Lord of the Rings'' movie trilogy]] (2001&ndash;2003), Legolas was portrayed by [[Orlando Bloom]]. <br />
<br />
In the "official movie guide" for ''The Lord of the Rings'', a birthdate for Legolas is set to 87 of the [[Third Age]]. This would make him 2931 years old at the time of the [[War of the Ring]]. This date for Legolas' birth was made up by the movie writers, as in the books there are no known dates concerning Legolas before T.A. 3018. Curiously, the year 2931 of the [[Third Age]] is the year Aragorn was born; the writers may have picked the number at random from the ''Tale of Years'' (the timeline) in the Appendices. <br />
<br />
He is presented as an unstoppable fighter, arguably to the point of stealing the show; he performs show-stopping yet implausible stunts in battle scenes. For example, in the [[Battle of the Hornburg]], he slides down a staircase using a shield, shooting arrows all the while, and in the [[Battle of the Pelennor Fields]], he takes down an [[Oliphaunts|Oliphaunt]] all by himself. However, in the books Legolas's exploits in battle are not presented in great detail. Aside from shooting the fell beast, he undertakes no major actions other than to make peace with Gimli, overcoming their longstanding mutual racial animosity — he and Gimli are followers, rather than leaders. The film-makers later stated that the entire scene of Legolas killing the Oliphaunt and its entire crew was filmed during pick-ups (months after original filming) to insert a major action scene showcasing him, because at that point they realized that he simply doesn't get to do much in the third part of the trilogy.<br />
<br />
He wears green and grey clothes and uses boots, in contrast to Tolkien's green and ''brown'' clothes and "light shoes". It is notable that in the extended DVD edition of The Fellowship of the Ring, a scene in Lothlorien is included in which Legolas is wearing a different costume than his normal. This was in fact his original costume, which was later changed due to the filmmaker's dissatisfaction with it. Fans have come up with several explanations for this seeming inconsistency. Two possibilities stand above the rest as the most likely: (1) Legolas brought an extra tunic and jerkin from Mirkwood and decided to wear it at this moment, (2) The elves of Lothlorien, under the leadership of Haldir, gave Legolas a new tunic of their own make (or one they had traded with other elves) for him to wear. The most common explanation for why he would change his tunic is that his other one was dirty from the long trek up to that point and he wanted to have it washed in the clean waters of the Nimrodel.<br />
<br />
Legolas bears two long knives, while in the book he bears only one. Another, more trivial change, was the number of Orcs he and Gimli kill at Helm's Deep: 42 and 43, respectively. This brings up an interesting possibility that could further illuminate the playful antagonism between the two characters. Legolas might give his count as "42" but secretly tells an untruth and really has only killed 41 Uruk-hai, but wants to make sure he has more than Gimli. Gimli, who has only killed 42 gives his answer as "43", to make sure he bests the elf. It is not clear, however, whether this was an intentional change on the part of the filmmakers, though it seems likely that it was, since the original numbers were so clear in Tolkien's own text.<br />
<br />
Due to technical mishaps involving Orlando Bloom's contact lenses, in the films Legolas' eye colour sometimes changes between brown, purple, and blue. This was justified by the notion that Elves' eyes change colour with their mood. This idea subsequently spread to fanfiction; however, it is pure fanon, and is nowhere to be found in Tolkien's writings, and is often simply meant as a joke; in any case, his eye color was probably grey; see [[Elves#Eye color|here]] for more details. Another common explanation for Legolas' changing eye color is the obvious fact that light reflects off objects differently in different conditions and that, therefore, the elf's eyes "seem" to change color in different lighting environments.<br />
<br />
Playing Legolas in the trilogy was Orlando Bloom's breakout route to superstardom. His handsome features and Legolas' "coolness", so to speak, as depicted in the film, have led to the character becoming a unprecedented fan favorite with both fangirls and fanboys, not to mention other Tolkien fans. Although the disproportionate popular reaction to Legolas met with mixed reactions from fans, many debaters on the Internet during earlier stages of production were worried, that a film portrayal of Legolas might render him as far too effeminate for popular consumption, but later many felt that Bloom was able to avoid this entirely. [[Christopher Tolkien]] recounts that his father wrote the following "wrathful" comment protesting against a "pretty" or "ladylike" depiction of Legolas: <br />
<br />
<blockquote>''"He was tall as a young tree, lithe, immensely strong, able swiftly to draw a great war-bow and shoot down a Nazgûl, endowed with the tremendous vitality of Elvish bodies, so hard and resistant to hurt that he went only in light shoes over rock or through snow, the most tireless of all the Fellowship."'' (''[[The Book of Lost Tales]]'' Volume 2) </blockquote><br />
<br />
Despite Bloom's popularity, many viewers have found his performance wooden, in agreement with his status as a "Wood"-elf.<br />
<br />
Legolas is absent from the [[Rankin/Bass' The Return of the King|1980 animated version of ''The Return of the King]].<br />
<br />
==Frequently disputed issues==<br />
===Age===<br />
While Legolas' age is never given in Tolkien's writings, some [[Tolkienist|Tolkien scholars]] have estimated he is at the most 800&ndash;900 years old by the time of the War of the Ring, and at least 500, though probably more; however, many others disagree on the maximum figure. Without any direct mention to the contrary, he could also have been born as early as the First Age. At the very least, we know he is over 139 years old, because he is older than Gimli (see below).<br />
<br />
The figure of 500 years minimum was derived from the following — at one point in ''The Two Towers'', he says that the leaves have fallen in Mirkwood 500 times since [[Meduseld]] was built, and he appears to be describing it as if he actually experienced this: <br />
<br />
<blockquote>"''Seven mounds upon the left, and nine upon the right," said Aragorn. "Many long lives of men it is since the [[Meduseld|golden hall]] was built.''"</blockquote><br />
<br />
<blockquote>"''Five hundred times have the red leaves fallen in Mirkwood in my home since then," said Legolas, "and but a little while does that seem to us.''"</blockquote><br />
<br />
<blockquote>"''But to the Riders of the Mark it seems so long ago," said Aragorn, "that the raising of this house is but a memory of song, and the years before are lost in the mist of time.''" (The Two Towers, "The White Rider")</blockquote><br />
<br />
To see their reasoning for an age of 800-900 years, see the articles referred to [[#external links|below]].<br />
<br />
In ''Laws and Customs among the Eldar'', Tolkien states that the mental development of elf-children is much quicker than those of human children. By their first year, elf-children can already walk, speak, and even dance.<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''The Eldar grew in bodily form slower than Men, but in mind more swiftly. They learned to speak before they were one year old; and in the same time they learned to walk and to dance, for their wills came soon to the mastery of their bodies. Nonetheless there was less difference between the two Kindreds, Elves and Men, in early youth; and a man who watched elf-children at play might well have believed that they were the children of Men, of some fair and happy people.'' (Laws and Customs among the Eldar) </blockquote><br />
<br />
If we are to infer that Elves can have concrete memories at a younger age than humans do, Legolas could conceivably have remembered the last 500 autumns that have passed, starting when he was very young. <br />
<br />
However, he could be merely commenting on the contrasting viewpoints of Men and Elves on time ("''and but a little while does that seem to us"''); more importantly, 500 years is here clearly ''the time elapsed since Meduseld was built''. At face value, his statement says ''nothing'' about his age - to go further would only be speculation.<br />
<br />
It is certainly possible that he was older than what many fans imagine him to be, at least (probably due to the influence of Bloom and his portrayal). In ''The Two Towers'', he calls Aragorn (born 2931 T.A., 87 years old in 3018 T.A., 88 at the end of the War some months later) and Gimli (born 2879 T.A., 139 years old in 3018 T.A) "children" while in [[Fangorn Forest]], and says that he does not ''feel'' young:<br />
<br />
<blockquote> "''It'' (the forest) ''is old, very old," said the Elf. "So old that almost I feel young '''again''', as I have not felt since I journeyed with you children. It is old and full of memory. I could have been happy here, if I had come in days of peace.''" (The Two Towers, "The White Rider")</blockquote><br />
<br />
Also, he speaks of watching oaks grow from acorns to "ruinous age", suggesting that he is in fact old, though possibly young for Elves (some kinds of oak can live for a very long time):<br />
<br />
<blockquote>"''These are the strangest trees that I ever saw,''" [Legolas] ''said; "and I have seen many an oak grow from acorn to ruinous age. I wish that there were leisure now to walk among them: they have voices, and in time I might come to understand their thought.''" (The Two Towers, "The White Rider")</blockquote><br />
<br />
However, even the minimum figure of 500 can still apply here, since Tolkien could have had the English oak in mind, and it can live up to about 500 years. <br />
<br />
Also, some readers point out that his birthdate is not recorded in the Appendices. For them, this might be a sign that he was born in the [[First Age]], since the Appendices only record dates from the [[Second Age]] onwards.<br />
<br />
===Hair color===<br />
His father Thranduil was blond, so many assume that Legolas must have been blond also (Indeed, both [[Ralph Bakshi]] and [[Peter Jackson]] make him blond). However, Tolkien describes his head as "dark" when he shoots down a [[Ringwraiths|Ringwraith]]'s [[Fell beasts|Fell beast]] in ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' in the following quote, suggesting the contrary to some: <br />
<br />
<blockquote>'' 'Frodo looked up at the Elf standing tall above him, as he gazed into the night, seeking a mark to shoot at. His head was dark, crowned with sharp white stars that glittered in the black pools of the sky behind.' '' (The Fellowship of the Ring, "The Great River")</blockquote><br />
<br />
According to this camp, his hair must be either dark brown or black, as was the norm for the Sindar. (Blond hair was mostly exclusive to the [[Vanyar]].) However, the "blond" camp points out that the above quote takes place ''at night'', and opines that his head may have appeared "dark" due to shadows, rather than his actual hair color.<br />
<br />
===Birth order===<br />
Some assume that he is an only child; however, he could be only one of Thranduil's children. Thranduil did let him leave Mirkwood to find a new elf-community in Ithilien, suggesting to some that he was not his heir; but then others opine that given the longevity of Elves and the relative safety of Middle-earth after Sauron's downfall, Thranduil could go on ruling the Woodland Realm as long as he liked or until he felt the sea-longing. No definitive evidence is given, either way.<br />
<br />
==Name==<br />
The name '''Legolas''' is a [[Silvan]] dialect form of pure [[Sindarin]] ''Laegolas'', which means Greenleaf (thus, '''''Greenleaf''''' is not his surname, as is sometimes erroneously believed; nor is it an epithet (like ''[[Thorin Oakenshield|Oakenshield]]''), but a translation of his name). It consists of the [[Sindarin]] words ''laeg'', green; and ''golas'', a collection of leaves, foliage (being a prefixed collective form of ''las(s)'', leaf). The [[Quenya]] form (mentioned in the ''Book of Lost Tales'' in the context of another character of that name) is ''Laiqualassë''.<br />
<br />
There might, however, be a certain meaning to his name: ''laeg'' is a very rare, archaic word for green, which is normally replaced by ''calen'' (cf. ''Calenhad'', mutated ''Parth Galen'' and plural ''Pinnath Gelin'') and is otherwise almost only preserved in ''Laegrim, Laegel(d)rim'' (Sindarin form of Quenya [[Laiquendi]]), the ''Green Elves'' of the First Age. It may be that Thranduil named his son ''Legolas'' to at least in part refer to this people, who were remote kin and ancestors of the later Silvan Elves, the people Thranduil ruled and to whom - very likely - Thranduil's wife belonged.<br />
<br />
Apparently, only Hobbits (and the Men of Bree) used surnames (like [[Baggins]] or [[Gamgee]]), as recorded in the Red Book. Men and Elves alike used the patronymic (''son of'') formula. In English, therefore, a fuller name would be "Legolas son of Thranduil" or "Legolas Thranduil's son". In Sindarin, that would be ''Legolas Thranduilion'', -''ion'' meaning "scion of".<br />
===Legolas of Gondolin===<br />
The name ''Legolas Greenleaf'' first appeared in ''[[The Fall of Gondolin]]'', one of the "[[The Book of Lost Tales|Lost Tales]]", circa 1917. The character is mentioned only once and is unrelated to the character discussed above. As the Lost Tales were the first embodiment of Tolkien's mythology, and by the time ''The Lord of the Rings'' was written much had changed, this in all likelihood is not the same elf, and he was not included in the published ''[[Silmarillion]]''.<br />
<br />
<blockquote>''But the others, led by one '''Legolas Greenleaf''' of the house of the Tree, who knew all that plain by day or by dark, and was night-sighted, made much speed over the vale for all their weariness, and halted only after a great march.'' (''[[The Book of Lost Tales]]'' Volume 2, "The Fall of Gondolin")</blockquote><br />
<br />
The Legolas of [[Gondolin]], who Tolkien would likely have renamed, has a different etymology. His name (''Laiqalassë'' in its pure form) comes from the primitive [[Quenya]] (''Qenya'') words ''laica'', green, and ''lassë'', leaf. The names are very similar, but the characters were different: Legolas of Gondolin was possibly a [[Noldor]]in Exile, of the House (kindred) of the Tree. However, the published '' Silmarillion'', in describing Turgon's founding of Gondolin, states that Turgon took with him up to a third of the people under Fingolfin, but an even larger number of the Sindar. Thus, whether Legolas of Gondolin was of Ñoldorin or Sindarin descent is debatable.<br />
<br />
==Sources==<br />
*[http://www.istad.org/tolkien/legolas.html Legolas of Mirkwood: Prince Among Equals] - An Essay by Ellen Brundige <br />
*[http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/tolkien/36517 "Speaking of Legolas..."] by Michael Martinez, SUITE101.com, 2004 <br />
*[http://forums.theonering.com/viewtopic.php?t=12604 Discussion on Legolas' age, from the '''theonering.com''' messageboards]<br />
<br />
==External links ==<br />
* [http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/l/legolas.html Legolas Greenleaf] at the Encyclopedia of Arda <br />
* [http://www.tuckborough.net/legolas.html Legolas] at The Thain's Book<br />
<br />
<br />
{{fellowship}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Elves]]</div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Gandalf&diff=15353Gandalf2006-04-14T17:39:37Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>{{Pronounce|Gandalf.mp3|Ardamir}}<br />
==Origins==<br />
[[Image:Der_Berggeist_(Origin_of_Gandalf)_by_J._Madelener.gif|left|thumb|250px|This painting on a postcard was rumored to be how [[J.R.R. Tolkien]] got his inspiration for the character known as ''Gandalf''.]]<br />
<br />
<br />
''Gandalfr''<!-- this is the nominative, not a typo!--><br />
appears in the list of dwarves in the ''[[Völuspá]]'' of the [[Elder Edda]], the name means "cane-elf". Tolkien took the name along with the other dwarves' names when he wrote ''The Hobbit'' in the 1930s. He came to regret the creation of this ''"rabble of eddaic-named dwarves, [...] invented in an idle hour"'' ([[The Treason of Isengard|HoME 7]]:452), since it forced him to come up with an explanation of why Old Norse names should be used in [[Third Age]] Middle-earth. He solved the dilemma in 1942 by the explanation that Old Norse was a ''translation'' of the language of [[Dale]]. The figure of Gandalf has other influences from Germanic mythology, particularly Odin in his incarnation as "the Wanderer", an old man with one eye, a long white beard, a wide brimmed hat, and a staff: Tolkien states that he thinks of Gandalf as an ''"Odinic wanderer"'' in a letter of 1946 (''Letters'' no. 107). <br />
<br />
Tolkien had a postcard labelled ''Der Berggeist'' ("the mountain spirit"), and on the paper cover in which he kept it, he wrote "the origin of Gandalf" at some point. The postcard reproduces a painting of a bearded figure, sitting on a rock under a pine tree in a mountainous setting. He wears a wide-brimmed round hat and a long cloak and white fawn is nuzzling his upturned hands.<br />
[[Humphrey Carpenter]] in his 1977 biography said that Tolkien had bought the postcard during his 1911 holiday in Switzerland. However, Manfred Zimmerman (1983) discovered that the painting was by German artist Josef Madlener and dates to the late 1920s. Carpenter concluded that Tolkien was probably mistaken about the origin of the postcard himself. Tolkien must have acquired the card at some time in the early 1930s, at a time when ''The Hobbit'' had already begun to take shape.<br />
<br />
The original painting was auctioned at Sotheby's in London on 12 July 2005 for 84,000 GBP [http://search.sothebys.com/jsps/live/lot/LotDetail.jsp?&lot_id=4GHDR]. The previous owner had been given the painting by Madlener in the 1940s and recalled that he had stated the mountains in the background of the painting were the Dolomites.<br />
<br />
The first description of Gandalf, then, is preserved in the first pages of ''The Hobbit'', <br />
dating to the early 1930s. Gandalf's fame is alluded to even before his physical description (''"Tales and adventures sprouted up all over the place wherever he went, in the most extraordinary fashion."''), directed by the author to the reader, while the protagonist's ("unsuspecting Bilbo"'s) impression is that of<br />
:''an old man with a staff. He had a tall pointed blue hat, a long grey cloak, a silver scarf over which a white beard hung down below his waist, and immense black boots.<br />
<br />
==Story-internal==<br />
=== Origins ===<br />
[[Image:John Howe - Gandalf.jpg|thumb|300px|This is one of the most well known illustrations of ''Gandalf'', by [[John Howe]].]]<br />
Gandalf is the best-known of the [[Maiar]] of the people of [[Valinor]]. He was known as '''Olórin''' who dwelt in the gardens of [[Irmo]] and was the pupil of [[Nienna]]. When the [[Valar]] decided to send the order of the [[Wizards]] to Middle-earth, Olórin was proposed by [[Manwë]], in order to counsel and assist all those in Middle-earth who opposed [[Sauron]]. He is said to be one of the wisest of that order, rivalling [[Saruman]], with whom he had a strained, competitive relationship.<br />
<br />
=== Role in ''The Hobbit'' ===<br />
<br />
In ''[[The Hobbit]]'', Gandalf appears to the [[Hobbits]] of the [[Shire]], where he spent a great deal of time, as little more than a vain, fussy old conjurer who entertained children with fireworks during festivals and parties. He (partially) reveals his true nature and power to [[Bilbo Baggins]], when he arranges and partially accompanies a band of thirteen [[Dwarves]] to regain the Dwarvish treasure of the [[Lonely Mountain]] that was stolen many years before by the [[Dragons|dragon]], [[Smaug]]. It is on this quest that Gandalf finds his sword, ''[[Glamdring]]'', and that Bilbo finds the [[One Ring]] (though at the time it is mistaken for a lesser ring).<br />
<br />
Unknown to the Dwarves or Bilbo, Gandalf had joined the quest in order to investigate what he suspected to be Sauron's resurgence in [[Mirkwood]]; he frequently vanishes to "attend to other pressing business"—the nature of which he refuses to discuss. Some years before, he had encountered [[Thráin II]], father of the quest's leader, [[Thorin Oakenshield]], dying in [[Dol Guldur]], and the Dwarf king entrusted him with a map to Erebor. As Dol Guldur had once been one of Sauron's strongholds, Gandalf feared that Sauron's agents were at large again. He met Thorin years later and agreed to go on the quest as a way to investigate further. He insisted, however, on bringing Bilbo along as a "burglar", someone who could sneak into places Dwarves couldn't access and gather information. <br />
<br />
When Bilbo finds the One Ring, Gandalf is immediately suspicious of the Hobbit's story of evading the [[Goblins]] through "being invisible." He privately confronts Bilbo and forces the truth out of him, and is deeply troubled by his story of the ring's powers, as they seem eerily familiar.<br />
<br />
He disappears when the company reaches Mirkwood, and does not reappear again until the [[Battle of Five Armies]] breaks out, when he brings an army of [[Eagles]] to help save the Dwarves and Bilbo. He accompanies Bilbo back to the Shire.<br />
<br />
=== Pre-War of the Ring ===<br />
<br />
Gandalf spends the years between 2941-3001 [[Third Age|T.A.]] travelling [[Middle-earth]] in search of information on [[Sauron]]'s resurgence and Bilbo's mysterious ring. He spends as much time as he can in the Shire, however, strengthening his friendship with Bilbo and befriending Bilbo's heir, [[Frodo Baggins|Frodo]]. It is also at about this time that he first begins to be suspicious of Saruman.<br />
<br />
In 3001 T.A., he attends Bilbo's "Eleventy-First" (111th) birthday party, bringing many fireworks and a giant flying firework 'dragon', indicating his knowledge of chemistry as well as magic. At the end of the party Bilbo puts on the ring and disappears at the end of his speech, as a prank on his neighbors. Troubled by this, Gandalf confronts his old friend and tries to persuade him to leave it to Frodo. Bilbo becomes hostile and accuses him of trying to steal the ring&mdash;which he calls "my precious," much as [[Gollum]], the creature Bilbo had taken the ring from, had. Horrified, Gandalf stands to his full height and almost orders Bilbo to leave it behind. Bilbo returns to his senses, and admits that the ring had been troubling him lately. He then leaves, the only Ring-bearer in history to have left it voluntarily.<br />
<br />
Over the next seventeen years, Gandalf travels extensively, searching for answers. Having long sought for Gollum near Mordor, he meets with [[Aragorn II|Aragorn]] in Mirkwood, who had captured the creature. Gandalf interrogates the wretched creature and learns that Sauron had forced him to tell what he knew about the ring under torture, adding to his suspicions that Bilbo carried The One Ring.<br />
<br />
=== Role in ''The Lord of the Rings'' ===<br />
<br />
Upon returning to the Shire, in Chapter 2 of ''[[The Fellowship of the Ring]]'', he confirms his suspicions by throwing the Ring into Frodo's hearth fire and reading the writing. He tells Frodo the full history of the Ring, urging him to leave with it and make for [[Rivendell]], the home of the elves, knowing he is in grave danger if he stays at home.<br />
<br />
Gandalf, while riding near the Shire, is requested by Radagast the Brown to seek out Saruman because the [[Nazgûl]] had come forth and crossed the River [[Anduin]]. Gandalf leaves a note for Frodo with Butterbur, an inn-keeper in [[Bree]], and heads towards [[Isengard]]. Once there, he is betrayed and held captive by Saruman, who had already come under the influence of Sauron due to his use of the [[palantíri|palantír]]. Eventually rescued by Gwahir the eagle, he only reaches the Shire after Frodo has set out and does not meet up with him until Frodo reaches Rivendell on October 20.<br />
<br />
Taking leadership of the Fellowship (nine representatives of the free peoples of Middle-earth "set against the Nine Riders"), he and Aragorn lead the hobbits and their companions on an unsuccessful effort to cross Mount Caradhras in winter. Then they take the "dark and secret way" through the Mines of [[Moria]], where they meet an ancient demon, a [[Balrogs|Balrog]], one of the Maiar corrupted by [[Melkor]] in the [[First Age]]. <br />
<br />
Since Gandalf and the Balrog were both Maiar, they were beings of the same order. As they faced each other, Gandalf broke the Bridge in front of him, but as the Balrog fell it wrapped its whip around Gandalf's ankle, which dragged him down to hanging onto the edge. As the Company looked in horror, Gandalf cried, "Fly, you fools!" and let go. Neither he nor the Balrog was killed by the fall, and Gandalf pursued the creature for eight days until they climbed to the peak of Zirakzigil. Here they fought for two days and nights. In the end, the Balrog was cast down and it broke the mountain-side as it fell. Gandalf himself died following this ordeal.<br />
<br />
Gandalf is "brought back" (either resurrected or reincarnated), returning as a more imposing white-clad figure, '''Gandalf the White'''. In [[Fangorn]] forest he encounters the Three Walkers (Aragorn, [[Gimli]], and [[Legolas]]) who were tracking Fellowship members (and Frodo's cousins) [[Meriadoc Brandybuck|Merry]] and [[Peregrin Took|Pippin]]. Arriving in [[Rohan]], Gandalf finds that its king, [[Théoden]], has been weakened by Saruman's agent, [[Gríma Wormtongue]]. He breaks Wormtongue's hold over Theoden, and convinces the king to join them in fighting Sauron. They then go on to prosecute the war against Isengard and [[Barad-dûr]] ([[The Two Towers]]).<br />
<br />
After the overthrow of Saruman, Gandalf breaks his staff and banishes him from the Order of Wizards. He then takes Pippin with him to Gondor to aide in the defense of the city. Gandalf buys the city precious time by facing off against the [[Witch-king of Angmar]], the Lord of the Nazgûl, giving the Rohirrim enough time to reach the city during the [[Battle of Pelennor Fields]].<br />
<br />
Gandalf leads the final battle against Sauron's forces at the [[Black Gate]], waging an all-out battle to distract the [[Dark Lord]]'s attention away from Frodo and [[Samwise Gamgee|Sam]], who were at the very same moment scaling [[Mount Doom]] to destroy the Ring. Without his efforts, Sauron may well have learned where the two Hobbits were and killed them before they could complete their task. <br />
<br />
Three years later, Gandalf, now having spent over 2,000 years in Middle-Earth, departs with Frodo, [[Galadriel]], Bilbo, and [[Elrond]] across the sea to the [[Undying Lands]].<br />
<br />
=== Appearance ===<br />
<br />
Gandalf initially appears as an old man with a grey beard, a grey cloak and a large, pointed blue hat. Although some of the Wise know his true nature, others mistake him for a simple conjuror. After he is resurrected the change of his signature colour from grey to white is significant, for he has been sent back to replace the corrupt Saruman as the chief of the Wizards. In the book he says that he has himself become what Saruman should have been.<br />
<br />
[[Círdan]] the Shipwright seemed to have foreseen this, for he entrusted the care of [[Narya]], the ring of Fire, one of the [[Rings of Power|Three Rings]] of the Elves to Gandalf rather than Saruman.<br />
<br />
=== Gandalf's names ===<br />
<br />
*'''''Olórin''''', his name in [[Valinor]] and in very ancient times. "Olórin was my name in my youth in the West that is forgotten". It is [[Quenya]], and its meaning is associated with dreams (perhaps "dreamer" or "of dreams"), from the root ''ÓLOS''-.<br />
*'''''Mithrandir''''', his [[Sindarin]] name, used in [[Gondor]], and meaning ''Grey Pilgrim''. <br />
*'''The White Rider''' (when mounted on the great horse [[Shadowfax]])<br />
*'''Stormcrow''' (a reference to his arrival being associated with times of trouble)<br />
*'''''Incánus''''' (in the south), of unclear language and meaning. Tolkien several times changed his mind about it, varying between the Latin word Incanus meaning Grey, a possible [[Westron]] invention meaning Greymantle, or even an [[Elvish]] word ''Ind-cano'' meaning Mind Ruler.<br />
*'''''Tharkûn''''' (to the Dwarves), meaning probably Staff-man.<br />
*'''Gandalf Greyhame'''<br />
<br />
Within the legendarium, "Gandalf" translates an unknown name of the meaning "Elf-of-the-wand (or cane/staff)", or more literary "Wand-elf", in old northern Mannish. Most denizens of Middle-earth incorrectly assumed Gandalf was a [[Men|Man]] (human), although he was really a Maia spirit (approximately equivalent to an angel). However, a less common misconception that occurred during the beginning of his career in Middle-earth was that for someone to be [[immortal]] and use as much magic as he did, he must have been an Elf. Although it soon became apparent to all that he couldn't be an Elf, as he was old and Elves don't generally age, the nickname stuck with him. He later gave it as his name to others he met who didn't know its original meaning.<br />
<br />
== Actors playing Gandalf ==<br />
<br />
[[John Huston]] provided the voice of Gandalf in two animated television features by [[Rankin/Bass]]. <br />
<br />
In the animated film made by [[Ralph Bakshi]], Gandalf was voiced by [[William Squire]] (though it's not known whether Squire played him in the live-action recordings used for rotoscoping). <br />
<br />
In the BBC radio dramatisations, [[Heron Carvic]] played him in ''The Hobbit'' and Sir [[Michael Hordern]] played him in ''The Lord of the Rings''. <br />
<br />
Sean Connery was initially approached to play Gandalf in [[Peter Jackson]]'s movie trilogy; allegedly he was rejected when he professed ignorance of the books!<br />
<br />
[[Ian McKellen|Sir Ian McKellen]] was Gandalf in ''The Lord of The Rings'' movie trilogy directed by [[Peter Jackson]]. McKellan was also nominated for an Academy Award for his portrayal of Gandalf in [[Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring]].<br />
<br />
==References==<br />
*Manfred Zimmerman, ''The Origin of Gandalf and Josef Madlener'', Mythlore 34 (1983). <br />
<br />
==External links==<br />
*[http://www.tolkiensociety.org/news/gandalf-painting.html The painting from which Tolkien drew inspiration for Gandalf]<br />
<br />
<br />
{{fellowship}}<br />
<br />
[[Category:Maiar]]<br />
[[Category:Pronounced articles]]</div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Sean_Astin&diff=15352Sean Astin2006-04-14T17:29:53Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>[[Image:Sean Astin as Samwise Gamgee.jpg|thumb|''Sean Astin'' as [[Samwise Gamgee]] in [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]].]]<br />
'''Sean Astin''' played [[Samwise Gamgee]] in [[The Lord of the Rings]] films. <br />
<br />
Amusingly, he kept meticulous count of the times when he was fitted with 'hobbit feet' and subsequently the feet were never 'in shot'.<br />
<br />
He suffered an injury during the filming of the scene at [[Parth Galen]] when [[Samwise Gamgee]] runs into the river after [[Frodo Baggins]] - there was a shard of glass in the river bed and [[Sean Astin]]'s foot was pierced and bled profusely. Despite the injury he was back on set the next day. <br />
<br />
Both of his parents worked in the film industry: his father John Astin created the character of Gomez Addams in the TV series "The Addams Family" while his mother, Patty Duke, won an Oscar for her performance in "The Miracle Worker".<br />
<br />
[[Sean Astin]] wrote a painfully honest account of his work on [[The Lord of the Rings]] films in his book "There and Back Again".</div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Brad_Dourif&diff=15351Brad Dourif2006-04-14T17:25:30Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>'''Brad Dourif''' played [[Gríma Wormtongue]] in [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]].<br />
<br />
Throughout the filming he stayed totally in character, and only on the last day when [[Peter Jackson]] called "cut!" for the last time did he drop the accent he adopted for the role.</div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Sean_Bean&diff=15350Sean Bean2006-04-14T17:20:52Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>[[Image:Sean Bean.jpg|thumb|''Sean Bean'' as [[Boromir]] in [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]].]]<br />
'''Sean Bean''' played [[Boromir]] in [[Peter Jackson]]'s [[The Lord of the Rings]].<br />
<br />
He had previously played Richard Sharpe in TV dramatisations of Bernard Cornwell's series of novels about the Napoleonic Wars. It is thought that his comment ("Still Sharp!") on inspecting the shards of [[Narsil]] in the [[Fellowship of the Ring]] film is a sly nod to that role.</div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Sean_Astin&diff=15345Sean Astin2006-04-14T17:15:22Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>'''Sean Astin''' played [[Samwise Gamgee]] in [[The Lord of the Rings]] films.<br />
<br />
Both of his parents worked in the film industry: his father John Astin created the character of Gomez Addams in the TV series "The Addams Family" while his mother, Patty Duke, won an Oscar for her performance in "The Miracle Worker".<br />
<br />
[[Sean Astin]] wrote a painfully honest account of his work on [[The Lord of the Rings]] films in his book "There and Back Again".</div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Donald_Swann&diff=15339Donald Swann2006-04-14T17:05:16Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>[[Image:Donald Swann (small).jpg|thumb]]<br />
'''Donald Swann''' recorded various songs related to [[J.R.R. Tolkien]]'s works. He was previously associated with wheelchair-bound Michael Flanders, and performed many times as "Flanders & Swann", singing their humourous and witty songs, such as "The Hippopotamus" and "I'm a Gnu (spelt G-N-U)"<br />
<br />
==External links==<br />
* [http://www.donaldswann.co.uk Official website]</div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Ian_Holm&diff=15338Ian Holm2006-04-14T17:04:31Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>'''Ian Holm''' played [[Bilbo Baggins]] in [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings]]. It is a well-known fact in the film world that on a re-take he changes his performance completely.<br />
<br />
He played [[Frodo Baggins]] in the BBC radio adaption of the [[Lord of the Rings]]</div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Hfskodweyb&diff=15315User talk:Hfskodweyb2006-04-14T14:48:08Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>What on earth do you hope to gain by repeatedly posting your pornlinks? go away and get a life!</div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Hyarion&diff=15306User talk:Hyarion2006-04-14T14:34:40Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>==Need Help With Footnotes!==<br />
Hyarion, I need help getting the footnotes working on the [[Chamber of Mazarbul]] page. Could you help? Thanks so much.<br />
<br />
-Old Took<br />
<br />
:I saw you added that on the [[Talk:Chamber of Mazarbul|talk page]] but wasn't sure what you meant as the links work fine for me. What doesn't seem to be working for you? When I click them it sends the page down to align the top line with the relevant footnote, and when you click the up arrow it will jump you back up to the in-text citation. Am I missing something? Keep in mind the footnotes aren't very effective as the page can only scroll so much, thus rending it incapable of going all the way down to the correct reference. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 22:24, 3 April 2006 (EDT)<br />
<br />
::Sorry, it was a browser problem of mine. Everything's fine now! -Old Took<br />
<br />
==Question==<br />
Hello, Hyarion!<br />
<br />
I hope this is the right place to send messages - if not, please erase this.<br />
<br />
Well, I was suprised to see that I was the second person to register in here, but that's even better: there's plenty of room to fill in. <br />
<br />
I found these pages - as you might guess - via the Finnish Kontu forum, where the administrator Merri had posted a message informing about possibilities for co-operation. So I hope there will be more Finns to register in. I'll send my contributions when I have time to do that - quite irregularly, I'm afraid, but let's hope the best.<br />
<br />
yours, Tik<br />
<br />
By the way, how does one start writing a new article to which there exists no previous <br />
link? I couldn't figure that out, being quite unaccustomed to Wiki. The only way I could start writing a new article was to edit a previous one and add there a new internal link and continue editing that one.<br />
<br />
:I have a feeling that will be a common one (because I had to figure that one out myself) so I'll post that on the help page. All you have to do is type in your address bar, something like http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Title of Page (it will even insert the underscores for you) and you will be directed to a page that does not exist and you can edit it that way. <br />
<br />
:Also, something I broke my own rule on, its a good idea to type a 'signature' when adding a comment to a discussion, otherwise no one knows who wrote it. I wish mediawiki would do it automatically, but until I fix that, a good standard to use is like mine below, just type "&mdash ;" but take the space out between the h and the semicolon...I can't figure out how to show those literally. You can also use -- it's just a matter of preference. And then type 4 ~ in a row. The first one prints out your name, second the time, 3rd the date, and 4th the timezone I believe.<br />
<br />
:EDIT: Hm...looks like your one step ahead of me, on your pages, you have exactly that.<br />
<br />
:EDIT: On second thought I'm going to move this to User:Hyarion because I'll probably keep this page to say what the English translation of Hyarion is. -- [[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 11:41, 12 Jun 2005 (EDT)<br />
<br />
== Answer To Your Question ==<br />
<br />
A lot of my stuff is at my LJ, [http://www.livejournal.com/users/brighty11/ ~~Black Sun~~], and some is at Parma, OF and Elfsheen, but a lot is just on my hard disk. :)<br />
<br />
&mdash; [[User:BrightSideoftheDark|Brighty]] 6:22, 25 Aug 2005 (EDT)<br />
<br />
== Bokkie Moans ==<br />
<br />
Hey<br />
<br />
Can you try and make a [[Special:Sandbox]] for us users to try stuff out in?<br />
makes editing family lines and such easier...<br />
<br />
I've spotted a difference of opinion... 8-)<br />
I've been trying to remove all the '''Hobbits Category''' entries from the different hobbits, but I see you add them still... It did make it easier for me to check who had been edited...<br />
I guess we want them back?<br />
<br />
* Ah, hehe. That is something I was debating. I wonder if it is possible to have a 'Hobbits' cateogry and in it, list the hobbit family names, but have it also contain a list of all the hobbits since those are sub-categories. I guess when it comes down to it I just want a page that lists all the Hobbits, whatever way works I'm fine with. Sorry I totally forgot you were removing those, heh, I'll look into it to see what way will work. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 16:44, 9 Sep 2005 (EDT)<br />
::I'll leave the Hobbit category be then. I guess it would be just as useful to have all the hobbits in one big list, as it was. Just add a category for the specific family too, like you did 8-)<br />
I've got my doubts about double pages like [[Sam Gamgee]] and [[Samwise Gamgee]].<br />
It basically is one and the same person, only a nickname or shortform. I would rather see 1 article with a list of "aliases"... --[[User:Bokkie|Bokkie]] 17:42, 14 Sep 2005 (EDT)<br />
:I understand where you're coming from and I'll keep thinking about it, but for the time being I still say that it would be more beneficial to have the names on seperate pages, because each name has a specific meaning. For example [[Aragorn Elessar]] and [[Strider]] and such, you can go into great detail about the different names and people who called him that, places he used it, and the [[Elvish]] translations along with the old english meanings, etc. This would tend to drag down the [[Aragorn Elessar]] page to list all the names/information on it. For things like [[Sam Gamgee]] there is not going to be as much information to talk about it, but just to keep the same system I think it's best to keep it. In the future we can list when he is referred to as 'Sam' and by whom. Just my opinion though. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 00:15, 15 Sep 2005 (EDT)<br />
<br />
== Sandbox ==<br />
<br />
Good idea, I'll add that to the to-do list while I upgrade the new wiki software, which should greatly improve the left menu, I'm going to be able to add things like links to the letters A-Z or links to races or to whatever we want and in different tables, if you have any suggestions let me know. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 16:39, 9 Sep 2005 (EDT)<br />
<br />
==What Happened to Me?==<br />
This is Brighty - what happened to me? I tried to log in and it said I don't exist. Weird.<br />
::Were you using "BrightSideoftheDark"? Your still on the userlist, odd. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 21:51, 3 November 2005 (EST)<br />
<br />
== Cirith Gorgor and related bands ==<br />
<br />
Hey Hyarion,<br />
<br />
Like Blind Guardian not all songs relate to Tolkien, but the ones that do stick to theme. Do you want bands to stick with just a band page?<br />
:Honestly it's up to you, that's the best part, no one person has full control and we as a community can make decisions, but with the [[Blind Guardian]] page I just copied that from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_Guardian for now and have yet to remove the unnecessary links, which was my fault because you were basing your articles off that. With Blind Guardian, as with [[Cirith Gorgor (band)|Cirith Gorgor]] it is tricky because the [[J.R.R. Tolkien|Tolkien]] theme is greater in some albums and songs than others so there is no easy fine line. In the end more information is always better than less and if in the future we deem the articles as unnecessary it won't take any effort to remove them. --[[User:Hyarion|Hyarion]] 18:05, 28 November 2005 (EST)<br />
::Ah ok. I was gonna just throw up a band page but saw all the information on Blind Guardian I figure I better not slack and add some more :P I'll clean it up and keep it that way in the future.<br />
<br />
== Barrowdowns Mb ==<br />
<br />
Hey Hyarion,<br />
<br />
I like your idea about the barrowdowns.com MB, I say lets do it.-Goldfinger<br />
<br />
Hi Hyarion<br />
<br />
Firstly love this site!<br />
<br />
Secondly we have a troll adding porn links: Hfskodweyb<br />
<br />
I have edited and deleted the nonesense twice but it reappears. you may need to block this spammer</div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Talk:Bilbo%27s_Last_Song&diff=15297Talk:Bilbo's Last Song2006-04-14T10:10:47Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>Just wondering what "the obvious difficulties over the last word" are. --[[User:Earendilyon|Earendilyon]] 04:18, 14 April 2006 (EDT)<br />
<br />
:JRRT originally wrote the poem as "Bilbo's Last Lay", 'Lay' being an ancient term for "song". However, once first published in poster form by Allen & Unwin, the American publishers Houghton Mifflin chnaged it to "Bilbo's Last Song" due to the sexual connotations of "lay".<br />
<br />
::So much I feared. *sigh* Just becasuse people don't know their language anymore, a publisher changes the title of an author's writings. Has this term in British English the same connotations? --[[User:Earendilyon|Earendilyon]] 05:26, 14 April 2006 (EDT)<br />
<br />
No, not really; the original title appeared on the Pauline Baynes illustrated poster without much fuss - it was Houghton Mifflin that changed it.<br />
<br />
-''en passant'' the illustration showed a lateen-rigged ship sailing out into the setting sun, and Peter Jackson mirrored the image in the film The Return of the King.</div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Talk:Bilbo%27s_Last_Song&diff=15295Talk:Bilbo's Last Song2006-04-14T09:15:48Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>Just wondering what "the obvious difficulties over the last word" are. --[[User:Earendilyon|Earendilyon]] 04:18, 14 April 2006 (EDT)<br />
<br />
JRRT originally wrote the poem as "Bilbo's Last Lay", 'Lay' being an ancient term for "song". However, once first published in poster form by Allen & Unwin, the American publishers Houghton Mifflin chnaged it to "Bilbo's Last Song" due to the sexual connotations of "lay".</div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=The_Eagle_and_Child&diff=15266The Eagle and Child2006-04-13T20:39:14Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>[[Image:The Eagle and Child.jpg|thumb]]<br />
The pub that the [[Inklings]] would meet at on Tuesday mornings.<br />
<br />
In the back room, there is a small plaque on the wall commemorating The [[Inklings]] meetings.</div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Wolvercote_Cemetery&diff=15265Wolvercote Cemetery2006-04-13T20:36:42Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>Wolvercote Cemetery is a municipal cemetery in North Oxford, where [[Tolkien]] and his wife [[Edith]] are buried. It is a suprisingly mundane place; Tolkien's grave is in the middle of a row of graves, just past a large plot of Polish ex-servicemen's graves.</div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Bilbo%27s_Last_Song&diff=15241Bilbo's Last Song2006-04-13T19:31:56Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>Bilbo's Last Song is a poem by [[J.R.R. Tolkien]]. It was originally entitled "Bilbo's Last Lay", but this was later changed due to the obvious difficulties over the last word. It was given by Tolkien as a gift to his secretary Joy Hill in 1966. After Tolkien's death in 1973 Hill showed the poem to Donald Swann, who liked the poem so much that he set it to music and included it in the second edition of The Road Goes Ever On in 1978. The poem was also illustrated by Pauline Baynes, and published as a poster in 1974. In 1990 the text was finally published in book form, reillustrated by Baynes. <br><br />
<br><br />
The poem is sung by [[Bilbo Baggins]] at the Grey Havens, as he is about to leave [[Middle-earth]] forever. Chronologically this places it at the very end of The Return of the King, the last book of The Lord of the Rings, although it was written later than the books and never included in them.<br><br />
<br><br />
The song is included in the BBC Radio 4 adaptation of [[The Lord of the Rings]] (1981), with music by Stephen Oliver. The first verse is chanted by John Le Mesurier as Bilbo, the second omitted, and the third sung by a boy soprano. <br><br />
<br><br />
<br><br />
''Day is ended, dim my eyes,'' <br><br />
''but journey long before me lies.'' <br><br />
''Farewell, friends! I hear the call.'' <br><br />
''The ship's beside the stony wall.'' <br><br />
''Foam is white and waves are grey;'' <br><br />
''beyond the sunset leads my way.'' <br><br />
''Foam is salt, the wind is free;'' <br><br />
''I hear the rising of the Sea.'' <br><br />
<br><br />
''Farewell, friends! The sails are set,'' <br><br />
''the wind is east, the moorings fret.'' <br><br />
''Shadows long before me lie,'' <br><br />
''beneath the ever-bending sky,'' <br><br />
''but islands lie behind the Sun'' <br><br />
''that I shall raise ere all is done;'' <br><br />
''lands there are to west of West,'' <br><br />
''where night is quiet and sleep is rest.'' <br><br />
<br><br />
''Guided by the Lonely Star,'' <br><br />
''beyond the utmost harbour-bar,'' <br><br />
''I'll find the heavens fair and free,'' <br><br />
''and beaches of the Starlit Sea.'' <br><br />
''Ship, my ship! I seek the West,'' <br><br />
''and fields and mountains ever blest.'' <br><br />
''Farewell to Middle-earth at last.'' <br><br />
''I see the Star above my mast!'' <br><br />
<br />
[[Category:Books]]</div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Peter_Jackson&diff=15240Peter Jackson2006-04-13T19:27:19Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>Peter Jackson directed [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings|The Lord of the Rings films]] which exceeded all expectations. <br><br />
<br />
==Cameos==<br />
* In [[Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring|The Fellowship of the Ring]] film Jackson played [[Albert Dreary]], a [[Bree]] entertainer.<br />
* In [[Peter Jackson's The Two Towers|The Two Towers]] film Jackson played a soldier of [[Rohan]].<br />
<br />
* In [[Peter Jackson's The Return of the King|The Return of the King]] film Jackson played a [[Corsair]] Ship captain, who gets shot by [[Legolas]]. <br />
<br />
* In [[Peter Jackson's The Return of the King|The Return of the King]] film, Jackson's arm appears in place of [[Sam Gamgee]]'s when he first confronts [[Shelob]]<br />
<br />
==External Links==<br />
[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001392 IMDB Biography] <br><br />
[http://tbhl.theonering.net Official Fan Club] <br></div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Peter_Jackson&diff=15239Peter Jackson2006-04-13T19:24:28Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>Peter Jackson directed [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings|The Lord of the Rings films]] which exceeded all expectations. <br><br />
<br />
==Cameos==<br />
* In [[Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring|The Fellowship of the Ring]] film Jackson played [[Albert Dreary]], a [[Bree]] entertainer.<br />
* In [[Peter Jackson's The Two Towers|The Two Towers]] film Jackson played a soldier of [[Rohan]].<br />
<br />
* In [[Peter Jackson's The Return of the King|The Return of the King]] film Jackson played a [[Corsair]] Ship captain, who gets shot by [[Legolas]]. <br />
<br />
==External Links==<br />
[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001392 IMDB Biography] <br><br />
[http://tbhl.theonering.net Official Fan Club] <br></div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Peter_Jackson&diff=15238Peter Jackson2006-04-13T19:22:34Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>Peter Jackson directed [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings|The Lord of the Rings films]] which exceeded all expectations. <br><br />
<br />
==Cameos==<br />
* In [[Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring|The Fellowship of the Ring]] film Jackson played [[Albert Dreary]], a [[Bree]] entertainer.<br />
* In [[Peter Jackson's The Two Towers|The Two Towers]] film Jackson played a soldier of [[Rohan]].<br />
<br />
* In [[Peter Jackson's The Return of the King|The Return of the King]] film Jackson played a Corsair Ship captain, who gets shot by Legolas. <br />
<br />
==External Links==<br />
[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001392 IMDB Biography] <br><br />
[http://tbhl.theonering.net Official Fan Club] <br></div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Peter_Jackson&diff=15237Peter Jackson2006-04-13T19:22:15Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>Peter Jackson directed [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings|The Lord of the Rings films]] which exceeded all expectations. <br><br />
<br />
==Cameos==<br />
* In [[Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring|The Fellowship of the Ring]] film Jackson played [[Albert Dreary]], a [[Bree]] entertainer.<br />
* In [[Peter Jackson's The Two Towers|The Two Towers]] film Jackson played a soldier of [[Rohan]].<br />
<br />
* In [[Peter Jackson's The Return of the King|The Return of the King]]film Jackson played a Corsair Ship captain, who gets shot by Legolas. <br />
<br />
==External Links==<br />
[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001392 IMDB Biography] <br><br />
[http://tbhl.theonering.net Official Fan Club] <br></div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Peter_Jackson&diff=15236Peter Jackson2006-04-13T19:21:37Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>Peter Jackson directed [[Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings|The Lord of the Rings films]] which exceeded all expectations. <br><br />
<br />
==Cameos==<br />
* In [[Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring|The Fellowship of the Ring]] film Jackson played [[Albert Dreary]], a [[Bree]] entertainer.<br />
* In [[Peter Jackson's The Two Towers|The Two Towers]] film Jackson played a soldier of [[Rohan]].<br />
<br />
* In [[Peter Jackson's The Return of the King]The Return of the King]]film Jackson played a Corsair Ship captain, who gets shot by Legolas. <br />
<br />
==External Links==<br />
[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001392 IMDB Biography] <br><br />
[http://tbhl.theonering.net Official Fan Club] <br></div>Sancho proudfoothttps://tolkiengateway.net/w/index.php?title=Tolkien_Society_(UK)&diff=15217Tolkien Society (UK)2006-04-13T15:57:00Z<p>Sancho proudfoot: </p>
<hr />
<div>[[Image:Tolkien Society (UK) logo.gif|thumb|The logo of the ''Tolkien Society''.]]<br />
The '''Tolkien Society''' is a Tolkien Society in the U.K. They publish the [[Amon Hen journal]] and the [[Mallorn journal]].<br />
<br />
The Tolkien Society was formed in 1969 by Vera Chapman, a Cambridge-educated retired teacher, who, horrified at the annexation of Tolkien's works by "hippies and drop-outs" decided to form a group dedicated to the true appreciation of Tolkien's works.<br />
<br />
Initially London-based, the Society would meet in Vera's North London Flat; they kept in communication via a xerox'd newsletter called "Belladonna's Broadsheet" ( Vera adopted the name 'Belladonna Took' as her Middle-Earth alias)<br />
<br />
The Society grew steadily, and Vera willingly passed over responsibility for the bulletin to other hands. A further, more scholarly, publication "Mallorn" also appeared.<br />
<br />
Belladonna's Broadsheet went through a number of identity changes, being "Henneth Annun" before its then editor, John Martin, adopted the name it is still published under: "Amon Hen". <br />
<br />
The Society also undertook a pilgrimage to Oxford, exploring the colleges and sites relevant to JRR Tolkien's life. Visit was made to Wolvercote Cemetery were wreaths in tribute were laid. At that first visit, it was found that a wild bramble had rooted in the topsoil of the grave. This was rapidly uprooted, and the Society offered to buy a rose plant, the offer of which Priscilla Tolkien - JRRT's only daughter - accepted. The same rose seems to be flourishing now, as can been seen on the photographs elsewhere on here. The weekend event culminated with a visit to the home of Priscilla Tolkien.<br />
<br />
This "Oxonmoot" grew to be an annual event, and in subsequent years, other members of the Tolkien family also met with Society members - Fr John, the Catholic priest and Michael, a teacher based in Lancashire.<br />
<br />
Vera Chapman was invited to a lunch by Rayner Unwin (of the original publishers George Allen & Unwin) where she met JRRT. At the lunch she invited him to become President of the Society, and also presented him with a handsome tobacco jar, filled with his favourite leaf.<br />
<br />
JRRT graciously agreed to the presidency of the Society; on his death, the other family members who were in touch with the Society suggested that he remain President "in perpetuo" and this was gladly accepted by the Society.<br />
<br />
==External links==<br />
* [http://www.tolkiensociety.org Official website]</div>Sancho proudfoot