A Sense of History: Thálatta! Thálatta!
While he never climbs the stairs of this Elf-tower, in Lothlórien Frodo Baggins descends a flight of steps to look into Galadriel’s Mirror, wherein he first sees the sea. This post examines the view.
One among Tolkien's several fictional loremasters, Quennar was briefly an intermediary between Rúmil and Pengolodh and later attested as the loremaster who wrote on the reckoning of time by the Elves, a role that overlaps with the medieval historiography familiar to Tolkien.
Published on 1 September 2018.
Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data shows that femslash—the Tolkien fandom's youngest genre—has grown in popularity with readers, while authors may use it to share and reflect on experiences of marginalization.
Published on 19 February 2023.
The Fall of Númenor conveniently compiles the majority of Tolkien's Second Age materials in a single volume alongside delightful new art from Alan Lee, making it an immensely useful publication.
Published on 16 February 2023.
The Fall of Gondolin has historical antecedents in sacks of cities in the ancient and medieval world, all featuring military destruction and a grievous impact on innocent civilian survivors.
Published on 21 January 2023.
The final installment of Túrin's biography considers his life in Nargothrond, his return to Dor-lómin and time in Brethil, his fateful marriage to Nienor, his battle with Glaurung, and the ever-disastrous consequences of all of these, culminating in his death by his own hand.
Published on 26 January 2023.
After discovering an interest in female characters and femslash, Elleth used her enthusiasm for these fanworks to run multiple events that helped the Tolkien fandom undergo its transformation from dismissal of women characters to accepting and even celebrating fanworks about them.
Published on 23 December 2022.
Túrin's tale is the lengthiest and one of the most tangled of the tales that make up The Silmarillion. This section considers the center part of Túrin's life, after his exile from Doriath but before he fell into utter ruin, a time defined by friendship and honor rather than ruinous choices.
Published on 16 December 2022.
Tolkien may have taken inspiration for Galadriel's character—an outspoken queen figure—from literary and historical figures like Circe, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and Joan of Arc.
Published on 9 December 2022.
The fandom has become a friendlier place for writing women, but its hostile history toward women-centric fanworks continues to exert a chilling effect for some, while other creators see potential in the legendarium and fandom's traditional lack of women characters.
Published on 25 November 2022.
The Tolkien fandom existed long before Jackson's film trilogies were even thought about. Fans who were active in fandom before one or both film trilogies recall how the films changed (or didn't change) their fan communities and experiences.
Published on 13 May 2022.
From ancient times to the present, siege warfare has been used to wear down an enemy through time and deprivation. Siege tactics, defense against a siege, and humanitarian concerns from real-world sieges have analogues in sieges in Middle-earth.
Published on 18 November 2022.
Fantasy fiction is often conceived to aid escapism in a world as complex and threatening as ours is. It is also an important tool for reflecting on and critiquing our political and societal norms and deficits, serving as a great lens to understand politics, power, choice, order, and justice. Through the lens of political science, underused in Tolkien studies, this paper describes and evaluates the broad themes of the domestic and international political landscape of early Second Age in Middle-earth, examined through a framework of power and choice. With a specific focus on Númenor as a rising power, the paper will also address diverse themes of great power politics, foreign policy, technology and weaponry, ideology, and alliance systems.
Published on 1 March 2020.
Ulfang and his sons, of whom Uldor is the most prominent, are notorious for their betrayal of the Fëanorians during the Battle of Unnumbered Tears. Their early association with dark coloration and betrayal introduces questions of how characters of color are depicted in the legendarium and in-universe textual history.
Published on 1 November 2022.
Data from the Tolkien Fanfiction Surveys shows how time, demographics, and platform choice influence how fanfiction authors regard writing about women.
Published on 29 October 2022.
Midway through the Third Age, a plague devastated Gondor before spreading northward. This element of the legendarium connects to the history of real-world plagues, namely the Black Death.
Published on 14 October 2022.
Tinfang Warble is a character who fits best in the early, whimsical fairy-story mode of the Lost Tales before receding to a figure of folklore and legend and finally disappearing altogether.
Published on 30 September 2022.
When you picture a Tolkien fanfiction writer, who comes to mind? The Tolkien Fanfiction Surveys of 2015 and 2020 provide insight on who is present in the fandom and which fans are missing.
Published on 24 September 2022.
As the Library of Moria prepares to close its doors, we look back at twenty years of the archive's history and consider the ways that the Library contributed to making slash and femslash a part of mainstream Tolkien fanworks fandom.
Published on 30 July 2022.
The use of hostages as a political strategy in Third Age Gondor has historical parallels in medieval Welsh history, and the bloody outcome of the real history may explain some of the tensions between the Easterlings and Gondorians as Sauron's power grew.
Published on 18 August 2022.
Túrin's life illustrates Tolkien's concept of dyscatastrophe: an unexpected turn toward the tragic. The first part of this three-part biography of Túrin considers the early tragedies and downfalls of his life, through his years as an outlaw.
Published on 5 August 2022.
The Great Tales Never End: Essays in Memory of Christopher Tolkien is a collection that pays homage not only to the extraordinary achievement of Christopher Tolkien's work on the legendarium but that acknowledges him as a person and scholar whose impact ranged beyond the borders of Middle-earth.
Published on 15 July 2022.