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.
This story was penned some years back as a way of marking the Peregrin Boffin of the 1939 drafts of The Lord of the Rings. Boffin was a Hobbit who walked to Moria but vanished from the story in summer 1940, when his character, Trotter, the Ranger met in Bree, became Aragorn, heir of Elendil.
Published on 8 December 2023.
We know little to nothing about Nimloth aside from her familial relationships to others: the wife of Dior, and mother of Eluréd, Elurín, and Elwing.
Published on 1 October 2009.
The first edition of our new column explores the Gondolindrim Festival of Flowers, its connections to the Beltane festival, and the foodways of Gondolin and possible recipes for this celebration.
Published on 1 May 2020.
So you need an Elvish name for your OC? This article gives tips and strategies for coming up with believable names that sound good.
Published on 1 March 2010.
About Olwë, the king of the Teleri in Aman, little is known, but a series of difficult events marked his life until he fades from the pages of The Silmarillion in the First Age.
Published on 24 January 2024.
One of the gods of music in the early legendarium, Ómar is called by Christopher Tolkien "a divinity without much substance" and swiftly faded from the story. His brief existence may shed light on Tolkien's evolving sense of how his fictional universe aligns with the historical peoples that inspired him.
Published on 2 September 2023.
Orodreth is often remembered (or forgotten) for his milder-mannered and soft-spoken nature, though other sources paint a more varied picture.
Published on 1 December 2014.
One of the longest-enduring characters in the legendarium, Ossë evolved over the decades from a perilous character adjacent to Melkor himself to a figure both dangerous and benevolent.
Published on 3 March 2022.
The deus faber and demiurgic motifs of creation mythology are used in the Ainulindalë, selected and manipulated by Tolkien to advance ideas that rest at the foundation of the legendarium.
Published on 10 April 2021.
A biography of Pengolodh, emphasizing what he would have known of the history he wrote about and how that impacts interpreting The Silmarillion for fanfiction.
Published on 1 March 2016.
History of the Atlantis myth that inspired Tolkien's Númenor.
Published on 1 August 2009.
Who wrote The Silmarillion? This paper briefly discusses the evidence from Morgoth's Ring that supports the idea that that "Silmarillion" narrator is Elven.
Published on 16 April 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.
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.
One of the Istari or Wizards, Radagast is a blink-or-you-miss-him character with particular connections to animals and nature.
Published on 1 August 2016.
The most recent posthumous volume of Tolkien's work contains some of his translations, lectures, and fanfiction of Old English texts.
Published on 23 June 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 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.
The recent Tolkien Society Seminar proceedings "Tolkien and Diversity" explore both cultural identity and the international fan community and how Tolkien's fanworks and fandom represent marginalized identities.
Published on 8 July 2023.