Newest References

The Curious Case of Peregrin Boffin by simon

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.

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Why People Don't Comment: Data and History From the Tolkienfic Fandom by Dawn Walls-Thumma

A reworking of the 2018 article for Long Live Feedback that includes data from the 2020 Tolkien Fanfiction Survey, pointing to a lack of comments as related to skill, confidence, and community connection.

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Death, Grief, and the Other in the "Quenta Silmarillion" by Dawn Walls-Thumma

The narrator of the Quenta Silmarillion uses death, grief, and mourning rituals to generate sympathy for or dehumanize groups of characters considered the Other.

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Spiral Staircase by Simon J. Cook

The Anglo-Saxon poet looks on the sea from the highest point of the tower and then, without saying all that was seen, begins a descent. The way of the poem traces a spiral staircase. Ultimately, the plan of this staircase follows an Elvish design. The staircase is a picture of the descent of mortal generations in history, drawn from the perspective of those who do not die.

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Straight Road by Simon J. Cook

The Fall of Númenor offers the evidence used to arrive at Tolkien's reading of the exordium to Beowulf.

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Fandom Voices: Comments and Feedback by Dawn Walls-Thumma

Over thirty people contributed their thoughts on the experience of leaving and receiving feedback on fanworks. Emotions run high on all sides, but community and connections emerge as factors that promote feedback while easing its difficulties for readers and viewers.

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Fandom Voices: Using Fanon in Fanworks by Dawn Walls-Thumma

Sixteen Tolkien fans contributed their definitions of and experiences with fanon or fan-generated theories about the legendarium.

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Fandom Chocolate … or Authors Love Comments by Dawn Walls-Thumma

Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data shows that authors view comments as driving their motivation to create fanfiction. However, perception of comments by authors is part of a larger shift in fandom around how and how often fans interact with each other.

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Passing Ships by Simon J. Cook

The arrival and departure of ships across the Great Sea carries mythic significance for the peoples of Middle-earth. The image of ships crossing out of and back into a mysterious West appears as well in Beowulf and is alluded to in Tolkien's tower analogy in his lecture "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics," where the tower allows those who climb it to observe the passage of the ships.

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Fanfiction and the Serious Business of Writer's Craft by Dawn Walls-Thumma

Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data shows that while most authors self-identify as taking their craft seriously, a growing subset of authors may be pushing that norm.

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Thálatta! Thálatta! by Simon J. Cook

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.

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Crossroads by Simon J. Cook

With Gildor Inglorion we finally climb the stairs of Elostirion and look on the view, and what we see appears to reveal a hidden thread in the story of Frodo Baggins. This post reads two annotated translations of two Elvish songs to step through a crossroads in the narrative to arrive at the tower on the margin of the story, wherein is a stone that is a window onto Valinor.

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Grief, Grieving, and Permission to Mourn in the "Quenta Silmarillion" by Dawn Walls-Thumma

In a book as full of death as the Quenta Silmarillion, grief and mourning are surprisingly absent. The characters who receive grief and mourning—and those who don't—appear to do so due to narrative bias. Grief and mourning (or a lack of them) serve to draw attention toward and away from objectionable actions committed by characters.

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In the House of the Fairbairns by Simon J. Cook

The first of some posts on the Elf-tower on the western margin of The Lord of the Rings attempts to frame the relationship between the narrative and the appendices of The Lord of the Rings and an analysis of Frodo's dream-visions. 

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Beyond Borders: Canon Deviations, Multifandoms, and Original Content by Dawn Walls-Thumma

Data from the 2015 and 2020 Tolkien Fanfiction Surveys shows to what extent Tolkien fanfiction writers push beyond the canon and toward or into the realm of originality, as well as whether trends exist in among the various ways authors venture beyond the borders of Middle-earth.

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Seeing Stones in Dark Towers by Simon J. Cook

As inscribed above the western doors of the Mines of Moria, that magical illustration of Elf-Dwarf collaboration, the name of the game is treachery. From Frodo’s far-seeing dream of Orthanc in his first night in the house of Tom Bombadil, the post draws in the person of Frodo Baggins the image of the Stone by which the will of the Necromancer enters a Tower.

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The Peaks of Taniquetil by Simon J. Cook

In 1946, two towers appeared in Tolkien's writings. The tower found in The Fall of Númenor may shed light on the meaning of the tower analogy of "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics."

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Beleriand in Beowulf by Simon J. Cook

Beowulf offers an Anglo-Saxon view upon the world of the old homeland, before migration to the British Isles and conversion to Christianity. The poet takes history as a process of forgetting. In the world of the poem, knowledge of heaven above was forgotten a long age before, while what is beyond the western ocean is in the process of being forgotten.

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10 Important Moments in Tolkien Fanfiction History by Dawn Walls-Thumma

From the appearance of the first Tolkien fanfics in 1960 to the latest appreciation months, Tolkien fanfiction has weathered changes great and small—and has persisted, changed, and grown.

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Things Tolkien Fanfiction Readers and Writers Like to Do (Other Than Fanfiction) by Dawn Walls-Thumma

Tolkien fanfiction writers and readers are involved in fandom in ways other than fanfiction. What else do they do and what patterns can we find in their preferences, using Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data?

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Olwë by LadySternchen

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.

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Interview with Artist Mirra Kan by Anérea

Blue Wizards, Faithful Haradrim, Black Númenóreans; I chatted with Mirra about her evocative—and somtimes provocative—art drawing attention to some of Middle-earth's Oriental cultures and the Western perception of them.

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Duel of Surveys: Comparing Tolkien Fanfiction and OTW Survey Data by Dawn Walls-Thumma

A (rough!) comparison of the Tolkien Fanfiction and OTW 16th Anniversary Surveys, looking at time active in fandom, attendance at fan conventions, and platform use.

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Fawlty Towers by Simon J. Cook

The tower analogy in "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics" wasn't simply a poignant extended metaphor about the poem but addressed specific scholars about academic debates around Beowulf. The lack of addressing this historical context has led to misreadings of Tolkien's meaning.

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Celegorm by Dawn Walls-Thumma

Celegorm emerged early in Tolkien's work on the "Silmarillion," but his evolution into the villain he would become in the published text is complicated, and he filled two surprising roles before coming fully into his own. The first of two parts considers how early work on the "Silmarillion" shaped his final characterization.

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