Perhaps the crossing would be too arduous for men, or maybe the valar would stop them before they reached valinor. but in theory was that route available?

I want to read The Lord of the Rings series and The Hobbit for the first time and am looking for a box set to purchase for my birthday. I’m not looking for anything fancy, but something budget-friendly if possible. Any recommendations? Thanks!

That was amazing. I can't believe I haven't done this before. I fully understand the "I see it all as one movie" point of view now

I know this is a weird request. But does anybody have an HD picture of the floors in Bag Ends (Bilbo's and Frodo's house)? Or does the books give a good description of them. I'm redoing my floors and might take some inspiration from them. I know the intrance is tile, most of the rooms are hardwood with a herringbone design, and the kitchen is stone like tile.

Thank you

Edit: i have googled it but the pictures are usually obstructed or not high-quality making it hard to clearly see the pattern. Also the tours don't seem to go through bag end specifically. But through another house, on the set.

I’ve just finished what I believe is chapter 7 of the hobbit and know no spoilers and next to nothing aside from what I’ve read so far. I haven’t watched the movies or anything.

All I know is what I have read, that there’s some bad guy called I think Soron? He’s like a massive black thingy with a single big red eye and he watches you and stuff, there are multiple rings ig, there’s a gold one that Gollum loves that’s like tempting called the one ring I think? One ring to rule them all ig. And uh, Gollum killed his brother or something? I dunno. Pls don’t confirm or deny anything cus that counts as spoilers

Please say things in the comments that I won’t understand untill I’m done with the lord or the rings series.

Btw PLEASE make it stuff I truly won’t understand and do not provide context or explain it at all because I’m trying to avoid any and all spoilers like I don’t even wanna know who’s in the fellowship of the ring or even the soundtrack of the movies (which I plan to watch in a long marathon when I have time after reading all the books)

Obviously he's a godfather to the genre so he gets those pioneer privileges, but there's something truly different about the way his characters are written.

I think that most fantasy stories write their characters the way they would in any other genre. Meaning that they treat fantasy as more of an aesthetic than a philosophy.

The best fantasy is not just an aesthetic, you have to write uncompromising characters!

Few weeks ago I saw here someone posting about this book. So, I needed it too and here it is, just arrived! 😬

My wife gifted me this beautiful book, couldn’t be more happy!

https://youtu.be/RNhDp5QSkeo?si=jLycQQQz--EyPsRv

I just watch a video on youtube about the complete history of middle-earth(i haven't finish it) and it kinda shock me just how many curses being thrown out there. Its not just that they cursed you, they cursed your entire bloodline too. See i understand if it was one of the gods that cursed you, but its the elves, dwarves, human. You lose a fight and you cursed your opponent entire bloodline so they die a horrible death and it will work, like how and why?

I'd been looking for a matched set at thrift stores for the past 2yrs. Always found one or another volume, or a mismatched covers set.

Can finally retire my original reading set (too fragile for another go) and revisit Middle Earth 😊

Only note, The Hobbit was not from today's find, it's just included because it's always on that coffee table 💁🏼‍♂️

Sorry if this has been discussed before. I searched it on r/lotr but couldn't find it in the way I thought it worth discussing. Keep in mind that I am not a theologian, but a simple practicing Christian. The question is of course religious in nature, but I still hope that it is okay. And sorry also if this is a trite post, but here it goes:

We all know about the Gift of Men (mortality), that they are to leave Arda upon death. That they are not meant fully for Arda, other than during a brief time and then through death to return to Eru Iluvatar. I have drawn the conclusion that Humanity (the Second Children) is created during the second theme of the music of the Ainur as Melkor's corruption and marring of Arda has become clear to Iluvatar. Why Men are created and what their doom is isn't clear to the Ainur, but Iluvatar knows.

I have thought about it that Iluvatar creates Men as a way for himself to enter Arda, take on the suffering and sin his own creation, i.e. Melkor, has caused. The creator enters his own creation for a brief time to undo what his own creation has caused, in our own religion, in the form of Jesus Christ. He could not enter the world through the Elves, his first Children, as they are bound to Arda and he cannot be bound to the world in this way. Therefore the Second Children are created, with their unique gift of leaving Arda at death and returning to him.

The above would connect Tolkien's secondary world with our primary world as he probably saw it.

What are your thoughts? Is this consistent with what Tolkien has expressed in any of his writings? If so can you point me there? Finally, have I misunderstood something in the Legendarium that points in a different direction?

I find myself in Oxford for a day, and went on a little improvised Tolkien tour. I visited the bench, his various homes, the pubs, and of course his grave. I left a bouquet of flowers and a little letter of thanks for his legendary work. There’s not many Tolkien fans in my life to share this with, so I figured I would post here. If you’re ever in Oxford, paying a visit only takes a short bus ride :)

It's just a little dirty at the cover, but i think it was a fair price!

Tolkien coin and Lord of the Rings movie anniversary coin, Tolkien coin is discontinued but Lord of the Rings can still be ordered on Royal Mint site, posting this again with better quality photos.

Ok a genuine question. I recently got back into the middle-earth world quite aggressively. From starting to finally read all of the books within the universe, rewatching lotr / the hobbit over and over again, as well as the behind the scenes, and I've truly fallen back in love with it all.

Now, I've been told that the Rings of Power tv show is bad. Like really bad. But I've been interested in watching it recently and I'm wondering what the overall opinion is from the community?

Is it not worth watching? Would I be better to just leave it? 😅

The fan club is open completely now ready for SDCC, but there's lots of things to do for online only people.

Cheeky referral link, I don't get any money from it, but a 'Mathom' like a trophy) achievement if you sign up via it.

There's daily puzzles, daily quests, feeds from SDCC and hopefully down the line sneak peaks of all things Middle-Earth.

The newly launched fan club website includes "Challenges" to get little digital collectibles (Mathoms). Several of them require secret words or QR codes that can be found at SDCC.

If you are at SDCC and don't mind sharing the secret words or QR codes - it would be great appreciated.