A Casual Stroll to Mordor

J.R.R. Tolkien’s birthday is on January 3rd and it has been a tradition for Tolkien fans to raise a glass and toast him.

Browsing through fantasy art work the other day, I was pleased to discover some very inspiring work of art based on Lord of the Ring and other books written by Tolkien.

The passage I have chosen to look at next is the creation myth for Middle-Earth.

Hot on the heels of launching their new fantasy inspired online radio station, Middle-earth Network has now introduced a new way to connect and share with fellow Tolkien fans with their new My Middle-earth Network.

No more serious topic of discussion can be found in all of Tolkiendom than Balrog wings. After listening to many of the Tolkien Professor’s podcasts, and reading others thoughts, I was inspired to wade into this inflammatory topic with my own ruminations.

I thought it would be fun to sort some of the characters from the books into LOTRO Classes.

I found an article on the Tolkien Library web site about YouTube videos springing up recently showing people reading Tolkien’s works and it struck me as very interesting.

We mentioned this epic podcast roundtable was coming back in Episode 64 and it has officially been released on the Lonely Mountain Band’s web site. This has also been released in the Tolkien Professor’s podcast as well.

J.R.R. Tolkien’s birthday is on January 3rd and it has been a tradition for Tolkien fans to raise a glass and toast him.

Here it is: the long-awaited (or at least long-delayed) conclusion to my series of posts on the NPC hobbits in the back room of the Bird and Baby in Michel Delving!

Punggo introduces the real-life counterpart of the second of these hobbits from the Bird and Baby in LOTRO, Carlo Williams.

This weekend begins the Tolkien inspired event Festival in the Shire in the United Kingdom.

The first time I made it into Evendim, not long after the zone opened up, I was blown away by the ruins dotting the landscape and the views across Lake Nenuial. If you have never spent any time there, you are missing out on what I think may be the most visually stunning zone in the entire game.

If you play LotRO, you have probably paid a visit to Michel Delving, the “capital” of the Shire, at some point, even if you do not play a hobbit. Maybe you needed to turn in mathoms for reputation, or perhaps you’re a member of the Cooking Guild. On the other hand, if you completed the Shire Brew-master deed, successfully finished Inn League initiation, or did the “Recovering the Lost Leaf” quest chain (available from Ronald Dwale near Dwaling), you would have gone inside the Bird and Baby Inn.

We are very excited for this week’s episode that includes an interview with Dr. Corey Olsen aka the Tolkien Professor. The interview runs a little long but I think the discussion is worth a listen! We appreciate everyone that sent in questions and we asked as many questions as we could in the time allotted.

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I feel just down right silly for not having this as an Outside LOTRO before now. I’ve been following the Tolkien Professor for months now, chatting on twitter, linked to it from our facebook and even mentioned it in the official forums. However, I some how missed making a post on our actual blog. Duh!

The Tolkien Society has chosen March 25th as “Tolkien Reading Day”. A day devoted to reading Professor Tolkien’s works.

Just released to the iTunes App store today is the new app called “The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien” by vPoint. The app is quite simply the entire novel of “The Hobbit” to be read anytime you wish on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

Today (January 3rd) is the birthday of our beloved author JRR Tolkien.

I learned about this book from “Once Upon A Hobbit” blog (which you really should be reading anyway) that is called “Letters from Father Christmas” written by Tolkien for his children.

Our thanks go out again to Heiko for sharing these YouTube videos of Colin John Rudd who has put some music to Tolkien’s lyrics like Galenswerd is doing with his Lonely Mountain Band project. However, while Lonely Mountain Band is 100% Tolkien work, Colin John Rudd has a mix of music types in his extensive postings on YouTube.

The Complete Guide to Middle-Earth by Robert Foster isn’t a story you would cuddle up on the couch and read. This is more a reference book. A sort of encyclopedia of Tolkien’s world and the reason I am recommending it is because I believe it is also a fantastic reference for Lord of the Rings Online!

Forbes released their list of Top-Earning Dead Celebrities and Tolkien is listed.