In The Media: What Say You?

[Haleth]

Oh, dear Eru, no Turin please. 

[AnimeMania]

Trailer coming Super Bowl Sunday Feb. 13.

[Anduin]

So. I think it confirms that TORN has sources. They were saying this a couple of weeks back. At the time, I thought it was just rumour or speculation. But me and my predictions, huh? If you ever want to know what next week's lotto numbers aren't, just ask. :)

[MissLucas]

14 minutes ago, Anduin said:

So. I think it confirms that TORN has sources. They were saying this a couple of weeks back. At the time, I thought it was just rumour or speculation. But me and my predictions, huh? If you ever want to know what next week's lotto numbers aren't, just ask. :)

Not surprising, they also were pretty well-informed during the movies. I also remember some unpleasantness with other LOTR sites due to that.

[Anduin]

6 minutes ago, MissLucas said:

Not surprising, they also were pretty well-informed during the movies. I also remember some unpleasantness with other LOTR sites due to that.

I wasn't into the fandom back then. They have a bit of an abrasive attitude sometimes, and if they've mellowed with age, then back then... I can imagine.

[AnimeMania]

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power announces Trailer date in Elvish.

 

[Anduin]

Vanity Fair has some LOTR news to share tomorrow, 8 am US EST. That's 9 pm today, my time. Good time for news. Beats the usual 3 am drop.

However, judging by a TORN tweet, it might actually be about that Rohirrim anime.

[MissLucas]

Rohirrim anime?!? When do I finally get the story of Arnor and who wore that brooch???

[Anduin]

7 minutes ago, MissLucas said:

Rohirrim anime?!? When do I finally get the story of Arnor and who wore that brooch???

We all have our favourite mysteries or stories we want to see. Mine is Gandalf and Aragorn's trips through Moria. Tolkien was great at dropping these little tidbits and never following them up. He preferred Númenorean history. Ah well.

[MissLucas]

23 minutes ago, Anduin said:

We all have our favourite mysteries or stories we want to see. Mine is Gandalf and Aragorn's trips through Moria. Tolkien was great at dropping these little tidbits and never following them up. He preferred Númenorean history. Ah well.

But that's just two dudes walking through the dark and occasionally jumping at shadows!

I kid of course - it's a testament to his writing skills that all these stories are still out there waiting to be told.

 

[Anduin]

Vanity fair article!

Yes! I called Sophia Nomvete as a dwarf! Okay, she doesn't have a beard, but that's fine. At least I got one guess right. :) Off to comb through the article again.

[Haleth]

This could be really, really great, or really, really terrible.  It is certainly pretty!

But what the heck?

[Anduin]

13 minutes ago, Haleth said:

This could be really, really great, or really, really terrible.  It is certainly pretty!

But what the heck?

 

I know! I first thought they were wooden angel wings, but no. They're apparently hunters. But why would you go hunting with a pair of giant antlers strapped to your back?

[MissLucas]

Well, if you go hunting for giant elks you can crouch in bushes pretending to be fellow giant elks taking a nap with those things on your back. Not that I can remember any giant elks roaming Middle-Earth but I haven't read the whole HoME series 🤷‍♀️

[Anduin]

4 hours ago, MissLucas said:

Well, if you go hunting for giant elks you can crouch in bushes pretending to be fellow giant elks taking a nap with those things on your back. Not that I can remember any giant elks roaming Middle-Earth but I haven't read the whole HoME series 🤷‍♀️

Didn't Thranduil ride an elk in the Battle of Five Armies? Maybe this is our first explicit link with the movies!

[Haleth]

30 minutes ago, Anduin said:

Didn't Thranduil ride an elk in the Battle of Five Armies? Maybe this is our first explicit link with the movies!

Oh, no. Nope. Do not do that. 

[rmontro]

I just want to say this:  Tolkien did not, and does not need improving.

[Anduin]

9 minutes ago, rmontro said:

I just want to say this:  Tolkien did not, and does not need improving.

That's fair enough. But in what way do you think people are trying to improve on Tolkien?

[rmontro]

18 hours ago, Anduin said:

That's fair enough. But in what way do you think people are trying to improve on Tolkien?

There are few things perfect in this world, but Tolkien's writings come about as close as it gets.  I disagree with the notion that Tolkien's writings somehow need to be "fixed" so as to be palatable to a modern world.  

[Anduin]

 

[rmontro]

Well, that trailer looks fantastic.  I don't know how the story will be, we'll have to wait and see.  But it looks gorgeous.  And expensive.

[Haleth]

Pretty!

[Aulty]

woah, those are some IMAX-grade visuals.

[Anduin]

More news! Secrets of the trailer, and Q&A with the producers. Nothing earthshaking for good or bad, but nice to read anyway.

In related news, the War of the Rohirrim anime will be released 12 April 2024. Anime has never really grabbed me. But I'm planning to go and see this in cinemas day one.

Finally, let me just say wow. Minimal news for years at a time, big flashy attention-getting stuff two days in a row. I wonder what tomorrow will bring. A further release of Tolkien's notes and assorted writings? A new game? Tolkien back from the dead to finish The New Shadow?

[Haleth]

1 hour ago, Anduin said:

More news! Secrets of the trailer, and Q&A with the producers. Nothing earthshaking for good or bad, but nice to read anyway.

It’s pretty intriguing!

[AnimeMania]

[rmontro]

On 2/14/2022 at 5:56 PM, Anduin said:

In related news, the War of the Rohirrim anime will be released 12 April 2024. Anime has never really grabbed me. But I'm planning to go and see this in cinemas day one.

Rohan has always had a warm spot in my heart, but yeah I can't say I really love the look of Anime.  I'd like to see a few samples of the artwork.

[AnimeMania]

Tyroe Muhafidin as Theo

Nazanin Boniadi as Bronwyn

[Anduin]

Americans would have the date as 4.19. If it was 4.20, you could make a pipeweed joke. According to the Gateway, The first ebook editions of The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and The Children of Húrin were published in 2009. Certainly noteworthy, but not really the most significant day on the Tolkien calendar.

However, we often get these little teasers before something major. Any notable geek conventions coming up? Or perhaps on 2.05, the four month mark. Or maybe there's something else big on the Tolkien calendar in the next couple of weeks.

[Anduin]

So, this is pretty cool. Amazon invited some fans and fan groups to see some footage. Tolkien influencers, I suppose. The One Ring.net and Corey Olsen have both said positive things. While on the whole I don't agree with everything they say, I'm in the positive camp myself. This is quite promising.

 

[Anduin]

The most polite thing I can manage to call this is puzzling. Or perhaps bemusing. Harper is rereleasing the LOTR novels with show photo covers.

Seriously? The pictures have little to do with the contents. At the time of LOTR, Galadriel has hung up the sword and armour for good. Numenor has been gone for three thousand years. Sauron isn't the king who is returning. They aren't terrible pictures, they just don't fit with the contents.

Frankly, I have very little interest in tie-in covers in general. They're rarely good. When I ordered a copy of World War Z, I specifically asked for a cover that was free of Brad Pitt. My copy of Edge of Tomorrow doesn't have Tom Cruise, either.

I think I need new copies of the books. I might go for Tolkien's own pictures, the Lee illustrations again, or maybe the recent Johan Egerkrans covers. Hell, I'd snap up a Jenny Dolfen* edition in a heartbeat. While I'm still as positive for the show as ever, this was a real misstep.

* She's German, her first name is pronounced Yenny.

[Anduin]

100 days!

[AnimeMania]

June 9th issue of Empire

Elves   (Morfydd Clark as Galadriel)

Dwarves    (Owain Arthur as Prince Durin IV and Sophia Nomvete as Disa )

Hobbits   (Megan Richards as Poppy  Markella Kavenagh as Elanor  Lenny Henry as Sadoc)

[Anduin]

Not sure about Lenny Henry's hair. It's a bit Brian May. Other than that, I like these covers.

[Anduin]

The One Ring gives a name to Lenny Henry's character. Sadoc Burrows. Burrows is a perfectly good hobbity last name. Sadoc, that's similar to Merry's name, Meriadoc. I imagine it with a short A like apple instead of sad.

[AnimeMania]

LOTR: The Rings Of Power ‘Doesn’t Try To Compete’ With Peter Jackson’s Trilogy, Or Game Of Thrones – Exclusive Image

Snow-Troll

[Anduin]

TORN, that being The One Ring . Net, thinks there will be a trailer on the ninth, Thursday. To coincide with the above issue of Empire being released. My first reaction is no, but then I second-guess myself. My predictive powers are terrible, and they have sources. But don't take that for official confirmation, okay? Trailers are never late, nor are they early. They're released precisely when the higher ups say it's time.

[Anduin]

Harfoots!

https://www.empireonline.com/tv/news/lenny-henry-harfoot-sadoc-burrows-lotr-rings-of-power-tolkien-little-guy-exclusive/

[Haleth]

I keep reading Lenny Henry and thinking Lenny James.  😄

[AnimeMania]

[Anduin]

That is the TirHarad watchtower, with Arondir on top. Where is it? the name suggests somewhere in the south. Some people think it might even be an uncorrupted Mordor.

Frankly, I'm not impressed. The CG of all we've seen just looks a little... not quite there. Yeah, I've seen much worse. But they spent a zillion dollars on this, is this the best that can be done?

If they can't pull off realism, it might have been better to go for a stylised approach. At least make stuff look cool.

[Anduin]

Galadriel pic, brief interview with Morfydd Clark!

I've complained about flaming torches before, not a fan. Also, that sword. First, it's tricky to draw from the back. Also, the crossguard should be as long as the grip. Wouldn't it be cool if prop designers watched videos by Lindybeige, Schola Gladiatora, or Skallagrim?

[Anduin]

Celebrimbor! I agree with other commenters. He looks too... normal. Human. Not elfy enough. Elves are supposed to be immortal and somewhat ethereal. You don't imagine them aging.

[Haleth]

Cirdan was described as elderly, wasn’t he?

[Anduin]

6 minutes ago, Haleth said:

Cirdan was described as elderly, wasn’t he?

With Ciardan, I suppose I pictured an elf with white hair and beard, but not really in the face. That's the problem with casting regular human actors. You want someone with experience, they're going to look like it. Hopefully he'll at least have the right... feel, for lack of a better word.

[AnimeMania]

New Posters

[Anduin]

1 hour ago, AnimeMania said:

New Posters

 

Sorry, but they aren't new. They were part of the batch posted several months ago.

[AnimeMania]

4 hours ago, Anduin said:

Sorry, but they aren't new. They were part of the batch posted several months ago.

Then I am guessing (the article I read that mentioned them is new, must have meant newly identified) those posters are the ones that were positively identified based on all the new information from the Empire article.

[Anduin]

49 minutes ago, AnimeMania said:

Then I am guessing (the article I read that mentioned them is new, must have meant newly identified) those posters are the ones that were positively identified based on all the new information from the Empire article.

Yes. Some have been identified in the last week or so. :)

[AnimeMania]

14 hours ago, Anduin said:

Yes. Some have been identified in the last week or so. :)

Ok, a new article says Prime Video has confirmed that those were the correct names of the posters shown. The names were Celebrimbor, the forger of the titular Rings; Sadoc Burrows, a Harfoot elder; Poppy Proudfellow, a Harfoot; and Largo and Marigold Brandyfoot, two more Harfoots.