Middle-earth Gift-Giving Guide

Not sure what to get the Tolkien fan in your life this holiday season? I've compiled a short list of suggestions (based on my own collection and experiences with various retailers) to help you get started.

BOOKS

• The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings boxed set ($22.01, Barnes&Noble) 
• The Silmarillion ($11.95, Barnes&Noble) 
• The Histories of Middle-earth boxed set ($24, Barnes&Noble) 
• The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings deluxe pocket boxed set ($29.92, Barnes&Noble)
• Tolkien's Beowulf (hardcover) ($17.71, Amazon)

DVDs AND MOVIE MEMORABILIA

• The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit Extended Edition/Blu-Ray DVDs (HobbitShop) 
• The Hobbit: Chronicles book series from Weta Workshop 
• Funko Pop! Vinyl figures (ToyWiz.com)
• Statues and busts (Weta)
• Weapons and other prop replicas (United Cutlery, The Noble Collection, Weta)

GAMES AND OTHER TECH ACCESSORIES

• Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (PS3, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC) (Various prices/retailers)
• LOTRO: Turbine Game Time Card, Turbine Points Card, or a LOTRO expansion pack (LOTRO Market)
• LEGO: The Hobbit and LEGO: The Lord of the Rings (available at most toys/electronics retailers)
• LOTR or Hobbit themed board games: LOTR/Hobbit Monopoly, LOTR Stratego, LOTR Risk, Hobbit Yahtzee, Hobbit Scrabble, LOTR Trivial Pursuit, misc. adventure board games (HobbitShop)
• LOTR or Hobbit cell phone case (HobbitShop)

WOMEN'S CLOTHING AND ACCESSORIES

• LOTR & Hobbit babydoll tees (HobbitShop)
• Jewellery/jewellery sets: Arwen's Evenstar necklace + earrings; Galadriel's necklace + earrings (HobbitShop)
• Misc. jewellery from Badali Jewelry, MyPrecious Fantasy Webshop, or Jens Hansen 
• Women's clutch/map of Middle-earth (Etsy)
• Middle-earth Scarf (Etsy)

UNIQUE GIFTS FOR THE FAN WHO HAS EVERYTHING

• Map of Middle-earth messenger bag (Etsy)
• Tolkien-inspired pottery from Functional Mud 
• Sculptures from The Middle-earth Collection 
• Licensed tea (Gandalf the Grey Herbal Tea, Bilbo Baggins Breakfast Blend, or Hobbiton Meadow Mint Herbal Blend) from Hobbit Tea  

Do you have any suggestions or recommendations? 
Feel free to share them in the comments below!

Guest Post: 'Hearkening to the Horns of Hope and Love: What The Lord of the Rings Teaches Us For Today'

Hearkening to the Horns of Hope and Love:

What The Lord of the Rings Teaches Us For Today

by Anne Marie Gazzolo

Hope and love are dominant themes in The Lord of the Rings. These are two of the most desperately needed virtues today in a world entrenched in a culture of death, despair, and lust, due to the instant and 24 hour access the media provides. Those in the Red Book are no more exempt from darkness than we, but the examples of hope, love, courage, and fidelity in the tale give us inspiration and strength to keep going.

One of the most important exercises of hope is Gandalf’s for Gollum. He acknowledges the small possibility of this, but it is still there. Because he refuses to abandon it, the Elves in Mirkwood treat him kindly, and Frodo actively works toward it also. We need to have this same hope for those who appear lost, for as Bilbo and Sam point out, “Where’s there life there’s hope” (Hobbit 288, LotR IV:7, 685).

Galadriel’s words, “on one hand lies darkness, and on the other only hope” (LotR II:8, 367) are also powerful for Tolkien’s world as he and his family lived through the dark years of WWII and for our present day which has witnessed so many senseless acts of hatred and violence.

Dimitra Fimi makes note of the shared faith of Tolkien and the poet Francis Thompson and Tolkien’s admiration of the man’s mystical work, especially noting from The Kingdom of God:

            O World invisible, we view thee,

            O World intangible, we touch thee,

            O World unknowable, we know thee,

            Inapprehensible, we clutch thee! (qtd. in Tolkien, Race 43)

These words remind me of two more times during the War of the Ring where hope is strongly present. As the siege of Minas Tirith is about to start, with no sign of hoped-for reinforcements, Pippin perceives that Gandalf remains joyful inside. The wizard has faith in his Creator and His plans, so he does not perceive just the dire straits of the present but beyond them to the future. Denethor says such “hope is but ignorance” (LotR V:7, 835). But it is not. It is faith and trust. Because Gandalf hopes, Pippin hopes. This also brings to mind the profound experience that Sam has upon seeing the star in Mordor, which shows him that while he and Frodo toil in darkness on the ground, there is beauty far above that evil cannot touch or mar. The words Thompson uses bring to brighter light the deep hope Gandalf and Sam both have that the present darkness is not all there is.
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My Thoughts on The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Official Main Trailer

Earlier, Warner Bros. released the official trailer for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. The trailer opens somberly with numerous characters addressing Thorin, reminding him of the promises he has made and the terror he has unleashed. We do not see Smaug in this trailer, which leads me to believe his defeat will occur sometime in the first part of the movie, leaving the majority of the film to focus on the titular battle as everyone seeks to defend what they have reclaimed.

We get a quick glimpse of Saruman ("leave Sauron to me") which is probably my favourite part of the trailer. While those who have already read Tolkien's books or seen Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy know that Saruman is working with the Dark Lord, I cannot wait to see more of the White Council and Saruman's growing betrayal of his Order play out on the big screen. Of all the material that's been added, whether it be from the appendices or made up entirely, this is the one I am most interested in. (Sometimes I wish they'd filmed The Hobbit first, just to make the betrayal all the more shocking to moviegoers who have not read any of the books.)

Of course, we also get a glimpse into the Kili/Tauriel romance; he is seen giving her what is presumably his runestone, and later in the trailer we see her tearfully looking up from what appears to be Kili's body. I stand by my belief that it is an unnecessary love story, but at the same time, it will certainly add weight to his death.

As we've come to expect from Jackson and his team, the Battle of the Five Armies is going to be epic – and given that he's had 10 years to improve his skills, I'll wager that this battle will be his most impressive one yet. Between this and the White Council, you can bet I'll be giving this film a chance next month!

Watch the official trailer below and let me know what you think!

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Extended Edition Is Now In Stores! (Review)

May contain spoilers  

All images & review copy courtesy of Warner Bros.

The extended edition of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug is out on DVD, Blu-ray™,  and Blu-ray 3D™ today! Featuring an additional 25 minutes of footage and more than nine hours of new special features (including commentary with director Peter Jackson, The Appendices – The Appendices Parts IX and X, and New Zealand: Home of Middle-earth – Part 2), this edition is a must-have for any Hobbit fan.

While my opinion of the Hobbit films is still rather mixed (I have enjoyed them as standalone films, but not so much as adaptations), I found I enjoyed – for the most part – the extended edition of The Desolation of Smaug. As per usual, Peter Jackson's extras come in small pieces here and there as well as in wholly new scenes. Whatever their form, the extra footage adds more depth to a few characters and situations within the film, hearkening back to Tolkien's original story and enhancing the overall narrative.

One of my favourite scenes was the introduction of the Dwarves to Beorn. Where his presence in the theatrical cut was very limited, almost to the point of being unnecessary altogether, his character in the extended version is deeper and more in keeping with Tolkien's distrustful skin-changer. When he speaks to Gandalf as the Company prepares to depart for Mirkwood, it is clear that he is not just a skin-changer, but instead a being connected more deeply to Middle-earth and fully aware of the growing darkness; hence his willingness to help those he distrusts. Though brief, this conversation adds a heightened sense of dread – not just to the forest but to the film as a whole – which is something I thought was lacking in the theatrical cut. 

The extended Mirkwood scenes are another important inclusion, in my opinion. The Company's journey through the forest was so fast-paced in the theatrical cut that it hardly felt like they had spent any time there at all. Their exposure to the forest's enchanted waters and their ensuing drowsiness helps to prolong the scene and create the illusion that they have been there for an increasingly long time.

Not found in Tolkien's The Hobbit, but still a welcome addition to the story, is Gandalf's encounter with Thráin. I think my favourite scenes in the Hobbit films are those in Dol Guldur: Peter Jackson and his team accurately and appropriately portray the darkness that is overtaking Mirkwood. When Gandalf finds Thráin, he is initially under the Enemy's hold; when he comes to, he is still deeply disturbed by whatever he has endured in the fortress of the Necromancer, but his focus remains on his son, Thorin. For a moment or two, we all probably hope for a father-son reunion – that is, until the Necromancer intervenes and reclaims Thráin.

The only characters to not benefit from the extra material are Alfrid and the Master of Lake Town. While we are given more of a glimpse into just how greedy and materialistic the two characters are, neither of them are in any way likeable – or even pitiable. To see an actor as amazing as Stephen Fry reduced to a character almost as looney and repulsive as The Lord of the Rings films' Denethor is a real shame. There is little room left for sympathy if and when the time comes (spoiler alert!) when the Master succumbs to the dragon-sickness and ultimately dies of starvation after being abandoned by his friends and followers. 

Overall, I enjoyed the extended cut much more than the theatrical. The extra scenes provided more character and setting development, and were engaging enough that the additional runtime is barely noticeable. While I have not yet watched any of the behind the scenes footage, I am looking forward to doing that over the next few days!

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For more details on the extended edition, please view the press release I posted back in August!

Will you be picking up a copy of The Desolation of Smaug Extended Edition (or have you already)? Leave a comment and let me know why/why not!