Heroic Dreams - All Things Medieval

The hotly anticipated cinematic prequel to the Lord of the Rings trilogy is finally gathering steam. It was announced earlier this year that The Hobbit, the latest silver screen foray into Middle Earth, will be split into two halves, released in December 2011 and 2012. That gives Tolkien fans about two years to speculate and fervently hunt for leaked set images for clues into how this version of Hobbiton, the Blue Mountains, and every place in between, is shaping up.

Following the massive success of Peter Jackson’s big screen adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved fantasy tome, it only made sense that a movie version of The Hobbit would follow. In a Star Wars-like move, The Hobbit will go back to before the events in Lord of the Rings took place. Approximately 60 years before the motley group of men, hobbits, elf, dwarf, and wizard formed the Fellowship, in fact.

This time around, though, Jackson won’t be sitting in the director’s chair shouting for “one more take for good luck.” After a messy and lengthy legal dispute with New Line Cinema, which even led New Line’s head executive Robert Shaye to announce that Jackson would “never make any movie with New line Cinema again,” Jackson passed the Middle Earth torch to Guillermo del Toro, the directorial mastermind behind Pan’s Labyrinth and Hellboy. The Lord of the Rings veteran will instead be donning his producer’s cap for The Hobbit while del Toro takes the directorial reins.

Del Toro is a fitting replacement for Jackson, as he has done his share of fantasy flicks. If the creepy Pan’s Labyrinth is any indicator, The Hobbit may see a darker Middle Earth than Jackson’s, which is not necessarily a bad change. Yet, the movie will still hold a welcome familiarity for fans with a cast mini-reunion of sorts. Andy Serkis will return as the slimy Gollum, and Ian McKellen and Hugo Weaving have both expressed interest in reprising their respective roles of Gandalf the Grey and Elrond, though nothing has been officially announced. Interestingly, Dominic Monaghan, who previously portrayed Merry the hobbit, told MTV that the original quartet of hobbits may be returning for the new film. How this would be accomplished without extensive rewriting and a huge flash-forward in the timeline remains to be seen.

This post was contributed by Rose Jensen, who writes about the associates degree. She welcomes your feedback at Rose.Jensen28@ yahoo.com
 

I received a press release about the sound track for the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring being performed at Radio City Music Hall. I thought you might be interested in it for a couple of reasons. First off I just think it is so amazing and wonderful that the LOTR movies have had the impact on popular culture that they have had, and in so many ways including the music of middle earth being brought to us. Now, you might not be seriously considering going to New York and seeing the concert - although I don’t see why not. Second, there are lots of other resources available and plenty of unusual and unique LOTR stuff that comes along with this concert. You can read more, see pics, hear more at the website here: LOTR Concert

Finally, just take a look at the pictures that I have posted along with this article. There is a drama and a beauty about Middle Earth that just can’t be mistaken and to pair this up with some amazing and award winning (Academy Award) music just seems to do it a grand justice. Seriously, it often amazes me how spectacular and special the minds and imaginations of human beings can be -it’s quite a gift. This concert is going to be a wonderful portal into one of the most wondrous worlds ever conceived by a mortal.

The concert runs for two nights on Oct 9 & 10 at 7:30 pm in New York City at Radio City Music Hall.

I have been getting some lucky finds lately when it comes to fantasy books. Here are some of the books and some interesting information and thoughts about them. I will be reviewing all of these books as I make my way through them. If not on this blog then on my Fantasy Guide Website.

The Period after WWII in Great Britain was a remarkable time for Fantasy. A couple of names that come to mind are JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis. But there are other fantasy authors that were part of this beginning of the new genre of fantasy and one of these is Mervyn Peake. His Gormenghast Trilogy of books is one of the most remarkable fantasy series ever written yet he isn’t as well known as others. If you are a big fan of fantasy you really should look into snagging a copy of this series. The books are Titus Groan, Gormenghast, and Titus Alone. Much like JRR Tolkien Peake’s creativity wasn’t just limited to writing. He was also an artist and the book copies I picked up are illustrated by him. I don’t think the cover you see is his work but there is no attribution inside.

I am a big fan of Robert E. Howard’s Conan (who isn’t?) and I am also a big fan of Robert Jordan (The Wheel of Time) and I have known that he has done some authorized Conan writing but have never read any of it. Well, here is my chance. It is Conan The Invincble written by Robert Jordan. It will be interesting to see how Jordan handles the Barbarian and the world of Aquilonia.

The Charwoman’s Shadow by Lord Dunsany - Lord Dunsany is one of the originators of the modern genre of fantasy. He wrote in the late 18th an early 19th century. This book was originally published in 1926 and just about everybody in the world of fantasy pays homage to him by openly acknowledging him as an influence. These include Robert Howard, HP Lovecraft, Ursula K. LeGuin, Neil Gaimon and even filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro. This book will be an adventure to the roots of modern day fantasy.

If you are a fan of fantasy you are no doubt familiar with the sub-genre of Arthurian Fantasy and of course you know the book “The Once and Future King” by T.H. White. It is the ultimate Arthurian legend book. But did you know that it is not complete? There was a whole new section that White wrote and it is called “The Book of Merlyn”. It contains Arthur’s final lessons from Merlyn before his death. If you have read The Once and Future King you should read this final addition.

Lots of books to read and I have some more great finds that I want to talk about but I will save them for a future post. And I will be writing reviews of these books either on this blog or my Fantasy Guide site.

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Snagging these books from Amazon.com

The Gormenghast Novels

Conan the Invincible (Conan #1)

The Charwoman’s Shadow (Del Rey Impact)

The Book of Merlyn (Once and Future King)

Rummaging around my local public library (it’s over a hundred years old) I ran across a copy of a book called “The Road Goes Ever On”. It is a Song Cycle book written by J.R.R. Tolkien and it is set to music by Donald Swann. The book itself is quite beautiful. The pages are a dark cream color and along the top and bottom run lines in elvish. Looks like this:

But the thing that struck me, or should I say awestruck me was the sheer genius of it. How can a man create such a remarkable and all encompassing world? Complete with well you know how complete it is. He even created new languages for this world. The Road Goes Ever on book even has some of the songs completely written in elvish. Of course, for us common folk, there are translations into English at the back of the book.

I just think it is astoundingly remarkable that a man could create such a thing. And we live in a mysterious and remarkable universe. It leads me to think that somewhere Middle Earth really does exist. Maybe Tolkien created it or maybe he didn’t - he just told us about what he saw.

The Road goes ever on and on,
Down from door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, If I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say. - Tolkien

There is a youtube video of Tolkien himself reading this verse here

The book can also be had through amazon.com

The Road Goes Ever on