Links
Call For Papers – Mythopoeic Society
The 46th Annual Mythopoeic Conference will be held this year in Colorado Springs, Colorado, from July 31 through August 3, 2015. Paper proposals are being accepted through 15 April. Topics can range from Tolkien studies, Arthuriana, and fantasy studies. Papers by undergraduate and graduate students are welcome. See the full call for papers at the link above.
Tolkien Database – English | Wheaton College
Doing research? Working on a paper? Writing meta? The Wheaton College English Department maintains a searchable database of books and articles related to Tolkien studies!
VERY EXCITING, especially for all those who’ve written to me about working on school projects
February 2015 Challenge: International Fanworks Day
February 15 is International Fanworks Day! In honor of the day, your challenge this month is to write a story about something that someone in Middle-earth might be a fan of. For example, does Maglor have a problem with fangirls? Does Aragorn have a weakness for First Age poetry? Do famous hobbit cooks have a following? Do some people of Minas Tirith make up stories about the Royal Family? Or any other sort of fannish scenario you can think of. Prompts will be based on your source, so if you comment, please indicate if you are going to base the story in The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings or some other book by Tolkien, or an adaptation of his work such as the movies. Your prompt will be a character from that work; you do not need to feature the character in your story, but he/she should at least be mentioned.
The February challenge stories will be due Thursday, February 12, and will be revealed on Sunday, February 15.
Read More on LJ.
Another great idea! This one’s for all the writers out there 🙂
NEVER SEEN BEFORE – big Tolkien themed contest by Silmarillion-Club on DeviantArt
On deviantArt, the Silmarillion Club is hosting the NEVER SEEN BEFORE Art Contest. Mirach Ravaia writes:
I recently got a comment on my art which made me realize that there are many scenes and characters in Tolkien’s book which almost never get illustrated, while you can find hundreds of illustrations for others.Just a few examples would be
– the events during the Scouring of the Shire
– the Ringbearers arriving and living in Valinor
– Galadriel living in Eregion or passing through Moria to Lórien
– Pippin exploring Minas Tirith with Bergil
– the “lesser known” kings of Gondor and Númenor and Chieftains of Dúnedain
– Túrin attacking Glaurung in front of Nargothrond’s gates BEFORE the dragon’s look paralyzed himFor this contest, you need to find one that you have NEVER seen illustrated before. I won’t give you more examples so you can think of your own, but feel free to use these as well. You do not need to have a thorough knowledge of the books, you can just open them at any page and see if you can find a scene you haven’t seen depicted before. There is a big chance you will find one soon. Think also of the fact that even the often painted scenes have “before” and “after” that get almost never depicted.
For rules, instructions and the prizes to be won, check the link above!
Yes! I love this idea, and I really hope that all you artists out there give it a go!
NEVER SEEN BEFORE – big Tolkien themed contest by Silmarillion-Club on DeviantArt
Sauron and Morgoth After the First Age
As far as Tolkien wrote, there was no attempt on Sauron’s part to bring Morgoth back into the world. To be honest, I don’t think he would have wanted Morgoth to return. The two had pretty different philosophies (while Morgoth wanted to destroy everything, Sauron was more…
I actually disagree with this, though I haven’t the books to hand to locate anything to back my claims up, but from what I recall Sauron was incredibly loyal to Morgoth and tried to get him back but realised he couldn’t, so then took up the mantle himself.
If there’s another version of this story I can’t find it (but would love to read it, so if anyone knows anything let me know!), but from what the Silmarillion tells us there was no attempt to free Morgoth:
When Thangorodrim was broken and Morgoth overthrown, Sauron put on his fair hue again and did obeisance to Eonwe the herald of Manwe, and abjured all his evil deeds. And some hold that this was not at first falsely done, but that Sauron in truth repented, if only out of fear, being dismayed by the fall of Morgoth and the great wrath of the Lords of the West. But it was not within the power of Eonwe to pardon those of his own order, and he commanded Sauron to return to Aman and there receive the judgement of Manwe. Then Sauron was ashamed, and he was unwilling to return in humiliation and to receive from the Valar a sentence, it might be, of long servitude in proof of his good faith; for under Morgoth his power had been great. Therefore when Eonwe departed he hid himself in Middle-earth; and he fell back into evil, for the bonds that Morgoth bad laid upon him were very strong.
Not only is there no mention of Sauron wanting to free Morgoth, but it sounds like his repentance was even fairly sincere in the beginning, but his pride and fear of punishment pushed him to run instead of return to Valinor.
Children of the Sun
If you need more Edain appreciation on your dash, this page is for you. On this list (still under construction!) you will find lots of amazing blogs who love and appreciate the Secondborn. If you love the Race of Men as well and you would like to be added here, send us a message. No requirements needed other than considering Men to be your favourite race in Tolkien’s world.
The Hobbit Research Project
An International Audience Research Project on the Hobbit trilogy, conducted by over 145 researchers in 46 countries.Some media and fandom scholars are working on global project researching responses to the Hobbit films. Please signal boost, and do the questionnaire. It’s quick and you get to talk about how you feel about the Hobbit.
Lord knows you guys have some strong opinions on these movies. So go! Be surveyed, express your opinions, help with the fandom research.
The Rare Ship Swap Exchange: Nominations are open!
ShipSwap is an exchange dedicated to rare pairs.
Each person makes a gift and gives a gift. Gifts can be a fanfic of 1000 words or greater or a complete original piece of fanart featuring at least one requested ship. It uses AO3 to simplify matching and managing of assignments. AO3 helps to make sure that all gifts are revealed at the same time and making sure you maintain control of your upload.
An eligible ship has less than 100 fics on AO3 and less than 200 on fanfiction.net.
January 1 – Nominations Open
January 15 – Nominations Close
January 24 – Sign Ups Open
February 10 – Sign Ups Close
February 14 – Assignments go out no later than this day
April 18 – Assignments due
April 26 – Story Reveals
Tolkien Fan Fiction Survey
In January 2015, I will be presenting a paper about the Tolkien fan fiction community at the Mythmoot III conference in Baltimore. While other fandoms have been studied in depth, particularly television fandoms, very little study has been done on the Tolkien fandom, and my ten years of experience in this community have caused me to conclude that, while we share some similarities with other fandoms, we also differ in some important regards. I hope, through my Mythmoot presentation, to provide not only background on our community, its history, and its practices for an audience that may not be familiar with the fan fiction community, but also to begin to identify and examine some of the ways that our community differs from how fandom has been understood and presented by scholars.
As part of this, I have put together a survey for participants in the Tolkien fan fiction community. The purpose of the survey is to collect data on the habits, beliefs, and preferences of Tolkien fans who participate in reading and/or writing fan fiction. No identifying information, including IP address, is collected as part of the survey. You may skip any questions you do not want to answer or quit the survey at any time. I estimate that it will take about 15-20 minutes to complete.
If you have ever read or written Tolkien-based fan fiction, you are eligible to participate.
Click here to begin the Tolkien Fan Fiction Survey.
Please feel free to direct any questions, comments, or concerns to me via email (DawnFelagund@gmail.com) or private message. And do feel free to reblog this post or share the link to the survey; I would like to get as many perspectives as possible from as many corners of our community as possible.
askmiddlearth 