New Challenge: Bollywood
This month's challenge offers songs, films, and tropes from Bollywood, the world's largest film industry based out of India, as prompts for fanworks.
The use of hostages as a political strategy in Third Age Gondor has historical parallels in medieval Welsh history, and the bloody outcome of the real history may explain some of the tensions between the Easterlings and Gondorians as Sauron's power grew.
Published on 18 August 2022.
The Fall of Gondolin has historical antecedents in sacks of cities in the ancient and medieval world, all featuring military destruction and a grievous impact on innocent civilian survivors.
Published on 21 January 2023.
In 1946, two towers appeared in Tolkien's writings. The tower found in The Fall of Númenor may shed light on the meaning of the tower analogy of "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics."
Published on 16 January 2024.
An analysis of the fan fiction phenomenon of "Mary Sue" and readers' reactions to this controversial fanfic archetype.
Published on 23 April 2007.
Using the 2015 and 2020 Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data, this presentation reviews fandom demographics, use of sources, influence of the films, and use of sites and archives to post fanfiction, reviewing changes across the two data sets.
Published on 3 June 2021.
Midway through the Third Age, a plague devastated Gondor before spreading northward. This element of the legendarium connects to the history of real-world plagues, namely the Black Death.
Published on 14 October 2022.
An early draft of Tolkien's essay on "Beowulf" used a rock garden analogy to show how the critics—who were actual people whom Tolkien knew—were responding incorrectly to the poem.
Published on 7 September 2023.
Varda kindled the stars and set them into patterns. Many of these stars the Professor named in Elvish, but which real-life stars was he referring to?
Published on 1 May 2009.
The Textual Ghosts Project is a list of the women who must have existed by inference, acting on the assumption that all characters (excepting the Ainur and the first-awakened Elves at Cuiviénen) must have had mothers and those with offspring also must have had wives.
Published on 12 December 2020.
Biochemist and long-time Tolkien fan, Doc Bushwell argues that the events and ideas expressed in Tolkien's works often demonstrate a strong disdain for science and technology.
Published on 26 April 2007.
The Silmarillion Headcanon Survey is a sprawling project that seeks to document where fans fall on various fan theories. Lead researcher Scedasticity discusses its inspiration, what it shows of the fandom, and what lies ahead for the project.
Published on 17 October 2023.
Tolkien fanfiction writers and readers are involved in fandom in ways other than fanfiction. What else do they do and what patterns can we find in their preferences, using Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data?
Published on 27 January 2024.
Thorondor, called the Lord of the Eagles, is the mightiest among the feathered messengers and guardians who served Manwë in Middle-earth.
Published on 1 June 2016.
Thuringwethil is a villain who appears in the tale of Beren and Lúthien. For a relatively obscure character, who appears only briefly and is mentioned but four times by name in The Silmarillion, she is known among readers and perhaps viewed as an intriguing creature or one whom readers love to hate.
Published on 1 June 2016.
Tinfang Warble is a character who fits best in the early, whimsical fairy-story mode of the Lost Tales before receding to a figure of folklore and legend and finally disappearing altogether.
Published on 30 September 2022.
Tolkien Fanfiction Survey data from 2015 and 2020 shows that Tolkien fans have diverse views on Tolkien's authority but suggests that adherence to his authority is decreasing over time.
Published on 11 August 2023.
Tulkas evolved from Tolkien's early work on the Silmarillion from a playful, youthful character to a character more associated with unapologetic violence.
Published on 1 November 2011.
Tuor may be less well-known among the larger Tolkien fandom than other Silmarillion characters like Elrond, Galadriel, Sauron, or perhaps even Fëanor or Maglor. His role, however, is to provide a crucial link between the tales of the Elder Days and the culmination of the story of the Elves in Middle-earth and the ascendancy of the age of Men which is recounted in The Lord of the Rings.
Published on 1 February 2014.
In the early parts of the published Silmarillion, Turgon is overshadowed by the impressive feats of heroism of his elder brother Fingon. Later in the narrative of the First Age, however, it is Turgon of all of the House of Finwë, save perhaps Fëanor, who receives the most page space, due to his role as the king of Gondolin.
Published on 1 April 2010.
Túrin's life illustrates Tolkien's concept of dyscatastrophe: an unexpected turn toward the tragic. The first part of this three-part biography of Túrin considers the early tragedies and downfalls of his life, through his years as an outlaw.
Published on 5 August 2022.
Túrin's tale is the lengthiest and one of the most tangled of the tales that make up The Silmarillion. This section considers the center part of Túrin's life, after his exile from Doriath but before he fell into utter ruin, a time defined by friendship and honor rather than ruinous choices.
Published on 16 December 2022.
The final installment of Túrin's biography considers his life in Nargothrond, his return to Dor-lómin and time in Brethil, his fateful marriage to Nienor, his battle with Glaurung, and the ever-disastrous consequences of all of these, culminating in his death by his own hand.
Published on 26 January 2023.
Some of Tolkien's earliest word lists include terms for words that provide sometimes surprising insights into the habits and cultures of the Elves.
Published on 1 May 2009.