Free Republic

Tuesday afternoon on The Laura Ingraham Show, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin took a swing at her former running mate, Sen. John McCain, after he likened the tea party movement to hobbits from the Lord of the Rings series. Though host Laura Ingraham referred to McCain’s words as “recent,” they were actually from a House speech in 2011, after that year’s debt ceiling crisis. Republicans who “failed to raise the debt ceiling” could escape all the blame, and “the tea party Hobbits could return to Middle Earth having defeated Mordor,” the senator mocked. “This is the kind of crack political...

What can literary fiction teach us about recent revelations that the National Security Agency has aggressively been gathering massive amounts of data on American citizens? The novel one usually turns to, of course, is George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, with its terrifying vision of the Thought Police. Even President Obama, in response to questions about the NSA, has been forced to deny that the government has engaged in “Big Brother” tactics. Orwell’s book, however, isn’t the most compelling or accurate literary prediction of modern surveillance. That award goes to a less obvious title: J.R.R Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Tolkien’s most...

The Return of the King Sons of Gondor, of Rohan, my brothers! I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of Men fails When we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship But it is not this day An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the Age of Man comes crashing down But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good earth I bid you stand, Men of the West!

The new film “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” (opening Dec. 14) has got action and adventure galore, just like “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy that preceded it. But the director and actors who worked on the movie are well aware of the deeper themes that lie at the heart of the work of J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973), who authored all the original books, published between 1937 and 1955. At a recent press conference about the film in New York City, Richard Armitage, who portrays the Dwarf warrior Thorin Oakenshield, said, “One of the things I find when I look...

The scene below was cut from the theatrical release, but is included in the Extended Edition DVD. This scene shows "The Mouth of Sauron" coming out of the Black Gate to treat with Aragorn and Gandalf. Given the following chant of the musloid political cult, and knowing that Sauron is the allegorical representation of satan, can you guess who "The Mouth of Sauron" is? "There is no god but allah (swine diarrhea be upon him), and mohammed (enthusiastic imbiber of swine diarrhea and fornicator with syphilitic sows) is his prophet." That's right, kids. "The Mouth of Sauron" character in The...

On the 3rd January 1892 JRR Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, South Africa. To celebrate this event, on this day each year Tolkien fans around the world are invited to raise a glass and toast the birthday of this much loved author. The toast is "The Professor". For those unfamiliar with British toast-drinking ceremonies: To make the Birthday Toast, you stand, raise a glass of your choice of drink (not necessarily alcoholic), and say the words 'The Professor' before taking a sip (or swig, if that's more appropriate for your drink). Sit and enjoy the rest of your drink.

RIP Bob Anderson, 1922-2012. Who, you say? You may not know him, but I can almost guarantee you've seen his work. The swordfight in "The Princess Bride"? Bob choreographed it. All the swordplay in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy? He supervised and taught all of the cast about it. The epic lightsaber duels in "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi"? It was Bob in the Vader suit, not David Prowse. Not to mention his work in "Highlander", "The Three Musketeers", "The Mask of Zorro" & "The Legend of Zorro", "Die Another Day", and even on the...

Every year now for a number of years my wife and I watch the entire six disc extended version of the Lord of the Rings during the gloomy Northwest winter around the Thanksgiving-to New-Years time. It helps us through the winter gloom, but since Obama's election it also helps us maintain hope and courage. I grew up on Tolkien before he was well known, and it probably shaped me in ways I can scarcely appreciate. My wife on the other hand, from the Third World, had no inkling of Tolkien until this movie cycle came out. We are both very...

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy returns to AMC theaters in June To help celebrate the release of The Lord of The Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy Blu-ray, which hits stores on June 28th, AMC theaters is bringing all three Extended Edition films back to screens for one night only. The three movies will play over the course of three weeks, with The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring screening on June 14th, The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers screening on June 21st, and The Lord of The Rings: The Return of The King bringing the...

Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" A Catholic Worldview Wed. April 6 at 10 PM ET, Fri. April 8 at 1 PM ET, Sat. April 9 at 5 AM ET Joseph Pearce uncovers the Catholicism found in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy. From Education Resource CenterFinding Frodo’s FaithJOSEPH PEARCEThe Lord of the Rings is every bit as Catholic as its author. It is not only written by a Catholic, it is so Catholic that only a Catholic could have written it. What is the secret of J.R.R. Tolkien's success with The Lord of the Rings? How...

PETER Jackson's troubled Hobbit project has become embroiled in a race row after a would-be extra was told she was too dark to play one of the pint-sized Tolkien creatures, reports said. Briton Naz Humphreys, who has Pakistani heritage, attended a casting session in the New Zealand city of Hamilton last week, queueing for three hours only to be told her skin tone was not suitable, the Waikato Times reported. "It's 2010 and I still can't believe I'm being discriminated against because I have brown skin," Humphreys told the newspaper. "The casting manager basically said they weren't having anybody who...

Many of us Ringers know the comparisons of The Lord of the Rings to Harry Potter are many. Well, Film.com has compiled a few for your reading pleasure. Enjoy! Fantasy stories generally lift from the same mythological source bank. Actually, if you want to get super scholarly and esoteric about it, every story (especially the more sword-and-sorcery themed variety) is the same basic “hero’s journey” archetype detailed by Joseph Campbell. But fantasy stories — King Arthur, Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, Willow, Peter Pan, Conan the Barbarian — build their world out of the same objects. You...

Martin Freeman is set to star as Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson's two-movie adaptation of The Hobbit... Thorin Oakenshield...Richard ArmitageFili...Aidan TurnerKili...Rob Kazinskyetc...

"Like the name of Bilbo Baggins' sword, threats being made by acting unions regarding production of The Hobbit are really starting to sting. So much so that Peter Jackson, the executive producer behind the Lord of the Rings prequel, is now suggesting that shooting could very well move to Eastern Europe—or even shut down—if things don't get resolved with the various acting unions in New Zealand that are encouraging its members not to work on a film that employs nonunion actors."

On September 22, 1290 Bilbo Baggins was born. The year given for his birth, of course, is in Shire Reckoning: The Shire being that happy part of Middle-Earth inhabited by those sensible and unpretentious folk called “Hobbits.”To that salt-of-the-earth Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, there comes one day an amazing summons. The call to participate in an adventure. And thereby hangs a tale and indeed a trilogy.In the course of his adventure, Bilbo will come into possession of the “One Ring” of power. On September 22, 1401, his eleventy-first birthday, Bilbo will bequeath the ring to his nephew Frodo, who will bear...

In the midst of piles of Lord of the Rings merchandise on every shelf, Tolkien’s wisdom is applied to just about everything — Tolkien and industrialization, Tolkien and communism, Tolkien and religion, etc. What’s surprising, especially in today’s hypersensitive post-Gloria Steinem world, is the dearth of commentary on Tolkien and women.

100,000 characters. Nine companions. Three masterworks. One Man to do it all. Following his recent sell-out run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Canadian actor Charles Ross returns with his show One Man Lord Of The Rings for a full UK tour (plus a show in Dublin) in September.

Magpie writes: Doug Adams is letting us peek inside his upcoming book on the LOTR film music. Check out musicoflotr.com.

Even among fantasy devotees who recognize Tolkien as the father of the modern genre, few realize that Tolkien insisted that The Lord of the Rings is "a fundamentally religious and Catholic work." This probably comes as a surprise to most Catholics as well.   Readers of The Lord of the Rings are unlikely to find a "Catholic Middle-earth" by looking for overt references to the Christian gospel or hidden Catholic symbolism -- Tolkien rejected this type of analysis -- however they will find it by looking at Tolkien's motivations as a writer.     Hobbies of an Oxford Don...

One of Abbey Road Studios’ most famous clients hopes that the facility, which has reportedly been put up for sale, can be saved. Paul McCartney, speaking to the BBC’s Newsnight television show on Tuesday, said there have been efforts to save Abbey Road by “a few people who have been associated with the studio for a long time,” although he did not name those people or include himself among them. “I have so many memories there with the Beatles,” he added. “It still is a great studio. So it would be lovely for someone to get a thing together to...