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Jeff LaSala

Tue Aug 9, 2022 10:00am 11 comments 13 Favorites [+]

From "Medusa with the Head of Perseus" by Luciano Garbati (Used with permission by artist.)

Recently, I was one of the guests of honor at Mythmoot, an annual speculative literature conference hosted by Signum University. That is a sentence I still feel like I haven’t squared with properly. I was asked to give a keynote, to share the metaphoric stage with Dr. Faith Acker, Dr. Michael Drout, Dr. Tom Shippey, and of course Signum’s president, Dr. Corey Olsen (aka the Tolkien Professor)—all scholars, professors, and industry luminaries. I can scarcely wrap my head around it all even now. In that same company were dozens of attendees and other presenters who gave illuminating and well-researched talks. It was an amazing experience and a memorable weekend.

Mythmoot rolls around every June and is usually hosted at the National Conference Center (NCC) in Leesburg, Virginia. If you’re interested in future conferences but can’t make it, you can attend digitally. They’ve been making it a hybrid (in-person and remote) event for two years now. Signum University also hosts a number of smaller regional “moots” throughout the year—like Mountain Moot (CO) in September, New England Moot (NH) in October, or even their first overseas one coming next January, OzMoot (Brisbane, Australia). Well worth looking into!

So anyway, this year was Mythmoot IX, and the theme was Remaking Myth. With Signum’s blessing (and of course Tor.com’s own approval), here follows a contextually adjusted writeup of my Mythmoot keynote on this theme, which I titled “Dungeons & Dragons & Silmarils; or, The Modern Mythologizer.”

[What if the Minotaur knew how to knit?]

The Lord of the Rings

The Rings of Power Teaser Trailer — What’s Going On Here?

Jeff LaSala

Fri Jul 15, 2022 11:00am 26 comments 5 Favorites [+]

Credit: Prime Video

Well, here it is, two and a half minutes of Middle-earth… and even some Valinor! Amazon Prime is calling this the “Main Teaser,” for The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which means maybe a regular trailer is still to come? It’s a more thorough stage setting this time and a better introduction to our protagonists. And maybe—just maybe—a glimpse of some of our villains. But mostly the former.

It seems the welfare of Elves, Men, Dwarves, and Harfoots are on the line. We also get a few new glimpses of places: Lindon (where the Noldorin Elves who remain in Middle-earth have settled); the kingdom of Khazad-dûm (Moria), the most famous and wealthy of Dwarven realms; the island kingdom of Númenor, where the Men who have been blessed with many gifts have been established; possibly even Ost-in-Edhil, the capital of Eregion. Not to mention Belegaer itself, the Great Sea, which isn’t a realm but Elves and Númenóreans do sail across it often enough.

[Read more]

The Lord of the Rings

The Rings of Power Teaser Shines a New (and Alternate) Light on Middle-earth

Jeff LaSala

Thu Feb 17, 2022 10:00am 14 comments 5 Favorites [+]

Screenshot: Amazon Studios

Well, The Rings of Power teaser trailer sure has been polarizing among fans, with a fair number of us waffling between the two extremes of excitement and trepidation. For some, it’s thrilling just to see a new vision of Middle-earth; they await the new series with open eyes and minds. For others, it’s been outrage from the get-go and the certainty that the show is going to suck…without, you know, waiting to see. Outside of Tolkien fandom, I assume that the general reaction after seeing the teaser has been either “oh, neat, another nerds-and-hobbits thing” or “was that a naked bearded man in a meteor?”

If you ask me, here’s what we should all do: Avoid window shopping at the Knee-Jerk Store in downtown Freak-Out City. That place is full of Orcs, you know? We’re allowed to just be excited in any which way.

[I was there, Gandalf. I was there three thousand years ago, when the first teaser trailer dropped.]

The Lord of the Rings

A Show of Hands for Amazon’s The Rings of Power: Speculating on What We Know So Far

Jeff LaSala

Tue Feb 8, 2022 12:00pm 37 comments 8 Favorites [+]

Amazon has done a pretty good job tossing up tantalizing nuggets about their upcoming 5-season Lord of the Rings series. First it was those varying maps of differing time periods. Then there were some casting announcements with a batch of unfamiliar faces (always a good thing, if you ask me). More recently we saw the “teaser” video announcing the title of the thing: The Rings of Power.

Then on February 3rd, they dropped twenty-three character “posters” depicting hands (some clean, some grimy, some in between), lots of clothes, armor, assorted trappings, weapons, and even some beards. And, of course… rings. These images offer a slew of new details to consider—but mostly for us to speculate about and guess at. And obviously for us all to talk about, because publicity is a thing. Nervous as I am about the whole venture, I’m still happy to see glimpses of some actual Númenóreans, aka the Dúnedain, aka the Sea-kings of Westernesse, aka Aragorn’s ancestors…

So let’s dig into some of this.

[Who are the ad wizards (Istari?) who came up with these?]

Deep Delvings Into Middle-earth

Philosophers and Plough-dwarves, Each Must Know His Part in The Nature of Middle-earth

Jeff LaSala

Thu Sep 16, 2021 12:00pm 29 comments 5 Favorites [+]

The long-awaited book The Nature of Middle-earth, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, has newly awakened into the world like Quendi by the shores of Lake Cuiviénen! Fans hungry for more Middle-earth are scooping up their copies and… making Aragorn beard-memes? Just what is this new posthumous Tolkien book exactly, how “canon” is it, and what things do we learn about J.R.R.’s legendarium that we didn’t know before? Here is everything you need to know…

Fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings who aren’t much into Tolkien’s other Middle-earth stories may only find a few curiosities here. Answers to burning questions like: Were there any ursine entertainers on Númenor? Could Legolas talk to horses? Who in the Fellowship actually had facial hair? Come 5 o’clock, did a shadow gather about Aragorn’s cheeks and chin? Did Gollum actually go about buck naked? Was Galadriel a natural blonde? CELEBORN TELLS ALL!

[A quantum leap forward in time and space . . .]

Deep Delvings Into Middle-earth

Tolkien’s Orcs: Boldog and the Host of Tumult

Jeff LaSala

Thu Jun 10, 2021 10:00am 17 comments 10 Favorites [+]

"Orcs Orks" by Boris Nenezic

In this scattershot series, we’ll be delving “too greedily and too deep,” prying gems out of the glorious rough that is the extended legendarium of Tolkien’s world. This includes drawing on The Lord of the Rings itself, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, The Children of Húrin, and the History of Middle-earth (or HoMe) books.

What are little orcs made of?
Heats and slime
And Utumno’s vile grime
That’s what little orcs are made of

Maybe? Well, only at first.

This, then, is my final installment on the topic of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Orcs, whereas the professor himself was never final about it. Orcs were, for him, the subject of “prolonged interior debate” (so wrote his son, Christopher) after the publication of his most famous work. This time we’re leaving The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and Unfinished Tales all behind and going right to the 12-volume series known as The History of Middle-earth (or HoMe), to see what information we can scare up.

Let’s hunt some Orc-lore!

[‘Death to light, to law, to love! Cursed be moon and stars above!’]

Deep Delvings Into Middle-earth

Tolkien’s Orcs: The Din-horde of Morgoth

Jeff LaSala

Tue Apr 13, 2021 10:09am 28 comments 11 Favorites [+]

"Angband Unleashed” by Kenneth Sofia

Previously, on Tolkien’s Orcs…

I concluded in part 1, which covered the monstrous hoi polloi of Middle-earth as presented in The Hobbit and in The Lord of the Rings, that Orcs are driven to mayhem—and frankly, the will to do anything substantive—by the power of Sauron. Which is to say, when there’s no Dark Lord in the neighborhood to give them some moxie, they become idle (relatively speaking) and their numbers stay down. But what about before all that? What happened before Sauron even became the head honcho of evil?

In this installment, I’m going to look at the role of Orcs in The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales, which are like the uber-prequel and the deleted scenes (respectively) to Tolkien’s more famous works. But to fans of the legendarium on the whole, they are also essential reading.

[‘Rouse the Orcs and I leave you.’]

Deep Delvings Into Middle-earth

Tolkien’s Orcs: Bolg, Shagrat, and the Maggot-folk of Mordor

Jeff LaSala

Tue Feb 23, 2021 10:00am 29 comments 26 Favorites [+]

From “Orcs” by Julia Alex

In this scattershot series, we’ll be delving “too greedily and too deep,” prying gems out of the glorious rough that is the extended legendarium of Tolkien’s world. This includes drawing on The Lord of the Rings itself, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, The Children of Húrin, and the History of Middle-earth (or HoME) books.

Orcs, amirite? The shock troops of the Dark Lord’s armies. The rank-and-file of the bad guys in Middle-earth. Called a “hideous race” bred in “envy and mockery of the Elves.” Everyone’s got feelings about them. Feelings… and differing facts, maybe.

[‘It is the orc-work, the wanton hewing. . . without even the bad excuse of feeding the fires, that has so angered us’]

Deep Delvings Into Middle-earth

Tolkien’s Dark Lords: Sauron, Dark Magic, and Middle-earth’s Enduring “Melkor-ingredient”

Jeff LaSala

Thu Dec 3, 2020 12:00pm 39 comments 16 Favorites [+]

“Morgoth, He Who Arises in Might" by Dymond Starr

Whenever the works of J.R.R. Tolkien come up, my immediate nerd-impulse is to ask: “Hold up! Are we talking about just The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit?” Followed by, “Are we talking about the films or the books (since they’re quite a different thing)—or somehow both?” But what I’m really getting at is, can we discuss the legendarium at large? Because that would rope in The Silmarillion and the History of Middle-earth books. And that’s even more fun.

If it’s just The Hobbit and LotR, then we’re only talking about the Third Age and the War of the Ring (with a possible glance back at the Second Age since that’s when the Rings of Power were made). In which case Sauron is the de facto face of evil on Middle-earth and that’s all that really matters. But if we can talk about the big picture—the entire world—in which Middle-earth is merely center stage, then I can go right to the top shelf for the real bad guy, Morgoth (né Melkor), and the stain he left behind. Gross.

Sauron. Morgoth. Just who are these clowns, who’s actually worse, and why?

[‘Other evils there are that may come; for Sauron is himself but a servant or emissary.’]

J.R.R. Tolkien

Let’s Celebrate Tolkien Week (By Force of Hobbit)!

Jeff LaSala

Tue Sep 22, 2020 2:00pm 36 comments 9 Favorites [+]

"Then There Were Three" by Donato Giancola.

Hobbits, amirite?

When they’re not avoiding anything that makes them late for dinner, they’re pilfering ancient artifacts, accepting age-ending quests, sticking with their friends through thick and thin to the bitter end, testing the patience of wizards, getting kidnapped by Orcs, befriending tree-shepherding giants, sitting on the edge of ruin while discussing the pleasures of the table, swearing their service to kings, stabbing smack-talking lords of carrion and voracious giant spiders…and even carrying their masters up the faces of active volcanoes. Hobbits are, when it comes down to it, just a bunch of irrepressible lads and lasses going off into the Blue for mad adventures.

And a lot of people are very fond of them. Accordingly, on September 22nd, the in-world birthday of both Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, we celebrate Hobbit Day. It’s Tolkien Week, in fact, which has been a thing since 1978. Far too short a time.

[In un buco nella terra vivena uno hobbit.]

Deep Delvings Into Middle-earth

Mortal Men Doomed to Die: The Giver of Gifts and the Wise-women of Middle-earth

Jeff LaSala

Thu Sep 10, 2020 9:00am 23 comments 11 Favorites [+]

"Fog on the Barrow-downs" by Jonathan Guzi

In this scattershot series, we’ll be delving “too greedily and too deep,” prying gems out of the glorious rough that is the extended legendarium of Tolkien’s world. This includes drawing on The Lord of the Rings itself, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, The Children of Húrin, and the History of Middle-earth (or HoME) books.

By and large, J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendarium hammers into us—as if on Aulë’s own forge—the fact that when Men kick the can, they don’t come back. Quite unlike their Elven counterparts, for whom “no sickness or pestilence brought death,” Men shuffle off their mortal coils with ease. In our present time, in the real world, where illness is often in the forefront of the news, I’ve personally found that it’s easier than ever to think about the death that all Men must face.

But even in Middle-earth, Tolkien’s secondary world, you sometimes have to wonder: was it supposed to be like this? Well, YES, insist the Elves and even the oft-omniscient narrator of these stories. Ahhh! But that’s not how Adanel—mortal Wise-woman of the First Age—tells it!

[‘So I learn from Adanel. They say plainly that Men are not by nature short-lived . . .’]

Art & Illustration

“Infinite and Transcendent” — Artist Kip Rasmussen on Depicting Tolkien’s Silmarillion

Jeff LaSala

Fri Aug 28, 2020 12:00pm 7 comments 9 Favorites [+]

When I first came across Kip Rasmussen’s work, I knew it was exceptional, and that I’d probably like everything he made. His paintings present all the best components of high fantasy: long hair flowing from beneath helms, brazen swords, gleaming spears, fire-breathing dragons, primordial godlike beings, imposing pinnacles of rock, and an insanely huge spider. Yup—these were scenes right out of J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendarium, instantly recognizable as features of Middle-earth. But curiously, only a few of them depict characters in The Lord of the Rings itself. Here was a Silmarillion-leaning artist. Oh, hell yeah.

When I contacted Kip to ask permission to use some of his work in my Silmarillion Primer, he just happened to be mulling over three ideas in his mental queue and he was quick to ask me to choose which subject he’d tackle next. I chose “Tulkas Chaining Morgoth,” so when he finished it later, it was right on time for the War of Wrath segment of the Primer. That made me very happy. And now, once again, I’m debuting a new painting in this article: Kip’s take on that legendary conflict between a certain lionhearted shield-maiden and a certain overconfident lord of carrion.

[In light is her power and her joy…]

Art & Illustration

Happy Little Ents: The Middle-earth Landscapes of Artist Ted Naismith

Jeff LaSala

Fri Mar 20, 2020 3:00pm 1 comment 9 Favorites [+]

From "Arrival at Caras Galadhon" by Ted Nasmith.

If you’ve ever picked up an illustrated book written by J.R.R. Tolkien, or spent time clicking around on the internet in fantasy circles, or if you’d seen the posters on my dorm room wall years ago—or, heck, scrolled through any of the posts of The Silmarillion Primer—basically, if you’ve lived on Planet Earth over the last few decades, then you’ve surely chanced across the scenic, brilliant, and exceedingly prismatic illustrations of Ted Nasmith. I mean…if chance you call it.

Ted is a luminary, an artist and illustrator of…well, many things, but he’s best known for depicting Tolkien’s world more or less how we’re all imagining it. Or maybe you’re imagining it, in part, due to Ted’s work. From official Tolkien calendars to illustrated editions of the professor’s books to The Tolkien Society’s journal covers, he’s dipped his toe and his brushes into Tolkien’s mythology so many times there’s just no keeping track of it all. You know, I’m going to come right out and say it: Ted Nasmith is basically the Bob Ross of Middle-earth.

[Read more]

Deep Delvings Into Middle-earth

Mortal Men Doomed to Die: Death as a Gift Is Debatable in Middle-earth

Jeff LaSala

Mon Feb 24, 2020 10:00am 45 comments 20 Favorites [+]

"Grasping in the Dark" by IsabelStar.

In this scattershot series, we’ll be delving “too greedily and too deep,” prying gems out of the glorious rough that is the extended legendarium of Tolkien’s world. This includes drawing on The Lord of the Rings itself, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, The Children of Húrin, and the History of Middle-earth (or HoME) books.

As Tolkien-reading humans, we already know that even in Middle-earth, all Men die at some point. Obviously. But it’s not unless we read Appendix A in The Lord of the Rings that we see mortal death referred to as something other than a tough break. The narrator calls it “the Gift of Men” when speaking of the long-lived Númenóreans. Arwen Undómiel calls this fate “the gift of the One to Men” at her husband’s own deathbed, where “the One” is essentially God, a.k.a. Eru, whom the Elves named Ilúvatar. And this all might seem strange at first, for nowhere else in Tolkien’s seminal book does he explain why death might be seen as a gift.

[‘What about my memories? Will I get to bring them into any halls with me?’]

music

In Memory of Neil Peart: Fantasy, Science Fiction, and the Mystic Rhythms of Rush

Jeff LaSala

Fri Jan 17, 2020 1:30pm 39 comments 27 Favorites [+]

Photo: Jeff LaSala

News broke last Friday about the passing of Neil Peart, the drummer, lyricist, and philosophical heart of the Canadian band Rush. His departure from the circles of our world far, far too early (he was a mere 67) has left many of us grieving in ways that celebrity deaths normally do not. There’s a kind of shockwave effect running through the fandom. And here’s the thing: the guy was extremely private (in a band known for its privacy). It’s hard to miss the man himself—none of us knew him personally. Peart himself wrote, speaking of his adoring fans, “I can’t pretend the stranger is a long-awaited friend.” But losing that secluded presence of a man who produced what he produced—that we can grieve.

But wait, what business does this tribute to a rock legend—yea, even one counted among the greatest drummers of all time—have on a site devoted primarily to science fiction and fantasy? If you’re familiar with Rush, you already know why. And if you don’t, please indulge me.

[“When I heard that he was gone / I felt a shadow cross my heart”]

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Jeff LaSala

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