Alas, not me

In the Ainulindalë  Melkor chooses to follow his own will rather than the design of Ilúvatar and to usurp the act of creation ( S  16-17). I...

After the composed and often wise Elves we meet in The Lord of the Rings , the dangerously passionate Elves of The Silmarillion  can come as...

"... and she went out from the city of Minas Tirith and passed away to the land of Lórien, and dwelt there alone under the fading trees...

Thus spake Mandos in prophecy, when the Gods sat in judgement in Valinor, and the rumour of his words was whispered among all the Elves of t...

It's fairly common knowledge that, when Tolkien has the werewolf Carcharoth bite off Beren's hand in The Silmarillion , he is drawin...

  Pity, Power, and Tolkien's Ring:   To Rule the Fate of Many by   Thomas P. Hillman A brief description As the magical ring Bilbo found...

14 April 1950 Dear Unwin, It was odd that our letters crossed. I might have waited a day longer; but the matter is for me becoming urgent. W...

This year on Tolkien Reading Day I discussed the well-known tale of the inception of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth in a couple of lin...

If you look up the word gyst  -- 'guest, visitor, stranger, outsider, outlandish creature, enemy' -- in the Dictionary of Old Englis...

Shakespeare's Silmarillion: Melkor: do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe? Call me what instrument you will - Eru: Mine...

Many readers will no doubt recall this fascinating passage in The Silmarillion  (20) which draws an equivalency between the life of the Vala...

When we encounter Elrond's words at the council -- 'Yet such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: small han...

  Simon Cook is one of the most thoughtful and perceptive Tolkien scholars of this generation. His insights into Tolkien's relationship ...

In a single chapter of  The Silmarillion  we learn that some creative acts require so much of their makers that they can perform them only o...

To say definitively if the One Ring is or is not sentient may not in the end be possible. To do so would surely require an attentive and tho...

Reading Megan Fontenot's recent post on Ulmo in her 'Exploring the Peoples of Middle-earth' series at Tor.com  reminded me of...

Fingolfin's Challenge © John Howe 2003 Plutarch's Agesilaos  tells the story of a power struggle for the throne of ancient S...