j-r-r-tolkien – Veni, Vidi, Scripsi

The Companion That Deepens The Lord of the Rings

Sometimes the best guides don’t lead you away from a story. They lead you deeper in. The Lord of the Rings: A Reader’s Companion (2005) Twenty years ago, on December 27, 2005, Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull gave readers something rare: a companion that doesn’t explain the magic away but reveals the care behind it. TheContinueContinue reading “The Companion That Deepens The Lord of the Rings”

Walking the Long Road from The Shire: Remembering ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’

I remember sitting in the theater in December of 2001, not fully aware that something formative was unfolding before me. The Shire appeared on screen, warm and unhurried, a place both fantastical and familiar, like a memory I had yet to have. Only later did it become clear that The Fellowship of the Ring, first releasedContinueContinue reading “Walking the Long Road from The Shire: Remembering ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’”

Walking the Long Road Through Shadow: Remembering ‘The Two Towers’

By the time The Two Towers arrived on December 18, 2002, the road no longer felt new. The wonder of Middle-earth remained, but it was tempered by strain, uncertainty, and the first true shadows of conflict. Helm’s Deep at nightfall, awaiting the battle to come. Unlike The Fellowship of the Ring, which introduced us to the Shire’s warmthContinueContinue reading “Walking the Long Road Through Shadow: Remembering ‘The Two Towers’”

Observing an Anniversary: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)

Every journey eventually asks its price. When The Battle of the Five Armies was released on December 17, 2014, it brought Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy1 to its conclusion. Not with riddles or songs, but with fire, steel, and reckoning. This final chapter is less about discovery and more about consequence, less about setting out and more aboutContinueContinue reading “Observing an Anniversary: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)”

Walking the Long Road to Mordor: Remembering ‘The Return of the King’

When The Return of the King was released on December 17, 2003, there was a sense that the journey we had shared with these characters for two full years was approaching its end. The road had grown heavy, marked by sacrifice, exhaustion, and the weight of battles fought both outside and within. Unlike the beginnings in theContinueContinue reading “Walking the Long Road to Mordor: Remembering ‘The Return of the King’”