Lord of the Rings

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Tolkien Estate, Amazon Win LOTR Copyright Lawsuits

Fan fiction writer claimed Amazon series infringed on copyright of his sequel

(Newser) - A Lord of the Rings fan fiction author who sued JRR Tolkien's estate and Amazon after publishing an unauthorized sequel has lost his lawsuit and those filed against him. According to District Court of California documents issued last week, Demetrious Polychron's lawsuit was thrown out after Judge Stephen...

Gaiman Mocks Musk After He Knocks Rings of Power

Tesla CEO not a fan, Gaiman doesn't care

(Newser) - Lord of the Rings prequel The Rings of Power is doing well for Amazon, having been viewed by more than 25 million on its debut day on Prime Video last week —a record high for an Amazon original. But don't count Elon Musk among the show's fans....

Elijah Wood: LOTR Orc Was Modeled on Harvey Weinstein

Peter Jackson and the producer apparently didn't part ways pleasantly

(Newser) - If you thought one of the orcs in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings looked familiar, you were probably right: Elijah Wood revealed this week that one of them was modeled after Harvey Weinstein. "I think that is OK to talk about now," since Weinstein is in...

Tolkien Fans Go Bananas Over Unearthed Soviet Version of LOTR

They're watching 'Khraniteli,' which aired just once on TV in 1991, with fascination, amusement

(Newser) - If you're a JRR Tolkien fan who can't wait for the next project based on his work , take a trip back in time to a bizarre, previously made adaptation you've likely never seen. A full 10 years before Peter Jackson's The Fellowship of the Ring, the...

Lord of the Ring Stars Have a Request for Tolkien Fans

They want help purchasing the author's former home in Oxford

(Newser) - There's not currently a literary center devoted to the late JRR Tolkien, among the world's most celebrated authors. But if celebrities including Sir Ian McKellen (Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings films) have their way, there soon will be. A campaign called Project Northmoor is raising funds...

Goodbye, Bilbo Baggins
Goodbye,
Bilbo Baggins
OBITUARY
Jun 19, 2020 9:40 AM CDT

Goodbye, Bilbo Baggins

Ian Holm, famous for his role in 'LOTR' series, is dead at 88

(Newser) - British actor Ian Holm, best known for playing an android in Alien and Bilbo Baggins in the Lord of the Rings film series, has died at the age of 88, per a statement from his agent, report CNN and the Guardian . "It is with great sadness that the actor...

If You Don't Know Who He Is, Tolkien's Estate Is Likely Glad

Author's family and estate do not approve of the upcoming film 'Tolkien'

(Newser) - If you don't know who Nicholas Hoult is, the family and estate of JRR Tolkien is likely glad. The actor is starring as a young Tolkien in a film focusing on the author's "formative years," and the two entities on Tuesday put out a statement making...

Ashley Judd Sues Weinstein for 'Torpedoing' Her Career

She says he was retaliating after she rejected his advances

(Newser) - Ashley Judd says that 20 years ago, she felt something "unseen" holding her acting career back—and in December last year, she realized that it was Harvey Weinstein, getting revenge for her rejection of his sexual advances. In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday, Judd...

LOTR TV Show Is Coming, Preciousssss

Amazon paid a reported $250M for TV rights

(Newser) - Fans of JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings can prepare for "a new epic journey in Middle Earth." Amazon has announced plans to create a TV series inspired by the fantasy trilogy after acquiring the global TV rights for a reported $250 million, reports Deadline . The company...

How Tolkien's War Experience Gave Us His Masterpiece

Young author began writing 'Lord of the Rings' at Somme

(Newser) - Thousands in France today are commemorating the 100th anniversary of the start of the Battle of the Somme, a five-month siege during World War I that left more than 1 million men killed or wounded, reports the BBC . One of those who served was a 24-year-old Brit named JRR Tolkien,...

Lord of the Rings' 'Mount Doom' May Erupt

Volcanic alert level raised at Mount Ruapehu

(Newser) - Mordor's "Mount Doom" may be about to erupt for the first time since 2007. Lake temperature and volcanic gas output have spiked in recent weeks at New Zealand's Mount Ruapehu, featured in the Lord of the Rings movies, leading officials to raise the volcanic alert level from...

David Bowie Auditioned for LOTR

According to Dominic Monaghan

(Newser) - David Bowie had many iconic roles in his lifetime, and Dominic Monaghan says the singer tried to add one more to the list. Monaghan, who played Merry in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, tells the Huffington Post that while he was auditioning for the role, he saw David Bowie...

Judge's Strange Order: Study Gollum, Then Fill Me In

Turkish justice is deciding slander case against president

(Newser) - Experts recruited in the case of a man accused of insulting Turkey's president have been given some interesting homework: study the character Gollum from Lord of the Rings. Bilgin Ciftci is accused of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan—a prisonable offense in Turkey—after sharing photos of the politician...

One-of-a-Kind Tolkien Map of Middle-Earth Unearthed

$92K map, full of author's notes, has been found in illustrator's collection

(Newser) - A one-of-a-kind map of Middle-earth filled with JRR Tolkien's own green ink and penciled notes has been found in renowned illustrator Pauline Baynes' copy of The Lord of the Rings. Baynes appears to have removed the map from an earlier edition as she began to work on a color...

Magic Hobbit Ring Leads to 9-Year-Old's Suspension

Texas boy said he could make friend disappear

(Newser) - Did a Texas school go a little too far over a boy's magical threat? Kermit Elementary School suspended 9-year-old Aiden Steward for making "terroristic threats" when, soon after seeing The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, he told a classmate last week that he could make him...

Sorry, Moscow, No 'Eye of Sauron' for You
 Sorry, Moscow, No 
 'Eye of Sauron' for You 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Dec 14, 2014 12:40 PM CST

Sorry, Moscow, No 'Eye of Sauron' for You

'Demonic' glowing eye on top of skyscraper nixed after church protest

(Newser) - "Sadly, we are obliged to halt the Eye of Sauron" is both the best line from a press release you'll read all week and the worst. Russian creative art group Svecheniye has halted a "fan project" that would have placed a menacing, pulsing eye like the one...

Ancient Croc Named for Lord of the Rings Beast

'Anthracosuchus balrogus' survived mass extinction 65M years ago

(Newser) - There's a new ancient beast in town—a 900-pound, 16-foot crocodile of sorts who "ate turtles and battled monster snakes"—and he's been named in honor of Balrog, the monster who lurked in the depths of JRR Tolkien's Middle Earth. "Much like that giant...

Tolkien's 'New' Labor of Love: Beowulf

'Lost' Beowulf translation published almost 90 years later

(Newser) - In 1926, an Oxford University professor named JRR Tolkien finished a translation of Beowulf—in his words, the "greatest of the surviving works of ancient English poetic art." Tolkien called the 11th-century work "sombre, tragic, sinister," and "curiously real," the Guardian notes. Elements of...

How's the Weather in Mordor? Think Texas

Scientists release Tolkien climate study in Elvish, Dwarvish, too

(Newser) - If you're planning a trip to Mordor, you'd be well-advised to check the weather in West Texas. The two areas have similar climates, say scientists in Britain who have determined the likely climate across JRR Tolkien's Middle Earth, releasing their results in Elvish and Dwarvish , along with...

This May Be the Ring Behind Lord of the Rings

Roman gold ring said to have inspired JRR Tolkien

(Newser) - Could a Roman gold ring linked to a curse have inspired JRR Tolkien to create The One Ring? Britain's National Trust and the Tolkien Society have put the artifact on display this week for Lord of the Rings fans to decide for themselves. The gold ring is inscribed in...

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