The Hobbit
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again is a children's fantasy novel by English author J. R. R. Tolkien, it was published on 21 September 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald Tribune for best juvenile fiction. The book is recognized as a classic in children's literature; the Hobbit is set within Tolkien's fictional universe and follows the quest of home-loving hobbit Bilbo Baggins to win a share of the treasure guarded by Smaug the dragon. Bilbo's journey takes him from rural surroundings into more sinister territory; the story is told in the form of an episodic quest, most chapters introduce a specific creature or type of creature of Tolkien's geography. Bilbo gains a new level of maturity and wisdom by accepting the disreputable, romantic and adventurous sides of his nature and applying his wits and common sense; the story reaches its climax in the Battle of the Five Armies, where many of the characters and creatures from earlier chapters re-emerge to engage in conflict.
Personal growth and forms of heroism are central themes of the story, along with motifs of warfare. These themes have led critics to view Tolkien's own experiences during World War I as instrumental in shaping the story; the author's scholarly knowledge of Germanic philology and interest in mythology and fairy tales are noted as influences. The publisher was encouraged by the book's critical and financial success and, requested a sequel; as Tolkien's work progressed on the successor The Lord of the Rings, he made retrospective accommodations for it in The Hobbit. These few but significant changes were integrated into the second edition. Further editions followed with minor emendations, including those reflecting Tolkien's changing concept of the world into which Bilbo stumbled; the work has never been out of print. Its ongoing legacy encompasses many adaptations for stage, radio, board games, video games. Several of these adaptations have received critical recognition on their own merits. Bilbo Baggins, the titular protagonist, is a reserved hobbit.
During his adventure, Bilbo refers to the contents of his larder at home and wishes he had more food. Until he finds a magic ring, he is more baggage than help. Gandalf, an itinerant wizard, introduces Bilbo to a company of thirteen dwarves. During the journey the wizard disappears on side errands dimly hinted at, only to appear again at key moments in the story. Thorin Oakenshield, the proud, pompous head of the company of dwarves and heir to the destroyed dwarvish kingdom under the Lonely Mountain, makes many mistakes in his leadership, relying on Gandalf and Bilbo to get him out of trouble, but proves himself a mighty warrior. Smaug is a dragon who long ago pillaged the dwarvish kingdom of Thorin's grandfather and sleeps upon the vast treasure; the plot involves a host of other characters of varying importance, such as the twelve other dwarves of the company. Gandalf tricks Bilbo into hosting a party for Thorin and his band of dwarves, who sing of reclaiming the Lonely Mountain and its vast treasure from the dragon Smaug.
When the music ends, Gandalf unveils Thrór's map showing a secret door into the Mountain and proposes that the dumbfounded Bilbo serve as the expedition's "burglar". The dwarves ridicule the idea, but Bilbo, joins despite himself; the group travels into the wild, where Gandalf saves the company from trolls and leads them to Rivendell, where Elrond reveals more secrets from the map. Passing over the Misty Mountains, they are driven deep underground. Although Gandalf rescues them, Bilbo gets separated from the others. Lost in the goblin tunnels, he stumbles across a mysterious ring and encounters Gollum, who engages him in a game of riddles; as a reward for solving all riddles Gollum will show him the path out of the tunnels, but if Bilbo fails, his life will be forfeit. With the help of the ring, which confers invisibility, Bilbo escapes and rejoins the dwarves, improving his reputation with them; the goblins and Wargs give chase, but the company are saved by eagles before resting in the house of Beorn.
The company enters the black forest of Mirkwood without Gandalf. In Mirkwood, Bilbo first saves the dwarves from giant spiders and from the dungeons of the Wood-elves. Nearing the Lonely Mountain, the travellers are welcomed by the human inhabitants of Lake-town, who hope the dwarves will fulfil prophecies of Smaug's demise; the expedition finds the secret door. The enraged dragon, deducing that Lake-town has aided the intruder, sets out to destroy the town. A thrush had overheard Bilbo's report of Smaug's vulnerability and reports it to Lake-town defender Bard. Bard's arrow slays the dragon; when the dwarves take possession of the mountain, Bilbo finds the Arkenstone, an heirloom of Thorin's dynasty, hides it away. The Wood-elves and Lake-men besiege the mountain and request compensation for their aid, reparations for Lake-town's destruction, settlement of old claims on the treasure. Thorin refuses and, reinforces his position. Bilbo tries to ransom the A
Samwise Gamgee
Samwise "Sam" Gamgee is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium; the hobbit Samwise is one of the supporting characters of The Lord of the Rings, in which he fills an archetypal role as the sidekick of the primary protagonist, Frodo Baggins. Sam is a member of the Fellowship of the Ring, which includes Frodo Baggins, Merry Brandybuck, Pippin Took, Legolas Greenleaf, Gimli son of Gloin, Aragorn son of Arathorn, Gandalf. At the beginning of the story, Sam is Frodo's gardener, is drawn into Frodo's adventure by Gandalf while eavesdropping on a private conversation. Throughout the story, Sam is Frodo's steadfast companion and servant, portrayed as both physically and strong pushing Frodo through difficult parts of the journey, at times physically carrying him when Frodo was too weak to go on. Sam serves as Ring-bearer for a short time when Frodo is captured. Following the War of the Ring Sam returned to the Shire, returned to his role as gardener, helping to replant the trees, destroyed during The Scouring of the Shire.
He was elected Mayor of the Shire for seven consecutive terms, in his old age was one of the last denizens of Middle-earth to be permitted to enter The Undying Lands, an honour accorded to him as one of the Ring-bearers. Samwise Gamgee is first introduced in The Fellowship of the Ring. Sam is Frodo Baggins' gardener, having inherited the position as Baggins' gardener from his father, Hamfast "Gaffer" Gamgee. At the time of the War of the Ring, Sam was living in Bagshot Row with his father; as "punishment" for eavesdropping on Gandalf's conversation with Frodo regarding the One Ring, Sam was made Frodo's first companion on his journey to Rivendell. They were joined by Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took, Frodo's cousins, journeyed together to Rivendell, where the Council of Elrond took place and Sam joined the Fellowship of the Ring; when the Fellowship was split up at the Falls of Rauros, Sam insisted on accompanying Frodo. Sam protected and cared for Frodo, growing weaker under the Ring's influence, as they moved through the dangerous lands toward Mordor.
Sam distrusted Gollum. His suspicions were proven right. After Shelob killed Frodo, Sam drove her off; when a band of orcs approached, Sam was forced to leave the dead Frodo and take the Ring himself, became a Ring-bearer. He was momentarily tempted by its promise of power, but did not succumb to it, subsequently rescuing Frodo from the Orcs who held him captive. Sam returned the Ring to Frodo, making him the only Ring-bearer to give up the Ring without intervention; the two journeyed alone through Mordor and into the heart of Mount Doom, where Gollum attacked Frodo and reclaimed the Ring, only to inadvertently destroy both it and himself by falling into the mountain's lava. After the hobbits' return home and the Battle of Bywater, Sam travelled the length and breadth of the Shire replanting trees, cut down during Saruman's brief reign, he used the gift of earth given to him by the Lady Galadriel, which caused the saplings he planted to grow at an accelerated rate. The small amount remaining he took to the Three-Farthing Stone and cast into the air, prompting the bountiful period of growth starting in the spring of the year 1420.
The greatest wonder was a young mallorn tree sprouting in the Party Field: "the only mallorn west of the Mountains and east of the Sea". After the War of the Ring, Sam moved to Bag End with Frodo. Sam and Rosie had 13 children: Elanor the Fair, Rose, Pippin, Hamfast, Primrose, Ruby and Tolman. Sam was elected Mayor of the Shire for seven consecutive seven-year terms and came to be known as Samwise Gardner. After Sam and Rose's first child was born, Frodo told Sam he would leave Middle-earth, along with Bilbo Baggins and most of the remaining High Elves, for the Undying Lands. Before Frodo left, he gave the estate of Bag End to Sam, as well as the Red Book of Westmarch for Sam to continue, hinting that Sam might be allowed to travel into the West eventually. After the death of his wife in the year 62 of the Fourth Age, Sam entrusted the Red Book to Elanor and left the Shire at the age of 102, he was not seen again in Middle-earth, but Elanor and her descendants preserved the tradition that he went to the Grey Havens and sailed into the West.
As the last of the Ring-bearers, he was entitled to sail across the Sea and be reunited with Frodo in the Undying Lands. At the start of The Lord of the Rings Sam for a hobbit, had never before ventured far from the immediate area where he lived. Unusually for a hobbit, since childhood Sam was fond of legends and other fantastical stories. Sam was interested in the Elves, always hoped to one day see one. Sam was literate, having been taught by Bilbo and Frodo, unusual for most hobbits given their rustic culture. Sam showed a talent for poetry. Tolkien called Sam the "chief hero" of the saga in one of his letters: he places special emphasis on Sam's "rustic love" for Rosie, a union that serves to establish a family in which allusions to Elvish wonders (embodied in Sam's da
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil is a collection of poetry written by J. R. R. Tolkien and published in 1962; the book contains 16 poems, two of which feature Tom Bombadil, a character encountered by Frodo Baggins in The Fellowship of the Ring. The rest of the poems are an assortment of bestiary fairy tale rhyme. Three of the poems appear in The Lord of the Rings as well; the book is part of Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium. The volume includes The Sea-Bell, subtitled Frodos Dreme, which W. H. Auden considered Tolkien's best poem, it is a piece of metrical and rhythmical complexity that recounts a journey to a strange land beyond the sea. Drawing on medieval'dream vision' poetry and Irish'immram' poems the piece is markedly melancholic and the final note is one of alienation and disillusion; the book was illustrated by Pauline Baynes and by Roger Garland. The book, like the first edition of The Fellowship of the Ring, is presented as if it is an actual translation from the Red Book of Westmarch, contains some background information on the world of Middle-earth, not found elsewhere: e.g. the name of the tower at Dol Amroth and the names of the Seven Rivers of Gondor.
There is some fictional background information of those poems, linking them to Hobbit folklore and literature and to their actual writers. The book uses the letter "K" instead of "C" for the /k/ sound in Sindarin, a spelling variant Tolkien used many times in his writings; the Adventures of Tom Bombadil Bombadil Goes Boating Errantry Princess Mee The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late* The Man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon The Stone Troll* Perry-the-Winkle The Mewlips Oliphaunt* Fastitocalon Cat Shadow-bride The Hoard The Sea-Bell The Last Ship*Poems featured in The Lord of the Rings The Adventures of Tom Bombadil was first published as a stand-alone book in 1962. Some editions, such as the Unwin Paperbacks edition and Poems and Stories, erroneously state that it was first published in'1961'. Tolkien's letters confirm. Beginning with The Tolkien Reader in 1966, it was included in a number of anthologies of Tolkien's shorter works; this trend continued after his death with Tales from the Perilous Realm.
In 2014 Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond edited a new stand-alone edition, which includes for each poem detailed commentary, original versions and their sources. Barrow-wight Farmer Maggot Goldberry Old Forest Old Man Willow The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
Unfinished Tales
Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth is a collection of stories and essays by J. R. R. Tolkien that were never completed during his lifetime, but were edited by his son Christopher Tolkien and published in 1980. Many of the tales within are retold in The Silmarillion, albeit in modified forms. Unlike The Silmarillion, for which the narrative fragments were modified to connect into a consistent and coherent work, the Unfinished Tales are presented as Tolkien left them, with little more than names changed, thus some of these are incomplete stories, while others are collections of information about Middle-earth. Each tale is followed by a long series of notes explaining obscure points; as with The Silmarillion, Christopher Tolkien edited and published Unfinished Tales before he had finished his study of the materials in his father's archive. Unfinished Tales provides more detailed information about characters and places mentioned only in The Lord of the Rings. Versions of such tales, including the origins of Gandalf and the other Istari, the death of Isildur and the loss of the One Ring in the Gladden Fields, the founding of the kingdom of Rohan, help expand knowledge about Middle-earth.
The commercial success of Unfinished Tales demonstrated that the demand for Tolkien's stories several years after his death was not only still present, it was growing. Encouraged by the result, Christopher Tolkien embarked upon the more ambitious twelve-volume work entitled The History of Middle-earth which encompasses nearly the entire corpus of Tolkien's writings about Middle-earth. "Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin" "Narn i Hîn Húrin" "A Description of the Island of Númenor" "Aldarion and Erendis: The Mariner's Wife" "The Line of Elros: Kings of Númenor" "The History of the Galadriel and Celeborn the great" "The Disaster of the Gladden Fields" "Cirion and Eorl and the Friendship of Gondor and Rohan" "The Quest of Erebor" "The Hunt for the Ring" "The Battles of the Fords of Isen" "The Drúedain" "The Istari" "The Palantíri" The Hobbit The Lord of the Rings The Silmarillion The Book of Lost Tales The Lays of Beleriand The Peoples of Middle-earth The Children of Húrin The Fall of Gondolin "Unfinished Tales".
Mythgard Institute. Signum University
A Guide to Middle-earth
A Guide to Middle-earth was the first published encyclopedic reference book for the fictional universe of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth and edited by Robert Foster; the book was published in 1971 by Mirage Press, a specialist science fiction and fantasy publisher, in a limited edition of 2000 copies. A paperback edition was issued by Ballantine Books in 1974; the author profile on the first edition describes Robert Foster as the then-"Tengwar Consultant" to the Tolkien Society of America, the book incorporates material published in the science fiction fanzine Niekas. A much-expanded edition incorporating entries for The Silmarillion was issued in 1978 by Ballantine under the title The Complete Guide to Middle-earth, a further revised edition was published in 2001 in time for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Lester del Rey praised the 1971 version for covering "literally everything you wanted to know about Middle Earth and were unable to discover before." Tolkien fandom
Jack L. Chalker
Jack Laurence Chalker was an American science fiction author. Chalker was a Baltimore City Schools history teacher in Maryland for 12 years, retiring during 1978 to write full-time, he was a member of the Washington Science Fiction Association and was involved in the founding of the Baltimore Science Fiction Society. He was raised in Baltimore, Maryland; some of his books said that he was born in Norfolk, Virginia although he claimed, a mistake. Chalker earned a BA degree in English from Towson University in Towson, where he was a theater critic for the school newspaper, The Towerlight. During 2003, Towson University named Chalker their Liberal Arts Alumnus of the Year, he received a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Chalker intended to become a lawyer, he taught history and geography in the Baltimore City Public Schools from 1966 to 1978, most notably at Baltimore City College and the now defunct Southwest Senior High School. Chalker lectured on science fiction and technology at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.
C. the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda and numerous universities. Chalker was married in 1978 and had two children, David, a game designer, Steven, a computer security consultant. Chalker's hobbies included esoteric audio and working on science-fiction convention committees, he had a great interest in ferryboats. Chalker joined the Washington Science Fiction Association during 1958, during 1963 he and two friends founded the Baltimore Science Fiction Society. Chalker attended every World Science Fiction Convention, except one, from 1965 until 2004, he published an amateur SF journal, from 1960 to 1971, producing ten issues. Another journal, was published 1968–1987 in association with the Fantasy Amateur Press Association. Chalker initiated a publishing house, Mirage Press, Ltd. for releasing nonfiction and bibliographic works concerning science fiction and fantasy. Chalker's awards included the Daedalus Award, The Gold Medal of the West Coast Review of Books, Skylark Award, the Hamilton-Brackett Memorial Award.
He was a nominee for the John W. Campbell Award twice and for the Hugo Award twice. Chalker was posthumously awarded the Phoenix Award by the Southern Fandom Confederation on April 9, 2005. Chalker was a three-term treasurer of the Science Fantasy Writers of America. Chalker was the co-author of The Science Fantasy Publishers, published by Mirage Press, Ltd, a bibliographic guide to genre small press publishers, a Hugo Award nominee during 1992; the Maryland Young Writers Contest, sponsored by the Baltimore Science Fiction Society, was renamed "'The Jack L. Chalker Young Writers Contest" effective April 8, 2006. Chalker is best known for his Well World series of novels, but he wrote many other novels, at least nine short stories. Many of Chalker's works involve some physical transformation of the main characters. For instance, in the Well World novels, immigrants to the Well World are transformed from their original form to become a member of one of the 1,560 sentient species that inhabit that artificial planet.
Another example would be that the Wonderland Gambit series resembles traditional Buddhist jataka-type reincarnation stories set in a science fiction environment. Steven Chalker announced that Wonderland Gambit might be made into a movie, but its close resemblance to The Matrix resulted in the project being canceled. At the time of his death, Chalker left Chameleon, he was planning to write another novel, after Chameleon. On September 18, 2003, during Hurricane Isabel, Chalker passed out and was rushed to the hospital with a diagnosis of a coronary occlusion, he was released, but was weakened. On December 6, 2004, he was again rushed to hospital with breathing problems and disorientation, was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and a pneumothorax. Chalker was hospitalized in critical condition upgraded to stable condition on December 9, though he did not regain consciousness until December 15. After several more weeks in deteriorating condition and in a persistent vegetative state, with several transfers to different hospitals, Chalker died on February 11, 2005, of kidney failure and sepsis at Bon Secours Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.
Some of Chalker's remains are interred in the family plot at Loudon Park Cemetery in Baltimore. The remainder were distributed off a ferry near Hong Kong, the ferry between Hainan Island and the Chinese mainland, a ferry in Vietnam, White's Ferry on the Potomac River in Virginia on Father's Day 2007, on author H. P. Lovecraft's grave in Providence, Rhode Island on December 17, 2005. Midnight at the Well of Souls, Del Rey, 1977 Exiles at the Well of Souls, Del Rey, 1978 Quest for the Well of Souls, Del Rey, 1978 The Return of Nathan Brazil, Del Rey, 1980 Twilight at the Well of Souls, Del Rey, 1980 The Sea is Full of Stars, December, 1999 Ghost of the Well of Souls, 2000 Echoes of the Well of Souls, Del Rey, trade paperback, May
Brothers Hildebrandt
Greg and Tim Hildebrandt, known as the Brothers Hildebrandt, are American twin brothers who worked collaboratively as fantasy and science fiction artists for many years. They produced illustrations for comic books, movie posters, children's books, novels, calendars and trading cards. Tim Hildebrandt died on June 11, 2006. Born in Detroit, Michigan and Tim Hildebrandt began painting professionally in 1959 as the Brothers Hildebrandt; the brothers both held an ambition to work as animators for Walt Disney, although they never realized this dream, their work was influenced by illustration style of Disney feature films such as Snow White and Fantasia. They were influenced by the artwork in comic books and science fiction books, notably the work of Norman Rockwell and Maxfield Parrish; the brothers are best known for their popular The Lord of the Rings calendar illustrations, illustrating comics for Marvel Comics and DC Comics, original oil paintings for a limited edition of Terry Brooks's The Sword of Shannara, their Magic: The Gathering and Harry Potter illustrations for Wizards of the Coast.
In 1977 the brothers were approached by 20th Century Fox to produce poster art for the British release of a space fantasy film, Star Wars. A promotional poster had been produced in US by the artist Tom Jung, but Fox executives considered this poster "too dark"; the Brothers Hildebrandt had established a reputation working on the Lord of the Rings calendar and a concept poster for Young Frankenstein, Fox commissioned them to rework the image. The twins had to work to a tight deadline, worked together in shifts to produce a finished product in 36 hours, their version of the poster, referred to as Style ‘B’, was distributed to be used on British cinema billboards for the UK release, became their best known work. Using the same layout as Jung's Style ‘A’ poster, it depicts the character of Luke Skywalker standing in a heroic pose brandishing a shining lightsaber above his head, with Princess Leia standing below him, a large, ghostly image of Darth Vader's helmet looming behind them; the central figures are surrounded by smaller depictions of other characters and a montage of starfighters in combat amid a sea of stars.
Both Jung and the Hildebrandts had worked on their posters without reference to photographs of the actual cast, Fox and Lucasfilm decided that they wanted to promote the new film with a less stylised and more realistic depiction of the lead characters. Producer Gary Kurtz commissioned the film poster artist Tom Chantrell to paint a new version from film stills and publicity photos. Star Wars opened in British theatres on 28 November 1977, the Hildebrandts' poster was displayed in UK cinemas for about two months before it was replaced by Chantrell's Style ‘C’ poster. Despite their strong associations with the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, the brothers were not given a role in the production of Ralph Bakshi's animated version of The Lord of the Rings, a source of disappointment for them. In 1981, the Hildebrandts had another film poster commission, for the Greek mythological heroic fantasy film Clash of the Titans. Together, the brothers developed a concept for a fantasy movie Urshurak; the lack of success with Urshurak may have contributed to their decision to work independently of each other, in 1981 the brothers began to pursue separate careers.
Greg painted cover artwork for the magazines Omni and Heavy Metal, illustrated a number of books including Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Robin Hood and The Phantom of the Opera. Tim created cover art for books such as The Time of the Transference, The Byworlder, as well as for Amazing Stories magazine, along with illustrated calendars based on fantasy themes such as Dungeons & Dragons. After 12 years the Brothers reunited to collaborate on work for Marvel Comics, Stan Lee, numerous book projects. Greg Hildebrandt, Jr. made major contributions to the production of a book entitled Greg & Tim Hildebrandt: The Tolkien Years, which gave an overview of the Tolkien genre artworks produced by Greg and Tim in the 1970s. Individually, Greg is known for his contributions to the art for the Trans-Siberian Orchestra's albums and concert merchandise, he provided the cover art for Black Sabbath's Mob Rules album. He started his American Beauties pinup art in 1999. In 2019, it was announced that Greg would provide cover art for a new series of Star Trek comics, Star Trek: Year Five, from IDW Publishing.
This was the first time. Tim Hildebrandt illustrated children's books, two Dungeons & Dragons calendars, the poster for the film The Secret of NIMH. Tim was Associate Producer of the horror-themed science fiction film, The Deadly Spawn. Tim Hildebrandt died on June 2006 at the age of 67 due to complications of diabetes. Tim won the 1992 World Fantasy Award for Best Artist. In 2010 Greg Hildebrandt received the Chesley Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement from the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists. Together, the brothers were awarded the Gold Medal by the Society of Illustrators. List of Star Wars artists Category:Star Wars posters Other sources Lambiek Comiclopedia profiles Spider Web Art Gallery Brothers Hildebrandt at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database – with links to Greg and Tim Greg Hildebrandt at Library of Congress Authorities, with 55 catalog records Work
