We'll be hosting a virtual watch party of Tolkien (2019) on Saturday, July 19, at 4pm eastern time. Join us for a chat! discord.com/events/61456...

A handful of us gathered for a casual coffee date this morning. We're talking once again - and more seriously this time! - about starting up a TTRPG. Probably one-shots to begin with.

It's remarkable to come out of the Somme, after losing your best friends to a world-shattering war, and write a theodicy like the Music of the Ainur. The creation of the world, the Fall of Gondolin, and the transmission-narrative of the Cottage of Lost Play, all in 1917. One hell of an opening trio.

A nice reflection on The Quest for Erebor, one of my favorite parts of Unfinished Tales, from @miriamellis.bsky.social www.miriamellis.com/post/the-dee...

Well, my book Illustrating The Lord of the Rings in the Soviet Bloc has gone to print! Stay tuned for the story of the artists that brought Tolkien to life for the people of Central and Eastern Europe. Release date 18 September 2025, published by Bloomsbury Academic Art: Alexander Korotich (c.1985)

"Tolkien and Alterity", edited by Christopher Vaccaro and Yvette Kisor, is an anthology that explore Otherness in Tolkien's works. I love "Revisiting Lobelia", "Cruising Faery: Queer Desire in Giles, Niggle, and Smith", and "The Orcs and the Others." #TolkienTrewsday #TolkienTuesday #Booksky

ANYWAY here’s @realtomemanuel.bsky.social incredible article: dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol...

Join us in discussing this very exciting seminar! We'll be chatting via Discord throughout.

Did you get to hear Janet Brennan Croft’s beautiful Keynote at #Westmoot25, “‘What Ship Will Bear Me Ever Back’: Woundedness and the Western Sea”? If not, never fear! You can read it online: scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftol... Thank you, @banzailibrarian.bsky.social! #westmoot #intothewest

Now available for pre-order: Queer Approaches to Tolkien. mcfarlandbooks.com/product/quee...

This was a fantastic talk. Highlights for me were the points about Frodo's (dis)ability experience fluctuating along a spectrum & gaining a new axis during his time in Lothlórien/Faërie, & the connection to recovery in On Fairy-Stories (esp the quotes about color). Thanks, @clarelmoore.bsky.social!

On 22 June, 1342 (by Shire-reckoning), Bilbo Baggins returns to Bag End to discover he's been "Presumed Dead". All his personal effects were in the process of being auctioned off by Messrs Grubb, Grubb and Burrowes, with Bilbo having to buy many of them back. #Tolkien #BookSky

This Tuesday, June 24, we are so fortunate to have Clare Moore, @clarelmoore.bsky.social, as a guest speaker for the Carrock Smial! Clare will be presenting new research in her talk titled, “(Dis)Ability in Faërie: Frodo in Lothlórien”. The meeting is on Zoom, and all are welcome to attend! 💜

"It's brought this community together in a powerful way and been one of the (sorry) unsung champions of LOTRO" - MOP's Justin is still in love with Lord of the Rings Online's epic music system all these years later: @officiallotro.bsky.social

NEW BLOG POST! 'The Fantastic Symphony of Middle-earth' Here I think about the sounds of Middle-earth through some music theory, specifically Bernie Krause's biophony! will-sherwood.com/2025/06/18/t...

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “lmao" said Gandalf, “well it has.”

21st read of 2025: Cities and Strongholds of Middle-earth (ed. Cami Agan) Reviewing for a journal so I won't say too much, but it was good to read essays a topic that doesn't get enough play in Tolkien criticism. We all know JRRT loved nature, but he didn't hate all cities—just, you know, bad ones.

Robin Reid was asked to remove all references to whiteness in her paper abstract, and she kept the receipts. robinareid.substack.com/p/response-t...

Did you miss #Tolkien author Thomas P. Hillman’s talk at #westmoot25? You can read his fascinating paper online! Check out “Túrin was dead, to begin with: Death, Fate, and a Happy Ending in 'The Book of Lost Tales'”: scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftol... Thanks @alas-not-me.bsky.social! #westmoot

May I present to you one of my fav Gandalf quotes:

Durin’s house🤲 #fanart #hobbit #thorin #fili #kili

Snapshots from the 2025 Tolkien Lecture! It was a pleasure to welcome @zenaldehyde.bsky.social as our speaker—we hope everyone who joined us enjoyed a fantastic evening ✨ #tolkienlecture #zencho

Father's Day comes to Isengard

Also, if you’re coming to Mythmoot next week I’ll be talking about Tolkien, Roman historians, and how women get the last word in their stories!

You know what this Friday needs? A Lord of the Rings marathon. Extended Editions of course.

just realized that both Saruman and Denethor are the original brainrot victims they scrolled their phones (= Palantír) until they became different people than they originally were

Lots of interesting details in today's Zoom session with @shaungunner.bsky.social of the @tolkiensociety.org - very much looking forward to what the future holds! Particularly around the time of the Silmarillion's 50th anniversary in 2027... 👀

Can you believe #Westmoot25 was a month ago? #Tolkien scholar Anna Smol has posted about #Westmoot on her blog, including the text of her engaging keynote “Into the West: Tolkien's Mythmaking and Dreams of Eärendil.” Thank you for sharing, @annasmol.bsky.social! annasmol.net/2025/05/28/s...

Today is the Feast of Pentecost in the Western Christian liturgical calendar, so I wrote a thing about The Silmarillion, the Tower of Babel, and Pride Month. I think I even managed to fit them all together!

Our June IRL meetup was a success! 10 of us Tolkien folk gathered at a local board game cafe. We had brunch together, then played a couple rounds of Telestrations followed by the Lord of the Rings: Adventure to Mount Doom cooperative game.

highly recommend reading The Scouring of the Shire in times such as these 🌼

This is tomorrow! If you're a Tolkien fan in the Triangle area of NC, here's a chance to come out and socialize 🎲 Please RSVP so I know how many seats to save!

#TolkienTuesday #TolkienTrewsday "Fan Art" So hey! I'm looking for some cool art to use for the cover of an upcoming book on Tolkien and Religion/Spirituality. I'd be especially curious to see some non-Western, non-Christian iconography. Whatcha got for me, Bluesky?

Some excellent works in here! I really enjoyed Mapping Middle-earth and Tolkien’s Transformative Woman. I have yet to read the Poems (that price tag 💀) and Tolkien Race & Racism and Utopianism & the Classics are worth the read

Since we have so many new friends here (hiiiiii 👋🏽), it feels like a good time to remind you of how Bookshop.org works! We’re a ✨better✨ way to buy books online where every purchase financially supports independent bookstores. Awesome, right? Here’s how:

Just posted my latest Substack article on Tolkien as a check to toxic masculinity - specifically as its presented in monsters and in Joe in the Netflix series You open.substack.com/pub/tolkienp...

BREAKING: Sauron and Saruman's former alliance in ruins following Saruman's attempts to find the Ring for himself. The two are currently engaged in a Palantír feud.

Join The Tolkien Society and receive our regular magazine Amon Hen! Amon Hen contains #Tolkien art, news, articles, reviews, quizzes and more. And is delivered every 2 months to your inbox or your front door. We ship worldwide and you can join at www.tolkiensociety.org/join

As they say, some personal news. www.tolkiensociety.org/2025/06/tolk...

If you're near Oxford, I'm giving the talk "Tolkien the Post-Christian? A Proposition" for the monthly Oxford Tolkien Seminar this Friday 6 June at 5pm! Free and open to the public in the Sophia Sheppard Room of Magdalen College. (More details at the link below.) I am, in a word, psyched.

Interesting! www.currentaffairs.org/news/how-the... #Tolkien

“Where now the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing? Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing?” My poster/cover art for The Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers. Again, following the book as closely as possible. ‘Great Tales Never End’

The standalone Beren and Lúthien was first published on this day in 2017! And thus it's fitting that we'll be discussing that chapter of the Silmarillion with the book club tonight at 7pm EDT. Hope to see y'all there. 🐦

The sapling planted in the Citadel courtyard a few days ago is already heavy with blossoms—assuring Aragorn that he will be fruitful and produce a line of kings. ‘The sign has been given, and the day is not far off.’ Expecting his bride, he sets watchmen on the city walls.

The palantíri weren't originally created by an evil being (Fëanor was not evil, just too clever for his own good), but it certainly did become an evil thing when an evil being took hold of one and corrupted them. Which is an even more apt metaphor for the modern tech industry and the Broligarchs.

me: "palantir is fucking evil, man. no private entity should have that much dirt on any single individual" tolkien's ghost: "palantir isn't evil, it's about the heart of who is-" me: "not the seeing eyes/orbs from middle-earth. I mean the megacorp" tolkien: (pipe falls from mouth) "the WHAT"

Yf tech billionaires reallye reade their Tolkien thei wolde understande that it was the obsessive searche by Sauron for selfish immortalitye and individual power above all othir thinges that broughte disaster to Middle Earthe.

Next video short from Uppsala Books now live in which Professor Shippey kindly admires the flowers in Bilbo's dooryard. I am as fond of flowers as a hobbit and have spent a lifetime holding them dear! #Tolkien #TolkienArt: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMD2...