Goodbye 2017, looking ahead to 2018
In May, Tolkien Society member Michael Flowers led a group around Yorkshire, exploring sites linked with Tolkien whilst he recovered from Trench Fever during World War One. This included an enchanting visit to the Hemlock glade near Roos where Edith danced for J.R.R. Tolkien, a memory that stayed with him and became a pivotal scene in Beren and Luthien. I stayed in Hull for the first time for this trip, during Hull's year as Capital of Culture.
I returned to Hull in October because Hull University were hosting a Tolkien Centenary Day in the Brooklands Military Hospital (now the Dennison Centre) where Tolkien stayed for a short while. Talks by Michael Flowers, Tom Shippey and others examined the theme of Tolkien and the Great War.
In September, during Heritage Open Days event, I returned to Birmingham for the annual Middle-earth Festival held at Sarehole Mill. I got the opportunity to visit the Birmingham Oratory, a building of great importance to Tolkien in his youth, as well as seeing the "reputed" Two Towers (the Victorian waterworks tower and Perrott's Folly) in Edgbaston whilst following the Birmingham Tolkien Trail.
The Tolkien Society held their annual Seminar on 2 July in Leeds, looking at the theme of "Poetry and Song" in Tolkien's works. Always a fascinating event!
The Elders kinship reached the grand milestone of ten years in 2017 as did LOTRO itself. There were festivities and special events held. We also had the annual Kinmeet, this time being held in London, focusing on the Greenwich area but also having trips out into central London.
Steady releases from Standing Stones Games, Cubicle 7 and Fantasy Flight Games meant that gaming in Middle-earth is as exciting as ever and this side of the Tolkien fandom is going from strength to strength.
Oh! And I hope to track down the elusive 80th Anniversary Finnish edition of the Hobbit published by WSOY with artwork by Tove Jansson (shown here). There were two special events about Tove Jansson in 2017: the Lakes International Comic Art Festival in Kendal and a retrospective exhibition at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London. The Kendal event was fantastic, with exhibitions (Tales from the Nordic Archipelago / Archipelagogo with felt Moomin-inspired creations), a wonderful talk with Jove's niece Sophia Jansson and biographer Tuula Karjalainen (More than the Moomins: The Life and Work of Tove Jansson) and a Finnish village!
2017 was a fun year as a Tolkien fan and as the year draws to a close more exciting news was released about what to expect in 2018. Below are a few highlights.
Amazon and the Tolkien Estate released information on 13 November 2017 about a new television series based on the work of J.R.R. Tolkien, a very unexpected collaboration and turn of events. This isn't going to be a rehash of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, but stories previously unseen on our screens, as seen below in their press release:
“We are delighted that Amazon, with its longstanding commitment to literature, is the home of the first-ever multi-season television series for The Lord of the Rings,” said Matt Galsor, a representative for the Tolkien Estate and Trust and HarperCollins. “Sharon and the team at Amazon Studios have exceptional ideas to bring to the screen previously unexplored stories based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s original writings.”
Set in Middle Earth, the television adaptation will explore new storylines preceding J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring. The deal includes a potential additional spin-off series.
Amazon's full press release can be found here. I have high hopes for this series, especially with the Tolkien Estate's involvement. It was this factor that led many fans to wonder what had changed behind the scenes at the Tolkien Estate, since previously the Estate had publicly expressed their unhappiness with adaptions of Tolkien's work. It didn't take long after the initial announcement to get the answer to this riddle.
It was to much sadness that the Tolkien Estate announced Christopher Tolkien's retirement as director of the Tolkien Estate though he remains literary executor. The announcement appeared across the various media and newspaper outlets (including the Tolkien Society here) on 15 November 2017, two days after the Amazon announcement, but surprisingly the retirement actually happened back on 31 August 2017. We can only guess that behind the scenes the Amazon deal was quietly being worked out.
It goes without saying, Christopher Tolkien has made an immense contribution over the years in making his father's work available to the world and he is a worthy guardian of his father's legacy. In Beren and Luthien there was a little comment in the foreword that hinted this might be Christopher's final book, and though there is much sadness in that thought, I am hopeful for the future of Tolkien fandom.
The Bodleian Library, Oxford, will host the first major Tolkien exhibition in quite some time and the release information is extremely exciting. "Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth" will run 1 June to 28 October in the Weston Library and will feature unseen work and cover the whole career and works of J.R.R. Tolkien. The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue book which I am sure many fans will want to get their hands on. The Bodleian press release is located here. In the run up to Christmas and this upcoming exhibition, the Bodleian also examined Tolkien's Christmas letters to his children here.
Standing Stones Games' Executive Producer for LOTRO, Rob Ciccolini (aka Severlin), released his annual letter, looking back over the previous year and looking forward towards 2018. 2017 was the 10th Anniversary of LOTRO and special events took place during the year. With Turbine now in the past, SSG led LOTRO into Mordor this year and we saw the completion of the Fellowship's task, given to our heroes at the Council of Elrond. Rob's letter gives us an idea of what is to follow and there is so much to look forward to: the Northern Mirkwood and Wilderland region (Update 22), the Abyss of Mordath raid, new additions to the player music system, and much, much more. You can read the full letter here.
It often feels like the gaming companies are in some form of synchronised themed tandem with their releases and 2018 will be no different. Fantasy Flight Games' first 2018 Deluxe expansion for the Lord of the Rings Living Card Game will explore the Northern Mirkwood and Wilderland region with the "Wilds of Rhovanion" box. Much like LOTRO, people have been worried about the future of the LOTR LCG line future, but FFG are keen to point out the line is here to stay! The other big announcement by FFG was the news they will expand the LOTR LCG into the digital arena produced by the newly-formed Fantasy Flight Interactive. Announcement information can be found here and here.
Cubicle 7 has been slowly but surely releasing products for their fantastic The One Ring roleplaying game and the Adventures in Middle-earth (D&D 5e ruleset adaption) roleplaying game. The biggest news for C7 in 2018 so far is the upcoming release of a Moria deluxe boxed set, with rules for both systems inside. Information about the set is sparse for now, but you can see C7's product announcement here.
We are still waiting on the release of the Hunt for the Ring expansion to the War of the Rings line by Ares Games, but keep your eyes peeled to their website for updates for now!
Upcoming events for the Tolkien Society include the annual Tolkien Toast on 3 January 2018 and the Tolkien Seminar on Sunday 1 July 2018 with the theme of "Tolkien the Pagan? Reading Middle-earth through a Spiritual lens."
In LOTRO I aim to run the annual Tolkien Toast (3 January 2018) on the Laurelin server. More details to follow very soon!
So with all that said... goodbye 2017, you gave me so many fond memories! Hello 2018!
-Tim (aka Ranatuor)
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