Meanwhile, in Rivendell . . .

HELLO HI I'M VERY CONFLICTED.  Top ten lists are often difficult for me, but it feels especially wrong, this time, to exclude some of the characters I've excluded.  In an attempt to assuage my conscience, I've included a pool of honorable mentions at the end of the post, but still. In the end, I've had to console myself with the thought that these are just my ten favorites at this specific moment in time.  They may shift over time, and their rankings certainly do.  So, before you come for me for ranking one character ahead of another, just know that I'm probably even more upset and confused about it than you are.  I'm 100% confident of the #1 spot.  That's . . . that's about the only one, though. I've absolutely no more time to dither over this list, however, as today's the last day of the 2023 party, and if I don't get this post published this year, I shall be Quite Put Out. Forth, Eorlingas! ⸻ #10.  Eomer I've run out of time to wax loq

Well, I did it.  I watched the cartoon versions of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings made in the late 70's/early 80's, and . . . I have Questions™.  And Comments™.  So, I figure the simplest way of doing this post is to just share those questions/comments in bullet journal format. Before I do that, however, let's have some backstory for the uninitiated: As near as I can tell it after meticulously combing the very best of sources  for information, it all went down like this.  In 1977, Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass released an animated adaptation of The Hobbit .  The next year, Ralph Bakshi and United Artists came out with The Lord of the Rings , which was based on  The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers but not The Return of the King .  [Bakshi took over the project from John Boorman, who had originally intended to produce a single-film live-action version of the entire story, apparently with Tolkien's own approval.  United Artists scrapped the project due

I am once again asking for your  financial support  enthusiasm in celebrating Rachel's annual  Tolkien Blog Party , which began yesterday and which always brightens my September considerably.  This year, I have a couple of additional posts drafted for the party and am very much hoping to get them polished and published before the festivities conclude on Saturday. For now, here are my answers to this year's tag questions, accompanied by our beloved aesthetics, courtesy of an insanely talented Tumblr creator !  (There's one "outsider" among all of these, actually, and I don't know for sure who made that one, but I'm running out of the original series, so we're making do.) ⸻ Which of each pair do you prefer, and why? 1. Rohan or Gondor? Hmm.  Starting out with a tricky one, for me.  Neither are among my favorite Middle-earth locations, so it's hard to say.  But I suppose it'd be Rohan, because it's more rural as a first impression (as opposed