Lord of the Rings

Fifty years ago on September 2, one of the most important authors of the twentieth century passed away. While most today know his amazing works of fantasy and fiction, J.R.R. Tolkien was long recognized in academic circles as a brilliant philologist and scholar of medieval literature. For example, his essay on Beowulf, written in 1936, reshaped scholarship around the poem and remains highly influential today.

It was in the following year that the world was first introduced to Middle Earth. The Hobbit was quickly recognized as a wonderful children’s book. But The Lord of the Rings series that followed initially earned a mixed reception.

The first season of Amazon’s new Lord of the Rings series was popular among fans on social media, with positive tweets outnumbering negative tweets more than 2-to-1, according to a new report.

The head of Amazon Studios says the company was determined to make The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power family-friendly, believing that if children were “old enough” to read the J.R.R. Tolkien books, they should be able to watch the television series, too.

J.R.R. Tolkien is easily the best-known fantasy author of the last 100 years. If you haven’t read The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings or seen the various films based on those stories, you almost certainly know at least one person familiar with them.

You may not know that Tolkien wrote many more fantasy works than just his famous ones. As he built his stories about Middle-earth into full-fledged mythology, he wrote numerous other stories about its history leading up to the fight over the One Ring. As a scholar of languages, Tolkien studied and translated famous medieval texts like Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. He also wrote shorter fairy-tale works for his children, some connected in interesting ways with his more famous works.

With Amazon’s The Rings of Power coming out soon, it’s a good time to look at some of his other work. The following is a list of his great shorter works and some of his more accessible Middle-earth writings. Many of these shorter stories have been published separately, but you can also find them collected in anthologies like The Tolkien Reader or Tales from the Perilous Realm.

Further Reading: Does the Lord of the Rings Have Christian Themes?

Photo Credit: Unplash/Madalyn Cox

The first full-length trailer for Amazon's much-anticipated Lord of the Rings series dropped Friday, revealing scenic landscapes, massive battles, evil monsters and heroic characters as part of a series that is said to be "based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien."

Warner Bros and New Line Cinema will release the next theatrical film in the Lord of the Rings series in 2024 as an original anime feature.

Families who feared Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series would be filled with R-rated content can rest easy. That’s according to co-creator and showrunner Patrick McCay, who told Vanity Fair he wants the show to be enjoyed by fans across the spectrum – including by tweens.

The much-anticipated Lord of the Rings Amazon Prime series will debut on September 2, bringing to life what the studio calls the "second age" of Middle-earth history from J.R.R. Tolkien's novels.

Fans are voicing outrage over speculation that Amazon's new Lord of the Rings series may feature graphic nudity.

This past Thursday marked the 120th anniversary of the birth of C.S. Lewis. It was worth marking.