Abby Epplett, Historian

Humans become bewildered when given too much ambiguous information in an illogical order. Unfortunately, this is how the text of The Lord of the Rings operates. Between its myriad of perspectives, thousands of years of in-universe history, multiple languages and cultures, and an entire planet of locations, the material seems muddled even to experienced readers. The overwhelming effect of Tolkien’s Legendarium is part of the experience; the reader does not have to know the entire story to feel immersed in the fantasy world but studying both the constructs of Middle-earth and the real-world history upon which it was based enables the reader to understand the complex motivations of the characters. While I am all for embarking on in-depth research, most readers do not have the time or energy for such study. Additionally, trying to remember all this material takes up a lot of headspace. In user experience research, the amount of stress while using available headspace is known as “c...

I have almost arrived at the dialogue portion of the books, but before I launch into the story, I will review the epigraph. The infamous poem, which begins with the line “Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky”, technically appears opposite the copyright page for each physical book in a three book set of The Lord of the Rings , after the Introduction by Peter S. Beagle but before the Forward by J.R.R. Tolkien . I don’t know why the book was set this way, as I would have placed the epigraph after the Prologue, but since the edition of the book I use was released the same year my parents were born, I was not around to set the publisher straight.

I recently decided that the hypothetical animated musical needed a logo and one appearing completely different from the other logos found across the vast franchise of The Lord of the Rings . Book covers have varied greatly over the past seventy years, but the most iconic logos tended to be the same gold color as the ring and use fantastical or distressed serif fonts. As one not wanting to do what has been done before, I conducted a thorough review of past logos so as not to repeat anyone else’s work.

In past essays, I have given a lot of thought to Elanor Gardner Fairbairn, a minor character of great importance who would become a major character in the hypothetical musical. She first appeared during “Overview of Appendix A” with the mention of her birthdate, 25 March Third Age (T.A.) 3021 / Fourth Age (F.A.) 1 / Shire Reckoning (S.R.) 1421, which served not only as a symbol of rebirth after the worldwide War of the Ring but also as a demonstration on how tricky the calendars of Middle-earth can be . Her husband, Fastred of Greenholm, received a mention in “Appendix A, II The Kings of the Mark” , and a full explanation of her work as an editor of The Red Book of Westmarch was given in “Framing Device” just two weeks ago. Rather than reviewing her life and occupation as I have done previously, I now turn to physical appearance, especially personal clothing style.

In this week’s essay, my loves of historic house tours and The Lord of the Rings combine for the first time as I present my map of Bag End, also spelled Bag-End by the older generations of Hobbits. Since Tolkien was a philologist, it is fitting to take a brief break to explain the naming scheme around the property, along with the clan name of the family who built it. Tolkien studies expert Tom Shippey noted in The Road to Middle-earth that “bag-end” is a literal translation of “cul-de-sac”, which was further elaborated upon by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull in Reader’s Companion . The current meaning of a road terminating at a house or collection of houses dates from 1819.

In my first essay after my winter holiday hiatus, I begin a new chapter to Lord of the Rings: The Animated Musical where I describe the process of research and producing a hypothetical adaptation of the bestselling book series by British linguist J.R.R. Tolkien. At last, I will begin presenting selections of dialogue and music to accommodate the concept art that I began creating in 2024. Composers commonly make demo recordings of their work using themselves or their friends as the performing artists, from “I’m in the Middle of a Muddle” for the 1950 Disney animation Cinderella sung by middle-aged male songwriters Mack David , Al Hoffman , and Jerry Livingston instead of a peppy young woman like the title character, or an early version of “How Far I’ll Go” for the 2016 Disney animation Moana sung by Broadway star Phillipa Soo , a close friend of its songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda , since her voice perfectly matched the protagonist. But before I reveal my own demo reel, I ne...

This week is my third and final installment about Valar, the archangels or major gods of Tolkien’s Legendarium, along with my last blog post before my winter break. In the first post of this mini-series, I covered five of the most powerful Valar, also known as Aratar: Manwë, Varda, Ulmo, Yavanna, and Aulë. In the second post, I reviewed the three final Aratar and their spouses: Mandos, Vairë, Nienna, Oromë, and Vána. This week has no Aratar, but that does not make these Valar any less fun. This quintet represents dreams, health, wrestling, dancing, and chaos. Just as during the last two installments, each of these characteristics appeared in pagan pantheons of the Western world along with religions across the globe and even modern pop culture.

This is my second week talking about Valar, the archangels or major gods of the Legendarium. In this post, I will cover the final three Aratar or most powerful Valar along with their spouses: Mandos, Vairë, Nienna, Oromë, and Vána. This quintet of Valar is less happy than the set from last week. While the previous five represented kings, queens, the sea, nature, and smithing, this new group personified death, fate, grief, hunting, and more nature. Each of these characteristics were found across Western pantheons in the years before the Christianization of Europe, and many occur in religions outside the West. The popularity of these somber deities showed how people from any walk of life must face its grim realities: everyone will eventually die. Mandos As the Vala who kept the Houses of the Dead, Mandos or Namo was Aratar #6. His “family” was larger than most Valar, since he had a younger sister Nienna and a younger brother Lorien. The brothers even had a special na...

I previously created illustrations for some Maiar, who act as a combination of angels and minor gods in the Legendarium. This week and for the next two weeks, I will talk about Valar, similar to archangels and major gods. This is a slight deviation from what I originally mentioned at the end of “Appendix F, II On Translation” but between the essays getting a bit too long of late, the end-of-year holiday season in full swing, and having an actual job plus side business, I thought a more relaxed pace would be a decent course of action. While only a few members of this race were mentioned in The Lord of the Rings , much information on Valar comes from “Valaquenta” in The Silmarillion . Some groups of Valar considered themselves siblings, perhaps because they were made by Ilúvatar at the same time or with a similar appearance. Spouses apparently did not consider themselves siblings, unlike Greco-Roman gods who had no issue with incest. The top eight Valar were called the Arata...