Here is a recording of our annual Tolkien conference that took place on 27 March 2026, presenting the following lectures: Marek Jastrzębski: Symbolic Portals of Middle-earth: Two Complementary Movements of Living Tolkien’s Myth (Transmedia and Tourism) Racha Yamouna Frioukh: Mythopoesis and Cultural Memory: A Comparative Exploration of Tolkien's Middle-earth and Amazigh Oral Tradition Alexandra Filonenko: “…the fair elusive beauty that some call Celtic”: The Sovereignty God

For the fourth time already, I have organised #TolkienReadingDay in Panta Rhei in Nitra, this time on the topic "Magical Middle-EARTH". The emphasis is on earth as we were reading excerpts from The Lord of the Rings that show the magic of the earth, understood as nature, itself. We visited the major forests of Middle-earth: Old Forest, Lothlórien, Fangorn; and ended up with scenes from Mordor, showing how nature always wins even over its desolation. In the end, we had a quiz

Kaitlyn Facista, Into the Heart of Middle-earth — A Companion to J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings: A Spiritual Journey for the Hobbit at Heart , 2026, Ave Maria Press, ISBN 9781646803651, 192 pp. As a fan, I have known Kaitlyn’s project Tea with Tolkien almost since its very beginning, when it was yet a business selling Tolkien inspired tote bags and clothing apparel she used to hand print on (I even got a custom gold-on-red sweathshirt ordered from her, that I wea

Between 22 and 25 January 2026 I attended the Prague Tolkiencon, presenting there my book Cardinal Vices in Middle-earth . The following pictures were taken by Metaflora from the Hungarian society, all the rest were taken by me. As is the case with such conferences, there were many interesting events awaiting the visitors. You can see the program here . On Friday, I attended the program in the gym room - the opening of the con and concerts of bands Poetické hudební společenst

Here are a couple of my students’ final theses focused on various aspects of Tolkien’s works. To read the pieces, open the link and click on "Stiahnuť prácu (pdf)" at the bottom. Lenka Prágerová’s " Mythological inspiration of Tolkien’s demonic creatures " https://opac.crzp.sk/?fn=detailBiblioFormChildW1LQBT&sid=1CA5CDFA2DE8D61E33A8E4494D97&seo=CRZP-detail-kniha and " Representations of hell in Tolkien's world " h ttps://opac.crzp.sk/?fn=detailBiblioFormChildI1LMFS&sid=F33BE

Another interesting and worthwhile article in Hither Shore no. 20 is Gianluca Meluzzi’s "The Heraldic devices of The Silmarillion ", particularly its appendix in which he describes the emblem of Mordor Special Mission Flying Corps. To tell the truth, I had not know about its existence until I read this article, and I bet many Tolkien fans don’t know about it. For those, here’s some more info on it: https://anthropologyarda.tumblr.com/post/165492758017/ttrtru-anthropologyarda-

In 2023, I participated at the Tolkien Seminar organised by the German Tolkien Society, on the topic of "The Visualisation fo Tolkien’s Work". One of the co-presenteres there was Christian S. Trenk, who presented a piece called: "Éowyn, the Male Gaze, and Its Place within the Text". This, along with other conference proceedings, was published in the Hither Shore journal, no. 20, in 2024. And it was only reading it here that I noticed several points in Christian’s paper that m

Recently I read a collection of essays The Hobbit and Tolkien’s Mythology , edited by Bradford Lee Eden. Overall, it is a collection that provides interesting insights into the understanding of various elements of Tolkien’s first novel, its revisions and adaptations. But one essay particularly spoke to me: Gregory Hartley’s "Civilised Goblins and Talking Animals", which muses about the theological justification and clarification of the origins and fates or several of Tolkien’

The Oxonmoot also has a room for artists to show and sell their work, another one for buying books, and one where you can create your own art. This is how it looks: Selling all the copies of my book I had with me, naturally I spent all the money on buying some other books. Here is my haul: And I painted this thing, featuring Bilbo hiding from Lobelia. In the little free time I had, I stopped by the Weston Library and their shop, which also offers a wide selection of Tolkien-t

Friday and Saturday were full of interesting lectures... ...including my own book presentation on Saturday morning... Besides academic talks, there were also many opportunities for socialisation and meeting new people, such as the first timers reception and speed-moot. The entertainment strain of Oxonmoot consisted of a 1 Minute game, in which 4 leading figures of Tolkien scholarship and artistry - Dimitra Fimi, Sarah Brown, Brian Sibley, and Jay Johnstone - had to speak for

With the book out, I got an opportunity to present it at Oxonmoot 2025, which was held at St Anne’s College in Oxford. This was my first attendance at Oxonmoot ever, and it was a wonderful and kind of overwhelming (but in a positive sense) experience. For practical purposes, I was accommodated on site of the event. After all, who wouldn’t want to experience living at a Oxford college dormitory? Here are pictures from the college, its dining hall, local cats, and my room. The

I haven’t been active on the site for quite some time. But now I can finally show what I’ve been working on finishing in that time: After 9 years since I started my research into the topic, my book on Tolkien’s depiction of virtues and vices in Middle-earth is finally out! Here is the abstract: This book analyses Tolkien’s approach to the depiction of vices and virtues in three Middle-earth works, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion. While providing a gene

Interview with the editor of the book duology Theology and Tolkien (2023-2024). https://vimeo.com/1047524413 The books are available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Theology-Tolkien-Questions-Rhetoric-Testament/dp/1978712669 https://www.amazon.com/Theology-Tolkien-Constructive-Douglas-Estes/dp/1978712634 #jrrtolkien #middleearth #tolkienscholars #theology #theologyandtolkien #douglasestes

I haven’t been much active on this page lately as I was busy with work and life. But as a reward for all the work, I gifted myself for my...

According to Tolkien Gateway, Iúmonna Gold Galdre Bewunden is a poem by J.R.R. Tolkien. The Old English title of the poem is taken from a...

#jrrtolkien #middleearth #oliphaunt

You can read Ruth Nichols’ Fantasy and Escapism here. And Pavic Sanja’s thesis Fantasy literature and Christianity here. #jrrtolkien...

Reading Beowulf, I've come across another name that Tolkien adopted into his lore. Apparently, Pellenore was a variation of the name...

From commentary on Tolkien's translation of Beowulf #jrrtolkien #middleearth #grima #grimawormtongue

The hobbits' travel from the book "The journeys of Frodo" by Barbara Strachey. #jrrtolkien #middleearth #middleearthmap