From pointy ears to Grima's tears: Tolkien Investigations

From pointy ears to Grima's tears

investigations of a Tolkien enthusiast

This page is devoted to an old hobby of mine: Tolkien. I am one of those fans who has read Lord of the Rings and usually The Hobbit annually, for the last twenty-five years or so. In the last decade I've added Silmarillion to the tradition. My recent, belated discovery of many of Tolkien's other postumously-published writings (thanks, Mom) and the recent films have inspired me to delve still deeper into Tolkien's world. My interests lie in three areas: the history and stories of Middle Earth, the Jackson films, and the languages which Tolkien invented using all his knowledge as a linguistic scholar.

Various & Sundry Investigations. Some more sundry than others.

Note: Several of these pages have been moved to Squidoo, the pages which have ads on them. These pages earn a few pennies for support and upkeep of my favorite online community, The Lord of the Rings Plaza.

Aragorn: Heir to the Throne of Gondor...or Not? The complexities around Aragorn's claim, and why Denethor disputed it.
Estel: Aragorn's Secret Name: An essay on Hope in The Lord of the Rings.
How old are these people? Can't remember a character's age? This is most of 'em.
Healing in Middle-earth: an exhaustive study of healing magic and techniques used by the various characters and races of Middle-earth.
Healing Arts of the Elves: an in-character examination of Elven healing, written as if by a visitor to Imladris.
The Role of Arwen Undomiel: Kingmaker. She had very different roles in the movies versus the book. Learn more about her!
Gandalf's knowledge How much of the future (or present) could he see?
A Character Study of Éomer Éadig and his impact on Rohan and Gondor
Legolas of Mirkwood: Prince Among Equals, piecing together his unusual upbringing and family history from Tolkien's lesser-known writings. This is not the Legolas that most fans know!
Did Tolkien's Elves Have Pointed Ears? The complete scoop.
Men in Lórien: Who Escapes Her Nets? A little-known detail of LOTR.
Brian Sibley's BBC Dramatization of LOTR: Better than the films?
Push Him, Elrond! Why didn't Elrond simply cast Isildur into the fire?
What happened to Erkenbrand in TTT? (or, Elves at Helm's Deep?!!)
Hail, Théoden, King! (or not) A humorous critique of a wee little story arc problem in TTT
The Boy with the Bow, an ever-evolving and startlingly popular homage to the stunt archery in the films.
What Happened to Gallant Captain Faramir? Reconciling the movie and book versions of Faramir.
An Immortal in a Mortal World Jackson puts Legolas through the ringer in a way Tolkien never did.
Gríma's Tear: what are we to make of it?
How to Use a Dictionary to Translate Between Languages: the most important thing every budding Elvish scholar MUST know
Elvish poetry, the products of a novice in Sindarin who's still learning the ropes. Translations included.

I Raid I Firn: The Paths of the Dead (stand-alone excerpt from Not Lightly Do the Leaves of Lórien Fall).
The Khazad-dum Tinies. A little Tolkien humor.

Links to indispensible Tolkien sites

Michael Martinez's fabulous Tolkien articles
Ardalambion: best resource for Elvish languages

Copyright and trademarks for The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion,, The Hobbit, and other collections of Tolkien’s writings belong to The Saul Zaentz Company d/b/a Tolkien Enterprises. Peter Jackson's film adaptations of LOTR are © New Line Productions, Inc.

This site hosted on the wonderful...

They just work.
Shameless plug: please consider supporting my site by visiting my shop: