TheOneRing.net
Encyclopedia
TheOneRing.net is a fan site
dedicated to the works of J. R. R. Tolkien
.
The site was founded in 1999 by a group of Tolkien fans eager for the upcoming Lord of the Rings
film trilogy who were gathering information about the film. It has developed into an active world-wide community with a unique two-way relationship with the films' directors, producers, cast and crew. As of January 2010, TORn has over 4,200 registered users.
set. This activity first got her escorted off the set, and then invited back on to take an official look around and meet director Peter Jackson
. A designer/coder by the username of Calisuri came across the site and asked if they needed some technical help to grow the site and make it a central web location for other fans. Another technical expert usernamed Corvar also helped.
movies, and now The Hobbit. This relationship enables the site to bring its readers exclusive news from the set.
For example, it was TheOneRing.net that Peter Jackson
emailed in an effort to get his side heard when a lawsuit threatened his chance to film The Hobbit
.
On April 19, 2008 a mysterious riddle was posted on the message boards by a new user named "Guillermo". It was soon revealed that this was Guillermo del Toro
, director of the two upcoming Hobbit films. He continues to post on the message boards as time and interest allow him.
, and more.
The foreword by Tom Shippey
, well-known Tolkien scholar and author of The Road to Middle-earth and J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century, says: "The Internet, the experience of continually answering questions and receiving comments ... give the organizers of TheOneRing.net a perspective which is uniquely broad, and uniquely full of surprises, some of which would have pleased Tolkien very much, but which he could not have expected."
It was followed by More People's Guide to J.R.R. Tolkien in 2004.
at the Hollywood, CA
, American Legion
on February 28, 2004. The event was attended by Peter Jackson
, Fran Walsh
, Elijah Wood
and many more of the cast and crew of The Lord of the Rings, several of whom skipped the official New Line party that evening.
, hometown of Peter Jackson. The number eleven represented the nine members of the Fellowship of the Ring, plus one each for Peter Jackson and J. R. R. Tolkien. Coincidentally, eleven was also the number of 2004 Oscars won by The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
. Hundreds of TORn members contributed funds for the purchase of the trees as a tangible and lasting way to give thanks to Jackson and his team for their inspiring work.
to present The One Ring Celebration (ORC) in 2005, 2006, and 2007. Its sister convention, Eastern LOTR Fan Gathering (ELF), met in the eastern U.S. in 2005 and 2006. These conventions included panels and signings by members of the cast such as Elijah Wood
, Sean Astin
, Dominic Monaghan
, Billy Boyd, and John Rhys-Davies
.
Fansite
A fansite, fan site, or fanpage is a website created and maintained by a fan or devotee interested in a celebrity, thing, or a particular cultural phenomenon...
dedicated to the works of J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
.
The site was founded in 1999 by a group of Tolkien fans eager for the upcoming Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings film trilogy
The Lord of the Rings is an epic film trilogy consisting of three fantasy adventure films based on the three-volume book of the same name by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. The films are The Fellowship of the Ring , The Two Towers and The Return of the King .The films were directed by Peter...
film trilogy who were gathering information about the film. It has developed into an active world-wide community with a unique two-way relationship with the films' directors, producers, cast and crew. As of January 2010, TORn has over 4,200 registered users.
History
Founders Michael Regina and Erica 'Tehanu' Challis first published the site in 1999 using all of the information they could get, including exclusive "spy" reports from Tehanu's visit to the New ZealandNew Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
set. This activity first got her escorted off the set, and then invited back on to take an official look around and meet director Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM is a New Zealand film director, producer, actor, and screenwriter, known for his The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , adapted from the novel by J. R. R...
. A designer/coder by the username of Calisuri came across the site and asked if they needed some technical help to grow the site and make it a central web location for other fans. Another technical expert usernamed Corvar also helped.
Relationship with the filmmakers
The site is unique in that there is a mutual working relationship between the crew of TheOneRing.net and that of the Lord of the RingsThe Lord of the Rings film trilogy
The Lord of the Rings is an epic film trilogy consisting of three fantasy adventure films based on the three-volume book of the same name by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. The films are The Fellowship of the Ring , The Two Towers and The Return of the King .The films were directed by Peter...
movies, and now The Hobbit. This relationship enables the site to bring its readers exclusive news from the set.
For example, it was TheOneRing.net that Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM is a New Zealand film director, producer, actor, and screenwriter, known for his The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , adapted from the novel by J. R. R...
emailed in an effort to get his side heard when a lawsuit threatened his chance to film The Hobbit
The Hobbit
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, better known by its abbreviated title The Hobbit, is a fantasy novel and children's book by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published on 21 September 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald...
.
On April 19, 2008 a mysterious riddle was posted on the message boards by a new user named "Guillermo". It was soon revealed that this was Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro is a Mexican director, producer, screenwriter, novelist and designer. He is mostly known for his acclaimed films, Blade II, Pan's Labyrinth and the Hellboy film franchise. He is a frequent collaborator with Ron Perlman, Federico Luppi and Doug Jones...
, director of the two upcoming Hobbit films. He continues to post on the message boards as time and interest allow him.
Events
The events listed illustrate projects originated or co-sponsored by TORn that reach beyond the TORn community. Like other fan sites, members also gather in small groups called moots, form personal friendships (even marriages), hold extended online discussions with archives, and so on.Publications
In 2003 Cold Spring Press released TORn's book The People's Guide to J.R.R. Tolkien. Written by five major contributors to TheOneRing.net, it includes essays ranging from a spirited defense of fantasy as a genre, discussions of Tolkien's views of good and evil, an examination of cultural normsNorm (sociology)
Social norms are the accepted behaviors within a society or group. This sociological and social psychological term has been defined as "the rules that a group uses for appropriate and inappropriate values, beliefs, attitudes and behaviors. These rules may be explicit or implicit...
, and more.
The foreword by Tom Shippey
Tom Shippey
Thomas Alan Shippey is a scholar of medieval literature, including that of Anglo-Saxon England, and of modern fantasy and science fiction, in particular the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, about whom he has written several scholarly studies. He is widely considered one of the leading academic scholars...
, well-known Tolkien scholar and author of The Road to Middle-earth and J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century, says: "The Internet, the experience of continually answering questions and receiving comments ... give the organizers of TheOneRing.net a perspective which is uniquely broad, and uniquely full of surprises, some of which would have pleased Tolkien very much, but which he could not have expected."
It was followed by More People's Guide to J.R.R. Tolkien in 2004.
Oscar Party
Over 1,500 "Ringers" (Lord of the Rings fans) from around the world came to the TheOneRing.net Oscar PartyOscar party
An Oscar party is any of the various parties, usually held by entertainment-media corporations, immediately following the broadcast of the Academy Awards ceremony. Some sponsors, such as Vanity Fair magazine, are known for holding such a party year after year, and the influence of the sponsor can...
at the Hollywood, CA
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...
, American Legion
American Legion
The American Legion is a mutual-aid organization of veterans of the United States armed forces chartered by the United States Congress. It was founded to benefit those veterans who served during a wartime period as defined by Congress...
on February 28, 2004. The event was attended by Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM is a New Zealand film director, producer, actor, and screenwriter, known for his The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , adapted from the novel by J. R. R...
, Fran Walsh
Fran Walsh
Frances "Fran" Walsh, Lady Jackson, MNZM is a screenwriter, film producer and occasional musician. She is the spouse of filmmaker Peter Jackson. They have two children: Billy and Katie....
, Elijah Wood
Elijah Wood
Elijah Jordan Wood is an American actor. He made his film debut with a minor part in Back to the Future Part II , then landed a succession of larger roles that made him a critically acclaimed child actor by age 9. He is best known for his high-profile role as Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson's...
and many more of the cast and crew of The Lord of the Rings, several of whom skipped the official New Line party that evening.
Commemorative tree planting
On September 2, 2004, eleven commemorative kauri trees were planted in Willowbank Park in Wellington, New ZealandWellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
, hometown of Peter Jackson. The number eleven represented the nine members of the Fellowship of the Ring, plus one each for Peter Jackson and J. R. R. Tolkien. Coincidentally, eleven was also the number of 2004 Oscars won by The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is a 2003 epic fantasy-drama film directed by Peter Jackson that is based on the second and third volumes of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings...
. Hundreds of TORn members contributed funds for the purchase of the trees as a tangible and lasting way to give thanks to Jackson and his team for their inspiring work.
ORC and ELF conventions
TheOneRing.net teamed up with Creation EntertainmentCreation Entertainment
Creation Entertainment is an entertainment company located in Glendale, California which produces fan conventions for fans of comic books, and various films and television series, mainly in the sci-fi, horror and fantasy genres. It was founded in 1971 by Gary Berman and Adam Malin in New York....
to present The One Ring Celebration (ORC) in 2005, 2006, and 2007. Its sister convention, Eastern LOTR Fan Gathering (ELF), met in the eastern U.S. in 2005 and 2006. These conventions included panels and signings by members of the cast such as Elijah Wood
Elijah Wood
Elijah Jordan Wood is an American actor. He made his film debut with a minor part in Back to the Future Part II , then landed a succession of larger roles that made him a critically acclaimed child actor by age 9. He is best known for his high-profile role as Frodo Baggins in Peter Jackson's...
, Sean Astin
Sean Astin
Sean Astin is an American film actor, director, voice artist, and producer better known for his film roles as Mikey Walsh in The Goonies, the title character of Rudy, and Samwise Gamgee in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. In television, he appeared as Lynn McGill in the fifth season of 24...
, Dominic Monaghan
Dominic Monaghan
Dominic Bernard Patrick Luke Monaghan is an English actor. He has received international attention from playing Merry in Peter Jackson's adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and for his role as Charlie Pace on the television show Lost....
, Billy Boyd, and John Rhys-Davies
John Rhys-Davies
John Rhys-Davies is a Welsh actor and voice actor. He is perhaps best known for playing the charismatic Arab excavator Sallah in the Indiana Jones films and the dwarf Gimli in The Lord of the Rings trilogy...
.