💎 Tolkien Treasures #010: September 2023
Hobbit Day Giveaway WINNER! Plus: celebrating like a hobbit, a new LOTR videogame, and more!
Tolkien Treasures
Namárië! Hello all! It’s time again to again share my monthly roundup of Tolkien Treasures.
1. Celebrating Hobbit Day
This past week was Hobbit Day and I don’t know anyone who celebrates Hobbit Day better than @teawithtolkien, who has an entire section of her website dedicated to helping you learn how to celebrate like a Hobbit yourself and have your own Hobbit Party! Check it out here:
https://www.teawithtolkien.com/party
2. Assistant To The Itinerant Wizard
I don’t know if it’s the TikTok algorithm just knowing I’ll love this content, but here’s another Lord of The Rings and The Office crossover meme I enjoyed recently:
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3. A long time ago in a hole in the ground far far away…
@adamjmiddleton shared a personal project on the app formerly known as Twitter that I loved and had to share. “I wanted to reimagine Bag End (Bilbo’s house in Lord of the Rings) in a Star Wars design style,” he wrote. Here’s what he came up with:
4. Return of the Kitten
My 3-year-old has not seen any of the LOTR films or movies, BUT he couldn’t get enough of this photo of cats dressed up like Hobbits I saw again recently, so I had to share:
5. New LOTR Video Game: Tales of the Shire
“Your cosy Hobbit life awaits,” read the social media posts sharing the teaser trailer announcing “a heart-warming new The Lord of the Rings™ game” earlier this week. Tales of the Shire is from Private Division & Wētā Workshop and coming to PC and consoles 2024.
I have SO MANY questions! Is this a LOTR version of Animal Crossing?? Will I get to either play as or encounter Bilbo, Frodo, Sam, Pippin, and Merry? Does it come in pints? What about second trailer?? Just exactly how long until we get our hands on this??
Check out the teaser trailer for yourself here:
Questions for the comments:
which of this month’s Tolkien Treasures did you enjoy the most?
have you ever hosted or attended a hobbit-themed party?
what’s a Lord of the Rings video game that you’d love to see in the future?
what is something you’ve been enjoying this month?
What Jokien with Tolkien: Extended Edition Members Got This Month
This month paid subscribers to Jokien with Tolkien: Extended Edition got another exclusive essay with a topic that they voted on: the theme of stars in Middle-earth in Tolkien’s legendarium. This one went from The Lord of the Rings all the way to the creation of Arda and back again to Lord of the Rings:
Additionally, this week paid subscribers got another edition of “There and Back Again” a recurring feature where I share some of what I’m reading and enjoying lately each month.
To join paid subscriber discussions, get the exclusive monthly essay and There and Back Again post, vote for future topics, and join the Discord server, consider becoming a member of Jokien with Tolkien: Extended Edition.
Today is the last day that you can get 20% off for a year through my Hobbit Day sale!
Hobbit Day Giveaway Winner
Congratulations to Timothy B, who was the winner of my Hobbit Day Giveaway of the deluxe edition of The Hobbit: Illustrated by the Author! I’ve gotten in touch with Timothy already and have sent the prize his way.
You might not have won this giveaway, reader, but know that I’ll be sure to do more in the future (I don’t know about you, but I’m enjoying them!) and also know that if you’d like to get a standard edition of The Hobbit: Illustrated by the Author, it’s on sale right now1 on Amazon for just $45 and Blackwell’s UK for under $40 (the cheapest I’ve seen it since it was announced!)
Amazon: Illustrated-by-the-author edition of The Hobbit
Blackwell’s: standard edition and deluxe edition2
There we have it, my Tolkien Treasures for September. Farewell, friends. Go towards goodness!
Special shoutout and thank you to Allison R, David M, Brian Y, Andrea G, Sierra L, and Celia H for upgrading to a paid subscription this week! Thank you and shoutout also to Andrew H and For the King, who became patrons on Patreon this week, where you can get discounted Discord access and a discounted subscription to Jokien with Tolkien!
This is a reader-supported newsletter and Jokien with Tolkien: Extended Edition members help keep it coming to everyone’s inboxes week in and week out. But if you’re a free subscriber you can support it too by sharing it with someone you know would enjoy it, liking it here on Substack, or sharing it on social media.
However you support this publication, thank you! I couldn’t do this without you all!
Appendices
I’ve been enjoying Ahsoka so far (no spoilers for episode 7! I won’t see it till tonight!) and may write next week on the show and how Dave Filoni drew from Tolkien in crafting Ahsoka’s journey. Stay tuned for more on the intersection of Star Wars and LOTR!
I keep an updated list of any of Tolkien’s works that I mention in this newsletter on Amazon. Check out As Seen in Jokien with Tolkien for the full list!
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Prices accurate as of September 27, 2023 when I wrote this newsletter
The deluxe edition will likely be released in the United States sometime in 2024. For now, you have to buy it from Blackwell’s or somewhere similar
The Tatooine Hobbit house is great. I was confused by the stormtrooper helmet, but I assume it is for scale?
For a game, I would love to see the Fellowship's quest running on the Breath of the Wild engine. Each character gets bonuses/penalties for the different weapons and skills (Legolas better with bows, Gimli with axes, Sam gets natural cooking bonus, etc.). Tears of the Kingdom showed that the Mines of Moria would be great on that game engine.
I am BEGGING for a re-release of the Fellowship of the Ring game that came out in the early 2000s, it was so close to the book!!