These are not “scholarly” articles so your grandma doesn’t have to get out her shotgun, but a new series of articles being published under the aegis of Middle-earth Unplugged promises to give Tolkien fans and readers a whole new way of looking at Middle-earth.
The Middle-earth Unplugged concept is experimental, combining the art of writing/developing fan fiction with the scientific journalism style that one is familiar with in magazines like National Geographic and The Smithsonian. Think of how an anthropologist or science writer might depict events in Middle-earth if he or she had the opportunity to be there as they were unfolding.
Naturally, such articles would be accustomed by pictures, and the Middle-earth Unplugged collection includes “pictures from Middle-earth” that should help readers visualize the environment and the “times” as they are unfolding. This experimental approach has not, to my knowledge, been attempted on this scale. It takes a lot of work especially to find pictures of Middle-earth.
The Middle-earth you see may not be the Middle-earth you expect. But rather than attempt to ignite debate and controversy the pictures are selected for the purpose of creating a realistic impression that helps to shape the direction one’s imagination takes while reading the articles. They create a framework.
Middle-earth Unplugged is just one part of a new Website called Middle-earth at Xenite.Org. The Middle-earth Website is designed to serve as a platform for many types of articles, including the old Suite101 essays on Tolkien and Middle-earth that I wrote years ago (and which are no longer published by Suite101).
Other content sections on the Middle-earth Website include news stories (mostly about Tolkien subjects you won’t find on typical Tolkien fan sites, most of which are focusing on the Peter Jackson movies and online games), feature articles (including one about restaurants and hotels with Hobbit themes), episodes of Middle-earth Talk Radio (summaries of which were removed from this blog because the links have all changed), and more.
New sections will be added later in the year.
The first essay from Middle-earth Unplugged is titled “The Eldar Get Their Game On”, and it imagines how Hithlum might have looked (and felt) in the days leading up to the kingdom’s final battle, the Nirnaeth Arnoediad.
Please leave feedback on the article. New essays will be published every Wednesday for as long as I can maintain the pace.