The Hobbit Trailer

It’s already old news, but here’s the first official trailer for Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.  This is part one of two films telling the story (with some additions) of Tolkien’s The Hobbit.

The Hobbit was the first real book I ever read, and the one that made me fall in loving with reading.  More importantly, it led me to The Lord of the Rings, the discovery of which was undeniably one of the most influential experiences of my young life.  There are Hobbit people (those who prefer this earlier, more whimsical story) and Lord of the Rings people (those who prefer the more adult-oriented masterpiece).  Hobbit people generally view The Lord of the Rings as a somewhat dry, overlong epitaph to the simple adventure story that made their young eyes sparkle with wonder; Lord of the Rings people generally view The Hobbit as a children’s book, a delightful story that nonetheless pales in comparison to the grandeur of its epic successor.

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Fantasy Rules of Magic Errata

io9′s impressive chart of the nature and rules of various magic systems in fantasy fiction’s most popular series (click the image to the left for a full-sized version) has been one of the most-linked fantasy topics in the last few days.  This being Geekus, I thought rather than just repost the link, I’d take the time to obnoxiously point out a few errors I saw in the Rules.

1.  In the Lord of the Rings entry, the section on hereditariness implies that the Maiar and Ainur are two separate, mutually exclusive sets of beings.  In fact, “Ainur” is an umbrella term that encompasses all of the angelic, godlike begins subservient to Illuvatar, or Eru, the One: the Valar are the higher choir, if you will, and the Maiar are the servants of the Valar.  All existed before Creation, and in fact the Valar and Maiar are merely those spirits who chose to enter the world they had created; other Ainur chose to remain outside of it.

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