Roads go ever on, but I’m sad to see this one reach its end. 

It’s been a privilege and a pleasure writing for The Cimmerian.

Farewell we call to hearth and hall!
Though wind may blow and rain may fall,
We must away ere break of day
Far over wood and mountain tall.

To Rivendell, where Elves yet dwell
In glades beneath the misty fell,
Through moor and waste we ride in haste,
And whither then we cannot tell.

With foes ahead, behind us dread,
Beneath the sky shall be our bed,
Until at last our toil be passed,
Our journey done, our errand sped.

We must away! We must away!
We ride before the break of day!

–J.R.R. Tolkien, Farewell Song of Merry and Pippin

Three blockbuster years, and The Cimmerian Blog was gaining its own momentum as a scholarly entity apart from the esteemed journal which spawned it: with the TC journal entering its final volume and two crises jeopardizing its continuing existence, the blog was going to either spreads its wings, or dwindle into some blood-hued, blogospheric sunset.

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Looks like a final piece of news for The Cimmerian, at least for the month of May: according to TheOneRing.Net, Guillermo Del Toro is apparently leaving production of the upcoming film adaptations of The Hobbit.

This doesn’t come as a surprise to me. The financial and legal wrangling going about the project looked like they weren’t going to be over anytime soon, and with over two years going, I can’t blame Del Toro from moving on. While I think Del Toro may have surprised us with the films, Jackson (pictured above with Del Toro) & company are still in control, and that will always be a source of intense division among fans.

The question now becomes, who will step up to the plate in Del Toro’s absence?

Stephen Hickman's depiction of the infernal maelstrom that is the siege of Minas Tirith

The two Middle-earth masterpieces Tolkien lived to see publications of are somewhat remarkable in their differences. The Hobbit is a tale with as much humour, song and merriment as it has dark terror, strenuous toil and rousing adventure: The Lord of the Rings almost seems a different animal in many ways. Many a reader might prefer one over the other: The Hobbit’s light and breezy prose winning some over, the grand epic narrative of The Lord of the Rings convincing others. Then when you throw The Silmarillion and The History of Middle-earth into the fray…

Even the professionals find themselves respecting both, but being partial to one. Irene Gallo has written a fascinating article, where she has gathered renowned Tolkien artists and posed such questions: which tome is their favourite, which do they prefer to illustrate, which was harder or easier to adapt into a visual medium, and so on. Among the illustrators queried are Ted Nasmith, Justin Gerard, John Howe, Sam Bosma, Mattias Adolfsson, Stephen Hickman, and familiar Howard illustrator extraordinaire Michael W. M. Kaluta.

Take a look!

Frank Frazetta Tribute by El-Grimlock

I always knew it was going to happen. Frank Frazetta was going to die, it would happen fairly soon, and being a Scot without the funds or opportunity to take the flight to the Frazetta museum, I would probably never get a chance to meet him. I’m a latecomer to Frazetta fandom, so I can’t share some of the memories of other Frazetta fans. I never picked up one of the Lancers when they came out, to be wowed by Conan the Adventurer or Conan of Cimmeria. I never saw a Frazetta picture on the side of a van, or on somebody’s wall, or in the shops. I never saw a Molly Hatchet album cover hot off the record shelves. Nonetheless, the power of Frazetta means that his presence is felt even now: it’s just in different ways.

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With tributes, remembrances, and recaps of the life and art of Frank Frazetta lying spread across the internet like blue mantles beneath the stars, I found myself struggling to come up with anything fresh or meaningful to say on the subject that hasn’t already been said. But I love Frazetta’s artwork, and wanted to add something to the discussion, so I asked myself, What is it about Frazetta’s style that keeps me coming back to his images?

The more I thought about it, it’s his ability to depict strength. Frazetta understood raw power and human musculature like no other artist I’ve encountered. He was a master at portraying rippling, powerful heroes in scenes of sweeping action, bursting with dynamic motion and power barely contained by the canvas.

This characteristic permeates all his work, even his J.R.R. Tolkien sketches. Here’s one of my favorites, a Thor-like Witch King ready to bash a curvaceous, full-figured Eowyn with a hammer of the gods:

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This is a saga, to be read round a fire against the lurking dark.

– Robert Low on The Whale Road

Most Robert E. Howard fans find a good Viking saga hard to resist. Many have delved into the treasures hoarded by H. Rider Haggard and Poul Anderson seeking the “Northern thing” that inspired Tolkien and sang with moody restlessness in the blood of Robert E. Howard.

All that is deep and gloomy and Norse in me rises in my blood. I would go east into the sunshine and the nodding palm trees, but I bide and the dream of the twilight of the gods is on me, and the dreams of cold and misty lands and the ancient pessimism of the Vikings.
It seems to me, especially in the autumn, that that one vagrant Danish strain that is mine, predominates above all my Celtic blood.

– To Harold Preece, ca. October 1930

Robert Low, right, lives his tales of the Oathsworn. His deep knowledge of his period gives his writing depth and power.

Scotsman Robert Low has written a saga worthy to stand with the greats of yore. The Whale Road launches the four-book Oathsworn series, which follows a band of Norse mercenaries through adventures across Europe and into Asia, from the market towns of Scandanavia to the steppes of Russia to the Great City of Constantinople, known to the Norse as Miklagard.

The saga follows the growth of Orm Rurikson from a green and fumbling youth into a seasoned fighter and leader of men.

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Historical fiction author Steven Pressfield, perhaps best known for Gates of Fire, a magnificent re-telling of the Battle of Thermopylae, writes about the art (or more accurately, the hard labor) of writing every Wednesday on his Web site, stevenpressfield.com. This week’s installment references our favorite author ‘round these parts, Robert E. Howard.

In The War of Art, his non-fiction treatise about the writing profession (and upon which Writing Wednesdays are based), Pressfield describes writing as the product of grit and effort, accomplished by overcoming the demon of resistance. In other words, writing is largely an unromantic slog and the result of hard work. But Pressfield also believes that ideas are an entirely different animal: Inspiration like Howard’s arrives from the wings of angels, a kind of divine insight that alights on our shoulders as we set pen to paper. Pressfield calls this the spirit of the Muse.

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Old Man Willow -- art by John Howe

A little piece of Middle-earth is being restored and preserved.

The BBC reports that:

A Birmingham nature reserve that was a favourite childhood playground of Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkien has been awarded a £376,500 lottery grant.

Tolkien said Moseley Bog had inspired the mystical Old Forest that his Hobbit characters travelled through in the Lord of the Rings.

Read the full story here.

‘In 1974 the power of Angmar rose again, and the Witch-king came down upon Arthedain before winter was ended. He captured Fornost, and drove most of the remaining Dúnedain over the Lune; among them were the sons of the king. But King Arvedui held out upon the North Downs until the last, and then fled north with some of his guard; and they escaped by the swiftness of their horses.

‘For a while Arvedui hid in the tunnels of the old dwarf-mines near the far end of the Mountains, but he was driven at last by hunger to seek the help of the Lossoth, the Snowmen of Forochel.

–The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, III – Eriador, Arnor and the Heirs of Isildur (The North-Kingdom and the Dúnedain)

Even with the depth and detail Tolkien delved into, there are mysteries that remain: individuals, creatures, places, events, even whole peoples are shrouded in darkness. So is the case with the Lossoth of the Forodwaith, one of the more enigmatic and unusual of the barbarian peoples of Middle-earth.

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