Oxonmoot 2024

What would Grond really sound like? What would a quiet evening in the Shire sound like? Explore bringing Middle-earth to life through A Long-Expected Soundscape with discussions about adaptation, immersive 3D audio, and interactive demonstrations.

Shocking things happen to the Valar on feast days. During the Spring of Arda Manwë “ordered a great feast” and Melkor seized the opportunity to return from the outer darkness and destroy the lamps. It is another feast day when Melkor and Ungoliant sneak in and kill the trees. And the Valar are feasting again when Eärendil arrives. At one level this is simply a plot device to show why the Valar’s guard is down. But at a deeper level feasting represents a blurring of the boundary between enchantment and mundanity—it is when feasting that the Valar are most human—and so helps us understand the meaning of enchantment for Tolkien. I will support this idea by reference to the Wood Elves feasting, the feasts that begin "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings," and the feast that begins "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight."

"In this paper I will provide an overview for a book proposal on Tolkien's Dragons. I will begin by surveying Tolkien's deep knowledge of the history of Indo-European dragon lore drawing on his Lecture on Dragons and the Essays ""Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics"" and ""On Fairy Stories"". I will discuss Tolkien's most important dragons: Smaug, Glaurung, Chrysophylax, the Sea Serpent and White Dragon in Roverandom,
as well as his Undragons: the flying Nazgul in LOTR and the serpents of iron in the 1916 Fall of Gondolin. I will also look at Tolkien's main literary models, not only the Beowulf dragon and Fafnir, but also the Midgard Serpent, St. George, Spenser's dragon in FQ, Bk I; as well as the post medieval folklore traditions (""Here be Dragons"") and the comic treatment of dragons in the 20th C Children's Literature of Edith Nesbitt and
Kenneth Grahame."

Writing swaps and gifting exchanges, Discord challenges, claiming events, fandom weeks on Tumblr – so many events exist to encourage creativity. Almost all of these have deadlines and minimum word counts. Various studies have shown that up to 95% of people are procrastinators, even when deadlines and goals are involved. Attend this presentation for tips on how to plan out stories so that the creative experience does not become overwhelming.  This presentation is also helpful for anyone who has considered running a fanfiction event, to get an idea of the timeline involved for authors, which helps to successfully set up the start and end times for events. 

"In this talk, I explore how Dungeons & Dragons co-creator Gary Gygax discussed Tolkien’s influence on D&D. Connections between the two are unmistakable in areas like D&D’s fantasy nomenclature, thematic concerns, and preoccupation with fantastic storyworlds. Despite these connections, though, Gygax often disclaimed pure inspiration, saying he drew on Tolkien more for his popularity.

I begin by explicating connections between D&D and Middle-earth, how the Tolkien Estate responded, and what survived its two lawsuits. I consider how Tolkien’s position on adaptations, articulated in his letters, might have extended to D&D; I then examine Gygax’s own statements disclaiming true Tolkienian influence. These statements are fraught, I argue, thanks to venue (wargaming & gaming magazines), audience (wargamers), and exigency (commercial concerns & fear of being labeled mere “fans”). I also consider what Gygax, and D&D, might have stood to gain by disclaiming their undeniable Tolkienian roots."

The aim of this paper is to present a selection of theological Tolkien criticism for the purpose of evaluating them through practical theologian Leah Robinson’s definition of bad theology. I will argue that bad theology in Tolkien Studies needs to be identified and be replaced with the openness of theologian John Thatamanil’s criteria for embracing religious diversity and its utilization as an evaluative tool for future theological engagements within Tolkien Studies. I will conclude, that those who understand bad theology & begin with a positive treatment of theological diversity are better equipped to engage Tolkien Studies with higher levels of ethical inquiry and critical nuance. For the future of theology in Tolkien Studies to flourish, theologians must recognize the inherent relational complexity of their own traditions, Tolkien as theologically multifarious, and proceed with the aim of stoking diverse theological engagement through religious diversity.

Whether it be "The Rings of Power" on Amazon Prime, the Peter Jackson movies, the BBC Radio Dramatisation, the Lord of the Ring Musical, or many other examples, Tolkien's works have been adapted for stage, screen and radio on many occasions.

Join this drop-in to meet others who love to see Tolkien's stories through the lens of adaptations.

Does the masculine colonizer transfer its madness to its feminine colonized victim? To answer this, I go beyond the approach of analyzing individualistic decisions of characters in Tolkien’s legendarium. Instead, I view their choices as a symptom of past and current colonization by applying the postcolonial concept of the ‘mad woman’ to collective races and their history in Arda rather than the individual. This study is an attempt to further Tolkien postcolonialism scholarship, specifically regarding Orientalism, while simultaneously moving past the separation of the colonizer and colonized in Tolkien’s legendarium.