Triangle Tolkienists

It’s time for our second annual Legendarium Open Discussion! This is an in-person event in Cary, NC; please join our Discord server to find details about the location.

Sunday, March 23, 2025 – 1:00pm – Cary, NC

For this event, everyone should prepare a handful of open-ended questions or topics for discussion. Think book club questions, but rather than focusing on a specific reading, these can be about any subject related to Tolkien. For example:

• If you could live anywhere in Arda, where would you choose and why?
• Do Balrogs have wings?
• Were the Valar right to grant the Númenóreans longer lives while banning them from sailing west?
• What do you think happened to the Entwives?
• How did Tolkien’s life spent mainly in the company of other male academics affect his writing?
• What positive examples of diversity – queerness, racial/ethnic differences, neurodivergence, etc. – can you find within the legendarium?

We’ll go around the group and give each person the chance to ask a question or present a subject, then we’ll open the floor for discussion. You won’t be expected to answer every question, only the ones you’re interested in; but I do ask everyone to bring at least a couple questions to pose. Otherwise, we might end up just staring at each other! Feel free to bring books/a laptop with you too if you think you’ll want to reference the text.

Please consider sharing your discussion questions in advance of the event so folks can be thinking about their responses. You can post them in this thread.

Crucial note: Everyone is welcome to participate regardless of how confident or knowledgeable you feel about Tolkien. There’s no pressure to know everything, to not make any mistakes, or to not be confused about some things. Your thoughts and opinions are valuable no matter your background with Tolkien! And this is a great time to ask questions about anything you don’t feel you understand.