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We only scratched the surface here. Of particular further interest, Stu neglected to mention William Blake’s diabolical character Orc, who likely also influenced Tolkien in the creation of creatures that wholly embody conceptual evil. Also missing is the demon Orcus, who has interesting folkloric connection here, though we did cover that in a previous podcast episode.And while we discussed some of the ways orcs can be seen as perpetuating racial stereotypes, we totally neglected to talk about how some folks, particularly in queer communities, have reclaimed the orc. Grant Howitt’s Big Gay Orcs is a good example of, well, gay orcs. It’s right there in the title.

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Hang out with us on the Vintage RPG Discord!If you dig what we do, join us on the Vintage RPG Patreon for more roleplaying fun and surprises! Patrons keep us going!Like, Rate, Subscribe and Review the Vintage RPG Podcast!Available on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, Spotify, YouTube and your favorite podcast clients.Send questions, comments or corrections to info@vintagerpg.com.Follow Vintage RPG on Instagram, Tumblr and Facebook. Learn more at the Vintage RPG FAQ.Follow Stu Horvath, John McGuire, VintageRPG and Unwinnable on Twitter.Intro music by George Collazo.The Vintage RPG illustration is by Shafer Brown. Follow him on Twitter.Tune in next week for the next episode. Until then, may the dice always roll in your favor!

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This, my friends, is one of my favorite things. It is a set of Ace Books’ unauthorized publications of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy (1965). The story here is tortured (and you can find a fuller accounting on Kirkus Reviews). Basically, Donald A. Wollhiem approached Tolkien about producing an American edition of the books in paperback and was snootily turned down (Tolkien apparently saw paperbacks as “degenerate”). Offended, Wollhiem hunted around and found an apparent loophole in copyright law at the time (I do not pretend to entirely understand this) that had allowed the trilogy to fall into the public domain in the US. He quickly published these books, beating Ballantine’s revised editions to shelves by five months. Tolkien and Ballantine waged a war against Ace in the papers, accusing them of pirating the trilogy — eventually Ace relented, gave Tolkien royalties and let their (still popular editions) go out of print.

The cover art is by Jack Gaughan, who was featured on many Ace books. I feel like I know him primarily through covers for Jack Vance novels, but he has a distinct sort of mid-century medieval style I really enjoy. I love these covers, with their bright colors. They actually reflect the content of the books better than the covers on the Ballantine editions — Barbara Remington’s strange triptych evokes some of the books, but because of the Ace edition, she didn’t have time to read the books before she commenced painting.

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Hang out with us on the Vintage RPG Discord – Stu’s going to start setting up one-shot Call of Cthulhu sessions this week and that’s the place to get in on the action.If  you dig what we do, join us on the Vintage RPG Patreon for more roleplaying fun and surprises! Patrons keep us going!Like, Rate, Subscribe and Review the Vintage RPG Podcast!Available on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, SoundCloud, Spotify, YouTube and your favorite podcast clients.Send questions, comments or corrections to info@vintagerpg.com.Follow Vintage RPG on Instagram, Tumblr and Facebook. Learn more at the Vintage RPG FAQ.Follow Stu Horvath, John McGuire, VintageRPG and Unwinnable on Twitter.Intro music by George Collazo.The Vintage RPG illustration is by Shafer Brown. Follow him on Twitter.Tune in next week for the next episode. Until then, may the dice always roll in your favor!

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I got David Day’s Tolkien: The Illustrated Encyclopedia (1992) for Christmas in the mid-90s. It is essentially an expanded, re-organized version of Day’s Bestiary (some of that book’s art graces these pages) and is, for my money, the best encapsulation of Tolkien’s Middle-earth in print.

Even back then, Angus McBride’s MERP paintings, the animated films and Alan Lee’s illustrations were influencing the way I pictured Middle-earth. The art in this book took a sledgehammer to that. I lost my original copy along the way, then the Jackson movies came out and I couldn’t think of Lord of the Rings in any other way. Then I got another copy of the Encyclopedia and the idea that there was one right way to picture Middle-earth exploded again.

Just flip through those images. Those are some radical visual interpretations, no? I love that they not only clash with my preconceptions, but with each other. I don’t even necessarily like all of the art, but I think it is really cool to have one book work so hard to challenge the idea that there is a correct way to depict Tolkien’s world. How cool would it be to have a cartoon LotR in the style of Andrew Mockett’s expressive prints? (Sauron and the balrog Gothmog)

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He focuses on the ring. But not just Sauron’s ring; Day looks at the symbol of the ring throughout mythology. There’s the obvious stuff, like the Volsunga Saga, the legends of King Arthur and the Nibelungenlied. But there is less obvious stuff, too, like strains of Greek and Jewish myths (Solomon had a ring, too, after all). The result is a comprehensive look at a specific facet of human storytelling tradition of thousands of years that, in many ways, Tolkien’s work is a culmination of.

There isn’t anything super surprising about any of what Day puts forward. I am not exactly shocked that there are clear parallels between Norse myth and Middle Earth. But the way in which Day makes the case, taking his time with each piece and doing a fine job as a storyteller in his own right, makes for some compelling stuff. My mind was gently blown when I finished reading it.

The incomparable Alan Lee is the sole illustrator. Lee’s work in Tolkien’s world is well known, even if you don’t realize it (his paintings were an important component in the visual styling of the Peter Jackson films). I’ve always admired how he captures the mix of the majestic and the melancholy that runs through The Lord of the Rings, but it is particularly fun to see him take on other subject matter here. I really dig that one of Odin sticking the sword in the tree.

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Calling it a Bestiary is a bit of a misnomer, as plenty of space is given over to chronologies and genealogies (reflecting one of Tolkien’s own particular obsessions). In the alphabetical entries, there are easily as many devoted to the various ethnic groups of Men (Black Numenoreans, Corsairs, etc) as there are those exploring the various critters of Middle Earth. Which is fine, if a bit dizzying. Still, reading through it, you’ll come away with a richer understanding of Tolkien’s world.

The book is lavishly illustrated. There’s lots of great art – John Blanche’s Bosche-like landscapes, Lidia Postma’s feral looking Gollum, Alan Curless’ macabre Nazgul – but Ian Miller steals the show. Utterly. There are several pages of his dragons, each weirder and pointier than the last. His orcs are magnificently creepy. Look at that haunted cave troll! And he did a barrow wight (the creep next to Gollum)! Dude is a powerhouse.

(Happy New Year!)

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Couple fun things about this. First, Tolkien hated paperbacks, which he viewed as a degenerate form of book (remember, paperbacks as we know them had only existed since the ‘30s). That opinion soured a potential deal with Ace Books to publish LotR in the States in paperback in 1964, which in turn led Ace to publishing them anyway, using a loophole in copyright law at the time. Those editions sport gorgeous covers by Jack Gaughan and are worth checking out.

Because of the time crunch created by the fast-selling Ace editions, cover artist Barbara Remington wasn’t able to read the books before painting the cover. Rather, she relied on an overview from friends who read the books. I love these covers, partly because they get the vibe of the book so right and so wrong simultaneously.

Finally, the success of Lord of the Rings (and the PR campaign to brand the Ace editions as illegitimate) and Tolkien’s other paperbacks (as well as some other key novels, like Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast trilogy and Peter S. Beagle’s The Last Unicorn) provided the financial foundation for what would become Lin Carter’s Ballatine Adult Fantasy line of paperbacks, which is an amazing and influential 65-book run of fantasy and science fiction both old and new, sporting oh-so-rad 70s cover art. The line put an important spotlight on Lovecraft, among others, helping to solidify him in the public imagination.

Funny how that all worked out, right?

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When I was a kid, I didn’t care about the goofy songs in the Rankin/Bass cartoons, there were dragons and orcs and the Mouth of Sauron, so it was COOL. As I got older, I kind of looked down my nose at them in favor of Bakshi’s film. Jackson blew them all out of the water, but I’ve since soured on those films and have rediscovered a fondness for Rankin/Bass. I should note that whatever my opinion at the moment, I have spent most of my life with the Orc marching song “Where There’s a Whip, There’s a Way” stuck in my head (if you want it stuck in yours…)

Anyway, this is a 1978 edition of The Hobbit illustrated with stills and production drawings from the Rankin/Bass film. I snagged it recently from Second Time Books (swell folks!) on a lark and I wasn’t disappointed. I haven’t seen the film in a long, long time, so flipping through the illustrations was kind of like seeing it for the first time again.

Lots to love here – the Great Goblin model sheet, Smaug’s lambent eyes – but my fave is the stony face watching Bilbo and Gollum tell riddles in the dark.

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