Tolkien content remains a big draw at Dragon Con. Two years on from the loss of the dedicated Tolkien track and with no High Fantasy track related celebrity guests in attendance this year, many Tolkien panels experienced standing-room-only audiences and lines that started 60-90 minutes in advance.
As always, the Tolkien fandom had a great variety of panels to satisfy their interests. Scholarly panels on “Melkor and Milton” (Constance Wagner, panelist, Jim Wert, moderator) and “Galadriel: Lodestar of the Legendarium” (Constance Wagner, Laura Grabowski, Jim Wert, panelists) were a big hit and sparked some lively discussion. TheOneRIng.net (Kirsten Cairns, “greendragon,” and Rebecca Perry, “deej”) presented “Lord of the Rings: The Age of Television,” a discussion that speculated on the upcoming Amazon series. Unfortunately scheduled at the same time as the Dragon Con parade, artist David Wenzel’s panel presented his recent book, The Kingdom of the Dwarfs, a work that combines clever originality with Tolkien inspiration (see our interview with David Wenzel here). A panel presented by Kirsten Cairns (“greendragon” of TORn) and Van Allen Plexico looked at the recent Tolkien biopic and the real-life Professor who inspired new generations of storytellers.
One of the biggest hits of the Tolkien panels this year was “Sixty-Minute Silmarillion,” a raucous retelling of Tolkien’s foundational (if sometimes impenetrable) text. Panelists Celia Sullivan, Grace Jackson, and Kathleen Dailan played to a packed room of long-time fans and newcomers alike. This panel was so popular, in fact, that I couldn’t get in the room. I’ll hope for a return engagement in a future year.
The data are still sparse, but it does seem that the number of panels dedicated solely to Tolkien is in decline. While some Con-goers may find cross-fandom panels appealing, it is difficult to argue with the 90-minute lines, lack of empty seats, and people sitting on the floor and standing during the Tolkien panels. I fully admit my own Tolkien bias. That is, of course, the reason that I attend and cover Dragon Con for Middle-earth News. I hope that Tolkien content will continue to have its proper place of honor in the High Fantasy track for may Dragon Cons to come.
