Event News

Let the Tolkien Times Roll at Dragon Con 2022!

Posted by on August 22, 2022 at 12:29 pm
Photo credit: Valdis Longbeard.

UPDATED WITH LATE-BREAKING NEWS!

Once again summer heads downhill toward the start of most students’ school year and the turn of seasons to autumn. But it also means the great fan gathering that ushers in the fall: Dragon Con! In only a few days, September 1 -5, 2022, thousands of fans will descend upon Atlanta, Georgia, for one of the largest multi-genre fan conventions around.

Dragon Con is well known for its excellent Tolkien content, and this year is no exception. Amazon’s Rings of Power series looms large in the fandom this year, with the show having its debut airing on September 2, 2022, the first full day of Dragon Con.

The High Fantasy Track, home to Dragon Con’s Tolkien content, will offer a full slate of Tolkien-themed programming on Thursday evening (September 1). These panels will help get everyone revved up for the Amazon series:

  • “Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” Preview. Our friends from TheOneRing.net (Kirsten Z. Cairns, Rebecca Perry,  Jim Wert) will speculate on what we can expect from the much-anticipated new series. Will there be spoilers? Even the wisest cannot see.
  • Schedule change: Since Amazon announced that the highly-anticipated Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power series will drop at 9:00 pm EDT on Thursday, September 1, the previously scheduled panels after 8:00 pm have been cancelled. At time of writing, there is no word of a “big room” watch party, but there will probably be plenty of them happening around the con hotels!

Friday packs quite a punch of Tolkien content from morning to night. Be sure to get up and at ‘em early so you don’t miss good stuff!

  • Gandalf vs. Sauron: Angels at War. The Ages-long (really, AGES) conflict over Middle-earth comes down to a face-off between two Maiar: Gandalf and Sauron. Panelists Constance G.J. Wagner, Jim Wert, and Laura Grabowski look at the contrasts and commonalities between these two movers of great events in Middle-earth.
  • LATE-BREAKING, BIG schedule change: A new panel has been added — “Behind the Scenes of The Rings of Power”, with VERY special guests John Howe and Leith McPherson! John Howe is well known by Tolkien fans as a Tolkien artist and a conceptual designer for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films, adding The Rings of Power to his Tolkien portfolio. Leith McPherson worked as a dialect coach on The Hobbit films and returns to Arda for The Rings of Power. Big kudos to Kirsten Cairns (Greendragon) of TheOneRing.net for her work with Amazon for this event!
  • Sing With the Elf Choir! The Elf Choir makes a melodic return to Dragon Con, learning to sing musical pieces from The Lord of the Rings and other high fantasy media. The choir will do its traditional performance later on Friday for Evening in Bree. This event has moved to the 7:00 pm time slot.
  • Evening in Bree. The highly anticipated staple of Dragon Con parties is back, led by TheOneRing.net’s Kirsten Z. Cairns with music by LandLoch’d, Beth Patterson, and the fan-favorite Brobdingnagian Bards. The cosplay contest is always a highlight, with cosplayers from many high fantasy fandoms showing their amazing cosplays. If you want to enter the cosplay contest, be sure to sign up ahead of time at any of the High Fantasy Track panels or at TheOneRing.net fan table in the Hilton! There are always super cool prizes for the cosplay contest! LATE-BREAKING DEVELOPMENT: John Howe and Leith McPherson will serve as celebrity judges for this year’s contest!
Join Tom Bombadil in the High Fantasy Track room in the Marriott for all the great Tolkien panels! Photo credit: Valdis Longbeard.

Saturday morning begins, as always, with the Dragon Con parade. Tolkien cosplayers will undoubtedly make a good showing in the parade, as they do every year. Later on, we can look forward to a panel about “The War of the Rohirrim”. Panelists Kirsten Z. Cairns, Shane McInnis, JM Paquette, and Dyrk Ashton will talk about the backstory of Helm Hammerhand and what we know about the Kenji Kamiyama anime film set for release in 2023.

Shake off that Saturday night partying to get to the first High Fantasy panel on Sunday, Deep Places of the World: Journeys in the Underworlds of Middle-earth. Join the panel (Dyrk Ashton, Alicia Fox-Lenz, Constance G.J. Wagner, Jim Wert, Laura Grabowski) on journeys of transformation through the underground realms of Middle-earth. No Balrogs, we promise! Well, maybe one. Sunday evening brings the perennial favorite Hobbit Drinking Songs with the Brobdingnagian Bards in a rollicking, hairy foot-stamping, musical celebration of all things Middle-earth. Maybe even pick up a CD after the show (THEY HAVE CDS???!!!).

The Brobdingnagian Bards perform “Hobbit Drinking Songs” at Dragon Con 2021. Photo credit: Valdis Longbeard.

Monday is always a bittersweet day, as con starts to wind down and we must return to non-con life. But TheOneRing.net staff (Kirsten Z. Cairns, Rebecca Perry,  Jim Wert) will close out the Tolkien content with a “Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power” Spoiler Special. Let’s talk about the debut episodes!

I hope to see you at Dragon Con 2022! I’m usually to be found around the High Fantasy Track room, or wherever Tolkien events are to be found. Looking forward to the many meetings in store in Atlanta!

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Author: Valdís is a classic nerd, with many geeky interests, but her life-long love of Tolkien rules them all. She was completely hooked the first time that she read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings at age 8. Since then, she has read the books at least once a year, and delves into Middle-earth at every opportunity with a fervor that would make any dwarf proud. She also deeply loves Peter Jackson’s films, and defends them staunchly when need arises. When reality forces her out of Middle-earth, Valdís is a university professor, a wife, mother of two daughters, and servant to two cats.

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