fajrdrako | More about the Gathering of the Fellowship... (Reply)

The Gathering of the Fellowship convention was held in the Sheraton Centre in Toronto, at a fancy hotel we would not normally have afforded right across from Nathan Philips square with its coloured lights on the trees for Christmas, skaters, music, and the City Hall lit up in purple.

Underneath, the hotel is connected via "The Path" to a series of underground shopping malls, department stores, and the Eaton Centre. We discovered a great place for lunch on the Path quite near the hotel: a place called Sushi 2000. I went back each day and ate more than I should have.

There is a large outdoor area in the centre of the hotel like a glassed-in courtyard, with rocks, trees and a waterfall. The local birds obviously love it. We instantly dubbed it The Forbidden Pool.

Highlights of the Gathering:

A talk by Professor Michael Drout about Tolkien and Beowulf. It doesn't take much, but his witty, literate talk made me think again about studying Anglo-Saxon - something I've wanted to do since I first read Tolkien in my teens. This talk was informative and well-informed without ever getting pedantic or simplistic.

He said that there has been much reinterpretation in Beowulf scholarship since Tolkien's time but not much progress in proving or disproving theories, as there is no new information to work from.He had all sorts of interesting comments about Beowulf scholarship and the problems with the document, and described how the original manuscript burned in the 18th century when it was stored at a manor called, prophetically, Asburnham.

Exquisite costumes, some in the Masquerade at Medieval Times, some just in the hotel. There were many beautiful young girls who had no trouble at all looking like Elves. There were some of the best costumers from Toronto whom I remember from SF cons and World Cons of the past. There was a Nazgul wandering around looking scary, who came up behind Maboroshimaki when she was waiting in the autography line for Craig Parker, and he put his hands on her shoulders - she screamed loudly. No wonder.

There was a Captain Jack Sparrow wandering around with the appropriate mannerisms - I chuckled whenever I saw him.

Ted Nasmith did a slide show showing art he has done for the Lord of the Rings over the years and the upcoming edition of The Silmarillion. He loves The Silmarillion and some of his comments made me eager to reread it. My favourite picture was of the Queen of the Numenoreans clinging to the last precipice as the ocean bears down upon Numenor.

Heather Bruton was selling art in the dealers room. Go Heather! One dealer had beautiful Gondorian arm braces; another was selling swords at a price I could almost afford - but after much consideration, I didn't get one. I did get a copy of The Rough Guide to The Lord of the Rings though I can't help wishing the title was The Rough Guide to Middle-Earth. I also got some beautiful Elvish and Rohirric calligraphy from a Quebecois artist named Morwen, of two of my favourite poems in Tolkien - "A Elbereth Gilthoniel" and "Where is the horse and the rider".

There were several panels with several speakers of varying degrees of interest, particulary when some speakers were intelligent and articulate and some ... not. I was most impressed with Michelle Segara and Dan Timmons.

The art show: some exquisite pieces, especially portraits of the characters in the movie. One lovely drawing was called "Sea Longing" and it was a picture of Legolas at the shore, with cliffs behind him. There was a cute drawing of "Frodo of the Nine Fingers" and a funny photograph of a "Happy Ent". I particularly liked Heather Mullaney's art - I noticed she also won a prize in the writing competition. Impressive. Another great peace was ceramic tile, showing the Two Trees of Valinor in greens, yellows and blues, with a celtic-knot border. It was nice also to see a children's art section, where a picture of Frodo at the Ford was outstanding