In Frodo’s Footsteps – Schwetzingen

In two adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings,” the Shire was the starting point for many adventures that the two half-brothers Bilbo and Frodo Baggins had with their companions. Shire, Rohan, Gondor, Mirkwood and finally Mordor – fans of films and novels contemplate the images that director Peter Jackson took in New Zealand and gave a face to the fictional kingdom of Middle-earth. A face full of greenery, icy heights, and eerily dark and spooky areas.

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With “Auenland und Düsterwald” from the publishing house Frederking & Thaler, landscape photographer Andreas Gerth and Tolkien expert Frank Weinreich take us to a wild and partly unaffected country: Switzerland.

The impressive picture book shows the beauty of the many regions of Switzerland in 220 photographs. It’s not the home of hobbits, but in Tolkien’s In Search of Middle-earth, similar places are closer than New Zealand and also closer than you think: the Alps offer stunning landscapes between fantasy and reality – very similar to the Shire. At 224 pages, Shire and Mirkwood offer a pictorial and literary journey into another world that lies practically on your doorstep.

But beware! The reader quickly forgets that this is not about Middle-earth or even about the original locations in New Zealand of the Jackson triads. He leads the volume over the mountains and through the realm of shadows deep into the land of the Elbes – in other words, to mysterious Switzerland.

Tolkien would have liked the picturesque pictures, after all he once wrote that “Middle-earth” was by no means a fictional world, but the Earth was the scene of an invented historical period. Ergo: This picture book is a real must for any Lord of the Rings fan!

Sharing and dust removal

The Schwetzinger Zeitung gives copies of “Auenland und Düsterwald”. Participation in the competition can be found at www.schwetzinger-zeitung.de/gewinnspiel. There you can read the terms of participation. Closing date is Tuesday, 22nd November. Password: Shire and Mirkwood. The winners will be drawn at random and notified and can then pick up the book at the SZ customer forum in Schwetzingen.

About the book: “Auenland und Düsterwald” by Andreas Gerth and Frank Weinreich, Varlag Friederking and Thaler, 224 pages and 220 illustrations, hardcover, 26.8 x 28.9 cm format , 49.99 euros. Note: This work is not authorized by the Tolkien Estate or HarperCollins Publishers and is not official.