There is a great deal of original research on the Web that has been inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's fiction in some way. However, around the year 2002 a very perceivable change in the nature of Tolkien Web sites occurred. We could call this the "Peter Jackson Effect" or the Jackson Transformation.

Although my own Web-published research had been popular from 1996 onwards, being used by thousands of students, teachers, librarians, and advanced researchers around the world (many of whom emailed me to ask for permission to cite my work in their papers or print my essays), I have found that most of my influence on other Tolkien Web writers appears to have occurred during the Jackson Transformation Years (2002 - 2005).

There was no lack of original thought or copy with respect to the literary Tolkien during those years, but LoTRmania swept the Internet and most new Web sites (as well as many older ones) became more focused on following the movies or commenting on them.

The movies so overshadowed Tolkien literary thought on the Web that much of what has been published since 2004 onward has been largely propaganda, some aimed at counteracting the influence of my own essays, some aimed more at advocating particular points of view with respect to linguistics, Christian thought, neo-Nazism and white supremism, and other areas of Tolkien thought and literature in which I had little if anything to offer.

Many of the Web sites that people made during the 1990s and early 2000s are still online. Most have been abandoned or lost. Perhaps only access was lost and some former writers wrung their hands in frustration for a while, unable to update their beloved works, before moving on with their lives.

You can generally identify many of the dead pages by the old Link Exchange banners they display (that service has long since been bought and shut down by Microsoft), non-functioning hit counters that point to non-existing domains, and "Last updated" notices that clearly predate the 21st century.

It's a shame that people lost their passion for saying something about Tolkien's literature. Even more so because they have vacated the playing field to propagandists and pundits like me. Sharing what you enjoy about Tolkien without concern for whether someone disagrees with you helps make the Tolkien Web so much more interesting, at least to someone like me.

Many of you read what I write. But I read what many of you write, and I enjoy browsing other Tolkienists' points of view. I don't think everything that can be said has been said. Not by any measure. And now is an opportunity to pass up the propagandists who live in an imaginary past Tolkien himself never envision.

I think the Web is ready for a new generation of pundits. But if you don't believe me, take a look at some of the voices of yesteryear. There were so many I had to limit myself to just one domain: Geocities. A few of the sites are still being updated. Some of the sites are probably embroiled in politics I cannot begin to explain. That's just the way Tolkien criticism and research goes.

NOTE: There will be some popup ads. I cannot help that. Also, you may still be able to revisit some of the dead links these pages point to through the Internet Archive.

• Men Eldalambion is an English-language gateway to a remarkable archive of translations and original compositions in Quenya by Petri Tikka. The main site is not in English.
• Theology and the World of Tolkien is part of a much larger Developing Theology Web resource.
• Tolkien Storytelling is a fan site that focuses on cultural essays about the races of Middle-earth, music, languages, and a couple of other topics.
• Ronald Kyrmse's Gondolin is a DeutschPortuguese-English Web resource that is largely concerned with Tengwar and geography, from what I can tell. His melding of the maps of Eriador and Beleriand is quite good.
• Gazing Upon Everlasting Day: The Catholic Vision of J.R.R. Tolkien has a fairly self-explanatory title. In addition to Tolkien material the author also offers content about Flannery O'Connor, Walker Percy, G.K Chesterton, and others.
• The Futurian Socity of Sydney includes two Tolkien essays on its Web site. The international scope of their full content is impressive.
• BurnTalon's Tolkien Page is a modest fan dedication to Tolkien that is part of a larger fan site. The author moved the site elsewhere at one time but the new link on the home page is dead.
• Steve Hayes writes about Christianity, Paganism and Literature on a site that mixes content about the Inklings with content about paganism and witches.
• Tolkien Script Publishing looks like it is still being updated. Apparently the author has spent some money on upgrading the Geocities hosting. They publish electronic documents about Tolkien's invented scripts.
• Leonie's Hobbit Hole is another old fan site that appears to have been abandoned around 2001. It's a cute site that offers some basic information about Gandalf, Hobbits, and other topics while promising more that never came.
• Coron's Sources of Fantasy Fonts index may or may not lead to dead sites, but the variation on Tolkien fonts is impressive.
• The Tolkien Archives supposedly moved to its own domain but this original version appears to be all that's left.
• The Led Zeppelin and J.R.R. Tolkien Home Page is very thorough and offers some trivia I had never heard before. The Led Zeppelin/Tolkien connection is well documented, but this page was one of the first to share information on the Web.
• Mellon Internet Society is a Tolkien fan page with fonts, pictures, links, and a (possibly discontinued) newsletter. The picures may take a long time to load, or the links may all be dead now. I did not wait.
• Tyalie Tyelellieva is Tolkien Linguist Lisa Starr's page. She is still updating the site. See the Tolkien Webliography here on Tolkien Studies on the Web for more linguistic resources.
• Alberto Monteiro's Tolkien Site is old-fashioned but offers a lot of interesting thought and commentary. I am not sure if you can get to all the pages through the navigation. I see many more when I search through Google than are immediately apparent to me on this site. Alberto had apparently just updated the page right before I visited.

There is much, much more out there waiting to be found, to be found once again, or to be recognized for its continuing contribution to Tolkien studies on the Web. I'll try to do more posts like this in the coming months.