Rings of Power

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

-- The Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien.

(via The Lord of the Rings Wiki)

I would hate to run into a Charr Knight

A Charr Knight from Guild Wars 2.
Source: Creative Uncut

I can't even begin to imagine how you could defeat such a thing. Its neck seems to be unarmored, which is odd. On the other hand, actually getting close enough to its neck without being killed would be a feat onto itself.

Enjoy Blind Guardian's epic ballad "Lord of the Rings"

So who wants to read a chapter from the next A Song of Ice and Fire book, The Winds of Winter?

Because George R.R. Martin has it up on his website. As pointed out by Topless Robot, the excerpt contains spoilers for the end of the previous ASoIF novel, A Dance of Dragons, so fair warning. I'm surprised that he's started on The Winds of Winter, seeing as how it took him years just to finish the last ones. Maybe Game of Thrones reinvigorated him, or perhaps he just decided to finish the series before winter comes.

(h/t Tor.com)

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Players Handbook

Elder Scrolls Wiki

Getting back in the saddle

Saltmanz.com

So after an entirely unintended absence from Swords, Dragons, and Nerds, I am back! The reason for the absence was due to my worst fear when it comes to reading: burn out. You see, I got into a bit of a binge this summer, reading something like ten books from June until about October. Of those ten, all but three were fantasy. Well, it looks like I hit a point where my brain just said "Okay, too much swords and magic! I need starships!" so I decided to take a break and read some science fiction to clear the Orcs and Grue from my head. Now, I'm back and I've decided to tackle one of the biggest hurdles in my nerd life: The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I've made numerous attempts in the past to read the series, but could never quite get the ball rolling. I can't tell you why I could never get into what is largely considered the greatest of fantasy fiction, I just never could. I'm equally baffled as to why I'm reading it now, but I'm 43 pages into The Fellowship of the Ring and not feeling the urge to drop it for something else.

Memory of Light, the final book in Wheel of Time series, is finished

So sayeth Brandon Sanderson himself. Unfortunately, three people were killed when the crane hoisting the massive manuscript snapped its cables.

(via Tor.com)

One does not take public transit into Mordor either, apparently

Nice little easter egg in Google Maps. Well played, Google.

(via Nerd Approved)

First trailer released for The Hobbit

Enjoy.