Home page: You're never sure what picture you'll get at the top - an ugly Orc or a beautiful Elf. Roll the mouse around and admire the fluid motion of the navigation bars. Classy.
Best bit: Some fab downloads.
Orc's overview: Galloping Gandalfs! As you'd expect from the official site, there's a wealth of fascinating background info on the production.
Home page: No messing about - straight into the latest news. And there's a lot of it.
Best bit: A lively fan section packed with material - including downloadable fan-written music!
Orc's overview: This is an extraordinary fan site - it calls itself "perhaps the best Tolkien/LOTR-site on the web". It's so huge there's even a Newbie Guide for first-time visitors. How thoughtful.
Home page: A hand stretches out of the page bearing The One Ring... plus some film grabs up the top.
Best bit: Learn Elvish!
Orc's overview: A fairly basic fan site, but good for a quick visit.
Home page: Simple design, lots of black and white with a splash of colour.
Best bit: The links - that's what this site's all about.
Orc's overview: A quick way of finding links to all parts of the LOTR world. But you can also set up your own hobbits.net e-mail address!
Home page: Nothing fancy about the design, but check out all the research!
Best bit: Quick Costumes - how to become Legolas with a bathrobe and a metallic marker pen!
Orc's overview: A fabulously-researched site with tips on how to recreate the amazing costumes from LOTR on a tight budget.
Home page: You enter this amazing site through a hobbit front door, printed on an old piece of parchment.
Best bit: Links page - so comprehensive, you could get lost in it for hours.
Orc's overview: Bless my Balrogs! This site looks beautiful, all the content appears on the pages of an ancient book (you need to install Flash 5 to enjoy it).
Home page: A big warm graphic of mountains and the sun plus lots of pix of LOTR merchandise.
Best bit: Guided Tours - let Bilbo Baggins take you on an illustrated trip around Middle-earth.
Wonderful.
Orc's overview: If you aren't a fanatic when you enter this site you will be when you leave. This site has been put together by people who love the subject - and it shows.
Home page: Black background (very Mordor-ish) and loads of movie images.
Best bit: The picture galleries - scene by scene screen grabs from Fellowship of the Rings.
Orc's overview: If you want to remind yourself of the film without watching it all the way through this is one easy way to do it.
Home page: No pictures but lots of useful text.
Best bit: The way you can find out what your name would be in Quenya.
Orc's overview: If you want to understand those bits of the books that aren't in English then this is the place to go!
Home page: Stylish design with lots of Elijah headshots.
Best bit: Video clips archive - very comprehensive.
Orc's overview: All you ever wanted to know about the Frodo actor - and lots of fan fic too.
Home page: Black and white shot of Billy
Best bit: Images - Billy's behind the scenes snaps
Orc's overview: Billy's official site, where you can also read his diaries and listen to stacks of audio interviews.
