About

Welcome here traveler, nice to see that you found your way here. This website was originally started years ago, it was the first project I ever made right after I got internet, which was about mid-90′s. The project itself have seen several forms, static-coded HTML pages, self-coded systems – yes, even as a CD-rom with an own Windows client to browse the information. Finally, in 2001 I reached what, then, was the final form. A large-scale web-based information system that held the dictionary, games – everything you can imagine. Back then, it was the ultimate source for anything Tolkien, except – for movie information that arose some time later.

Then, disaster struck. Everything I had worked on for nearly 10 years was lost. At that time everything was hosted at the University of Twente in Netherlands. They had a big fire in their server-building, and sadly my hosting there went up in flames. At the same time, I – being in Norway, was in process of rearranging my home setup, so I had emptied my computer, knowing that I had a offshore backup. Needless to say, after I had completed the formatting of the computer, and was enjoying a fast and nearly-as-good-as-new computer, I logged on, just to find that I couldn’t connect. Hours went by without me knowing anything, then I watched the news. Without words, I sat there, watching years of work going up in flames, and nothing I could do to prevent any of it.

Years went by, and I never managed to motivate myself to re-take on this magnificent task, until two years ago when I happened to find a hidden gem. I found some old backup copies that I thought was long-lost, which I soon found that held quite a lot of the old information I have had on the old page. Sure, the dictionary was not even close to the old state, but I had so much other information there as well. Slowly, I started to plan the re-appearance of my website. The old name of the website had been “The Hideout of Imladris” – under the domain www.thoi.org. Of course, after all these years, that domain had been taken by someone else, and any other domain with the word “imladris” was more or less impossible to acquire. But, I figured, that after this long – and with the changes I planned; it might as well be better of with a new name.

So; the name Arthedain was chosen to become the new brand of this website. The work slowly progressed, as I was testing out a lot of various platforms to build this website on; and also mainly due to that I – in the meanwhile, also became a dad. Finally, after years of testing – tweaking, and preparing the back-end scripts I needed; like the timeline generator, and family tree generator; I launched the new website. It is far from it’s old glory, but with time, and slow progress – I hope to get it to what it once was, and even better.

I hope you will enjoy this new website, and do not hesitate to contact me for any reason at all.