It’s long been known that Stephen Colbert (my spirit animal) is a die-hard Silmarillion-reading Tolkien fan, but this week, the week before the last Middle-Earth movie, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, is released in theaters, and also the week before Stephen’s last episode of The Colbert Report airs on Comedy Central, Stephen did more to prove just that: he truly is the truest Tolkien fan.

Stephen Cosplays As Bilbo, Legolas and Gandalf

Today, I received my print copy of Entertainment Weekly in the mail and who do I see on the cover? Gandalf. “No wait. That’s not Ian McKellen. That’s Stephen Colbert cosplaying as Gandalf!” I said to myself after I looked at it more closely. Inside the magazine, there are far more pictures of Stephen cosplaying not only as Gandalf, but as Bilbo and Legolas too. Here are some of those pictures:

Entertainment Weekly has many more pictures on their website as well as a video on YouTube (also below)!

Stephen Interviews Smaug on the Colbert Report

Not only did Stephen take part in some intense cosplaying this week for Entertainment Weekly, but he also interviewed the Chiefest and Greatest of All Calamities, Smaug the Magnificent, on his show, the Colbert Report. The video is below:

So yes, while I can say that I’ve read The Silmarillion and The Children of Hurin (and loved them both!), I certainly cannot say that I’ve interviewed a dragon from Middle-Earth for a national TV show. Nor can anyone else. So, I do believe this proves that Stephen Colbert is the truest Tolkien fan.

Disagree? (Christopher Lee, I think, comes in at a close second.) Share in the comments!