The Tolkien Lore Podcast

A common element in all of Tolkien's major story arcs is greed, and its consequences.   Intro and outro music from "The Shadow of the Past," on the Lord of the Rings Trilogy Soundtrack, copyright New Line Productions and Reprise Records.

What do you get for that Tolkien fan on your nice list?  Here are a bunch of ideas, just to get you started!

Despite being a relatively minor character in terms of ink spilled, Eowyn's character is very rich and developed.  Here's my take.   On the topic of Eowyn's battle with the Witch King (and other scenes), see this video on how the movies missed a great opportunity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlQLmwRv5mU   Intro music (The King of the Golden Hall) and outro music (Helm's Deep) fr...

One of the major differences between the movies and novels for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings is the use and portrayal of action scenes.  In this video I discuss how each is different, and the importance of those differences to the stories.   On problems with the Hobbit movies generally, see this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kORh99ZRuZ4   Intro and outro music from "...

Took me 5 months, but I finally read the latest release from Christopher Tolkien.  In this video, I break down what the book is, some of what makes it important, and other tidbits I found interesting.       On the theme of death in Tolkien's works, see this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tjm0HdZUgr0   Intro music, "The Prophecy," and outro music, "Evensta...

Tolkien didn't just create a mythology; he created an entire cosmology, starting with the creation of his imaginary world.  Many events in Tolkien's stories changed the shape of the world as well, and in this video I explain the creation story and the major world-changing events in Tolkien's legendarium.     For more on the island of Numenor and its sinking, check out this vide...

Wisecrack has a video (https://youtu.be/ghbf1psQNzk) on the differences between Tolkien's original novel and Peter Jackson's movie trilogy, and while some of the points are valid to a degree, much of the detail is pretty far off.   For my video on Aragorn's character arc in the book vs. the movie, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPpBd0WSOV4  For my video on the character arcs of the fo...

Did you know The Lord of the Rings is a translation of a real work?  Well, not really, of course, but Tolkien wrote it as if he really found some ancient writings.  Here's some of the fun nerdy things related to this idea.

Sauron was causing problems in Middle Earth long before the events in the Lord of the Rings, going all the way back to the First Age.  Here's the scoop.   For more on Sauron and the destruction of Numenor, see my video on Numenor's history here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqDslbXjg70

Tolkien bucked a lot of trends in his day, and that extended even to his professional work.  His influence is perhaps strongest with regard to the Old English poem Beowulf, and in this video I discuss some of his ideas as presented in a lecture (now available as an essay) titled "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics."   You can find a copy of the essay here: https://www.amazon.com/Monst...

Peter Jackson admitted he didn't know what he was doing when he filmed The Hobbit trilogy, and it shows.  Here are some of the key things I think the movies got wrong.

The story of how The Hobbit came to be written and published is almost as interesting as The Hobbit itself.  OK, maybe not, but it IS interesting, and serves as an interesting backdrop to a lot of discussions.   For more on how the Hobbit was retconned to fit Tolkien's broader legendarium, check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIbXfJ72j4c   When I publish the video o...

Boromir is one of the more obviously flawed characters in The Lord of the Rings, but the movie portrayal flattens out his character compared to the novel and even slightly turns him on his head.

The Wizards of Middle Earth are somewhat mysterious, and the White Council isn't discussed in much detail either.  However, there is some good information outside of the main sources.

I've done three videos on the Old Forest, Tom Bombadil, and the Barrow Downs.  But why bother talking about chapters that don't move the plot forward in any significant way?  Well....  Video on the Old Forest is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1ODkwQ-lnY  Video on Tom Bombadil is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKfG0vP_INs  Video on the Barrow Downs is here: h...

Before watching this video, watch The Old Forest (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1ODkwQ-lnY) and Tom Bombadil (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKfG0vP_INs) for some context.     You might also be interested in this video on the history of the North Kingdom of Arnor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t0zfrkinqc   For the events before Frodo enters the Old Forest, check our this...

If you haven't seen the Old Forest video (https://youtu.be/Y1ODkwQ-lnY), you might want to watch it first, because this is the second of a three-part series covering a huge amount of material Peter Jackson left out of his movie trilogy.     I also discuss Tom Bombadil in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE3a9hiEKY8   The next video in this series, on the Barrow Downs...

Peter Jackson left out several chapters of material from the Fellowship of the Ring between the hobbits leaving the Shire and arriving at Bree.  This is the first in a series of videos exploring that material, and links to the other two are below.  Part two of the series, on Tom Bombadil, is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKfG0vP_INs  Part three, on the Barrow Downs, is here:...

People tend to find all kinds of hidden meanings in fiction, and Tolkien's works are no exception.  Here are some of the more plausible alleged allegories in the Lord of the Rings, with explanations of why they don't really work.  There are plenty of others out there as well, but some of them are WAY too out there to get into here.

Aside from the friendship of Frodo and Sam, the one shared by Legolas and Gimli is probably the most significant in the Lord of the Rings, so much so that you almost can't talk about one of the pair without discussing the other.  Here's some background on both characters and a discussion of why their friendship is so important to the story.  Since I mentioned the Unfinished Tales, here's...

Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy didn't just leave out plot points, it left out some pretty significant characters.  Here are my top five.  Middle Earth Mysteries video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE3a9hiEKY8  Video on the theme of death: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tjm0HdZUgr0  And the video on the Kingdom of Arnor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t0...

The events at Bree are pivotal to a lot of the story in Lord of the Rings, but because Peter Jackson's movies truncated so much of the Fellowship, a lot of Tolkien's version got left out.  In this video I go over some of the major differences between the book and the movie.  Here's the video I did on how Tolkien retconned the Hobbit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIbXfJ72j4c

Tolkien wrote in more than one of his letters (which you can get here: https://www.amazon.com/Letters-J-R-R-Tolkien-J-R/dp/0618056998/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1499166870&sr=8-1&keywords=letters+of+jrr+tolkien) that one of the main themes of his Silmarillion and Lord of the Rings was death.  In this video I discuss the background for the them, its general implications, and some speci...

Of all Tolkien's Middle Earth stories, Beren and Luthien probably take the most inspiration from his own life.  Based on his own love story with his wife, Edith, and taking some additional cues from his experience with World War I, you can easily draw comparisons between Tolkien's life and the greatest story of his Silmarillion epic.

We all know Tolkien's elves are immortal, beautiful, strong, and basically perfect.  But they're anything but homogenous!  In this video I discuss the three main Elven sub-groups--the Vanyar, the Noldor, and the Teleri--and point out some of the important characters from each group.