The Tolkien Lore Podcast

Perhaps Tolkien's only foray into outright comedy, Farmer Giles of Ham is humorous on multiple levels, from its nature as a parody to the many language-based jokes Tolkien includes in the story.  It's a short, whimsical read very different from what most of us know Tolkien for, and well worth picking up.  I recommend picking up this compilation: https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Perilous-Real...

I had a hard time understanding the end of Tolkien's great story for a long time, and I'm sure many others have as well, so here's what I think it really means.   My previous video on the character arcs of all four hobbits is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOQ7dIVsktQ  You can now find me on Rumble at https://rumble.com/c/c-355195  And on Odysee: https://odysee.com/@TolkienLo...

Bilbo's riddle contest with Gollum is much more than just a game....   You can also find me on Rumble at https://rumble.com/c/c-355195  And on Odysee: https://odysee.com/@TolkienLore:f  You can support my channel by visiting my Patreon page: www.patreon.com/tolkiengeek.

This video is for people who've never read the Silmarillion, or who need a quick refresher because it's been too long.  I cover the basics of what it's all about, and future videos will get into a bit more detail.  Or if you want the long version, pick up the book! https://www.amazon.com/Silmarillion-J-R-R-Tolkien/dp/0544338014/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1483330919&sr=8-1&keyword...

One of my pet peeves when it comes to movies and other videos/audio about Tolkien is that so many people don't seem to know how to pronounce things properly, despite the fact that Tolkien provided a pronunciation guide in the Lord of the Rings Appendices!  Here's some basic rules that should help you pronounce basically anything correctly.

Did you know the Hobbit you read isn't the Hobbit Tolkien originally wrote?  It's also not the one Bilbo originally wrote...

In my previous video about Tolkien's lecture/essay, "On Fairy Stories" (here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnMG5HhKK50), I focused on the theme of sub-creation.  Here, I want to discuss another concept, "eucatastrophe," which is a word Tolkien coined to describe it.  Here's the video where I discussed the them of sub-creation in the Silmarillion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOpbrk...

"On Fairy Stories" is a lecture delivered by Tolkien in which he goes over some of his thoughts on the fantasy genre, its purposes, proper audience, and value as an art form.  It's full of gems, so I only have time to cover one theme of the essay.

I'm a purist, but I love the Lord of the Rings movies even though they have tons of flaws.  How do I manage it?  This is how I approach a viewing of Peter Jackson's trilogy.

As I mentioned in my previous video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMN60djLaek), as a purist I find a lot of things about Peter Jackson's movie adaptation that I find...lacking.  This list is about the opposite of that.  These are, in my view, the highest notes Jackson managed to hit.

Two weeks ago I talked about the really good stuff in Peter Jackson's movies: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXxGQ0tsWII    Last week I talked about the scenes that could have been much better with just a little tweaking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlQLmwRv5mU  This week, the world ends and ruination falls upon us because I'm discussing the most irredeemably bad scenes in...

Last week (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXxGQ0tsWII) I discussed what I think are the best scenes in Peter Jackson's movie trilogy.  In this video, I want to discuss the scenes that were pretty good, but could have been much better, even phenomenal, and how that could have been done.

Yoystan at the Men of the West channel recently proposed an idea for how Arwen could have been more involved in Lord of the Rings.  Here are my thoughts on his idea. Yoystan's original video on the topic is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcK7b0YR7Is You can support my channel by visiting my Patreon page: www.patreon.com/tolkiengeek.

A response to a fairly thoughtless article insinuating Orcs are a racialist stand-in.

People often ask why the Great Eagles didn't fly Frodo to Mount Doom.  Here's why.

Numenor began in an unfinished time travel story: The Lost Road.

Tolkien's impact on culture goes far beyond being the grandfather of modern fantasy.

In honor of Valentine's Day, a look at how Tolkien treats romance in his fiction.

Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies are great cinema, but his treatment of some of the characters is downright criminal.

A full history of the One Ring as seen through the lens of who had it when and how they got it and/or lost it.

Some lawyer tried to act cool by quoting The Lord of the Rings.  It didn't go well.

Want to know more about the crystal ball-like artifacts in Lord of the Rings?  Here's the rundown on their history and properties.