The Tolkien Road

Concerning "Of Beren and Lúthien", Chapter 19 of The Silmarillion... Hey there fellow travelers! Welcome to The Tolkien Road, a long walk through the works and philosophy of J.R.R. Tolkien.  It’s our 50th episode! And it also just so happens to be the episode where we discuss Chapter 19 of The Silmarillion, “Of Beren and Lúthien.” It’s an amazing chapter, an epic tale all by itself, so epic that w...

Concerning "Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin", Chapter 18 of The Silmarillion... Hey there fellow travelers! Welcome to The Tolkien Road, a long walk through the works and philosophy of J.R.R. Tolkien. On this episode, we continue our discussion of The Silmarillion with Chapter 18, "Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin", wherein Angband breaks loose upon Beleriand w...

Concerning "Of the Coming of Men Into the West", Chapter 17 of The Silmarillion...   Hey there fellow travelers! On this episode, we continue our discussion of The Silmarillion with Chapter 17, Of the Coming of Men into the West, wherein we learn of the origin of the Edain, also known as Men. Chapter 17 is the last bit of stage-setting before the pace really begins to pick up again. Enjoy the show...

Concerning "Of Maeglin", Chapter 16 of The Silmarillion... Hey there fellow travelers! On this episode, we continue our discussion of The Silmarillion with Chapter 16, Of Maeglin, wherein we learn the story the dark elf Eöl and the Noldorin princess Aredhel. By the way, if you haven’t already, we would really appreciate it if you left The Tolkien Road a rating and feedback on iTunes. There’s no be...

Concerning "Of the Noldor in Beleriand", Chapter 15 of The Silmarillion... Hey there fellow travelers! On this episode, we continue our discussion of The Silmarillion with Chapter 15, "Of the Noldor in Beleriand", wherein we learn of the founding of Gondolin, and the wicked deeds of the Noldor come to light. By the way, if you haven’t already, we would really appreciate it if you left The Tolkien...

Concerning "Of Beleriand and Its Realms," Chapter 14 of The Silmarillion... On this episode, we continue our discussion of The Silmarillion with Chapter 14, "Of Beleriand and Its Realms." In Chapter 14, we get a detailed run down of the geographical layout of Beleriand. It’s not the most exciting chapter, but hey, that never stopped us from going on and on about something. Topics of discussion inc...

Concerning "Of the Return of the Noldor," Chapter 13 of The Silmarillion... On this episode, we continue our discussion of The Silmarillion with Chapter 13. In this chapter, the Noldor arrive in the north of Beleriand after their mass exodus from Valinor, only to be greeted by the armies of Morgoth. A lot happens in this chapter, and that means there’s a ton to talk about. Topics of discussion inc...

Concerning "Of Men", Chapter 12 of The Silmarillion... On this episode, we continue our discussion of The Silmarillion with Chapter 12, "Of Men". In this short chapter, we learn a bit about the early history of Men in Tolkien’s secondary world and how they relate to the Elves and the Valar.  Topics of discussion include: The Years of the Sun The Names of Men The Works of Ulmo Of Elves and Men The...

We're back! We apologize for our absence; it's time to move on down the road... On this episode of The Tolkien Road, we continue our discussion of The Silmarillion with Chapter 11, Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor. We cover topics ranging from the "Happy Fault" philosophy of Manwë to the creation of the Sun and Moon to the curious inaction of the Valar. Poems 4:00 The Death of Fëanor...

Hey there fellow travelers! Welcome to The Tolkien Road, a long walk through the works and philosophy of J.R.R. Tolkien.  On this episode, we begin a discussion of Tolkien’s Letters by considering a 1963 letter he wrote to his son Michael. In this letter, Tolkien seeks to help Michael work through a period where he felt depressed. In doing so, Tolkien opens up about his own faith, and how he keeps...

Concerning "Of the Sindar", Chapter 10 of The Silmarillion, wherein we find out what's been happening back in Beleriand... Hey there fellow travelers! Welcome to The Tolkien Road, a long walk through the works and philosophy of J.R.R. Tolkien. On this episode, we resume our discussion of The Silmarillion with Chapter 10, "Of the Sindar", wherein we learn what’s been going on with Thingol, Melian,...

Concerning "Flight to the Ford," Book 1 Chapter 12 of The Lord of the Rings, wherein Strider and the hobbits deal with the aftermath of the Black Riders' attack... Hey there fellow travelers! Welcome to The Tolkien Road, a long walk through the works and philosophy of J.R.R. Tolkien. On this episode, we continue our discussion of The Lord of the Rings with Book 1, Chapter 12 of Fellowship, Flight...

Concerning "A Knife in the Dark," Book 1, Chapter 11 of The Lord of the Rings, wherein the hobbits Strider set out on the long road to Rivendell... Hey there fellow travelers! Welcome to The Tolkien Road, a long walk through the works and philosophy of J.R.R. Tolkien.  On this episode, we continue our discussion of The Lord of the Rings with Book 1, Chapter 11 of Fellowship, A Knife in the Dark, w...

Concerning "Strider", Book 1, Chapter 10 of The Lord of the Rings, wherein we learn more about the mysterious Ranger... Hey there fellow travelers! Welcome to The Tolkien Road, a long walk through the works and philosophy of J.R.R. Tolkien.  On this episode, we continue our discussion of The Lord of the Rings with Book 1, Chapter 10 of Fellowship, "Strider", wherein we learn more about the mysteri...

Concerning "At the Sign of the Prancing Pony", Book 1, Chapter 9 of The Lord of the Rings, in which the hobbits visit Bree... Hey there fellow travelers! Welcome to The Tolkien Road, a long walk through the works and philosophy of J.R.R. Tolkien.  On this episode, we continue our discussion of The Lord of the Rings with Book 1, Chapter 9 of Fellowship, At the Sign of the Prancing Pony, wherein we...

Concerning "Fog on the Barrow-Downs", Book 1, Chapter 8 of The Lord of the Rings, in which the Barrow-wight attacks... What is a Barrow-wight? Who are the men of Carn-Dûm? Is there any connection between them and the Black Riders? What’s up with Frodo’s latest mysterious dream? On this episode of The Tolkien Road, we discuss all this and more as we continue our discussion of The Lord of the Rings ...

Concerning "In the House of Tom Bombadil", Book 1, Chapter 7 of The Lord of the Rings, in which we ponder all things Bombadil... On this episode, we continue our discussion of The Lord of the Rings with Book 1, Chapter 7 of Fellowship, "In the House of Tombadil". As the title of this chapter would suggest, our discussion on this episode consists mainly in attempting to answer the question “Who is...

Concerning "The Old Forest", Book 1, Chapter 6 of The Lord of the Rings, in which Frodo and company enter the Perilous Realm... On this episode, we continue our discussion of The Lord of the Rings with Book 1, Chapter 6 of Fellowship, "The Old Forest", in which Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin set out on their journey through the Old Forest and encounter a far more dangerous road than they expected....

Concerning "A Conspiracy Unmasked", Book 1, Chapter 5 of The Lord of the Rings, in which our heroes decide to take a bath and the road less travelled... On this episode, we continue our discussion of The Lord of the Rings with Book1, Chapter 5 of Fellowship, "A Conspiracy Unmasked", in which Frodo, Sam, and Pippin enjoy a warm bath and decide to make their way to Bree via the ominous Old Forest. C...

Concerning Book 1 Chapter 4 of The Fellowship of the Ring, “A Shortcut to Mushrooms”... On this episode of The Tolkien Road, we continue our discussion of The Lord of the Rings with Book 1, Chapter 4 of Fellowship, "A Shortcut to Mushrooms." This is a strange chapter. It could be argued that it’s the most uneventful chapter in the whole book, with no major development in plot and not much new info...

Concerning Book 1 Chapter 3 of The Fellowship of the Ring, “Three Is Company”... On this episode, we continue our discussion of The Lord of the Rings with Book1, Chapter 3 of Fellowship, Three Is Company. In this chapter, Frodo sets out from Hobbiton and does a whole lot of walking. Of course, he also has a near disastrous run-in with the mysterious black riders and encounters Gildor, a Noldoran E...

Concerning Book 1 Chapter 2 of The Fellowship of the Ring, “The Shadow of the Past”... On this episode of the Tolkien Road, we continue our discussion of The Lord of the Rings with Chapter 2 of Fellowship, "The Shadow of the Past." While consisting mostly in dialogue, I consider this to be one of the prime examples of why I love Tolkien’s style so much. Along the way we discuss our love of Sam Gam...

Concerning Book 1 Chapter 1 of The Fellowship of the Ring, “A Long Expected Party”...   On this episode of The Tolkien Road, we finally launch into Chapter 1 of The Fellowship of the Ring, "A Long Expected Party". Among other things, we discuss the themes of magic, legend, and locality as they play out in this chapter, as well as the indications that Bilbo’s Ring is more than just a curious artifa...

On this episode of The Tolkien Road, we examine and discuss Tolkien’s influential essay On Fairy-Stories. While both Greta and I are hungry to start our read-through of The Lord of the Rings, I felt it was important to consider the ideas Tolkien lays out in On Fairy-Stories because of the role they play in The Lord of the Rings. After all, this is the place where he lays out the distinctively Tolk...

On this episode of Tolkien Road, we continue with The Lord of the Rings by discussing the Prologue, the section that begins with "Concerning Hobbits." We cover the origin and nature of hobbits, pipeweed, the structure of hobbit society, and Bilbo's little white lie regarding Gollum and the Ring. We also examine the fascinating narrative structure that Tolkien begins to apply in this section. Come...