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26. The Work of Repair After the Storm.
Jared, Oriana and Ned talk about Oriana’s choice of topic: the Scouring of
the Shire. Both the title of the penultimate chapter of The Lord of the
Rings and the event it refers to, the Scouring depicts what happens when
Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin return home after all their adventures, only to
discover familiar places changed beyond recognition, not to mention the spirit
of the Shire in general. Ranging from family reunions and stirring moments of
bravery to guerrilla warfare and final scenes of at times surprising horror,
it’s a remarkable elaboration on the idea that—unlike in some fairy tales or
their descendants—you can’t entirely go home again. How do the individual
hobbits both collectively and individually react to their situations, and in
doing so, what does that mean for what is the ‘right’ way to respond? What
implicit comments could Tolkien be making not only about his own experiences
in war but his wider thoughts on imperialism and destruction in general? What
does it mean in terms of how the Scouring seems to be ultimately less vengeful
than similar situations in our own world, and could it be a form of wish
fulfillment? How do adaptations of the story handle the Scouring—or do they do
so at all? And why did Jared’s mom need to plant more peonies anyway?
Show Notes.
Jared’s
doodle. For
spring has sprung, you see.
As was said in the insert segment, check out our fellow Megaphonic podcast
The Spouter-Inn on The Fellowship of
the Ring! (And the bonus episode with
Oriana is out!)
So yeah, looks like Amazon is kicking down a LOT of
money there for their TV show. Rob Bricken has a
point.
Meantime, so much for Amazon’s separate Tolkien
MMORPG. For now at least.
John Waters has been wanting to film Fruitcake for over a decade
now.
Don’t Call It a Cult by Sarah
Berman on NXIVM is a good read indeed.
Morfydd Clark is still dropping
breadcrumbs...
Yeah, Scott Rudin. Piece of work, this guy.
The Glomar Explorer deal is
classic 1970s shenanigans.
The Scouring has
been represented in Tolkien artwork various ways. Alan
Lee’s is
one of the most famous and melancholy representations, Inger
Edelfeldt’s among the most
dramatic.
There’s no exact equivalent in Peter Jackson’s version, of course—the brief
visions in the Mirror of Galadriel
aside—but the scene
itself has some striking
elements: the older hobbit woman wondering what’s up, and especially the
wordless toast at the Green Dragon.
Restorative justice is gaining in popularity
and interest.
In re Indiana Jones—never choose
poorly.
Letter 100 from the published
Tolkien letters is a very interesting state-of-mind read at the end of World
War II.
Here’s our episode on
imperialism.
More on umbrellas in Seattle. And if you’re wondering about
ACAB…
Support By-The-Bywater and all the Megaphonic shows on
Patreon!
View all episodes
By Jared Pechaček, Oriana Scwindt, and Ned Raggett
4.8
2929 ratings
Jared, Oriana and Ned talk about Oriana’s choice of topic: the Scouring of
the Shire. Both the title of the penultimate chapter of The Lord of the
Rings and the event it refers to, the Scouring depicts what happens when
Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin return home after all their adventures, only to
discover familiar places changed beyond recognition, not to mention the spirit
of the Shire in general. Ranging from family reunions and stirring moments of
bravery to guerrilla warfare and final scenes of at times surprising horror,
it’s a remarkable elaboration on the idea that—unlike in some fairy tales or
their descendants—you can’t entirely go home again. How do the individual
hobbits both collectively and individually react to their situations, and in
doing so, what does that mean for what is the ‘right’ way to respond? What
implicit comments could Tolkien be making not only about his own experiences
in war but his wider thoughts on imperialism and destruction in general? What
does it mean in terms of how the Scouring seems to be ultimately less vengeful
than similar situations in our own world, and could it be a form of wish
fulfillment? How do adaptations of the story handle the Scouring—or do they do
so at all? And why did Jared’s mom need to plant more peonies anyway?
Show Notes.
Jared’s
doodle. For
spring has sprung, you see.
As was said in the insert segment, check out our fellow Megaphonic podcast
The Spouter-Inn on The Fellowship of
the Ring! (And the bonus episode with
Oriana is out!)
So yeah, looks like Amazon is kicking down a LOT of
money there for their TV show. Rob Bricken has a
point.
Meantime, so much for Amazon’s separate Tolkien
MMORPG. For now at least.
John Waters has been wanting to film Fruitcake for over a decade
now.
Don’t Call It a Cult by Sarah
Berman on NXIVM is a good read indeed.
Morfydd Clark is still dropping
breadcrumbs...
Yeah, Scott Rudin. Piece of work, this guy.
The Glomar Explorer deal is
classic 1970s shenanigans.
The Scouring has
been represented in Tolkien artwork various ways. Alan
Lee’s is
one of the most famous and melancholy representations, Inger
Edelfeldt’s among the most
dramatic.
There’s no exact equivalent in Peter Jackson’s version, of course—the brief
visions in the Mirror of Galadriel
aside—but the scene
itself has some striking
elements: the older hobbit woman wondering what’s up, and especially the
wordless toast at the Green Dragon.
Restorative justice is gaining in popularity
and interest.
In re Indiana Jones—never choose
poorly.
Letter 100 from the published
Tolkien letters is a very interesting state-of-mind read at the end of World
War II.
Here’s our episode on
imperialism.
More on umbrellas in Seattle. And if you’re wondering about
ACAB…
Support By-The-Bywater and all the Megaphonic shows on
Patreon!
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