It’s interesting to consider the last twenty years of [Tolkien’s] life, post–Lord of the Rings, when he was looking at what he created. He was doing some very heavy rethinks about what he had done—the structure of the worlds that he had created and the implications of a lot of it.

Ned Raggett is a library professional and freelance music writer, whose recent essays have appeared in outlets like the Quietus, the Wire, Shfl, Qobuz, and on his lovely (and free-to-follow) Patreon. And he’s also one of the hosts of the Megaphonic podcast By-The-Bywater, which looks at all things J.R.R. Tolkien—his work, his inspirations and impact, creative interpretations in other media, languages, lore, ripoffs, parodies, and anything he and his co-hosts think is interesting!.

Ned joins Chris and Suzanne for a wide-ranging discussion about the various people who read and get something out of The Lord of the Rings, as well as Tolkien’s changing relationship with his work over time.

Ned and his music writing can be followed via Bluesky or his prolific and free-to-follow Patreon.

And, of course, he's one of hosts of By-The-Bywater.

We mention By-The-Bywater episodes about Silicon Valley, the Scouring of the Shire, nostalgia, orcs, and Tolkien’s story The Mariner’s Wife.

It was not Ari Fleischman, it was Rick Santorum.

The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Marquette’s Tolkien archive.

Jared Pechaček: The West Passage.

Lord Dunsany: The King of Elfland’s Daughter.

N.K. Jemisin: The Broken Earth trilogy.

R.F. Kuang: Babel.

Marlon James: Black Leopard, Red Wolf.

Ursula K. LeGuin: Earthsea.

Lloyd Alexander: Chronicles of Prydain.

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