Athrabeth

In this episode, Jude and Stef discuss History of Middle-earth Volume 9: Sauron Defeated, the final book in the History of the Lord of the Rings. Jude introduces The Drowning of Anadûnê,  discussing the different versions of the tale of the Drowning of Númenor and the cultural traditions for which they were written. Jude also talks about the importance of adaptation and fan fiction in relation to Tolkien's works. Later, Stef presents the omitted Epilogue to the Lord of the Rings, which gives us a glimpse of Sam’s life and family after the event of the Lord of the Rings.

Citations 

Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/4rZynfWv3f

Tolkien, J. R. R. Sauron Defeated. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 9. HarperCollins, London, 1992.

Tolkien, J. R.R. Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien: Revised and Expanded Edition. Ed. Humphrey Carpenter with Christopher Tolkien. HarperCollins Publishers Inc., New York. “Digital Edition NOVEMBER 2023 ISBN: 978-0-06-337435-5, Version 09282023, Print ISBN: 978-0-35-865298-4” (Accessed Dec 31, 2025). 

Fliss, William M, and Schaefer, Sarah C., J.R.R. Tolkien: The Art of the Manuscript. The Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University, August 19-December 23, 2022. ISBN 978-0-945366-36-2. Images 30, 31, 32, 33 and 34. 

Tolkien Gateway entry for “King’s Letter”

https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/King%27s_Letter (Accessed Dec 31, 2025)

Tolkien Gateway entry for “Sauron Defeated” 

https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Sauron_Defeated (Accessed 10/1/25)

Tolkien Gateway entry for “Vinyar Tengwar 29”

https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Vinyar_Tengwar_29 (Accessed Dec 31, 2025)

Reddit post, “Where can I find the unpublished epilogue to Lord of the Rings?” by user “mammothman64”

https://www.reddit.com/r/tolkienfans/comments/ydejtq/where_can_i_find_the_unpublished_epilogue_to_lord/ (Accessed Dec 31, 2025)

-Response from “gynnis-scholasticus”

Mentioned in the episode:

Lee Knox Ostertag, 2021 (username is mollyknox)

On AO3: “Sam and Frodo Comics, Chapter 5: The Unpublished Epilogue” 

https://archiveofourown.org/works/27478819/chapters/72409524 (Accessed Dec 31, 2025)

Miriam Ellis, “The Importance of The Epilogue to The Lord of the Rings” (posted April 29, 2024)

https://www.miriamellis.com/post/the-importance-of-the-epilogue-to-the-lord-of-the-rings (Accessed Dec 31, 2025)

“Tolkien’s Unpublished Epilogue to The Lord of the Rings” by In Deep Geek, published Dec 23, 2023, 

https://youtu.be/H2yRW4xmZFY?si=iZNDS8MaItSA8PFL

 (Accessed Dec 31, 2025)

This month, join Jude and Stef for a lively interview with cartoonist and newly minted Tolkien author, Tom Racine, about his new book, “Doomed to Die: An A-Z of Death in Tolkien” published on November 11, 2025 by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. We talk about Tom’s love of Edward Gorey, the process of turning an viral Instagram Inktober series into a book, banishing the imposter demons, and more. A huge thank you to Tom for joining us and for his warmth and humor. 

Citations

Thank you to our special guest, Tom Racine! 

Follow Tom on Instagram: @tom_racine_art

Get yourself a copy of Tom’s book on bookshop.org:

“Doomed to Die: An A-Z of Death in Tolkien”, published on November 11, 2025 by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 

https://bookshop.org/p/books/doomed-to-die-an-a-z-of-death-in-tolkien-tom-racine/fcc5ecee4168afc1?ean=9780063474420&next=t

Tom’s website:

https://www.tomracinevoice.com/

The Wizard Blues: The Adventures of Mori and Rom:

https://www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/the-wizard-blues-the-adventures-of-mori-and-rom/list?title_no=957997&page=1

This month, Jude and Stef have the pleasure of interviewing Tolkien educator, influencer and now biographer Don Marshall about his new book, “J.R.R. Tolkien: The Father of Modern Fantasy” which will be published on November 25, 2025, by Adams Media, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. We chat with Don about how the book came about, the challenges and delights of the writing process, and the surprises Don found along the way. Thanks for joining us again on Athrabeth, Don! 

Citations: 

Thank you to our special guest Don Marshall! 

You can find links to Don’s social media below:

https://beacons.ai/donmarshall72  

J.R.R. Tolkien: The Father of Modern Fantasy by Don Marshall will be published on November 25, 2025, by Adam’s Media, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, in both book and audiobook format!

Find your copy at the link below:

https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/J-R-R-Tolkien/Don-Marshall/Pocket-Portraits/9781668135440

With the thinning of the veil comes our annual autumnal offering! Just when you thought you were safe from repulsive repasts, pilfered plates, and things that slither in the night- Hobbitween 6 has arrived! Join Theo Fleetfoot, Ozzie Oiolaire, Finellen Frostbeard, Iadar Listbalarion, Pumpkins Proudfoot, and our fearless Lore Master for another terrifying trip to Middle-earth. Happy Hobbitween! 

Citations

The One Ring role playing game by Free League: https://freeleaguepublishing.com/en/games/the-one-ring/

Thank you to our cast:

Lore Master: James Kaku Pierson, Bsky @james.athrabeth.com

Theo Fleetfoot: Max Jiménez

Ozzie Oiolaire: Zeke Pease, Instagram @ezpease & @greenvillearms 

Finellen Frostbeard: James Keen, Instagram @james.squatch

Iadar Listbalarion: Jude Vais, Bsky jude.athrabeth.com 

Pumpkins Proudfoot: Stef Midlock, Bsky @stef.athrabeth.com & Instagram @thenorthfour

Title music is “Lord of the Devil Rings” by Ponymusic, courtesy of Pond5

Soundscapes provided by Tabletop Audio, https://tabletopaudio.com

Featured tracks courtesy of Epidemic Sound:

• Amber Glow - Waves of TIme
• Ben Elson - Cosmic Countdown
• Bonnie Grace - Only the Brave
• Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen - Tracker
• Dream Cave - Question Mark
• First Timer - Will You Marry Me (Baby, It’s Christmas)
• Grevens Tid - Cry of the Banshee
• Hampus Naeselius - Override
• Hampus Naeselius - Replicants
• Howard Harper-Barnes - Mysterious Forest
• Jonathan Bondesson - Spanish Heat
• Jules Gaia - Hot Pursuits
• Lennon Hutton - The Slasher
• Lupus Nocte - Maniamaster
• Mattie Maguire - Racing Hearts
• Max Anson - Conclusion
• Rachel Sandy - Machina Soldier
• Rachel Sandy - Shadow of Mortus
• Robert “Robi” Svard - Formentera
• Roy Williams - More of the Same
• Scoobadive - Granny Dance
• Viktor Lundberg - Nordic Mountain Reel

Additional Music and sound effects licensed from soundstripe, https://www.soundstripe.com  

Support Zeke and check out The Greenville Arms 1889 Inn! https://www.greenvillearms.com

Find us on the web at https://www.athrabethnetwork.com/athrabeth

Join the conversation on the Athrabeth discord!

Athrabeth is a production of the Athrabeth Podcast Network

Athrabeth is Produced by James Kaku Pierson

In episode 87, we discuss highlights from our recent trip to Oxonmoot, and present our session from Oxonmoot titled, “Athrabeth Podcast Live: Tolkien’s Try-hard Troublemakers” with special guests Dr. Sara Brown and Dr. Kristine Larsen. Join us as we explore what happens when characters from Tolkien’s legendarium go that extra mile to make everything around them just a little bit worse.  

Thank you to Sara and Kristine for joining us for this session, you are brilliant and hilarious and we are huge fans! Thank you to the Tolkien Society for having us, and thanks to their volunteer squad who made the weekend fun and safe! Thank you to our audience who joined us both in Oxford and online, and thank you to our amazing room steward, Kit Hannah! 

Listen to the show with accompanying slides on YouTube here!

Citations: 

Thank you to our guests, Dr. Sara Brown and Dr. Kristine Larsen!

Sara Brown: [email protected], @aranelparmadil.bsky.social

Kristine Larsen: [email protected]

Tolkien, J. R. R. Morgoth’s Ring. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 10. HarperCollins, London, 1993. 

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Children of Húrin. Edited by Christopher Tolkien. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Apple Books edition.

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Lord of the Rings. HarperCollins e-books. Apple Books edition.

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Nature of Middle-earth. Edited by Carl F. Hostetter, HarperCollins, 2021. 

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Silmarillion. Edited by Christopher Tolkien. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Apple Books edition. 

Tolkien, J. R. R. Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth. Edited by Christopher Tolkien. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Apple Books edition.

Tolkien, J. R. R. War of the Jewels. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 11. HarperCollins, London, 1994. 

Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Ed. Humphrey Carpenter with Christopher Tolkien. HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd, London.

When you first read the Lord of the Rings, which character did you most relate to? Has that changed as you’ve gotten older? This month, we are joined by Dr. Luke Shelton, who leads us down his lesser-trod path, exploring reader response theory and the ways that personal experience and interpretation interact with criticism. Thanks for joining us, Luke, for this fascinating and emotional discussion!

Citations: 

Thank you to our guest host, Dr. Luke Shelton! 

How to find Luke:

Instagram: @lukebshelton

Bsky: @lukebshelton.bsky.social

Luke’s website: https://luke-shelton.com/ (Accessed June 27, 2025)

Show Notes from Luke:

Luke’s work:

Luke’s dissertation is free online here: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/81312/

The title is “‘Small Hands Do Them Because They Must’: Examining the Reception of The Lord of the Rings among Young Readers”

Luke’s most recent publication: “Towards an Ethos of Discussing In-Corporeal Gender in Fantasy Literature: Part I—A 'Feminine' Eldil and a 'Masculine' Vala”: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythpro/vol2024/iss1/7/?utm_source=dc.swosu.edu%2Fmythpro%2Fvol2024%2Fiss1%2F7&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages

In prior scholarship, Luke talked about:

Dawn Walls-Thumma’s “Attainable Vistas: Historical Bias in Tolkien's Legendarium as a Motive for Transformative Fanworks”: https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol3/iss3/3/

Robin Reid’s “J.R.R. Tolkien, Culture Warrior: The Alt-Right's Crusade against the Tolkien Society's 2021 Summer Seminar on ‘Tolkien and Diversity’”: https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol16/iss2/4/

Maria Alberto’s “‘The effort to translate’: Fan Film Culture and the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien”: https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol3/iss3/2/

Megan Abrahamson’s “J.R.R. Tolkien, Fanfiction, and ‘The Freedom of the Reader’”: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol32/iss1/5/

Ernest Mathjis, editor of Watching The Lord of the Rings: Tolkien’s World Audiences

For gaming, Luke mentioned:

Alicia Fox-Lenz and a forthcoming volume she edited which will be about Tolkien and Gaming, title unknown at this time.

Tim Bolton: Luke mentioned that he occasionally writes pieces about gaming for Amon Hen (not something that is easy to link to, unfortunately), it looks like he also has a blog which is more consistent: https://greenbookofthewhitedowns.blogspot.com/search?q=gaming+in+middle-earth

In this next installment of The History of Middle-earth, Jude and Stef chat about volume 8: The War of the Ring. Stef talks about Part 2, Chapter 5, “Faramir”, and Jude focuses Part 3, Chapter 9, “The Battle of the Pelennor Fields”. We discuss Tolkien’s writing process, the character development of Faramir, Eowyn, and the Witch King, and the progression of thematic elements of Rohan and Gondor. 

Citations:

Brown, Sara. (2025, Aug 2). ““Her hair was held a marvel unmatched”: The Significance of Long, Blonde Hair in Tolkien’s Imagination” [Paper presentation], Mythopoeic Society OMS 4 - Online MidSummer Seminar 2025 “More Perilous and Fair: Women and Gender in Mythopoeic Fantasy”, online. https://www.mythsoc.org/oms/oms-04.htm

Tolkien, J. R. R. 

The War of the Ring: The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part Three.

 Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 8. Unwin Hyman, London, 1990.

Continuing on with the Lesser-Trod Histories series, this month, Jude and Stef look at two chapters from Volume 7 of the History of Middle-earth: The Treason of Isengard- Chapter 12: Lothlórien and Chapter 13: Galadriel. We chuckle about some fun tidbits that Tolkien toyed with, and discuss the evolution of the Three Elven Rings and their association with Sauron. You won’t believe who almost took the place of the Balrog in Khazad-dûm! 

Citations

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Treason of Isengard: The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part Two. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 7. Unwin Hyman, London, 1989.

Reddit posts that Stef found helpful: 

“Sampling The History of LotR: The Treason of Isengard, Pt. 1/2" by Curundil on r/tolkienfans

https://www.reddit.com/r/tolkienfans/comments/1k2xlkf/sampling_the_history_of_lotr_the_treason_of/ (Accessed June 26, 2025)

“Sampling The History of LotR: The Treason of Isengard, Pt. 2/2" by Curundil on r/tolkienfans

https://www.reddit.com/r/tolkienfans/comments/1lgim3v/sampling_the_history_of_lotr_the_treason_of/ (Accessed June 26, 2025)

Tolkien Gateway entry for “The Treason of Isengard”

https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/The_Treason_of_Isengard

 (Accessed June 26, 2025)

Join Jude and Stef and our special guest Knewbettadobetta for our first-ever live show, “Athrabeth Podcast Live: The Unsung Underachievers of Tolkien’s Legendarium” from Westmoot 2025! We put three of Arda’s wettest noodle’s on blast! 

Thank you Westmoot for having us, and thank you Knewbetta for joining us!

Citations: 

Thank you to our special guest, Knewbettadobetta! 

Knewbetta’s Linktree

https://linktr.ee/Knewbettadobetta

Knewbetta’s plugs:

Voices of Arda- linktr.ee/voicesofarda  

Kali- linktr.ee/KaliCosplay

Belmont- linktr.ee/be1mont   

Kaia- linktr.ee/kaiakay  

Andie- “Tolkien with Friends” podcast, linktr.ee/tolkienwithfriends   

David the Ñoldo- linktr.ee/davidthengoldo  

TJ Nee- “Tolkien on Tap” podcast, linktr.ee/the_neej  

Thank you to Westmoot and the Tolkien Society for having us! 

http://westmoot.org/

https://www.tolkiensociety.org/  

General citations for all three presentations:

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Silmarillion. Edited by Christopher Tolkien. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Apple Books edition.  (Accessed 5/8/2025)

Tolkien, J. R. R. Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth. Edited by Christopher Tolkien. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Apple Books edition. (Accessed 5/8/2025)

Stef’s Aladarion citations:

Brown, Sara. "The Tale of 'Aldarion and Erendis': Not Just a Medieval Love Story," Journal of Tolkien Research Vol. 18: Iss. 1, Article 6. (2023) https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol18/iss1/6 (Accessed 4/30/2025). 

Hoiem, Elizabeth Massa. "World Creation as Colonization: British Imperialism in "Aldarion and Erendis". Tolkien Studies 2 (2005): 75-92. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/tks.2005.0020. (Accessed 5/5/2025). 

This is the amazing article that Stef mentioned at the start of her presentation that puts Aladarion in a new light: 

Queripel, Rory M. "The Mariner (and his wife): Queering Aldarion's (A)sexuality." 

Journal of Tolkien Research

 Vol. 18: Iss. 2, Article 12 (2023). 

https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol18/iss2/12

 (Accessed 5/5/2025). 

How did Tolkien start writing his epic tale, “The Lord of the Rings”? Join Jude and Stef as they discuss the humble beginnings of the book that became the Fellowship of the Ring in this month’s episode about volume six of the History of Middle-earth, The Return of the Shadow. 

We chat specifically about the Foreword by Christopher Tolkien, and dig deep into the first chapter, The Long-Expected Party!

Citations

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Return of the Shadow: The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part One. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 6. Unwin Hyman, London, 1988.