By-The-Bywater: A Podcast about All Things J.R.R. Tolkien

By Jared Pechaček, Oriana Scwindt, and Ned RaggettTV & Film Arts Books

By-The-Bywater: A Podcast about All Things J.R.R. Tolkien episodes

October 04, 2021 31. There Was So Much Math!
Jared, Oriana and Ned talk about Ned’s choice of topic: The Nature of
Middle-earth. The newest official Tolkien book is anything but a cohesive
volume, instead being a collection of remaining unpublished writings from the
overall Tolkien archive about Middle-earth, written mostly in the late 1950s
and late 1960s, with a heavy focus on more philosophical and generally
foundational concepts and aspects of Tolkien’s creation. Edited by Carl
Hostetter with the full approval of Christopher Tolkien before the latter’s
passing, it’s at once detailed scholarship and the source of a variety of new
wrinkles and outright surprises concerning Middle-earth. What can be made of
the deep discussions of Elvish culture and life, and the literal differences
as a species from Men? How did Tolkien address the concept of Elvish
reincarnation in particular, and what exactly did that imply in terms of what
the Valar could do? What does it mean that Tolkien constantly chose to frame
everything from the point of view of referring to ‘scholars’ and authorities
rather than simply leaning into his own creative process? And how delightful
is it to learn that Númenor was the home of a legendary annual bear dance?
Show Notes.
Jared’s
doodle.
Besides bears, we learn that Númenor has a lot of cliffs.
The California redwood parks are
among the best.
TheOneRing.net’s
summary of the Howard Shore semi-news/demi-rumor/whatever it might be.
Star Wars: Visions is a treat.
Red X by David Demchuk is the book Jared’s illustrated. Check it out!
The Nature of Middle-earth -- order away!
Vinyar Tengwar and the
E.L.F. info is there for you.
Kristine Larsen’s extensive
bibliography on her work on
Tolkien and astronomy is very well worth the investigation.
The Isaac Newton story Ned mentioned is a little more involved than
that—here’s a 2014 interview with an author who wrote about Newton’s papers in more detail.
Now if you’ve not seen Spirited
Away, we do highly recommend it.
The Notion Club
Papers is too
underdiscussed, really. It’s a very interesting, strange effort.
Flat-earth Catholics, well...we’ll just link
this.
(It’s not ‘pro-flat earth,’ rest assured.)
Neoplatonism! We understand if you’re already
asleep.
If you want a little more about the phenomenal
world…
The Magisterium is VERY
much a thing.
So let’s talk the Gnostics!
Enjoy some more about bear
dances in our world. As for Finnish bear
cults...
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Patreon, and thank you if you do!
1 hr 7 min
September 07, 2021 30. The Family That Fights Together Stays Alive Together.
Jared, Oriana and Ned talk about Jared’s choice of topic: The Fall of
Gondolin. One of the three ‘Great Tales’ that formed the key heart of
Tolkien’s earliest work on Middle-earth with the Book of Lost Tales, the story
of the hidden Elf refuge that was destroyed in an evening of primal violence
after a betrayal remained one of the most powerfully resonant for the rest of
Tolkien’s creative life. Referred to in other works and in various mentions
over his lifetime, it only surfaced in redacted form with the original 1977
publication of The Silmarillion. Christopher Tolkien’s last published work on
his father’s fiction drew together the various forms of the story, including
the extensively revised and expanded but frustratingly incomplete revision
from the 1950s, into one volume. What might be the weight of this story in
particular in terms of how to view the rest of Tolkien’s Middle-earth work
that followed? How might Gondolin’s story serve as a way for Tolkien to work
through his own feelings of experiencing wanton destruction via his war
service? What does the experience of Tuor’s encounter with Ulmo on the shores
of the sea in the revised version tell us about not only the perspective of
Men viewing the Valar but also what strange undercurrents about Middle-earth’s
theology might exist? And how did we end up comparing Idril Celebrindal to
Avril Lavigne? (Jared’s still indignant about that one.)
Show Notes.
Jared’s
doodle. It’s
a long way to fall in cool waters...
Indeed, we all three recommend The Green Knight. We all appreciated this
lengthy discussion.
Amazon’s tweet
announcing when the show would begin, along with THAT image. Which, yes, has
been...discussed. (And if you’re wondering
why we’re going on about September
22…)
Separately, news about the shift from New Zealand
to the UK for season two.
The Fall of Gondolin as
a text is really the place to start, just to compare all the various versions
and get a sense of how the story changed and evolved.
As always: Tuor is just a guy.
(But as Oriana says, rereading the story for this episode provided more
insight.)
The History of the
Hobbit is very much
recommended, almost like a distaff entry in the History of Middle-earth
series.
Perhaps you’ve heard of The Clone Wars.
The USS Scamp was the
submarine that Ned’s dad and Jared’s grandfather served on together,
unknowingly. Small world!
The Alan Lee
painting
showing Turgon’s fall. That’s really good and unsettling all at once.
The ‘From each according to his
ability’
line is rather well known.
Voronwë is a legit interesting
character we don’t have enough of
The Seven Gates of
Gondolin. At least we have the full detail of those!
Alan Lee’s take
on Tuor and Ulmo. (For contrast, here’s John
Howe’s.)
Ulmo really does have an intriguing role in the
mythology.
Watch out for the Actually Guys.
Idril is even more of a legit
interesting character etc.
Were you a Sk8er Boi? Or did
you love one? How obvious WAS it?
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59 min
July 30, 2021 29. Always Around to Do the Bare Minimum.
Jared, Oriana and Ned talk about Oriana’s choice of topic: the Eagles.
Most familiar to Tolkien readers via the lordly and imposing figure of
Gwaihir, identified as the Lord of the Eagles in both The Hobbit and The Lord
of the Rings, the Eagles have a recurring role in many of the stories of
Middle-earth, acting as emissaries, guardians, intercessors and figures of
warning or doom. They serve the Valar, their leader Manwë in particular, but
often seem to be following their own particular code of living. However, a
recent tweet based off a Polygon article about them in their Lord of the Rings
series this year revived an old—and rather tiresome—controversy about whether
the Eagles act as a deus ex machina in the plots of the stories—or even more
tiresomely, are somehow supposed to be a plot hole. What are the roots of
eagles in mythology in general, and how has that impact on the human
imagination played out in Tolkien’s legendarium? Do the Eagles even
particularly care about what is happening in realms beyond their own, and
regard nearly everyone and everything as being of a piece? What do the sudden
appearances of Gwaihir’s ancestor Thorondor at various points in the published
Silmarillion say about how they function in terms of both being Manwë’s
servants and in noting the working out of the Doom of Mandos? And how is it
that such lofty, indeed arrogant figures like the Eagles have incredibly sharp
senses of humor?
Show Notes.
Jared’s
doodle. Would
you like to fly, on my beautiful ea-gle…
Uh yeah get your shots, the end.
That TheOneRing.net spy
report. Questions, questions, we have them!
Our episode about Orcs.
Blue Harvest! Horror beyond
imagination!
Blue Origin! Also horror beyond
imagination!
The HarperCollins UK
tweet about
Andy Serkis’s further audiobook work, with further links.
That Foreign Policy piece “Comrades of the Ring” — worth a read!
The Eagles! They fly around.
That misleading Polygon
tweet. They could do
better.
The Tolkien Gateway summary of Letter
210, Tolkien’s response to the
screenwriting treatment created in the late 1950s.
“Someone is WRONG on the Internet.”
CinemaSins? We hate it.
Edmund Wilson’s “Oo, Those Awful
Orcs”
does not appear to contain any Eagles complaints.
Bored of the Rings. It’s
very, very of its time.
Deus ex machina! It’s a
thing.
The Peter Jackson Beorn bear
bomb. Well, yes, there we go.
Eagles in world mythology? You’re
darn right it’s a
thing.
We only know so much about the Sky
Father.
Superstore! Probably
a defining US comedy of the second half of the 2010s.
Metro Micro, should you so desire.
Ted Naismith’s painting of the cloud eagle in the
West as Númenor approaches its doom.
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Patreon. Thanks!
49 min
July 02, 2021 28. Is He Hot Or Is He Tall?
Jared, Oriana and Ned talk about Ned’s choice of topic: The Children of
Húrin. The final posthumously published form of one of Tolkien’s original
creations from the Book of Lost Tales, the 2007 book, edited and retouched
slightly by Christopher Tolkien, The Children of Húrin primarily tells the
story of the oldest child, Túrin. One of Tolkien’s most compelling figures,
Túrin not merely verges on the antiheroic but at points nonheroic,
simultaneously a figure driven by vengeance and justice for his losses and
those of his family but ultimately causing the death and destruction of most
of what he holds dear—he slays one of Morgoth’s chief lieutenants, the dragon
Glaurung, but Glaurung exacts a terrible cost even in death. Is Túrin’s course
in life truly the working out of a curse by Morgoth or is it the result of
rash actions taken in the face of wiser counsel almost every step of the way?
What does it say that it is one of Tolkien’s most vividly physical stories,
including various humiliating fates, at one point the threat of rape, and in
the end, drawing on one of humanity’s deepest taboos, unwitting incest? For
all that various flawed or doomed heterosexual relationships define much of
Túrin’s life, what does it say that the deepest connection he feels is to the
Elf Beleg, and what does his own tragic death signify? And maybe to end on a
lighter note, are those potatoes that the Petty-dwarves are digging up or
what?
Show Notes.
Jared’s
doodle. Tol
Morwen, one of Middle-earth’s loveliest and saddest places.
Yes, Ned is a fan of RuPaul’s Drag
Race in all its forms. He
could go on.
The announcement of Warner Bros’s planned anime
film, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.
Kenji Kamiyama has quite the
rep, trust us.
And yes, as we talked about in episode
25, plenty of history already with
Japanese animators and Tolkien!
That Fellowship of Fans Twitter
thread with
the Amazon contract details. Cross yer fingers...
TheOneRing.net’s
piece with its
best speculation about the whole issue of rights divisions going on about now.
The Children of
Húrin—and there’s
a lot going on.
That Tumblr post with Túrin describing himself as
the ultimate goth. He would.
Kullervo, the Finnish anti-hero that
was the general source for Túrin but not the sole one. Tolkien’s
translation, created
before he created the Book of Lost Tales but only published formally in 2015,
is one of his earliest works.
It’s a little obvious to mention—and Kullervo’s story overall is closer—but
yes, Oedipus Rex is also a key
template for the dramatic end of the story.
Ned’s old 2007 blog entry on reading The Children of Hurin.
Episode 2—and Tuor is still just a
guy.
Glaurung, Tolkien’s other main
dragon creation in Middle-earth...is a piece of work.
Is there Turin and Beleg fan
art?
C’mon, you know the answer.
Alan Lee’s illustration from the
book of Glaurung approaching Brethil.
The Petty-dwarves have their
own tangled tale, mostly unknown.
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1 hr 17 min
June 01, 2021 27. The Brita of Middle-earth.
Jared, Oriana and Ned talk about Jared’s choice of topic: Lothlórien.
Following the necessary but still disastrous journey through Moria, the
Fellowship of the Ring is able to evade pursuing Orcs to journey to this
forested Elf realm, itself thousands of years old as an organized society but
ruled in recent years by Galadriel and Celeborn. Their experiences there are
among the most personal and mysterious of their journey, at once a chance for
recuperation but also a stay in a place that is seemingly out of time’s
general flow—and, per various comments by Galadriel, increasingly out of time
in general. Aragorn firmly rebukes Boromir’s unease at their journey by saying
those who visit the land return ‘not unscathed but….unchanged,’ yet the nature
of such an experience and the land itself are among the most elusive moments
in Tolkien’s work. What does it mean that Tolkien himself, through the
narrative personae of the hobbits’ eyes (and, in one memorable sequence, their
other senses), seems to reach the limits of descriptive language when
outlining Lothlórien? How do the borders function in demarcating Lothlórien
from the outside world, and what do those elements suggest about the society
that has evolved there? What can be made of the suggestions of ecological and
political colonialism at play in the origins of Lothlórien, which Tolkien only
explored in more detail after completing The Lord of the Rings? And besides
his other seemingly amorphous at best qualities, why is Celeborn terrible at
place names?
Show Notes.
Jared’s
doodle. But
you’ll have to imagine Nimrodel’s voice yourself.
Sergio Agüero does indeed have tengwar on his arm. But Fernando
Torres
is the real nerd.
Lothlorien
Apartments! Flets not an option.
Charlotte Brändström joins the directing squad for Amazon.
This show is never coming out, is it.
Ludi Lin isn’t wrong, really.
Specifically, the pilot was called Babylon 5: The
Gathering, and it was
indeed a lot earlier than the full show.
Lothlórien indeed. A place,
a state of mind, somewhere neither here nor there?
Our episode on Galadriel (and
Celeboring).
The Tolkien zine Ned was talking about is the still-going Beyond
Bree. (The one he forgot to discuss further is
Vinyar Tengwar.)
Peter Jackson and team really did a great job with Caras
Galadhon, no lie. And again,
all hail Liz Fraser.
The earlier Lórien
(and yes, the Vala’s name is Irmo).
Kievan Rus is an intriguing
society for sure, but yes, that origin story seems...convenient.
The various Elf kindreds are their own involved tangle, and Silvan
Elves and the
Sindar and the
Noldor did all take different paths…
Ned got the forest in Beleriand wrong—that’s Taur-im-Duinath.
Maedhros, Amrod and Amras fan art showing off the red hair? Oh it’s
there.
Eurovision is great, Italy’s winning
entry this year was great, but yeah,
Ukraine. (And totally
separately, Iceland.)
Someone is WRONG on the Internet.
Mallorns! Or, as Tolkien (and Jared)
note, mellyrn.
Ecological or environmental
colonialism is no joke.
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1 hr 4 min
May 04, 2021 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…
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Patreon!
59 min
April 05, 2021 25. You Can Have Well-Written Music in a Kid’s Movie!
Jared, Oriana and Ned talk about Ned’s choice of topic: the 1977 Rankin-Bass
version of The Hobbit. Produced by the Rankin-Bass team and animated by
Japanese animation studio Topcraft, 1977’s The Hobbit was a widely promoted
effort for mainstream American network TV. As a result, it gave Tolkien’s work
its highest profile in the US to that point, winning awards and eventually
prompting a further Rankin-Bass sequel drawing on The Return of the King.
However, it swiftly became more of a cult classic curio, more known of than
known, deemed a product of its time and the attendant limitations the creative
team had to work with by default. However it retained fans and, especially in
the wake of Peter Jackson’s own three-film adaptation of the book, it gained a
new wave of reappreciation in contrast to both that and the source text. What
were some of the decisions made in the course of simplifying and adapting the
story, and how did they change the overall impact of the effort as a result?
Are the songs and musical performances handy complements to the whole or are
they too perhaps just a little too much even in context? Are there any notable
vocal acting performances among the ensemble and do they stand up to more
familiar actors in other versions? And is there any final way to determine
exactly why and how Rankin-Bass were actually able to create the film in the
first place given that they didn’t have any formal license from the current
rights-holders at the time?
Show Notes.
Jared’s
doodle. Burn
baby burn, Lake-town inferno.
It really has been two years since we
started! If you’ve been along with
us for the whole ride, we thank you again.
Deadline’s report on Wayne Che Yip
joining the Amazon production.
The production’s
photo from the
unknown New Zealand beach.
Tom Budge’s Instagram post about
leaving the production and the subsequent IndieWire
story.
RuPaul’s Drag Race is
definitely a thing. No Tolkien connection...yet.
News on the new Tolkien-illustrated
edition of The Lord of the
Rings via TheOneRing.net.
Yup, this trailer is twenty
years old. Pre-YouTube downloads were where it was at.
Rick Goldschmidt’s history of Rankin-Bass is very much available.
Russell A. Potter’s key article about the making of The Hobbit can be found in
Hogan’s Alley #20. There’s some extra illustrations
included at this link.
The Rankin-Bass
Hobbit can be viewed
online various ways via streaming services/rentals. If you’d like to do what
Ned did and replicate his youthful listening experience after that first
broadcast, enjoy!
Luke Shelton’s 2020 piece about the shadowy 1960s Hobbit
animation gives what info you need about that cryptic effort.
Here’s Middle-earth Enterprises’ own
timeline for the general
rights—worth remembering again that Rankin-Bass’s production was not licensed
from them.
The major ‘in the moment’ preview feature for the Rankin-Bass Hobbit appears
to have been John Culhane’s New York Times
piece that ran just a day or two before the broadcast. Not only are
Arthur Rankin and Orson Bean interviewed with a variety of anecdotes but also,
regarding his own separate production, Ralph Bakshi.
Rick Goldschmidt’s interview with Arthur Rankin Jr. from
2003—The Hobbit is discussed
starting around 12 minutes in.
Arthur Rackham’s influence
continues in various ways, but thankfully the 21st century has a much wider
scope.
A quick and useful explainer about the Japanese animation connections in The Hobbit.
It really did win a Peabody!
The briskly-told barrel
sequence from Rankin-Bass
Walt Simonson is quality.
That W. C. Fields Philadelphia
line, apocryphal as it might be.
It’s true...the Rankin-Bass
Elves are very odd
looking.
Brian Froud is good quality. And
of course a collaborator with Alan
Lee!
How the Rankin-Bass Elvenking sits on his
throne is DEFINITELY not
how Lee Pace does.
Pantsless Lake-men
indeed. In this cel,
Bard’s on the left, fancy armor and no pants.
More of our recent thoughts on
orcs.
Shin Godzilla IS very great.
Smaug at his best in the film is pretty
terrifying!
Brother Theodore was truly
remarkable. Enjoy Penn Jillette’s
memories and the compilation of Theodore’s Letterman
appearances.
Diagetic music is something
you know even if you don’t know it.
Thurl Ravenscroft, the
legend.
Glenn Yarbrough’s Wikipedia
page is...odd. Here’s him
with the Limeliters in the
initial splash of his fame.
Our fellow Megaphonic podcast This Is Your
Mixtape is well worth your time. Here’s
Ned’s episode, and Oriana’s should be up
soon.
Kermit singing “The Rainbow Connection” at
Newport rules.
The whole Ace/Ballantine Lord of the Rings paperback
situation is truly as important as is claimed!
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(Thanks!)
1 hr 37 min
March 15, 2021 24. Radagast is Scrappy-Doo!
Jared, Oriana and Ned talk about Jared’s choice of topic: the Istari. Also
known as the Five Wizards, the cohort of Gandalf, Saruman, Radagast, and the
two mysterious Blue Wizards, these beings are superficially some of the most
easily understandable characters in Tolkien’s mythology: old men who know
magic and can cast spells, very much in a long standing mythological and
folktale tradition. But while Gandalf may have made his debut in The Hobbit as
just such a character, over time, as with so many other elements in his work,
Tolkien deepened his background and that of his wizardly brethren in ways that
still weren’t fully developed by his passing, ultimately leaving as many
questions as answers. What’s suggestive about the two alternate possibilities
of the fates of the Istari in Middle-earth—that they mostly failed, or that
they mostly succeeded? What elements of Catholic theology are touched on in
the conception of the Istari as incarnated spirits from Valinor in Middle-earth? How did Tolkien address what this was meant to represent in terms of
what the Valar and Maiar had learned over time? Is it possible that Tolkien
contrasted the methods of lore and knowledge Gandalf and Saruman favored in a
way that had a personal relevance to his own work and life experience? And
just how wonderfully human—if that’s the best comparison—is Gandalf in
particular in his deeply down-to-earth ways throughout the major works?
Show Notes.
Jared’s
doodle. Who
knows what, in the end, the Blue Wizards were up to elsewhere in Middle-earth?
Yup, it’s been a year. Stay
well everyone.
No Amazon series news but you can read Oriana’s
argument about what it
should include.
Tolkien Gateway’s summary entry on
the wizards of Middle-earth.
Our earlier episode on magic.
There’s plenty of discussion of how the Istari are essentially angels on
Middle-earth - this article addresses it from a specifically Catholic perspective, and
that’s just one of many.
Letter 156 from The Letters of J.
R. R. Tolkien features a discussion in more detail on what Gandalf was,
specifically.
“Of Aulë and
Yavanna” is a whole
chapter of The Silmarillion for a reason.
To say there’s a lot of writing on ‘classic’ wizards in world literature and
mythology is an understatement. Here’s one
example.
And indeed, modern wizards in other media: Harry
Potter! The Sorcerer’s
Apprentice! The
Sword in the
Stone!
Star
Wars!
Dragonslayer!
(That does count.)
Gandalf’s letter to Frodo is such a fun-yet-important element.
Linked it before but Lindsay Ellis really did call
it.
The figure on the edge of
Fangorn remains a subject of debate…
Have a laugh with our Silver Call
Duology episode!
Support By-The-Bywater: A Tolkien Podcast on
Patreon along with all the other fine
Megaphonic shows. (And thank you if you do!)
1 hr 7 min
February 08, 2021 23. Hella Problematic in So Many Ways.
Jared, Oriana and Ned talk about Oriana’s choice of topic: Orcs. While not
the only ‘bad guys’ in The Lord of the Rings and Tolkien’s wider mythology by
a long shot, they’re generally the most common, appearing in everything from
the earliest versions of the Book of Lost Tales to the final years of his
reconsiderations and potential revisions. But ultimately the Orcs themselves
may also be the most mysterious, their exact origins and place in Tolkien’s
wider cosmology unclear, their own culpability potentially up for question in
the face of manipulation and lies at the hands of Morgoth, Sauron and their
lieutenants, even as they cut literal swathes through green growing grasses
and commit horrific acts of violence among other species as much as
themselves. What actually does life itself mean in Middle-earth when Tolkien
himself couldn’t square away who or what the Orcs were exactly? How does
Tolkien’s own unsureness of the Orcs’ origins reflect upon demonizations of
the ‘other’ in wider human history, especially given the unsettling
implications that Orc genocide can be a solution? How best to address the
unavoidably racist elements in the descriptions of the Orcs that Tolkien
himself admits to within the scope of his wider themes, and how can they be
envisioned in art and film? In what ways did Tolkien’s military experiences
shape how the Orcs are often portrayed, and how does that signal ways in which
he felt that being an Orc might be less intrinsic and more something created
by circumstances? And why do Orcs sound a little like Cockneys, sort of?
Show Notes.
Jared’s
doodle. We
love the little hat.
The Amazon
synopsis! And it tells
us...almost nothing that we didn’t already know!
Tolkien Gateway’s Orcs entry gives you
the basics...but the basics themselves can and do shift.
Our episode on death, in contrast
to this wider meditation here on life.
Morgoth’s Ring does have a
lot of Tolkien’s later thoughts on Orcs and more. Relatedly, hröa and
fëa are important
topics here.
You can guess what we think about QAnon. We hope for the best for the
misled.
The scene with the dead Haradrim
soldier is justly famed, in whatever
version.
Aphantasia, as Oriana mentions having.
Tolkien’s letter #210 from the
published collection is his response to the proposed Morton Zimmerman script.
Porcs! They’re apparently coming back?
The concept of the Yellow Peril
is one of the most pernicious things in human history—and that’s saying
something. Fu Manchu is just one
small outgrowth.
Totalitarianism in Middle-earth is a rich vein of study—and Tolkien clearly hated it in our world.
Sing along with the Orcs!
Tolkien’s Father Christmas
goblins—presumably
not like Orcs, but you never know.
You might be familiar with the 1984 film
Gremlins. (Ned still remembers the
ads.)
Oriana’s conlang piece in Vox
(updated from when we last referred to it!). David J.
Peterson was who Oriana was
referring to.
Pompeii’s graffiti! Ah the glory that was Rome et al.
Support By-The-Bywater on Patreon (thanks!).
57 min
January 12, 2021 22. Not Just Because I Like Cooking and Eating!
Jared, Oriana and Ned talk about Ned’s choice of topic: Smith of Wootton
Major. A short non-Middle-Earth novella published in 1967 and illustrated by
Pauline Baynes, Smith is a kind of a fairy tale literally about Faery, a realm
which only certain people can visit. Smith, indeed a blacksmith from a sort-of
medieval English town called Wootton Major, is one of those people, having
received a magical silver star in his youth as part of a major ceremony based
around the town’s Great Hall and its function as a place for fabulous feasts.
But while Smith alternates his adult life between work, home and hearth and
the visits to Faery he is able now to do, eventually there comes a time when
he needs to face the necessary decision to surrender the star for a newer
generation. Inspired by his unfinished preface about George MacDonald’s “The
Golden Key,” Smith was the last work Tolkien published in his lifetime, a
quietly entrancing story about artistry, time and the power of imagination.
What do the many then-unpublished papers and background material about the
story which emerged in later years say both about Smith itself and Tolkien’s
work as a whole? What does the function of religion—or rather, how it is not
directly portrayed in the story at all—have in both the story and in Tolkien’s
argument for how it should be interpreted? What are the potential touchstones
for his portrayal of the realm of Faery and the Elves who live there, who are
in many ways very different from his Middle-earth Elves? And what makes the
Master Cook Nokes such a satisfying antagonist—but not, as the story itself is
at pains to note, an irredeemable villain?
Show Notes.
Jared’s
doodle, a
lovely invocation of a key moment in the story.
Try a medieval goose
recipe as you choose!
One of the many reports on the newly announced cast
members for the Amazon production. TheOneRing.Net
did a bunch of individual profiles but you’ll have to dig through a bit for
those.
The Independent’s report on the apparent wrapping up of season 1.
Smith of Wootton
Major!
Again, if you want the fullest version of the story and its background, look
for Verlyn Flieger’s
edition.
More on George MacDonald, as well as the
text of “The Golden Key.”
Our Farmer Giles of Ham episode.
Jonathan Strange & Mr.
Norrell is
well worth your time. And once again, we’re all major
LeGuin fans here.
The Spielberg film in question is
Always.
Protestant work ethics,
Catholic guilt complexes,
they’re things!
We’ve mentioned the Kalevala before
but just to link again.
Blackfriars in Oxford.
Edgar Rice Burroughs’ At the Earth’s
Core is of course dated nonsense. But it’s there.
Tolkien and Lewis, we all know the story. But if you
don’t.
Shel Silverstein’s The Giving
Tree.
Support us on Patreon.
1 hr 1 min

About By-The-Bywater: A Podcast about All Things J.R.R. Tolkien

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All things J.R.R. Tolkien: his work, his inspirations and impact, creative interpretations in other media, languages, lore, ripoffs, parodies, anything we think is interesting!