This episode is dedicated to Tolkien superfan Stephen Colbert. May he return to The Colbert Report! No matter what, we know that he will go on to far, far better things than the crumbling edifice that was once known as CBS.

1/ George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice series

2/ Tolkien was born on January 3, 1892 (and died September 2, 1973). Tolkien’s imagined etymologies are phenomenal.

3/ Jane Yolen’s Sister Light, Sister Dark and White Jenna

4/ David Salo–a UW-Madison Alum and Tolkien linguist

5/ Winnie-the-Pooh lives outside the Hundred Acre Wood (thank you A.A. Milne). The Forest of Arden is the main location for Shakespeare’s As You Like It. Birnum Wood “marches” against Macbeth in Shakespeare’s Scottish play.

6/ Wagner’s Ring Cycle: Der Ring des Nibelungen. He wrote it between 1848-1874. The first opera (Das Rheingold) premiered in 1869, and all four premiered as a cycle in 1876.

7/ We miss you Tom Stoppard (Travesties, 1974).

8/ Übermensch (defined by Nietzsche, ruined by certain WWII Germans)

9/ Nope, we’re still watching Putin teeter!

10/ Wagner is basing his cycle on the Old Norse Edda, the Völsunga Saga, the Thidrekssaga, and the Nibelungenlied.

11/ Giorgia Meloni was elected Prime Minister of Italy in 2022.

12/ Renee Vink, “‘Jewish’ Dwarves: Tolkien and Anti-Semitic Stereotyping,” in Tolkien Studies Vol. 10 (2013): 123-145.

13/ Terry Pratchett is the best! Check out Discworld. Also, here’s a nice thread on the fact he isn’t a TERF.

14/ Just for fun, here’s Jon Stewart’s rant on the goblins in Harry Potter. Enjoy!

15/ Christopher Tolkien’s NYT obituary: “Christopher Tolkien, Keeper of His Father’s Legacy, Dies at 95.”