Join us this month for a deep dive on Tolkien’s bodacious baddie, the one and only Sauron. Tolkien scholar and Sauron expert, Cameron Bourquein, leads us down her lesser-trod path exploring Sauron’s evolving nature, the meanings of his name, and his changing role in the legendarium throughout its development. 

Citations: 

Thank you to our guest host, Cameron Bourquein! 

How to find Cameron’s work:

Website: https://cameronbourquein.com/

Blog: https://theroadtoardahealed.substack.com/

Website: https://sauronproject.com/

Twitter: @CameronBorgQeen

Bluesky: cameronbourquein.bsky.social

Blog post with Cameron’s Sauron citations:

https://theroadtoardahealed.substack.com/p/a-sauron-bibliography

Works referenced in this episode: 

Letter 66 (To Christopher Tolkien, May 6, 1944)

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

Letter 131 (To Milton Waldman, undated- probably written in late 1951)

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

Dr. Richard Eliot Blackwelder

As cited in Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull, The Lord of the Rings: A Reader’s Companion, London: HarperCollins, 2014, page xii.

Link: https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/the-lord-of-the-rings-a-readers-companion-wayne-g-hammondchristina-scull?variant=32611676192846

A. R. Bossert

“Surely You Don’t Disbelieve”: Tolkien and Pius X: Anti-modernism in Middle-earth

Mythlore Vol. 25, No. 1, 2006

Link: https://dc.swosu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1289&context=mythlore

Cameron Bourquein and Nick Polk

Reading, Rending, and Queering the Web of Story: With the Lenses of "Con-creation" and Process [Conference Presentation]

Presented at MythSoc OMS on Feb 10th, 2024 

Link: https://substack.com/home/post/p-153238639

Stafford Caldecott

The Power of the Ring: The Spiritual Vision Behind the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit

The Crossroad Publishing Company, 2013

Link: https://crossroadpublishing.com/product/the-power-of-the-ring/

John Garth

Ilu's Music: The Creation of Tolkien's Creation Myth

From Sub-creating Arda: World-building in J.R.R. Tolkien's Works, its Precursors, and Legacies, Dimitra Fimi and Thomas Honegger (editors), Cormarë Series No. 40

Walking Tree Publishers, 2019

Link: http://www.walking-tree.org/books/sub-creating_arda.php#h

Gwenyth Hood

Sauron as Gorgon and Basilisk

Marshall University, 1987

Link: https://mds.marshall.edu/english_faculty/30/

Jonathan S. McIntosh

The Flame Imperishable: Tolkien, St. Thomas, and the Metaphysics of Faërie

Angelico Press, 2017

Link: https://angelicopress.com/products/the-flame-imperishable

Brian Roseberry

Tolkien: A Cultural Phenomenon

Palgrave Macmillan, 2003

Link: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9780230599987

Elizabeth A. Whittingham

The Evolution of Tolkien's Mythology: A Study of the History of Middle-earth

McFarland & Company, 2007

Link: https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/the-evolution-of-tolkiens-mythology/

The work of Mercury Natis, Tolkien Scholar

Link: https://lushthemagicdragon.carrd.co/

The work of Robin A. Reid, Tolkien Scholar

Link: https://tolkienists.org/robin-anne-reid/