Were back looking at the first half of Chapter 10, “A Warm Welcome.” In this episode, we discuss the arrival of Bilbo and the dwarves at Laketown (check out Tolkien’s drawing), how this chapter leans on Tolkien’s world building—from Laketown’s real-life archaeological inspiration to the unexplained trade relations between elves and men, and how Thorin is now looking to Bilbo to lead.

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In this very special episode, we reveal the exact barrel music sung in Thranduil’s halls as the dwarves were tossed into the river!  😉 Then, we get into the details of barrel physics, the river, and why there might be “raft-elves”.

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Bilbo fully embraces his role as hero and finds a way to save the dwarves — but not before we find out how the Elvenking distrusts the dwarves while comparing himself to the great wealthy kings of old.

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Bilbo is the only one left to save the dwarves–and to his own surprise, he’s up to the task!

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JRR Tolkien’s voice was, well, unique.  He was notably hard to understand (his students regularly complained that his classes were difficult because they simply couldn’t understand him), and even the Inklings (his friends and reading group that included CS Lewis and Charles Williams) preferred it when Christopher Tolkien read excerpts from Lord of the Rings to the group in the 1940s!

We do have few of his voice recordings of him reading his own work (mostly from The Hobbit). We’ve always wondered, though, what would it sound like if he read from his other works… like The Silmarillion?  So, we spent some time to try and put together an approximation of his voice (using different technologies), including some of his idiosyncratic pauses and speech patterns.

Here, then, is an approximation of Tolkien’s voice reading Ainulindalë from The Silmarillion! (pardon any mispronunciations–that part is tough to get right!)

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In this first half of chapter 8 of the hobbit–Flies and Spiders–Jonathan and Michael discuss the evil enchantment of Mirkwood, and if the elves might have a small part in it.

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With talking animals, animals serving food and dancing bears, this may just be the oddest chapter in all of Middle-earth! It kinda feels like it just doesn’t fit. We explore why the animals walk and talk, and how Tolkien had no problem with dancing bears, even adding them later to even more mythology of Middle-earth!

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Bilbo, Gandalf, and the dwarves are dropped off on the Carrock, and find themselves in the company of a man (so-to-speak) who rather doesn’t like dwarves–but who loves a good story!

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The Hill – Hobbiton Across the Water – Pen and Ink – JRR Tolkien

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Stuck in trees with fire at their heels, the company find themselves surround by intelligent wolves and taunting orcs… but the eagles notice the commotion and decide to save Gandalf and his friends.

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Thumbnail Image : “Bilbo and the Eagles” by Ted Nasmith

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Life took an unexpected turn this week with the fires in southern California.