Exploring Tolkien

Tolkien sets out the pieces of Middle-earth's chess board, putting the characters in their proper places before the doomsday of Fëanor's unspoken realization bears down on all the players... and we get our first glimpse of a Middle-earth dragon!

With Chapter 13 of The Silmarillion, Tolkien tells us Of The Return of the Noldor, revealing that the houses of Feanor, Fingolfin, and Thingol are the ORIGINAL Game of Thrones!

In Chapter 12 of The Silmarillion, "Of Men", Tolkien gives us the first glimpse into Man-Elf relations--and it wasn't all toxic at first (just incsrutable!).

I had the pleasure of sitting with Steve Babb from the band Glass Hammer to talk The Lord of the Rings, The Rings of Power, and what it's like to be a creator inspired by Tolkien.

In "Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor", Tolkien taps into a grander myth of Middle-earth and returns to the two trees of Valinor to explain how the sun and moon were made.

In our darkest dreams, we never imagined Amazon would change Tolkien's work as dramatically as they did in The Rings of Power. In our final in-depth review, we discuss the stupidity of Celebrimbor, the Nazgirl (?) moments, and our prayer for a rapture before 2024!

We stand amazed at the volcano survivability rate in Middle-earth, stare bemused at Galadriels' all new personality, sit frustrated at how the Harfoots apparently forgot their traditions, and collapse with frustration at the Mithril storyline being foisted on us.

Jonathan, Michael, and Dan go in-depth on The Rings of Power Episode 6, "Udun", and dive into questions like: Is Galadriel allowed to lecture us on humility? Do the Orcs OR the villagers actually have a strategy? Should they have recruited The Three Amigos? Would Arondir give you good psychological advice?

In this episode, we look at the OTHER elves--the ones who never left Middle-earth for Valinor. These elves created the fairest dwelling that has ever been east of the sea, worked with the Dwarves, and shielded themselves from Morgoth.

Jonathan, Michael, and Dan discuss Episode 2 of The Rings of Power and Galadriel's "I'm fine" face, Encino Man and the Harfoots, the made up Morgoth story, and how Elrond ghosted Durin.