Queer Lodgings: A Tolkien Podcast

We are so excited to bring you this interview with actor Adam Brown - Ori in the Jackson "Hobbit" films - as part of our series on Tolkien adaptations! Adam graciously joined us from the UK to discuss his experiences as a gay man in the production of the Hobbit movies (including adventures in Wellington gay bars), his fellow dwarves dropping dwarf slash fic art in their group chat, and his passion for British pantomime theatre (including touring "Mother Goose" with Sir Ian McKellen). Plus a never-before-told tale of a planned Moscow premiere for "The Desolation of Smaug" which was cancelled after actors and crew wrote a letter of concern regarding Russia's anti-LGBTQ policies.

As the first part of a new series, Alicia, Grace, and Leah are joined by Producer Tim to discuss some of the lesser-known (ie. non Jackson/Amazon) adaptations of Tolkien's works. After each of us shares our personal philosophies about adaptation and adaptational changes in general, we dive into a rundown of Tolkien adaptations of every kind - from infamous foreign TV adaptations to stage shows, radio plays, video games, and more. Queer connections? Samurai Boromir? Swol-um? Potato Eagle? It's all here, and then some!

The final part of our 'Queer Readings' trilogy on Eowyn and Faramir. Join Alicia, Grace, and Leah as they pontificate over how Eowyn's gender queerness and Faramir's soft masculinity combine to form the Queer Relationship Voltron of "Bi Wife Energy". 

Part 2 of our 3-part discussion about the relationship between Eowyn and Faramir. This time, the focus is on Tolkien's 'author insert' character, Faramir, and the nuances of his presentation of masculinity. How does Faramir's softer, non-toxic masculinity compare against that of his father Denethor and brother Boromir? Where does Faramir fall on the gender spectrum? And next time, the conclusion diving into the queer aspects of Eowyn and Faramir as a couple!

The Queer Lodgings team makes our triumphant Pride Month return after a break with our long-threatened series on Eowyn & Faramir! Well... it wasn't actually planned to be a series... but we recorded for 4 hours total, so decided to break it up into three parts. The first part frames the discussion and jumps into Eowyn's complex gender identity and presentations, including both trans and non-binary readings of her character. Plus the intricacies of how Eowyn relates to the patriarchal society of the Riddermark and its expected gender roles. Stay tuned for Part 2 on Faramir, and Part 3 on the queer aspects of their relationship!

For our first episode of 2024, we take a look through the Quick Post as Alicia is joined by 'Producer' Tim to recount the highlights of their December trip to New Zealand in December to a decidedly jealous Grace and Leah. Then we excitedly gush together about the upcoming online seminar we're hosting on Feb 17th-18th, 'Something Mighty Queer', featuring many of our pals and past podcast guests. We hope to see you there, Lodgers and Birches! To finish off, we summarize some recent developments in Tolkien scholarship, including a run of excellent and much-needed work by Tom Emanuel, some wonderful pieces by our friends in a recent issue of Mallorn, and also one obnoxious article that will not go unchallenged.

Register for the Mythopoeic Society's Online Midwinter Seminar 'Something Mighty Queer' here: https://mythsoc.org/oms/oms-2024.htm

Friend of the pod Cait Rottler joins Leah, Grace, and Alicia to talk all about horses and the 'Horse Girl' character trope. We start out with a look at the overlap between Horse Girls and Queer identity, continue with a quick review of the major tropes of Horse Girl stories (with a detour into the related genre of 'Dragonrider' stories), and then celebrate our favorite 'Horse Girls' from Middle-earth, including Movie!Aragorn/Viggo Mortensen,  Arwen, Tom Bombadil, Beorn, Glorfindel, and more. 

Visit our website (www.queerlodgings.com) for full notes and resources for this and all of our episodes.

For a special Halloween episode, we invited our favorite Sauron experts Cameron and Mercury to talk to us about some of Arda's biggest villains. Specifically, the ship pairing known as 'Angbang', which pairs the Dark Lord Sauron against the fallen Valar Morgoth, also known as Melkor. From the history of this ship and how its depictions changed over time, to the best-known Angbang fan fic and fan artists, to all the problematic, messy power dynamics involved... we dive deep into some dark, kinky transformative works to explore why 'Angbangers' are so enthralled with this pairing.

Content warning: This episode includes discussion of sex, sexual relationships, kink, BDSM, intimate partner violence at various levels of consent, rape, sexual assault/abuse, abusive relationships, and abusive power dynamics.

We have a special treat for you this month - Leah, Alicia, and Grace welcome not one... not two... but three guests! They are the editors of the forthcoming edited anthology '"There Are Many Paths to Tread": Queer Approaches to Tolkien's Middle-earth' from McFarland (due to release in 2025), and each is a well-known Tolkien scholar in their own right - Robin Reid, Chris Vaccaro, and Steve Yandell. Join us as we discuss the landscape of Queer and Intersectional Tolkien studies, why they're important, and what these important and fresh outlooks can contribute to Tolkien scholarship.

Queer Lodgings is one year old! Help Grace, Leah, and Alicia mark the occasion with a bit of reflection of the first year of the podcast as Tim asks a few questions about their experience thus far. We also share some teasers of what listeners can expect in our second year and beyond, and share some laughs over failed attempts of auto-transcription at Tolkienian names. Plus, learn how listeners can convince the co-hosts to do readings from Demetrious Polychron's terrible knock-off Lord of the Rings sequel!

Thanks for joining us on this journey over the past year, and we hope you'll continue on this path with us for many more!