This week, we discuss estel, hope. Why is it so important to our sense of Tolkien's Legendarium? How it is lost, or turned to despair? How do we continue to fight in the face of adversity?

Thanks to Elizabeth and Nathan for the questions!

Show Notes

• Anthem (Leonard Cohen)
• The Hobbit (1967 BBC Radio)
• Flanders and Swann
• The Road Goes Ever On: A Song Cycle
• Middle-earth: Shadow Of Mordor
• Jennifer Hale
• A world for children: J. R. R. Tolkien, The Hobbit: or There and Back Again (C.S. Lewis)
• Who Is Tom Bombadil?
• The Muster At Marquette
• “Don’t Go Where I Can’t Follow.” Sam’s Grief For Frodo in Shelob’s Lair

Shire Reckoning is a Next Word production. For bonus episodes and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/NextWord.

Follow @ShireReckoningPod on YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram.

Music by Corvus from Pixabay.  

This week, we celebrate Hobbit Day by pausing in our journey through J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and looking at the 1977 TV movie adaptation. Can you compress the whole story into 78 minutes? What happens when the goblins and elves become more monstrous? How do we understand the anti-war sentiment?

You can see the video version of this podcast here, and the slides are available for download by clicking here.

Show Notes:

• The Hobbit (1977)
• The Lord of the Rings (1978)
• The Return of the King (1980)

Shire Reckoning is a Next Word production. For bonus episodes and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/NextWord.

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Music by Corvus from Pixabay.

This week, we discuss the most magical place in all of Middle-earth, Lothlórien. How did it get started? Why is it so magical? What's Galadriel's whole deal, anyway?

Thanks to Sarah for the question!

Show Notes

• Captain Britain
• “A fear of anything large and alive, and not easily tamed or destroyed”: Kaiju in The Lord of the Rings (Kristine Larsen)
• The Inconsistencies of Galadriel: The Influence of Earlier Legendarium in The Lord of the Rings (Alexander Retakh)
• No Ragnarök, No Armageddon: Pagan and Christian interpretations of The Lord of the Rings (Matthew Thompson-Handell)
• But What Did He Really Mean? (Verlyn Flieger)

Shire Reckoning is a Next Word production. For bonus episodes and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/NextWord.

Follow @ShireReckoningPod on YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram.

Music by Corvus from Pixabay.  

This week, the enchantments of the Mirkwood in Chapter Eight of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. How do we understand the conflict, physical and magical, between the elves and the spiders? Why does Bilbo feel more accomplished and confident in this chapter? Is this really a turning point in the adventure?

You can see the video version of this podcast here, and the slides are available for download by clicking here.

Show Notes:

• Shire Reckoning Production Schedule
• J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography (Humphrey Carpenter)
• The History of the Hobbit (John D. Rateliff)
• The Atlas of Middle-earth (Karen Wyn Fonstad)
• The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Shire Reckoning is a Next Word production. For bonus episodes and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/NextWord.

Follow Shire Reckoning on YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram.

Music by Corvus from Pixabay.

This week, we discuss the Great Powers of Arda, the Valar. Who are they? How do they teach us how to understand the philosophical framework of Tolkien's world? Did they make mistakes, or do they just look like mistakes from where we're standing?

Thanks to Darius for the question!

Show Notes

• Morgoth's Ring, The History of Middle-earth Volume 10
• "The British Invasion, The Impact of The Lord of the Rings and The Beatles"
• "The Lord of the Rings musical pulls UK run next month"
• J.R.R. Tolkien and the works of Joss Whedon (Journal of Tolkien Research)

Shire Reckoning is a Next Word production. For bonus episodes and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/NextWord.

Follow Shire Reckoning on YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram.

Music by Corvus from Pixabay.  

This week, we spend some time with Beorn and his Very Strange House in Chapter Seven of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. Why are the rituals of courtesy so important? How does this encounter mirror the first chapter of the book? Who is Beorn, and where does he come from?

You can see the video version of this podcast here, and the slides are available for download by clicking here.

Show Notes:

• Shire Reckoning Production Schedule
• The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
• Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit (Corey Olsen)

Shire Reckoning is a Next Word production. For bonus episodes and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/NextWord.

Follow Shire Reckoning on YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram.

Music by Corvus from Pixabay.

This week, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. How does this film combine anime influences and the visual language of the Jackson movies? Is the entire Rohirric civil war the fault of Helm Hammerhand? How do we understand Hèra's final fate?

Thanks to Simon for the question!

Show Notes

• The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024)
• Doom
• "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence" (Adrienne Rich)
• "Tolkien journals, blogs, societies, and podcasts" (onthetrail, via the Tolkien Collector's Guide)
• "More Perilous and Fair: Women and Gender in Mythopoeic Fantasy" (Mythopoetic Society)
• A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry (Bret Devereaux)
• "Eowyn, Elven-fair" (Thoughts on Tolkien)

Shire Reckoning is a Next Word production. For bonus episodes and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/NextWord.

Follow Shire Reckoning on YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram.

Music by Corvus from Pixabay.  

This week, Bilbo escapes from the dark and climbs a tree in Chapter Six of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. How is the Wild different from the West? How do we understand the focus and the orientation of Goblin Town? Why did Gandalf have to say giant?

You can see the video version of this podcast here, and the slides are available for download by clicking here.

Show Notes:

• Shire Reckoning Production Schedule
• The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
• J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia (ed. Michael D. C. Drout)

Shire Reckoning is a Next Word production. For bonus episodes and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/NextWord.

Follow Shire Reckoning on YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram.

Music by Corvus from Pixabay.

This week, adaptation. Tolkien originally envisioned his legendarium as a mythology to which other writers and artists could contribute. How, in the world of intellectual property and licensing agreements, are adaptations handled? What separates the good from the bad? Where do we go from here?

Thanks to William for the question! 

Show Notes

• "'Lord of the Rings’: Amazon and Tolkien Estate Win Copyright Lawsuit Over TV Show, Copycat Book" (Variety)
• The Hobbit Pub, Southampton
• The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024)
• The Hobbit (1977)
• The Lord of the Rings (1978)
• The Return of the King (1980)
• The Lord of the Rings (1981, BBC Radio)
• The Hobbit (1982, Melbourne House)
• Moria (1983)
• The Lord of the Rings: A Musical Tale
• "Tolkien: The Monsters and the Fascists" (Tom Hillman)
• “An Incomplete Academic Fellowship: Excluding Queer Feminist Women from Tolkien Studies” (Robin Reid)
• “Of their women we hear less”: Pride and Prejudice in the tale of ‘Aldarion and Erendis.’ (Sara Brown)

Shire Reckoning is a Next Word production. For bonus episodes and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/NextWord.

Follow Shire Reckoning on YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram.

Music by Corvus from Pixabay.  

This week, we reach the turning point in Bilbo's career in Riddles in the Dark, Chapter Five of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. How is Gollum presented in the first and second editions? What can we learn from the riddles? How quickly does the Ring begin to influence Bilbo, and what are the limits of its power?

Unfortunately, the video from this week's live session was lost to a technical issue, but the slides are available for download by clicking here. You can see the images of Gollum, as rendered by artists from around the world, by clicking here.

Show Notes:

• Shire Reckoning Production Schedule
• The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien
• Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit (Corey Olsen)

Shire Reckoning is a Next Word production. For bonus episodes and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/NextWord.

Follow Shire Reckoning on YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram.

Music by Corvus from Pixabay.