In which co-hosts Kenny and Sam discuss chapter 22 of the Quenta Silmarillion, which includes the release of Hurin from captivity, the fall of the kingdom of Doriath, and (most importantly), the death of Entmoot Podcast All-Star Mîm the Petty-dwarf.

Primary sources:

The Silmarillion | The Lord of the Rings | The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien

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In which co-hosts Kenny and Sam look back at the year that was, look ahead to the year that's to come, and answer (excellent!) listener questions. Topics include the status of democracy in absolute monarchies like Gondor, connections between Tolkien and Lovecraft, the history of Galadriel, our favorite movies of 2025, Reddit comments about the podcast, and our predictions for 2026 elections in the US and abroad.

Further reading/listening:

Our episode with Rob Tally

Our episode with Lee Konstantinou

Our episode with Ali Mirzabayati

Konstantinou - Mythic Capital: How Tolkien is Whispering in the Ears of America's Most Powerful Men

Semley (Wired, 10/25) - Elon Musk Really Doesn't Get The Lord of the Rings

Pagliarini (Dissent, Fall 25) - Lula's Unfinished Democracy

Hartrich (Journal of Social History, Fall 24) - The Boundaries of Popular Control in Late Medieval English Towns

Hill - The Century of Revolution: 1603-1714

Livingston - Bloody Crowns: A New History of the Hundred Years War

Tooze - The Wages of Destruction

Kenny's Letterboxd | Sam's Letterboxd

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In which co-hosts Kenny and Sam talk to William Fliss about Tolkien's manuscripts and life as an archivist.

Bill Fliss is the Manuscripts Archivist at Marquette University, which places him among the foremost authorities in the world on Tolkien's manuscripts for The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. He runs the Anduin Project at Marquette which is an invaluable tool for Tolkien researchers.

Add your voice to the Tolkien Fandom Oral History Collection and tell Bill we sent you!

More Bill:

“Things That Were, and Things That Are, and Things That Yet May Be”: The J.R.R. Tolkien Manuscript Collection at Marquette University

(Documentary) The Muster At Marquette: Preserving 6,000 Fan Voices

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In which co-hosts Kenny and Sam talk to Professor Jyrki Korpua about the Kalevala and the inspiration that Tolkien drew from it. This episode is a companion piece to our previous episode on chapter 21 of The Silmarillion, which you can find here.

Jyrki Korpua is a researcher and lecturer of literature at the University of Oulu in Finland. He has published extensively on both the Kalevala and Tolkien, and we are here primarily discussing his 2024 book Tolkien and the Kalevala.

More Jyrki:

The Mythopoeic Code of Tolkien: A Christian Platonic Reading of the Legendarium

“Master of Fate, yet by fate mastered” – Tolkien’s Túrin Turambar and Kalevala’s Kullervo

Also mentioned:

Lönnrot (Bosley translation) - The Kalevala

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In which co-hosts Kenny and Sam discuss chapters 20 and 21 of the Quenta Silmarillion, which include an account of the Fifth Battle and the tragic tale of Turin Turambar.

Primary sources:

The Silmarillion | The Lord of the Rings | The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien

Books we've been reading:

The Wages of Destruction

Ride The Pink Horse

The Long Goodbye

Gilead

The Sot-Weed Factor

The Fort Bragg Cartel

The Age of Empire

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In which co-hosts Kenny and Sam joined friend of the show Ethan Colburn for an episode of the Cineflek Podcast about Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings.

For a great documentary with more information on the making of the movie, check out "An Exhaustive History of Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings" from Folding Ideas on YouTube.

For more on adaptation rights to Tolkien's work, listen to our episode from earlier this year "State of the Estate."

For more of our opinions on movies, you can follow each of us on Letterboxd: Ethan (an actual Letterboxd influencer), Kenny, Sam.

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In which co-hosts Kenny and Sam talk to Professor Cami Agan about the 2018 volume Beren and Luthien and about the textual history of the tale. This episode is a companion piece to our previous episode on chapter 19 of The Silmarillion, which you can find here.

Cami Agan is the Distinguished Professor of Language and Literature at Oklahoma Christian University and a prominent scholar of Tolkien's First Age.

More Cami:

Lúthien Tinúviel and Bodily Desire in the Lay of Leithian

Cities and Strongholds of Middle-earth

Hearkening to the Other: A Certeauvian Reading of the Ainulindale

Also mentioned:

Moore - A Song of Greater Power: Tolkien's Construction of Lúthien Tinúviel

Whitaker - Corrupting Beauty: Rape Narrative in The Silmarillion

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In which co-hosts Kenny and Sam discuss chapter 19 of the Quenta Silmarillion, the incredible story of Beren and Luthien. Included is also a discussion of current events affecting Sam as a resident of Washington DC -- listeners with an allergy to that sort of thing can skip to 17:25 to get to "the good stuff."

Primary sources:

The Silmarillion | The Lord of the Rings | Beren and Luthien | The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien

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In which co-hosts Kenny and Sam talk to Professor Bret Devereaux about the Siege of Gondor and the Battle of Helm's Deep, including discussions of pre-modern logistics, cavalry charges, flails, command structures, battle speeches, and much more.

Bret Devereaux is an ancient and military historian who currently teaches as a Teaching Assistant Professor at North Carolina State University. You can find him on Twitter and Bluesky, or at his blog A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry.

More Bret:

Blog series on Siege of Gondor

Blog series on Helm's Deep

Blog series on logistics

Interview with Patrick Wyman on the Punic Wars

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In which co-hosts Kenny and Sam talk to Ali Mirzabayati about death and mourning in Tolkien's work. Ali published his thesis Death as a Gift: A Heroic Celebration of Life in The Lord of the Rings in December 2024.

Ali Mirzabayati is a scholar of medieval literature and modern fantasy, including Tolkien's legendarium.

More Ali:

Mourning and Melancholia in The Lord of the Rings

Sounds of Battle and Battle of Sounds: Belliphonic in Tolkien

Beowulf and Théoden: Differing Teaching Methods of Hrothgar and Gandalf

Further reading/listening:

Amendt-Raduege - The Sweet and the Bitter: Death and Dying in JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings

Vaninskaya - Fantasies of Time and Death

Freud - On Murder, Mourning and Melancholia

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