The Tolkien Lore Podcast

Sir Lenny Henry, an actor in Amazon’s Lord of the Rings TV series, recently made some comments about his role in a radio interview on the BBC, and they raise a lot of questions….

The article from which I pulled the transcript of Sir Lenny’s comments is here: https://bleedingcool.com/tv/sir-lenny-henry-on-being-a-black-hobbit-in-the-lord-of-the-rings/

The full interview is here with his relevant remarks (not accurately transcribed but sufficiently similar) starting at about the 29:20 mark: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0010fk3

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A footnote by Tolkien in the recently released “The Nature of Middle-Earth” has lots of people claiming that it proves gay Elves are canonical in Tolkien’s legendarium, but a careful analysis undermines this argument.

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Sauron’s Ring acts very differently in Peter Jackson’s movie trilogy than it does in the original novel, and those differences have pretty significant implications for the plot….

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Bilbo, Frodo, and Sam all changed radically due to their adventures, and in ways that strangely mirror each other.  In this video I explore how their adventures changed them—the good, the bad, and the rest. 

The playlist for all the videos by my fellow YouTubers is here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSSf8JTB0Nrqdd1U_JmGQcTTWFrihAN_u 

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Tolkien was great at recycling ancient stories, plot points, and characters, but he seems to have done the same with one of his own….

My video on The Story of Kullervo is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-FtGIqizCY

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The Lord of the Rings was widely reviewed both when each volume was released and many times since.  Some critics loved it; others not so much.  But did the negative critiques have any merit?  GirlNextGondor, fellow YouTuber, joins me to discuss!

Check out GirlNextGondor’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs2Ia76_oHKz7IZuWcRF2NA

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This is a response to a piece by Molly Ostertag over at Polygon making the case that Frodo and Sam are gay.  I think she does as good a job as anyone could, but I remain unconvinced.

Molly Ostertag’s piece at Polygon is here: https://www.polygon.com/lord-of-the-rings/22550950/sam-frodo-queer-romance-lord-of-the-rings-tolkien-quotes

My video on the “Gondor in Transition” paper is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7s2otyaC7k

My video on authorial intent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n49foLSWx50

And here’s a video I did on that unpublished epilogue: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7VO5qNFoD4

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The Greeks had many words for different kinds of love, unlike us moderns.  But we have great examples of almost all of them in Tolkien's stories.  

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I watched "The Green Knight," starring Dev Patel, and it was cringy, boring, and pointless.  Here are my full thoughts.

For my review of Tolkien's translation of the original poem, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSEk0XGDOBc

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The 2021 Summer Seminar held by the Tolkien Society got a lot of attention because of the topics.  Was the fuss merited?  Here are my thoughts on one specific presentation—Cordeliah Logsdon’s “Gondor in Transition: A Brief Introduction to Transgender Realities in The Lord of the Rings”.

Here is the specific presentation I’m addressing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1BYu4NOIv8&list=PLoyx2jXs6Le_MelDj_rJsmiYSYQBeVYxQ&index=1

Here’s the playlist for all the videos in the seminar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1BYu4NOIv8&list=PLoyx2jXs6Le_MelDj_rJsmiYSYQBeVYxQ

This page gives the titles and brief descriptions of all the talks: https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/tolkien-society-summer-seminar/

My video on authorial intent vs. death of the author: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n49foLSWx50

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