The Tolkien Lore Podcast

Sauron was causing problems in Middle Earth long before the events in the Lord of the Rings, going all the way back to the First Age.  Here's the scoop.  

For more on Sauron and the destruction of Numenor, see my video on Numenor's history here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqDslbXjg70

Tolkien bucked a lot of trends in his day, and that extended even to his professional work.  His influence is perhaps strongest with regard to the Old English poem Beowulf, and in this video I discuss some of his ideas as presented in a lecture (now available as an essay) titled "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics."  

You can find a copy of the essay here: https://www.amazon.com/Monsters-Critics-Essays-J-R-R-Tolkien/dp/026110263X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1508071811&sr=8-1&keywords=the+monsters+and+the+critics+and+other+essays  

You can also get Tolkien's own translation of the poem here: https://www.amazon.com/Beowulf-Translation-Commentary-J-R-R-Tolkien/dp/0544570308/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1508071762&sr=8-3&keywords=beowulf  

Also, a quick note on the video--I recorded it as usual but for some reason the clips came out truncated and so there's a bit missing at the transitions.  Nothing critical left out, luckily, and hopefully I won't have this problem again!

Peter Jackson admitted he didn't know what he was doing when he filmed The Hobbit trilogy, and it shows.  Here are some of the key things I think the movies got wrong.

The story of how The Hobbit came to be written and published is almost as interesting as The Hobbit itself.  OK, maybe not, but it IS interesting, and serves as an interesting backdrop to a lot of discussions.  

For more on how the Hobbit was retconned to fit Tolkien's broader legendarium, check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIbXfJ72j4c  

When I publish the video on why the Hobbit movies are terrible, I'll link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kORh99ZRuZ4  

You can find Tolkien's Essay on Fairy Stories here: https://www.amazon.com/Tolkien-Fairy-Stories-Verlyn-Flieger/dp/0007582919/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1506874225&sr=8-1&keywords=on+fairy+stories+tolkien  

And a video I did on his essay here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnMG5HhKK50

Boromir is one of the more obviously flawed characters in The Lord of the Rings, but the movie portrayal flattens out his character compared to the novel and even slightly turns him on his head.

The Wizards of Middle Earth are somewhat mysterious, and the White Council isn't discussed in much detail either.  However, there is some good information outside of the main sources.

I've done three videos on the Old Forest, Tom Bombadil, and the Barrow Downs.  But why bother talking about chapters that don't move the plot forward in any significant way?  Well....  Video on the Old Forest is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1ODkwQ-lnY  Video on Tom Bombadil is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKfG0vP_INs  Video on the Barrow Downs is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmY2ah1s2yo

Before watching this video, watch The Old Forest (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1ODkwQ-lnY) and Tom Bombadil (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKfG0vP_INs) for some context.    

You might also be interested in this video on the history of the North Kingdom of Arnor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t0zfrkinqc  

For the events before Frodo enters the Old Forest, check our this video: https://youtu.be/-jTXY8I5wAY

If you haven't seen the Old Forest video (https://youtu.be/Y1ODkwQ-lnY), you might want to watch it first, because this is the second of a three-part series covering a huge amount of material Peter Jackson left out of his movie trilogy.    

I also discuss Tom Bombadil in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE3a9hiEKY8  

The next video in this series, on the Barrow Downs, is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmY2ah1s2yo  

For the events before Frodo enters the Old Forest, check our this video: https://youtu.be/-jTXY8I5wAY

Peter Jackson left out several chapters of material from the Fellowship of the Ring between the hobbits leaving the Shire and arriving at Bree.  This is the first in a series of videos exploring that material, and links to the other two are below.  Part two of the series, on Tom Bombadil, is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKfG0vP_INs  Part three, on the Barrow Downs, is here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmY2ah1s2yo  For the events before Frodo enters the Old Forest, check out this video: https://youtu.be/-jTXY8I5wAY