The Tolkien Lore Podcast

People tend to find all kinds of hidden meanings in fiction, and Tolkien's works are no exception.  Here are some of the more plausible alleged allegories in the Lord of the Rings, with explanations of why they don't really work.  There are plenty of others out there as well, but some of them are WAY too out there to get into here.

Aside from the friendship of Frodo and Sam, the one shared by Legolas and Gimli is probably the most significant in the Lord of the Rings, so much so that you almost can't talk about one of the pair without discussing the other.  Here's some background on both characters and a discussion of why their friendship is so important to the story.  Since I mentioned the Unfinished Tales, here's a box set that contains it and some other stuff you should read: https://www.amazon.com/Tolkien-Fantasy-Reader-Silmarillion-Unfinished/dp/0345466462/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1500810177&sr=8-3&keywords=tolkien+unfinished+tales  Or get it by itself: https://www.amazon.com/Unfinished-N%C3%BAmenor-Middle-earth-J-R-R-Tolkien/dp/0544337999/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500810177&sr=8-1&keywords=tolkien+unfinished+tales  Here's the video I did on unsolved mysteries in Lord of the Rings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE3a9hiEKY8  And for a bit more background information on Elves, see this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiBiNWAtsXo

Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy didn't just leave out plot points, it left out some pretty significant characters.  Here are my top five.  Middle Earth Mysteries video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE3a9hiEKY8  Video on the theme of death: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tjm0HdZUgr0  And the video on the Kingdom of Arnor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t0zfrkinqc

The events at Bree are pivotal to a lot of the story in Lord of the Rings, but because Peter Jackson's movies truncated so much of the Fellowship, a lot of Tolkien's version got left out.  In this video I go over some of the major differences between the book and the movie.  Here's the video I did on how Tolkien retconned the Hobbit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIbXfJ72j4c

Tolkien wrote in more than one of his letters (which you can get here: https://www.amazon.com/Letters-J-R-R-Tolkien-J-R/dp/0618056998/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1499166870&sr=8-1&keywords=letters+of+jrr+tolkien) that one of the main themes of his Silmarillion and Lord of the Rings was death.  In this video I discuss the background for the them, its general implications, and some specific storylines where it comes into play.  My video on another theme, sub-creation, is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOpbrkRe3QY

Of all Tolkien's Middle Earth stories, Beren and Luthien probably take the most inspiration from his own life.  Based on his own love story with his wife, Edith, and taking some additional cues from his experience with World War I, you can easily draw comparisons between Tolkien's life and the greatest story of his Silmarillion epic.

We all know Tolkien's elves are immortal, beautiful, strong, and basically perfect.  But they're anything but homogenous!  In this video I discuss the three main Elven sub-groups--the Vanyar, the Noldor, and the Teleri--and point out some of the important characters from each group.

Do you like strategy board games, especially games like Stratego?  Want some Lord of the Rings theming thrown in?  Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation is for you!

Many believe that Eowyn's change of heart at the end of the The Lord of. the Rings is the result of Tolkien's sexism, putting her back in her proper feminine role, but a careful reading of the story actually shows that this change actually elevates her character.  

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The Rohirrim weren't always on good terms with Gondor, and they didn't always live in Rohan.  In this video I explain how they came to live in Rohan and some of the important events in their history.