Recently the Tolkien fandom erupted in yet another controversy because Corey Olsen (aka the Tolkien Professor) stated in an interview that there is no such thing as “canon” in Tolkien. Naturally this led to many people calling him a traitor or sell-out, but their criticism missed the mark. Let’s define “canon” and ask ourselves some meaningful questions before we go dog piling, shall we?

Corey Olsen’s original interview that started the controversy is here:

His own response video is here:

Steven Gibb’s video on Gandalf’s names (which is marvelously interesting in its own right) is here:

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It seems a natural enough topic of conversation, yet for some reason Gandalf and Aragorn never mention to Frodo that Bilbo is in Rivendell, despite that being Frodo’s destination. I have a feeling it’s because both of them would love a good surprise party.

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On the fence about acquiring a huge 3-volume hardback full of Tolkien’s poetry? Here’s the skinny on what’s in the title.

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When we think of Theoden as a parallel, we often think of him as the flip side of Denethor, which is perfectly apt. But it turns out his actual story and decisions are much more parallel to the protagonist of the story, which is perhaps what you would least expect.

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Now that I’ve nitpicked and given credit for Peter Jackson’s second film in the Tolkien universe, let’s look at some of the details that are a little off, but you might not notice unless you’re a major nerd.

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The loss of innocence is a fairly common theme in literature, and wouldn’t you know, Tolkien handled it too! As with most things, he manages a nuanced take showing both the positives and negatives of innocence and its loss, if you know how to read his tale.

Check out the whole Hobbit Day playlist here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCeOWemVWFcbslFv0kk1_HQMb6o0Q-k5L&jct=TO0kZczE9iWwleNbEk4J6g

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In my previous video on this topic

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In the second half of my (humorous) review of The Two Towers, we have lots of characters doing stupid things, knowing things they shouldn’t, and timelines making no sense, among other problems!

For previous entries in this series check out these links:

Fellowship, part 1:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb4E0TBsrtA

Fellowship, Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPBCiY7P2Dg

Fellowship, Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB1nfYaNujs

Two Towers, Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEb7oguEI08

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It was bound to happen I suppose. I showed the trailer for War of the Rohirrim in my previous video so of course I got a copyright claim, but this has gotten out of hand. Let’s talk about the broken YouTube copyright system.

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The trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCUg6Td5fgQ) for the animated “War of the Rohirrim” film, brought to you by the same creative team behind the New Line Lord of the Rings films, finally dropped. Unfortunately it killed a lot of my anticipation for the

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