The Tolkien Professor

Adaptation has been a topic that has intrigued many Mythgardians, including Signum University President Corey Olsen (also known as The Tolkien Professor). From music and art to film to The Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) video game, the inspiration that the works of J.R.R. Tolkien have offered continues to be of interest to Corey and his podcast listeners.

In a recent Tolkien Chat, Corey took on another sort of adaptation: the new Middle-earth Lore Series. A brainchild of Joel “Andang” Shepherd, the director of the Players Alliance (a Mythgard Institute partner) and the force behind the weekly LOTRO Players News podcast, the series looks at the history of Middle-earth from an unusual angle. Using locations such as The Shire, Bree-land and Rivendell as anchors, the episodes relates the history of each place and the people who inhabited it. And those places and people are all inside LOTRO.

The first episode of the series, “The Shire,” was recently released, and to celebrate the launch. Corey talked to Andang about how he came up with the series idea, who its target audience is, and what the experience shooting within LOTRO is like. Andang shared many observations that are universal across all forms of adaptation.

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In the final episode in this season, we will attempt to lay out a map for the whole show, season by season.

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We will continue tackling big issues, including chronology, language style and use of narration.

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We will discuss some of the critical issues that will lay the foundation of the adaptation, including character depiction, music and magic.

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We will explain what we are doing and what we are not doing in this project. We will explain the general framework of our episodes and give a high level overview of what we will cover in Season 0. We will conclude the episode (as we will conclude all our episodes) with a question for listeners to discuss in the forum prior to a final decision at the start of the next episode.

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In the Lord of the Rings Online, Mythgard gathers at Ales and Tales to celebrate Gondorian New Year and the 7th Anniversary of the Lonely Mountain Band kinship. Corey's talk is on Frodo and Sauron at the Cracks of Doom: What Were They Thinking?

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In the final episode of a long journey there and back again, Tolkien Professor Corey Olsen and co-hosts Dave Kale and Trish Lambert wind up the riddle run-through for Year 3. It's all over but the score tabulation, and we say farewell to Riddles in the Dark. But the road goes ever on, and our intrepid threesome are gearing up to launch a new podcast series--focused on adapting The Silmarillion to screen.

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The Tolkien Professor Corey Olsen and co-hosts Trish Lambert and Dave Kale discuss three of the six "leftover" riddles that needed more discussion. Final decision by listener vote.

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The Tolkien Professor Corey Olsen and co-hosts Trish Lambert and Dave Kale conduct a lightning round of the Year Three riddles and conundra to arrive at final answers. Those that stumped the group will be discussed in more detail in the next episode.

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The Tolkien Professor Corey Olsen and co-hosts Trish Lambert and Dave Kale share their thoughts about The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.

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