Discussion of The Two Towers, Book Three, Chapter Four

Join Cam and Maggie in their quest to defeat Tom Bombadil 2.0! Treebeard sings and wanders and babbles and emotionally detaches and brings the entire story to a screeching, pine-scented halt in this endless, miserable, dry chapter – but we have some fun with it. Pippin seems to be the new Chosen One in Tolkien's Middle-earth, and we wonder what this means for his mortality (hi Gandalf). We also discuss the legend of the Entwives as an echo of Goldberry, and Maggie finds a possible narrative explanation for the strange absence of women in this world. Cam suggests that Treebeard is an evolution of the idea of "sentient weapons" like Smaug and the One Ring. We also mock the chapter to keep ourselves entertained, with specific examples and quotes!

In our Second Breakfast, we consider continuations of stories that aren't written by the original author. This spirals into a discussion about corporate franchising, fan fiction, timeline independence, and what makes a sequel feel "legitimate". Examples include Watchmen, Doomsday Clock, LOTR (duh), Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Artemis Fowl, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (oh boy), and Game of Thrones. We love you, George! Take all the time you need on Winds.

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