My husband, Jordan Martinus (from the board game episode!) joins me in a discussion of why we love The Lord of the Rings, why it's been such a cultural phenomenon, and why we especially love a few of the characters. (Believe me, it was hard to get this list down to a few!)

Near the end of the episode, I mentioned a quote from Samwise Gamgee and promised I'd put it in the show notes. It turns out that this isn't a direct quote by Sam, but a narration of what goes through his mind when he sees a star through the dark clouds of Mordor: "There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach."