When Tolkien talks about Fantasy, he doesn’t simply mean fiction stories set in sword-and-sorcery worlds.  Fantasy is the highest form of sub-creation, the “most nearly pure form”–and the most potent. An art form that is “best left to words, to true literature.”

Michael, Dan, and I discuss this idea of Fantasy as the one form of Art that comes closest to true Enchantment.  We look at:

• The difference between imagination and fantasy.
• The ideal of “Faërian Drama”.
• The problem with “modern” sensibilities in Fantasy–and how that ruins true sub-creation.
• Why films will never match the power of true sub-creation.

Then in our members-only episode (https://theonering.com/members) we:

• Did Peter Jackson’s films destroy Tolkien’s sub-creative vision?
• Can Tolkien’s faith be separated from his sub-creation? Should it?
• Is there a difference between determinative and discovery sub-creation?
• “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.”