Exploring Tolkien

Exploring Tolkien


Latest Episodes

37. 10 Ways The Lord of the Rings has aged POORLY?!
February 13, 2023

We TEAR APART this article that claims Tolkien's Lord of the Rings has problems that need to be corrected for "modern audiences".

Middle-earth’s Real Power Couple| Of Beren and Luthien Part 2 | #27
February 07, 2023

The story of Beren and Luthien takes a dark turn with death and cruelty, but also reveals a more fairy tale side with all the shape-shifting, magic, and a talking dog!

Tolkien’s Real Alpha Male| Of Beren and Luthien Part 1 | #26
January 31, 2023

The story of Beren and Luthien is the beating heart of Tolkien's entire Middle-earth. It's one of the first two stories he wrote (while serving in World War 1), and was directly inspired by moments he spent with his not-yet-wife, Edith.

Tolkien’s Greatest Joy | Of Beren and Luthien Intro | Episode 25
January 24, 2023

Among the tales of sorrow and of ruin that come down to us from the darkness of those days there are yet some in which amid weeping there is joy and under the shadow of death light that endures...

Sauron’s Great Entrance | The Ruin of Beleriand | Episode 24
January 17, 2023

Sauron makes his big entrance into Middle-earth in this chapter, and does some serious damage to the elves and men. But Morgoth still seems to underestimate his foes.

There is a Tempest in Him | The Fall of Fingolfin | Episode 23
January 10, 2023

We delve into the first half of Chapter 18, "Of the Ruin of Beleriand and Fall of Fingolfin", taking a long look at this valiant elf's hopeless assault on Morgoth... an elf who ACTUALLY HAS A TEMPEST IN HIM, and not the dust devil in The Rings of Power's

Middle-earth’s Actual Strong Woman | Of the Coming of Men, Part 2 | Episode 22
January 03, 2023

Who is the REAL "strong" woman in Tolkien's Middle-earth? Why do men fear elves? Death really weirds-out the elves... and why we measure our lives in milestones, and elves do not!

30. Noel, a Christmas Poem, by J.R.R. Tolkien
December 26, 2022

This poem, titled "Noel", was written by J.R.R. Tolkien before The Hobbit was published, and only just discovered in 2013 in a 1936 copy of The Annual of Our Lady's School (a school magazine).

Unfriends, When Elves met Men | Of the Coming of Men, Part 1 | Episode 21
December 20, 2022

Do elves regard men as enemies? Foes? Invaders? How did the elves treat men the first time they met them? Join Jonathan, Michael, and Dan as they look at how the Noldor (surprisingly) treated men VERY differently than the Sindar!

Tolkien’s Disney Princess!? | Of Maeglin | Episode 20
December 13, 2022

Is Aredhel really a Disney princess!? What about this Dark Elf, El -- even though, as we find out, his name is not the first time Tolkien uses the capital "D" Dark Elf title!