Concluding our trilogy of episodes on Chapter 5 of The Hobbit. Gollum begins to realize that Bilbo has his ring, and Bilbo begins to realize what it does. He uses its power of invisibility to escape from Gollum, but stops short of killing the wretched creature: an act of pity that will have great implications for Bilbo and for Middle-earth. We turn again to the first edition to see how Tolkien’s minor edits changed the ring from a magical trinket into an artifact of power with a will of its own, and your hosts thankfully retire their Gollum voices until The Lord of the Rings.
For the online article “Bag End – A Very English Place” referenced in our Tolkien Fun Fact about Jane Neave, please see the Tolkien Library website: http://www.tolkienlibrary.com/press/1065-Bag-End-A-Very-English-Place.php (hat tip to listener Trotter)
Listen to the episode here, on YouTube, or in the player below:
Subscribe to the podcast via:
- iTunes (for iOS users)
- Subscribe on Android
- Stitcher
- RSS Feed
Comments or questions for Barliman’s Bag:
- Visit us at Facebook or Twitter
- Comment on this blog post
- Click the green button at right
- Email barliman (at) theprancingponypodcast (dot) com
Recommended Reading:
Tolkien, J. R. R. The Hobbit (Mariner Books, paperback) pp. 78-84, “Riddles in the Dark”
Tolkien, J. R. R. The Hobbit Facsimile First Edition (HarperCollins, hardcover)
Tolkien, J. R. R. and Douglas A. Anderson, ed. The Annotated Hobbit (HarperCollins, hardcover)
Rateliff, John D. The History of the Hobbit (HarperCollins, one-volume hardcover)
Carpenter, Humphrey, ed. The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien (Mariner Books, paperback)
Olsen, Corey. Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit (Mariner Books, paperback)
Shawn and Alan,
Thank you very much for addressing my question regarding the use of the word “overwrought” in episode 56. I must say that you were exactly correct that I was referring to the smithing connotation of that word when used to describe Thorin. What I don’t believe is that you stumbled upon that word, much like a Hobbit upon a Ring in the dark, but rather that, perhaps, the word occurred to you subconsciously, as if, perhaps another power was at work….
BTW I think this episode (63) was my favorite so far, I was actually driving with my GPS when you did the Golem GPS voice and I almost had to pull over for laughter! I would buy that upgrade in a second!
Indeed, Russ, it may be that we were meant to choose that word… and that may be an encouraging thought. 😉
We’re getting quite a bit of interest in that Gollum GPS voice! Someday, perhaps…