211 – For Those About to (Rave About a) Rock, We Salute You

After a long night, the heroes of Helm’s Deep reunite on the grass by a stream near a forest that, uh, wasn’t there yesterday… but we’ll get to that later. Legolas and Gimli check the final score of Uruk Slayfest 3019, showing the Dwarf ahead by a head, but less interested in bragging rights than in the Glittering Caves he found in the Deep. Gandalf has returned, and — oh, right! — that forest that appeared overnight is not his doing, but he won’t say whose it was. Plus, a Tolkien Fun Fact about recovery, escape, and consolation among POWs in the 1970s.

Recommended Reading:

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Two Towers: Being the Second Part of The Lord of the Rings (Mariner Books, paperback) “The Road to Isengard”, pp. 530-35

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings (Mariner Books, paperback)

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Return of the King: Being the Third Part of the Lord of the Rings (Mariner Books, paperback)

Tolkien, J. R. R. (Christopher Tolkien, ed.) The Silmarillion (Mariner Books, paperback)

Tolkien, J. R. R. The Hobbit (Mariner Books, paperback)

Tolkien, J. R. R. Tales from the Perilous Realm (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, hardcover)

Tolkien, J. R. R. (Christopher Tolkien, ed.) Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth (Mariner Books, paperback)

Tolkien, J. R. R. (Christopher Tolkien, ed.) The War of the Ring (The History of Middle-earth, Vol. 8) (Houghton Mifflin, paperback)

Tolkien, J. R. R. (Christopher Tolkien, ed.) The Lays of Beleriand (The History of Middle-earth, Vol. 3) (Del Rey, paperback)

Tolkien, J. R. R. (Christopher Tolkien, ed.) Morgoth’s Ring (The History of Middle-earth, Vol. 10) (HarperCollins, paperback)

Tolkien, J. R. R. (Christopher Tolkien, ed.) The Peoples of Middle-earth (The History of Middle-earth, Vol. 12) (HarperCollins, paperback)

Hammond, Wayne G. and Christina Scull. The Lord of the Rings: A Reader’s Companion (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, hardcover)

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5 comments
  • Re stalagmites and stalactites and how to know which is which. Stalagmites (with a g) grow up from the ground. Stalactites (with a c) hang down from the ceiling. “G” ground. “C” ceiling. You’ll always remember that.

  • Would you be able to list individual episode sponsors on this page? I generally listen to this podcast while driving, and when you mention your sponsors, it can be difficult to remember their sites (particularly with unfamiliar names, such as was the case this week) without writing them down. I apologize if this information is listed somewhere else on this site, but I had a look and couldn’t find anything.
    Thanks

  • Legolas, Thranduil and Menegroth: Remember that at this stage of writing, Tolkien had not yet made Legolas Thrandruil’s son. He was just an Elf of Mirkwood, a “messenger from the Elven-King.” T never updated this conversation to account for the change.

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