In this Prancing Pony Pondering, I want to take a look at just one example of how deep and rich Tolkien’s backstories often were. As he pointed out in On Fairy-Stories, when an author can do this well, [T]he story maker proves a successful ‘sub...
When considering the place of the stars in the Middle-earth legendarium, two things likely come to mind: the figure of Varda/Elbereth, the Queen of the Stars who looms large in the pantheon of the Valar; and the name by which the Elves refer to...
As you may know, I rather enjoyed The Lord of the Rings films despite my occasional (albeit entirely reasonable) criticism of certain aspects. However, one of the things I especially didn’t enjoy was the way the they effectively made Frodo appear…...
Beloved listeners – we hope you are as excited as we are to hear about the debut of a new section of our website: Prancing Pony Ponderings! Before Alan and Shawn embarked upon the Prancing Pony Podcast, we were discussing our ideas in a...
Way back in Episode 007, we invited listeners to submit a 5,000-word essay on whether Balrogs have wings. We never really expected a response, but listener Tom Hillman took up the challenge! We’re truly thrilled to share the results. In...