We resume the narrative with the first part of “The Ring Goes South”, as Frodo and his friends come to terms with the decisions made at the Council of Elrond. As the roster of the Fellowship is filled and Frodo and Aragorn get (not really) new...
Frodo and his friends make their way to Bree, and to an inn with a strangely familiar name, in the first half of “At the Sign of the Prancing Pony”. The Men of Bree are an independent people, cheerful and friendly as a rule… but Sam is nervous with...
In Chapter 12 of The Silmarillion, the Second Children of Ilúvatar – the Atani, or Men - awake, and we quickly learn precisely what the Elves think of them. We revisit the differences that Tolkien created between Elves and Men in both life and...
Doom falls on Valinor in Chapter 8 of The Silmarillion. Manwë hosts a feast to reconcile the estranged sons of Finwë, but Melkor chooses that moment to get his revenge with a little help from the mother of all evil spiders (literally), Ungoliant. We...
We continue our introduction to J. R. R. Tolkien's ideas on fantasy and myth with a look at his short poem dedicated to C. S. Lewis, "Mythopoeia" - a thematic companion piece to "On Fairy-Stories". Also, polar bears.