Tom talks in trochaic tetrameter today, triggering a trend. Join The Man of the West and The Sage of the South in his last episode (this season) as we answer listener questions in our 27th Questions After Nightfall! From popular misconceptions about...
Overcome by despair at the sight of the Witch-king’s army, Frodo fears that his quest has already failed. But ever-practical Samwise snaps him out of it, and Frodo continues on with determination despite his lack of hope. Gollum leads them up two...
Alan and Shawn once again welcome listeners to the common room for our latest Q&A episode! This time we answer questions about themes in Tolkien’s legendarium, talk about favorite niches in Tolkien fandom, and even discuss what keeps characters...
The wraith on wings is gone, and our heroes appear not to have been noticed. But as the marshes come to an end and the walls of Mordor loom closer, Sméagol is at odds with himself — literally — on what to do next. Sam watches quietly as the two...
Sméagol proves to be willing and able to show Frodo and Sam the way to Mordor, now that his promise on the Precious keeps him from running away (though Sting is still at hand to police him if necessary). But Gollum proves he’ll always be king of...
And the number of the towers shall be two. Or three. Or... five? If it's not clear yet, we'll clear it up in this introduction to Book III of The Lord of the Rings. We also look back at the story so far, plus, what we did over our summer break!
While Frodo and Boromir are away "talking", the Company attempt to reach a decision about where to go. Join us as we finally close the book on The Fellowship of the Ring. Plus, is The Lord of the Rings too long?
A long time ago, in a galaxy not so far away, Alan and Shawn started discussing The Silmarillion. Now, witness the power of this fully armed and operational retrospective episode! First, we open Barliman’s Bag and stay on target to answer as many...
By now, you’ve likely noticed that there are certain themes that Tolkien touches on frequently in the Legendarium that I’m quick to notice and talk about during the podcast — or even here in our Ponderings. Not surprisingly, then, this is another...
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…...