If you’ve listened to the podcast enough, you’ve probably heard Alan and I make the bold claim that J. R. R. Tolkien never, ever made an accidental word choice in his writing. Every single word was chosen quite deliberately, we like to believe, and...
Happy Tolkien Reading Day! On March 25 every year - the date of the fall of Barad-dûr - Tolkien lovers worldwide celebrate by reading and promoting the Professor's life and work. For this special, Alan and Shawn read and discuss favorite...
This time, Alan flies solo over the battlefields of World War I and discusses both the explicit and the implied influences that the Great War had on Tolkien’s writings, while Shawn is safely away in the officers' club in Edoras with a refreshing...
Shawn takes a solo look at the real-world linguistic inspirations that shaped Tolkien's invented Elvish languages, Quenya and Sindarin, while Alan is away doing whatever a Man of the West does on his day off.
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.
In the first episode, get to know your hosts, Alan and Shawn, and learn about why we started the Prancing Pony Podcast. We also discuss favorite moments from the life of J. R. R. Tolkien as told in Humphrey Carpenter's biography, and introduce...