The Council of Elrond continues with a brief history of Arnor and Gondor since Isildur’s time, and Boromir begins to learn the meaning of the riddle that brought him to Rivendell. He takes the revelation of Aragorn’s identity surprisingly well; but...
The Council of Elrond begins, and to help us bring the meeting to order, we welcome Corey Olsen — the Tolkien Professor himself — to the Prancing Pony Podcast! We start with a conversation about the nature of Rivendell itself, then dive into the...
With his friends all gone, Frodo stays in the Hall of Fire listening to the minstrels of Rivendell. We give Bilbo’s Song of Eärendil the full Prancing Pony Podcast treatment, explore its origins in an earlier Tolkien poem, and start assembling our...
Now taking a straight and stronger course to recovery, Frodo feels it’s time for food, drink, and merrymaking. He has a brief reunion with Sam, then with Merry and Pippin before they’re all moved on to the hall for a feast. Plus Elves are singing...
We return to the text of The Lord of the Rings with the first chapter of Book II! Frodo awakens in Rivendell after the incident down by the river to find Gandalf beside him. Now that it’s all over and done, Frodo is relieved to find that he and his...
Alan and Shawn welcome a cozy group of listeners to the common-room for another round of live, unscripted questions about Tolkien, the podcast, and more! We return to the Ford of Bruinen to figure out exactly what happened, and even look back on the...
That’s what Vizzini told us to do, so we have. As we shake off the jet lag and learn to live again without full English breakfasts and a steady supply of fish and chips, we look back at Book I of The Lord of the Rings, revisiting the recurring...
Alan and Shawn reunite in person for a live recording from Tolkien 2019 in Birmingham, England! We interviewed several special guests at the conference, including returning guests (Marquette University archivist Bill Fliss, authors Dimitra Fimi and...
A week has now passed since the final day of Tolkien 2019 in Birmingham. Alan and I are both back home, and it’s taken a few days to get over my jet lag and reconnect with real life in the States; which means it’s a good time to look back and write...
We end Season 3 by welcoming Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull to the podcast! This renowned husband-wife team have co-authored some of the most essential books in Tolkien studies. We talk about their many award-winning publications, hear how it...