Podcasts about The Lord of the Rings

Send us a text! We'd love to hear your thoughts on the show.What if the best way to write a successful series is to stop thinking about the series and focus on writing one excellent book?In this episode of The Resilient Writers Radio Show, I'm joined by Canadian author and writing coach Kevin T. Johns for an honest, funny, and deeply practical conversation about finishing ambitious writing projects, writing a trilogy, and giving your current book everything you have.Kevin recently completed The Page Turners trilogy, a genre-bending series about three teenagers who discover a magical book of spells and accidentally release the fictional villains from the stories they love. Across the three books, Kevin moves through horror, science fiction, and fantasy while exploring much bigger themes, including family, anger, identity, loneliness, and what it means to grow up.But this conversation is not only for writers working on a trilogy.It's for anyone whose book has become too big, too complicated, or too precious to finish.Kevin shares why every book in a series still needs to stand on its own, with a complete emotional arc, a clear theme, and a satisfying story. His advice is simple and powerful: do not save the good material for book three. Put your strongest ideas, scenes, emotions, and creative energy into the book directly in front of you.We also talk about the “punk rock” mindset that transformed Kevin's writing process. Instead of trying to create his version of The Lord of the Rings, he began asking how he could make the story shorter, more focused, more passionate, and more entertaining. That shift helped him finish the first book and allowed the rest of the trilogy to grow naturally.Kevin also offers thoughtful advice for writers who love complex stories. A multigenerational epic with several timelines, continents, and points of view may sound exciting, but complexity does not automatically create depth. Sometimes the more focused your story becomes, the more deeply you can explore what truly matters.We dig into revision too, including the challenge of returning to a manuscript written ten years earlier. Kevin explains how adding fresh material helped him reconnect with the story while honouring the younger writer who first imagined it.And because this is a conversation about the real writing life, we talk about self-doubt, dark art, creative resilience, and why writers are rarely the best judges of their work in the moment.Your readers are not waiting for you to fail. They want to love your book.So stop saving your best ideas for later. Write the strongest version of the book you can write today.Listen now to hear Kevin's practical advice on writing a trilogy, simplifying an ambitious story, revising an old manuscript, finding your audience, and finishing the book in front of you.

We're back with Pathfinder Wizards, and somehow giving Tyler ten more levels of spellcasting has not improved the situation. Ash has evolved from sneaky magical assassin into a nearly undetectable menace who can freeze time and ruin your life before you know he was there. Randall has discovered that there is apparently no such thing as enough bonded-item spell slots. And Tyler's angry robot can now scream at you until you die, drop meteors on your friends, and disintegrate whatever is left. At this point, these aren't adventurers. They're reasons cities have evacuation plans. SHOW NOTES We're finishing our Pathfinder 2e Wizard builds, taking Ash, Randall, and Tyler from level 11 all the way to level 20. At these levels, the Wizard starts showing exactly where its power lives. New class features are few and far between, defenses remain deeply Wizard-shaped, and some of the high-level feat choices are surprisingly thin. But the spells? The spells get ridiculous. Ash continues turning his Red Mantis Sprite into the world's most irritating magical assassin. Phantasmal Calamity wrecks minds, Redirect Teleportation makes escaping him considerably harder, Duplicate Foe lets him turn your own face against you, and his growing collection of invisibility and stealth abilities eventually makes finding him a campaign objective all by itself. By the time he picks up Disappearance and Legendary Sneak, the plan has basically become: you don't see Ash unless Ash has made a tactical error. Tyler's Rune Lord continues leaning into wrath, explosions, and increasingly hostile interpretations of spellcasting. Blinding Fury makes enemies literally too angry to perceive things properly, Falling Stars brings the expected amount of meteor-related destruction, and Scare to Death gives his angry robot the possibility of simply yelling at someone until they fall over dead. Naturally, Tyler immediately starts figuring out how to combine that with Sure Strike and Disintegrate because apparently death by terror wasn't conclusive enough. Randall keeps feeding the Universalist Wizard's bonded-item engine. Superior Bond and Reprepare Spell give him even more ways to keep spells flowing, because the answer to "When do you have enough spellcasting?" is apparently "What kind of quitter asks that question?" Along the way, we hit some of the Wizard's best high-level toys. Contingency lets you prepare for problems before they happen. Time Beacon lets you rewind a terrible turn and try again. Metallic Meteorite Glyph introduces the exciting tactical concept of repeatedly hitting someone with space rocks. Effortless Concentration frees up actions for sustained spells. Infinite Possibilities gives prepared casters a valuable wildcard when the perfect spell wasn't prepared that morning. Then we reach 10th-rank spells and restraint leaves the building. Ash stops time with Freeze Time and starts planning elaborate traps while everyone else stands around unknowingly waiting for reality to resume. Randall grabs Cataclysm because sometimes the correct number of damage types is all of them. Tyler considers Manifestation, giving him access to nearly any spell he could suddenly decide he needs. There is also an extended disagreement about line of effect after Ash discovers that Phantasmagoria cannot simply murder everyone inside a building without worrying about pesky things like walls. Apparently Pathfinder has rules specifically designed to keep Wizard war crimes within reasonable geographic boundaries. Ash takes the news well. By level 20, everyone somehow lands on Spell Shape Mastery, turning many of their favorite spell-shaping tricks into free actions. Ash becomes harder to identify, read, locate, or meaningfully interact with. Randall takes Lore specifically about Ash's Sprite, immediately putting himself on Ash's hit list. Tyler takes Too Angry to Die, because there was really no other possible ending for the angry robot. Twenty levels later, the Wizard remains exactly what it promised to be: fragile, complicated, occasionally frustrating, and capable of solving problems with a spell list large enough to qualify as infrastructure. KEY TAKEAWAYS High-level Wizards are still defined more by their spells than their class features. The Wizard's defensive and weapon progression remains painfully slow, so positioning and magical defenses continue to matter. High-level spellcasting is where the class really comes alive, with options like Contingency, Time Beacon, Phantasmal Calamity, Falling Stars, Disappearance, and a frankly unreasonable number of meteor-related solutions. Ash's Red Mantis build becomes an extremely capable infiltrator and assassin built around stealth, deception, illusions, invisibility, and making other people look responsible. Tyler's Rune Lord doubles down on damage, persistent effects, intimidation, and the general philosophy that being angry enough should eventually become a damage type. Randall's Universalist shows how powerful Drain Bonded Item can become when you keep investing in ways to recover and recycle spells. Reprepare Spell trades downtime for reusable low-rank utility, while Infinite Possibilities sacrifices some raw spell-slot power for tremendous flexibility. Effortless Concentration is an easy standout for Wizards who rely on sustained spells. Scare to Death on an angry Rune Lord is exactly as stupid and wonderful as it sounds. 10th-rank spells are deliberately limited, but Freeze Time, Cataclysm, Manifestation, and the other options make that single slot feel appropriately enormous. Spell Shape Mastery is a fantastic capstone if your build has invested heavily in spell-shaping feats. Free Archetype opens even more directions, including Rogue or Captivator for Ash's assassin, additional spellcasting options for Randall, and apparently more explosions for Tyler. Pathfinder's line-of-effect rules are all that stand between civilization and unrestricted Wizard war crimes. Most importantly, Tyler got twenty full levels of Wizard and still wanted more. Welcome to the RPGBOT Podcast. If you love Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, and tabletop RPGs, this is the podcast for you. Support the show for free: Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any podcast app. It helps new listeners find the best RPG podcast for D&D and Pathfinder players. Level up your experience: Join us on Patreon to unlock ad-free access to RPGBOT.net and the RPGBOT Podcast, chat with us and the community on the RPGBOT Discord, and jump into live-streamed RPG podcast recordings. Support while you shop: Use our Amazon affiliate link at https://amzn.to/3NwElxQ and help us keep building tools and guides for the RPG community. Meet the Hosts Tyler Kamstra – Master of mechanics, seeing the Pathfinder action economy like Neo in the Matrix. Randall James – Lore buff and technologist, always ready to debate which Lord of the Rings edition reigns supreme. Ash Ely – Resident cynic, chaos agent, and AI's worst nightmare, bringing pure table-flipping RPG podcast energy. Join the RPGBOT team where fantasy roleplaying meets real strategy, sarcasm, and community chaos. How to Find Us: In-depth articles, guides, handbooks, reviews, news on Tabletop Role Playing at RPGBOT.net Tyler Kamstra BlueSky: @rpgbot.net TikTok: @RPGBOTDOTNET Ash Ely Professional Game Master on StartPlaying.Games BlueSky: @GravenAshes YouTube: @ashravenmedia https://ashelydm.com/ https://ashelydm.com/ Randall James BlueSky: @GrimoireRPG Amateurjack.com Read Melancon: A Grimoire Tale (affiliate link) Producer Dan @Lzr_illuminati

Welcome to Dev Game Club, where this week we revisit our 2017 series on 1999's Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. We're interviewing Riley Cooper, a former colleague of Tim's who had a long career at Crystal Dynamics and worked on the title in level design and combat design roles. Dev Game Club looks at classic video games and plays through them over several episodes, providing commentary. Podcast breakdown: 1:01 Interview 1:07:10 Break 1:07:40 Outro Issues covered: the Universe coming together, getting in, making terrain layers in Photoshop, moving to the next thing, working on the combat, the parts that had to be there, incorporating lateral movement for combat, applying fighting game discipline, not inventing from whole cloth, rebuilding a camera system, design as open source, defensive patents, jamming so much into levels, spectral morphing and lack of follow-ups, blind ambition coming from Amy Hennig, being two weeks from ship for one to two years, time to market vs time to quality, people simply not knowing, jumping between genres, the victory of European labor laws, knowing how to build what you're building, a vacuum of upper management, being able to just make the game, the tension between business and creation, wanting to design without interference, execs who want to play with the toys, "problems down solutions up," wanting appropriate ownership at every level, getting the same letter at the end of two different projects, the feeling at the start vs the feeling in the middle, thoughtful refactoring, starting from the right constraints, locking yourself in a room with a design problem to find the solution, gameplay goes at the speed of thumbs, a sports game that's a video game first, good places to be from. Games, people, and influences mentioned or discussed: Lord of the Rings, LucasArts, Solar Eclipse, Legacy of Kain (series), Tomb Raider (series), EA, Need for Speed (series), Sony, Atari 2600, Dave Morse, 3D0, Saturn, Noah Hughes, Amy Hennig, Silicon Knights, Denis Dyack, Seth Carus, Street Fighter 2, Super Mario 64, Jim Conrad, Andrew Hynek, Roberta Williams, Daniel Chayer-Bison, Pete Lake, Microsoft, X-COM, Fallout, Populous, Sean Vesce, Richard Lemarchand, Naughty Dog, Uncharted, Hitman, Hakan Almer, Kirk Hamilton, Aaron Evers, Mark Garcia. Next time: TBA! Twitch: timlongojr and twinsunscorp YouTube Discord DevGameClub@gmail.com 

This week on Collecting Weekly, HONŌ STUDIO is back — and apparently HONŌ isn't dead! We're breaking down the newly announced red and blue Spider-Man Homemade Suit figures from Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, including the limited-edition blue Sideshow Exclusive. We're also taking a look at the latest InArt Saruman tease and what it could mean for the growing Lord of the Rings lineup. Is InArt about to give collectors the definitive Saruman? Plus, we'll discuss the biggest details, surprises, and what these announcements mean for the sixth-scale collecting community. #HotToys #HONOStudio #SpiderMan #YourFriendlyNeighborhoodSpiderMan #InArt #Saruman #LordOfTheRings #Marvel #SixthScale #SixthScaleFigures #ActionFigures #CollectingWeekly #CWLive #FigureCollectors #ToyNews

We will be back next week with more of our Shadowdark arc with Mr. Dragonbane. But this week, here is a feed drop , from friend of the Pod Ian from Shrimp and Crits! it's the first episode of their of their new campaignIn Ian's words, “Imagine if Johnny Cash told the story of the Lord of the Rings. Shrimp and Crits is a southern fried actual play podcast and this is the first episode of a story where high fantasy and folk music find common ground by the campfire.“Welcome to the flying city of Cantaretta.Cord, Celeste, and Gree are Skywaymen and the closest thing to heroes this world has. Paired together to fulfill an important quest, they make their way down to the Old World to face the dangers of the cursed land below.Shrimp and Crits WebsiteEnjoy! We will be back next week!Check out our awesome sponsors!Brotherwise Games1985 GamesHit Point Press Heckna Campaign SettingRoll 20Mentioned in this episode:Crit Talkers Podcast at Gamecon Junction Nov 6-8We will be at Gamecon Junction again this year! Click the link to get your badge and come join us!GameCon Junction

Join us this month for a look at the final book in the History of Middle-earth series, The History of Middle-earth volume 12, The Peoples of Middle-earth. We delve into Tolkien's unfinished story, Tal-Elmar, discussing themes of colonization, racial stereotypes, and the good guy/bad guy dichotomy. We also reflect on our Lesser-trod Histories Series as it comes to a close. Citations: Hoiem, Elizabeth Massa, World Creation as Colonization: British Imperialism in "Aldarion and Erendis". Tolkien Studies, Volume 2, 2005, pp. 75-92 (Article). Published by West Virginia University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tks.2005.0020 Tolkien, J. R. R. The Peoples of Middle-earth. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 12. HarperCollins, London, 1996. Tolkien Gateway article “Númenóreans” https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/N%C3%BAmen%C3%B3reans (Accessed August 15, 2026) Tolkien Gateway article “Tal-Elmar (chapter) https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Tal-Elmar_(chapter) (Accessed August 15, 2026) Tolkien Gateway article “The Peoples of Middle-earth” https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/The_Peoples_of_Middle-earth (Accessed August 15, 2026) Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/4rZynfWv3f

Jessie and Kim are joined by journalist and LOTR superfan Katelyn Burns to discuss Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Extended Edition.In this episode of A Cast of Kings, Kim Renfro and Jessie Earl are joined by journalist and LOTR superfan Katelyn Burns to break down their entire thoughts on the classic film, Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Extended Edition. How does the book change the army of the dead? Why are the multiple endings actually ok? How do we feel that they cut the Scouring of The Shire? And is Return of the King actually the most underrated of the trilogy? Listen to hear us discuss all these questions and more! Links: Email us at acastofkings(AT)gmail(DOT)com Subscribe to Decoding TV on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@decodingtv Follow us on Tiktok - http://tiktok.com/@acastofkings Buy Kim Renfro's book about Game of Thrones - https://parents.simonandschuster.com/9781982116415 Follow this podcast on Instagram - http://instagram.com/decodingtv Follow this podcast on Tiktok - http://tiktok.com/@decodingtv Subscribe to David's free newsletter, Decoding Everything - http://www.decodingeverything.com/

The middle book of a trilogy is always the dark one, and The Two Towers is no exception. Fr. Wesley Walker and Dr. Junius Johnson return to Middle-earth for the second leg of The Lord of the Rings, and this time things really are on the edge of the knife.Gollum, Hugh of Saint Victor, Ents and the Entmoot, Gimli, Sarumon and Gandalf, and Boromir and Faramir. It's all there!Endnotes* Junius: Tolkien's The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún * Wesley's endnote: Realms of Tolkien: Images of Middle-earth This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.theclassicalmind.com/subscribe

In the aftermath of world-changing events for the various peoples of the Air Kingdom, the Sidebars split the party in an effort to gather as much information as they can about what's really going on and what they need to tackle next. Fans of Fate of Isen Book 1 will enjoy some serious throwbacks in this one!Featuring:Erika Jayne as Taryn GrimSeverin Gourley as Dexter ClementineKasia Wayfinder as Granny Sabinkaand Julz Burgisser as DMVisit www.fateofisen.com to learn more.Fate of Isen is one of the Feedspot top D&D podcasts in the world! Check out Feedspot here.If you like the show, please feel free to follow us on social media (@fateofisen) or support us on Patreon! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★ Intro, outro, and recap music by freesound user, Tyops, and ambient sound by TabletopAudio.com

On this edition of The Catered Quiz, comedian Sean Keane joins the show to answer questions about The Lord Of The Rings and the NBA Draft. We also talk about Philadelphia superteams, Pacific Gas & Electric and Tyler Herro.  Listen to Sean's album America's Uncle Dad Subscribe to Sean's podcast Roundball Rock. Read Sean's NBA coverage.

Patrick answers questions on guardian angels, prayers for those who left the faith, and whether grace can reach those closed off from it. He responds to lively debates on church customs, biblical mysteries like Lazarus’s age, and the classic rivalry between Tolkien’s epic and C.S. Lewis’s Narnia, letting callers’ passions shape the flow. Music talk, real-life marriage milestones, and concerns for pro-life centers in California thread through spirited exchanges that move from deep Catholic doctrine to the simple joy of a catchy tune. Sheila (email) - Can I ask the guardian angels of my grown children (who have left the faith) to attend Mass and pray for them, and if so, what grace would result and could it still reach and affect them even if they are not open to it? (00:40) Daniel – Genuflecting (08:14) Deidra - There are two types of repenting: repenting every day and repenting and be baptized. We need both. (10:35) John - Do we know how old Lazarus was when Jesus raised him from the dead? (12:46) Doug – On Friday, the Archbishop of San Francisco wrote a piece about suing the abortion reversal pill (13:58) Nathaniel - What is better, LOTR or the Chronicles of Narnia? (20:57) Richard - I read the LOTR books and saw the movies. The movie was a bit of a letdown but I still loved them. The Narnia books fantastic. Andy - I want to know what is penal substitution and is it something Catholics believe? (34:13) Dave - For Nathaniel, Narnia Christian themes much more obvious but LOTR themes are deeper, more complex. I think both are excellent. (39:12) Ronnie - I want to encourage other married people not to give up on their spouse and try to make it better. Divorce is not the answer. (49:15) Originally Aired on 08-03-2026

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Today, Justin, Darcy and Nate recap their experience at Fan Expo Canada 2026 and ask whether this year's convention lived up to expectations. They discuss the overcrowded show floor, the noticeable absence of major studio activations, and an expanded Artist Alley that often felt too congested to properly explore. Despite the disappointing floor experience, the convention still delivered some memorable panels. Justin shares highlights from X-Men: The Animated Series, Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord, and an unpredictable appearance from Mark Hamill. Darcy and Nate also discuss panels for KPop Demon Hunters, the upcoming film Stuntman with Jay Baruchel, and “Fellowship Reunited,” celebrating 25 years of The Lord of the Rings with Elijah Wood and Billy Boyd. It's an honest conversation about the highs, the lows, and everything that shaped their weekend at Canada's biggest celebration of fandom. Check out Geekcentric onYouTube | Instagram | Twitter | TikTokJoin the Geekcentric Discord HEREFollow Eatcentric - Same geeks. New Eats

Tyler loves wizards. We know this because he told us. Repeatedly. For ninety minutes. So naturally, we gave him an entire episode to explain why the best solution to every problem is a spellbook, an alarming number of prepared spells, and occasionally sucking magical energy out of your left shoe. Meanwhile, Ash builds a tiny invisible assassin, Randall discovers that wizardry can apparently involve throwing a greatsword at someone from several hundred feet away, and everyone learns the most important rule of Pathfinder spellcasting: Fireball is a tool, not a personality. Tyler disagrees. SHOW NOTES It is finally time for Tyler's Roman Empire: Wizards. In Part 1 of our Pathfinder 2e Wizard build, we take the class from levels 1 through 10 and dig into what makes the PF2e Wizard different from its D&D 5e counterpart. Wizards are still the spellbook-carrying nerds we know and love, but their real power comes from choosing, preparing, and using the right spells rather than simply solving every encounter with Fireball. We break down Arcane Bond, including the extremely important revelation that your bonded item can technically be your left shoe, then walk through the Arcane Theses and the different ways they reshape how a Wizard manages spells. Spell Blending offers big high-rank spell slots, Spell Substitution gives prepared casters some much-needed flexibility, Experimental Spell Shaping opens up spell modification options, and Improved Familiar Attunement lets you drain magical power from your adorable animal companion without technically hurting it. Probably. Then we build three very different Wizards. Ash creates a sneaky Red Mantis spellcaster built around stealth, spying, invisibility, and framing innocent people for magical crimes. Randall embraces the School of Unified Magical Theory and somehow turns his scholarly Wizard into a man who hurls increasingly large weapons at enemies. Tyler goes full Rune Lord of Wrath because apparently simply playing a Wizard was not Wizard enough. As the builds advance, the differences become even clearer. Ash gains tools like Split Slot and Shroud of the Mantis to become an increasingly slippery magical infiltrator. Randall discovers the ridiculous potential of Bond Conservation and starts chaining recovered spells together while continuing to throw weapons at people. Tyler adds persistent fire, bleeding, spell shaping, extra spell slots earned by waking up angry, and increasingly elaborate ways to make one enemy have the worst day imaginable. By level 10, we have three Wizards who share a spell list and almost nothing else. We also discover that Ash is apparently building according to the defensive philosophy of being somewhere else when the damage happens, which leads to perhaps the purest Wizard philosophy of the episode: here for a good time, not a long time. KEY TAKEAWAYS A Pathfinder 2e Wizard is defined primarily by their spells. What you learn, prepare, and cast matters far more than simply collecting class feats. PF2e Wizards are powerful, but they do not have the enormous caster-versus-martial power gap familiar to many D&D 5e players. Fireball is good. Fireball is not the answer to every question. Tyler remains emotionally unconvinced. Arcane Bond effectively gives you another use of a prepared spell, and your bonded item can be almost anything you own, including, unfortunately, a shoe. Arcane Thesis dramatically changes how your Wizard handles spellcasting. Spell Substitution is especially forgiving if you are new to prepared spellcasting, while Spell Blending can be extremely powerful but more complicated. Arcane Schools provide curriculum spells, additional curriculum spell slots, and focus spells, while the School of Unified Magical Theory trades the curriculum for much greater flexibility with Drain Bonded Item. Wizard class feats can sometimes feel underwhelming because so much of the class's power budget lives in its spells, making Wizard an appealing class for archetype options. Ash proves that Wizards can make surprisingly effective stealth and infiltration characters. Randall proves that being a Wizard does not technically prevent you from solving problems by throwing a greatsword at them. Tyler proves that Rune Lord Wrath can turn waking up angry into an actual character resource. By level 10, the three builds demonstrate just how differently Wizards can play despite all starting from the same enormous Arcane spell list. Most importantly, Tyler loves Wizards. We know, buddy. We know. Welcome to the RPGBOT Podcast. If you love Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, and tabletop RPGs, this is the podcast for you. Support the show for free: Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any podcast app. It helps new listeners find the best RPG podcast for D&D and Pathfinder players. Level up your experience: Join us on Patreon to unlock ad-free access to RPGBOT.net and the RPGBOT Podcast, chat with us and the community on the RPGBOT Discord, and jump into live-streamed RPG podcast recordings. Support while you shop: Use our Amazon affiliate link at https://amzn.to/3NwElxQ and help us keep building tools and guides for the RPG community. Meet the Hosts Tyler Kamstra – Master of mechanics, seeing the Pathfinder action economy like Neo in the Matrix. Randall James – Lore buff and technologist, always ready to debate which Lord of the Rings edition reigns supreme. Ash Ely – Resident cynic, chaos agent, and AI's worst nightmare, bringing pure table-flipping RPG podcast energy. Join the RPGBOT team where fantasy roleplaying meets real strategy, sarcasm, and community chaos. How to Find Us: In-depth articles, guides, handbooks, reviews, news on Tabletop Role Playing at RPGBOT.net Tyler Kamstra BlueSky: @rpgbot.net TikTok: @RPGBOTDOTNET Ash Ely Professional Game Master on StartPlaying.Games BlueSky: @GravenAshes YouTube: @ashravenmedia https://ashelydm.com/ https://ashelydm.com/ Randall James BlueSky: @GrimoireRPG Amateurjack.com Read Melancon: A Grimoire Tale (affiliate link) Producer Dan @Lzr_illuminati

Nature is healing. Unfortunately, nature has chosen violence. We're taking the Druid from level 5 all the way to 20, which means summoning packs of velociraptors, turning into dinosaurs, raising fungal zombies, weaponizing potted plants, becoming an angry celestial nature wizard, and eventually gaining the power to erase armies with natural disasters. But none of that matters because we discovered the true pinnacle of Druid magic: summoning cows sixty feet above our enemies and letting gravity finish the spell. Welcome to high-level Druid optimization, where Mother Nature loves you, but she has absolutely had enough of your crap. Show Notes We return to our 2014 D&D 5e Druid builds and take Tyler's Circle of Spores, Randall's Circle of the Moon, and Ash's Circle of Stars from level 5 all the way to 20. Third-level spells immediately send us down the Conjure Animals rabbit hole, where velociraptors look terrifying until someone suggests cows. From there, the entirely reasonable discussion of battlefield control becomes the Twister Gambit: summon livestock above your enemy and allow physics to contribute to the encounter. As the levels climb, the Druids only become more ridiculous. Randall gets increasingly dangerous Wild Shape options and eventually Elemental Wild Shape. Tyler builds an expanding fungal entourage while becoming increasingly difficult to kill. Meanwhile, Rain Shadow graduates from peaceful celestial hippie to terrifying flying star mage with an alarming willingness to unleash the wrath of nature. We dig through the Druid spell list, separating great options from traps, discussing Polymorph, Wall of Fire, summoning, battlefield control, Draconic Transformation, Foresight, Shapechange, and the point where spells like Earthquake and Tsunami stop feeling like combat abilities and start feeling like natural-disaster plot devices. By level 18, Beast Spells lets Druids cast while Wild Shaped, and level 20's Archdruid removes the practical limit on Wild Shape altogether. The result is a class that starts by talking to squirrels and ends as a nearly unkillable force of nature capable of turning into monsters, casting world-altering magic, and presumably still dropping cows on people whenever the situation demands it. Key Takeaways Conjure Animals remains enormously powerful, especially when quantity, Pack Tactics, battlefield control, and questionable applications of gravity get involved. The Twister Gambit proves that cows are not merely livestock. They are ammunition. Druids excel at battlefield control, with spells like Plant Growth capable of making movement extremely difficult under the right circumstances. Circle of the Moon keeps improving its Wild Shape options, eventually gaining Elemental Wild Shape and much stronger beast forms. Circle of Spores develops into a durable melee caster surrounded by fungal undead and eventually gains excellent defensive abilities. Circle of Stars becomes increasingly flexible as its Starry Forms improve, allowing Ash's Rain Shadow to become the terrifying celestial nature prophet she was always destined to be. Higher-level Druid magic increasingly shifts from winning encounters to reshaping entire situations with spells like Earthquake and Tsunami. Beast Spells dramatically changes Wild Shape by allowing Druids to cast while transformed. Foresight and Shapechange provide outstanding ninth-level options and make already-powerful Druids even harder to deal with. Archdruid's unlimited Wild Shape makes the level 20 Druid extraordinarily difficult to kill, especially for Circle of the Moon. The Druid's greatest strength is versatility. It can summon, heal, control the battlefield, transform, deal damage, support allies, infiltrate, and eventually become a walking ecological catastrophe. Welcome to the RPGBOT Podcast. If you love Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, and tabletop RPGs, this is the podcast for you. Support the show for free: Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any podcast app. It helps new listeners find the best RPG podcast for D&D and Pathfinder players. Level up your experience: Join us on Patreon to unlock ad-free access to RPGBOT.net and the RPGBOT Podcast, chat with us and the community on the RPGBOT Discord, and jump into live-streamed RPG podcast recordings. Support while you shop: Use our Amazon affiliate link at https://amzn.to/3NwElxQ and help us keep building tools and guides for the RPG community. Meet the Hosts Tyler Kamstra – Master of mechanics, seeing the Pathfinder action economy like Neo in the Matrix. Randall James – Lore buff and technologist, always ready to debate which Lord of the Rings edition reigns supreme. Ash Ely – Resident cynic, chaos agent, and AI's worst nightmare, bringing pure table-flipping RPG podcast energy. Join the RPGBOT team where fantasy roleplaying meets real strategy, sarcasm, and community chaos. How to Find Us: In-depth articles, guides, handbooks, reviews, news on Tabletop Role Playing at RPGBOT.net Tyler Kamstra BlueSky: @rpgbot.net TikTok: @RPGBOTDOTNET Ash Ely Professional Game Master on StartPlaying.Games BlueSky: @GravenAshes YouTube: @ashravenmedia https://ashelydm.com/ https://ashelydm.com/ Randall James BlueSky: @GrimoireRPG Amateurjack.com Read Melancon: A Grimoire Tale (affiliate link) Producer Dan @Lzr_illuminati

From where did J.R.R. Tolkien get his ideas for the world of Middle Earth?For millions of readers, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are more than just fantasy fiction. Their rich mix of sacred mythology and archetypal saga stories draw deeply into history and legend and profoundly resonate with universal human experience.As with most things, Matt Lewis is determined to claim Middle Earth was inspired by the medieval period, with the help of today's guest, Tolkien scholar Dr. Christopher Snyder.MORE:BeowulfListen on AppleListen on SpotifyCzech Braveheart: Jan ŽižkaListen on AppleListen on SpotifyGone Medieval is presented by Matt Lewis. This episode was edited by Rob Weinberg and produced by Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.Gone Medieval is a History Hit podcastHistory Hit is part of Little Dot Studios, a Certified B Corp™Watch Matt and Eleanor's new documentary series The Rise of the Plantagenets only on History Hit TV. Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week, PLUS early access ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We read all of the Appendices. Next time we’re reading Ainulendale and Valaquenta from The Silmarillion. You can go to patreon.com/rangedtouch to support the show and access the bonus episode feed. Send stuff to the PO Box![https://www.patreon.com/posts/po-box-and-new-148206449] Buy books from our Bookshop.org page! [https://bookshop.org/shop/rangedtouch] The show is hosted by Cameron Kunzelman, Michael Lutz, and Austin Walker.

Kia ora! Welcome to The Movie Passport, a podcast series about world cinema. In this episode, Duncan (Valkyrist), Tanja (Scilens), and Matt (Blu3arm0r) travel to the country of New Zealand to discuss the following films: 11:10 – Once Were Warriors (Lee … Continue reading →

Worst Vacation Spots in Star Wars Todd Hoffman and Carla Giacalone/Coffey kick back for a fun, nerdy Cantina Chat about the absolute worst places to spend a vacation in the Star Wars galaxy. It starts with a personal update from Carla on her recent wedding and upcoming Lord of the Rings honeymoon, then shifts into a playful planet-by-planet debate over which worlds are too hot, too wet, too buggy, or too dangerous to ever book. Key topics In this episode: Carla shares wedding highlights, including the Camp Sacagoia venue in New Jersey, R2-D2 at the reception, and walking down the aisle to Princess Leia's theme. Todd and Carla talk about Carla's delayed honeymoon to New Zealand, where she'll take a Lord of the Rings tour through filming locations. The conversation turns to Star Wars vacation planning, with Mustafar and Exegol quickly emerging as top-tier nightmare destinations. Hoth gets compared to extreme winter travel, with discussion of blizzards, emergency Wampa insurance, and the appeal of cold versus heat. Tatooine comes up as the rare planet with enough civilization to survive a trip, despite the sand, the sun, and the constant danger. Dagobah is treated as a hard no for its swamp conditions, bugs, and general "Florida but worse" vibe. Geonosis, Kessel, Felucia, and Exegol are each framed as terrible choices for different reasons, from language barriers to poison mushrooms to Sith cult energy. The hosts compare how bad a long trip would be next to villains like Darth Vader, General Grievous, or Jabba the Hutt. They close the vacation debate by choosing the "least bad" nightmare trip and agreeing that Tatooine is probably the safest bad option. Carla also gives an honorable mention to Wobani from Rogue One as a place nobody would want on a vacation itinerary. Timestamps: 00:00 - Todd opens the show and tees up the "worst vacation spots in Star Wars" idea 02:21 - Carla's wedding recap and why the venue felt like it belonged in a fantasy world 04:41 - R2-D2 joins the wedding celebration with champagne and dancing 05:30 - Walking down the aisle to Princess Leia's theme 06:33 - Why Carla and Brian delayed the honeymoon until New Zealand 07:04 - A Lord of the Rings tour through filming locations and why it may be emotionally overwhelming 09:39 - Carla's married name and the "decaf" joke that keeps following her 11:56 - Todd's family updates, school starting, and football season returning 14:07 - Carla teases the news items before the main topic 15:03 - Why the hosts think Star Wars has great vacation potential and terrible vacation potential 16:00 - Mustafar versus Exegol as instant refusal destinations 18:22 - How they would rate a Star Wars destination using danger, weather, food, and accommodations 20:37 - Why Mustafar sounds like a place with no good tourism infrastructure 22:25 - Hoth as the extreme cold-weather option and why Norway inspired it 24:15 - Wampa insurance, and the debate over freezing versus melting 25:38 - Why Tatooine is still strangely livable compared with the other nightmare planets 28:42 - Dagobah as swamp hell, bug central, and possible poison-water disaster 32:36 - Geonosis as a language-barrier and execution-risk vacation spot 34:01 - Kessel and the worst possible souvenir from the mines 35:18 - Felucia's mushroom-covered scenery and the danger of touching anything 36:55 - Exegol as an unusable honeymoon location with constant lightning and cult energy 38:00 - Which planet would have the worst hotel and worst spaceport 39:08 - Which planet would have the most dishonest vacation brochure 40:57 - The worst villain to sit next to on a hyperspace flight 43:44 - The difference between dangerous, gross, and truly unlivable family vacation spots 45:45 - Exegol and Camino as terrible honeymoon or relaxing-trip options 48:52 - Choosing the least awful free seven-day vacation: Tatooine 53:23 - Carla's honorable mention: Wobani from Rogue One 55:07 - News item 1: The Saga Begins and Weird Al's Star Wars legacy 58:25 - News item 2: A Star Wars Starfighter leak and a strange new creature 61:27 - News item 3: Star Wars Galactic Racer and the return of pod-racing nostalgia 71:07 - Outro, socials, email, and a call for listener feedback Notable quotes: "I walked down the aisle to Princess Leia's theme." "Soon I'm gonna be a Jedi." "Come for the suns, stay for the sarlaccs." Action items: Send in your own pick for the worst Star Wars vacation spot. Share your favorite Star Wars pod racer. Tell the show which planet you'd actually choose if the trip were free. Mentioned links and handles: Socials: @wstrmedia Podcast archive: podcast.wstrmedia.com Merch store: store.wstrmedia.com Live stream: livestream.wstrmedia.com Email: mailbox@wstrmedia.com

*Buy a EZ "DEFECTOR" hoodieNote: "Act 2" will be a separate published audio podcast.*Check out EZ's morning radio show "The InZane Asylum Q100 Michigan with Eric Zane" Click here*Get a FREE 7 day trial to Patreon to "try it out."*Watch the show live, daily at 8AM EST on Twitch! Please click here to follow the page.Email the show on the Shoreliners Striping inbox: eric@ericzaneshow.comTopics*EZ and Pooh Bear slept in separate beds! Wait till you hear why.*EZ hypes this week's Who Are These Free Beer's as being an all timer.*Local twats are opposed to a "middle of nowhere" data center. *Nepal flood destruction vids: Vid 1, Vid 2, Vid 3.*EZ described the Nepal flood as being reminiscent of this scene from The Lord of the Rings.*Trump doubles down on renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America.*Body cam of San Fran 49'ers owner, Jed York getting busted for hiring a $140 trailer park hooker.*Family of a college kid shot dead by cops want answers*California hilljack MILF storms her way onto school bus.*Asshole of the Day brought to you by Uncle John's Gravel Road RaceSponsors:Uncle John's Gravel Road Race, Main Street Exchange Pawn Shop in Madison, Tennessee, West Michigan Whitecaps, Berlin Raceway, Kuiper Tree Care, Frank Fuss / My Policy Shop Insurance, Shoreliners,  Ervines Auto Repair Grand Rapids Hybrid & EV,Interested in advertising? Email eric@ericzaneshow.com and let me design a marketing plan for you.Contact: Shoreliners Striping inbox eric@ericzaneshow.comDiscord LinkEZSP TikTokSubscribe to my YouTube channelHire me on Cameo!Tshirts available herePlease subscribe, rate & write a review on Apple Podcastspatreon.com/ericzaneInstagram: ericzaneshowTwitterAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

*Buy a EZ "DEFECTOR" hoodieNote: "Act 2" will be a separate published audio podcast.*Check out EZ's morning radio show "The InZane Asylum Q100 Michigan with Eric Zane" Click here*Get a FREE 7 day trial to Patreon to "try it out."*Watch the show live, daily at 8AM EST on Twitch! Please click here to follow the page.Email the show on the Shoreliners Striping inbox: eric@ericzaneshow.comTopics*EZ and Pooh Bear slept in separate beds! Wait till you hear why.*EZ hypes this week's Who Are These Free Beer's as being an all timer.*Local twats are opposed to a "middle of nowhere" data center. *Nepal flood destruction vids: Vid 1, Vid 2, Vid 3.*EZ described the Nepal flood as being reminiscent of this scene from The Lord of the Rings.*Trump doubles down on renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America.*Body cam of San Fran 49'ers owner, Jed York getting busted for hiring a $140 trailer park hooker.*Family of a college kid shot dead by cops want answers*California hilljack MILF storms her way onto school bus.*Asshole of the Day brought to you by Uncle John's Gravel Road RaceSponsors:Uncle John's Gravel Road Race, Main Street Exchange Pawn Shop in Madison, Tennessee, West Michigan Whitecaps, Berlin Raceway, Kuiper Tree Care, Frank Fuss / My Policy Shop Insurance, Shoreliners,  Ervines Auto Repair Grand Rapids Hybrid & EV,Interested in advertising? Email eric@ericzaneshow.com and let me design a marketing plan for you.Contact: Shoreliners Striping inbox eric@ericzaneshow.comDiscord LinkEZSP TikTokSubscribe to my YouTube channelHire me on Cameo!Tshirts available herePlease subscribe, rate & write a review on Apple Podcastspatreon.com/ericzaneInstagram: ericzaneshowTwitterAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

This week on Thumb Cramps, it's time to wave goodbye to Remugust. Joining them for the beautiful farewell is returning host Ruby Innes as they look at The Lord of the Rings: War in the North Legacy Edition for the Nintendo Switch 2, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance for the PC and Bugdom 2 for the PC. Plus a pitch to Double Fine, a dive into the Donald Duck family tree and the reveal that a listener has been everywhere Thumb Cramps has. Good podcast. Good podcasting.Get tickets to Plumbing the Death Star live in the UK (Sept 2-Sept 11) hereWatch Back Pocket on YouTubeGet Thumb Cramps Long Sleeve Shirts HereThumb Cramps+ has launched! Ad-free podcasts and a bonus monthly episode of Speedrunning Television; a brand new podcast that innovates how to watch television as gamers. Subscribe now on Sanspants Plus OR Apple Podcasts! Email us at ThumbCrampsPod@gmail.com Find us on Instagram;Jackson | Duscher | Thumb Cramps | Ruby | Back Pocket | Cult of the LambYou can physically send us stuff to PO BOX 7127, Reservoir East, Victoria, 3073.Join our facebook group here or join our Discord here.Theme music by Benny Davis! You can find all his stuff at his website or check out his YouTube channel.Parts of this episode were recorded and produced on Wurundjeri land, we respectfully acknowledge the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation, pay our respect to their Elders past and present, and recognise that sovereignty was never ceded. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tonight we start hearing the escalating questions and objections concerning entering Faerie. Join us on the Signum University Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/szXMFAv

With Gollum still (presumably) padding quietly behind, the Company now comes to the edge of the Perilous Realm. Join us on the Signum University Discord server: https://discord.com/invite/szXMFAv

Guess what ding dongs? We're on BREAK. We're ALLOWED to do that, and we think you should all quit your jobs and take to the open sea with us. But lucky for all listeners out there who are THIRSTY for content and yet cannot bring themselves to scroll the feed, may we present a quenching little sip or Text Me Back nonsense, a crowd fave featuring the iconic Kelsey McKinney (co-creator of the famous pod Normal Gossip and author of You Didn't Hear This From Me: (Mostly) True Notes on Gossip).We hope you are all doing the bare minimum for your obligations and are summer-maxxing your life right now. See you in a couple weeks MWAH! NEVER LISTENED TO THE POD BEFORE? HERE IS YOUR STARTER KIT TO BEING BFFS WITH US!Listen to our iconic episode with Normal Gossip's Kelsey McKinney!Learn all about the Kayak Dad lore in: It's Our First Episode!Meet Kevin in: Lindy and Meagan Need to Talk About KevinLearn why they keep saying BBW in Lindy and Meagan Are Officially BBWsWE NEED OUR ACCOLADES! It helps people find the show.⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5 stars only please) on Spotify⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5 stars only please) on Apple PodcastsGive us Rave Reviews and Accolades on Apple Podcasts! Brilliant!!Like a cool kid hang out with your two smartest bestest friends. Desperate times call for Swamp Person Pod! Please...if the first half hour of 7/2/26 pod is any indication. Please bring it soon!YOUR AUNT SU-SU CAN YOU PLEASE BE OUR AUNT TOO-TOO? MORE SWAMPY MATERIAL COMING SOON!STUFF TO CHECK OUT:Lindy's dress and earrings from Belinda's Unique BoutiqueEye mask? LolOrder Lindy's book!!!! Adult BracesNEWSLETTER ME BACK (A FREE WAY TO SUPPORT THE SHOW!)Check out SWAMP PERSON Subscribe to Lindy's newsletter butt news!Check out our MERCH so we can make MORE merch!! (Patrons get a discount, so check us out at patreon.com/textmebackpod)Listen Ad-Free by joining our $12 Patreon tier Freakaconda!Subscribe to Lindy's newsletter butt news!Join our Discord! We're obsessed with these people.⋆｡°✩⋆｡°✩⋆｡°✩⋆｡°If you like this episode and want us to keep making the show forever, please subscribe to our Patreon. This podcast will always be free, but we need your help to produce it -- and if you support our Patreon, you'll get all kinds of goodies in addition to the show itself! Learn more about the different tiers and rewards here: https://www.patreon.com/TextMeBackPodAlso! Please keep in touch with us! You can text OR CALL us at the Best Friend Party Phone: (703) 829-0003.We're on Instagram at @textmebackpod!You can email us at deartextmeback@gmail.com!WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU SO BAD!⋆｡°✩⋆｡°✩⋆｡°✩⋆｡°TEXT ME BACK is a production of Lindy West and Meagan Hatcher-Mays, proud members of the BFF Network. Our senior producer is Meagan Hatcher-Mays. Our other senior producer is Lindy West. Our show is produced by Alli Slice.Our music is by Chief Ahamefule J. Oluo. Diana Bowen is our video and creative advisor. Our digital strategist is Chance Nichols.You can also follow the podcast on Instagram and TikTok @textmebackpod. And for even more bestie content, follow Lindy and Meagan on Instagram at @thelindywest and @importantmeagan!TEXT ME BACK is a comedy podcast where Lindy West and Meagan Hatcher-Mays spiral about politics, pop culture, dogs, space, friendship, anxiety, Lord of the Rings, and whatever cursed topic is haunting them that week. Along the way, they've welcomed brilliant and hilarious guests including Lizz Winstead (The Daily Show), Kelsey McKinney (Normal Gossip), Samantha Irby (We Are Never Meeting in Real Life), Guy Branum (Hacks), collaborators, comedians, political experts, writers, and internet icons for deeply unserious conversations.⋆｡°✩⋆｡°✩⋆｡°✩⋆｡°See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Lord of the Rings is back for the first time ever! Join me as we walk through a refresher of what's happening in this format. Limited Level-Ups Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/limitedlevelups LLU Tierlist: https://limitedlevelups.com/tier-list Limited Level-Ups Discord: bit.ly/jointhedischord Alex's Stream: https://www.twitch.tv/chord_o_calls Limited Level-Ups Podcast:https://limitedlevelups.libsyn.com/ Alex's Coaching Email: chordocoach@gmail.com 

Text The Too T3rpd Hotline Too T3rpd is back and we starting off with some heat! We got the homie Chris Bauer in the building! Donovan and Chris talk about Chris' photography origins, his creative works, being an entrepreneur, his cannabis origins, and much more! you can find Chris:@cbauerphoto on instagram. Follow Too T3rpd on Instagram Check out our videos on our Too T3rpd YouTube channel Checkout the website: www.toofunnyproductions.comFollow Donovan @Donovan2408 on all socialsSupport the show

Last time on Impossible Magic, we discovered that the Magus can finally move, the Summoner can finally summon, and Pathfinder's three-action economy is apparently more of a polite recommendation. Now we're back for Part 2, where Paizo hands Ash an infinite supply of disposable corpses, gives Tyler a class built entirely around weaponized graffiti, drops roughly six hundred spells on his to-do list, and introduces magic so impossible that you're legally allowed to cast it exactly once. Welcome back. Somehow, things have gotten worse for the GM. Show Notes We survived Part 1, so naturally it's time to make things significantly more complicated. We start with the Necromancer, Ash's immediate new obsession and perhaps Pathfinder's most enthusiastic endorsement of reusable corpses. Necromancers summon disposable thralls, sacrifice them to power Grave Spells, choose between the martial Reaper and thrall-heavy Puppeteer Fatal Methods, and customize their undead aesthetic through Blood, Bone, Flesh, or Spirit Grim Fascinations. Blood immediately attracts Ash's attention because apparently the correct amount of bleeding is all of it. The class also gets Mastery of Life and Death, allowing it to play surprisingly flexible games with vitality and void damage. Between healing from dead thralls, creating seas of grasping limbs, exploding minions, summoning enormous undead monstrosities, and eventually dropping a living graveyard onto the battlefield, the Necromancer delivers exactly the sort of wholesome family entertainment we expected. Then we meet the Runesmith, Pathfinder's newest experiment in making someone at the table track even more things. Runesmiths etch persistent runes onto equipment, trace temporary runes onto creatures, modify them with diacritic runes, and invoke them for additional effects. The result is a flexible new magic system with tons of room for clever combinations, action compression, buffs, debuffs, and the inevitable player who arrives with a spreadsheet explaining why drawing twelve symbols on the barbarian causes reality to explode. Or, as Tyler puts it, weaponized graffiti. From there, we explore the new Wizard schools, including enchantment-adjacent magic, divination, dimensional manipulation, and what can only reasonably be described as Minecraft Wizard. Automatons also get new options, including more durability and, most importantly, laser eyes. Then we arrive at approximately six hundred new and updated spells, which Tyler receives with the calm enthusiasm of a man watching years disappear from his life. Standouts include Bone Shield, Murder of Crows, Bone Moth's Kiss, Heartbolt, Living Thunderbolt, and the deeply important Fishing Spot, which creates an extraplanar fishing hole because sometimes saving the world can wait until after you catch a Scholar Salmon. Finally, we reach the actual Impossible Spells. These aren't conventional character options so much as campaign-level magical plot devices. They can set enormous areas on fire, erase entire periods of history, leave permanent supernatural consequences, and can generally be cast only once by a character. So despite the book's title, Impossible Magic is apparently possible. Once. We wrap up with strange rituals, spell catalysts, armor and weapon runes, grimoires, spellhearts, staves, magic tattoos, and enough other magical equipment to keep optimizers occupied until Paizo releases another book and starts the process all over again. The final verdict is overwhelmingly positive. The Necromancer is flavorful and mechanically exciting, the Runesmith introduces a genuinely different approach to magic, the spells are unusually creative, and even the archetypes and magic items feel packed with ideas worth playing. Key Takeaways Necromancer is built around disposable thralls that can attack, block space, fuel Grave Spells, and be sacrificed for increasingly ridiculous effects. Reaper supports a more martial Necromancer while Puppeteer leans harder into controlling and sacrificing thralls. Blood, Bone, Flesh, and Spirit Grim Fascinations dramatically change the flavor and utility of your thralls. Blood looks especially strong, including ways to bypass bleed immunity and regain HP when thralls die. Mastery of Life and Death gives Necromancers unusual flexibility with vitality and void effects. Runesmith introduces an entirely new magical playstyle built around etching, tracing, modifying, and invoking runes. Diacritic runes modify other runes, opening the door to increasingly elaborate combinations. Runesmith has enormous potential for optimization, especially as players discover new ways to exploit its action compression. The new Wizard schools offer some much-needed alternatives, including dimensional and terrain-manipulation themes. Automatons get additional defensive options and, critically, laser eyes. Impossible Magic includes roughly six hundred new and updated spells, ranging from genuinely useful combat magic to wonderfully bizarre options like Fishing Spot. Bone Moth's Kiss begins with a cute little moth and ends with your bones gradually becoming a medical emergency. Living Thunderbolt lets you become lightning, fly through creatures, and damage them as you pass through their spaces. Impossible Spells are primarily GM-controlled plot devices rather than normal spell selections. A character can generally use Impossible Magic only once, after which their soul is permanently marked against doing it again. The book also includes new rituals, grimoires, spellhearts, staves, catalysts, armor and weapon runes, tattoos, and other magical equipment. The overall reaction is extremely positive. Necromancer gets most of the immediate hype, but Runesmith may be the sleeper hit once players start discovering what the rune system can really do. Welcome to the RPGBOT Podcast. If you love Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, and tabletop RPGs, this is the podcast for you. Support the show for free: Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any podcast app. It helps new listeners find the best RPG podcast for D&D and Pathfinder players. Level up your experience: Join us on Patreon to unlock ad-free access to RPGBOT.net and the RPGBOT Podcast, chat with us and the community on the RPGBOT Discord, and jump into live-streamed RPG podcast recordings. Support while you shop: Use our Amazon affiliate link at https://amzn.to/3NwElxQ and help us keep building tools and guides for the RPG community. Meet the Hosts Tyler Kamstra – Master of mechanics, seeing the Pathfinder action economy like Neo in the Matrix. Randall James – Lore buff and technologist, always ready to debate which Lord of the Rings edition reigns supreme. Ash Ely – Resident cynic, chaos agent, and AI's worst nightmare, bringing pure table-flipping RPG podcast energy. Join the RPGBOT team where fantasy roleplaying meets real strategy, sarcasm, and community chaos. How to Find Us: In-depth articles, guides, handbooks, reviews, news on Tabletop Role Playing at RPGBOT.net Tyler Kamstra BlueSky: @rpgbot.net TikTok: @RPGBOTDOTNET Ash Ely Professional Game Master on StartPlaying.Games BlueSky: @GravenAshes YouTube: @ashravenmedia https://ashelydm.com/ https://ashelydm.com/ Randall James BlueSky: @GrimoireRPG Amateurjack.com Read Melancon: A Grimoire Tale (affiliate link) Producer Dan @Lzr_illuminati

In the 1700s, a farmer plowing his fields near the English town of Silchester uncovered a very large gold ring dating back to Roman times, inscribed with the name “Senecianus.” Seventy miles away, in the remains of an old Roman temple complex, a curse tablet was discovered targeting a man named Senecianus who made off with a ring. Coincidence?  Another possible coincidence: one of the academic experts brought in to the excavation of the Roman temple site was J.R.R. Tolkien – who later became famous as the author of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” which involve, of course, a cursed ring.   Related Atlas entries: The Vyne, the English country house that is home to the ring https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-vyne Lydney Camp, the remains of the Roman temple where the curse tablet was found https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/lydney-camp If you're into this whole curse table thing, we recommend an older episode of the show about the Complaint Tablet of Ea-Nasir Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Evan and Pat went to Otakon with a surprise guest: David, who attended the Washington, DC anime convention for the first time in a decade! The hosts discuss why Otakon is the best anime convention around, the guests and panels they saw, and more. Topics include: the lettuce that kills you, forbidden Lord of the Rings panels, and the most impregnatable man in fiction. Runtime: 1 hour, 14 minutes Direct Download RSS Feed iTunes Spotify Google Music Send us Feedback! Support us on Patreon! Join our Discord server! More episodes Show Notes Opening/Ending Song: “Blues Machine” by Scott Gratton Episode edited by Evan Minto. Topic: Otakon 2026 BlueSky: Evan, Pat, Ani-Gamers Mastodon: Evan, Ani-Gamers Instagram: Ani-Gamers Twitch: David & Inaki Subscribe to Evan's digital manga service Omoi (formerly Azuki).  

Welcome to Happy Wife Happy Life! We're your hosts, Kendahl Landreth and Jordan Myrick: two very unqualified (but deeply in love) comedians who are here to help you navigate all things relationships. On this week's episode, we discuss hating your job, financial dynamics in relationships, and the Lord of the Rings-themed park. On this week's episode, we discuss parenting other people's kids, gaslighting, and the rules of cheating. Get premium wireless for $15/month at http://MintMobile.com/wife Save 20% on Honeylove by going to http://honeylove.com/HAPPYWIFE #honeylovepod #adventure  BUY YOUR TOUR TICKETS: https://linktr.ee/happywifehappylifepod New episodes every Monday on YouTube OR you can listen anywhere you get your podcasts. Popcorn Video:  https://youtube.com/shorts/rhAJlrRUbzU?si=bec1OCWKiNIvs-VQ Get premium wireless for $15/month at http://MintMobile.com/wife Listen on Spotify: ⁠https://tr.ee/L6caUcW97P ⁠Listen on Apple Music: ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/happy-wife-happy-life/id1721222550 Follow us on Instagram: ⁠https://tr.ee/QUIqFa-P3z⁠ Follow us on TikTok: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@hwhlpodcast?lang=en JOIN OUR PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/c/HappyWifeHappyLife Email us your love and dating questions and we might answer them on the podcast! hwhlpodquestions@gmail.com Executive Producer: Jordan Myrick and Kendahl Landreth Senior Producer: Blake Smith Art Design: Liv Averett Graphic Design: Justin Crowell Photos: Lee Jameson

I never watched Game of Thrones. Then I finally picked up George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones and I get it now.I went into the first book of A Song of Ice and Fire with almost no connection to the TV series. In fact, years ago I made it about four minutes into episode one before turning it off.The book was a very different story.It starts slowly enough, building the people, families, politics and world but somewhere around the first third it starts accelerating. By the final few hundred pages I was absolutely smashing through chapters just trying to find out what happened next.In this review I get into:Why George R. R. Martin's POV structure works so wellHow he manages to interweave so many characters and storylinesWhy the world somehow feels enormous while remaining groundedThe comparison with The Lord of the RingsThe brutality, darkness and unpredictability of the storyWhy the final third completely hooked meThe slightly uncomfortable reality of starting an unfinished seriesWhether you should read the book if you've already watched the showMy rating: 9/10.00:00 I finally read A Game of Thrones01:02 Going in without watching the TV series03:09 The problem with starting an unfinished series05:11 Bigger than The Lord of the Rings?06:19 Why the POV structure works so well08:15 When the book hits overdrive10:47 The dialogue, brutality & darkness11:51 Why the fantasy still feels grounded13:46 My final thoughts14:47 Should you read A Game of Thrones? Connect with Mere Mortals:Website: https://www.meremortalspodcasts.com/Discord: https://discord.gg/Xs9DjsurFqTwitter/X: https://twitter.com/meremortalspodsInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/meremortalspodcasts/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@meremortalspodcastsValue 4 Value Support:Website: https://www.meremortalspodcasts.com/supportPaypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/meremortalspodcast

Check out Cam's latest novel / audio drama here! The Odyssey is almost too massive and influential to discuss in one podcast, but we're gonna do our best. In this overstuffed episode, we are breaking down all the spectacle, substance, and surprises of this gut-punch of a movie. Topics include: the effect of format across IMAX / 70mm / D-BOX, the relationship between runtime and pacing, Ludwig Göransson's electric score, an analysis of the Trojan Horse through the frame of GRRM's Red Wedding, echoes between Homer and Tolkien, an argument that Homer invented almost every subgenre of horror, Nolan's powerfully indirect approach to creature design, an avalanche of comparisons to Oppenheimer, and a very special segment with Tristan where we go deep on the tricky art of adaptation. LINKS: Patreon, YouTube, Spotify, Instagram Feedback & Theories: secondbreakfastpod@gmail.com 00:00 Introduction 01:24 The Trial of IMAX 04:12 Impressions 13:37 Runtime & Pacing 22:33 Music 23:38 The Red Wedding 28:16 Lord of the Rings 29:26 The Grey Havens 31:21 The Scouring of the Shire 34:03 Homer Invented Horror 42:04 Matt Damon 45:06 Creature Design 48:37 Magic in the Margins 55:39 Oppenheimer Comparison 01:04:03 Historical Accuracy 01:10:14 Adaptation 01:44:50 Closing Thoughts

The platonic ideal of megadungeons, Moria from the Lord of The Rings, was published as a campaign book for the One Ring RPG last year. Chris and I start our exploration in the first part of this miniseries. The remaining episodes are available for patrons. You can watch or listen to all of the episodes if you join the RPPR Patreon. You also get access to over 10 years of bonus podcasts, RPG scenarios, complete games, artwork, maps, and more! Check out Chris’ work on Youtube!

Burning Bright welcomes Ashe in America, whom he cheekily introduces as the perfect guest for this topic since she is a "sometimes enemy" who knows a lot about the weapons of the enemy. First order of business: an executive decision to stay on YouTube tonight, because Burning Bright refuses to besmirch "our Lord and savior, JRR Tolkien" by skipping his Lord of the Rings clips. The core question is one he says lives rent free in his head. Can the weapons of the enemy be used to defeat the enemy? Rather than treating it as a passing aside, the two go full bore into it. Expect a thoughtful back-and-forth on power itself, whether absolute power corrupts absolutely, what separates Trump from the so-called enemy, and why narrative weapons keep proving effective at frustrating change and keeping people locked in team-versus-team battles.

Sure, we've had one one-shot, but what about second one-shots?   Okay, the joke doesn't land, but you get it! I ran some of the DMs through a one-shot of The One Ring 2e! Amber, Chris, Jess, and Kent play as members of a new fellowship in the time between the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings far away from anywhere you may be familiar with in Middle Earth! West of the Shire, west of the Blue Mountains lies the lands of Lindon, where the elves set sail from the Grey Havens to the Undying Lands, but north of those elven lands lies Forlindon, a northern territory of elves long banished or self-exiled from the rest of their eternal kindred.   The Lady of Forlindon has called for aid from beyond to solve a problem in an abandoned dwarven mine in the Blue Mountains, and our heroes take up the call! What ancient horrors lurk in the dark caves of dwarves? Listen and find out!   ----more---- Join the DMs After Dark Discord channel!   and Get in on playing some Wicked Good Adventures!   I made a Ko-Fi if you feel absurdly generous and want to help cover podcast hosting costs & all the upkeep. I'm still working on whether I want to offer anything special over there or just give my extreme gratitude (maybe some stickers or something in the mail) to those who donate, but no pressure whatsoever :)   Where to Follow Rene Plays Games: LinkTree |  BlueSky | Threads | Instagram | Facebook | DMs After Dark Rene's Games: MECH | MECH Cities 2 | One Last Quest | I Know I Know You, But I Don't Know How... email: RenePlaysGamesPod@gmail.com   Music in the Episode: DMs After Dark Theme by Dan Pomfret (@danfrombothbands)

Welcome to my sophomore episode, all about animation! If all you know about animated features is big studio blockbusters like Toy Story or Into the Spider-Verse, let me expand your mind into some vintage treasures from the fringes of animation history. These films will give you a new appreciation for the art form, and a throwback to the days when everything was drawn and painted by hand. Digital animation today is still driven by artists, and these old-school rarities are part of what paved the way for what animation can do. And it's not just for kids either! WIZARDS (1977)Ralph Bakshi is a legend in the animation world, known for his raunchy, gritty urban dramas like Fritz the Cat and Cool World. This is a fantasy he made one year before his animated adaptation of Lord of the Rings — and it has similar themes & visuals of elves, fairies, orcs, battle sequences, an evil overload and a wise wizard. It's sloppy, funny, strange, and a psychedelic fever dream. ALLEGRO NON TROPPO (1976)This is Italian animator Bruno Bozzetto's classic parody of Disney's Fantasia, with all the familiar themes — except the orchestra is all made up of elderly ladies and a gorilla attacks. Six classical music pieces are set to different styles of animation, from the sad & beautiful to zany & bizarre. It's a glorious romp of satire and naughtiness. ROCK & RULE (1983)If rock music is more your jam, it's a moral imperative to check out this Canadian cult classic. Songs by Debbie Harry, Lou Reed, Cheap Trick, Iggy Pop, and Earth, Wind & Fire pump up the energy in this loud & ludicrous story about an evil rock star searching for the perfect voice to unleash an unearthly demon. Turn up the volume and enjoy a kaleidoscope of crazy animation and special effects! TWICE UPON A TIME (1983)While wrapping up his original Star Wars trilogy with Return of the Jedi, George Lucas helped his colleague John Korty (and co-director Charles Swenson) get this film made — but hardly anyone saw it. But time and animation fans have saved it from total obscurity, and it's an absolute delight. Filmed in a special stop-motion technique called LUMAGE, this is a brilliant mix of color, design, and improv comedy about a band of unlikely heroes who must save the world from an eternity of nightmares. Hope you enjoy these animated classics! Thanks for reading Video Store Podcast! This post is public so feel free to share it. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.videostorepodcast.com

Impossible Magic promises to break the boundaries of spellcasting, which apparently means letting the Magus move, allowing the Summoner to actually summon things, and giving Ash even more ways to kill player characters. We've got lightning-powered sword dashes, six-action summon turns, weapons made out of your own soul, teleporting rogues, and an archetype that looks at another caster's spell and says, "Actually, I'm in charge of this now." Paizo may have called the book Impossible Magic, but after reading some of these archetypes, the only impossible thing is pretending Pathfinder still has a three-action economy. Show Notes Impossible Magic is here, and Pathfinder 2e's magic users are getting some long-overdue attention. We start with the returning Magus and Summoner, two classes that had great concepts but spent years fighting their own mechanics almost as often as they fought monsters. The Magus gets one of the biggest glow-ups. More spell slots and dramatically improved action economy mean Spellstrike finally feels like the centerpiece of the class instead of an elaborate three-action hostage situation. New options like Running Recharge, Sprinting Spellstrike, Twofold Twine, and the gun-toting Volatile Spark make the class more mobile, flexible, and gloriously anime. Then we tackle the Summoner, which has accomplished the revolutionary feat of becoming good at summoning. Expanded spellcasting means you can actually spend spell slots on summons without feeling like you just burned half your daily resources. Combined with Act Together, an Eidolon, and summoned creatures, the class can start doing deeply irresponsible things with the action economy. Just remember: summon creatures for useful abilities, not just attacks. Unicorn healthcare is apparently the future. We finish by digging into Impossible Magic's archetypes. Captivator weaponizes being ridiculously charming, Hedge Mage becomes the master of an absurd number of little spells, Living Nexus eats magic and turns it into violence, and Soulforger gives you a magical weapon powered by your convictions and potentially your terrible life choices. Spell Shifter gets especially weird by manipulating spells already in play, while Veil Dancer offers teleportation, concealment, and stabbing people from gaps in reality. World Rouser rounds things out by turning the surrounding environment into a growing magical support zone. And somehow, despite spending more than an hour on all of that, we still barely scratched the book. Key Takeaways Magus is dramatically better thanks to more spell slots and major improvements to its action economy. Running Recharge looks like an extremely strong Magus option because it combines movement with recharging Spellstrike. New Magus options lean heavily into the class fantasy, including dual weapons, firearms, area Spellstrikes, and extremely anime movement abilities. Summoner finally has enough spellcasting to actually summon creatures without sacrificing most of its daily resources. Act Together combined with an Eidolon and summoned creatures can produce some spectacular action-economy nonsense. Utility summons may outperform creatures chosen purely for damage. Healing, spellcasting, and special abilities are where summoning really shines. Hedge Mage is built around mastering low-rank magic, cantrips, and heightened spells rather than gaining a traditional collection of high-rank spells. Soulforger is extremely flavorful and potentially powerful, but brings enough rules and subsystems that it practically deserves its own episode. Spell Shifter can manipulate ongoing magic by sustaining, redirecting, altering, or dismantling spells, making it one of the book's most unusual archetypes. Veil Dancer is essentially teleportation plus stealth plus stabbing, or as the episode puts it, a little bit of Misty Step: The Archetype. Impossible Magic appears very willing to bend Pathfinder 2e's sacred three-action economy in the name of making magic more fun. The overall verdict is strongly positive: there is a lot of mechanically interesting, flavorful material here, and there is far too much of it to cover in one episode. Welcome to the RPGBOT Podcast. If you love Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, and tabletop RPGs, this is the podcast for you. Support the show for free: Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any podcast app. It helps new listeners find the best RPG podcast for D&D and Pathfinder players. Level up your experience: Join us on Patreon to unlock ad-free access to RPGBOT.net and the RPGBOT Podcast, chat with us and the community on the RPGBOT Discord, and jump into live-streamed RPG podcast recordings. Support while you shop: Use our Amazon affiliate link at https://amzn.to/3NwElxQ and help us keep building tools and guides for the RPG community. Meet the Hosts Tyler Kamstra – Master of mechanics, seeing the Pathfinder action economy like Neo in the Matrix. Randall James – Lore buff and technologist, always ready to debate which Lord of the Rings edition reigns supreme. Ash Ely – Resident cynic, chaos agent, and AI's worst nightmare, bringing pure table-flipping RPG podcast energy. Join the RPGBOT team where fantasy roleplaying meets real strategy, sarcasm, and community chaos. How to Find Us: In-depth articles, guides, handbooks, reviews, news on Tabletop Role Playing at RPGBOT.net Tyler Kamstra BlueSky: @rpgbot.net TikTok: @RPGBOTDOTNET Ash Ely Professional Game Master on StartPlaying.Games BlueSky: @GravenAshes YouTube: @ashravenmedia https://ashelydm.com/ https://ashelydm.com/ Randall James BlueSky: @GrimoireRPG Amateurjack.com Read Melancon: A Grimoire Tale (affiliate link) Producer Dan @Lzr_illuminati

A three-and-a-half-hour epic can be gorgeous and still leave you arguing in the parking lot. That's exactly what happened after we watched Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, so we sat down for a full roundtable review with Jeremy, Michael, Mario Andrew, and James St. Simon to sort out what we loved, what we questioned, and what the film might be saying underneath the spectacle.[CONTAINS SPOILERS]• quick ratings and first reactions from readers and non-readers of Homer• whether an adaptation can be judged apart from its source material• why characterization matters more than plot changes• casting choices that distract from ancient Greece and break suspension of disbelief• the medium problem of turning an oral epic into a nonlinear film narrative• pacing, structure, and why a trilogy might help or hurt• the removal of the gods and the shift toward a secular psychological journey• an Orthodox Christian way to “take the nectar” from Greek myth• virtue themes, fidelity, and why the love story feels cleaner on screen• standout scenes like the sirens motif, the dog recognition, the Trojan horse claustrophobia, and “people from the sea”• Athena's beheading image, war guilt, justice, and the Dark Knight question of who carries the costWe start with honest first impressions from both Odyssey readers and people seeing the story fresh. Then we dig into the hardest question any film adaptation faces: can you evaluate it as a stand-alone movie when the source material is one of the pillars of Western literature? Along the way, we compare what works in beloved adaptations like The Lord of the Rings with what fails when writing and characterization drift too far. We also talk about pacing, Nolan's nonlinear storytelling, and why some viewers feel the film is rushed while others feel locked in the whole time.The biggest friction point is authenticity and immersion. We debate casting choices, modern cultural incentives, and why even a strong performance can break the spell when you keep noticing the actor instead of the character. From there we move into the deeper critique: the film's largely secular approach. Homer's Odyssey is infused with the gods, cosmic order, and reverence, but Nolan's version leans toward psychological guilt, war scars, and the modern theme that “the enemy is us.” As a Christian podcast, we ask what that shift costs, and how an Orthodox Christian approach can still “take the nectar” from Greek literature, pulling out virtue while leaving the rest.If you care about Christopher Nolan films, Homer's Odyssey, Greek mythology, or the moral questions around war, justice, and homecoming, this conversation is for you. Subscribe, share this with a friend who loves epics, and leave a review with your take: faithful retelling or powerful remix?Questions about Orthodoxy? Please check out our friends at Ghost of Byzantium Discord server: https://discord.gg/jRXxRaqK9Please prayerfully consider supporting Cloud of Witnesses: https://www.patreon.com/c/CloudofWitnessesFind Cloud of Witnesses on Instagram, X.com, Facebook, and TikTok.Audio: https://cloudofwitnessesradio.buzzsprout.comPlease leave a comment with your thoughts!

Sure, we've had one one-shot, but what about second One-Shots?   Okay, the joke doesn't land, but you get it! Rene's here to run some of the DMs through a one-shot of Free League's The One Ring 2e! If you're unaware, Rene's been playing a solo series using The One Ring 2e's Strider mode over on his podcast Rene Plays Games, and he wanted to see how it played with a group!   Amber, Chris, Jess, and Kent play as members of a new fellowship in the time between the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings far away from anywhere you may be familiar with in Middle Earth! West of the Shire, west of the Blue Mountains lies the lands of Lindon, where the elves set sail from the Grey Havens to the Undying Lands, but north of those elven lands lies Forlindon, a northern territory of elves long banished or self-exiled from the rest of their eternal kindred.   The Lady of Forlindon has called for aid from beyond to solve a problem in an abandoned dwarven mine in the Blue Mountains, and our heroes take up the call! What ancient horrors lurk in the dark caves of dwarves? Listen and find out!   Join the DMs After Dark Discord!    In case you haven't heard, our Redbubble has incredible RuneQuest art by Katrin Dirim available as shirts, stickers, pillows, and more, so check out all our new DMs After Dark merch!!   If you enjoy our streams, podcasts (plural! have you checked out the Rene Plays Games podcast?), or just our general nerdiness, please consider giving us a 5-star rating on your podcast app of choice! Like, follow, and subscribe to our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram so you can comment & chat with us about all things RPGs.   And, as always, come hang out and catch our live streams on our Twitch or catch up on our YouTube.   Music in the Episode: DMs After Dark Theme by Dan Pomfret (@danfrombothbands)

What trials and crosses shaped the man who would help millions wish upon a star? Journey through Walt Disney's childhood, and be set free from the toxic loop of victim mentality. 

Nick welcomes Tom Hush back to the podcast for the final edition of “Theater of Trash” before the new Radio Misfits Podcast is launched in September. Here, Tom and Nick examine the truly bizarre, and insanely entertaining Italian flick “Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man,” which is very, very loosely inspired by Starsky and Hutch, and features crime, shoot-outs, an extended motorcycle chase, and the bloody death of a seeing eye dog…among other crazy things. It’s a fun look at one of the great examples of trashy cinema, and a great preview of things to come on the new podcast. Then, Esmeralda Leon joins Nick for a preview of weekend fun, a deep analysis of The Lord of the Rings, more celebrity phobias, and a conversation about a weird bug invasion at Esma’s house! [Ep 484]

In episode 502 of The Reformed Brotherhood, Tony and Jesse begin what promises to be a multi-part deep dive into the Parable of the Good Samaritan — one of the most culturally embedded and theologically rich stories Jesus ever told. But before a single character hits the Jericho road, the hosts ground listeners in something easily overlooked: the charged context in which this parable is told. A lawyer — trained, confident, adversarial — steps forward not to learn but to test. What follows is a masterclass in how Jesus turns the law back on those who wield it as a weapon. This episode covers Luke 10:21–36, explores the covenant of works and covenant of grace, the noetic effects of sin, and why the Good Samaritan is far more than a lesson in being a helpful neighbor. Buckle up. Key Takeaways The lawyer's question is self-contradictory from the start. Asking "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" smuggles a works-righteousness assumption into the very grammar of the question. Inheritance by definition is received, not earned. Jesus does not give the lawyer a new paradigm — He reorients him to the true one. The covenant of grace is not a New Testament innovation. It runs through every Old Testament covenant administration. The lawyer should have already known this. "Do this and you will live" is not a Pelagian concession. Christ is holding out the law's own terms — perfect, total, unrelenting obedience — not to suggest it is achievable, but to expose its impossibility and drive the lawyer (and us) to the only alternative: mercy. "Desiring to justify himself" is more complex than it first appears. Tony argues that the desire to fulfill the covenant of works is not inherently wicked — it is the misguided belief that one can which is the problem. This distinction creates room for reading Christ's response as genuinely merciful instruction, not merely rebuke. The noetic effects of sin mean accurate theology can be deployed in service of self. The lawyer knows the right answers and still uses them to avoid repentance. Correct doctrine alone does not save. The fundamental human problem is not ignorance — it is the will's bondage and the heart's self-love. The parable is primarily Christological, not merely ethical. Jesus is the Good Samaritan. The story is not first about mercy ministry; it is about who binds up our wounds when we are left for dead on the road, unable to save ourselves. The priest and the Levite are not exonerated by their ritual obligations. Considerable ink has been spilled trying to justify their passing by on grounds of Levitical purity concerns. The parable refuses that exit. Everyone in the story — and everyone listening — already knows what the right thing to do was. Key Concepts The Covenant of Works Is Not a Black Box One of the more quietly important arguments Tony makes in this episode is that the covenant of works was never meant to be mysterious or inaccessible. When Jesus responds to the lawyer's question by asking, "What is written in the law? How do you read it?" — He does so with a visible assumption: there is a clear, knowable answer, and the lawyer should be able to give it. And he does. Love God completely, love your neighbor as yourself. The covenant of works was always coherent and comprehensible. The problem has never been that its demands were obscure. The problem is that no one — save the Mediator — has ever kept them. Jesus is not introducing a new ethical framework. He is forcing the lawyer to confront a standard he has always known and has never met. The Lawyer as a Warning to Reformed Christians Jesse closes the episode's first movement with a pointed and personal application that cuts across theological self-satisfaction. The lawyer is not a caricature of ignorance — he is a portrait of someone with accurate, affirmed theological knowledge who instinctively deploys it in the service of self-justification the moment he senses conviction. Jesse names this directly as a danger particularly acute in Reformed circles, where doctrinal precision can become a subtle mechanism of self-defense rather than an occasion for repentance. The Reformation's great recovery of grace must not become a new form of the very disease it diagnosed. Knowing the right words about total depravity, the covenant of grace, and the mediator does not exempt anyone from the need to actually be humbled by them. Theology is not armor against repentance — it is, rightly received, the road toward it. Context Is Not Just Setup — It Is Part of the Lesson Tony and Jesse both emphasize that Luke 10:21–24 is not merely throat-clearing before the real content begins. The theological statement embedded there — that the Father has hidden these things from the wise and revealed them to little children, that no one knows the Son except the Father or the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him — is the hermeneutical key to everything that follows. The lawyer approaches Jesus as one rabbi testing another. But Luke has already told his readers that this is not a conversation between equals debating interpretive options. It is the Lawgiver being questioned by someone who does not recognize Him. The parable that follows is not just an answer to a legal question. It is a revelation — the kind that only happens when the Son chooses to give it. Memorable Quotes You do not want to pit the law against the one who has given the law, the one whose character is represented in the law — because you're always going to get owned, and you'll get owned before you realize you've just gotten owned on multiple levels. - Jesse Schwamb Jesus is trying to sort of reorient them back to the true paradigm of grace that is present under all of the Old Covenant administrations. It's not so much a matter of developing a new framework and imposing it on this guy. It's really trying to say, 'Listen — think about this for a second. Think about the fact that, yes, you know you have to love the Lord your God with your whole heart, your whole soul, your whole strength, your whole mind, and you have to love your neighbor as yourself. You've answered correctly. If you can do those things, you will live.' — with the subtext: and of course you cannot possibly do those things. - Tony Arsenal The fundamental human problem is not primarily ignorance, but the will's bondage and the heart's self-love. It's a problem no amount of correct discipline or doctrine alone can fix apart from some kind of regenerating grace — which is exactly what Jesus is going to illustrate for us in the mercy he's about to display in this parable. - Jesse Schwamb Full Transcript Tony Arsenal: [00:00:00] This parable is not primarily about us figuring out how to do mercy ministry. Like, that's important. It's probably an outcome of this. It's probably something for us to think about. But really, this is actually Christ saying, like, "Hold on a second here, dude." Like, "Let's just think about this." Do you need someone who is going to tell you to pick yourself up off your bootstraps and cross to the other side of the street and leave you to your own devices? Or do you need someone who's gonna throw you on their donkey, who's gonna bind up your wounds, who's gonna pay the innkeeper, and is gonna pledge to pay everything that is owed for your salvation? Right? That's not too on the nose here, I think. Welcome to episode 502 of The Reformed Brotherhood. I'm [00:01:00] Jesse  And I'm Tony, and this is the podcast with ears to hear. Hey, brother.  Jesse Schwamb: Hey, brother. Well, we've got a big one to talk about on this episode. We're marching further and further into all of the glorious parables Jesus told as part of His teaching. And as you and I kind of joked before we began, I mean, what did you call it? Did you say this is, uh, the big daddy?  Tony Arsenal: It's the big daddy, one of the big daddy parables.  Jesse Schwamb: It's one of the big daddy parables. Now, this one is probably second maybe only to the prodigal son. Yeah But in terms of its ubiquity and its kind of just common knowledge in culture, this one ranks right up there. And before I reveal what it is, which you may already know, I was thinking how so many times we look at the Beatitudes as expression of a master class in Jesus teaching the law, and I think that's true. But as I was reading and thinking about this particular parable, I thought, "I don't know. I think this one is, uh, right up there," because [00:02:00] this is like law on law. It's double law. Yeah It's law coming back at the law giver who's trying to use the law to test Jesus, and then Jesus tests him with the law that He himself gave His people. It's... I'm already getting too excited- ... and we've got something to do before we get there. But we're talking about the parable of the Good Samaritan. And so I can't imagine, can I just make a prediction up front? I, you know where I'm going with this, and probably everybody else does. Uh, this is gonna be like two conversations-  Tony Arsenal: At least ...  Jesse Schwamb: probably.  Tony Arsenal: Yeah, at least two.  Jesse Schwamb: Is that fair? Because I realize we, of course, wanna get to the parable itself, and oh, my goodness, how much ink has been spilled. Even going back to, like, if you read, like, Augustine or, like, the early church, like the Patristics, the Church Fathers, there are so much that could be said, and maybe some stuff that just shouldn't be said about all the allegorical potential intent here about these characters. But [00:03:00] there's so much amazing stuff that happens in the opening of this, that's not just the setup, but it is its own lesson, and I'm real excited actually to talk about that with you before we even get into, like, all the good stuff that everybody expects that you wanna talk about. So we're gonna do it all. Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  Jesse Schwamb: We're gonna do it all, but it'll take time.  Tony Arsenal: Yeah. I'm interested to see if we're even on the same page about where to start reading, 'cause I, I think we might not be, and that's gonna be fun. So we'll, we'll let it fly and see what happens. It'll be our own little, uh, podcast game.  Jesse Schwamb: But, uh, I think- Well, I mean, we're gonna be in Luke chapter 10, but I guess to your point, we should be starting in Luke chapter one to get to this. Yeah.  Tony Arsenal: Exactly. But  Jesse Schwamb: we, we do have to back up quite a bit, and I was gonna ask you about that. Yeah. But I, apparently we're just gonna play that on the fly and see where we go.  Affirmations Denials Segment Jesse Schwamb: But of course, the Reformers had their five solos. Chalcedon had its, what, seven withouts. We've got opinions, and we're just as confident about ours, so of course it's time for affirmations, denials, where we affirm something that we think is good or awesome or [00:04:00] we wanna recommend, and we deny, again, something that is not so great or maybe just plain annoying. So before we talk about the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Tony, what do you got for us on this episode? Are you affirming with something, or are you gonna come in with a denial?  Tony Arsenal: Well, I've got two affirmations. That's fine. One is just- I will allow it ... a declaration of joy, and one is, like, a real affirmation. I, I just can't... It would be remiss of me not to share with our podcasting family that my son August and my daughter Adeline, uh, joined the visible church today as- Hear, hear ... uh, non-communicant members. Uh, Augie and Addie were baptized on the 16th of August of 2026, uh, into the visible church, into the name of Jesus Christ. Uh, was, it was just a great service. Um, it's funny because I've been- been talking with Augie. One of the thing with toddlers when you're doing something big like this is you kinda have to talk about it and practice and rehearse, rehearse it and, and get them ready for it. And up until maybe, like, I don't know, three days [00:05:00] ago, every time it would come up he would be saying, "I don't wanna be baptized. I don't wanna be baptized." And, um, you know, I, I, I, you know, I don't wanna force him to do something, but also, like, I make him eat vegetables. But, um- ... he, I, I think it was nerves, and I think something clicked in his head and all of a sudden he was very excited to be baptized. So, um, it was great. We've been talking about, you know, what baptism is, God's promise to you that if you trust him he'll save you. And so today he- Right ... he was like, "God's gonna make a promise to me to save me." So he was very excited. Nice. And he did a great job just standing quietly and listening to the pastor talk. Uh, and Addie was, was, was just a beautiful little girl, and she, um, she loved it as well. So that's just a bonus affirmation. I don't know that I could get through a podcast without gushing over that.  Glorify App and Devotionals Tony Arsenal: Uh, but the, the affirmation I have, uh, this is an, an app that I think some of our listeners may have heard of. Um, some may roll their eyes at it, to be honest with you. Um, I stumbled on this because, uh, you have an Oura Ring, don't you, Jesse? Jesse Schwamb: I do.  Tony Arsenal: You [00:06:00] do, yeah. So for those who don't know, an Oura Ring is like a little wearable ring that's like a, almost like a fitness tracker, but it tracks biometrics, pulse rate, temperature, all these different things, sleep. Um, there's a startup, uh, that has been doing a GoFundMe or a funding kind of thing for, uh, what they're calling like a Christian version of an Oura Ring. So it does a lot of the same things, sleep tracking, basic biometric tracking. Hmm. But it also has like alerts built in, and it's tied into an app that they use for devotionals. So it'll, it'll remind you to pray. It'll remind you, you know, bring you to an app to do a devotion. But the app it uses is a standalone app that I looked up, and it's called Glorify. Have you ever heard of this app before this evening? I have heard of  Jesse Schwamb: this, yeah.  Tony Arsenal: So Glorify is just a small devotional app. Uh, it's not much different than you would expect based on the name. It is connected to this, uh, to this Glorify ring, which again is, is sort of like an Oura Ring tied into this app. But this app basically is, is [00:07:00] designed to help you complete short daily devotional exercises, and they're usually very brief. They're based on a very brief, um, a very brief passage of scripture. Today's passage, uh, c- there's a quote. So today's quote is from Dietrich Bonhoeffer. It says, "True love does not consist in finding the perfect person, but in faithfully loving an imperfect one." Not sure why this devotional app is using a romance, uh, quote from Bonhoeffer of all people. But that was today's. Um, and the passage is Proverbs 5:15-17. So it's a, it's a devotional based on two verses, which is fine. So you read the passage. There's a very brief devotional on that passage, and then sort of a guided prayer, and they have both premium and free models. The premium model includes like you can listen to the devotional, you can listen to the prayer. Um, but just for example, today's prayer, it, it's very simple. "Loving Father, thank you for, uh, thank you because you're faithful and unchanging. In a world [00:08:00] marked by broken promises, disposable relationships, you remain the same. Teach me to reflect that faithfulness in my relationships. Help me to love with perseverance, grace, and commitment following the example of Christ. Protect marriages, strengthen families, restore what needs healing. May every relationship be marked by respect, truth, and genuine love. Shape in me a heart of integrity that honors you in both the small and significant choices of life. In Jesus' name, amen." So I think what I love about this, and this, I mentioned last week that there was, this is kind of like, sort of like the fluffy evangelical devotions. Like- Right ... there's not a ton of like solid doctrinal meat- But like, it's still nourishing. And sometimes we need a little bit of help. Sometimes we don't know what to pray, we don't know what to read, we're not sure. Sometimes in, I think in our Reformed circles, we feel like if we're not reading large portions of scripture and reading deep theological treaties or long, complex devotionals, that we're really not doing anything, and that's just not the [00:09:00] truth. So I've been using this in addition to other devotional studies I'm doing. I don't do it every day. I mean, there's some like streak functionality, kinda like habit tracking type stuff that's built into it. Um, but it's nice. It's nice to be able to pick it up, read a very short scripture, a brief devotional thought, and then have some guided prayer. I know one of the reasons I don't pray as often as I ought to is because I struggle to know what and how to pray. So even having some written prayers, I mean, this is why the Psalms are good, things like the Valley of Visions are good. Um, having some pre-written prayers that you genuinely pray but you're not having to come up with in the moment can really help. Right. So the app is called Glorify. I know it's available on iPhone. I'm not sure about Android. I'm sure it probably is. I'm sure they wanna have a pretty broad ecosystem. Um, and, and it's good. Again, it's, it's not anything fancy. It's not anything like super technical. Uh, and as I kind of alluded, like some of it's a little weird. Um, I, I didn't read the proverb. I think maybe the proverb is about romantic relationships, why they're, why they're tying in that, um, Bonhoeffer quote in, in the prayer. [00:10:00] But, um, even that, like it's pretty innocuous. And the quotes, like you don't have to read the quotes. It's not like you have to have to do that. Um, you could jump in, just read the scripture or just read the devotion and just do the prayer and you would be fine. So check it out. It's called Glorify, available on iPhone for sure. I'm pretty sure it's on, on Android. And maybe it's something you add daily, you know, this kinda thing like you do when you're on the bus or you're waiting at the grocery store, something quick you can do when you might be wasting that time just sorta sitting around or scrolling Twitter. Again, Twitter's fine. You can use your leisure time as you see fit. But if you wanna fill it with something like this, something that is more spiritual, then this would be a good option to just add a little bit of, uh, a little bit of nourishment to your diet where you might not otherwise be getting it  Jesse Schwamb: I have no proof of this, but I just keep saying it anyway. It might be that we're living in the golden age of really great- ... daily worship resources. Like, something to actually cultivate, not just, like, a devotional nugget, but something that actually leads you into a pattern and a habit of [00:11:00]worship, giving your attentive focus on Jesus. And I love that. So, uh, uh, 'cause I was just thinking, like, I was trying to look back on some of our past affirmations here. We've talked about the book Walking in Faith. I just gave everybody Awake My Soul last week. You're coming in with the Glorify app. I- we've talked about Dwell, if not recently, we've talked about that for some time. It's like a great Bible reading app, and there's lots and lots of new features, by the way, coming out on that- Yeah that are fantastic. And then, yes, all these other great prayers. I, I see, like, these books on prayer, like, actually, I'm sorry, like, prayer books, I guess, as, like, a great way to kinda... It's like a jumper for your car. You know what I mean? Like, just gets you started. What a, what a lovely thing to come into a place and have a launching pad. And I've been using a lot of Into His Presence, which is a collection of Puritan prayers, sometimes because, for instance, this just happened, where I wanted to pray for someone who was just going through a rough time, a good friend of mine. And I went to that place to kinda start and frame, knowing that I was gonna sit down with him and pray, how I might be able to do that well and [00:12:00] effectively. And these things are just, like, really phenomenal resources. It's just an amazing time to have all these things at our disposal. So that's another great option. It's, it's really more about, like you and I have talked about, Tony, like, whatever gets us into that pattern, whatever gets us, like, authentically experiencing under our own volition, coming in the discipline of sitting before God in daily worship with that expression being pretty broad in its representation- Yeah is to really include something of devotional time in the scriptures, memorization, metabolation, metabolizing. Metabolation, I'm just gonna make that up as, like- ... what happens when you, when you take the scripture and metabolize it into your own life. Meditating on it and, you know, again, maybe looking through the confessions and creeds that have shaped our distilled understanding of what the scripture teaches so that we're enhancing and edifying our mind. We're also engaging the heart, and then we're engaging God and ourselves in communication with Him through prayer. I'm all for anything [00:13:00] that gets us into those rhythms, reminds us of the importance of them, and like we talked about last week, makes it so that when we think about what it means to be married to Christ, so to speak, it's not just about whipping out some kind of marriage certificate to prove that, but that we actually have a frame and a behavioral pattern that fits a married person, that- Yeah how they act, how they think, how they behave, how they communicate, they're never too far away from their lovely spouse in some way or another. And so I think that these tools are great ways to get us exactly into that kind of mindset and practice.  Tony Arsenal: Yeah, absolutely. And like I said, like, I think- In our Reformed circles, we can, you know, we, we tend to be maybe a little eggheaded, and we, we tend to be a little more intellectual and, and a little more, I don't know, studious. And there's nothing wrong with that. Um, but I think sometimes it can breed a sort of, uh, elitism and arrogance. Sure. Uh, this is a perfectly valid devotional tool. Yes. Mm-hmm. And, and I think, [00:14:00] you know, kinda like the old adage, like, well, what's the best translation of scripture? Well, whichever one you're gonna read. Exactly. Like, what's the best devotional tool? Whichever one you're gonna use, whichever one's actually gonna bring you into the Word, uh, on a, on a regular basis. Um, and again, like, two verses of the scripture is two verses of the scripture that you might- Right ... not have other spent time, otherwise spent time reading. And it really is short enough, and it saves your progress. Like, you can do, you can do the quote in the morning, and then you can check the scripture on the way to the, you know, the word work, on a stoplight or whatever. Um, if you have the, the paid subscription, you can listen to this stuff, you know, on the, the bus or whatever. Um, so check it out. Glorify app, they have a ring they're making. It's in funding, I guess, if you wanna check it out, you can check that out too. I am neither affirming nor denying whatever this Glory ring is, Glorify ring. But, um, but yeah, the app is great. The, the app is free, and it's, it's worth even just checking out and adding once in a while to your day  Jesse Schwamb: The glory ring or the glorify ring sounds like almost too Tolkien, even for me  Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. It's the one ring to rule all of your devotions. [00:15:00] Uh, and in the, and in the morning bind them. Jesse, save me from the trail I was about to go on, and, and I was gonna speak in the language of Mordor, I think, on accident. Uh, save us from this. What are you affirming or denying?  Jesse Schwamb: That's  Tony Arsenal: beautiful. Please tell me it's the language of Mordor. Elvish AI and Music Pick Jesse Schwamb: Uh, no, but can I just say at the risk of really taking us really far afield so early on, which is not necessarily off-brand for us, I have done this... I, I don't know if I should be ashamed by this or I should be excited by this. But- ... um, the Elvish tongue in the Tolkien universe-  Tony Arsenal: Oh, no. ...  Jesse Schwamb: is like, there's several... If you're super nerdy, you'll know there's like several different kind of iterations or formulas of it, and there's no, like, official language like Klingon, but there ha- it has been studied, and basically, like, it's kind of like the Eugene Peterson of the language. Like, there's, like, just kind of a dynamic equivalent or an expression of words. Anyway, all that to say- ... there's several languages that, uh, Microsoft Copilot will just not [00:16:00] translate because it says, like, "This one, this language doesn't actually exist. There's not enough for me to do anything." Let me tell you something. Tolkien Elvish is not one of those languages, and I actually built an agent, because I have a coworker who can, uh, who can appreciate all this stuff, that takes a text, translates it into this kind of academic high-level Elvish from Tolkien, and then translates it back to English. That makes anything you're saying way better and far more poetic and just absolutely amazing. So if you wanna have some fun, go and do that with whatever your favorite AI model is. Anyway, that's free of charge. Real quick, my affirmation is more music. It just turns out I've found this band, and I've been listening to them a lot. The band's name is Thronebreaker, which is just a phenomenal name, I think, for any group. Uh, it's amazing. Uh, th- this is... I'm gonna read you their description from Spotify. It just says, "Thronebreaker is Christian metalcore built for the bruised, the doubting, and the ones still fighting their way home." And what I've really been [00:17:00] loving about them is it is kind of like Wolves at the Gate adjacent. It's really lovely music. It is melodic, so it's, there's not just that there's that kind of hard edge, but that is present in it. But, uh, the music is really lovely and beautiful, and in part that's because they're going through this, like, drip of releasing music where they're taking, like, old hymns or maybe songs if you're of a certain age like I am of kind of childhood Sunday school- And they're taking the lyrics, not the melody, and they're reimagining them. So they have two versions of Jesus Loves Me that they just released. They have the old We're Gonna Cross, a song called Glory to the King Most High. These songs are just saturated with gospel. Like, they're just all power, all encouragement, and all authority represented in Jesus Christ. They're incredible, and I've j- where I've, what I've been really blessed by is these two versions of Jesus Love Me are just fantastic. Like, they're orchestral. There is a children's kind of chorus at one point, and it got me [00:18:00] singing that song again, and really, maybe to what you were saying before, Tony, like sitting in those three words, which are really phenomenal words to hear. And so I have been surprised at how moved I've been by what really I, I first understood, of course, as a children's song with simple truth that seems, you know, depending on how long you've known some part of the gospel, obvious. And yet I found them all new again, and a, a really lovely way of just sitting in the truth of God in music that I didn't expect to find. So if you're interested in any of that or maybe just curious of what it would sound like if a Christian metalcore band took Jesus Loves Me and turned it into their genre, then honestly you should just go check out Throne Breaker. I mean, you pretty much have to at this point.  Tony Arsenal: I, I don't ever have anything to add to your musical affirmations or denials, 'cause I, I just don't. What I do have to add is that Throne Breaker actually sounds like some sort of really [00:19:00] amazing, like, mace-type weapon in Lord of the Rings. Yes.  Jesse Schwamb: Yes,  Tony Arsenal: it does. Or like a big hammer that a dwarf carries. And I would also like to say that if you ask Google Gemini to translate something into Tolkien English, it not only will do it, it will tell you how to pronounce it.  Google Elf: A ava aini Ilai amel i trona se.  Tony Arsenal: What do you think that was, Jesse?  Jesse Schwamb: No idea.  Tony Arsenal: First of all, that was elevated Quenya, a Quenya. Yes.  Jesse Schwamb: Yes, that's  Tony Arsenal: the one. Classic Quenya.  Jesse Schwamb: Yes.  Google Elf: A leta Ilai amel aima.  Tony Arsenal: I would be willing to bet... Actually, let's do this.  Jesse Schwamb: Ugh.  Tony Arsenal: Uh, we don't give out prizes very often. Uh, I will say to anyone who can tell me what that is, the first person that emails, uh, or, or goes into the Telegram chat, we'll do this. We'll be professional podcasters and drive people to one of our channels. Here we  Jesse Schwamb: go.  Tony Arsenal: The first person who goes to our telephone, our Telegram chat and tells me what that [00:20:00] means, what that, uh, Elvish means, will get a Reformed Brotherhood T-shirt.  Jesse Schwamb: Oh, that is big.  Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  Jesse Schwamb: That-  Tony Arsenal: So I'm gonna, I'm gonna play it one more time.  Jesse Schwamb: Okay, here we go. Everybody listen. Every- All right, pull over. Stop your vehicles. Here we go.  Google Elf: A leta Ilai amel aima.  Tony Arsenal: There it is, everybody.  Jesse Schwamb: I'm not being a cry- I have a guess, but I, I, I wanna try to win the T-shirt, so I'm gonna- Yes ... wi- withhold. All right. Uh, yeah, that's, that's super fun. Did it, um... Did you also translate it back into English from that  Tony Arsenal: just to see- No, I'll do that later, 'cause that would give away the, that would  Jesse Schwamb: give away the prize. Yeah, it's, it's... We'll have to save that for next week, because that, that is the fun. It creates, like, what I was doing to, to have fun with this coworker is take very technical, like, work-related emails, and I would send it through. It would go through that iterative process, and I actually loved how it, it was talking. Like, it wa- this was an email about risk, and it, it gave, like, these beautiful grand metaphors that didn't sound corny or cheesy. That's the beautiful thing. That's amazing. It [00:21:00] was like true Elvish. Like, you were just like, "I wish I spoke that way all the time about, about risk." And it, like I said, it wasn't just like... You could, you could obviously throw something in and be like, "Make this Shakespearean," or, you know, "Make this, you know, sound like, you know, Milton." This is way better. This is way better, because it's not, like, actually trying to manipulate what you're saying. It's takes, like, the dynamic equivalent of what you said, then translates it back with way more kind of poetic infrastructure while maintaining, like, the essential meaning that you have. I'm, I'm selling this too hard. Everybody just has to go out and try it. So, all right, you know what's at stake here, but here's how you have to win this. If you want a chance, if you want a chance at winning this, you gotta go to t.me/reformedbrotherhood, t.me/reformedbrotherhood, and that link will take you to the Telegram app and our little corner of it, and you're gonna find there's a bunch of chats there. You gotta go to the affirmations or denials chat, and then you gotta put in what is the translation of what Tony just played.[00:22:00] I just love... Isn't it amazing, though, that, like, y- as you discovered, there's more than one version of Elvish available? Yeah. And they do differentiate between the various kinds. This is a big deal. I learned there are actually scholars who have, like, again, filled in kind of like the details of the language- Oh, yeah taking as a basis what Tolkien had there. Yeah. So I think that this is the best. We couldn't have conceived of this if we'd actually tried and planned for it, so-  Tony Arsenal: It's true ...  Jesse Schwamb: it's just better that it all happened in, in real time. It's true. And, and speaking of which, I think now we get to have the fun of figuring out, uh, where in Luke chapter 10 are we gonna begin? Or should we just start in Luke 1 and just let's see how far we can get reading  Tony Arsenal: in this- I could have, I could have Google Gemini read it in elevated Kenya, Quenya I did try to get it to put it in Sindarin, and it wouldn't do it for some reason. I'm not sure. Maybe this anti-Sindarin bias in Gemini,  Jesse Schwamb: man. Disappointing.  Tony Arsenal: It's disappointing.  Jesse Schwamb: Dis- disappointing. So let's kick off some Good Samaritan talk, which again, I think is gonna take us [00:23:00] through maybe in the next couple of conversations, in part because, like I said, we're not even gonna start at, uh, verse 25 because there is so much more that needs to be said, I think, before that. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. I, I think actually the proper place to start this, and I, I'm guessing Jesse probably, whether he was there or not, he probably figured out where I was going, uh, over the course of the last 20 minutes or whatever. Um, I actually think the proper place to start, at least one of the proper places to start, is in verse 21. Yeah. Um, and I- we'll talk about why that is. And I'll... I'm gonna read here, um, 21, uh, through the end of the parable. Uh, and this is Jesus talking. He says in this, uh... Well, it, this is, um... Yes, uh, I'll just read it here. "In the same hour He rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, 'I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for such was Your gracious will. All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one who knows who the Son is except... No, no one knows who the Son is [00:24:00] except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Himself.'" Then turning to the disciples, he said privately, "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see and did not see it, and hear what you hear and did not hear it." And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How do you read it?" And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." And he said to him, "You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live." But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and he saw him and passed on the other side. So likewise a Levite, [00:25:00] when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. And he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take good care of him. Whatever you, whatever more you spend I will repay you when I come back.' Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?" And he said, "The one who showed him mercy." Jesus said to him, "You go and do likewise."  Jesse Schwamb: I think you're right, of course, to back us up into verse 21 because I don't want to keep saying it's always a setup, but Jesus is certainly giving us like the right context in which... Well, Luke of course is the author here and as he's explaining the teaching of Jesus, he does so well to start out with some irony that we don't realize is gonna be ironic until we get to the, to verse 25 [00:26:00] when we realize who's testing Jesus, who's setting this all up. So this idea that the Holy Spirit, everybody rejoicing in the Holy Spirit and the knowledge and the wisdom, the intelligence that's revealed through the Holy Spirit to all of these lesser people and in particular here emblematic the infants That here we have kings and rulers, and in this case, this beloved scholar of the law, who all have this adventure in missing the point. They think, in fact, they're looking for the one who is to set them free, and they can't even see that it's Him who is before him. And yet, incidentally, God has already revealed all these things to the lowest, to the ones who are the most humble, the meek, the mild, the down and outs, the ones who are weak by the view of everybody else. And so it's amazing that if we just kinda, again, like blow past it into, like, just all the characters, we don't see that the teaching starts actually well above this, that even everything we're about to understand, that unfolds in our lives, ev- every spiritual incarnation and insight that we have [00:27:00] first starts with God himself in his revealing it to us both in his general revelation, but of course, in the specific revelation of his teaching. So I like that you started us there, because I, I'm with you. That's where this whole thing launches off, right?  Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  Parables Reveal and Conceal Tony Arsenal: Yeah, and as we come into when we very, like very start of this, uh, series, the, the parable series, Jesus sort of embeds a theology of parables into this introduction, right? Or I should say Luke does. But this, uh, this is written a- as though all of this is occurring as sort of one event. Right. And likely it was, right? So sometimes, uh, in the Gospels, events are kind of, like, moved next to each other for thematic reasons. It's possible that that's the case. It seems like this may have actually just been one, one teaching, and I'll, I'll talk about why that is in a second here. Um, but at the very least, this is placed next to each other in the Gospel almost as, like a, "Here's the theology of parables. Now, here's actually that happening in real [00:28:00] time."  Jesse Schwamb: Yes.  Tony Arsenal: And then also, like, a parable kinda demonstrating it, right? So the theology of the parable here is that there are many prophets, kings who desire to see what it is that, that, uh, uh, the disciples are seeing, right? And all things have been handed over to the Father or to, to the Son, by the Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father. No one who knows who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal, right? So the, the theology of parables here presented in Luke is that the parable itself is being used as a way to reveal the Father and the Son to those whom the Son chooses to reveal it to. The Lawyer as the Fool Tony Arsenal: And that leaves us with this lawyer, um, sort of playing, playing the fool in almost like a dramatic sense, right? In a lot of drama, there's kind of like the fool character who's sort of like the foil or the idiot of the thing who's, who's unaware and is almost like made an example of, right? Um, I, I can't think of any examples off the top of my head, but there's often a character in a play who's like, uh, it's [00:29:00] almost like the opposite of the everyman, right? The everyman in a, in a play- Right ... or in a movie is sort of like the outsider who things gets explained to, and he's sort of the proxy for, for the audience. Um, I think like, um, Hawkeye in Avengers is kind of the everyman. He's sort of just like this regular dude swept up in this thing, and oftentimes he's the one that, uh, the big characters are explaining things to. And really what that is is the big characters are explaining that to the audience through this proxy. There's also this concept of the fool in a lot of these plays or movies who's sort of like the dummy, the idiot of the play, who things are explained to, and it's still a way to explain it to the audience, but the character doesn't get it. And so that's kind of, kind of the role that this lawyer is playing in this, this narrative here. He, he steps forward. He's like, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus answers his question, and then in this like sort of like stunning moment of, like unawareness, he's trying to justify himself. He says, "Well, who is my neighbor?"[00:30:00] As though that's a question that needed to be asked, right? I think, like, we sort of think of it as like, "Oh, yeah, that's a valid question." I actually don't think it is. Like, it's pretty obvious, in the Old Testament at least, who your neighbor is. It's the people who live immediately with you. It's the other people of Israel. It's the people in your immediate concentric circles, the people you have direct access to. Um, and so then Jesus explains it through this parable, and whether or not he gets it at the end, I guess is maybe a little bit unclear. We can talk about that as we get there. But at least in the beginning, he's portrayed as this sort of, like, fool who doesn't understand what Jesus is saying, and then this parable is taught. So it's this theology of, um, revelation to those whom it is intended to, and further obscuring from those it's intended not to, not to illuminate, which is identical. Uh, maybe it's a different flavor of the same thing, but it's the same thing as what Matthew had and what Jesus taught- Right ... in Matthew with the parables. Jesse Schwamb: Right. It definitely is, again, illustrating, again, God's divine prerogative. I think you really have to do a lot of theological gymnastics [00:31:00] to try to work yourself out of a place here that says, like, "Well, this, this knowledge is accessible to all people."  Tony Arsenal: Right.  Jesse Schwamb: That if somehow we just work hard enough, study hard enough, come even before God with the right attitude or do the right things, that somehow all this will be made plain to us, and that's certainly not the truth here. In fact, again, the ironic setup is you have this lawyer asking this question, which creates this strange contrast because here's a man trained in the law, and he approaches the very wisdom of God to test him while the little children already perceive what this fool cannot. So it's irony upon irony, and then I, I like what you're saying. I think, and we'll get to this to anticipate a bit, I'm reading this as he's hoping that the answer to whom is my neighbor, just like he- he's received the affirmative from Jesus saying, "Yes, you understand. Go and do these things. This is life," and we'll get to all of what that means, I think, as well in terms of the covenant of works and the covenant of grace. But I think he's hoping that the definition of neighbor is gonna mean that he has [00:32:00] already accomplished the thing then, so that if there's somehow- Yeah ... he could just set the right boundaries. He could say, "Ah, yeah, I'm already good then, Jesus. I already, already did all that stuff." So- It's wild to me that it, it all starts with, of course, like some kind of scribal specialist in the Torah, of course, likely some kind of Pharisee by theological alignment. And as I'm looking at the notes here, what I find particularly stunning as we start this out is that Luke, of course, is able to speak several times in this parable to the intent. And so he says right away with great kind of fanfare and description that the intent here from this scribal Torah person was to test or to tempt, which is the same verb used of Satan's temptation of Christ and of Israel's testing of God in Deuteronomy 6, which of course Jesus is gonna quote here later on. So it's not, of course, like sincere inquiry, like you're saying. It, it is like adversarial probing. It is like really profound setup. It is dripping with like [00:33:00] ulterior motive. It's seeking to expose Jesus as either like heterodox or as diminishing the law's demands. And I think we've talked about this before, so Tony, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure in one of the previous parables we talked about sometimes how these get set up with this kind of weird like oxymoronic setting. Inherit Eternal Life Debate Jesse Schwamb: So like this question of se- uh, uh, itself, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?  Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  Jesse Schwamb: It's like more than just theologically revealing. Biblically it's self-contradictory, 'cause of course like we talked about inheritance, I think actually when we went through the, the parable of the prodigal. By definition, that's received, of course, on the ba- basis of relationship or promise. It's not earned by performance. And if the inheritance comes by a law, it no longer comes by promise, right? I think that's like Galatians. So the lawyer's question already portray- portrays like some kind of weird works righteous paradigm. E- even if you think he's really after trying to understand the true intent of God's heart [00:34:00] behind the law, he is assuming at least in this question that eternal life is some kind of wage that he can earn rather than a gift to be received by grace through faith. And that's a fundamental error that the entire subsequent exchange, including the parable, is designed to expose. It's both, like you're saying, Tony, he has not learned yet what it means to be in the kingdom of God. He's outside of that, and so he's trying... Now Jesus is bringing in this corrective action, as it were, set up in a story, but he's gonna turn the law on him, which, which I don't wanna get too excited about that yet. But he's... But essentially, here we have somebody who's the expert in the law trying to leverage the law by way of force against the one who he does not understand has all leverage and authority over him, and is in fact the law giver himself So he's gonna, Jesus is gonna drive him to see his own ability to keep the law that he claims to honor, and that's more than just brilliant. This is what the law does. You do not wanna pit the law against the one who has given the law, the [00:35:00] one whose character is represented in the law, because you're always going to get owned, and you'll get owned before you realize you've just gotten owned on multiple levels, and I think that's what basically unfolds here. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah, I, I have a little bit of a different take on the, the word inherit here. Um, I don't think what you're saying is wrong, um, but I think there's a little different flavor here, and actually, I, I think it, it still sort of propels us forward to the conversation we have to have, um, about the law and the gospel and the covenant of works, the covenant of grace. The, the Greek that lays under this word is, uh, it's a compound word of the word for, like, lot or portion and the word for law. And so, so the, this force of the word is more along the lines of, like, what shall I do to have a legal right to eternal life? Like- Right ... inherit, I think we hear inherit, and we think of, like, um, like what you get when someone dies, and so, like, obviously there's nothing you do to earn it, and that's certainly an element of the way this [00:36:00] word is used in some instances. I think reading this and kind of how, how the rest of the text plays out, this lawyer is coming forward and he's like, "What do I need to do to have a rightful legal claim to eternal life?" Right? We might even be able, and this is where it comes into the covenant of grace, covenant of works k- kind of paradigm. We might even be able to say that what this lawyer or this person comes forward to ask Jesus is, how do I gain, how do I gain the benefits of the covenant of works, right?  Jesse Schwamb: Right.  Tony Arsenal: Yep. That's language that was developed later that's not, not, like, biblical language in terms of, like, the actual language within the text, but that's the force of what he's saying. What must I do to be a rightful legal... Uh, what must I do to have a rightful legal claim on all of the blessings of the covenant of works, is really the question that's here. And so Jesus' answer is so instructive- Right ... 'cause what he says is, "Well, what's written in the law?" Like, he, he basically says, like, "Well, you should be able to tell me, teacher- Exactly of [00:37:00] the law, like, what, what needs to happen there." And there's an assumption on Christ's part that, like, there is an answer. I think sometimes, sometimes we, we, uh, we make an error in thinking that the covenant of works was never attainable, that it's somehow this, like, um, it's almost like a black box. Like, nobody could know what we have to do to, like, obtain eternal life. That's absolutely not the assumption Jesus makes. Jesus not only knows that there's an answer, it's such a straightforward answer that he expects this scribe to be able to answer it, right? And the scribe can, right? The scribe says, "Well, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, your mind, your strength, and your neighbor as yourself," right? The summary of the law. Just good old classic Westminster larger, shorter catechism. Where's the law summarily comprehended? Summarily comprehended in the Ten Commandments. And then, then again, I don't know the questions exactly, but then it also, like, says, like, "Where does Christ summarize this?" Well, you should love the Lord your God, and you should love your [00:38:00] neighbor as yourself, right? Covenant Works and Grace Tony Arsenal: So the, the lawyer comes forward and says, "What do I need to do to have a legal right to all of the blessings of the covenant of works?" Christ says, "Well, what do you think?" He says, "Well, you obey the entirety of the law." And he says, "You've answered correctly. Do this. Obey the entirety of the law and you will live." So the parable itself doesn't necessarily speak to this law, gospel, covenant of works, covenant of grace paradigm. The, the parable is used to show that not only does this lawyer know what is required of him, but that he won't do it.  Jesse Schwamb: Right.  Tony Arsenal: And I think that's really key, because even in the parable, within the parable itself, there are these figures that know what they should do, right? I, I think, um, we'll get into it, but there's a lot of ink spilled on almost like, um, explaining [00:39:00] why the priest and the Phar- phar- and the, the Levite almost like did the right thing by going to the other side of the room, and it points to like, well, their priestly and Levitical responsibilities, if they touch a dead body, like they can't do those things, and those things are so important. Like, there's a lot of ink spilled trying to almost explain why what they did is right, when the point of the parable is that actually we all know what the right thing to do in that sense was. And even the most righteous people in the mind of the hearers, the Levites and the priests, the most righteous people, even they don't do what they're supposed to do. Jesse Schwamb: Right.  Tony Arsenal: This, this paradigm, this gospel law paradigm, law gospel paradigm, this covenant of works, covenant of grace paradigm, is so baked into the very like fabric of, of human thought that it's just there. And Christ takes this time to point out to this lawyer, like, "You know what's expected of you." And so that's why the phrase desiring to justify himself is so key [00:40:00] here. I actually think that the, the, the I don't wanna go so far as to say, like, that this person was regenerated in the midst of this conversation, 'cause I don't know that. But I actually think that there's a forward movement of this lawyer as he interacts with Christ that is optimistic. I'm optimistic about it, right? Right. He starts out trying to test Jesus, then he star- then he moves to having a desire to justify himself. I think we hear that, we read that, desiring to justify himself, we automatically think that that's a negative thing. But if we think about justifying himself in terms of what he's talking about, how do I fulfill the obligations of the covenant of works, that's not a bad thing to wanna do. Right. It's not bad to wanna obey God's law and to lay claim to His promises. It's a misguided notion of something we can't accomplish, but in itself, desiring to justify himself is to desire to fulfill the obligations of the covenant of works. That's not necessarily a bad thing. And so I think this is a merciful, a merciful [00:41:00] teaching on Christ's part. He's trying to instruct this guy to say, "Look, you can't do it. And even if you could do it, you wouldn't do it. So let's, let's talk about mercy instead and what that looks like." And that's where we get to kind of the end of the, uh, the end of the parable.  Jesse Schwamb: And again, we have to remember that we know that the intent here is actually to test or try Jesus, so He's certainly being merciful by using this opportunity not to just put him on blast, but to actually provide true instruction. And of course, like, that was, to some degree, this turning the question back would've been, like, a rabbinic pedagogical technique, but theologically, this is what floors me, is from the jump, Jesus refuses to let this man treat Him merely as one more voice among competing rabbis. Yeah. Instead, He holds that lawyer to the standard of God's own revealed word by, like you said, asking not just what does it say, but how do you read it? Mm-hmm. He's pressing not just for, like, some kind of recitation, but for the lawyer's own understanding and application, and Jesus is gonna hold him [00:42:00] accountable to his own hermeneutic. So by, by the time we get the answer, we know as readers, and all those present would've understood, he already knows the right answer, and he's not ignorant to God's requirements. He already summarizes the whole moral law correctly, encompassing both tables of the Decalogue. And so I think that does lead us then to this statement that we probably should spend a little time on, like, do this and you will live, like you introduced for us. Like, what does that even mean? Because i- it's not, like, in my view It's not like a Pelagian or Arminian concession that law keeping actually saves. I mean, it is the covenant of works principle stated truly inexorably that the law as law does promise life to perfect obedience. But that's the exact problem. I, I like what you said that it's not as if we can't understand what it would be to comprehend or contemplate this perfect law and what it means to fall under the covenant of works. It's just that he also presents for us at the same time this covenant of grace in which life is [00:43:00] granted freely through faith in the mediator who alone fulfills all of these laws' demands. So it's wild in this back and forth that's happening here where it's... I don't even know if it's fair to say this is like the most incredible subtext ever. I'm imagining trying to process this in real time and realizing everything that's being said, not just listening to what's being said and like the technical answers going back and forth. But I think like you said, that the Spirit even here is at work, I would like to believe, in the life and at the heart and the mind of this lawyer who's bringing forward this question with nefarious intent first to test and to undermine, and then is being drawn in almost inexorably into this debate to more profound understanding about a covenant based on works that cannot be accomplished, uh, in perfect obedience except through the mediator who organizes and distributes liberally this covenant of grace to his children for whom he has accomplished at least passively and then actively in his obedience in life and death. And so Jesus' reply is, I [00:44:00] think, thus a very genuine like if that functions to expose an impossibility. I, I don't think he's teaching salvation by works here, of course. He is holding out the law's own terms so that the lawyer and everybody else listening, and even us as well, can discover through this narrative which is about to happen the impossibility of self-produced righteousness, which again is what this gentleman is theologically all about. He's trying to justify himself. And that is precisely the pedagogical strategy like Paul uses later when he systemizes all of this by saying that the law was our guardian or school master until Christ came in order that we might be justified by faith. I think- Yeah ... and it's only because God is good to us and we might sit in some of this teaching, I think this is all in play. So, so I ask you, like, have I gone too far with all this? Like, how much do you think in the real time was being processed? And maybe that's a horrible question to ask because we know the Spirit does this work of illumination and enlightenment, and we're on the other [00:45:00] side of this and have this time to sit and to kind of parse and to really kind of just be pickled in all of this. But there's so much happening here, right?  Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. Uh, maybe I'll answer the question a, a little bit of a different way. I think, um- We often can think about Old Testament religion, if we wanna kinda call it that. We think about Old Testament religion as though it was totally uniform and, um, entirely legalistic. Right. Uh, my- the, the listener is gonna panic a little bit when I say this, so please don't freak out, but I, I think N.T. Wright, uh, and some of the new perspective on Paul stuff is a, a little bit helpful in this, in that it gives us a foil to sorta push against. Yes. The new perspective on Paul is this idea that, um- Paul was not saying that Judaism was legalistic and Christianity is a grace-based religion, right? He, m- [00:46:00] um, N- NPP is not, is saying, um, Paul was not correcting New or Old Testament religion. And where they go wrong is that they say that Paul actually retains this concept of covenantal faithfulness, covenantal nomism fidelity. Uh, where I think, where I think they're right is that this idea that, like, the Old Testament religion is entirely legalistic and Paul was just sort of correcting that, I think that's way too simplistic. And the reason I say that is that the Mosaic Covenant for, you know, w- and predominantly this podcast is coming from a sort of Westminster Confession of Faith Presbyterian perspective, give or take, right? The, the broad Reformed tradition would say that the, the Mosaic, uh, covenant, the Davidic Covenant, all of the covenants of the Old Testament, and we can break them up in all sorts of different ways, but all of the covenants of the Old Testament, [00:47:00] um, with maybe the exception of the Noahic Covenant, and there's some debate about that, all of those are They're not just, like, supporting structures for the covenant of grace, but they actually are the covenant of grace in various administrations. If that's true, and of course we believe that it is, if that's true, then the people of those covenants understood that on some level. Right. Right? So to think that, like, people under the administration of the covenant of grace somehow thought that they were operating under a legalistic framework doesn't make any sense. Jesse Schwamb: Yeah,  Tony Arsenal: that's true. So, so where I think that applies here is I think this person coming forward, it's not as though the concept of the covenant of grace... Again, that's language that we would develop later, but the concept that God graciously saves His people by the counsel of His own will, apart from their works of righteousness, apart from their meritorious effort, that God [00:48:00] simply extends His grace and conveys the cov- the blessings of the covenant of works to those who trust in the mediator, those who trust in the one to come, the, the forthcoming serpent-crushing seed, right, if you wanna use- Right language from Genesis 3. The, the idea that God simply graciously conveys the blessings of the covenant of works to those people Um, that's not something that's alien to the Old Testament, right? It's not alien to the, even to the Mosaic economy. The most law-based of all of the Old Testament, um, covenants, even that starts with the concept that these people are God's people who he redeemed out of Egypt, right? Right. The redemption out of Egypt comes before the giving of the law, and the giving of the law is a result of the redemption out of Egypt. So to think that this lawyer comes forward, and again, this had been sort of corrupted and distorted and had become a very works-based, uh, [00:49:00] meritorious-based understanding. But the idea that this framework of a covenant of grace is totally alien to this guy just doesn't, it just doesn't, I think it doesn't play. And so I think rather than us read this as I think sometimes we do, of Christ as kind of like giving this guy, trying to give this guy an entirely new paradigm, or like the rich young ruler is very much a parallel kind of situation. We read this, this guy comes forward, he's like, "What do I gotta do to earn eternal life?" Christ is like, kinda basically says like, "Well, you dum-dum, you can't. And I'm gonna demonstrate for you that you can't by- Right ... taking sort of like this situation that you can't possibly believe that you fulfilled and telling you to fulfill it." That's the outcome of this. We'll get to that when we get to the end of the parable. Um, he's not trying to give them a new paradigm. He's trying, in my opinion, he's trying to sort of reorient them back to the true paradigm of grace that is present under all of the Old Covenant administrations. So it's not so much a matter of like [00:50:00] developing a new framework and impli- like imposing this new framework on this guy. It's really trying to say like, "Listen- Think about this for a second, dude. Think about this, right? Think about the fact that, yes, you know you have to love the Lord your God with your whole heart, your whole soul, your whole strength, your whole mind, and you have to love your neighbor as yourself, right? You've answered correctly. If you can do those things, you will live. With the subtext, which I think is what you're getting at, the subtext of, like, and of course you cannot possibly do those things. Right. Right. So what's the alternative, my friend? The alternative is not justifying yourself by somehow identifying who the person is that you have to love the most. The, the, the, um, the... Well, we'll get this when we get to the parable itself, but the, the alternative is... This will be interesting, 'cause I'm not sure that we... I don't know where you are on this, but, um, the alternative is that there's someone out there who shows us mercy. [00:51:00] Right. There's someone out there who takes care of our need despite our total inability to do so. Jesse Schwamb: That's right.  Tony Arsenal: That's the alternative to the covenant of works, is the covenant of grace. I m- maybe I'm, like, hinting at it too much, so I'll just say it. Like, Jesus is the Good Samaritan, right? Like, there's something for us to learn about our own justification here and our own- Right ... like, um, our own need to be merciful, to treat people as our neighbors. But just like we talked about when we talked about, like, what does the least of these mean, this parable, uh, I'm totally, like, burying the lede for next, next week, but that's fine. This parable is not primarily about us figuring out how to do mercy ministry. Right. Like, that's important. It's probably an outcome of this. It's probably something for us to think about. But really, this is actually Christ saying, like, "Hold on a second here, dude." Like, "Let's just think about this." Do you need someone who is going to tell you to pick yourself up off your bootstraps and cross to the other side of the street and leave you to [00:52:00] your own devices? Or do you need someone who's gonna throw you on their donkey, who's gonna bind up your wounds, who's gonna pay the innkeeper, and is gonna pledge to play- pay everything that is owed for your salvation? Right? That's not too on the nose here, I think. Right. And, and I really look forward to, like, unpacking that, although maybe we don't need to now, but I think, like, this parable is so much more about how salvation works than it is about, like, what it means to have a good neighbor and to be a good neighbor. I think we get bogged down in that, and I just am really excited to talk more about, like, what I think this parable actually gets at.  Jesse Schwamb: I agree, and it's happening in the contex

Stephanie, Omar, Abby, and Rob dig into the ongoing standoff over evidence-sharing in the Corey Ruiz shooting investigation — breaking down City Attorney Michael Haas's 11-page memo on why police records can't go to the Office of Independent Monitor yet, and why we aren't entirely buying the reasoning. Plus: an upcoming Common Council Q&A on the cleared memorial site, a visit to new Filipino food truck Las Islas Filipinas, free breakfast and lunch coming to 19 MMSD schools, and an impromptu debate on charter schools' role (and limits) in Madison. Then a crossover treat: Rob and Ethan's 608 Soccer Show interview with Forward Madison PA announcer Christopher Pennant on pronunciation prep, his "Lord of the Rings" bit and what he brings to the job from his training as a journalist. Don't miss the Sept. 12 Madison365 Night at Forward Madison ticket deal, and stick around for the window-vs-aisle roundtable debate. Get your Forward Madison tickets here!  

Welcome to TEHMEHBACHPAHCIAÕToday we bring you many new segments: Lindy Got a Pamphlet. Atomic Dog Thoughts. And

J.R.R. Tolkien's work is more than just a great story. Michael Drout's book is part memoir and part scholarship, tracing Tolkien's masterpiece as a work or literature and a work of life. You'll never read Lord of the Rings the same way again. 

Scott and Josh discuss the return of Lord of the Rings, Xbox's mystery sequel, and the online backlash to Marvel's Wolverine. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jessie and Kim begin the journey through Middle-Earth with Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.In this episode of A Cast of Kings, Kim Renfro and Jessie Earl break down their entire thoughts on the classic film, Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Why is The Shire so memorable? Does Boromir still hold up as a great character? And why is Aragorn so damn sexy?  Listen to hear us discuss all these questions and more! Links: Email us at acastofkings(AT)gmail(DOT)com Subscribe A Cast of Kings on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@acastofkings Follow us on Tiktok - http://tiktok.com/@acastofkings Buy Kim Renfro's book about Game of Thrones - https://parents.simonandschuster.com/9781982116415 Follow Decoding TV on YouTube - https://youtube.com/@decodingtv Subscribe to David's free newsletter, Decoding Everything - http://www.decodingeverything.com/

On PlayStation 5 in the near future, you're going to be hacking, slashing, stabbing, and serrating your enemies with reckless abandon. For starters, the dangerously-clawed Wolverine emerges in September, along with a newly-announced special edition PS5 console, a couple of DualSense controllers, and even some plates for your existing hardware. (Plus, the previews are quite positive!) September also provides us with horroresque Halloween: The Game from IllFonic, which interestingly enough won't be released in Australia and New Zealand for the stupidest reason. Come October, hack-and-slash RPG Phantom Blade 0 joins the fray -- a long-in-development Chinese game that's getting its own State of Play imminently -- not to mention Ghost of Yotei: Complete Edition, packing new single-player content galore alongside the return of the Katana-wielding Atsu. Other news this week includes a surprise PS3-era Lord of the Rings drop, insane data about Grand Theft Auto VI pre-orders, and more. But we end, as we always do, with listener inquiries. Will Sony really eschew any sort of external disc drive for PlayStation 6, if only for backwards compatibility purposes? Why is visiting a new town in an RPG typically such an exciting experience? What would a "Digital Bill of Rights" look like? Is Dustin losing his Japanese language skills through atrophy? Timestamps: Please keep in mind that our timestamps are approximate, and will often be slightly off due to dynamic ad placement. 0:00 - Intro42:56 - Met-cha Chameleon47:49 - Sacred American Gladiator50:20 - 24 minutes53:49 - Almonds vs data centers1:07:26 - Phantom Blade Zero State of Play1:15:00 - Halloween The Game refused classification in Australia and New Zealand1:27:08 - Ghost of Yotei: Complete Edition1:35:19 - Wolverine console plates and more1:43:56 - Lord of the Rings: War in the North re-released1:52:42 - New PS+ Game Catalog games2:01:00 - GTAVI's $100 version is the top seller2:14:29 - July's Top PSN Downloads2:17:35 - Spider-Man sales increase thanks to the movie2:20:20 - What We're Playing (Big Walk, Marvel Tokon, Gears of War E-Day, Spider-Man (2000), Beast of Reincarnation)2:59:54- Digital Bill of Rights3:10:07 - Playing PS5 discs on PS63:20:35 - Codes in boxes3:24:14 - RPG towns3:29:23 - Defending big companies3:39:48 - Game discipline Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How hungry are people for Elder Scrolls VI? Apparently, very! All it took was eight asterisks within the game's subtitle to send a flurry of fans into everything from lore wikis to decoding employee identification numbers in Starfield's Developer Direct. With such rampant curiosity, this led the Dukes down the rabbithole. What do these eight characters represent? Indeed, if the theories are true, they tell us more than you'd expect. Beyond that, we settle into a chat about the coming generation of consoles. Will Xbox weaponize Elder Scrolls VI as a lightning rod which can draw people into the ecosystem? Is it worth risking millions upon millions of dollars lost for this? Essentially, is this game going to find itself in a camp with Call Of Duty and Forza or Clockwork and Gears? There are compelling arguments for both sides, so join the very delirious Dukes as they settle into a lengthy conversation about Elder Scrolls! Timestamps: Please keep in mind that our timestamps are approximate, and will often be slightly off due to dynamic ad placement. 0:00 - Intro11:20 - Health Is Wealth25:12 - Gears E Day beta sets records for series38:32 - Currently hired ID Software dev blasts Xbox1:02:12 - Xbox explains the big server outage1:05:33 - Update on Halo Campaign Evolved sale's estimates1:20:34 - GTA 6 gets a gameplay reveal on Netflix1:50:45 - Ghost Of Yotei Complete Edition announced1:54:22 - Lord Of The Rings remasters inbound2:00:15 - Atlus thinks they have to do Persona 1 & 2 Remakes2:06:52 - Hog Leg 2 confirmed2:09:56 - What We're Playing2:42:49 - The extremely desperate Elder Scrolls rabbithole3:11:43 - Blizzard is Microsoft's top performing studio3:16:48 - Wrap up Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices