Podcasts about Mirkwood

If you love Rohan and want to delve into Tolkien’s influences, you’ll enjoy reading William Morris’s 1889 fantasy novel The House of the Wolfings. Join Dr Ingrid Hanson of the University of Manchester as she takes Julia Golding deep into the heart of Mirkwood in today’s episode of Mythmakers. Discover the fabulous female characters, Hall Sun and Wood Sun, along with the landscapes and artefacts that inspired Tolkien. You can explore this text—and other works by Morris—at the Iowa University's Morris Archive: https://morrisarchive.lib.uiowa.edu/exhibits/show/titlesThe Indian story of liberated women mentioned by Ingrid can be read here: https://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/sultana/dream/dream.html   (00:05) William Morris and House of Wolfings(12:08) Exploring William Morris's Fantasy Writing(21:51) Exploring William Morris's Ecological Architecture(30:53) Politics and Fantasy in Morris's World   For more information on the Oxford Centre for Fantasy, our writing courses, and to check out our awesome social media content visit: Website: https://centre4fantasy.com/website Instagram: https://centre4fantasy.com/Instagram Facebook: https://centre4fantasy.com/Facebook TikTok: https://centre4fantasy.com/tiktok

This week we discussed the latest Bullroarer notes, store sales, and our week in gaming. Game News SSG Thank you to players Update 44 Bullroarer Beta #2 Release Notes Update 44 is expected next week. The new instance will be in 44.1. Mirkwood changes to the Legendary Worlds Store Sales This is your final weekend […]

Bilbo fully embraces his role as hero and finds a way to save the dwarves.

In this first half of chapter 8 of the hobbit--Flies and Spiders--Jonathan and Michael discuss the evil enchantment of Mirkwood, and if the elves might have a small part in it.

Chapter 13 - Many Meetings ‘There are many powers in the world, for good or for evil. Some are greater than I am. Against some I have not yet been measured. But my time is coming. The Morgul-lord and his Black Riders have come forth. War is preparing!'Q1 - What is Gandalf talking about?‘I suppose not,' said Frodo. ‘But so far my only thought has been to get here; and I hope I shan't have to go any further. It is very pleasant just to rest. I have had a month of exile and adventure, and I find that has been as much as I want.'Caught between fire and water, and seeing an Elf-lord revealed in his wrath, they were dismayed, and their horses were stricken with madness. ‘Who made the flood?' asked Frodo. ‘Elrond commanded it,' answered Gandalf. ‘The river of this valley is under his power, and it will rise in anger when he has great need to bar the Ford. As soon as the captain of the Ringwraiths rode into the water the flood was released. If I may say so, I added a few touches of my own: you may not have noticed, but some of the waves took the form of great white horses with shining white riders; and there were many rolling and grinding boulders. For a moment I was afraid that we had let loose too fierce a wrath, and the flood would get out of hand and wash you all away. There is great vigour in the waters that come down from the snows of the Misty Mountains.'‘Hush!' said Gandalf from the shadows at the back of the porch. ‘Evil things do not come into this valley; but all the same we should not name them. The Lord of the Ring is not Frodo, but the master of the Dark Tower of Mordor, whose power is again stretching out over the world. We are sitting in a fortress. Outside it is getting dark.' ‘Gandalf has been saying many cheerful things like that,' said Pippin. ‘He thinks I need keeping in order. But it seems impossible, somehow, to feel gloomy or depressed in this place. I feel I could sing, if I knew the right song for the occasion.'Q2 - Is Gandalf a killjoy?So it was that Frodo saw her whom few mortals had yet seen; Arwen, daughter of Elrond, in whom it was said that the likeness of Lu´thien had come on earth again; and she was called Undo´miel, for she was the Evenstar of her people.Q3 - I don't know what any of this means, but Tolkien knows how to make a character introduction.Frodo learned that Grimbeorn the Old, son of Beorn, was now the lord of many sturdy men, and to their land between the Mountains and Mirkwood neither orc nor wolf dared to go.Q4 - This guy sounds amazing.Bombur was now so fat that he could not move himself from his couch to his chair at table, and it took six young dwarves to lift him.Glo´in looked at Frodo and smiled. ‘You were very fond of Bilbo were you not?' he asked. ‘Yes,' answered Frodo. ‘I would rather see him than all the towers and palaces in the world.'Bilbo put out his hand. But Frodo quickly drew back the Ring. To his distress and amazement he found that he was no longer looking at Bilbo; a shadow seemed to have fallen between them, and through it he found himself eyeing a little wrinkled creature with a hungry face and bony groping hands. He felt a desire to strike him.Q5 - What does the ring actually do? This was terrifying.Q6 - How do Bilbo and Strider know each other?‘But often I must put mirth aside. Elladan and Elrohir have returned out of the Wild unlooked-for, and they had tidings that I wished to hear at once.'Q7 - What is going on here? They spoke together, and then suddenly it seemed to Frodo that Arwen turned towards him, and the light of her eyes fell on him from afar and pierced his heart. He stood still enchanted, while the sweet syllables of the Elvish song fell like clear jewels of blended word and melody.Q8 - Anyone else get all hot and bothered after this scene?Good night, Frodo! Bless me, but it has been good to see you again! There are no folk like hobbits after all for a real good talk. I am getting very old, and I began to wonder if I should live to see your chapters of our story. Q9 - This chapter hooked me.Chapter 14 - The Council of Elrond‘In that dream I thought the eastern sky grew dark and there was a growing thunder, but in the West a pale light lingered, and out of it I heard a voice, remote but clear, crying: Seek for the Sword that was broken: In Imladris it dwells; There shall be counsels taken Stronger than Morgul-spells. There shall be shown a token That Doom is near at hand, For Isildur's Bane shall waken, And the Halfling forth shall stand.Q1 - What do you think of the Council?Ash nazg durbatuluˆk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatuluˆk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.' The change in the wizard's voice was astounding. Suddenly it became menacing, powerful, harsh as stone. A shadow seemed to pass over the high sun, and the porch for a moment grew dark. All trembled, and the Elves stopped their ears. ‘Never before has any voice dared to utter words of that tongue in Imladris, Gandalf the Grey,' said Elrond, as the shadow passed and the company breathed once more. ‘And let us hope that none will ever speak it here again,' answered Gandalf. ‘Nonetheless I do not ask your pardon, Master Elrond. For if that tongue is not soon to be heard in every corner of the West, then let all put doubt aside that this thing is indeed what the Wise have declared: the treasure of the Enemy, fraught with all his malice; and in it lies a great part of his strength of old. Out of the Black Years come the words that the Smiths of Eregion heard, and knew that they had been betrayed: One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the Darkness bind them.Q2 - What do you think this moment is really about? What does this phrase mean?He could work much mischief still, if he were free. And I do not doubt that he was allowed to leave Mordor on some evil errand.'Q3 - What do you think Gollum's purpose is?‘Not through lack of watchfulness,' said Legolas; ‘but perhaps through over-kindliness. And we fear that the prisoner had aid from others, and that more is known of our doings than we could wish. We guarded this creature day and night, at Gandalf's bidding, much though we wearied of the task. But Gandalf bade us hope still for his cure, and we had not the heart to keep him ever in dungeons under the earth, where he would fall back into his old black thoughts.'Q4 - Do you think Gollum could be made well?‘Very well, very well, Master Elrond!' said Bilbo suddenly. ‘Say no more! It is plain enough what you are pointing at. Bilbo the silly hobbit started this affair, and Bilbo had better finish it, or himself. I was very comfortable here, and getting on with my book. If you want to know, I am just writing an ending for it. I had thought of putting: and he lived happily ever afterwards to the end of his days. It is a good ending, and none the worse for having been used before. Now I shall have to alter that: it does not look like coming true; and anyway there will evidently have to be several more chapters, if I live to write them. It is a frightful nuisance. When ought I to start?' Boromir looked in surprise at Bilbo, but the laughter died on his lips when he saw that all the others regarded the old hobbit with grave respect. Only Glo´in smiled, but his smile came from old memories.Q5 - What do you think of Bilbo here?No one answered. The noon-bell rang. Still no one spoke. Frodo glanced at all the faces, but they were not turned to him. All the Council sat with downcast eyes, as if in deep thought. A great dread fell on him, as if he was awaiting the pronouncement of some doom that he had long foreseen and vainly hoped might after all never be spoken. An overwhelming longing to rest and remain at peace by Bilbo's side in Rivendell filled all his heart. At last with an effort he spoke, and wondered to hear his own words, as if some other will was using his small voice. ‘I will take the Ring,' he said, ‘though I do not know the way.'Q6 - What do you think of Frodo?Elrond raised his eyes and looked at him, and Frodo felt his heart pierced by the sudden keenness of the glance. ‘If I understand aright all that I have heard,' he said, ‘I think that this task is appointed for you, Frodo; and that if you do not find a way, no one will.Q7 - The books give more respect to Hobbits.‘But you won't send him off alone surely, Master?' cried Sam, unable to contain himself any longer, and jumping up from the corner where he had been quietly sitting on the floor. ‘No indeed!' said Elrond, turning towards him with a smile. ‘You at least shall go with him. It is hardly possible to separate you from him, even when he is summoned to a secret council and you are not.'Q8 - Sam is the greatest.Chapter 15 - The Ring Goes South‘That's what I meant,' said Pippin. ‘We hobbits ought to stick together, and we will. I shall go, unless they chain me up. There must be someone with intelligence in the party.' ‘Then you certainly will not be chosen, Peregrin Took!' But that will leave no place for us!' cried Pippin in dismay. ‘We don't want to be left behind. We want to go with Frodo.' ‘That is because you do not understand and cannot imagine what lies ahead,' said Elrond. ‘Neither does Frodo,' said Gandalf, unexpectedly supporting Pippin. ‘Nor do any of us see clearly. It is true that if these hobbits understood the danger, they would not dare to go. But they would still wish to go, or wish that they dared, and be shamed and unhappy. Q1 - Merry and Pippen are the best.' So Bill was going as the beast of burden, yet he was the only member of the Company that did not seem depressed.Q2 - Is Bill your favorite member of the fellowship?At that moment Elrond came out with Gandalf, and he called the Company to him. ‘This is my last word,' he said in a low voice. ‘The Ring-bearer is setting out on the Quest of Mount Doom. On him alone is any charge laid: neither to cast away the Ring, nor to deliver it to any servant of the Enemy nor indeed to let any handle it, save members of the Company and the Council, and only then in gravest need. The others go with him as free companions, to help him on his way. You may tarry, or come back, or turn aside into other paths, as chance allows. The further you go, the less easy will it be to withdraw; yet no oath or bond is laid on you to go further than you will. For you do not yet know the strength of your hearts, and you cannot foresee what each may meet upon the road.' Q3 - This is so good!‘Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens,' said Gimli.Q4 - Do you think the snowstorm they were caught in was by some evil design?

Get the books here: https://amzn.to/3MZjLWg NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The complete four-book boxed set of the greatest fantasy epic of all time: The Lord of the Rings and its enchanting prequel, The Hobbit When Thorin Oakenshield and his band of dwarves embark upon a dangerous quest to reclaim the hoard of gold stolen from them by the evil dragon Smaug, Gandalf the wizard suggests an unlikely accomplice: Bilbo Baggins, an unassuming Hobbit dwelling in peaceful Hobbiton.Along the way, the company faces trolls, goblins, giant spiders, and worse. But as they journey from the wonders of Rivendell to the terrors of Mirkwood and beyond, Bilbo will find that there is more to him than anyone—himself included—ever dreamed. Unexpected qualities of courage and cunning, and a love of adventure, propel Bilbo toward his great destiny . . . a destiny that waits in the dark caverns beneath the Misty Mountains, where a twisted creature known as Gollum jealously guards a precious magic ring. This boxed set includes:THE HOBBITTHE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RINGTHE TWO TOWERSTHE RETURN OF THE KING

National Hobbit Day is this week. From the rolling hills of the Shire to the great forests of Mirkwood, J.R.R. Tolkien's fantastical worlds have inspired generations of illustrators to bring imagined concepts to life through art. This hour, we sit down with three local fantasy and science-fiction illustrators, including David Wenzel, who created a graphic novel adaptation of The Hobbit. GUESTS: David Thorn Wenzel, Illustrator and children's book artist best known for his graphic novel adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit Michael Whelan, Fine artist of Imaginative Realism, Illustrator of Science Fiction and Fantasy Tom Kidd, Science fiction and fantasy illustrator Support the show: http://wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The party is not featured in this tale, for it concerns another

Business card apps all suckBloat charges!!Email signatures are terribleScience sidequest time!!Brandon picked all the pumpkinsChucking all the pumpkinsHobbit Movies…you know…Fear and loathing in MirkwoodDangit Howard Shore…The Lord of the Rings - How Howard Shore Makes Us CareCheck out our other episodes: ohbrotherpodcast.comFollow us on InstagramCheck us out on Youtube

In this episode, Jay and Grant cover the history and inhabitants of the legendary dark forest Mirkwood! Follow us on Instagram! @exploringmiddle_earth  Follow us on Twitter! @ExpMiddleEarth https://twitter.com/ExpMiddleEarth  Connect with us on myspace: https://myspace.com/exploringmiddle-earth  Contact us at exploringmiddleearthpod@gmail.com  Intro and outro music as well as the logo created by Zach Noorman  https://anchor.fm/exploringmiddleearthpod --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/exploringmiddleearthpod/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/exploringmiddleearthpod/support

Bryan and Charles welcome back Marcos Sanchez to talk about interesting cards from the newest Straight to Modern set to come out of Wizards. Join us as we take a tour of the Shire, take a shortcut to mushrooms before skulking through Mirkwood and wondering just how many different Gandalfs are in this set.

Bilbo Baggins and the dwarves discover that some mushrooms in Middle-earth are dangerous to their health, as they attempt to pass through the forest of Mirkwood. Today we compare Peter Jackson's on screen adaption of the chapter “Flies and Spiders” from JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit.Let's wander!Come explore JRR Tolkien's Middle-earth, from the Lord of the Rings, to the Hobbit, to the Silmarillion, to Unfinished Tales and beyond! We compare Tolkien's tales with Peter Jackson's films and Amazon's Rings of Power series.Support the show with a wafer of lembas: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lotrpodcastFind contact info on LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/lotrpodcastDon't be a stranger! Find me on Twitter, Facebook and InstagramFeedback for the show? Email me at lordoftheringspodcast@gmail.comThis podcast is not affiliated with the Tolkien Estate.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/beginners-guide-to-the-lord-of-the-rings/exclusive-contentAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Bilbo Baggins and the dwarves discover that some mushrooms in Middle-earth are dangerous to their health, as they attempt to pass through the forest of Mirkwood. Today we compare Peter Jackson's on screen adaption of the chapter “Flies and Spiders” from JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit.Let's wander!Come explore JRR Tolkien's Middle-earth, from the Lord of the Rings, to the Hobbit, to the Silmarillion, to Unfinished Tales and beyond! We compare Tolkien's tales with Peter Jackson's films and Amazon's Rings of Power series.Support the show with a wafer of lembas: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lotrpodcastFind contact info on LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/lotrpodcastDon't be a stranger! Find me on Twitter, Facebook and InstagramFeedback for the show? Email me at lordoftheringspodcast@gmail.comThis podcast is not affiliated with the Tolkien Estate.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/beginners-guide-to-the-lord-of-the-rings/exclusive-contentAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Discussion of Baptism of Fire, Chapter 7 The finale of Baptism of Fire is here, and with it comes the biggest bout of Tolkien crossovers yet. We've got Black Riders, White Riders, Mirkwood, Gollum, the light/fire/ash cycle, the narrator question, Helm's Deep, Weathertop, birds – need we go on? At first glance this chapter didn't strike us as a “finale”. It didn't answer any major questions or advance the greater narrative, but upon closer inspection there are a half dozen small, character-focused “finales” and resolutions that evolve our supporting cast. Merry Christmas Eve Eve, see you next Friday for the 125th annual Brekkies! Subscribe to our Substack here: https://secondbreakfastpod.substack.com/ Feedback & Theories: secondbreakfastpod@gmail.com YouTube / Instagram / TikTok: @secondbreakfastpod Cam's Work: https://www.cameronfucile.com/

Not all who wonder or wander are lost, but we can't help but feel like the writers of Amazon Prime Video's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power stepped off the trail through Mirkwood and are now doomed to be eaten by spiders... That is to say, we enjoyed this episode a lot less than previous ones. What is up with this mithril nonsense? Why does Galadriel act like a hormonal teenager? Where does this idea that Eärendil sailed to Valinor alone come from? How is this show going to redeem itself at this point? Wanna see get more information about our work? Then go to GuenevereLee.com Have a comment or suggestion? You can email us at Rivenpod (at) Gmail (dot) com or contact me on Twitter or Facebook: @GuenevereLee

New theme song alert! And such an awesome one at that. We feel it fits pretty perfectly. Thank you Joseph Frank for the amazing music. And we encourage you all to check out his stuff: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGzcvML1VWLsjnHLiq0JzeA  The group find themselves in a tough spot as per the usual. With a group of strangers coming out of the forest to interrupt a perfectly good camp, our heroes must carefully navigate a delicate negotiation.  And they are super good at that. Right? Join this One Ring RPG actual play podcast as we continue our adventure in the Wilderland and Mirkwood playing 2nd edition!  Also, be sure to visit our site to geek out over 2nd edition One Ring RPG rules and Lord of the Rings lore at https://www.partybusinesspodcast.com/ Email: partybusinesspod@gmail.com   Instagram: partybusinesspodcast   Twitter: @partybizpodcast

The group continues to discover rumors of the growing darkness in Mirkwood and the Wilderland. Thakhid must face the terror that's grown in his very home or let the darkness take him. The rest of our heroes speak to trusted allies...and familiar friends.  And Rhori drinks a good amount of dwarven ale.  Join this One Ring RPG actual play podcast as we continue the Yule Fellowship Phase. We will talk through the mechanics of the 2nd edition of The One Ring RPG as we play since we are fully converted to 2e now!  Also, be sure to visit our site to geek out over 2nd edition One Ring RPG rules and Lord of the Rings lore at https://www.partybusinesspodcast.com/ Email: partybusinesspod@gmail.com   Instagram: partybusinesspodcast   Twitter: @partybizpodcast

Well met friends! In this episode of the Get Piped Podcast, Adam and Nick sit down with Quinn Crawford, a tobacco blender at the Country Squire Tobacconist.Quinn joined the Country Squire just over a year ago and has blended multiple tobaccos including LeFleur's Bluff and Mirkwood. Recently, he blended Whale Song, which sold out in under one hour after it's release. In our conversation, we touch on Quinn's background with smoking pipes, how he began blending, and some fun "on the spot" questions about the blends he would give to his favorite fantasy characters!Follow Quinn and the Country Squire on Instagram!Timestamps:Down the Rabbit Bowl (00:00-58:15)OverUnder/Just the Tip (58:15-1:27:45)Closings (1:27:45-1:40:51)__________Don't forget to subscribe to the GPP so you never miss an episode.We want to hear from you! If you have any further questions, comments, or recommendations, send them to show@getpiped.co.__________Follow Get Piped on Instagram. Follow Producer Guy on Instagram.Check out the Get Piped YouTube for more content.Join the Get Piped community Discord here.Check out the Get Piped merch store.Subscribe to the Briar Report and check out Adam's latest article.For artisan, hand-crafted goods with a touch of geekiness, check out MaheurinBespokeWorks.__________GPP is created by Adam Floyd (Get Piped)GPP is edited by Nick Masella (Producer Guy).Music for this episode is from StreamBeats. 

This week I'm playing a game of Lord of the Rings lcg, to refresh myself on the rules for when I play a whole campaign next season. Please like and leave a review wherever you listen to the show. Also you can catch us on Instagram @bigbossbookclub and on Twitter @bigboss010 You can also support the show via https://ko-fi.com/bigbossbookclub

Something festers in the heart of Mirkwood... we are joined by Yong-Duke Kim for a discussion on the dark terror of the forest, the Spider Queen! After reviewing the profile and comparing some lists, we discuss how terrain can be used to give your army an edge in games. Time Stamps: Yong-Duke's Introduction - 00:52 The Spider Queen - 04:36 Army Lists - 13:49 Terrain Tactics - 50:17 Credits: Music: Tavern Loop One by Alexander Nakarada (www.serpentsoundstudios.com) Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Music: Nomadic Sunset by Alexander Nakarada (www.serpentsoundstudios.com) Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In which Dr. Cameron Thompson & I discuss spiders (not flies), mirk, white deer and being caught in a net (and how, with a little luck, to perhaps be disengannoed therefrom). There are some funny outtakes at the end and perhaps some wisdom as well. "Flies & Spiders" chapter 8 in the Hobbit The escape from the webs of the spiders is reminiscent of the escape from sin and slavery that we all long for. Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence. - Psalm 91:3 Perhaps that white deer is sent partly as a sign of the glory in the midst of the darkness (like the candle returning to the church at the Easter Vigil); perhaps it is sent to increase the desire for freedom, light, and cleanness - a hunger transcending the hunger of the belly that drives them off the path. Shooting at the gift, then, is like the Mariner in Coleridge's poem shooting at the albatross, isn't it? The result is a tremendous weight around the neck of the Mariner, like the penitential weight Robert DeNiro's character bears in "The Mission", or like Bombur sleeping through the rest of the journey. Surviving that weight, enduring the dark mirk of the soul, seems to create in Bilbo a resilient defiance that transforms him and grants him the strength not only to fight the arachnoid demons of darkness but to lead the dwarves through Mirkwood and beyond.

Andy Davis preaches on the book of John and John's eyewitness account of Jesus' crucifixion, establishing a true testimony that every aspect of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection are indeed historical facts. -SERMON TRANSCRIPT- Please pray with me now. Father, as we have had the opportunity to sing songs that meditate on the death of Your Son, it's a sober meditation. It is good for us, O Lord, to meditate deeply and to understand the death of Jesus on our behalf. I pray that now, You would give us the gift of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in this place. For it is His unique work in this world to exalt Jesus to the highest place in our minds, our hearts, and our estimation based on the Scripture that He himself inspired. We pray now that there would be an anointing of the spirit on me, on my words, and then on all of our hearts so that we can understand the things that we have just heard, and that these truths would burn in our hearts within us, transforming us and enabling us to live, to walk in newness of life. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Psalm 71:15 says, "My mouth will tell of Your salvation all day long, though I know not its measure." All of us infinitely underestimates what our salvation cost Jesus Christ. We underestimate the gravity of our sins and the holiness of God and the heat of His wrath, His righteous wrath, against us for our sins. We underestimate all of these things. Even if we've been Christians many years, even if we love Jesus, we underestimate what our salvation cost Jesus. This is a Good Friday observance. For myself, I was raised Roman Catholic, and Holy Week observances were a big part of my spiritual formation growing up. I remember being an altar boy and doing something called the Stations of the Cross. We would go from place to place in our church. There were stained glass pictures of the final hours of Jesus' life, and there would be readings at each of those. We Baptist, I think, have rightly rejected the elaborate system of holy days and the holy year that was handed down from medieval Catholicism on even to the present day. Baptists focus on Good Friday, on the death of Christ. Certainly here in this church, we preach Christ crucified every week. It's not a week that goes by that I don't mention the death of Christ for our sins, and it's as it should be. Yet, a Good Friday service like this gives us a chance to slow down, to pause, and to look at specific details connected with the death of Christ that ordinarily we wouldn't mention. This evening we're going to be looking at just some details from the death of Jesus from the gospel of John, chapter 19. I want to assert right away how important in particular John's testimony is, John's account of the death of Christ, because he was an actual eyewitness of Jesus's death. He was the disciple whom Jesus loved. He was standing right there watching Jesus die. He adds some specific details to our knowledge of the death of Christ that we could have no other way. One of those details is the fact that the soldiers determined that Jesus was already dead, greatly to their surprise, but to confirm it, one of the soldiers drove a spear up into Jesus' side. When he did, blood and water came flowing out. John strongly emphasized this, and he strongly emphasized the eyewitness testimony that that happened. He underscores it in verse 35 of John 19. "The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. And he knows that he tells the truth and he testifies so that you also may believe." That's very serious words connected with this flow of blood and water. The reason this is so important, among other reasons, is that every aspect of Jesus's life, Jesus' death, and Jesus' resurrection from the grave are established in the gospels as historical fact. The role of eyewitness testimony is vital to that. Luke begins his gospel with these words: "Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the Word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated…” . The reason Luke wrote his gospel based on careful investigation of the testimony of eyewitnesses is so that we would know the certainty of the things we have been taught. He means historical certainty, the accuracy of it. John in his epistle, 1 John 1:1, speaks of this also, his role as an eyewitness. "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched, this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. And we proclaim this eyewitness testimony so that you also may have fellowship with us and with God." So it's all based on eyewitness testimony. Peter writes the same thing in 2 Peter 1:16, "We did not follow cleverly invented myths when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we were eyewitnesses of His majesty." Cleverly invented myths, skillfully woven fiction, Peter said, "We didn't do that." Jesus' life, His death, and His resurrection are not cleverly devised fables or myths. They're not fiction or even spiritual parables which when we read them are move or moved morally and spiritually to live a better life. No, that's not what the gospels are about. It's not what the New Testament is about. “…Every aspect of Jesus's life, Jesus' death, and Jesus' resurrection from the grave are established in the gospels as historical fact.” Some of you may have heard of a place called Narnia. It's a fantasy world crafted by an author named C. S. Lewis and written into his books called the Chronicles of Narnia, a fantasy world that four British children, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, reached through a wardrobe, a wooden closet where the clothes are kept. They go further and further back, and suddenly, they're in another world, Narnia. Readers of Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia can derive all kinds of spiritual benefit from the books, indeed they have for decades now. But I certainly hope all of you know it's fiction. It's absolutely cleverly invented myths, fables which are written for a spiritual purpose. The same thing with Tolkien's fantasy world of Middle-earth, with the Shire and Gondor and Mirkwood and Mordor, and all those places. They're all fantasy locations, and Aragorn and Gandalf and Frodo are fictitious characters. I hope you all know that. Some people are so into these worlds that they can forget, and it gets blurry. But they are cleverly invented fables, it's not true, but the accounts we have in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are based on eyewitness testimony. They're history, works of historical fact based on the sober testimony of eyewitnesses. As a matter of fact, the apostle Paul testifies concerning the resurrection of Christ from the dead that, "If Christ had actually not been physically raised from the dead," he said, "our preaching is useless, and so is your faith." In other words, if this whole thing that we're talking about tonight is a cleverly devised fable, you shouldn't have come here tonight. I shouldn't be up here talking. My preaching is useless, and so is your Christian faith. It's a strong statement. More than that, Paul says, "We have not been found to be false witnesses about God for we have testified about God that He raised Christ from the dead. It actually happened." And then a few verses later, "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, you're still in your sins, and those who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost." That's how important history is to Christianity. So it really matters whether or not Christ really lived, whether or not Christ really said and did the things the gospels record that He said and did; whether or not Christ really died on the cross, and whether or not Christ really actually rose from the dead. The gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are written based on the testimonies of eyewitnesses who saw Jesus personally. Over the centuries, many false teachers have arisen to trouble the church with questions about these very things. Early on there were some false teachers called docetists based on the Greek word “dokein”, meaning “to seem”, that Jesus seemed human, but He really wasn't. Others raised questions about Jesus's death. Even in the 19th century and beyond, some devised something called the Swoon Theory that Jesus actually fainted on the cross, He just seemed dead. Some theologically liberal scholars have questioned the gospel records as faulty because they contain miracles. They look on them as religious myths. Scholars like a man named Rudolph Boltman tried to go through and demythologize the New Testament, strip it of all of its, clearly, obviously, mythological aspects, miracles, and embarked on the quest for the historical Jesus. Can I just shut that down right now? You want the quest for the historical Jesus, read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. There's the historical Jesus. You don't have to go any further. It's all of it history based on eyewitness accounts, and that includes that of the apostle John in the account you just heard read, John 19. John was standing there, watched it happen, and he testified that it happened. Based on these gospel records, all four of them, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we have a strong sense of the truthfulness, the absolute certainty of what we have been taught. Jesus actually lived, fully God and fully human. Jesus actually died. He actually was dead on the cross. He literally died. The effusion of water and blood from His side proves it. Jesus actually rose from the dead, physically, bodily on the third day. Therefore, our sins are actually forgiven. We ourselves will actually be raised from the grave in bodies like Christ. We ourselves will actually live forever in heaven. That's how important this history is. Assurance, certainty, a sense of the certainty of the things you have been taught, that's what we get from meditating deeply on these historical details. The account of these details gives us an intensification of our awareness of these truths. The account of Jesus' death in John 19 gives us that certainty. The evidence is that Jesus died at exactly the right time that day. I mean within seconds. He died at exactly the right time to fulfill prophecy, to fulfill the plan of salvation that God had made for sinners all over the world in every generation, even from before the foundation of the world. Certainly, there were events, human events that led up to His trial, His conviction, and His execution. Satan did in fact put it in Judas heart to betray Jesus, so Satan had a role. Judas Iscariot did, in fact, conspire with the chief priest and the teachers of the law to hand Jesus over to them. This he did by identifying Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane with a kiss. The chief priests and the teachers of the law and the Pharisees did, in fact, arrest Jesus. They did, in fact, bring Him to the house of Annas, the high priest, Annas and Caiaphas, did, in fact, condemn Jesus to death on the testimony... It all happened. They did, in fact, hand Jesus over to Pontius Pilate. Then they effectively pressured Pilate so that he would finally give in to them and murder an innocent man, a man he knew was innocent. Pilate did, in fact, condemn Jesus to death, turn Jesus over to the soldiers who did, in fact, mock Him and flog Him, spit on Him and beat Him. All of that's true. And they did, in fact, lead Him away to Golgotha where they crucified Him by nailing His hands and His feet to the cross with two other men, two robbers, one on His right, the other His left. Yes, yes, yes, these human actors, all of them did these human things, and they are held accountable for what they did. However, all of them were merely servants of almighty God carrying out a plan that had been crafted in the mind of God before the foundation of the world. Every one of those details had been planned out before God said, "Let there be light." Peter said this in his great Pentecost sermon in Acts 2, "Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by signs and wonders and miracles, which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know." This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge, and you with the help of wicked men put Him to death, nailing Him to the cross.” Do you hear that? He was handed over to you by God, by God's set purpose and foreknowledge, carrying out a plan that had been crafted before the world began. They say the same thing a couple of chapters later in Acts 4. As the church is praying together, persecutions about to ramp up and they're getting ready for it by praying, this is what they said. "Indeed, Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against Your holy servant, Jesus, whom You anointed." They did what Your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. They couldn't be clearer. They were following a script, though they didn't know the script or know that they were following a script. The soldiers gambled for Jesus clothes so that Scripture would be fulfilled. The soldiers didn't get up that day saying, "I think we'll fulfill Scripture today by gambling for someone's clothes." They just gambled for clothes because they wanted them, but the Scripture says, "So this is what the soldiers did because that's what the prophecy said they should do." All of this was crafted in the mind of God before God said, "Let there be light." Before the foundation of the world, God determined to crush His Son to death to save sinners like you and me from hell. That's what God decided to do for us. He established prophecies through the Holy Spirit, and through prophets so that we could identify, triangulate on this one person, of all the billions that have ever lived. This one man is the savior of the world. The prophecies identify Him. “Before the foundation of the world, God determined to crush His Son to death to save sinners like you and me from hell. That's what God decided to do for us.” One of the most important religious customs was animal sacrifice, which was established, I believe, in the Garden of Eden and then carried out multiple times with the patriarchs, Noah after the flood, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob; they all did animal sacrifice. Especially, Moses at the time of the dreadful 10th plague, the plague on the first born, the night of the Passover when each Jewish family would set aside a lamb, a Passover lamb. There were certain stipulations about it, et cetera. But the laws in Exodus 12:46 about the Passover lamb was that not a single bone of the lamb would be broken. Exodus 12:46, "It must be eaten inside one house. Take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones." The same thing in Numbers 9:11-12 about the Passover, "They are to eat the lamb together with uneven bread and not leave of it till morning or break any of its bones." When they celebrate the Passover, they must follow the regulations. Jesus died at just the right instant to fulfill this prophecy. The thing with crucifixion is it's designed for cruelty. It's a very cruel death, it's a very vicious death because there's nothing immediately killing the victims. They were known to linger for days on the cross. When Jesus was dead, Pilate was shocked that He was already dead. The Jewish authorities, because it was a Passover, it was a high Sabbath, they knew that action had to be taken on these three men or they would linger all night, and they didn't want them on the cross all night. So Jesus died just in the nick of time to avoid having His bones broken. He had the power to do this. Jesus uniquely had the power over his life and his death. He said to Pilate, “The reason I entered the world was to testify to the truth.” None of you can make such a statement. Why did you choose to be born? What was your purpose in entering the world? None of us can say that. We don't have any purpose, we're born. But Jesus chose to enter the world. In the same way, He chose to die. If He hadn't chosen to die, He would never have died. He said this plainly in John 10:17-18, "The reason My Father loves me is that I lay down my life only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it back up again. This command I receive from my Father." That's an utterly unique speech that only Jesus could make. "No one can kill me if I don't want to die, but I'm actually laying down my life." At just the right time, Jesus gave up His spirit and died. He gave up His spirit of His own choice. John 19:28-30 says, "Later, knowing that all was now completed and so that the scripture will be fulfilled, Jesus said, 'I am thirsty.' A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it and put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant and lifted it to Jesus' lips. And when He had received the drink, Jesus said, 'It is finished.' And with that, He bowed His head and gave up His spirit." None of us can do that. You can't just pillow your head on your chest and die. But Jesus had that power to give up His spirit. If He had died even just a few moments later, His bones would've been smashed by the soldiers. It says in verse 31-33, "Now it was the day of preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have their legs broken and the bodies taken down. Soldiers, therefore, came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that He was already dead, they did not break His legs." There was a clear Jewish law against leaving dead bodies on a tree overnight. Deuteronomy 21 says, "If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his body is hung on a tree, you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's curse. You must not desecrate the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance." Jesus was under a curse by being hung on the cross. As Paul points out in Galatians, "He was made a curse for us. Because of our sins, we deserve to be cursed by God." Jesus took that curse on Himself. The Jewish legalists are trying to avoid the defilement of the Passover by allowing these dead bodies to remain on the tree overnight. The soldiers in conformity with this Jewish demand brought probably a huge hammer, a mallet or something like that, smashed the legs of the first man, unspeakable cruelty, so that he couldn't push up. So also the other man, smashed his bones, probably sent the body into shock, greatly accelerated death because they couldn't push up, they couldn't breathe anymore, and soon they were dead. But the soldiers came to Jesus, and these were expert executioners, they knew He was dead. There's no doubt. They were surprised, I'm sure, because it's just a short time. But Jesus had fulfilled all the prophecies that He could while still alive, and He pillowed His head on His chest and gave up His spirit. And in this way, the prophecy was fulfilled, "Not a bone will be broken." “Why did you choose to be born? What was your purpose in entering the world? (…) We don't have any purpose, we're born. But Jesus chose to enter the world. In the same way, He chose to die.” The actual physical cause of Jesus' death I think is more violent than we can possibly imagine. It is possible that when that soldier shoved the spear up into Jesus side and the blood and water flowed out, it gives evidence of a level of internal violence inside Jesus that is unspeakable beyond anything we could possibly comprehend. Verse 34 says, "One of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water." There's so much discussion about this blood and water, and there are many themes that one could pick up here. The hymn “Rock of Ages” by Augustus Toplady. "Rock of Ages cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee. Let the water and the blood from thy wounded side which flowed be of sin the double cure, save me from wrath and make me pure." The blood taking away the wrath of God, the water cleansing as it speaks in the Book of Titus, being cleansed from our sins, so I think it's a valid meditation that Augustus Toplady does there. But I want to focus just on the significance of the blood and water physically. I was listening to a sermon by Martin Lloyd-Jones who before he was a preacher was a Royal physician, a doctor. He cited research done by other medical experts that this flow of water and blood was evidence that Jesus died of a ruptured heart, that the actual muscle of Jesus' heart was shredded. There's reasons for this. It has to do with the pericardium and what happens after death and all that. I'm not a doctor, I actually called a doctor friend as I was writing the sermon and he said, "We don't really know." So here I am saying I don't really know if Jesus died of a ruptured heart. But one thing I do know, when He was in Gethsemane, He was under such pressure that He sweat great drops of blue blood. Luke 22:44 says, "And being in anguish, He prayed more earnestly and His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground." What in the world is going on there? I believe that God revealed the cup to Him at levels and dimensions He had never seen before, and it knocked Him to the ground, and He was under intense mental, emotional, psychological, even physical anguish and pressure in Gethsemane. So much so that it seems, there's evidence, if He hadn't dispatched some angels to strengthen Him, He might have died right there. What could this be other than the wrath of God and the the relational separation, between Jesus and the Father as our sin-bearing substitute that pushed Him to a level of anguish and agony and grief that we can scarcely imagine. Jesus said in Mark 14:36, "Abba, Father, everything is possible for You. Take this cup from Me. Yet not what I will, but what You will." That cup represents the aggressive, pure, holy wrath of God that God feels rightly for all of the sins and violations of His holy laws that we have committed. That's the cup. Psalm 75:8, it says, "In the hand of the Lord is a cup full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours it out and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to its very dregs." That's the cup of God's wrath, judgment. Revelation 14:10 says, "He too will drink the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of His wrath." There is no man in history who understood the holy wrath of God better than the pure Son of God. Jesus experienced in a way we... we use these expressions…, but with Jesus it's not just expression, Jesus experienced hell on earth for us. He drank hell for us so we wouldn't have to. It cost Him. It knocked Him to the ground in Gethsemane. It put blood coming out of His pores, and maybe it shredded His heart. I do know this, that the effusion of water and blood proved that it stopped His heart, so at least this much we can say, the flow of blood and water proves that Jesus was actually dead. He died for us. And why is that important? Because we deserve to die. We deserve death. The wages of sin is death. Isaiah 53 says, "Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him. And by His wounds, we are healed. We're all like sheep who've gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." The soldier shoved this spear up into Jesus' side, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. John testified, "The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe." Believe what? What are you supposed to believe? Well, in the immediate case, believe that Jesus was actually human and that He was actually dead, and that His death on the cross is an actual atonement for your sins. As Galatians 2:20 says, "I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live. But Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me." That's what you're supposed to believe, that Jesus' death was for you, that you deserved to die, but Jesus died in your place so that you would not have to drink that cup. Whether his heart was actually literally ruptured or not, his heart was stopped. He was killed because of our sins. He died. So what? So therefore, we should have a sense of obligation. We should, first of all, realize, if our sins did that to Jesus' body, how much should we hate sin? How much should we hate sin since that's what it cost Jesus? So therefore, we should have a sense of indebtedness to Jesus resulting in personal holiness. Paul makes that point in 1 Corinthians 6, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own, you have been bought at a price. Therefore, glorify God with your body." Do you know what that means, you're not your own, you've been bought and paid for? Jesus shed His blood for you. He owns you. Therefore, be holy. Here it's talking about sexual purity. Also, we should realize that Jesus bought us and, therefore, we should live for others. We should witness to others. We should evangelize others. This is the very point that Paul makes in II Corinthians 5, "For Christ's love compels us because we're convinced that one died for all and, therefore, all died. And He died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised again." There's an obligation we have. Because Jesus died for us, we should stop living for ourselves and live for Him and for others. The context there is evangelism, that we're ambassadors and that we should share the gospel with lost people. Personal holiness and evangelism, both of them flowing from a sense of indebtedness or obligation we have to Jesus. “Christ's death does indeed pay our debts. So in that sense, we're free from debt. But there's a biblical sense in which we are indebted also. We're indebted to Christ; to live for Him who died for us and to live for others who need Him.” I'll close with this story. Count Nikolaus von Zinzendorf was a German nobleman born in the year 1700 into a life of ease and privilege. He was a good man in that sense, a moral man, a Christian, who was seeking to live a good life. But one day as a teenager, he was arrested by a powerful painting at an art museum in Dusseldorf. It was by Italian master Domenico Fetti, and it was called in the Latin, “Ecce homo”, which is what Pontius Pilate said, "Behold the man." It depicted the crucified Christ in agony on the cross. At the bottom of the painting was this caption, "All this I have done for you. Now what will you do for Me?" He stood there looking at this painting and was dissolving in tears. He had a mystical powerful experience right there looking at that painting. He resolved that for the rest of his life he would serve Christ and serve others. He became the leader of the Moravians at Herrnhut. The Moravians were leaders in Protestant missions long before William Carey, sending missionaries to the West Indies. A tremendous movement of Moravians, all of it flowed from his commitment to Christ. "All this I've done for you. Now what will you do for me?" Christ's death does indeed pay our debts. So in that sense, we're free from debt. But there's a biblical sense in which we are indebted also. We're indebted to Christ; to live for Him who died for us and to live for others who need Him. As Isaac Watts put it so powerfully in his hymn, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” the final stanza, "Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a present far too small. Love so amazing, so divine demands my soul, my life, my all." Close with me in prayer. Father, we thank You for the chance we have tonight to meditate with more detail than usual on the death of Jesus for us. Help us to hate sin. Help us to love Christ more than we do. Help us to live for His glory more than we do. Help us to be willing to put sin to death because we've learned to hate sin because it cost Jesus all of that agony. Help us to know that we are forgiven in ways that are deeper and richer than we can possibly imagine. And Lord, help us to go again and again to the cross for the power to live for others. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

In this episode, Jay and Grant talk about the great forest of Mirkwood and the role it plays in the Hobbit. Where did the giant spiders come from? Who are the wood elves? All this from the dinner table where Jay's dog keeps walking around us. Follow us on Instagram! @exploringmiddle_earth Follow us on Twitter! @ExpMiddleEarth https://twitter.com/ExpMiddleEarth Connect with us on myspace: https://myspace.com/exploringmiddle-earth Contact us at exploringmiddleearthpod@gmail.com Intro and outro music as well as the logo created by Zach Noorman https://anchor.fm/exploringmiddleearthpod --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/exploringmiddleearthpod/message

Noted Chicago actors Jill Oliver and Matt Engle join Jagbags to take on the world's most daunting task: Convincing Len that the works of J.R.R. Tolkien (Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit) are masterpieces. We take Len into Middle Earth, through the forests of Mirkwood, the Misty Mountains, into harrowing encounters with Smaug and the Eye of Sauron. Join our guests as we discuss the movies and also the books in great detail. Our guests discuss how they first got into the Tolkien catalog, and which movie they like best. Finally, Beave works with Matt to develop a prototype "Jagbags" adult diaper, and we talk through the genius of Brother Theodore. TUNE IN!!

The gang sets out on a new quest: to search for a late caravan coming over the Misty Mountains. They make their journey through the Wilderlands and find that there's still plenty they need to stay alert about even in the lands they think are safe. At least it isn't Mirkwood forest anymore. And they find out if it's smart to steal from Beorn's beehives.  Join the cast of the Party Business Podcast in this One Ring RPG actual play. We are still playing in 1st edition rules, but some 2nd edition rules of The One Ring RPG are on the way soon! Also, be sure to visit our site to geek out over 2nd edition One Ring RPG rules, Lord of the Rings lore, and grab some free tabletop RPG resources at https://www.partybusinesspodcast.com/  Email: partybusinesspod@gmail.com Instagram: partybusinesspodcast Twitter: @partybizpodcast

It's the grand finale of our Darkening of Mirkwood campaign for The One Ring from Cubicle 7 Games! Show Notes: http://www.chippewavalleygeek.com/2022/01/the-cvg-actual-play-community-theater.html  Intro /Outro Music:   "I Will Survive" by Cake   Campaign Epilogue Music:   "Battle of the Somme" by Fairport Convention

The penultimate session of our Darkening of Mirkwood campaign for The One Ring from Cubicle 7 Games! Show Notes: http://www.chippewavalleygeek.com/2021/12/the-cvg-actual-play-community-theater.html Intro /Outro Music:  "Great Soul" by The Tragically Hip

Mat Shea returns to talk haunted places with Skip and Sha'ron. This time its the Mirkwood Public House in Arlington, WA.

In this episode the guys talk about a nonunique ally, the Mirkwood Explorer. What kind of surprises does this card have? Probably not many, but he's still good. Want to read what we say at the blog? https://cardtalk2018.com/2021/12/07/mirkwood-explorer/ Want to support our show? Become a patron! http://patreon.com/cardtalk2018  

It's taken 6 episodes, one of which was a two-parter, but the group finally comes to the other side of Mirkwood forest. It's time to dive into the nitty-gritty of The One Ring RPG rules. The gang has a lot of firsts in this episode of The Party Business Podcast. The first Fellowship Phase, the first level up, and the first good ale in a very long time. And there may or may not be talk of a wizard.  Join the cast of The Party Business Podcast as they continue to play The One Ring RPG on this actual play of a Lord of the Rings roleplay adventure.  And visit the site to geek out over The One Ring RPG 2nd edition changes, Lord of the Rings lore, and grab some free Tabletop RPG resources at www.partybusinesspodcast.com  Email: partybusinesspod@gmail.com  Instagram: partybusinesspodcast  Twitter: @partybizpodcast 

It's finally happening! The Company is finally reaching the western edge of Mirkwood forest. They just need to pass a couple of final challenges. (One includes actual combat! For real!) But will they be able to survive it? They are caught in a tight spot that might take real sacrifice to pull through. Only one way to find out. And if they make it, the Wilderland will finally be in front of them.  Join the cast of The Party Business Podcast as they continue to play The One Ring RPG on this actual play of a Lord of the Rings roleplay adventure.  And visit the site to geek out over The One Ring RPG 2nd edition changes, Lord of the Rings lore, and grab some free Tabletop RPG resources at www.partybusinesspodcast.com  Email: partybusinesspod@gmail.com  Instagram: partybusinesspodcast  Twitter: @partybizpodcast 

This week Kristin and Mel cover the escape of the dwarves from Mirkwood!Find the podcast on social mediaTwitter, Facebook, Instagram, YoutubeSend us an email: podmoot@gmail.comWebsite: www.podmoot.comFind Kristin on Twitter and InstagramFind Mel on Twitter and InstagramThe icon for our podcast was made by Pixel N' Beams. Find her on twitter @beams_nThe music for our show was composed by Doric_007

The group has finally escaped the Mirkwood spiders (for now) and find themselves in the middle of a raging lightning storm. The only shelter near the Elf Path is a hollowed-out stump that has terrifying images carved on the inside. Whoever, or whatever, lives here might not be too happy about finding a ragtag group of adventurers in their home. Join the cast of The Party Business Podcast as they continue to play The One Ring RPG on this actual play of a Lord of the Rings roleplay adventure.    And visit the site to geek out over The One Ring RPG 2nd edition changes, Lord of the Rings lore, and grab some free Tabletop RPG resources at www.partybusinesspodcast.com  Email: partybusinesspod@gmail.com  Instagram: partybusinesspodcast  Twitter: @partybizpodcast 

Note: Please excuse the echo in Kristin's audio, she has just moved into her new home and there is a lack of furniture. This will be rectified shortly!This week Kristin and Mel enter Mirkwood! They discuss black squirrels, Kristin's hatred of spiders and Mel reminds us all that she really loves elves. Find the podcast on social mediaTwitter, Facebook, Instagram, YoutubeSend us an email: podmoot@gmail.comWebsite: www.podmoot.comFind Kristin on Twitter and InstagramFind Mel on Twitter and InstagramThe icon for our podcast was made by Pixel N' Beams. Find her on twitter @beams_nThe music for our show was composed by Doric_007

The group is trapped between a rock and spider place as they try to get back to the path in Mirkwood Forest. The problem is there are a ton of Mirkwood spiders. Which is never a good thing. And they aren't exactly happy. And it's dark. And they don't have a great idea which way to run. Other than that, our Lord of the Rings adventure is going perfectly fine. Join the cast as they play The One Ring RPG in this actual play podcast.    And visit the site to geek out over lore and grab some free Tabletop RPG resources at www.partybusinesspodcast.com  Email: partybusinesspod@gmail.com  Instagram: partybusinesspodcast  Twitter: @partybizpodcast 

Playing the One Ring RPG, the gang finds themselves in the middle of Mirkwood Forest off of the path–literally the one thing they were told not to do. Will Chris finally be able to roll this week? Will Ted Took have to do that Lord of the Rings thing all Hobbits must do and fight some spiders? Or will they all fall over each other in the darkness of Mirkwood forever? Check out the actual play of The One Ring RPG and see the next part of this Lord of the Rings adventure.  Email us at partybusinesspod@gmail.com  And check out our website www.partybusinesspodcast.com  Twitter: @partybizpodcast  Instagram: partybusinesspodcast  

Adri returns for her second stay in Shipper City to talk about one of her most favorite books, The Hobbit. Tune in to listen to another one of Emily's 60 Second recaps, a lot of talk about the dreaminess of Richard Armitage, and the necessary discussion of how much Thranduil really just needed a boyfriend. Ya know. Typical Hobbit talk. Links: Your Hobbit/Elven Name Generator Fics: Black by I_did_not_mean_to Additional Reading: From The Desk of the Raven Shall I Continue by Immawriteyouthings Stirring the Leaves by Kindle-the-Stars Thorin's Saving Grace by Lillianpost Twerking in Mirkwood by snugsbunnyfluff Support the podcast: Make a monthly contribution via Anchor Support via PayPal, Ko-fi, or our Amazon affiliate link Sign up for email updates / new episode announcements Follow on social: Tumblr Instagram Facebook Twitter Credits: I Ship It by Not Literally Cover image by our silent, smart (and don't forget sexy) producer, Jeremy Jeziorski. Some of the links we use are affiliate links, and we may earn a commission if you use them. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/ishipitpod/support

In Part 2 of the first episode of the Party Business Podcast, the crew brave the eaves of Mirkwood forest. Ted the Hobbit, Rhori the Dwarf, Thakhid the Barding, Katvera the Beorning, and Euric the Woodsmen, meet some Elves and prepare to take the Elf Path through the woods. They are told "never leave the path" and they probably won't. Surely...they won't, right? The Party Business Podcast is a One Ring RPG actual play where we forge our own adventure in The Lord of the Rings world.    Cover art by Josh Johanson  Geek out with us at www.partybusinesspodcast.com  

In Part 1 of the first episode of the Party Business Podcast, the crew takes on The One Ring RPG. Ted the Hobbit, Rhori the Dwarf, Thakhid the Barding, Katvera the Beorning, and Euric the Woodsmen, all head into Mirkwood forest to protect a merchant and his son through the dark tangled woods that may be hiding more than just spiders. The real question is...can they even get into the woods in the first place? The Party Business Podcast is a One Ring RPG actual play where we forge our own adventure in The Lord of the Rings world.    Cover art by Josh Johanson  Geek out with us at www.partybusinesspodcast.com 

Being the one hundred and fifteenth episode of the show in which we're all Frodo loving barrel babies, Mirkwood elves know how to get LIT, and the barrel math isn't adding up.   LISTENER SURVEY! https://forms.gle/9khyjQa7HqVwutvCA    That's What I'm Tolkien About is a proud member of WBNE. For more information, go to https://wbne.org/     The Show: Twitter - www.twitter.com/tolkienaboutpod Instagram - www.instagram.com/tolkienaboutpod  Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/3043311089030739/  Merch - https://bit.ly/3yELYc3  Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/tolkienaboutpod/  Cover art by Vashaun Brandon - https://www.instagram.com/vashaundesigns/    Mary Clay: Twitter - www.twitter.com/mcwattsup  Instagram - www.instagram.com/mcturndownforwatt    Ali: Twitter - https://twitter.com/msalicenutting  Rumpleteaser Improv - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH-fcAU7wh0DftQfEoKj1kA  Website - whatdoesaligordondo.com   Resources, Articles, Etc. -  The Hobbit audiobook - https://bit.ly/3r8HKWF  Race in LOTR and Tolkien's Works: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11ExziJbBteK8eJn9xgrjm17P23Vg_Ucm8rAyYAkm9yc/edit  Potterless: Anti-Semitism in Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and Fantasy w/ Eric Silver - https://www.potterlesspodcast.com/episode-161

Sorry for the delay, but we know it will be worth the wait...It's the SEASON FINALE of Through the Realm of Light and Shadow!  The Champions have finally decided on their next mission and have set out to travel beyond the Mirkwood.  As they begin their new quest, they continue to mourn that which they have lost.  One companion makes a decision that might impact her for the rest of the journey.And the Champions discover some possible new friends and a new sign of hope.And no worries, the Champions of Light will be back in SEASON TWO premiering soon.-------------Thanks so much for joining us on this adventure!  If you like our content, please consider supporting us for free by writing a review and sharing it with your friends.You can also support us with a donation by joining our new Patreon page here:https://www.patreon.com/ShatterTheDarkness---------------"Through the Realm of Light and Shadow" is an original role-play adventure based in the Lord of the Rings setting.  Check out the original video version here:https://youtu.be/xtpNHJQbRzMJourney with us and hopefully even be inspired in your own life and faith as you see our team strive to overcome challenges.Special Note:  Players usually attempt to role-play how they believe their character would act in various situations.  We may not always agree with those responses or actions in real life.This adventure features laughter and fun banter between the players, however, it also depicts battles and overcoming some challenging situations.  So like the Lords of the Rings movies, we recommend this tale be enjoyed by teenagers and older.To bring our adventure to life we are using the "Adventures in Middle Earth" core books by Cubicle 7, which is based on the 5e ruleset from D&D.  Find out more about those resources here:https://www.cubicle7games.com/our-games/adventures-in-middle-earth/https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rulesSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/ShatterTheDarkness)

The Shadow has lifted.  However, many mysteries still lay shrouded in darkness and are yet to be solved.  The Champions of Light now know the reason they were kidnapped and brought to the Mirkwood.  Now they must decide what to do with that knowledge, and what path they should now take. ------------- Thanks so much for joining us on this adventure!  If you like our content, please consider supporting us for free by writing a review and sharing it with your friends.You can also support us with a donation by joining our new Patreon page here:https://www.patreon.com/ShatterTheDarkness---------------"Through the Realm of Light and Shadow" is an original role-play adventure based in the Lord of the Rings setting.  Check out the original video version here:https://youtu.be/t0ih-EZlQ-QJourney with us and hopefully even be inspired in your own life and faith as you see our team strive to overcome challenges.Special Note:  Players usually attempt to role-play how they believe their character would act in various situations.  We may not always agree with those responses or actions in real life.This adventure features laughter and fun banter between the players, however, it also depicts battles and overcoming some challenging situations.  So like the Lords of the Rings movies, we recommend this tale be enjoyed by teenagers and older.To bring our adventure to life we are using the "Adventures in Middle Earth" core books by Cubicle 7, which is based on the 5e ruleset from D&D.  Find out more about those resources here:https://www.cubicle7games.com/our-games/adventures-in-middle-earth/https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rulesSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/ShatterTheDarkness)

The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien - Episode 3 - Surviving All The Rites Of Passage - And Smaug The Dragon!   Hi, I'm Christy Shriver and we're here to discuss books that have changed the world and have changed us.    I'm Garry Shriver and this is the How to love lit Podcast.  Today is our third episode discussing the book that changed Tolkien's life forever, The Hobbit.  In episode one we spent most of our discussion talking about Tolkien, the man and the world in which he lived.  Episode 2 we talked about Tolkien's secondary world, the concept behind it and the Silmarillion. We read through Bilbo's adventures in the Misty Mountains, his meeting with Gollum and his discovery of the magical ring.  Today, we will journey onward all the way to the next mountain – The Lonely Mountain and we'll meet its chief resident- Smaug!!    Smaug!!  Everyone has to love Smaug- Tolkien always loved dragons since he was a little boy, and really through him I have developed a new appreciation for them.     On a personal level, he used dragons psychologically to deal with difficulties throughout his life.  When his mother died and he had to live with a cruel relative, he looked for them.  He did the same thing after he moved to boarding school and later on in the war.  So, in a sense, dragons were an old friend- a way to conceptualize and manage a danger beyond what he knew how to manage.      And of course, when it came time to flesh out his own dragon in storyform, he went back to the mythology he studied and loved to find more than one model to draw from.  If you're a student who's studied British literature, you will definitely see a few elements of Beowulf in Smaug, but the more influential of Smaug's antecedents was Fafnir, a treasure-hoarding dragon from a Norse epic.  Tolkien said this about dragons, “Of course, I in my timid body did not wish to have them in the neighborhood. But the world that contained even the imagination of Fafnir was richer and more beautiful, at whatever cost of peril.” Like Smaug, Fafnir has a giant hoard of gold that is his main preoccupation. Smaug also like Fafnir is a talking dragon and talks to the hero. In the Hobbit of course, that is Bilbo, but in the Norse story, his name was Sigurd.   Before we get into all of that and the many other antagonists Bilbo meets before he gets to Smaug, We need to make mention of Tolkien's very famous relationship with another writer of fantasy, CS Lewis and their little group they called the Inklings.    Yeah, those two really are an interesting pair.  Tolkien and Lewis met at a faculty meeting in 1926 at Oxford University.  Lewis in his diary ironically described Tolkien and I quote, “a smooth, pale fluent little chap- no harm in him: only needs a smack or so.”  Lewis was already well-established in the English faculty- Tolkien was on the linguistics and history of languages side and actually didn't like  almost any literature that wasn't written after the medieval period.  In other words, Lewis was from the beginning the more recognized and ultimately more celebrated of the two men.    What drew them together initially was this common love of myths and old literary histories no one else really cared about.  But they actually had a lot in common besides that.  They were both pretty leery of technology- for example neither one of them had a car.  They both pretty much ignored current politics.  Both of them had served in and survived WW1, and both of them had lost their parents as children.    We might have mentioned this in episode one, but Tolkien, now famously started his first little literary club they called TCBS when he was in high school before the war.  He and his friends would get together and read original compositions to each other while drinking tea.  If you've seen the movie Tolkien, that's the part of Tolkien's life that movie features, but as an adult, Tolkien started a more famous little club or a literary society for the same purpose.  This one was called the Inklings and consisted of several male friends doing basically the same thing.  They would get together there in Oxford in a pub called The Eagle and Child. It was in the back of the pub in a little room called the Rabbit Room, that all the creative magic happened.  The men met here every Tuesday morning from 1939-1962.  They would bring whatever chapters they had written that week from the books they were writing- not academic writing, but fun stories and they would read them out loud to teach other.  The original purpose was just to have a creative outlet for  male-bonding, if I can use that word- friendship making.  It was a reason to get together.  They would smoke, drink beer, discuss the stories.  Tolkien called Lewis Jack, and Lewis called him “Tollers”.  But obviously out of it came products- for its two most famous members- that ultimately were highly monetized.  I will add that Lewis and Tolkien weren't the only Inklings- they are just the two we all know.      Those two were such a funny pair, in my view as I read what they said to each other and then about each other.  Some of it was sweet, but some of it really wasn't.  Tolkien said later on in life and I quote, “The unpayable debt That I owe to Lewis was not influence as it is ordinarily understood but sheer encouragement…He was for long my only audience.  Only from him did I ever get the idea that my stuff could be more than a private hobby.  But for his interest and unceasing eagerness for more I should never have brought the Lord of the Rings to a conclusion.”  Which is so sweet, but then he goes on to admit that he didn't like any of the Narnia books and Lewis didn't really like the Lord of the Rings.  Tolkien said that the Narnia books and I quote, were “outside the range of my sympathy, as much of my world was outside his.  Isn't that strange- and many of us, or at least I'll speak for myself- I love both worlds.  He also said four years after Lewis' death that, “to tell the truth, Jack never really liked Hobbits very much.” Lewis complained and Tolkien and again I'll quote “Tollers was a perfectionist and never keen to accept advice, “His standard of self-criticism was high and the mere suggestion of publication usually set him upon a revision.”    They kind of sound like two cranky old men from the get go.      Well, they kind of were and yet their lives and successes were intricately linked.  The most famous moment in their relationship happened on September 19, 1931.  The men were walking the grounds of the university one evening and started talking about spiritual things.  Lewis was an atheist who absolutely could not grasp Christian theology – things admittedly difficult for a secularly trained academic- things like the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Tolkien was a devout Catholic absolutely committed and thoroughly well-grounded in theology.  The conversation they had about these two vastly different worldviews went on until 3am, and a lot of it is documented.  Lewis famously said that night, “Myths are lies.”  Tolkien countered, from a life time of study and said, “Myths are not lies.”  He spent the night illustrating for Lewis in a convincing way that all of the ancient pagan mythology he had spent a life-time studying actually illustrated and supported key points of the gospel of Christianity and was in full harmony with the Christian ideals.  For those of us less familiar with ancient mythology the only example of his we might recognize would be Beowulf, an example he used extensively to make his point.  For Tolkien mythology contained all the truth of human experience as it was passed down from generation to generation.  He said this, “we, the moderns, are like dwarves perched on the shoulders of giants (the ancients).  The ideas of superior good, honor, chivalry so essential to the mythology Tolkien and Lewis loved were actually Christian virtues fleshed out in story form- Tolkien argued that myths reflect a fragment of the true light. At the end of the night he concluded with the famous line, “The story of Christ is simply a true myth: a myth working on us in the same way as the others, but with tremendous difference that it really happened.”      And of course from there, Lewis converted and became probably one of the most famous apologists of Christianity in the modern era.  In that way, just as Lewis launched Tolkien's career as a fantasy writer, Tolkien launched Lewis' as an apologist- and we all know that Lewis' fame, at least in his day, far exceeded Tolkien's.    Yes, and I think over time that got old for Tolkien.  Tolkien wrote in 1964 about the souring of their relationship that happened later in their lives.  He said this, “We saw less and less of one another…after the influence of Charles Williams and still less after his very strange marriage”.  It's kind of sad really.  Lewis was actually 7 years younger than Tolkien, but died ten years before Tolkien did.  When Lewis died -which by the way was the same day JFK was shot, Tolkien wrote his daughter that Jack's passing “feels like an axe-blow near the roots.”  I guess, even though they were estranged the bond was still deep.    Well, of course, all that rivalry likely felt petty at that point in his life.  Anyway, I know that was a tangent, but because that relationship is so famous, it felt wrong not to talk about it.      Absolutely, and really, I find it fascinating especially when you see how important platonic relationships are in all of Tolkien's writings and really to him as a human.  Of course, the relationship between Frodo and Sam in the Lord of the Rings is the most famous, but even here in the Hobbit, we watch Bilbo really bond with the dwarves and then Gandalf in his own way.  Loyalty is a recurrent theme in almost every chapter from here to the end of the book.    We left off last week in our discussion in chapter 5 and today we'll try to make it all the way to chapter 15.  What we see in these chapters is an obvious pattern – in every single chapter, Bilbo and the dwarves meet a challenge, and we get to watch Bilbo slowly grow up eventually morphing into a leader and ultimately our hero.  In chapter 6, Bilbo isn't very noble.  He's quite helpless horrified and hanging on for dear life while being carried away by eagles to avoid being eaten by wolves.  In chapter 7, we meet what today we call a “shape-shifter” but Tolkien describes Beorn as a skin-changer.    When I read Beorn's description at first, I thought the book was saying that he shed his skin or something, but it really means he can turn into a bear whenever he wants to.  He's what we call a super-hero or at least an X-man.      Exactly, here Tolkien is a precursor- to Marvel!! But of course, Beorn, although he does surface at the end of the book as an important figure, he's not our hero.  Our emerging hero is Bilbo and here again, Bilbo is small- unimpressive- in many ways, clearly out of his league.  What is important, in terms of character development here is that at the end this chapter, Gandalf leaves.  And Gandalf up to this point has been the leader.  He's the one that has been guiding the group and basically getting this hapless band of travelers out of trouble over and over again.  From what we have seen so far, there should be no way, this little band of misfits survives two days on their own.     And of course, this is where a child would really identify with Bilbo, even though Bilbo is a 50 year old man.  In a sense, Bilbo has to grow up now and do it fast- ready or not- what do you do when your life coach, your guide, or your guardian walks away and leaves you to face life challenges by yourself?  Every child or young adult has to face this at some time.  And by definition, this is a horrifying and life-altering experience.     Exactly, the very definition of coming of age- and really the Hobbit is a story about that in between phase in life- and this is where I say, although the book isn't allegorical, it's obviously archetypal and those of you who love psychology have a lot to talk about here.  I vividly remember this point in my own life.  I've mentioned many times that I was raised in Brazil.  What I haven't mentioned is how I got back the US.  When I was 17 years old, I graduated from high school.  My parents brought me back to the United States to attend college- admittedly an amazing privilege for any young adult on planet earth.  They gave me car although I had never driven before, taught me how to do laundry at the public laundromat, and then dropped me off at a university in a place I had never been before in my entire life.  I felt every bit like Bilbo the day I watched them drive away.  I will never forget the feelings I felt in those days.  I was horrified.  I might as well as have been dropped off in Mirkwood forest with gigantic spiders.  In fact, that's basically how I felt about the whole thing.  I wanted to rise to the challenge and not disappoint my parents or myself, but I honestly had no idea if I could or how I would.  And of course, I might add, that like Bilbo -what happened next was a collection of ups and downs- wins and losses-, I experienced my own hiccups along the way- for example flipping and totally  my car pretty much weeks after I got it.    Well, true, and although my story isn't quite that dramatic, going to a big university after living in Lawson, a small town of 1,500 people, pretty much felt exactly the same way.  That story of growing up and facing the adult world is replicated in the life of every child in every culture in every era- although it looks differently from culture to culture- spiders and forests and eagles and wolves are great illustrations of how these growing up experiences feel.  And I like the idea that Tolkien threw in- this little concept of the “dream-dinner” where every once in a while you just go to your happy place in your mind and have a “dream-dinner” of what life used to be like in that comfortable place in your hobbit hole- whatever that is for you…for me, it was my old bedroom jamming out with my first electric guitar.    And of course, it's in the forest with the spiders that Bilbo begins having victories and getting his confidence up.  He becomes a leader.  He rescues the dwarves pretty much all by himself from the spiders.  Then in chapter 9, he has to rescue them again from the wood-elves.      I also want to point out that Bilbo learns to use the tools at his disposal and this is a very important developmental concept.  Bilbo is little.  He will never be a wizard or an elf; he won't even be a dwarf- and he doesn't ever one time bemoan what he isn't.  Bilbo accepts himself, takes on this identity as a burglar= although he's obviously the most honest burglar ever- but he hones the things about him that are personal strengths and gets better at those things.  He's quiet, so can go around undetected.  He has his little knife that he affectionately names “sting” and he learns how to use that.  These are all things, all people who develop healthy self-esteems eventually learn to do.  I have to identify and maximize MY personal strengths and stop looking at others or trying to be them.  Bilbo can never be a wizard or a dwarf, but a hobbit has its own advantages, as all readers of this book will soon discover.     And he clings to certain moral values.  Hence the claim some have made that Tolkien's books are Christian morality tales, and maybe there is a sense in which that's true as he writes from his own morality, but in more obvious sense they are not.  There is no God in Middle earth. There are no churches. No one prays.  You'd think if were lost by yourself in the dark, you'd find yourself praying, but that doesn't even come out as a joke in this book.  The primary super natural element in this book is magic.  Having more interestingly and perhaps less overtly, we also see a second supernatural element- and that is the one of  prophecy and  this guiding hand of providence- Gandalf primarily revisits this time and time again- but none of that surfaces here with just Bilbo and the dwarves.  What we see in these chapters is little Bilbo learning to fend for himself- self-reliance.  What do you do when no one is coming to rescue you?    Well, in the case of the wood-elves, you stuff all of your friends into barrels, hop on a barrel yourself and float down a river in the middle of the night.    That seemed to do the trick- and then you make friends with people with resources once you climb out of said barrels.  By the time we get to chapter ten and Bilbo gets the dwarves out of those barrels, there is no doubt that he has become their leader.  Let's read that part.    “Well! Here we are!” said Thorin.  “And I suppose we ought to thank our stars and Mr. Baggins.  I am sure he has a right to expect it, though I wish he could have arranged a more comfortable journey.  Still-all very much at your service once more, Mr. Baggins. No doubt we shall feel properly grateful when we are fed and recovered.  In the meanwhile what next?”  I suggest Lake-town, “said Bilbo. “What else is there?”    Bilbo is now answering the question- of what are we going to do next.  Later on it says this, Garry read that little paragraph towards the end of chapter 10 (page 183)    Bilbo is now thinking like a leader.  While everyone else is enjoying the food and rest, he's worried about what is coming next, and we know that is Smaug.  Our favorite villain.  Bilbo has to face the dragon- there's another big life-metaphor.    I think it's important to really emphasize that when Tolkien wrote this book, he was deliberately writing a book for children.  It's unusual that a book for children only has old people in it- Gandalf, the dwarves are old and even though Bilbo seems the youngest, he's not a child at all.  But, from a psychological perspective, the book pretty much is an attempt to illustrate the importance of rites of passage when we grow up- and building the ability to face the chaos of your world.  A dragon is nothing if not the primary historical archetype for chaos- that's what dragons do- they destroy, they wreck havoc.  If you think of every rite of passage as a door to the next phase of your life which basically is an invitation to another set of challenges or another place of chaos, in the Hobbit- there's basically a real door that Bilbo has to open to get to the next phase of his journey.  The book opens with a door, Gandalf leaves the special words on Bilbo's door, and now in chapter 11, we find Bilbo once again sitting on a door and he's left with options.  He can go back, he can sit forever (which doesn't seem very practical), or he can go through the door- walk right into the dark and the awaiting chaos.      Yes- and the struggle inside of himself is expressed as the two family trees inside of him- and I will enjoy the fact that the strong adventurous side or the Took side came from his mother, while the reserved timid side came from the Baggins side or his father's side.    Of course, you would enjoy that detail.      I love the line, something Tookish woke up inside of him.  But back to the door to the lonely mountain “A door five feet high and three feet wide was outlined, and slowly without a swound swung inwards.  It seemed as if darkness flowed out like a vapour from the hole in the mountain-side, and deep darkness in which nothing could be seen lay before their eyes, a yawning mouth leading in and down.”    And of course as all of them look into the hole, they look to Bilbo.  Read Thorin's lines at the beginning of chapter 12,     “Now is the time for our esteemed Mr. Baggins, who has proved himself a good companion on our long road, and a hobbit full of course and resource far exceeding his size, and if I may say so possessed of good luck far exceeding the usual allowance- now is the time for him to perform the service for which he was included in our Company; now is the time for him to earn his Reward.”    And of course, I love Bilbo's response.  He's not the same hobbit.      (read page 195).  ‘    Exactly, Bilbo has come into his own understanding of his own worth and is not intimidated nor flattered by Thorin's words.  He wants Thorin to own the fact that he is their equal if not their superior. In the words and the world of Tolkien, “Dwarves are not heroes, but calculating folk with a great idea of the value of money; some are tricky and treacherous and pretty bad lots; some are not, but are decent enough people like Thorin and Company, if you don't expect too much.”    Such an interesting distinction.  And I guess, that's true for a lot of people- most people, I guess are not heroes.  They are not bad people, but mostly self-serving and are decent enough if you don't expect too much- there's a little Tolkien philosophy for you.    Well, if you haven't seen that in dwarves yet- the end of the story really doesn't make dwarves look all that great, but I guess we'll wait for next week to talk about that.  That little line is just a foreshadowing.    I think so, because it's in this part of the book that Bilbo most certainly IS a hero.  He's selfless; he takes responsibility; he watches out for his friends when he doesn't have to, he fulfills his commitments even when the other side doesn't really act in good faith all of the time, all of the things heroes do.  And of course- he has to face the dragon alone.     And in some sense, there we have the ultimate life metaphor- Bilbo found a purpose in his comfortable existence.  Life chose him for a moment of greatness; it is obvious from the beginning of the story that facing a dragon was not a life-long aspiration, but somehow this meaningful experience has manifested itself- and Bilbo will be changed forever based on what happens from this point forward.  And that is very much the human experience in a nutshell.      I want to read how Tolkien puts it- page 197    Dragons are important in every culture- we can go back to the Egyptians, the Chinese, the Indians, the Babylonians myths all of them have dragons.  Even Judeo-Christian culture can claim a dragon if you consider that a snake is a form of a dragon.  There is no single prototype for what a dragon means- there are differences.  The Chinese dragon is life-giving.  But that is definitely not Smaug's case.  Persian dragons, btw, are known to be creatures who hoard treasure and were slain by heroes.  What it means to “face the dragon” like we see here in this story is something we see in lots of stories and it usually is something positive- the experience of facing the dragon is meant to benefit the one who does indeed- face the dragon.    Well, in this story, it definitely works out that way.  First, Bilbo steals from Smaug then runs away.  Next he engages and talks to Smaug – even getting a little sassy.  And what we see in Smaug is again another moral component to the story- Smaug ultimately is taken down, not by Bilbo, but by himself- his own character flaw.  Smaug is greedy.  He is outraged that someone has taken something from him, and of course, Tolkien compares it when a rich person loses their mind over losing something they haven't ever cared about until they lost it.  That's kind of a funny jab.      But in Smaug's case, he loses his mind.  Bilbo and the dwarves have to make a decision to lock themselves INSIDE the mountain just to keep from getting killed from Smaug's exit out of the mountain.  Let's read this exciting description    Page 213    And of course, the spoiler is- the dragon is going nuts- people are running trying to escape, and it looks like all will be lost, but a bird who can speak to humans overhears Bilbo describe for the dwarves Smaug's one little weakspot.  She tells another bird to whispers this secret into the ear of a noble human, who with his very last arrow looks into the moonlight to see Smaug's only little weakness and shoots him down.  It's all very dramatic.    Yes- it is dramatic and exciting and although that would seem like the end of the story- the most exciting part is yet to come.  A WAR!!  Which is what we'll talk about next week.  A war will break out- it turns out that a mountain full of gold is something to fight about.    Ha!  I think it most certainly is.  I will look forward to the riveting conclusion.      Thanks for listening……   

This is a powerful meditation I take you too a magical enchanted forest. This will allow you to relax and connect to the source of all that is. The idea of an enchanted forest is one of the oldest in storytelling. This wild space represents the shortcomings of man's power, a place where anything can happen. Take the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, where the heroes travel to the Cedar Forest to fight monsters, or Tolkien's Mirkwood, derived from Norse mythology, considered so magical even the gods were wary of entering it. We're still inundated by enchanted forests. From our enduring fairy tales like Snow White to modern sagas like Harry Potter, the forest has become an essential stop on the hero's journey, a place of danger and possibility and adventure. In these forests, characters don't only lose their literal way, but often their metaphoric one as well. The trees bring out our primal side; Dante's journey to hell begins in a shadowy forest, and after getting lost in the woods, the Emperor Jones is driven insane by his own memories. Robert B Stone in his book  How to Gain Strength from Nature Sitting in Your Living Room: Tapping Natural Sources of Energy Wherever You Are states: Have you ever relaxed from stress by taking a walk in the park? Have you ever been invigorated by a swim in the lake or ocean? Have you ever been inspired by mountain vistas? Well, then you know some of the powers that nature has to contribute to your wellbeing. What most people don't know is that they can derive these benefits from nature without budging from the concrete city.   These benefits can be not only stress relief, vigor and inspiration, which are aids respectively to mind, body and spirit, but they can run the gamut of holistic therapies.   Medicinal therapies for what ails the mind, body and spirit can be a chemical shock and can have unwanted after effects called counter-indications. Nature's therapies obtained directly can have counter-indications, too. You can fall off a cliff; you can twist your ankle hiking; you can drown in the sea; you can encounter a lightning storm; you can acquire a poison rash; you can be hit by a landslide; you can be bitten by insects or wild animals.   But nature's therapies can be obtained indirectly, too, and therefore not only free of risk, but free of the expenditures of travel costs, time and some of the discomforts associated with leaving your residence. Plus, there are no unwanted after effects. ... This is not a Thoreau or a Rachel Carson approach to nature. In fact, it is an approach that has only been made possible in the past decade. It gives the reader ways to take one or two minutes to acquire the invigoration and therapeutic effects that only closeness to nature can provide, and to do so in the comfort of an urban living room.   What makes this possible now are several scientific advances. These include a fuller understanding of the relaxation response; of the morphogenetic field put forth by Dr. Rupert Sheldrake echoing Karl Jung's collective unconscious; and of the special attributes of the right hemisphere of the human brain." Join me as I take you to the enchanted forest where anything is possible. Alternate Universe Reality Activation  get full access to new meditations, new lectures, recordings from the reality con and the 90 day AURA meditation schedulehttps://realityrevolutionlive.com/aura45338118 Listen my book on audible https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Reality-Revolution-Audiobook/B087LV1R5V BUY MY BOOK! https://www.amazon.com/Reality-Revolution-Mind-Blowing-Movement-Hack/dp/154450618X/ Music By MettaverseSound Bath In A Forest ➤ Listen on Soundcloud: http://bit.ly/2KjGlLI➤ Follow them on Instagram: http://bit.ly/2JW8BU2➤ Join them on Facebook: http://bit.ly/2G1j7G➤ Subscribe to their channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyvjffON2NoUvX5q_TgvVkw All My Neville Goddard Videos In One Playlist - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKv1KCSKwOo8kBZsJpp3xvkRwhbXuhg0M Sleep Meditations - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKv1KCSKwOo_5Sv8NSXuDWudAVmoDns6Z Guided Meditations https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKv1KCSKwOo_BfNnb5vLcwouInskcEhqL All my videos about Dr. Joseph Murphy - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKv1KCSKwOo_OtBhXg2s85UuZBT-OihF_ For all episodes of the Reality Revolution – https://www.therealityrevolution.com Like us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/The-Reality-Revolution-Podcast-Hosted-By-Brian-Scott-102555575116999 Join our facebook group The Reality Revolution https://www.facebook.com/groups/523814491927119 Subscribe to my Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOgXHr5S3oF0qetPfqxJfSw Contact us at media@advancedsuccessinsitute.com#lawofattraction #guidedmeditation #enchantedforest 

Session 48 of The Darkening of Mirkwood campaign for The One Ring from Cubicle 7 Games! Show Notes: http://www.chippewavalleygeek.com/2021/04/the-cvg-actual-play-community-theater.html Intro /Outro Music:  "The Snakes' Farewell to the Emerald Isle" by Horslips

Chapter 31: We go over the forces of Smaug the Magnificent, The Trolls and Dark Denizens of Mirkwood. Hopefully we can help you figure out what play style is best for you, where to start collecting, and what to expect from this very versatile, fun, and powerful force in Middle-Earth!     Don't forget to join us, Monday nights at 5:30PM EST on twitch for our hobby and chat live streams! Thereandbackagainhobby on twitch!   Andrew - Grey_Havens_Hobby Evan - Half_full_Halfling John - Thereandbackagainahobbyisttale

Being the ninety-third episode of the show in which Gandalf is a liar, there are terrifying bear fights, and demon elves live in Mirkwood apparently.   MERCH! https://www.teepublic.com/stores/thats-what-im-tolkien-about?ref_id=22597    That's What I'm Tolkien About is a proud member of WBNE. For more information, go to https://wbne.org/     The Show: Twitter - www.twitter.com/tolkienaboutpod Instagram - www.instagram.com/tolkienaboutpod  Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/3043311089030739/  Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/tolkienaboutpod/    Mary Clay: Twitter - www.twitter.com/mcwattsup  Instagram - www.instagram.com/mcturndownforwatt    Graham: Twitter - https://twitter.com/gr8h8m_t3chl3r    Resources, Articles, Etc. -  The Hobbit audiobook - https://bit.ly/3r8HKWF  Race in LOTR and Tolkien’s Works: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11ExziJbBteK8eJn9xgrjm17P23Vg_Ucm8rAyYAkm9yc/edit 

This week's episode takes our intrepid players to Mordor and back again. Join Aaron & Liz as they embark on an unexpected journey through Middle-Earth with their pals Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and some made up residents of Mirkwood in Fantasy Flight's new Lord Of The Rings game.TIMESTAMPS0:00 - DC character, or LOTR thing?6:10 - Our relationship with The Tolkien-verse.13:01 - The beauty of using an app for campaign management and gameplay + the story of the game.19:35 - This LOTR uses a pretty near hex-based tile system. We're gonna discuss it.23:05 - The thematic tie-ins of LOTR, and how it doesn't always quite work.27:35 - "There are elements of a really great deck builder in here."32:45 - The (meta) co-operative nature of app-based games.40:20 - "OK, but did you have FUN playing this game?"41:30 - House rules, the human element, and how to determine the difficulty in an app-based game.51:30 - "Would you recommend this more than Mansions Of Madness?"--- Journeys In Middle-Earth is designed by Nathan Hajek and Grace Holdinghaus--- Aaron acknowledges that he's a big fan of The Lord Of The Rings, but really wants people to know that Faramir is the only good man in Middle-Earth.About The Co-Operatives Podcast--- Reach out to The Co-Operatives by tweeting to the Hoodie Weather account @about60degrees on Twitter or e-mailing us at CoOperativesPod@gmail.com. Got a game you'd like us to try? LET US KNOW! --- If you feel like being super nice, leave us a review on iTunes! It would mean the world to us! Every review lets others know you enjoyed the episode and helps the show grow! --- Want more Co-Operatives? Then check out our archives for a bunch of episodes that cover cooperative board and video games, dating, and plenty of other nonsense.About Hoodie Weather--- Hoodie Weather is the little company Aaron has to make games and fun stuff like The Co-Operatives. You can see all of Hoodie Weather's projects at www.hoodieweather.fun--- Join other Co-Ops fans and talk about games by joining the Hoodie Weather Discord by clicking this link -->  https://bit.ly/HoodieWeatherDiscord 

The Bionic Woman "The Ghosthunter" May 26, 1976 RIGHT CLICK IMAGE TO SAVE EPISODE TO YOUR COMPUTER   Jaime is sent to act as the governess of the daughter of an OSI scientist.  She must also ensure that the sensor device he is working on his not tampered with by any outside forces.  The wrinkle is the outside force appears to be the dead wife and mother of the two who is jealous of Jaime. John is joined by The Bionic Book author, Herbie J. Pilato and writer/producer Joel Eisenberg to discuss this first season ending episode of The Bionic Woman.  In addition, John's special guest is Bionic Woman creator and co-writer of the episode, Kenneth Johnson.  The two discuss the episode as well as Kenny's history as a producer and writer that lead up to The Bionic Woman. In addition, John offers a little historical and pop culture perspective of the day this episode aired. Make sure you let us know what you think of the episode by calling us at 844-OSI-FILE or by writing director@theosifiles.com.  OUR GUEST FOR THIS EPISODE With his start as a producer of The Mike Douglas Show, Kenneth Johnson has had a long, impressive career as a producer, director, writer, and creator of many iconic television and movie characters.  From his "The Secret of Bigfoot" episode of The Six Million Dollar Man to his movies such as Steel and Short Circuit 2, Kenny has captured the imagination of many fans of genre television in a way that goes beyond the traditional storytelling process.  You can learn more about Kenny and his works by visiting his home page and by writing him.  (He really does reply.)   OUR BIONIC OPERATIVES FOR THIS EPISODE Herbie J Pilato is a writer/producer who's worked for NBCUniversal, Syfy, A&E, Bravo; Warner Bros., and Sony, among other television networks, and studios. He is also the author of a number of media tie-in/pop-culture books, including Glamour, Gidgets and the Girl Next Door, and The Bionic Book, which features original commentary from Lee Majors, Lindsay Wagner, Harve Bennett, Kenneth Johnson, series creator (and sci-fi-novelist king Martin Caidin), and Richard Anderson (who wrote the Foreword). As the Founder of the Classic TV Preservation Society (a nonprofit organization dedicated to the positive influence of classic TV programming), Herbie J offers TV & Self-Esteem Seminars to schools, colleges, community, senior and business centers around the country.  Each week he serves as host and moderator at the Barnes & Noble Media Center in Burbank, CA for Throwback Thursdays- one of L.A.'s most unique live events where, as he says, "the past and present TV, film, publishing, music and positive-thought communities mix, mingle and meet."  For more information about Throwback Thursdays, the Classic TV Preservation Society, or any of Herbie J's books, email: classictvps@gmail.com or visit:  www.classictvps.blogspot.com.             Joel Eisenberg is a writer and producer whose new book series, “The Chronicles of Ara”, an epic 8-volume fantasy saga written with Stephen Hillard, has been released to rave reviews by Incorgnito Publishing's Topos Books imprint. Joel is a partner in Eisenberg-Fisher Productions and former head of EMO Films@Paramount Studios, feature film production companies. He is the co-founder of All Cities Media, an entertainment industry networking group. His events have been hosted by Warner Brothers, Paramount Studios, Sunset-Gower Studios and the Law Offices of Greenberg-Traurig, among others. Feature projects include “Unreleased” and “April Showers”, the latter based on the Columbine school shootings scenario. “January Rain” and “Assassin and Son” are presently in development, as is a new television version of an old horror comic book favorite (to be “re-announced” shortly). Joel is the writer of several award-winning independent feature films and producer of a slate of past and upcoming feature and television projects including “Mirkwood,” based on the amazon.com bestseller and the aforementioned “The Chronicles of Ara” fantasy novel series. In early 2007, Joel was fortunate to have received substantial international publicity by locating, identifying, organizing and archiving a long-considered lost handwritten John Steinbeck archive, collectively valued at nearly $1 million. Author: “How to Survive a Day Job,” “Championship Networking,” “The Mirkwood Codex” (upcoming). Contributor: “Tales of the Dead” and numerous others. Learn more about Joel and his works by visiting his website.

The Grey Company unites to discuss a brand new spoiler for the Nin-in-Eilph pack! Be sure to check our websites to see the card for yourself.