Collection of J. R. R. Tolkien's mythopoeic works
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Barry Harvey is back with a book that puts madness, theocracy, and anarchism in the title. It's a collection of essays developed over his career, and beneath them all sits one assertion: the church is not a subsystem of civil society. It has its own integrity, its own allegiance, and its own context for rethinking how it relates to everything else. The preface opens with Justin Martyr noting that second-century Christians were charged with madness for putting a crucified man right next to God. Barry's point: if the church has a healthy understanding of itself, it already is a resistance movement — rooted in scripture, liturgy, and tradition, and located, as Bonhoeffer put it, in the middle of the human village. We got into ecclesial solidarity and the ordo amoris (and the administration official who thinks he can do Catholic theology), the American form of cheap grace, the neoliberal collapse of state and market into one thing, and then — because Barry has multiple music degrees and I have no self-control — Bonhoeffer's polyphony, Tolkien's Silmarillion, the long defeat, eucatastrophe, and Gandalf's ecclesiology. I skipped every one of my Richard Rorty questions the moment Tolkien came up. I regret nothing. You can WATCH the conversation on YouTube Dr. Barry Harvey is Professor of Theology in the Honors College and the Department of Religion at Baylor University, where he has taught since 1988. He holds an MDiv from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and a PhD from Duke University. His new book is Madness, Theocracy, and Anarchism: Political and Cultural Reflections on the Church. JOIN OUR OPEN ONLINE CLASS: The Empire Christ Couldn't Keep Ever notice how Christian nationalism gets talked about like it's some bizarre new glitch in the faith? It isn't — it's a 2,000-year-old arrangement wearing new clothes, and once you see how the pattern works, you can also spot the Christ who keeps slipping free of it. Join theologian Joerg Rieger and Tripp Fuller for The Christ Empire Couldn't Keep, a free six-week online class tracing the holy alliances, imperial creeds, and stubborn resistance that have shaped Christianity from Paul to the present. You'll get six lectures from Joerg, six live Q&As, weekly readings from his book Christ and Empire, and a community of fellow troublemakers thinking it through together. It's free to join, every session is recorded, and it kicks off Thursday, August 27. Grab your spot at HomebrewedClasses.com. This podcast is a Homebrewed Christianity production. Follow the Homebrewed Christianity, Theology Nerd Throwdown, & The Rise of Bonhoeffer podcasts for more theological goodness for your earbuds. Join over 75,000 other people by joining our Substack - Process This! Get instant access to over 50 classes at www.TheologyClass.com Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In this deep-dive episode of Kings and Generals, Craig answers audience questions about Tolkien's First Age, Second Age, and Third Age of Middle Earth—unpacking the complex chronology of the Legendarium that many fans find confusing. Whether you're trying to understand when events occurred, the rise and fall of great kingdoms, or the intricate timelines connecting these ages, this episode breaks down the essential mythology of Tolkien's world. Craig explores the First Age when the great races entered Arda, covering everything from the Silmarillion's most epic conflicts to the foundational events that shaped Middle Earth's destiny. He dives into the Second Age—the era of Numenor's glory, Sauron's manipulation of the kingdoms of Men, and how the Blue Wizards fit into the grand narrative. Finally, he addresses the Third Age, including the Golden Age of Gondor, the events leading to the War of the Ring, and why this age ultimately marks the end of the Elves' dominion. What makes this episode essential viewing: Craig clarifies Tolkien's multiple versions of certain events (the creator changed his mind about timelines), explains why the ages matter to understanding LOTR's backstory, discusses the fall of Numenor and its connection to the Ring, explores the power levels of different races across the ages, and answers specific fan questions about beloved characters and pivotal moments. Perfect for LOTR enthusiasts, Tolkien scholars, fantasy world-building fans, and anyone wanting to understand the deeper lore beyond the movies and books. This chronological breakdown transforms the Legendarium from confusing mythology into an accessible historical epic. Don't forget I have a Youtube Membership: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbp8JMZizR4zak9wpM3Fvrw/join or my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pacificwarchannel where you can get exclusive content like "What if Japan invaded the USSR during WW2?"
Join The Man of the West as Appendix A opens with the only Silmarillion anybody had for 22 years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Join us this month for a look at the final book in the History of Middle-earth series, The History of Middle-earth volume 12, The Peoples of Middle-earth. We delve into Tolkien's unfinished story, Tal-Elmar, discussing themes of colonization, racial stereotypes, and the good guy/bad guy dichotomy. We also reflect on our Lesser-trod Histories Series as it comes to a close. Citations: Hoiem, Elizabeth Massa, World Creation as Colonization: British Imperialism in "Aldarion and Erendis". Tolkien Studies, Volume 2, 2005, pp. 75-92 (Article). Published by West Virginia University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/tks.2005.0020 Tolkien, J. R. R. The Peoples of Middle-earth. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 12. HarperCollins, London, 1996. Tolkien Gateway article “Númenóreans” https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/N%C3%BAmen%C3%B3reans (Accessed August 15, 2026) Tolkien Gateway article “Tal-Elmar (chapter) https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Tal-Elmar_(chapter) (Accessed August 15, 2026) Tolkien Gateway article “The Peoples of Middle-earth” https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/The_Peoples_of_Middle-earth (Accessed August 15, 2026) Join our Discord! https://discord.gg/4rZynfWv3f
No episódio de hoje do Falando de Nada, recebemos Erico Borgo para uma conversa especial sobre Uma Odisseia Criativa: Em Busca de Tolkien, documentário que investiga o universo e o processo criativo por trás da obra de J.R.R. Tolkien. Erico conta como surgiu a ideia do projeto, por que Tolkien foi escolhido e como foi desenvolver o documentário e o livro.Seja um membro da Guilda dos Tagarelers e participe das pautas semanais:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa8ekYf6l76ikQszoMYuHkw/join00:00 - Começou o Falando de Nada com Erico Borgo!05:58 - Presentinho de um Tagareller especial!08:46 - Qual o processo criativo por trás do documentário do Tolkien19:01 - Por que o Tolkien?27:52 - Como foi desenvolvido o documentário/livro37:20 - Como ilustrar esse documentário47:04 - As dificuldades por trás dessa produção59:39 - A Família Tolkien sabe desse filme?01:09:18 - De onde vem o nome "Silmarillion"01:13:01 - O financiamento e distribuição do filme01:23:23 - Quando e onde assistir o filmeQuer enviar um Pix da Alegria? Entre em contato com nosso produtor @bclemente22 no Instagram!✉ Quer mandar sua sugestão de pauta ou dúvida? Envie um e-mail para
Join The Man of the West as Fëanor's facepalm moment arrives: we're going to need boats! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
We read all of the Appendices. Next time we’re reading Ainulendale and Valaquenta from The Silmarillion. You can go to patreon.com/rangedtouch to support the show and access the bonus episode feed. Send stuff to the PO Box![https://www.patreon.com/posts/po-box-and-new-148206449] Buy books from our Bookshop.org page! [https://bookshop.org/shop/rangedtouch] The show is hosted by Cameron Kunzelman, Michael Lutz, and Austin Walker.
Seven swords, one impossible promise, and a besotted people following Fëanor: join The Man of the West for the Oath. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Today, we round out our dive into the First Age of Middle Earth, as we see the end of the Years of the Trees. After the death of their king and the seizure of their most powerful artifacts, how will the Noldor elves proceed into the War of Jewels?Warning: This episode contains spoilers for the Silmarillion. Enjoy!Welcome to Living by the Lore, where we discuss fictional worlds and how wondrous and ridiculous they are. Guy, Matt, and Jude are 3 Aussie blokes here to laugh and share fiction. Whether it's butchering your favourite world or introducing you to a whole new one, become a Lore Keeper today and live by the lore!Support us and become a Lore Keeper today - https://www.patreon.com/livingbytheloreFind us everywhere:YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzgbJhDOA1uqesKG4bNZg1gTikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@livingbytheloreInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/livingbythelore/Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/livingbytheloreDiscord - https://discord.gg/A8kAdBG5eQTwitch - https://www.twitch.tv/livingbythelorepodSpotify (archived episodes) - https://open.spotify.com/show/4DUWavLZ5MwQzf723a3BwEApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-by-the-lore/id1508853028If you enjoyed the episode, leave us a rating on Spotify or a review on Apple Podcasts - it genuinely helps.#LOTR #LordOfTheRings #Silmarillion #Elves #Fantasy #Tolkien #Podcast #Australia #Comedy #Satire #Lore #Nerd
Fëanor at the gym? No, just an announcement of the obvious. Join The Man of the West as Fëanor reminds us of his status as Morgoth's mini-me. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Today on Living By The Lore, we continue our exploration of JRR Tolkien's First Age of Middle Earth, as we see the introduction of the Elven Peoples and the construction of the famed Silmarils. Those dastardly gems...Warning: This episode contains spoilers for the Silmarillion. Enjoy!Welcome to Living by the Lore, where we discuss fictional worlds and how wondrous and ridiculous they are. Guy, Matt, and Jude are 3 Aussie blokes here to laugh and share fiction. Whether it's butchering your favourite world or introducing you to a whole new one, become a Lore Keeper today and live by the lore!Support us and become a Lore Keeper today - https://www.patreon.com/livingbytheloreFind us everywhere:YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzgbJhDOA1uqesKG4bNZg1gTikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@livingbytheloreInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/livingbythelore/Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/livingbytheloreDiscord - https://discord.gg/A8kAdBG5eQTwitch - https://www.twitch.tv/livingbythelorepodSpotify (archived episodes) - https://open.spotify.com/show/4DUWavLZ5MwQzf723a3BwEApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-by-the-lore/id1508853028If you enjoyed the episode, leave us a rating on Spotify or a review on Apple Podcasts - it genuinely helps.#LOTR #LordOfTheRings #Silmarillion #Elves #Fantasy #Tolkien #Podcast #Australia #Comedy #Satire #Lore #Nerd
Join The Man of the West as Morgoth and Ungoliant's terrible, no-good, very-bad first date comes to a screaming end, and Balrogs come to save the day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Join us this month for a special Lesser-trod Paths episode with David the Ñoldo! Springing from our last Lesser-trod History episode about The War of the Jewels, David joins us to discuss the dwarves in Tolkien's legendarium. Looking through a lens of source criticism of secondary world authorship, David challenges us to consider who in the legendarium is writing about the dwarves, where these authors get their sources, and what potential biases are present. David asks us to consider whose history is written down and whose is silenced, and question why. Citations: Thank you to our guest, David the Ñoldo! David's linktree: https://linktr.ee/davidthengoldo Voices of Arda Episode 65: David the Ñoldo, May 29, 2026, Season 1 episode 65 https://poddtoppen.se/podcast/1647183649/voices-of-arda-podcast/voices-of-arda-episode-65-david-the-noldo (Accessed July 9, 2026) David's Bibliography Agøy, Nils Ivar, “Viewpoints, Audiences and Lost Texts” in The Silmarillion Thirty Years On, ed. by Allan Turner, p.149-163. Fimi, Dimitra. Tolkien, Race, and Cultural History: From Fairies to Hobbits Flieger, Verlyn, Interrupted Music: The Making of Tolkien's Mythology Hynes, Gerard, "From Nauglath to Durin's Folk: The Hobbit and Tolkien's Dwarves" in The Hobbit and Tolkien's Mythology: Essays on Revisions and Influences, ed. by Bradford Lee Eden, p.20-37 Nagy, Gergely, "The Adapted Text: The Lost Play of Beleriand" in Tolkien Studies: An Annual Scholarly Review vol. I, ed. by Michael D.C. Drout, Verlyn Flieger, and David Bratman, p.21-41. —"The Silmarillion: Tolkien's Theory of Myth, Text, and Culture" in A Companion to J.R. R. Tolkien, ed. by Stuart D. Lee, p.107-118 Sena, Kenton; Harris, Kaelyn, "Re-enchanting Built Spaces: On Dwarves and Dwarven Places" in Cities and Strongholds of Middle-earth: Essays on the Habitations of Tolkien's Legendarium, ed. by Cami Agan, p.55-81 Tauber, James, Digital Tolkien Project, https://search.digitaltolkien.com/?terms=Naugrim Tolkien, J.R.R., Gnomish Lexicon in PE11 p.30; Qenya Lexicon in PE12 p.67; Words, Phrases, and Passages, in PE17 p.181, in Parma Eldalamberon, ed. by Christopher Gilson. — The Silmarillion, ed. by Christopher Tolkien (New York: Ballantine Books, 1979). — The Lost Road and Other Writings, ed. by Christopher Tolkien (New York: Del Rey Books, 1996) — Morgoth's Ring, ed. by Christopher Tolkien (London: HarperCollins Publishers, 2002). — The War of the Jewels, ed. by Christopher Tolkien (London: HarperCollins Publishers, 2002). — The Peoples of Middle-earth, ed. by Christopher Tolkien (London: HarperCollins Publishers, 2015) Trouillot, Michel-Rolph, Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History, 20th Anniversary Edition. Walls-Thumma, Dawn, "Attainable Vistas: Historical Bias in Tolkien's Legendarium as a Motive for Transformative Fanworks," Journal of Tolkien Research: Vol. 3: Iss. 3, Article 3. Available at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol3/iss3/3 Upcoming events Tolkien and Middle-earth Online Art Exhibition- August 15, 2026 https://sites.google.com/breecrossroadsartexhibitionevent.com/home/home The Big Read- Ongoing, every other Monday https://erikjampa.substack.com/p/tolkien-society-seminar-and-tolkien Oxonmoot- September 3-6, 2026 https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/oxonmoot-2026/
We all know the story of Frodo and the Ring, and the tale of Bilbo and the Dragon. But what if I told you that those were just verses of a much, much larger song? The harmonies of which created reality itself?Today, we begin to explore the depths of JRR Tolkien's The Silmarillion.Warning: This episode contains spoilers for the Silmarillion. Enjoy!Welcome to Living by the Lore, where we discuss fictional worlds and how wondrous and ridiculous they are. Guy, Matt, and Jude are 3 Aussie blokes here to laugh and share fiction. Whether it's butchering your favourite world or introducing you to a whole new one, become a Lore Keeper today and live by the lore!Support us and become a Lore Keeper today - https://www.patreon.com/livingbytheloreFind us everywhere:YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzgbJhDOA1uqesKG4bNZg1gTikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@livingbytheloreInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/livingbythelore/Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/livingbytheloreDiscord - https://discord.gg/A8kAdBG5eQTwitch - https://www.twitch.tv/livingbythelorepodSpotify (archived episodes) - https://open.spotify.com/show/4DUWavLZ5MwQzf723a3BwEApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/living-by-the-lore/id1508853028If you enjoyed the episode, leave us a rating on Spotify or a review on Apple Podcasts - it genuinely helps.#LOTR #LordOfTheRings #Silmarillion #Elves #Fantasy #Tolkien #Podcast #Australia #Comedy #Satire #Lore #Nerd
Possibly the worst first date in the history of Arda. Join The Man of the West as Fëanor names the Black Foe and Morgoth discovers what Ungoliant charges for dinner. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Join The Man of the West as the Valar ask Fëanor to break the Silmarils and heal the Trees — and Fëanor does precisely what you'd imagine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
You have to be a slight J.R.R. Tolkien nerd to watch the Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings film series. They're long, there's three of them, and it helps to know your hobbits from your elves. You have to be even more of a fan to read the dense, lengthy Tolkien books. But then there's Glen Weldon, co-host of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour, who has read everything Tolkien many times over including The Silmarillion. That's the book Tolkien died while writing with extensive arcana of the world of Middle Earth. Here's the part in the description where I would give you examples but it's so deep, so thickly layered, such extreme Tolkienness that I kind of zoned out just listening to Glen take this deepest of dives. “The book is structured as a history, with sections on the creation of the world, the gods (Valar), the history of the Elves and Men, and the downfall of Númenor, all centered around the conflict with the first Dark Lord, Morgoth, and the rebellion of the Elf Fëanor,” says Wikipedia, and who am I to disagree? The detail, combined with Glen's avuncular NPR voice ought to conk you out before you can say, “Celebrimbor.” Listen to Glen Weldon on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour wherever fine pods are cast. Get your copy of Glen's books, Superman: The Unauthorized Biography and The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture, where books are sold. Hey Sleepy Heads, is there anyone whose voice you'd like to drift off to, or do you have suggestions on things we could do to aid your slumber? Email us at: sleepwithcelebs@maximumfun.org. Follow the Show on: Instagram @sleepwcelebs Bluesky @sleepwithcelebs TikTok @SleepWithCelebs John is on Bluesky @JohnMoe John's acclaimed, best-selling memoir, The Hilarious World of Depression, is now available in paperback. _________________________________________________________________________ Join | Maximum Fun If you like one or more shows on MaxFun, and you value independent artists being able to do their thing, you're the perfect person to become a MaxFun monthly member. Go to www.maximumfun.org/joinsleeping for our one-stop portal to becoming a member and supporter of Sleeping with Celebrities. Help support this show and unlock bonus content! Become a member at https://maximumfun.org/joinsleeping
In this installment of our Lesser-trod Histories series, Stef and Jude explore The History of Middle-earth, volume 11, The War of the Jewel, specifically looking at the Grey Annals. The Grey Annals is the primary text for the structure of the history of Beleriand, and a year-by-year timeline of the First Age of Middle-earth. Jude muses on the etymology of the name “Beleriand” in regard to Ossë, and comes around to the tragedy of Túrin. Stef discusses the cruelty of Morgoth in paragraphs 80-82, and the conversation between Galadriel and Melian (and Melian and Thingol) in paragraphs 91-99. Citations Tolkien, J. R. R. War of the Jewels. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 11. HarperCollins, London, 1994. Tolkien Gateway entry for “Bay of Balar” https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Bay_of_Balar (Accessed June 27, 2026) Tolkien and Middle-earth Online Art Exhibition August 15, 2026. https://sites.google.com/view/bc-tolkien-online-art-exhibit/home?authuser=0 (Accessed June 27, 2026) Tolkien Society Seminar: Tolkien's Invented Languages November 21, 2026. https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/seminar-2026/ (Accessed June 27, 2026) Join the Athrabeth Discord! https://discord.gg/4rZynfWv3f
For this show-within-a-show, Craig and Andrew learned about the world of Middle-Earth by reading J.R.R. Tolkien's posthumously published legendarium THE SILMARILLION. This episode posted first for our Patreon supporters in August 2025. If you want to hear our current longread project TOKYO DRIFTERS (and a bunch of other stuff besides), visit Patreon.com/overduepod.Let us talk about Men, but not too much -- for many elves have returned to Middle-Earth! Let us instead pass the time with talk of the Noldor and their curse: the Doom of Mandos. Morgoth may yet hold the Silmarils, but he is surrounded by Fëanor's Large Adult Sons and their kin. A peace (of sorts) is achieved (sort of).Also, Tolkien gives us one heck of a geography lesson.The reading list:Ep 1 - Ainulindale, Valaquenta, Quenta Silmarillion Ch 1-3Ep 2 - Quenta Silmarillion Ch 4-10Ep 3 - Quenta Silmarillion Ch 11-16Ep 4 - Quenta Silmarillion Ch 17-20Ep 5 - Quenta Silmarillion Ch 21-24Ep 6 - Alkallabeth, Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, AppendicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Join The Man of the West as Melkor and Ungoliant reach the Trees — and Valinor, which was sung into being, discovers silence alongside darkness. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Part 2 of 2In this two-part series, Matt talks with Dr. Louis Markos about C. S. Lewis, his conversion to Christianity, and how his friend, J.R.R. Tolkien, influenced his decision to become a believer in Christ. By way of conversation with Tolkien, Lewis came to the conclusion that Christianity was myth that was true. This realization helped Lewis not only make sense of the stories of the past (and the core human longing), but it also had a profound effect upon the books and stories he would go on to write himself. Markos also takes listeners for a deep dive into Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion. He shows how they reflect Tolkien's Christian faith and highlights classical virtues. Visit Louis Markos' Amazon Page: link here+++Pre-order Matt's newest book: Sightings and Secrets: UFOs, Eyewitness Testimonies, and How Christians Can Make Sense of the Unknown Support The Bible (Unmuted) via Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBibleUnmutedMatthew's blog: www.matthewhalsted.substack.comDon't forget to subscribe to The Bible (Unmuted)!
Join The Man of the West as Melkor and Ungoliant come down from Hyarmentir, and Valinor holds a party. Moral of the story: hire private security. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Part 1 of 2In this two part series, Matt talks with Dr. Louis Markos about C. S. Lewis, his conversion to Christianity, and how his friend, J.R.R. Tolkien, influenced his decision to become a believer in Christ. By way of conversation with Tolkien, Lewis came to the conclusion that Christianity was myth that was true. This realization helped Lewis not only make sense of the stories of the past (and the core human longing), but it also had a profound effect upon the books and stories he would go on to write himself. Markos also takes listeners for a deep dive into Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion. He shows how they reflect Tolkien's Christian faith and highlights classical virtues. Visit Louis Markos' Amazon Page: Link here+++Pre-order Matt's newest book: Sightings and Secrets: UFOs, Eyewitness Testimonies, and How Christians Can Make Sense of the UnknownSupport The Bible (Unmuted) via Patreon: www.patreon.com/TheBibleUnmutedMatthew's blog: www.matthewhalsted.substack.comDon't forget to subscribe to The Bible (Unmuted)!
Join The Man of the West as we go back to where the whole tragedy begins — Melkor slips south to the lightless land of Avathar, and strikes a bargain with a dark hunger. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Join The Man of the West as the last two sons of Fëanor wish they'd ordered oven mitts, and the Quenta Silmarillion comes to its end. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Episode 95 celebrates all things Westmoot, the American gathering of the Tolkien Society held from May 22-24, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota! We begin with a reflection on our experience at Westmoot. Then we present our live show from Westmoot, “Disasters, Downfalls, and Dives: Athrabeth Podcast Live” with special guests Clare Moore and Tori Owens. We each chose our favorite disaster to present to the listeners: Daeron, Finrod, Saeros, and Túrin. Citations Thank you to our guests, Clare Moore and Tori Owens! Clare can be found on Bsky at @clarelmoore.bsky.social The Big Read dates and information can be found here: https://erikjampa.substack.com/p/tolkien-society-seminar-and-tolkien?utm_source=publication-search (Accessed May 30, 2026) Learn more about the upcoming volume More Perilous and Fair, with Cami Agan, Clare Moore Dr. Robin A. Reid: https://dc.swosu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1081&context=mythpro (Accessed May 30, 2026) Tori can be found on instagram @_toriello, and on Bsky @itstoriello.bsky.social The Sillymarillion podcast can be found at: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-sillymarillion/id1571617612 https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/thesillymarillion/ On Instagram at @sillymarillions On Bsky at @thesillymarillion.bsky.social Join the Athrabeth Discord! https://discord.gg/4rZynfWv3f
In this week's episode, I take a look at the movies and streaming shows I watched in Spring 2026, and rate them from least to most favorite. This coupon code will get you 25% off the ebooks in the Dragontiarna series at my Payhip store: DRAGONJUNE The coupon code is valid through June 15, 2026. So if you need a new ebook this summer, we've got you covered! TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 305 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is May 29th, 2026 and today we'll be discussing my Spring Movie Review Roundup for 2026, where I discuss the movies and streaming shows I watched over the last few months. We will also have Coupon of the Week and a progress update on my current writing, publishing, and audiobook projects. So let's start off with Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code will get you 25% off the ebooks in the Dragontiarna series at my Payhip store. That coupon code is DRAGONJUNE. And as always, you get the coupon code and the links in the show notes for this episode. This coupon code will be valid through June the 15th, 2026. So if you need a new ebook for this summer, we have got you covered. Now let's move on to my current writing, publishing, and audiobook projects. As I mentioned last week, Dragon-Mage is out and you can get it at Amazon and Kindle Unlimited and it's doing well, so thank you for that. My next main project is Blade of Thieves and as of this recording, I am on chapter 11 of 25, though that'll probably expand in the final draft, which puts me at 56,000 words in. So I'm almost halfway through. I think probably it's going to be the length of Blade of Wraiths or a little longer, but we'll see. I'm hoping to have it out towards the end of June, but depending on how June goes, that might slip till July. Hopefully we can avoid that. I'm also 5,000 words into Cloak of Frost and that will be my main project once Blade of Thieves is done. I'm hoping to have Cloak of Frost out towards the end of July, but depending on how June goes, it might slip to August. For audiobook projects, Blade of Wraiths is still processing at ACX, though I believe as of right now, you can get it at Google Play, Kobo, Spotify, and my own Payhip store. The other stores should be available within a few weeks. As of right now, I don't actually have any current audiobooks in production, though we have some scheduled for the future. Once Blade of Thieves is finally done, Brad Wills will record that for us. Hollis McCarthy is scheduled to record Cloak of Worlds in June, if all goes well. Leanne Woodward will be recording Dragon-Mage sometime in July, if all goes well. So that is where I'm at with my current writing, publishing, and audiobook projects. Hopefully we'll have new things for you to read and listen to before much longer. 00:02:32 Main Topic: Spring 2026 Movie Review Roundup Now without any further ado, let's move on to our main topic, my Spring 2026 Movie Review Roundup. It's time for the Spring 2026 Movie Review Roundup, where I review the movies and streaming shows I watched over the last few months. As always, they're listed from least favorite to most favorite. The grades are wholly subjective and based on nothing more than my own opinions and thoughts. With that disclaimer out of the way, let's go to the movies. First up is Kicking and Screaming, which came out in 2005. This is a family comedy with Will Ferrell and Robert Duvall. Pharrell plays Phil Weston, a mild mannered vitamin store owner and Duvall plays his father, Buck Weston, owner of a successful chain of sports equipment stores. Buck is one of those hyper competitive guys who has to win at everything and Phil has always rolled with it. But when Phil's son is a benchwarmer on the youth soccer team that Buck coaches, Phil's had enough and starts coaching a rival team to get his son into the game and to defeat his father. Along the way, of course, he descends into Will Ferrell style comedic lunacy, but the PG version since this is a PG movie. Mike Ditka was also hilarious as Phil's sidekick and assistant coach. It seemed like an '80s family movie. It was a sort of movie where you could have taken the entire family to the theater in 2005 and everyone would have been at least moderately entertained. Overall Grade: C Next up is the animated Lord of the Rings, which came out in 1978. As I mentioned, this was the animated version of Lord of the Rings from 1978. Extremely ambitious, but I think it's fair to say this landed in ambitious failure territory, but they tried the best they could given the constraints of the technology at the time and the actual available budget. They tried to pack the entirety of the Fellowship of the Ring and the first half of The Two Towers into about two hours and 20 minutes. I'm sorry to say it just didn't work. Like Dune, the Lord of the Rings is one of those books that requires like 10 hours of very expensive filmmaking to pull off properly. That said, I think it is fair to say that this stumbled so that the Peter Jackson live action trilogy could run. Adapting a book (especially a big book) into a movie is a challenge and I don't think this quite got there. Too much was cut out and if you hadn't read the book, you would probably have no idea what was happening or just been confused the entire time. Additionally, the movie relied heavily on rotoscoping and it didn't always quite work. Like the rotoscope Nazgul looked creepy and unsettling, so that worked for them. However, the rotoscoped orcs just looked bad. You know how in live theater stagehands will dress all in black? The orcs kind of looked like that, albeit they're wearing yellow ponchos over their black stagehand outfits, almost like the stagehands were expecting inclement weather backstage. That said, the vocal performances and the music were very good. So an ambitious and admirable failure. As I said, I think the filmmaker's vision exceeded the grasp of their budget and the available technology of the 1970s. Overall Grade: C Next up is Airplane!, which came out in 1980. It was interesting to watch this as a cultural artifact. It had the leisurely pace of an '80s movie, with far more absurdist humor. It was a parody of various airplane disaster movies from the 1970s. It's also interesting that this is remembered as a Leslie Nielsen movie nowadays, though Leslie Nielsen 's character is only a supporting character. For all that he's known for his absurdist humor these days from later movies, Nielsen plays his character stone cold dead straight, which makes him all the funnier, amazingly enough. Some of the jokes in this movie have aged very badly, but it's still worth watching as an interesting and amusing cultural artifact, given how it influenced the entire genre of comedy movies afterwards. There's also the obligatory three seconds of nudity that can get cut on cable TV broadcast. Overall Grade: B- Next up is the Thomas Crown Affair, which came out in 1999. This is an interesting remake of a movie from the 1960s. Pierce Brosnan plays Thomas Crown, a billionaire who has grown bored with his life, so he orchestrates the theft of a priceless Monet painting from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The heist goes off flawlessly and the museum's insurance company sends out investigator Catherine Banning (played by Renee Russo) to retrieve the painting and avoid a hundred million dollar insurance payout. Banning immediately intuits that Crown is the thief and sets about to find the painting. This investigation is complicated by the fact that Crown and Banning immediately develop a strong attraction and start an affair. It was interesting to watch since neither Crown nor Banning are particularly sympathetic characters. In 2026, the phrase "bored New York billionaire" has much more sinister connotations than it did in 1999 and Banning breaks all kinds of laws and sleeping with her target is not a particularly bright idea. That said, the opening heist was interesting and Crown's final gambit to return the painting was extremely clever and enjoyable to watch. So overall, I like the movie, but there's still way too much nudity. Cable broadcasts are probably like 10 minutes shorter than the actual runtime from cutting it all out. Overall Grade: B- Next up is Whiskey Galore, which came out in 2017 and this is a remake of the original Whiskey Galore from 1949. Honestly, this is exactly the same movie from 1949 that I watched in the Movie Review Roundup for Summer 2025, just updated with modern filmmaking techniques. If the movie makers in the '40s could have done it this way, they would have. Though I would recommend watching the 1949 one first and then the one from 2017. Overall Grade: B Next up is Super Mario Galaxy, which came out in 2026. And I have to admit, it felt a little strange to be the oldest person at the theater watching Super Mario Galaxy, but I've been playing Mario games since before any of these kids were born, so I think I had a right to be there. Anyway, I would say this movie is about 75% as good as the first one. It was a little overpacked and the plot wasn't quite as tight, but it's still fun to watch. The animation was excellent and I enjoyed all the callbacks to the various Mario games and since I haven't actually played all the Mario games (as a reminder, I played no console games of any kind between 1998 and 2019), I'm sure there were quite a few I missed. The plot is that Bowser Jr is coming to rescue his father, Bowser, who's been held captive since the end of the last movie. To power his doomsday weapon, Junior kidnaps Princess Rosalina and Princess Peach goes to rescue her while Mario, Luigi, and Yoshi stay to protect the Mushroom Kingdom. Their separate subplots will end up crossing when Bowser Jr. invades the Mushroom Kingdom to get Bowser. Glen Powell was an excellent choice to voice Fox McCloud. I'd say if you could imagine a movie that the audience would enjoy and the critics would hate, you'd end up with Super Mario Galaxy. Since that appears to be what happened to the tune of $970 million, it appears that metaphor was accurate. Also, to be less glib, "movies you can take your kids to" do serve a valuable social function (in my opinion). Overall Grade: B Next up is the Rise and Fall of Reggie Dinkins, which came out in 2026. This was a comedy with a fun premise. Reggie Dinkins (played by Tracy Morgan) was an elite NFL player who got bounced out of the league for placing bets on himself. Years later, he teams up with an indie filmmaker named Arthur Tobin (played by Daniel Radcliffe), to make a documentary to rehabilitate his image. However, Tobin has his own issues. He has an Oscar, but after the Oscar, he got hired to direct a Marvel movie and cracked under the pressure. He and Reggie have to go on a journey to recover their reputations. I thought this was a pretty funny sitcom. Tracy Morgan is a comedic natural, but Daniel Radcliffe turned out to be an excellent comedic actor as well. He was great in that Weird Al biopic a few years ago and he's very funny in this. Craig Robinson was also great as Jerry Basmati, Reggie's sleazy nemesis. Overall Grade: B+ Next up is The Mandalorian and Grogu, which came out in 2026. I enjoyed this. It was like three pretty good episodes of The Mandalorian show put together. The end result was an adventure movie that kind of reminded me of the best of 1980s fantasy and sci-fi movies with a lot of creature work and a lot of action scenes. For an extended stretch of the movie, Grogu takes over as the primary protagonist, and given that Grogu is a very expensive puppet, that's an impressive feat. The plot picks up from the end of The Mandalorian show. The Mandalorian and his adopted son Grogu are now working for the New Republic, helping to hunt down Imperial warlords. Mando gets assigned to hunt down in a mysterious Imperial warlord named Commander Coin, but the only people who have information on Coin's location are the Twins, a pair of Hutt crime lords and relatives of Jabba the Hutt from Return of the Jedi. The Twins are willing to give up Coin's location if Mando does a job for them, but as Han Solo could have warned Mando, working for the Hutts is not a good idea. I was surprised that the reviews for this movie were as mixed as they were, but I suspect that's a combination of three social factors: Number one, cumulative ill will towards Disney as a corporation, which has done numerous sketchy things in the 2020s. I think something similar happened with Microsoft and Starfield. Number two, the lingering bad aftertaste of the sequel trilogy and number three, the tendency of the hardcore Star Wars fandom to chronically overthink things. Overall Grade: B+ Next up is the animated Hobbit, which came out in 1977. Peter Jackson's Hobbit Trilogy from the 2010 famously stretched The Hobbit across three movies, which really didn't work and added a bunch of epic battle scenes, which was totally off for what was essentially a children's book. The animated 1977 version of The Hobbit, by contrast, went in a different direction, neatly adapting it down to 70 minutes or so, presumably because animation is very expensive. At the time, this got mixed reviews, but looking back nearly 50 years later, I think we can appreciate it more because of the sheer amount of work that goes into hand-drawn animation. Like computer-based animation is unquestionably a lot of work as well, but hand-drawn animation is on something of a higher level in terms of difficulty, in my opinion. That said, I think this adaptation did a better job of compressing the story down than the animated Lord of the Rings movie I mentioned earlier in this episode. There's also a lot of 1970s style folk singing-like a LOT. I suspect J.R.R. Tolkien would have hated every single adaptation ever made of any of his works (with perhaps the exception of the audiobooks), but he would have approved of the number of songs and poetry in this. Though it was amusing that the high elves in this movie sing in a '70s folk music style. It would be humorous if in the Silmarillion, Earnedil the Mariner had finally crossed the Sundering Seas to reach Valinor and appeal the aid of the Valar against Morgoth and his hordes, only to hear '70 style folk music echoing across the shining hills of the Undying Lands. Anyway, it's definitely worth watching this if you like The Hobbit or old style animation. Overall Grade: A- Next up is House of David Season 2, which came out in 2026. I wrestled with what grade to give this because it used a lot of AI for the big battle scene in episode one and as long time readers and listeners know, I do not generally approve of LLM generated slop. Ironically, I think episode one, the big battle sequence with all the AI, was definitely the weakest point of the entire second season. Everything else was better. That said, all the character drama and interactions and acting were really good, which amusingly shows that while LLM stuff can generate blurry scenes of mounted soldiers charging at night, the real human emotion comes from, well, real human emotion. Anyway, this picks right up from the end of Season 1, right after David kills Goliath, which means it takes place during most of the events with the third quarter of the book of 1 Samuel from the Bible. David becomes one of the chief commanders of King Saul, but David is secretly the anointed king of Israel. Saul's deteriorating mental state becomes threatening to David while Saul's children scheme for position (with the exception of Jonathan, who has accepted that God has chosen David as the next king of Israel) and the Philistines prepare for war against Israel. It is interesting how the show alternates between leaning into the Grimdark aspects of life in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age and avoiding them. Like, constant warfare was a fact of life for a Mesopotamian king around 1000 BC. But the show also shows David as having passionate romantic love for Saul's daughter Michal and in the Bible, David ended up with at least eight wives that we know about (there were likely others) and an unnamed number of concubines. So late Bronze Age/early Iron Age monarchs were not likely to have been in the grips of fervent romantic love. Though based on the Psalms he wrote, David seems to have been a man who definitely was in touch with his emotions and quite possibly he would have passionately loved multiple women at the same time. Anyway, I enjoyed the show. While I am not an expert, I probably have a higher than average level of Old Testament knowledge. So when the show expanded on something from 1 Samuel (such as the role of Doeg, the murderous Edomite shepherd), I could see where they were coming from. Or the subplot where Jonathan falls in love with an Israelite woman since in the Bible, David took care of Jonathan's son, Mephibosheth, logically, Jonathan had a wife at some point. Related to that as Saul continues his descent, in a moment of rage in 1 Samuel, he calls Jonathan "the son of a perverse and rebellious woman" and the show has a subplot explaining how Saul came to see Queen Ahinoam as a "perverse and rebellious woman". So I enjoyed this and will definitely watch Season 3 when it comes along. That said, the opening battle with the AI generated battle scenes is still definitely the weakest part of the series, though. Overall Grade: A- Next up is Maul: Shadow Lord, which came out in 2026. And in my opinion, this was pretty good. I think he could call the plot Sith Noir. Maul, desiring vengeance against the Emperor for all the pain he has endured, has decided to rebuild his criminal syndicate (previously destroyed in the Clone Wars) and use it to bring down the Empire. Meanwhile, Captain Lawson, a detective on a minor world, is trying to rebuild his relationship with his teenage son and keep his career afloat. This becomes tricky when a pair of fugitive Jedi fleeing from the Inquisitors turn up on their world. But in the younger of the two Jedi, Maul sees a potential apprentice for himself, one he could corrupt to the dark side. The animation has improved by quantum leaps and bounds since the days of the Clone War show. The lighting and the shadows are excellent. Maul looks spooky and a little uncanny. The lightsaber fights are quick and fluid. No spoilers, but the final episode is absolutely excellent. I also think one of the best things about the Star Wars animation shows is how Maul's character has evolved from simply the cool swordsmen at the end of The Phantom Menace to a sympathetic yet still evil warrior-philosopher, a tragic figure whose every effort always contains the seeds of its own downfall. Overall Grade: A Next up is Emma, which came out in 2020. This is an excellent adaptation of the Jane Austen's novel. Good performances, good cinematography, and it captures the essence of the novel quite well and it's probably a must for Austen fans to see. I don't really have anything negative to say about it, say that it has the three seconds of unnecessary nudity that can be cut in cable broadcasts. Ironically, and quite amusingly, that three seconds of nudity is quite literally the only thing this movie has in common with Airplane!. Overall Grade: A Next up is No Packers, No Life, which came out in 2025. This was a fun documentary about a group of Japanese Green Bay Packers fans. Obviously, there are fairly large cultural and linguistic divides between the United States and Japan, so American football is not hugely popular in Japan. However, the Green Bay Packers are the only community owned team in the NFL to this day and so they're quite a bit more sympathetic than one that's owned by a faceless billionaire. Anyway, an American businessman goes to Japan and stumbles across a Japanese man wearing a Packers jersey at a bar. From there, he learns of a small club called the Japanese Packers Cheering Team that gathered to watch Packers games. This businessman in question happened to be from Wisconsin, so he befriended the Japanese Packers Cheering Team and invited them to Green Bay for a game. The invitation snowballed and so the entire club and their families arrived to watch the game. Sports fandom really isn't one of my interests, so it's always interesting to look at it from the outside. That said, this was an enjoyable documentary about cross-cultural communication at its best. Overall Grade: A Let's close out this episode with my favorite thing I saw in spring 2026, which was Project Hail Mary, which came out in 2026. This is another "science man solves space problem that saves the day with math and science", type science fiction adventure like The Martian, though some new twists on the formula. Dr. Ryland Grace wakes up alone on a spaceship with all the other crew dead and no memory of how he got there. Gradually, he partially remembers and works out that he is part of Project Hail Mary, a last ditch effort to stop Earth's sun from dimming due to an extremophile organism called the Astrophage. Only one other star in Earth's stellar neighborhood was showing no signs of Astrophage infection, so Grace's ship was sent there on a suicide mission to try and recover some means of defeating the Astrophage. While there, he encounters an alien ship with a sole survivor and he slowly works out how to communicate with the alien, who he dubs Rocky. It turns out Rocky's people sent him there on a mission to solve the Astrophage problem as well and together Grace and Rocky try to work out how to save their respective home worlds. Quite enjoyable and worth seeing. At the time I typed this in March of 2026, it was the highest-grossing movie of 2026 and I think it deserved that, though it did eventually get overtaken by Super Mario Galaxy. Overall Grade: A I suppose that was an eclectic range of movies, wasn't it? Interestingly, I actually saw three of them in theaters: Project Hail Mary, Super Mario Galaxy, and The Mandalorian and Grogu, so I went to the theater three times in three months. I think that's the most I've been to the movie theater in a single year in the entirety of the 2020s. So that is it for this week. Thank you for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show interesting. A reminder that you can listen to all the back episodes at https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and we'll see you all next week.
Join The Man of the West as the two surviving sons of Fëanor argue the theology of an oath sworn to Ilúvatar, with one simply asking: can we just do a little less evil? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
For this show-within-a-show, Craig and Andrew learned about the world of Middle-Earth by reading J.R.R. Tolkien's posthumously published legendarium THE SILMARILLION. This episode posted first for our Patreon supporters in July 2025. If you want to hear our current longread project TOKYO DRIFTERS (and a bunch of other stuff besides), visit Patreon.com/overduepod.The Elves are here, and it's time to learn all about them! Because there are a whole bunch of different sub-types of them, mostly sorted by whether and how quickly they decided to heed the summons to come party with the gods on their paradise island.The most important one we meet is Fëanor, who forges the book's MacGuffins and then instantly gets super weird and possessive about them, in a way that ensures lasting misery for all involved. Hooray!The reading list:Ep 1 - Ainulindale, Valaquenta, Quenta Silmarillion Ch 1-3Ep 2 - Quenta Silmarillion Ch 4-10Ep 3 - Quenta Silmarillion Ch 11-16Ep 4 - Quenta Silmarillion Ch 17-20Ep 5 - Quenta Silmarillion Ch 21-24Ep 6 - Akallabeth, Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, AppendicesOur theme music was composed by Nick Lerangis.Follow @overduepod on Instagram and BlueskyAdvertise on OverdueSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Incredible week for both big movie and big tv show! That's right, both The Mandalorian VS. Groglet and The Boys Season 5 finale have arrived to varying degrees of audience apathy. We review that plus talk the news of the week covering Peter Jackson potentially returning to Middle Earth to direct The Silmarillion, The Godfather gets a fourth movie, a new trailer for Lanterns and more! Thanks for listening!New bonus Booque Clubbe podcast ep and video for Spider-Man: Life Story! Available to watch and listen now on bigsandwich.co and patreon.com/mrsundaymoviesPLEASE be aware timecodes may shift due to inserted ads.00:00 The Start03:19 The Silmarillion LOTR Movie09:12 New Godfather Spin-off Movie20:54 Avatar TLA Season 2 Trailer21:26 New DC Lanterns Trailer31:43 The Mandalorian vs Groglet Movie Review52:25 The Mandalorian vs Groglet Spoiler Segment01:04:50 The Boys Finale Full Spoiler Review01:29:20 What We Reading, Obsession Review01:35:25 Letters, It's Time For LettersSUBSCRIBE HERE ►► http://goo.gl/pQ39jNJames' Twitter ► http://twitter.com/mrsundaymoviesMaso's Twitter ► http://twitter.com/wikipediabrownPatreon ► https://patreon.com/mrsundaymoviesT-Shirts/Merch ► https://www.teepublic.com/stores/mr-sunday-moviesThe Weekly Planet iTunes ► https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-weekly-planet/id718158767?mt=2&ign-mpt=uo%3D4The Weekly Planet Direct Download ► https://play.acast.com/s/theweeklyplanetAmazon Affiliate Link ► https://amzn.to/2nc12P4 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The Tolkien sickos are unleashed at last! In this Golden Ticket episode requested by DustyStars, Evan and Inaki review the 2024 anime film The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, discussing its status within the franchise, effectiveness as a standalone film, and adherence to Tolkien canon. To redeem your own Golden Ticket and request a review of a specific piece of media, join the Ani-Gamers Patreon! Topics include: incel kings, elephants where they don't belong, and the plural of maia (it‘s maiar). Runtime: 1 hour, 53 minutes Direct Download RSS Feed iTunes Spotify Google Music Send us Feedback! Support us on Patreon! Join our Discord server! More episodes Show Notes Opening/Ending Song: “Blues Machine” by Scott Gratton Episode edited by Evan Minto. The Review Namedrops: J.R.R. Tolkien (duh), Peter Jackson, Phillipa Boyens, Kenji Kamiyama, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, The History of Middle Earth, The Children of Hurin, The Song of Beren and Luthien. Inaki mentioned this Tumblr post about Lord of the Rings in the context of WWI BlueSky: Evan, Inaki, Ani-Gamers Mastodon: Evan, Ani-Gamers Instagram: Ani-Gamers Twitch: David & Inaki Subscribe to Evan's digital manga service Omoi (formerly Azuki).
Dr. Leslie Baynes returns to the podcast to talk about biblical and literary allusions in (and origins of) The Magician's Nephew! If you haven't already, check out her book, Between Interpretation and Imagination: C.S. Lewis and the Bible. Among other things, we discuss: 1:37 — Introductions Chris introduces Dr. Leslie Baynes — NT scholar, author on CS Lewis and the Bible. 3:30 — Stars, Singing & Job 38 Discussion of how Aslan's creation song echoes Job 38 ("the morning stars sang together"). Lewis loved this verse even as a teenage atheist. 6:07 — Hebrew Poetic Parallelism Leslie explains Hebrew poetic parallelism and the connection between "stars" and "sons of God" in Job. How this idea — that stars are divine beings — was widespread in the ancient world. 9:09 — Stars as Minor Gods in Narnia & Tolkien Voyage of the Dawn Treader's Ramandu as a retired star; comparison to Tolkien's Ainur singing creation into existence in the Silmarillion. 11:58 — E. Nesbit as a Source for Lewis Lewis openly based the Chronicles on E. Nesbit's children's books. The frame story of The Magician's Nephew (sick mother, absent father, magical adventure, happy resolution) follows Nesbit's formula exactly. 18:04 — The Wood Between the Worlds & Charn These sections feel less biblical; Charn likely drawn from Nesbit's The Amulet (children traveling through time to an ancient Near Eastern setting). The Wood Between the Worlds echoes Lewis's Mere Christianity hallway metaphor. 23:03 — Jadis/White Witch & Lilith Luke Mills found a passage in the medieval kabbalistic Alphabet of Ben Sira linking Lilith to a golden bell — possible indirect influence on Lewis's Witch origin story. 26:08 — Narnia's Creation vs. Genesis Aslan creates stars first — Lewis "correcting" the light-before-sun problem in Genesis 1. Frank and Helen as Adam & Eve; their children marrying nymphs and dryads resolves the "who did Cain marry?" puzzle. 31:22 — The Garden of the Hesperides The western garden in The Magician's Nephew blends the Garden of Eden with the Greek Garden of the Hesperides (Atlas's daughters, golden apples, a guardian dragon/serpent). Lewis changed the apples to silver — possibly echoing Yeats's "silver apples of the moon." 34:45 — Milton's Comus & Watchful Dragons Lewis adored Comus as a teenager. His famous "past watchful dragons" metaphor connects to the guardian dragon of the Hesperides (who keeps people away from the apples), inverting the Eden serpent (who tempts people toward the fruit). 39:48 — Joy, West, and the Last Battle The western garden = "Joy" (sehnsucht) for Lewis. In The Last Battle, the characters run west, then turn east to their final home — fulfilling joy rather than endlessly pursuing it. Same arc as The Pilgrim's Regress. 42:25 — Lewis as a "Magpie" Creator Lewis freely borrowed from everything — Nesbit, Milton, Job, the Hesperides — without apology. Discussion of his view (in Mere Christianity) that true originality comes from surrender to God, not self-invention. 45:43 — Pagan vs. Christian — A False Split Lewis (like Justin Martyr) believed all truth is God's truth. Anything good in "pagan" sources can be integrated into a Christian worldview — rejecting the idea that they must be kept entirely separate.
Season 9 premieres with The Silmarillion: Foreword and Introduction! Evelyn once again dives in knowing absolutely nothing, while Robert chooses the hill he's willing to die on: do Balrogs have wings, and if they do… can they fly? We're excited to be back from hiatus and ready to return to Middle-earth with you all. Enjoy! Podcasters are Evelyn and Robert Lewis Produced by Comic Canary, Evelyn Lewis, and Robert Lewis Edited by Evelyn Lewis Follow us: http://tolkienaboutit.com/ Patreon: Tolkien About It Podcast Facebook: Tolkien About It Twitter: @TolkienPod
J.R.R. Tolkien spent decades building a world that was never supposed to save itself easily — and Peter Jackson spent three films reminding us why that matters. This episode, the Nerds crack open The Fellowship of the Ring and try to figure out what makes it still hold up, still hit hard, and still make grown adults emotional about a wizard and some very small men. We dig into Tolkien's original novel, Jackson's 2001 adaptation, the question of what gets lost and gained in translation from page to screen, Tom Bombadil's conspicuous absence, and whether the Shire is the most effective piece of world-building in fantasy history.
Join The Man of the West — to whom this episode's title does not refer… usually — as we read the climax of the War of Wrath, and Morgoth finally gets what's coming to him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Clearly not The Man of the West, today's title describes the sight of Eärendil's ship, Vingilot, as it sails into the heavens — freeing the Elves from despair, while filling Morgoth with doubt. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
For this show-within-a-show, Craig and Andrew learned about the world of Middle-Earth by reading J.R.R. Tolkien's posthumously published legendarium THE SILMARILLION. This episode posted first for our Patreon supporters in June 2025. If you want to hear our current longread project TOKYO DRIFTERS (and a bunch of other stuff besides), visit Patreon.com/overduepod.In the beginning, Eru Ilúvatar created the heaven and the earth, primarily by watching his child-angels have an epic sing-off. And Melkor was there singing bad stuff, but Ilúvatar was like "no matter how bad you sing I can always make it a part of the awesome world I am building."Anyway, this episode is about perhaps the most biblical part of the Hobbit Bible, where a god-like figure creates the world and casts out one of his followers who thinks he's good enough to challenge god himself. Also: the Dwarves are created, and the Elves wake up.The reading list:Ep 1 - Ainulindale, Valaquenta, Quenta Silmarillion Ch 1-3Ep 2 - Quenta Silmarillion Ch 4-10Ep 3 - Quenta Silmarillion Ch 11-16Ep 4 - Quenta Silmarillion Ch 17-20Ep 5 - Quenta Silmarillion Ch 21-24Ep 6 - Akallabeth, Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age, AppendicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
J.R.R. Tolkien is considered by many to be the father of modern fantasy. The vast world he created in Middle-earth is full of elves and orcs, magic and mystery, lore and legend, and more than a few pieces of troublesome jewelry. In addition to “The Lord of the Rings,” “The Hobbit” and “The Silmarillion,” Tolkien left a trove of hand-drawn maps and scribbled notes and half-started plotlines that have enchanted both casual reader and literary scholar alike. It is well-known, too, that Tolkien was a serious Catholic; his faith inevitably affected his work. But unlike his contemporary, C.S. Lewis — the master and maker of other fantastical lands, most notably Narnia — Tolkien was loathe to thrust upon the reader his own allegorical message. He wanted readers to find their own way and their own meaning in his words. All to say, Tolkien was still a man of profound faith. His Catholic imagination was still very much alive and well as he peopled Middle-earth, as he wove in themes of hope and redemption and mercy. The reader is not forced to adhere to a Catholic worldview while engaging Tolkiens' writing; but for a Catholic — or Christian — with a desire to see it, there are spiritual insights to mine that can inform the workings of a Catholic life. That is what Kaitlyn Facista set out to do in her new book from Ave Maria Press, “Into the Heart of Middle-Earth: Exploring Faith and Fellowship in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.” And she's well equipped to do it — she's the founder of the online community Tea with Tolkien. She's our guest today. In our conversation — and in her book — Kaitlyn ferrets out key spiritual themes of Tolkien's life and work and offers them to us for our own reflection. If you're a fan of Tolkien, fantasy or just interested in applying a Catholic imagination to pop culture and literature, you're going to enjoy today's conversation. If you're interested in learning more about the book or Tea with Tolkien, check out the links below: Tea with Tolkien: https://www.teawithtolkien.com/ Get the book: https://www.avemariapress.com/products/into-the-heart-of-middle-earth?srsltid=AfmBOoqAaxWrmwgG-H2PdFx4yAQPaK7eevhX5A_lyuvESJ8EKhXyHUkJ
Join The Man of the West as Eärendil wanders the lonely streets of Tirion, and Eönwë has a sense of dramatic timing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
5:01:45 – The Three Weasels (Bryan, Peter, and Frank) in Pennsylvania, and then Frank back in NJ, plus the Other Side. Topics include: Arrived at Bryan’s in Pennsylvania, Engelbert Humperdinck, Eddie Izzard, Dressed to Kill, AI, moon mission, theories, soy sauce, The Silmarillion, Chinese grocery, kava kava, King of Prussia, kava disappointment, Dungeon Crawler Carl, record store, […]
5:01:45 – The Three Weasels (Bryan, Peter, and Frank) in Pennsylvania, and then Frank back in NJ, plus the Other Side. Topics include: Arrived at Bryan’s in Pennsylvania, Engelbert Humperdinck, Eddie Izzard, Dressed to Kill, AI, moon mission, theories, soy sauce, The Silmarillion, Chinese grocery, kava kava, King of Prussia, kava disappointment, Dungeon Crawler Carl, record store, […]
We've been building up to this for a few series now, and it's finally time to begin Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
As if I need to tell you that today's episode title has nothing whatsoever to do with The Man of the West. We conclude the tragic chapter Of the Ruin of Doriath with the loss of Beren and Lúthien, some unwelcome guests, and even more death. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This month, Jude and Stef explore Tolkien's complex thoughts on justice, healing, and the intricacies of Elven marriage and reincarnation through an in-depth analysis of the 'Laws and Customs Among the Eldar' in the History of Middle-earth Volume 10, Morgoth's Ring. We delve into Tolkien's writing process, the philosophical debate of the Valar and the Statute of Finwë and Míriel, and the implications for understanding Elven mortality in Arda Marred. Citations Tolkien, J. R. R. Morgoth's Ring. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 10. HarperCollins, London, 1993.
Where do the Children Play? In this episode, we read an Easter message from the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem. Then we read Malcom Guite's Lenten meditation on creation, the embodiment of heavenly music, and why J.R.R. Tolkien expressed a profound, deep truth through not-so-fictional fiction stories. This and much, much more in this episode of the Banned Books podcast. SHOW NOTES: Wardrobes and Rings: Through Lenten Lands with the Inklings https://amzn.to/4bE3yTS Malcolm Guite https://malcolmguite.com Easter Message 2026 https://www.custodia.org/en/news/easter-message-2026-the-patriarchs-and-heads-of-the-churches-in-jerusalem/ The Silmarillion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Silmarillion The Imagination Bodies Forth - a talk by Malcolm Guite https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8IpDVn5xEk Malcolm Guite YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXat06LvIYIyE2SpV_IuVjA/featured More from 1517: Support 1517 Podcast Network: https://www.1517.org/donate-podcasts 1517 Podcasts: http://www.1517.org/podcasts 1517 on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@1517org 1517 Podcast Network on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/channel/1517-podcast-network/id6442751370 1517 Events Schedule: https://www.1517.org/events 1517 Academy - Free Theological Education: https://academy.1517.org/ What's New from 1517: 1517 Youtube: How God Still Speaks Today https://youtu.be/oqTGOUe7YG0?si=ZAdFLVhZYmSNgzsp Being Family by Dr. Scott Keith https://shop.1517.org/products/9781964419961-being-family A Reasoned Defense of the Faith by Adam Francisco https://shop.1517.org/collections/coming-soon/products/9781964419879-a-reasoned-defense-of-the-faith Stretched: A Study for Lent and the Entire Christian Life by Dr. Christopher Richmann https://shop.1517.org/products/9781964419381-stretched The Essential Nestingen: Essays on Preaching, Catechism, and the Reformation https://shop.1517.org/products/9781964419121-the-essential-nestingen Philip Melanchthon's Commentary on Ecclesiastes, Translated by Dr. Derek Cooper https://shop.1517.org/products/9781964419299-philip-melanchthons-commentary-on-ecclesiastes More from the hosts: Donovan Riley https://www.1517.org/contributors/donavon-riley Christopher Gillespie https://www.1517.org/contributors/christopher-gillespie CONTACT and FOLLOW: Email mailto:BannedBooks@1517.org Facebook https://www.facebook.com/BannedBooksPod/ Twitter https://twitter.com/bannedbooks1517 SUBSCRIBE: YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@BannedBooks Rumble https://rumble.com/c/c-1223313 Odysee https://odysee.com/@bannedbooks:5 Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/banned-books/id1370993639 Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2ahA20sZMpBxg9vgiRVQba Overcast https://overcast.fm/itunes1370993639/banned-books MORE LINKS: Tin Foil Haloes https://t.me/bannedpastors Warrior Priest Gym & Podcast https://thewarriorpriestpodcast.wordpress.com St John's Lutheran Church (Webster, MN) - FB Live Bible Study Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/356667039608511 Gillespie's Sermons and Catechesis http://youtube.com/stjohnrandomlake Donavon's Substack https://donavonlriley.substack.com Gillespie's Nostr https://primal.net/p/nprofile1qqszfrg80ctjdr0wy5arrseu6h9g36kqx8fanr6a6zee0n8txa7xytc627hlq Gillespie Coffee https://gillespie.coffee Gillespie Media https://gillespie.media
Join The Man of the West as we continue in The Ruin of Doriath, standing beside Melian in her grief. Mablung meets his end fulfilling his duty, and Beren rescues the stolen Nauglamír. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Lunch on lamb with Steven H Silver as we discuss our shared status as record-breaking losers, my morbid suggestion about what he'll need to do upon my death, the reason he found The Silmarillion more interesting than The Lord of the Rings, how meeting Mel Brooks and other luminaries made him more at ease once he began attending science fiction conventions, the way a cancelled contest resulted in his first short fiction sale, what it was like to be in a writing workshop taught by Gene Wolfe, the allure of the alternate history subgenre (and how it differs from secret histories), what he learned publishing a novel in the middle of a global pandemic, the Easter eggs he scattered through After Hastings, and much more.
What if death's presence in the cosmos is not native to creation but a wound running all the way down to its foundations, inflicted before Adam ever reached for the fruit? Philip Porter joins Derek Rishmawy, Alastair Roberts, and Brad East to discuss his new book, which retrieves Augustine, Aquinas, Milton, and Tolkien to argue that the angelic fall precedes and precipitates every other form of evil, and that contemporary theology has been too quick to make peace with death. —— Hosts: Derek Rishmawy, Alastair Roberts, Brad East Guest: Philip Porter, assistant professor of theology at Saint Louis University (Madrid) and author of Unnatural Death: Creation, Sin, and the Angelic Fall. He completed his doctoral work under Paul Griffiths at Duke Divinity School. —— Get the free ebook Spiritual Formation for the Family at http://mereorthodoxy.com/family. Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, become a Mere Orthodoxy Member today at http://mereorthodoxy.com/membership. Get 30% of the Baker Book of the Month, Keeping Kids Christian: Recovering A Biblical Vision For Lifelong Discipleship, by going to: http://bakerbookhouse.com/pages/mere-fidelity Apply for Beeson Divinity School's Ph.D program by April 1 for Fall 2026 admission here: https://bit.ly/BeesonPhD —— Timestamps 0:00 - Intro 3:50 - Porter's thesis: why death as enemy matters and what contemporary theology gets wrong 8:40 - Augustine's rationes seminales: the seed-like reasons at the heart of creation 10:15 - Angels as administrators of creation and how their fall wounds the cosmos 13:30 - Tolkien's Silmarillion, Melkor's discord, and the felix culpa logic 17:30 - The conditio and administratio: God's atemporal creation vs. its unfolding in time 20:00 - Three false paths: Kelsey, McCabe, and Darwin 27:00 - Does scripture naturalize death? The grain of wheat, 1 Corinthians 15, and Alastair's question 39:10 - The double fall: Romans 5, the angelic fall, and how they fit together 42:00 - Satan's envy of the hypostatic union: what Lucifer saw and why he turned 52:00 - Refracted and diffracted light: a metaphor for holy and fallen angels 1:01:40 - Deep time, hominins, and what it means for Adam to be unfallen in a devastated cosmos 1:05:05 - The Johannine thread: destroying the works of the devil and what the devil actually wants 1:12:30 - Universalism, David Bentley Hart, and the problem the angelic fall poses for it 1:20:35 - Supralapsarianism and the incarnation-anyway position Books Mentioned Philip Porter, Unnatural Death: Creation, Sin, and the Angelic Fall Paul Griffiths, Decreation David Kelsey, Eccentric Existence J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion David Bentley Hart, That All Shall Be Well Ambrose of Milan, On the Good of Death
The Man of the West may be used to hearing those words, but today they're meant for the Dwarves of Nogrod that are haughtily dismissed by Thingol, unaware of the danger he faces. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
When evidence reveals the drone pilot to be a white Andorian, Archer and Shran beam down to the polar region looking for the Aenar. But after building a telepresence chair right in the middle of sicksbay, the crew's tests eventually reach Gareb and end the Romulan attack. Who's not the easiest person to work with? Why are Ben and Adam never going back to the U.K.? What's a great strategy for resigning from a job? It's the episode that's The Silmarillion for Hemmer.Support the production of The Greatest GenerationGet a thing at podshop.biz!Sign up for our mailing list!Follow The Game of Buttholes: The Will of the Riker - Quantum LeapThe Greatest Generation is produced by Wynde PriddySocial media is managed by Rob Adler and Bill TilleyMusic by Adam Ragusea & Dark MateriaFriends of DeSoto for: Labor | Democracy | JusticeDiscuss the show using the hashtag #GreatestGen and find us on social media:YouTube | Facebook | X | Instagram | TikTok | Mastodon | Bluesky | ThreadsAnd check out these online communities run by FODs: Reddit | USS Hood Discord | Facebook group | Wikia | FriendsOfDeSoto.social Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.