Stay ConnectedEmbark upon a wondrous journey through the realms of Middle-earth and beyond with the Tolkien Road, a podcast dedicated to the enchanting tales and writings of JRR Tolkien. Come, join John, Greta, and our mighty Fellowship as we delve deep into the magic that lingers within the pages of these timeless legends.
And always remember: DO NOT BE HASTY!!!
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Copyright: © Copyright 2015-2022 True Myths Press
What’s going on in Tolkien fandom right now—and should we be excited or worried about where things are headed?
Jonathan Watson of TheOneRing.com and Exploring Tolkien joins John for a wide-ranging conversation about Tolkien fandom past and present, The Rings of Power Season 3, The Hunt for Gollum, Shadow of the Past, The War of the Rohirrim, Netflix’s Narnia, HBO’s Harry Potter, and what makes an adaptation succeed or fail.
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CHAPTERS
00:00 — Introduction
01:21 — “Fellow Travelers” vs. “Fellowship”
02:25 — Jonathan Watson & TheOneRing.com
04:08 — Launching TheOneRing.com in 1999
04:44 — Tolkien Purism & Peter Jackson
05:55 — Early Online Tolkien Fandom
06:40 — Returning to Fandom
07:51 — Exploring Tolkien
08:50 — How Fandom Has Changed
12:19 — Jonathan’s Favorite Tolkien Passage
13:35 — Tolkien and Sub-creation
16:04 — “I Want to Go to There”
19:34 — Tolkien’s Love for Details
21:51 — Deep Tolkien Appreciation
22:58 — Rings of Power Season 3
24:48 — What Went Wrong?
25:14 — Compressing the Second Age
26:02 — Ham-Fisted Changes
27:03 — Middle-earth Geography
28:47 — The Writing Problem
31:40 — Why We’re Still Watching
33:30 — Why Peter Jackson Worked
35:46 — What Modern Franchises Are Missing
36:30 — “Member Berries”
41:56 — The Hunt for Gollum
43:44 — The War of the Rohirrim
48:43 — LOTR and Star Wars
49:29 — Could Gollum Be Middle-earth’s Rogue One?
49:58 — Shadow of the Past
50:11 — Why Not Aldarion and Erendis?
57:53 — Tolkien-Adjacent Territory
58:01 — Netflix’s The Magician’s Nephew
1:00:57 — “We Want Our Grandparents’ Narnia”
1:03:26 — HBO’s Harry Potter
1:04:39 — One Book Per Season
1:05:02 — LOTR as Prestige TV?
1:06:48 — HBO, Apple & Adaptation Quality
1:07:28 — Brandon Sanderson & the Cosmere
1:08:17 — Silo
1:10:10 — “When It Comes to Tolkien, Get It Right”
1:14:10 — Decades of Tolkien Fandom
1:14:34 — Where to Find Jonathan
1:16:25 — Final Thoughts
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THE STATE OF TOLKIEN FANDOM
Jonathan launched TheOneRing.com in 1999, before social media transformed online fandom.
Fans gathered on message boards and chat rooms while following the production of Peter Jackson’s films.
Jonathan remembers a fandom where people could criticize adaptations without every disagreement becoming personal.
The internet has changed considerably since then.
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WHY TOLKIEN STILL WORKS
Jonathan’s favorite Tolkien passage comes from Frodo listening to music in Rivendell.
Tolkien does not simply tell us what Frodo feels.
His language creates images that invite the reader to participate imaginatively.
That is part of Tolkien’s sub-creative power.
He creates Middle-earth.
We participate by imagining it.
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RINGS OF POWER
John and Jonathan discuss their disappointment with The Rings of Power:
• Compressed chronology
• Awkward geography
• Weak dialogue
• Questionable character choices
• Plot problems
• Too much reliance on familiar Tolkien imagery
The frustration comes partly from how much potential the Second Age contains.
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WHY PETER JACKSON WORKED
Peter Jackson changed Tolkien too.
But the original trilogy possessed a strong creative vision.
Modern franchise storytelling can instead become a corporate exercise built around committees, callbacks, and familiar imagery.
Great adaptations need someone who understands the source and has a coherent vision for translating it.
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HUNT FOR GOLLUM
The pedigree behind The Hunt for Gollum gives reason for hope.
But the fundamental question remains:
Why this story?
We already know where Gollum ends up.
Could it become Middle-earth’s Rogue One—a story whose ending is known but whose execution makes the journey worthwhile?
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WHY NOT OTHER TOLKIEN STORIES?
Tolkien left behind plenty of material that has never reached the screen.
Aldarion and Erendis alone contains romance, political tension, voyages, Númenor, Elves, and Middle-earth.
Why continually return to familiar ground when so many other stories remain unexplored?
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NARNIA & HARRY POTTER
The conversation expands into other fantasy adaptations.
John and Jonathan are wary of Netflix’s The Magician’s Nephew, especially the tendency to reinvent beloved material for a supposedly modern audience.
They are more intrigued by HBO’s Harry Potter series and its plan to devote an entire season to each book.
That even raises the question:
Could Lord of the Rings someday work as prestige television?
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THE BIG TAKEAWAY
Tolkien fandom has changed enormously since 1999.
The internet changed.
Movies changed.
Fandom changed.
But Tolkien’s writing remains the center of it all.
Its depth, beauty, and imaginative power are still the standard.
That is why Tolkien fans care so deeply when adaptations get Middle-earth right—and why they notice when they don’t.
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How different was Tolkien’s earliest Silmarillion—and which of its most important ideas had not even taken shape yet?
In Episode 234 of The Tolkien Road, John and Greta complete their survey of The Book of Lost Tales 1 with its final six chapters. Along the way: the awakening of the Elves, the Darkening of Valinor, the Flight of the Noldor, the Sun and Moon, the Hiding of Valinor, and the coming of Men.
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CHAPTERS
00:00 — Introduction
01:36 — The Book of Lost Tales 1, Part 3
05:02 — Tolkien Quote of the Week
06:11 — Tolkien Transforming War Into Myth
07:37 — Revisiting the Book of Lost Tales
09:07 — Christopher Tolkien’s Monumental Task
10:15 — The Coming of the Elves and the Making of Kor
11:49 — The Frame Narrative Continues
12:27 — Why Frame Narratives Work
16:38 — How the Early Story Differs
17:26 — Melko Is Released Much Earlier
18:00 — Tolkien’s Early Poem “Kor”
21:23 — The Theft of Melko and the Darkening of Valinor
22:06 — Melko Corrupts the Noldoli
25:01 — The Silmarils Were Barely Important
26:39 — Why This Isn’t Yet “The Silmarillion”
27:23 — The Book of Lost Tales as a Rough Draft
29:58 — The Flight of the Noldoli
34:02 — There Is No Oath of Fëanor
34:30 — The Teleri Were the Solosimpi
34:56 — The Tale of the Sun and Moon
36:02 — Tolkien Knew It Needed Revision
40:52 — The Man in the Moon
41:57 — The Hiding of Valinor
44:25 — Tolkien Condemns the Valar’s Choice
45:08 — Gilfanon’s Tale
47:43 — Where Volume 1 Leaves Us
48:53 — One Volume Down, Eleven to Go
49:22 — Listener Correspondence
57:35 — What’s Coming Next
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THE SILMARILS WEREN’T CENTRAL YET
Melko’s corruption of the Noldoli looks surprisingly familiar.
He spreads lies about the Valar and tells the Elves they are being denied their rightful freedom.
But the Silmarils themselves are still relatively unimportant.
Like the One Ring in The Hobbit, something that begins in the background will eventually move to the center of an entire mythology.
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NO OATH OF FËANOR
The Flight of the Noldoli contains another enormous difference.
There is no Oath of Fëanor.
Considering how completely the Oath drives the tragedy of the published Silmarillion, its absence shows just how unfinished Tolkien’s conception still was.
Even the Teleri have another name: the Solosimpi.
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TOLKIEN’S ROUGH DRAFT
The Book of Lost Tales is essentially Tolkien discovering his mythology through writing.
Ideas move into focus.
Others disappear.
Names change.
Chronology changes.
Entire narrative structures are abandoned.
The finished mythology did not spring into existence fully formed.
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THE HIDING OF VALINOR
In this early version, Tolkien treats the Valar’s decision to hide Valinor much more critically.
Their failure to confront Melko is presented as a serious mistake.
That explicit condemnation largely disappears from Tolkien’s later version of the mythology.
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THE BIG TAKEAWAY
The Book of Lost Tales 1 shows Tolkien discovering The Silmarillion.
The Silmarils were not always central.
The Oath of Fëanor was not always there.
The Cottage of Lost Play frame eventually disappeared.
Yet the foundations of Middle-earth are already unmistakable.
This is Tolkien’s mythology while it was still becoming itself.
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SPECIAL THANKS
• Kaitlyn of Tea with Tolkien
• Liis U
• Andrew T
• John R
• Ms. Anonymous
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What did we miss in the Foreword and Prologue to The Lord of the Rings?
In Episode 393 of The Tolkien Road, John goes back through some fascinating “mathoms” from Do Not Be Hasty—from Tolkien’s rejected Silmarillion and savage early reviews to allegory, Sarehole Mill, the origins of “Hobbit” and “Dwarves,” the meaning of Middle-earth, and more.
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CHAPTERS
00:00 — Introduction
00:44 — What Is a Mathoms Episode?
01:49 — Tolkien and the “Impression of Depth”
03:29 — Why Publishers Rejected The Silmarillion
04:52 — Could Silmarillion Stories Become Novels?
07:23 — The Worst Early LOTR Reviews
09:23 — “Juvenile Trash”?
11:00 — Tolkien Was Supposedly Already Forgotten
13:35 — Tolkien on Allegory
15:00 — Allegory vs. Applicability
17:03 — Sarehole Mill and the Real Shire
18:11 — Tolkien Returns to His Lost Paradise
22:14 — Prologue Mathoms
22:19 — Did Tolkien Invent “Hobbit”?
25:30 — Why Tolkien Wrote “Dwarves”
28:03 — How Tolkien Imagined Hobbits
29:21 — Middle-earth Is Our World
30:58 — What Arnor and Gondor Mean
32:46 — Marcho and Blanco
34:09 — What “Angmar” Means
35:35 — The Shire Is Rural England
37:11 — Where “Shirriff” Comes From
38:40 — Tolkien Rewrites Bilbo’s Ring Story
40:13 — What “Samwise” Means
41:28 — The Meaning of Elrond
42:48 — Final Thoughts
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THE SILMARILLION WAS REJECTED
In 1937, Tolkien submitted Silmarillion material for publication.
It was considered too strange and difficult, though Stanley Unwin believed its stories might be mined for books more like The Hobbit.
That raises an interesting possibility: could individual Silmarillion stories have become full-length novels?
The Children of Húrin shows what that might look like.
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THEY CALLED LOTR “JUVENILE TRASH”
Some early critics dismissed The Lord of the Rings as childish, simplistic, or doomed to be forgotten.
History had other plans.
The reviews also reveal the divide between Tolkien and parts of the literary establishment that never quite knew what to make of him.
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ALLEGORY VS. APPLICABILITY
Tolkien was not opposed to readers finding deeper meaning in stories.
He objected to deliberately constructing stories as rigid one-to-one allegories.
A good story can apply naturally to many experiences because readers bring their own lives to it.
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HOBBITS, DWARVES, AND MIDDLE-EARTH
Did Tolkien invent “Hobbit”? Almost certainly in the form we know it.
Why “Dwarves” instead of “Dwarfs”? Tolkien preferred the form suggested by the word’s older linguistic history.
And Middle-earth is not another planet.
It is our world imagined in a distant mythological age.
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THE SHIRE IS ENGLAND
Tolkien explicitly said that, if we drop the fiction, the Shire is rural England.
Sarehole and the countryside of Tolkien’s childhood strongly influenced its creation.
The Hobbits may live in an ancient mythological world, but culturally they carry Victorian rural England with them.
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BILBO’S STORY
Tolkien changed Bilbo’s account of finding the Ring because The Lord of the Rings required a more sinister Ring.
Inside the story, that revision becomes evidence that the Ring was already affecting Bilbo.
A real-world rewrite becomes part of Middle-earth’s lore.
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THE BIG TAKEAWAY
With Tolkien, even the smallest details have histories.
Words, names, places, manuscripts, and revisions all lead somewhere deeper.
That is why these little “mathoms” are so rewarding: they show just how thoroughly Tolkien built his world.
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SPECIAL THANKS
• Caitlin of Tea with Tolkien
• John R.
• KG
• A.R. Endale Hope
• Alan C.
• Stephanie B.
• Dustin Q.
• Robert S.
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What was Tolkien’s mythology actually like when he first began writing it?
In Episode 233 of The Tolkien Road, John and Greta continue through The History of Middle-earth with the first four chapters of The Book of Lost Tales 1. They encounter Tolkien’s original frame narrative, early versions of the Music of the Ainur and Valinor, Tinfang Warble, and a Middle-earth that is familiar—but also wonderfully strange.
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CHAPTERS
00:00 — Introduction
01:51 — The Book of Lost Tales, Part 2
04:15 — Tolkien Quote of the Week
07:00 — How The Book of Lost Tales Is Organized
09:21 — The Ten Chapters of Volume 1
10:08 — Melko, the Noldoli, and Early Names
12:44 — Our Approach to The History of Middle-earth
14:33 — The Cottage of Lost Play
15:00 — Tolkien’s 1917 Exercise Book
19:11 — What Is the Cottage of Lost Play?
19:51 — Tolkien’s Original Frame Narrative
20:26 — Eriol Arrives on Tol Eressëa
25:26 — How the Frame Narrative Works
28:16 — Early Cottage of Lost Play Poems
29:09 — The Music of the Ainur
31:18 — Tolkien and the Oxford English Dictionary
35:24 — Rúmil Begins the Music
36:14 — How Similar Is It to the Ainulindalë?
37:00 — The Coming of the Valar
38:27 — The Strange Early Story of the Two Lamps
44:31 — The Chaining of Melko
44:57 — Tinfang Warble
46:27 — A Major Difference from The Silmarillion
47:33 — The Frame Narrative Continues
49:10 — The Tinfang Warble Poem
49:55 — A Precursor to Tom Bombadil?
53:26 — Could The Silmarillion Work Better With a Frame?
54:10 — Listener Correspondence
1:01:35 — What’s Coming Next
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THE COTTAGE OF LOST PLAY
Tolkien originally gave his mythology a frame narrative.
A mortal traveler named Eriol comes to Tol Eressëa and hears the ancient legends from the inhabitants of the Cottage of Lost Play.
Rather than presenting the mythology simply as history, Tolkien imagined someone actually hearing these stories within the world.
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THE EARLIEST SILMARILLION
The Music of the Ainur already resembles the later Ainulindalë.
The Coming of the Valar contains material recognizable from the published Silmarillion.
But names, geography, chronology, and details can be strikingly different.
Melkor is still Melko. The Noldor are the Noldoli. Familiar ideas are present, but the mythology is still changing.
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TINFANG WARBLE
The Chaining of Melko introduces one of the stranger delights of Tolkien’s earliest mythology: Tinfang Warble, a mysterious flute-playing figure associated with twilight and the stars.
Could he even contain a distant hint of the figure who eventually became Tom Bombadil?
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THE BIG TAKEAWAY
The Book of Lost Tales is not simply a rough draft of The Silmarillion.
It is an earlier vision of Tolkien’s mythology.
Some ideas are already remarkably familiar. Others would disappear completely.
And perhaps the most fascinating lost idea is the frame itself: Tolkien originally imagined these legends not simply as history, but as stories being told.
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SPECIAL THANKS
• Kaitlyn of Tea with Tolkien
• Liis U
• Andrew T
• John R
• Ms. Anonymous
• Shannon S
• Brian O
• Emilio P
• Zeke F
• James A
• James L
• Chris L
• Chuck F
• Asya V
• Ish of the Hammer
• Teresa C
• David of Pints with Jack
• Jonathan D
• Eric S
• Joey S
• Eric B
• Matt L
• Johanna T
• Sam N
• Mike M
• Dyrenair
• Robert H
• Paul D
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Why did Bilbo lie about how he found the Ring—and why did Tolkien invent an entire history for the manuscripts behind The Lord of the Rings?
In Episode 386 of The Tolkien Road, John concludes the Prologue with “The Finding of the Ring” and “Note on the Shire Records.” We explore Bilbo’s false account, Gandalf’s suspicions, the mysterious “luck” behind finding the Ring, and Tolkien’s elaborate history of the Red Book of Westmarch.
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CHAPTERS
00:00 — Introduction
01:10 — The Finding of the Ring
02:27 — The Accident That Changed Middle-earth
03:24 — Was Finding the Ring Really Luck?
04:04 — Does the Ring Have a Will?
05:26 — Bilbo’s Original Version of the Story
07:11 — Why Did Bilbo Lie?
08:02 — Gandalf Doesn’t Believe Bilbo
08:25 — Bilbo’s Mithril Coat
09:16 — Note on the Shire Records
09:53 — Why Hobbits Started Writing History
11:00 — Tolkien’s Imaginary Textual History
11:47 — The Great Shire Libraries
12:32 — Merry, Pippin, and Sam’s Connections
13:08 — The Red Book of Westmarch
13:33 — The Thain’s Book
14:50 — Tolkien the Textual Historian
16:31 — Bilbo’s Translations from the Elvish
17:15 — A Frame Narrative for The Silmarillion?
17:48 — Merry and Pippin’s Historical Works
18:28 — Númenor and Sauron in the Records
19:08 — Tolkien’s Universe-Building
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BILBO LIED ABOUT THE RING
Bilbo did not originally tell the true story of how he obtained the Ring.
He claimed Gollum had promised it to him as a present if Bilbo won the riddle game.
Why change the story?
The altered version puts Bilbo’s ownership beyond doubt. Instead of merely taking Gollum’s treasure, he can tell himself that he legitimately earned it.
That becomes an early sign of the Ring working upon him.
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WAS IT REALLY LUCK?
Bilbo finding the Ring initially seems like an accident.
But the Ring may itself be trying to escape Gollum and return to Sauron.
At the same time, another will appears to be at work.
The fact that a Hobbit—and specifically Bilbo—finds it becomes enormously important.
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THE RED BOOK OF WESTMARCH
The final section of the Prologue gives us Tolkien’s imaginary textual history of Middle-earth.
After the War of the Ring, Hobbits develop a greater interest in their past and establish important libraries at Undertowers, Great Smials, and Brandy Hall.
At the center of this history is the Red Book of Westmarch.
It begins with Bilbo’s diary.
Frodo adds the account of the War of the Ring.
Later copies preserve and expand the material.
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BILBO AND THE SILMARILLION
Bilbo’s three volumes of Translations from the Elvish concern the Elder Days.
That strongly suggests an in-universe source for much of the material we know as The Silmarillion.
It also raises a fascinating possibility:
Bilbo working in Rivendell could have provided a natural frame narrative for The Silmarillion itself.
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THE BIG TAKEAWAY
Tolkien does more than invent history.
He invents the history of how that history was recorded.
The Red Book, the Thain’s Book, Bilbo’s translations, and the writings of Merry and Pippin make Middle-earth feel like a lost world whose surviving texts Tolkien merely inherited, edited, and translated.
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SPECIAL THANKS
• John R.
• Caitlin of Tea with Tolkien
• KG
• Melkor27
• Saber Systems
• Jeremy D.
• Emilio P.
• Jonathan D.
• Richard K.
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What exactly is The Book of Lost Tales—and why did Christopher Tolkien decide to publish the long, complicated history of his father’s evolving mythology?
In this episode of The Tolkien Road, John and Greta begin their journey through The History of Middle-earth with Volume 1, The Book of Lost Tales 1. Along the way, they explore Christopher Tolkien’s difficult task as his father’s literary executor, why The Silmarillion is so challenging, whether a frame narrative might have made it more accessible, and what Tolkien’s earliest surviving mythology reveals about the evolution of Middle-earth.
The episode also begins on a personal note, as John remembers his father, Nat Carswell, who first introduced him to The Hobbit and C.S. Lewis.
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CHAPTERS
00:00 — Introduction
03:12 — Remembering John’s Father
04:01 — The Hobbit Book Report That Started It All
05:05 — Narnia, C.S. Lewis, and Tolkien
06:00 — A Tolkienian Farewell
08:39 — Beginning The History of Middle-earth
12:28 — Christopher Tolkien’s Foreword
13:29 — What Is The Book of Lost Tales?
14:03 — How Christopher Created The Silmarillion
15:16 — Did Christopher Do His Father’s Work Justice?
15:48 — Why Publish a Textual History of Middle-earth?
20:26 — Why The Silmarillion Is So Difficult
21:23 — Tolkien’s “Impression of Depth”
24:20 — Does Explaining the Mystery Destroy It?
27:56 — The Problem of the Missing Frame Narrative
29:25 — The Book of Lost Tales Actually Had a Frame
30:20 — Would a Frame Have Improved The Silmarillion?
32:27 — The Silmarillion Tolkien Never Finished
33:41 — The Earliest Version of Tolkien’s Mythology
35:15 — How the Legends Changed Over Time
36:05 — Christopher Tolkien’s Editorial Method
37:16 — Listener Feedback
47:47 — Beren, Lúthien, and Thingol
48:49 — Should There Ever Be a “Special Edition” Silmarillion?
53:03 — What’s Coming Next
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CHRISTOPHER TOLKIEN’S PROBLEM
• Tolkien did not leave behind a completed Silmarillion ready for publication.
• Christopher inherited finished passages, unfinished stories, notes, revisions, and competing versions.
• For the 1977 Silmarillion, Christopher synthesized that material into a coherent whole.
• He later became increasingly interested in showing readers what his father had actually written.
• The History of Middle-earth became a textual history of how the mythology evolved.
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WHY IS THE SILMARILLION SO DIFFICULT?
• There are no Hobbits to act as relatable intermediaries.
• The style is not conventionally novelistic.
• The book consists of interwoven legends rather than one continuous character-driven narrative.
• Christopher also wrestled with whether publishing the ancient legends would lessen the mysterious “depth” of The Lord of the Rings.
John and Greta argue that discovering the stories behind Tolkien’s allusions does not exhaust the mystery. New answers lead to new questions, and the legendarium remains full of unexplored territory.
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WOULD A FRAME NARRATIVE HAVE HELPED?
The published Silmarillion has no central frame narrative.
The Book of Lost Tales originally did.
A traveler comes across the sea and hears the ancient histories of the Elves in the Cottage of Lost Play. Tolkien later also considered connections involving Bilbo and the Red Book of Westmarch.
John and Greta discuss whether a frame—perhaps Bilbo telling Frodo the ancient legends—could have helped readers gain traction and provided a familiar doorway into the mythology.
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WHAT IS THE BOOK OF LOST TALES?
• Tolkien began the work around 1916–17 during the First World War.
• It contains the earliest substantial narrative versions of stories that eventually became The Silmarillion.
• The texts were never completely fixed.
• Tolkien revised them even within the original notebooks.
• Familiar characters and stories appear under different names and sometimes in significantly different forms.
This is Middle-earth while it was still becoming Middle-earth.
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CHRISTOPHER TOLKIEN’S METHOD
• Explain the physical manuscript or notebook containing each text.
• Reproduce Tolkien’s writing as faithfully as possible.
• Document revisions and alternate versions.
• Provide commentary explaining how the material developed.
The result allows readers to watch Tolkien’s mythology change and grow across decades.
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LISTENER FEEDBACK
The episode also includes listener correspondence about Tolkien’s religious and mythological influences, Lúthien’s place among the great heroes of the legendarium, and whether future editors should ever produce an expanded or revised Silmarillion.
The comparison with the Star Wars Special Editions raises an important question: how do you preserve and expand a beloved fictional world without endlessly altering or commercializing the original?
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THE BIG TAKEAWAY
The Book of Lost Tales matters because it lets us see Tolkien’s mythology before it became fixed.
Christopher Tolkien could never give us exactly the Silmarillion his father might eventually have completed.
Instead, The History of Middle-earth gives us something different: the opportunity to watch Tolkien invent, revise, abandon, recover, and transform his mythology across decades.
Rather than presenting Middle-earth as one finished creation, it reveals the legendarium as a lifelong creative process.
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SPECIAL THANKS
• Kaitlyn of Tea with Tolkien
• Lise Yu
• Andrew T
• John R
• Ms. Anonymous
• Robert H
• Payne Joiker
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Why did Tolkien devote part of The Lord of the Rings Prologue to pipe-weed and the government of the Shire?
In this episode of Do Not Be Hasty, we continue through the Prologue with “Concerning Pipe-weed” and “Of the Ordering of the Shire,” exploring Tolkien’s love of small details, the history of Hobbit smoking, and the surprisingly simple political structure of the Shire.
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CHAPTERS
00:00 — Introduction: Why the Little Details Matter
01:37 — Why Tolkien Wrote About Pipe-weed
02:22 — The Hobbit Invention of Smoking
04:03 — Tobold Hornblower and the Southfarthing
05:31 — Bree, the Prancing Pony, and the Spread of Pipe-weed
06:21 — Did Pipe-weed Come from Númenor?
07:19 — Gandalf Takes Up the Art
08:30 — Of the Ordering of the Shire
08:43 — The Four Farthings
11:27 — Why Hobbits Needed So Little Government
12:32 — The King of Arnor and Hobbit Law
14:58 — The Thain and the Took Family
17:00 — The Mayor of Michel Delving
18:42 — The Shirriffs and Bounders
20:11 — Signs That All Was Not Well
21:33 — What These Details Add to Middle-earth
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WHY PIPE-WEED MATTERS
• The section continues Tolkien’s larger exploration of Hobbit culture.
• Pipe-weed adds another layer of realism and history to the Shire.
• Tolkien treats even a small custom as something with origins, traditions, and regional variations.
• The practice becomes relevant later in the story through Gandalf and other characters.
• Tolkien’s own fondness for pipes likely helped inspire the section.
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THE HISTORY OF PIPE-WEED
• Hobbits regarded pipe-smoking as one of their own inventions.
• Tobold Hornblower began cultivating true pipe-weed in the Southfarthing.
• Famous varieties included Longbottom Leaf, Old Toby, and Southern Star.
• Bree also claimed an important role in the history of smoking.
• The Prancing Pony became one of the great centers of the art.
• From Bree, the practice spread to Dwarves, Rangers, Wizards, and other travelers.
• Merry suggests that the plant itself may ultimately have come from the lower Anduin and perhaps even Númenor.
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THE ORDERING OF THE SHIRE
• The Shire was divided into four Farthings: North, South, East, and West.
• Local regions were also associated with important families such as the Brandybucks and Tooks.
• Hobbit society required surprisingly little formal government.
• Families largely managed their own affairs.
• Tolkien emphasizes that Hobbits were generally generous, stable, and not especially greedy or domineering.
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THE KING, THE THAIN, AND HOBBIT LAW
• Hobbits continued to remember the ancient King of Arnor long after his kingdom disappeared.
• They preserved old laws because they considered them both ancient and just.
• The Thain served as a representative of the old royal authority.
• The Took family traditionally held this position.
• In times of emergency, the Thain could oversee the Shire Muster and the Hobbitry-in-Arms.
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THE MAYOR, SHIRRIFFS, AND BOUNDERS
• The Mayor of Michel Delving was elected every seven years.
• The mayor also served as postmaster and first Shirriff.
• Only twelve Shirriffs normally served the entire Shire.
• Their duties were less about policing Hobbits and more about dealing with animals and minor disturbances.
• The Bounders watched the borders and kept an eye on outsiders.
• Their numbers increased sharply as the events of The Fellowship of the Ring approached.
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THE BIG TAKEAWAY
These seemingly minor details reveal just how seriously Tolkien treated Middle-earth as a living world. Pipe-weed, local government, old laws, family traditions, and border patrols may not drive the plot—but they make the Shire feel real.
They also reinforce a central theme of Tolkien’s storytelling: Hobbit society works precisely because it is simple, local, stable, and largely uninterested in domination. That quiet order makes the disturbances at the beginning of The Lord of the Rings feel all the more significant.
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SPECIAL THANKS
• John R
• Kaitlyn of Tea with Tolkien
• Melkor27
• KG
• SaberSystems
• Jeremy D
• Emilio P
• Jonathan D
• Richard K
• Paul D
• Julia
• Werty
• Chris B
• Tuor91
• Carolyn S
• Emiel K
• Brian O the 2nd
• Jonathan R
• Matthew W
• Daniel D
• Harrison C
• Jason C
• Seb M
• Willbo Baggins
• Ms. Anonymous
• Andrew T
• Redhawk
• Shannon S
• Brian O (the 1st)
• Zeke F
• James L
• Chris L
• Asya V
• Ish of the Hammer
• Teresa C
• David of Pints with Jack
• Eric B
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What exactly is inside Unfinished Tales—and why did Christopher Tolkien include these particular writings?
In this episode of The Tolkien Road, we continue our After the Silmarillion series with a guided tour through Unfinished Tales, covering material from the First, Second, and Third Ages, along with the book’s fascinating appendices.
What exactly are hobbits—and where did they come from?
In this episode of DO NOT BE HASTY, we begin our journey through the Prologue to The Lord of the Rings with “Concerning Hobbits,” exploring Tolkien’s surprisingly detailed history of hobbit origins, migrations, culture, and the eventual founding of the Shire.
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CHAPTERS
00:00 — Introduction: Concerning Hobbits
01:25 — Tolkien, the Red Book of Westmarch, and Hobbit History
03:12 — Hobbit Culture: Peace, Quiet, Magic, and Machinery
05:05 — What Do Hobbits Actually Look Like?
06:30 — The Merry Folk of the Shire
08:35 — Where Did Hobbits Come From?
10:06 — Did Hobbits Exist in the Second Age?
11:30 — The Earliest Hobbit Homelands
14:35 — Harfoots, Stoors, and Fallohides
18:05 — Hobbit Leadership and the Common Good
20:09 — The Hobbits Move West into Eriador
21:59 — The Founding of the Shire
26:05 — How Big Is the Shire?
29:10 — Hobbit Holes, Houses, and Architecture
30:44 — Hobbit Families and Genealogies
33:14 — Why Hobbits Matter to Tolkien
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TOLKIEN’S “HISTORY” OF THE HOBBITS
• Tolkien presents himself almost as a compiler or translator of an ancient history.
• The Hobbit is presented as material derived from Bilbo’s portion of the Red Book of Westmarch.
• The Prologue expands that fictional history with a broader account of the hobbits as a people.
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WHAT ARE HOBBITS LIKE?
• Hobbits love peace, quiet, good food, cultivated land, hospitality, and parties.
• They distrust complicated machinery.
• They may appear almost magical to outsiders, but they do not consider themselves magical.
• Tolkien contrasts simple hobbit life with the desire to dominate through “magic” and machinery.
• Hobbits generally stand between two and four feet tall.
• Shire hobbits favor bright colors and usually go barefoot.
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THE ANCIENT ORIGINS OF HOBBITS
• Hobbits are relatives of Men, though their exact relationship has been forgotten.
• Their origins reach back into the Elder Days.
• For much of history they were virtually unknown to the Wise and Great.
• Their earliest remembered homeland was in the upper vales of the Anduin.
• They eventually migrated westward as Men multiplied and the shadow over Greenwood grew.
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HARFOOTS, STOORS, AND FALLOHIDES
• Harfoots — smaller, more numerous, associated with hills and highlands, and especially connected with living underground.
• Stoors — broader and heavier, more comfortable around rivers and Men. Sméagol and Déagol came from this branch.
• Fallohides — taller and fairer, fond of forests, more friendly with Elves, and often found among the leaders of hobbit communities.
As the three groups migrated westward and blended together, their different qualities helped shape the hobbits we encounter in the Shire.
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HOBBIT SOCIETY AND THE COMMON GOOD
• Leadership among hobbits does not seem primarily based on domination.
• Different families and groups contribute their particular strengths to the community.
• Their culture tends toward cooperation and mutual support.
• Tolkien contrasts these overlooked “little people” with the powerful figures who dominate the great events of history.
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THE ROAD TO THE SHIRE
• The hobbits gradually migrated into Eriador as the northern kingdom of Arnor declined.
• They interacted with the remnants of the Dúnedain and eventually adopted the Common Speech.
• In Third Age 1601, Marcho and Blanco crossed the Brandywine with permission from the king at Fornost.
• That settlement marks the beginning of the Shire and Year 1 of the Shire Reckoning.
• The hobbits remained nominal subjects of the northern kings but largely governed themselves.
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HOW BIG IS THE SHIRE?
The Shire is much larger than it can sometimes feel in the story—roughly 140 miles east to west and 175 miles north to south. That puts it on the general scale of a smaller European country rather than a tiny village-sized region.
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HOBBIT HOMES AND FAMILIES
• Not every hobbit lived in a hole.
• Elaborate holes such as Bag End tended to belong to wealthy hobbits, while many middle-class hobbits lived in above-ground houses.
• Hobbits favored long, low buildings rather than towers.
• Round doors and windows became a distinctive feature of hobbit architecture.
• Hobbits were intensely family-oriented and loved elaborate genealogies and family trees.
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THE BIG TAKEAWAY
Hobbits may seem insignificant to the powerful people of Middle-earth, but that is precisely the point. Tolkien builds an entire history and culture around these humble, easily overlooked people—and then makes them central to the fate of the world.
Frodo, Sam, Bilbo, Merry, and Pippin emerge from a long tradition of ordinary people who value home, family, community, and simple things—yet are capable of extraordinary courage when history calls upon them.
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SPECIAL THANKS
• John R
• Kaitlyn of Tea with Tolkien
• Melkor27
• KG
• SaberSystems
• Jeremy D
• Emilio P
• Jonathan D
• Richard K
• Paul D
• Julia
• Werty
• Chris B
• Tuor91
• Carolyn S
• Emiel K
• Brian O the 2nd
• Jonathan R
• Matthew W
• Daniel D
• Harrison C
• Seb M
• Willbo Baggins
• Ms. Anonymous
• Andrew T
• Redhawk
• Shannon S
• Brian O (the 1st)
• Zeke F
• James L
• Chris L
• Asya V
• Ish of the Hammer
• Teresa C
• David of Pints with Jack
• Eric B
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What exactly is Unfinished Tales—and why did Christopher Tolkien choose to publish his father’s unfinished writings at all?
In this episode of The Tolkien Road, we begin a new journey into Tolkien’s posthumously published legendarium by exploring the history, purpose, and editorial philosophy behind Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth.
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