The Ring Writer

"The Rings of Power" Episodes 1 & 2 - Círdan! People, It's Getting Very Silmarillion In Here

“The Ring Writer” podcast kicks off its “review” of the first two episodes of Amazon Prime’s Rings of Power, Season Two. We dish out our hot takes, and connect some dots both back to The Silmarillion and forward to The Lord of the Rings — observing that the emerging bridge between the two is becoming an increasingly heady and idiosyncratic telling of the Second Age … from Halbrand to Ulmo to Annatar. And, we get Círdan the Shipwright too! * Chapter One: Intro * Chapter Two: First Impressions (1:00) * Chapter Three: Prologue: Et Tu Adar? (14:24) * Chapter Four: Círdan and Elrond (24:46) * Chapter Five: Silmarillion, Yo! (32:25) * Chapter Six: Blue Gandalfs (44:53) * Chapter Seven: Luciferous (52:08) * Chapter Eight: Nenya (59:04) Theme Song: Eastern Sun & John Kelley’s “Days Gone By” Email us at wraithlandpodcast@gmail.com [http://wraithlandpodcast@gmail.com/] Hosts: T.Q. Kelley & S.T. Levine (Olorindil) Get full access to Wraith Land at wraithland.substack.com/subscribe [https://wraithland.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

The Machine & "The Rings of Power" Return - Of Musk and Magic

“The Ring Writer” podcast returns, this time revealing how many of the players in the A.I. revolution have a deep fascination with the work of J.R.R. Tolkien. His cautionary tales about the dangers of technological power have influenced how they contemplate both the promise and pitfalls of a brave new world, with differing interpretations of its emerging facets. It’s a story of ambition, pride and fear that resonates through the ages. A master of the archetypal and psychological struggle at the heart of history and the human story, Tolkien provides a map for examining and understanding what we all now face. His tale of the One Ring and its kind, also finds rich overtones in Amazon Prime’s Rings of Power TV series, a thematic focus growing in its real potential and prospects this second season. Our second episode is almost four hours as a result. Not only do we dive into the power dynamics of the OpenAI drama, but we also explore Tolkien’s more personal writings about the nature of power in the form of what he described as “sub-creation” — Machines and Magic. We also take a closer look at Elon Musk’s love of The Lord of the Rings and his own meta-invocation of Tolkien’s masterpiece in his grappling with the implications of A.I.’s rise — an instinct rich with many ironies. After taking a new look at Season One of Rings of Power through the lens of what we think is its best episode, Episode 8 — “Alloyed” — we illuminate the terra incognita and dimensional magic of The Silmarillion. Connecting the dots between Tolkien’s tales of the Jewels and the Rings, we close with some thoughts on what’s ahead for Season Two of Rings of Power, returning to Tolkien’s own powerful poetic spell… * Chapter One: Introduction * Chapter Two: The Big A.I. Picture (1:32) * Chapter Three: The A.I. Race and Drama (13:13) * Chapter Four: Musk and the Ring of Power (27:40) * Chapter Five: The Shadow of Sauron in the Unconscious (54:39) * Chapter Six: The Spirit of Fire and the Flame of Darkness (1:04:20) * Chapter Seven: Letter 131 and Tolkien’s Machine and Magic (1:18:10) * Chapter Eight: Takeaways from The Rings of Power’s “Alloyed” (1:27:35) * Chapter Nine: Keep It Universal, Tolkien’s Light and Shadow (2:07:15) * Chapter Ten: The Power of Story and the Poem of the Ring (2:19:05) * Chapter Eleven: Musk’s Species and Tolkien’s Spirits (2:35:18) * Chapter Twelve: The Music of the Ainur and Melkor (2:40:30) * Chapter Thirteen: The Substance of Tolkien’s Magic (2:49:24) * Chapter Fourteen: Fëanor and the Fairy Tale Legacy (3:16:57) * Chapter Fifteen: The Silmarils and Celebrimbor (3:16:57) * Chapter Sixteen: SDCC and Season Two Buzz (3:35:20) * Chapter Seventeen: The Spell of the Ring (3:45:35) The New York Times’ Ego, Fear and Money: How the A.I. Fuse Was Lit [https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/03/technology/ai-openai-musk-page-altman.html] The New York Times DealBook Summit - Elon Musk Interview [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BfMuHDfGJI] The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien: Revised and Expanded Edition [https://www.amazon.com/Letters-J-R-R-Tolkien/dp/0358652987/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3G3P0L3FIN4YG&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.w040__CnX82hIjUGdQ7YQJdUN_JqdXF3dQrT2cdbe9ITXXI57yezu64OdJsbbEGpONeAfe-5_UEUdgiaR8cK1l3hYtf_18YHyhSwuDYUrrIzsn0OGQ35fOIaIoroweP5HOQkBNJEctF9ozIToqypZpYapfM25P3O4jOR_H-FRSlkfbZ1LHuyjo4nIvgZf3FoWxgl5Fgqhne9E1HT7lQIjDh0tkhZiZua_oA1eXzgvO4.uOBgEdMO3uHPurrJuTK9CaYzvE4-9JNZLwW3hfbJI38&dib_tag=se&keywords=letters+of+jrr+tolkien+expanded+book&qid=1724899884&s=audible&sprefix=letters+of+jrr+tolkien+expanded+book%2Caudible%2C185&sr=1-1-catcorr] Theme Song: Eastern Sun & John Kelley’s “Days Gone By” Email us at wraithlandpodcast@gmail.com [http://wraithlandpodcast@gmail.com/] Hosts: T.Q. Kelley & S.T. Levine (Olorindil) Get full access to Wraith Land at wraithland.substack.com/subscribe [https://wraithland.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]

OpenAI and Tolkien - Of Rings and Robots

Introducing “The Ring Writer,” a podcast from the Wraith Land [https://wraithland.substack.com/] blog that focuses on the intersection of J.R.R. Tolkien, technology and mythology. Each episode, we will connect the dots from the past, present and future. This first episode is about two hours. We introduce our mission and discuss our own common ground around Tolkien and his works. We also revisit the first episode of the first season of Amazon Prime’s The Rings of Power, debate its merits, and most importantly, dive deeply into the recent turmoil at OpenAI through the lens of Tolkien. We recorded the episode on November 20th, the Monday following the upheaval that hit the news around OpenAI’s power struggles the Friday before, on November 17th. We focus on the more timeless aspects of the event. This being our first podcast, the sound quality is not at 100% fidelity quite yet. Also, while we explore Tolkien’s theme of the Machine, we actually consult the Machine itself (ChatGPT) for some answers and oracular fun. One of our prompts or “spells” was actually to get back a retelling of Tolkien’s most famous story in a more general form of OpenAI’s own drama. We did not include this response in the podcast, but you can find it at Wraith Land on Substack here [https://wraithland.substack.com/p/wraith-land-presents-the-ring-writer]. * Chapter One: Introduction * Chapter Two: OpenAI and the Tolkien Context (1:50) * Chapter Three: Our Peter Jackson Experience and Fellowship (19:00) * Chapter Four: Revisiting the Seen and Unseen in The Rings of Power (39:00) * Chapter Five: “A Shadow from the Past” and the Machine (50:40) * Chapter Six: Echoes from the Past, Present and Future (1:29:30) Theme Song: Eastern Sun & John Kelley’s “Days Gone By” Email us at wraithlandpodcast@gmail.com [http://wraithlandpodcast@gmail.com] Hosts: T.Q. Kelley & S.T. Levine (Olorindil) Get full access to Wraith Land at wraithland.substack.com/subscribe [https://wraithland.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_4]