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How did Tolkien start writing his epic tale, “The Lord of the Rings”? Join Jude and Stef as they discuss the humble beginnings of the book that became the Fellowship of the Ring in this month’s episode about volume six of the History of Middle-earth, The Return of the Shadow.  We chat specifically about the Foreword by Christopher Tolkien, and dig deep into the first chapter, The Long-Expected Party!   Citations Tolkien, J. R. R. The Return of the Shadow: The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part One. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 6. Unwin Hyman, London, 1988.

We made it to the History of Middle-earth volume 5, “The Lost Road and Other Writings” in our Lesser-trod Histories series! This month we’re chatting about the Etymologies, a list of stems and their derivatives upon which Tolkien’s Elvish languages are built. Join us to learn about the Professor’s interest in the process of language evolution throughout history!    Citations: Tolkien, J. R. R. The Lost Road and Other Writings. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 5. Unwin Hyman, London, 1987. Tolkien, J. R. R. Addenda and Corrigenda to the Etymologies — Part One. Ed. Carl F. Hostetter and Patrick H. Wynne, in Vinyar Tengwar, Number 45, November 2003   Wizard Way Kris Linktree: https://linktr.ee/WizardWayKris Website: https://elf-boi.com/ [https://elf-boi.com/] “‘What Light Do You Dream Under?’- An Elvish Metaphor for LGBTQIA2S+”: https://elf-boi.com/blogs/elvish-freebies/what-light-do-you-dream-under-an-elvish-metaphor-for-lgbtqia2s [https://elf-boi.com/blogs/elvish-freebies/what-light-do-you-dream-under-an-elvish-metaphor-for-lgbtqia2s] (Accessed March 30, 2025)   Elvish language linguistic journals: Parma Eldalamberon: http://www.eldalamberon.com/ [http://www.eldalamberon.com/] (Accessed March 30, 2025) Vinyar Tengwar: https://www.elvish.org/VT/ [https://www.elvish.org/VT/] (Accessed March 30, 2025) Elvish language linguistic websites: Ardalambion: Of the Tongues of Arda, the invented world of J.R.R. Tolkien: https://ardalambion.net/ [https://ardalambion.net/] (Accessed March 30, 2025) Eldamo - An Elvish Lexicon: https://eldamo.org/ [https://eldamo.org/] (Accessed March 30, 2025) Parf Edhellen: https://www.elfdict.com/ [https://www.elfdict.com/] (Accessed March 30, 2025)   Book mentioned by Jude: Salo, David. A Gateway to Sindarin: A Grammar of an Elvish Language from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. University of Utah Press, 2004.    Upcoming events April 22, 2025: The Carrock Northern California Smail second meeting is on Zoom on April 22, 2025 (Earth Day) from 8:00–9:00 PM Pacific time.  Find us on Bluesky: thecarrocksmial.bsky.social or Instagram: thecarrocksmial  Link for our Google Sign-up form: https://tinyurl.com/TheCarrockSignUpForm [https://tinyurl.com/TheCarrockSignUpForm] Join the Carrock Discord server: https://discord.gg/8DxzAhvPVn [https://discord.gg/8DxzAhvPVn] May 9-11, 2025: Tolkien Society: Westmoot 2025 Join Jude and Stef in Kansas City, Missouri, at the National WWI Museum and Memorial.  https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/westmoot-2025/ [https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/westmoot-2025/] (Accessed March 4, 2025) July 5-6, 2025: Tolkien Society: Seminar 2025 – ‘Arda’s Entangled Bodies and Environments’ Run by Will Sherwood, Clare Moore and Journee Cotton https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/seminar-2025/ [https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/seminar-2025/] (Accessed March 4, 2025) August 2-3, 2025: The Mythopoeic Society- Online MidSummer Seminar 2025: “More Perilous and Fair: Women and Gender in Mythopoeic Fantasy”: https://www.mythsoc.org/oms/oms-04.htm [https://www.mythsoc.org/oms/oms-04.htm] (Accessed Feb 23, 2025) September 4-7, 2025: Tolkien Society: Oxonmoot Join Jude and Stef at St. Anne’s College, Oxford and online!  https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/oxonmoot-2025/ [https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/oxonmoot-2025/]  (Accessed March 4, 2025)

We’re back to our Lesser-trod Histories series! This month, we are looking at the History of Middle-earth Volume 4, The Shaping of Middle-earth. Jude and Stef chat about the Dagor Dagorath (a.k.a. the Last Battle, or the Second Prophecy of Mandos) from its earliest stages in the Sketch of the Mythology through to the most recent version in The War of the Jewels. We discuss why a questionable Man is involved in slaying Arda’s baddest baddie, and we discuss whether this story should have been included in the published Silmarillion.  Citations Histories Volume 4 Tolkien, J. R. R. The Shaping of Middle-earth. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 4. George Allen and Unwin, London, 1986.  Histories Volume 10 Tolkien, J. R. R. Morgoth’s Ring. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 10. HarperCollins, London, 1993.  Histories Volume 11 Tolkien, J. R. R. War of the Jewels. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 11. HarperCollins, London, 1994.  Histories Volume 12 Tolkien, J. R. R. The Peoples of Middle-earth. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 12. HarperCollins, London, 1996.  The Silmarillion: Tolkien, J. R. R. The Silmarillion. Edited by Christopher Tolkien. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Apple Books edition.  (March 4, 2025) Tolkien And The Great War: The Threshold of Middle-earth Garth, John. Tolkien And The Great War: The Threshold of Middle-earth. First Mariner Books edition 2005. eISBN 978-0-544-26372-7. V2.0519. (Accessed February 15, 2025) Upcoming events March 25, 2025: The Carrock Northern California Smail inaugural meeting is on Zoom on March 25 (Tolkien Reading Day) from 8:00–9:00 PM Pacific time.  Find us on Bluesky: thecarrocksmial.bsky.social or Instagram: thecarrocksmial  Link for our Google Sign-up form: https://tinyurl.com/TheCarrockSignUpForm [https://tinyurl.com/TheCarrockSignUpForm] Join the Carrock Discord server: https://discord.gg/8DxzAhvPVn [https://discord.gg/8DxzAhvPVn] May 9-11, 2025: Tolkien Society: Westmoot 2025 Join Jude and Stef in Kansas City, Missouri, at the National WWI Museum and Memorial.  https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/westmoot-2025/ [https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/westmoot-2025/] (Accessed March 4, 2025) July 5-6, 2025: Tolkien Society: Seminar 2025 – ‘Arda’s Entangled Bodies and Environments’ Run by Will Sherwood, Clare Moore and Journee Cotton https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/seminar-2025/ [https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/seminar-2025/] (Accessed March 4, 2025) August 2-3, 2025: The Mythopoeic Society- Online MidSummer Seminar 2025: “More Perilous and Fair: Women and Gender in Mythopoeic Fantasy”: https://www.mythsoc.org/oms/oms-04.htm [https://www.mythsoc.org/oms/oms-04.htm] (Accessed Feb 23, 2025) September 4-7, 2025: Tolkien Society: Oxonmoot Join Jude and Stef at St. Anne’s College, Oxford and online!  https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/oxonmoot-2025/ [https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/oxonmoot-2025/] (Accessed March 4, 2025)

This month we are joined by Tolkien professor and scholar, Dr. Sara Brown! Join us for Sara’s lesser-trod path, Feminist criticism of Tolkien’s work! In context of the four waves of feminism, Sara gives us an overview of the past and present of feminist criticism of Tolkien’s work, as well as some thoughts on the future. Thanks for joining us, Sara!  Citations Thank you to our guest host, Dr. Sara Brown!  How to find Sara: Bluesky: @aranelparmadil.bksy.social Sara’s publications can be found at: https://tinyurl.com/DrSaraBrown (Accessed Feb 3, 2025) Sara on Signum University’s website: https://signumuniversity.org/people/sara-brown/ (Accessed Feb 2, 2025) Sara’s entry on Tolkienists.org: https://tolkienists.org/sara-brown/ (Accessed Feb 2, 2025) Sara’s upcoming projects in 2025: -Look out for the upcoming Oxford Handbook of Tolkien- Sara is contributing a chapter on feminist criticism of Tolkien. -Look out for an upcoming book about queer readings of Tolkien for which Sara has written a chapter about Shelob as a queer mother. -With Dr. Kristine Larsen, Sara is editing a collection about Tolkien and psychology for The Journal of Tolkien Research. -Sara is the keynote speaker for Signum University’s Mythmoot XII- June 19-22, 2025. -Sara is giving a paper at Leeds International Medieval Congress called, 'No One Listens to Melian: When Women Speak and Men Ignore Them in Middle-earth'- 7-10 July 2025. -Sara will be at the Tolkien Society’s gathering Oxonmoot, September 4-7, 2025. From Sara’s outline: (in alphabetical order) -Cami D. Agan: "Lúthien Tinúviel and Bodily Desire in the Lay of Leithian" from Perilous and Fair: Women in the Works and Life of J.R.R. Tolkien, ed. Janet Brennan Croft and Leslie A. Donovan, Mythopoeic Press, 2015 -Sara Brown: “‘Éowyn it was, and Dernhelm also’: Reading the ‘Wild Shieldmaiden’ Through a Queer Lens.” from The Journal of Tolkien Research, Volume 18, Issue 2, 2018 https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol18/iss2/4/ (Accessed Feb 2, 2025) -Edith Crowe: “Power in Arda: Sources, Uses, and Misuses” from Perilous and Fair: Women in the Works and Life of J.R.R. Tolkien, ed. Janet Brennan Croft and Leslie A. Donovan, Mythopoeic Press, 2015 -Leslie Donovan: "The Valkyrie Reflex in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings: Galadriel, Shelob, Éowyn, and Arwen" from Perilous and Fair: Women in the Works and Life of J.R.R. Tolkien, ed. Janet Brennan Croft and Leslie A. Donovan, Mythopoeic Press, 2015 -Melissa McCrory Hatcher: "Finding Woman's Role in The Lord of the Rings." from Mythlore 97/98, Volume 25, Issue 3/4, 2007 -Lisa Hopkins: “Female Authority Figures in the Works of Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and Charles Williams” from Mythlore, Volume 21, Number 2, 1996 -Kristine Larsen: "The Power of Pity and Tears: The Evolution of Nienna in the Legendarium" from Perilous and Fair: Women in the Works and Life of J.R.R. Tolkien, ed. Janet Brennan Croft and Leslie A. Donovan, Mythopoeic Press, 2015 -Edwin Muir: Review of “The Return of the King” in The Observer on Nov. 27, 1955 -Doris T. Myers: “Brave New World: The Status of Women According to Tolkien, Lewis, and. Williams.” Cimarron Review. 17 (1971): 13-19. -Brenda Partridge: “No Sex Please–We’re Hobbits: The Construction of Female Sexuality in The Lord of the Rings” from J.R.R. Tolkien: This Far Land, ed. Robert Giddings, New Jersey: Barnes & Noble Press, 1983 -Melanie Rawls: “The Feminine Principle in Tolkien” from Mythlore, Volume 10, Number 4, 1984 -Robin Reid: "The History of Scholarship on Female Characters in J. R. R. Tolkien's Legendarium: A Feminist Bibliographic Essay" from Perilous and Fair: Women in the Works and Life of J.R.R. Tolkien, ed. Janet Brennan Croft and Leslie A. Donovan, Mythopoeic Press, 2015 -Catherine Stimpson: “J.R.R. Tolkien” Published by Columbia University Press, 1969 -J.R.R. Tolkien’s letters - 33a; 38a; 39; 42a; 43; 44; 50; 53; 78; 142; 179a; 250; 267; 331; 332; 340. Other sources mentioned beyond Sara’s outline: -Amy Amendt-Raduege  “Revising Lobelia” from book “Tolkien and Alterity” (pp.77-93) edited by Christopher Vaccaro and Yvette Kisor, 2017 -The work of Cameron Borquien: https://cameronbourquein.com/ (Accessed Feb 2, 2025) -The work of Clare Moore: https://tolkienists.org/clare-moore/ (Accessed Feb 2, 2025) -The work of Mercury Natis: https://lushthemagicdragon.carrd.co/ (Accessed Feb 2, 2025) -Keep your eyes peeled for an upcoming anthology: ‘Great Heart and Strength:’ New Essays on Women and Gender in the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Cami D. Agan and Clare Moore.

Join us this month for a deep dive on Tolkien’s bodacious baddie, the one and only Sauron. Tolkien scholar and Sauron expert, Cameron Bourquein, leads us down her lesser-trod path exploring Sauron’s evolving nature, the meanings of his name, and his changing role in the legendarium throughout its development.    Citations:  Thank you to our guest host, Cameron Bourquein!  How to find Cameron’s work: Website: https://cameronbourquein.com/ [https://cameronbourquein.com/] Blog: https://theroadtoardahealed.substack.com/ [https://theroadtoardahealed.substack.com/] Website: https://sauronproject.com/ [https://sauronproject.com/] Twitter: @CameronBorgQeen Bluesky: cameronbourquein.bsky.social Blog post with Cameron’s Sauron citations: https://theroadtoardahealed.substack.com/p/a-sauron-bibliography [https://theroadtoardahealed.substack.com/p/a-sauron-bibliography]   Works referenced in this episode:  Letter 66 (To Christopher Tolkien, May 6, 1944) From Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Ed. Humphrey Carpenter with Christopher Tolkien. HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd, London.  Letter 131 (To Milton Waldman, undated- probably written in late 1951) From Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Ed. Humphrey Carpenter with Christopher Tolkien. HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd, London.   Dr. Richard Eliot Blackwelder As cited in Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull, The Lord of the Rings: A Reader’s Companion, London: HarperCollins, 2014, page xii. Link: https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/the-lord-of-the-rings-a-readers-companion-wayne-g-hammondchristina-scull?variant=32611676192846 [https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/the-lord-of-the-rings-a-readers-companion-wayne-g-hammondchristina-scull?variant=32611676192846]   A. R. Bossert “Surely You Don’t Disbelieve”: Tolkien and Pius X: Anti-modernism in Middle-earth Mythlore Vol. 25, No. 1, 2006 Link: https://dc.swosu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1289&context=mythlore [https://dc.swosu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1289&context=mythlore]   Cameron Bourquein and Nick Polk Reading, Rending, and Queering the Web of Story: With the Lenses of "Con-creation" and Process [Conference Presentation] Presented at MythSoc OMS on Feb 10th, 2024  Link: https://substack.com/home/post/p-153238639 [https://substack.com/home/post/p-153238639]   Stafford Caldecott The Power of the Ring: The Spiritual Vision Behind the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit The Crossroad Publishing Company, 2013 Link: https://crossroadpublishing.com/product/the-power-of-the-ring/ [https://crossroadpublishing.com/product/the-power-of-the-ring/]   John Garth Ilu's Music: The Creation of Tolkien's Creation Myth From Sub-creating Arda: World-building in J.R.R. Tolkien's Works, its Precursors, and Legacies, Dimitra Fimi and Thomas Honegger (editors), Cormarë Series No. 40 Walking Tree Publishers, 2019 Link: http://www.walking-tree.org/books/sub-creating_arda.php#h [http://www.walking-tree.org/books/sub-creating_arda.php#h]   Gwenyth Hood Sauron as Gorgon and Basilisk Marshall University, 1987 Link: https://mds.marshall.edu/english_faculty/30/ [https://mds.marshall.edu/english_faculty/30/]   Jonathan S. McIntosh The Flame Imperishable: Tolkien, St. Thomas, and the Metaphysics of Faërie Angelico Press, 2017 Link: https://angelicopress.com/products/the-flame-imperishable [https://angelicopress.com/products/the-flame-imperishable]   Brian Roseberry Tolkien: A Cultural Phenomenon Palgrave Macmillan, 2003 Link: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9780230599987 [https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9780230599987]   Elizabeth A. Whittingham The Evolution of Tolkien's Mythology: A Study of the History of Middle-earth McFarland & Company, 2007 Link: https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/the-evolution-of-tolkiens-mythology/ [https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/the-evolution-of-tolkiens-mythology/]   The work of Mercury Natis, Tolkien Scholar Link: https://lushthemagicdragon.carrd.co/ [https://lushthemagicdragon.carrd.co/]   The work of Robin A. Reid, Tolkien Scholar Link: https://tolkienists.org/robin-anne-reid/ [https://tolkienists.org/robin-anne-reid/]