Beregond and the Importance of Minor Characters | Tolkien Reading Day 2026

Sauron’s Ring acts very differently in Peter Jackson’s movie trilogy than it does in the original novel, and those differences have pretty significant implications for the plot…. Other Links: Rumble a...

27 Syys 202150min

Bilbo, Frodo, and Sam all changed radically due to their adventures, and in ways that strangely mirror each other. In this video I explore how their adventures changed them—the good, the bad, and the...

22 Syys 202118min

Tolkien was great at recycling ancient stories, plot points, and characters, but he seems to have done the same with one of his own…. My video on The Story of Kullervo is here: https://www.youtube.com...

13 Syys 202118min

The Lord of the Rings was widely reviewed both when each volume was released and many times since. Some critics loved it; others not so much. But did the negative critiques have any merit? GirlNext...

6 Syys 20211h 5min

This is a response to a piece by Molly Ostertag over at Polygon making the case that Frodo and Sam are gay. I think she does as good a job as anyone could, but I remain unconvinced. Molly Ostertag’s ...

30 Elo 202141min

The Greeks had many words for different kinds of love, unlike us moderns. But we have great examples of almost all of them in Tolkien's stories. Links: Rumble at https://rumble.com/c/c-35519...

23 Elo 202120min

I watched "The Green Knight," starring Dev Patel, and it was cringy, boring, and pointless. Here are my full thoughts. For my review of Tolkien's translation of the original poem, click here: https:/...

16 Elo 202149min

The 2021 Summer Seminar held by the Tolkien Society got a lot of attention because of the topics. Was the fuss merited? Here are my thoughts on one specific presentation—Cordeliah Logsdon’s “Gondor ...

9 Elo 202133min