VoK 50: LOTR ReRead (Part 1) – The Return of the Shadow

Join our doughty Fellowship of Podcasters as they level up and discuss Tolkien’s high fantasy novel at almost as slow a pace as Frodo’s quest to destroy the Ring.

In this first episode, EastTexasDirewolf, Teddard, Nadia, Shellfish, Eiffel and Bina007 discuss the events of Book One of The Fellowship of The Ring: The First Journey/The Ring Sets Out.

Beware of Spoilers: This podcast discusses Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and the Silmarillion in detail.

00:00 Introductions – how we got into the books

08:00 How we rate Fellowship compared to the other two volumes and whether we faff about too much with Tom Bombadil

12:00 EastTexasDirewolf leads a discussion of the The Prologue and Chapters 1-6 (Frodo finally leaves the shire and runs into elves, black riders and Tom Bombadil). We debate:

whether Tolkien’s directions are a bit Quaithe-y;
whether pipeweed is in fact weed;
the endearing xenophobia of hobbits;
Gandalf as the Doran of Middle Earth;
whether Gollum eats babies;
the alleged creepiness of Sam and Frodo’s friendship;
whether Fatty Bolger is bonkers or a badass;
and the nature of the evil in the forest.

41:00 Eiffel leads a discussion of Chapters 7-12 in which we discuss:

the nature of wights;
Tom Bombadil’s mad pick-up lines;
how Gandalf is susceptible to the Ring;
how the Black Riders are weaksauce;
the misremembered tactical idiocy of going to Weathertop;
how far Frodo has free will;
the insane badassery of Glorfindel;
how Elves are kind of Cylon-y – hobbits not so much;
what’s the use of gods anyway?

1:20:00 Final thoughts on Book One.

Credits:
Edited by Bina007

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Links:
The Tolkien Professor