Category Archives: The Lord of the Rings

VoK 328: Tolkien Trivia (Vol.2) – Don’t Be a Gorbag!

Posted on September 7, 2016 by | Leave a comment

colbert

Join the Vassals for Round 2 (of 100?) of the fun and fact-filled Tolkien Trivia Night!  Contestants Adam (drownedsnow), Matt (Varley), Shane (Easttexasdirewolf), Alex (LuckyCharms) & Paul (SerDinnerRoll) vie for dominance with scorekeeper & rules enforcer Nadia and host and reigning champion Greg (claudiusthefool).

Join us for a future Tolkien Trivia Night on the Podcast of Ice & Fire Forums

Edited by Greg

Intro music: Ren & Stimpy Big Show Theme
Aftershow Interlude: The Lords of the Rhymes

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VoK 326: The Hobbit ReRead (Part 1)

Posted on August 26, 2016 by | 2 comments

Join Vassals Matt (Varley), Drew (Wargasm), Nadia, and Adam (drownedsnow) on the first of a two-part re-read through J. R. R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” where everything goes entirely according to plan.
The aftershow begins at 1:17:33.

This episode features spoilers for all published works of J. R. R. Tolkien and probably George R R Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire as well.

Editor: Adam

Picture credit: Gandalf at Bag End by John Howe.
Music Credit: Hero’s Theme by Twin Musicom, Evil March by Kevin MacLeod

 

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Posted in Books & Novellas, The Lord of the Rings

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VoK 324: Tolkien Trivia (Vol.1)

Posted on August 17, 2016 by | 1 comment

Trivia

Listen in as Vassals try their hand at some trivia to see who will be come the Lord of the Rings!

This will (hopefully) become a regular thing, so let it be known if you’d like to join future Tolkien (or any other ) trivia VOKs!

Hosts: Paul (SerDinnerRoll) Alex (Lucky Charms), Matt (Varley), Nadia (Nadia), Greg (claudiusthefool), Adam (Drownedsnow) & Amber (Amberrocks)

Edited by Paul

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Posted in Board Games & Trivia, Books & Novellas, Fandom, Podcast, The Lord of the Rings

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VoK 258: The Silmarillion ReRead (Part 9) – Of the Third Age and the Rings of Power

Posted on February 9, 2016 by | 1 comment

One Ring

The Vassals of Kingsgrave conclude their Silmarillion re-read series with Part 9 in which we cover the final section of The Silmarillion, “Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age”.  Join Greg (claudiusthefool), Matt (Varley), Shane (Easttexasdirewolf) & lurker extraordinaire Amber (Amberrocks) as we cover thousands of years of history in 50 minutes.

We tackle the tough questions:
– Was Sauron truly redeemable?
– How much power did Sauron wield through the Rings of Power?
– What happens to all those beautiful ships that sail to Valinor on their one-way voyage?
– How long do you roll your “r”s when pronouncing Saurrrrrrron?

Edited by Greg

Episode Art: “Sauron Forging the One Ring” by Ted Nasmith

Audiobook clips are from “The Silmarillion: Unabridged” by J.R.R. Tolkien, read by Martin Shaw, copyright 1998 by Random House Audio.

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VoK 251: The Silmarillion ReRead (Part 8) – Akallabeth

Posted on January 11, 2016 by | Leave a comment

636px-Darrell_Sweet_-_The_Fall_of_Numenor

Join hosts Brett (Whitehaven), Greg (claudiusthefool), Matt (Varley), Matthieu (Beric175) & Shane (Easttexasdirewolf) as they retell the story of the fall of Numenor.

Edited by Bina007

Episode Art: “The Fall of Numenor” by Darrell Sweet.

Song: Akallabeth by Iggy Metall and Samwise the Brave by Howard Shore, available to purchase on iTunes and other  services.

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VoK 249: The Silmarillion ReRead (Part 7) – The End of an Age

Posted on December 31, 2015 by | Leave a comment

Doors_of_NightThe Vassals of Kingsgrave gather to finish The Quenta Silmarillion.  In part 7 of the re-read we cover chapters 22-24 (Of the Ruin of Doriath, Of Tuor and the Fall of Gondolin & Of the Voyage of Earendil and the War of Wrath).

Join hosts Greg (claudiusthefool), Matt (Varley), Matthieu (Beric175) & Shane (Easttexasdirewolf) as we recap battles between Elves & Dwarves, Beren kicking some Dwarvish ass, many discussions on the Half-elven, ACTUAL WINGED DRAGONS! as well as the epic conclusion of the first age and the (final?) war between Morgoth and The Valar.

Edited by Greg

Audiobook clips are from “The Silmarillion: Unabridged” by J.R.R. Tolkien, read by Martin Shaw, copyright 1998 by Random House Audio.

Episode Art: “The Doors of Night” by John Howe.

Song: “Die Dragons” by Shane, copyright VOK Classics 2015

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VoK 236: The Silmarillion ReRead (Part 6) – The Tale of Turin Turambar

Posted on September 21, 2015 by | Leave a comment

Glaurung 1

The VOK Silmarillion crew reconvenes after a seven-month recess to discuss the uplifting tale of Turin Turambar and his messed up family.  Join hosts Greg, Brett & Matt as we spend and unusual amount of time discussing Glaurung’s lack of wings (which two of us are still getting over), the collected wit and wisdom of Sador Labadal, Oedipal complexes in the First Age and many more fun topics.

Previous Silmarillion Re-Read episodes are VOK episodes 147, 155, 163, 172 & 182.

Edited by Greg

Music: “The World Turned Upside Down” written circa 1640 (author unknown).  Performed by Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band.

Artwork: “Glaurung and Nienor by Eric Velhagen

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VoK 182: The Silmarillion ReRead (Part 5) – Beren and Luthien

Posted on February 10, 2015 by | Leave a comment

VOK 182 Cover Art

The Vassals of Kingsgrave celebrate Valentine’s Day by discussing Chapter 19 of the Quenta Silmarillion: Of Beren and Luthien.  Star-crossed lovers or doomed from the start?

Beren the mortal falls in love with Luthien, the most beautiful elf that has ever lived.  Before they can marry Beren must complete the impossible task of cutting a Silmaril from the crown of Morgoth.  As we follow Beren on his journey we touch on the continued dickishness of the Sons of Feanor, the possibility of Morgoth babies, the epic awesomeness that is Huan the Hound of Valinor as well as the Epic Rap Battles of the First Age and Luthien’s ability to make everyone simultaneously fall in love with her and fall asleep.

Hosts Greg, Matt, Alix, Matthieu, & Eddie discuss all this and more in the fifth part of our continued Silmarillion re-read series.  The previous episodes in this series are VOK Episodes 147, 155, 163 & 172.

Credits:
Edited by Greg

Image art: “Carcharoth” by Justin Gerard

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VoK 181: The Hobbit 3 – Battle of Five Armies [2014] (Review)

Posted on February 8, 2015 by | Leave a comment

hobbit 3

In this podcast the crew give eulogies for their (second)favorite Hobbit…trilogy.

0:00 – Spoiler free discussion of the movie, trilogy and the book series
31:30 – Spoiler filled deepdive discussion begins
1:47:00 – Claudiusthefool’s review of the movie

Credits:
Edited by Vikram (fortytwo)
Hosts: Beric175, Ser Patrick the Tall, Aiwendil, White Raven, Amberrocks, Alias,Scilens, Teddart, claudiusthefool and fortytwo
Intro Music: “hmm ok” by Gablé
Other Music by BoxCat Games BoxCat’s Discography

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Links:
Tolkien Edit or 4 hour fan edit

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VoK 172: The Silmarillion ReRead (Part 4) – The Beginning of the End

Posted on December 13, 2014 by | Leave a comment

rsz_sil_4_art

The Vassals of Kingsgrave continue our Silmarillion re-read in which we cover chapters 13-18 of the Quenta Silmarillion; “Of the Return of the Noldor” through “Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin”.

The Noldor have a few bright spots and shining moments before everything starts to go downhill in their ceaseless war against Morgoth.  We visit the hidden city of Gondolin and follow Maeglin the clinically depressed Elf as he tackles his daddy issues and falls in love with his cousin.  Men finally show up on the scene and join the fight; and we get one of the most awesome and bittersweet scenes in the book in which Fingolfin challenges Morgoth to single combat with the expected results.

Hosts Greg, Matt, Alix, Shane, Brett & Matthieu explore all this and various tangents including having several lessons on pronunciation, debate the wingspan of the great eagles, who would win in a fight; Gimli or The Mountain, and why didn’t the eagles just fly the damn ring right to Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings.

Credits:
Edited by Greg

Image art of Fingolfin and Morgoth by artist unknown

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VoK 163: The Silmarillion ReRead (Part 3) – Oaths Before Bros

Posted on November 10, 2014 by | Leave a comment

VOK 3 Image

Join the Vassals of Kingsgrave for the third part of the ongoing Silmarillion re-read project.  Today we recap chapters 7-12 of the Quenta Silmarillion which covers “The Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor” through “Of Men”.

The action picks up in earnest as the light of the Two Trees are extinguished by Melkor and his giant spider, the Noldor swear a terrible oath, the Valar create the Sun and Moon, and the Dwarves (Stunted People) and Men (The Sickly) finally come into the story.

Hosts Greg, Matt, Shane, Brett & Matthieu debate the dickishness of Feanor, the haughtiness of Elves in general and the unintended consequences of unbreakable oaths made in haste.

Credits:
Edited by Greg

Image art of the “Kinslaying at Alqualonde” by Ted Nasmith

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VoK 155: The Silmarillion ReRead (Part 2) – Dwarves Still Gonna Need Wood

Posted on October 16, 2014 by | 2 comments

VOK Sil 2 Graphic

The Vassals of Kingsgrave continue their Silmarillion re-read series.  Today we discuss the first six chapters of the Quenta Silmarillion.  We finally meet the first Elves and follow them as they make their way West and along the way many adventures and hijinks ensue.  The Dwarves make a brief appearance, there is some bickering between married gods, a lovely island ferry, mighty eagles, Ents and Orcs.

We also learn the twelve different names the Elves have for themselves (Quendi, Eldar, Avari, Falmari, Eldalie, Calaquendi, Umanyar, Moriquendi, Nandor, Sindar, Falathrim & Eglath) in case you were wondering.

Join hosts Greg, Brett, Shane, Alix, Matt & first time podcaster Matthieu as they attempt to keep all the names straight while at the same time try to understand why Tulkas likes wrestling so much.

Credits:
Edited by Greg

Image art by Ted Nasmith

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VoK 154: Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (Monolith)

Posted on October 13, 2014 by | Leave a comment

shadow of mordor

Join Fortytwo, Alias and White Raven for their review of Monolith’s new game, “Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor”. First half of podcast is spoiler-free. Spoiler filled review starts at 43mins.

Credits:
Edited by Vikram (fortytwo)
Hosts: Fortytwo, Alias, White Raven
Intro Music: “hmm ok” by Gablé
Various other music: BoxCat’s Discography

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Links:
AngryJoe vs Olgoth

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VoK 147: The Silmarillion ReRead (Part 1) – Meet the Valar

Posted on September 26, 2014 by | Leave a comment

VOK Sil Image 1

The Vassals of Kingsgrave kick off their Silmarillion Re-read series.  Before discussing the book itself we break down the troubled history of the publication and the development of the text of what eventually became The Silmarillion as it was published in 1977, four years after the death of J.R.R. Tolkien.  We also analyze the letter that Tolkien wrote in 1950 to a friend in which he explained his reasoning behind writing The Silmarillion and what he hoped it would mean to England.

Join hosts Greg, Brett, Shane, Alix & Matt as they try to get into the head of Eru Iluvatar and his musical selections.

Put on your finest raiment and hearken to the tales of the Music of the Ainur and the Valaquenta.

Credits:
Edited by Greg

Image from the Melkor Was Here Tumblr from March 12, 2014.

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VoK 102: LOTR ReRead (Part 8) – The Fourth Age of Middle-Earth

Posted on May 25, 2014 by | Leave a comment

793px-Inger_Edelfeldt_-_The_Scouring_of_the_Shire

Join the Fellowship of Vassals for the final episode of their epic eight part re-read of JRR Tolkien’s Lord of The Rings. In this episode, Bina007, Shellfish (Peter), Nadia, Middlecyclone (Amanda), Whiteraven (Brett) and EastTexasDirewolf (Shane) discuss chapters 5 to 9 of The Return of the King and the Appendices.

Topics of discussion include the logistics of Maiar reincarnation; the sex lives of elves; badass ninja hobbits; whether, if Galadriel had a beard, she would be more attractive to Gimli; the ineptitude of the White Council and the relative merits of a wiffle bat and a cricket bat in the event of a Zombie apocalypse.

The chapter discussion runs up to 1h 9m and the appendices to 2h.

This podcast contains spoilers for the works of Tolkien and George R R Martin.

Credits:
Edited by Bina007

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VoK 81: LOTR ReRead (Part 7) – The Destruction of the Ring

Posted on April 7, 2014 by | Leave a comment

images (1)

The epic Vassals quest to destroy the One Ring finally reaches Mordor as we complete Book Five and begin Book Six of Tolkien’s fantasy epic Lord of the Rings.  Join Bina007, Shellfish (Peter), Nadia, Whiteraven (Brett), Middlecylone (Amanda) and Teddard (Eddie) as they discuss how culpable Gandalf is; Breomer’s poor swordsmanship, and the general awesomeness of Sam as we journey to the Field of Cormallen.

Please note that this episode contains spoilers for Lord of the Rings and incidentally other parts of the Tolkien oeuvre as well as George R R Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series.

Intro;  3m: Book Five Chapter Eight: The Houses of Healing; 17m: Chapter Nine: The Last Debate; 32m Chapter Ten: The Black Gate Opens;   44m Book Six Chapter One: The Tower of Cirith Ungol; 56m: Chapter Two:  The Land of Shadow; 61m: Chapter Three: Mount Doom; 80m:  Chapter Four: The Field of Cormallen; 90m: Outro; 96m Aftershow.

Credits:
Edited by Bina007

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VoK 76: Metanarrative in the Game of Thrones (Part 2) – Martin and Tolkien (audio essay)

Posted on March 21, 2014 by | Leave a comment

Robert_Rhaegar
In this followup episode to VoK 23, Valkyrist continues to look at postmodern theory in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series. However, where part 1 dealt with the story and characters, part 2 focuses on structure, and how Martin’s fantasy texts contrast with the more traditional writing of J. R. R. Tolkien.

Contains spoilers for all published books in A Song of Ice and Fire

Credits:
Written and Edited by Valkyrist
Music from HBO’s Game of Thrones soundtrack

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Links:
The Postmodern Condition: A Report on the Understanding of Knowledge (by Jean-François Lyotard)
VoK 23: Metanarrative in A Game of Thrones (Part 1)

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Posted in A Song of Ice and Fire, Books & Novellas, Philosophy, Podcast, The Lord of the Rings

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VoK 67: LOTR ReRead (Part 6) – The War of the Ring

Posted on March 2, 2014 by | Leave a comment

WitchKing

The Fellowship of Vassals record their best reread yet, covering the Siege of Minas Tirith; the Ride of the Rohirrim; and the Battle of Pelennor Fields. Naturally, this podcast is chock-full of spoilers for all of Tolkien’s works.

02:30 – White Raven recaps Chapters 1 (Minas Tirith) and Chapter 2 (The Grey Company).  Shellfish accuses Aragorn of being a usurper and MiddleCyclone accuses Gandalf of knowing less than the average Gondorian. Bina007 defends Eowyn’s decision to abandon her people and ride to war, and Nadia supports the manliness of archers.

35:00 – Shellfish recaps Chapter 3 (The Muster of Rohan), in which it is discusses how good orcs are at math; how scary it must be to watch people lay siege upon you; and the difference between Book and Movie Eomer.

50:20 – Teddard recaps Chapter 4 (The Siege of Gondor), including the attack from the Mordor Air Force. White Raven argues that Faramir is baked and Bina007 plays devil’s advocate for Denethor.

1:12:00 – Nadia recaps Chapter 5 (The Ride of the Rohirrim), inciting the mantra, “Theoden is magnificent here, but also really stupid”.

1:28:00 – Middlecyclone recaps Chapter 6 (The Battle of the Pelennor) Fields, the coolest chapter in perhaps ALL of literature. Fact! But we all have a bit of a rant about how the movie handles the Army of the Dead.

1:45:57 – Bina007 recaps Chapter 7 (The Pyre of Denethor), and discusses what would happen if an Eagle took the ring, and more seriously, the overtly religious nature of this chapter (and the twisted love Denethor has for Faramir).

Credits:
Edited by Bina007

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VoK 64: LOTR ReRead (Part 5) – Forum Feedback Discussion

Posted on February 17, 2014 by | Leave a comment

Anduril

In this episode our Fellowship of Vassals takes a break from carrying the Ring into Mordor in order to discuss all the fantastic feedback the four previous episodes have had in the Podcast of Ice and Fire forums.

Podcasters: Shellfish (Peter), WhiteRaven (Brett), Teddard (Eddie), MiddleCyclone (Amanda), Scilens (Tanja) and Bina007 (also editing, using music from the Brobdingnanian Bards and Chicago.)

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VoK 62: LOTR ReRead (Part 4) – The Journey into Mordor

Posted on February 5, 2014 by | Leave a comment

images

Join our Fellowship of Vassals as they Journey Into Mordor, and discover that the much-dreaded Book Four of Lord of the Rings has more to it than just ‘more walking’.  Not least, many spoilers for all of Tolkien’s oeuvre.

 

  1. 02:45 Shellfish aka Peter describes The Taming of Smeagol, and his deep and abiding fascination for Elvish rope.
  2. 12:45 JoThirteen aka Joanna taks us through The Dead Marshes, and asks what exactly the magicks are that are preserving the bodies.
  3. 19:20 EastTexasDirewolf aka Shane leads us to The Black Gate, in which  we debate whether the black gate is, in fact, just a big gate.
  4. 28:40 Middlecylones aka Amanda speaks Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit in which we discuss  the coolness of armoured elephants.
  5. 45:30 Bina007 gasps in awe at Faramir in The Window On the West, and gets excited about how the Dalai Lama could use the Ring to take over India.
  6. 57:50 Teddard aka Eddie watches over The Forbidden Pool and asks if Frodo was a victim of creaking doors.
  7. 1:01:30 WhiteRaven aka Brett takes a Journey To The Crossroads, in which there are some cool staves and a Venn diagram of doucheyness.
  8. 1:04:45 Nadia leads us into Cirith Ungol and Shelob’s Lair where we discuss Orc technology, Beren and Luthien and whether Frodo is Lord of the Rings.
  9. 1:19:00 Shellfish aka Peter describes the Choices of Master Samwise, as Frodo continues his habit of being stabbed by new and exotic things, this time off-screen, and Shelob Occupies Wall Street
  10. 1:30:00 Outro.

 

Editing credits: Bina007 using music from the original soundtrack to The Two Towers composed by Howard Shore.

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