The Lord of the Rings: The Breaking of the Fellowship (Tolkien Lecture) (Patreon)

'You are right, Frodo,' said Gandalf: 'to go back is to admit defeat, and face worse defeat to come...'

Today our exploration of Tolkien's world involves discussion about folklore motifs, religious belief, Christ parallels, good vs evil, sacrifice, internal quests, beautiful words, and much more.

Timestamps:

• 0:00 the power of rereading Tolkien
• 3:00 how Tolkien helps us on our journey
• 5:00 mapping our psychological landscape
• 7:00 the return of the king medieval trope
• 9:00 how stories are built out of stories
• 11:00 how literature is a conversation
• 12:00 on the process of transumption
• 14:00 subverting generic expectations
• 15:00 on the motifs of folk literature
• 18:00 on Aragorn’s leadership style
• 21:00 ‘a merry troop of fools…’
• 22:00 on swords in old literature
• 24:00 how to create universal myths
• 25:00 Arthur & the sword in the stone
• 27:00 a boy of no high-blood born
• 28:00 how did our stories come to be?
• 29:00 what do we want from our kings?
• 30:00 modern decline of religious belief
• 32:00 when old values no longer resonate
• 33:00 yearning for Messianic return
• 34:00 chaos & Viconian cycles of history
• 37:00 national change in the 20th century
• 39:00 on choosing powerful beliefs
• 41:00 physicalisation of abstract ideas
• 43:00 the line seperating good and evil
• 45:00 on Tolkien’s Christ parallels
• 47:00 succumbing to temptation
• 48:00 conceptualising will & power
• 50:00 be wary when fighting monsters
• 51:00 on the sacrifice of Gandalf
• 52:00 what character do you aspire to be?
• 54:00 on healing the rifts within us
• 55:00 the balrog’s mythic predecessor
• 57:00 lore as secret door to the past
• 1:00:00 on words as magic spells
• 1:01:00 what makes a word beautiful?
• 1:04:00 exploring the ugliest words
• 1:07:00 external vs internal quests
• 1:09:00 for those questing onwards
• 1:10:00 advice for your personal journey

Areas to Explore:

• Beautiful Words: You can read David Crystal's paper, 'Phonaesthetically Speaking' here, which examines why we regard some words as more beautiful than others.
• Folklore Motifs: Whilst the motif-index of folk literature makes for a good reference guide, you might find Stith Thompson's The Folktale to be a more accessible exploration of where our stories originate.
• Tolkien's Lordship: If you found Dr. Kreeft's exploration of the threefold Christ in The Lord of the Rings interesting, you might wish to check out his analysis of Tolkien's worldview in The Philosophy of the Lord of the Rings.
• Arthurian Legend: You may find that this talk of stories being built out of stories inspires you to check of Sir Thomas Malory's medieval stories in Le Morte D'Arthur. 
• Making the Past Present: For an extraordinary reimagining of what old stories in the oral tradition might have originally sounded like, check out Peter Pringle's superb channel. You'll be awed by his Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (here) and moved by his Death of Arthur (here). He's even brought 'Galadriel's Lament' to life here. 
• Tolkien in Conversation: Why not treat yourself to a listen to the great writer himself in conversation? There is a wonderful interview compilation of Tolkien you can enjoy here. 

Questions for You:

1) Which character resonates most with you?

2) What is the most powerful idea from Tolkien's story?

3) What lessons have you learnt from your personal quest?

And please do let us know your favourite passages, lines, and ideas from your reading.

Happy reading, everybody!