Alas, not me

At the bottom of the Emyn Muil, Sam and Frodo realize that they would have to leave the Elven rope behind which they had used to descend the...

At the beginning of Book 4, in the chapter called "The Taming of Sméagol," there's a beautifully subtle little touch, a single...

Recently I was asked to present a 30 minute talk on the first five chapters of Book 4 of The Lord of the Rings . (When? Later in the summer....

So I was reading Tolkien et la mémoire de l'antiquité , or Tolkien and the Memory of Antiquity . It's a recent very interesting book...

 ‘I cannot read the fiery letters,’ said Frodo in a quavering voice.  ‘No,’ said Gandalf, ‘but I can. The letters are Elvish, of an anc...

The scene in The Two Towers where Gollum comes back down the stairs of Cirith Ungol to find Frodo and Sam asleep is remarkable for many reas...

A question posted online in a private group set me thinking about which hand Frodo wears the One Ring on. During The Lord of the Rings  Frod...

When Frodo, Sam, and Gollum reach the Black Gate and Frodo declares that he must try to enter Mordor that way, a panic-stricken Gollum slips...

  This essay first appeared back in November and December of 2021 as five separate posts, which I have now decided to combine into one, whil...

Pity, Power, and Tolkien's Ring: To Rule the Fate of Many  now has a publication date -- 12/12/2023 -- and an ISBN: 9781606354711 . A fe...

Here's a piece of analysis I decided to take out of my book, To Rule the Fate of Many: Truth, Lies, Pity and the Ring of Power , about w...

I was listening to episode 221 of Corey Olsen's Exploring The Lord of the Rings podcast today (I am about 20 episodes behind -- hey, w...

Quite a while back I came to the conclusion that Faramir doesn't actually see Boromir's funeral boat, as he is convinced he does, bu...

'And the Ring is so heavy, Sam. And I begin to see it in my mind all the time, like a great wheel of fire.' ( RK  6.i.919) 'I am...