The second season of The Rings of Power is upon us, and in the Tolkien Road Episode 388, Greta and I give you our reaction to the first three episodes! EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: - Kaitlyn of Tea with Tolkien - John R - KG - Eärendil Hope WATCH THE VIDEO » https://youtu.be/1ArruYh2WEw WATCH / LISTEN AD-FREE » https://www.patreon.com/posts/afv-reaction-of…

Welcome to Episode 18 of DO NOT BE HASTY - I'm calling this one "The Sad Story of Gollum". "'You ought to begin to understand, Frodo, after all you have heard," said Gandalf. 'He hated it and loved it, as he hated and loved himself. He could not get rid of it. He had no will left in the matter.'" In this episode of DO NOT BE HASTY, we continue thro…

Hey there, Fellowship! Greta and I plan to be back with more episodes in our epic DO NOT BE HASTY series soon. This week, with season 2 of The Rings of Power nearly upon us, I thought we'd revisit episode 254, which focused on The Purpose of Númenor, from back in 2021. By the way, this episode relates very closely to my next book project which I am…

Hey there, fellow travelers! Welcome to The Tolkien Road, episode 386! In this bonus episode of DO NOT BE HASTY, we’ll conclude our jaunt through the Prologue to The Lord of the Rings by exploring the sections “Of the Finding of the Ring” and “Note on Shire Records”! The final two sections of the Lord of the Rings’ Prologue essentially serve to con…

Hey there, fellow travelers! Welcome to The Tolkien Road, episode 385! In this bonus episode of DO NOT BE HASTY, we’ll continue through the Prologue to The Lord of the Rings by exploring the sections “Concerning Pipe-weed” and “Of the Ordering of the Shire”! As we discovered in the last episode, the Prologue to The Lord of the Rings contains matter…

Hey there, fellow travelers! Welcome to The Tolkien Road, episode 384! In this bonus episode of DO NOT BE HASTY, we’ll be talking about HOBBITS, and specifically, the history and culture of hobbits. We’ll do so by exploring the first part of the Prologue to The Lord of the Rings, “Concerning Hobbits!” Join us! EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: - Kaitlyn of Tea …

Welcome to Episode 17 of DO NOT BE HASTY - I'm calling this one "Sméagol and Déagol". "The Ring went into the shadows with [Gollum], and even [Sauron], when his power had begun to grow again, could learn nothing of it." In this episode of DO NOT BE HASTY, we continue through The Fellowship of the Ring's chapter The Shadow of the Past, as Gandalf re…

Welcome to Episode 16 of DO NOT BE HASTY - I'm calling this one "The Powers of the Ring". In this episode of DO NOT BE HASTY, we continue through The Shadow of the Past, as Gandalf leads us on a deep dive into the history and lore of the Rings of Power! SECTION START: “Ah!” said Gandalf. “That is a very long story.” SECTION END: “But at last I can …

Hey there, fellow travelers! Welcome to The Tolkien Road, episode 381! In this bonus episode of DO NOT BE HASTY, we’ll be considering this highly important and controversial question: WHAT DID TOLKIEN SAY LORD OF THE RINGS WAS ABOUT? We’ll do so by exploring Tolkien’s Foreword to the Lord of the Rings. Or should I say…Fore-WORDS! Indeed, the first …

Welcome to Episode 15 of DO NOT BE HASTY - I'm calling this one "The Fiery Letters". 'Hold it up!' said Gandalf. 'And look closely!' As Frodo did so, he now saw fine lines, finer than the finest pen-strokes, running along the ring, outside and inside: lines of fire that seemed to form the letters of a flowing script. They shone piercingly bright, a…

Welcome to Episode 14 of DO NOT BE HASTY - I'm calling this one "About That Ring, Frodo..." "'It would be a grievous blow to the world, if the Dark Power overcame the Shire; if all your kind, jolly, stupid Bolgers, Hornblowers, Boffins, Bracegirdles, and the rest, not to mention the ridiculous Bagginses, became enslaved.'" In this episode of DO NOT…

Welcome to Episode 13 of DO NOT BE HASTY - I'm calling this one "Sam at the Green Dragon"! "And I've heard tell that Elves are moving west. They do say they are going to the harbours, out away beyond the White Towers.' Sam waved his arm vaguely; neither he nor any of them knew how far it was to the Sea, past the old towers beyond the western border…

In this episode of DO NOT BE HASTY, we’ll begin exploring The Shadow of the Past (Book 2, Chapter 2 of Lord of the Rings), by finding out what Frodo is up to as the lone master of Bag-End, and what is going on in the wider world beyond the borders of the Shire! This section begins with the words: “The talk did not die down in nine or even ninety-ni…

In this episode of DO NOT BE HASTY, we hit the mailbag for your thoughts on The Lord of the Rings Book 1, Chapter 1, A Long Expected Party.And by the way, you guys delivered BIG TIME! While we won’t be able to get to nearly everything you wrote in the YouTube comments, on our Patreon page, and elsewhere, we’re going to hit some great stuff from a l…

"My father bestowed immense pains on the creation of The Lord of the Rings, and my intention has been that this record his first three years of work on it should reflect those pains." - Christopher Tolkien, Return of the Shadow, Foreword In this episode of DO NOT BE HASTY, we undertake our inaugural MATHOMS episode as we explore heretofore neglecte…

Hey there, fellow travellers! Having just completed our 9 episode leg through Chapter 1 of Lord of the Rings, Greta and I are taking this week and next week off as we prepare for our Mailbag and Mathoms episodes and the beginning of our dive into Chapter 2, The Shadow of the Past! I just want to say - I hope you all are enjoying this journey as muc…

"Good-bye now! Take care of yourself! Look out for me, especially at unlikely times! Good-bye!" - GANDALF In this episode of Do Not Be Hasty, we complete our journey through Lord of the Rings Book 1, Chapter 1, A Long Expected Party! After the commotion of the “day after” at Bag-End, Frodo is able to finally enjoy some peace and quiet - until Ganda…