Відео

Much talk about wanting to grow subs and revenue. Get rid of the cans and do the show in a room prepared for presentation. I’ve never seen such a contrast between obvious talent and knowledge and lack of production. I mean we can see your jizz rags over there

Very nice reading - expressive, but not quite *performing* the chapters, which would be tiresome (to me).

You need to rethink your approach to your channel’s announcement. When you lead with what you seem to choose as your featured question, that them needs to be what is answered first, or explained quickly, otherwise you are disappointing and confusing those who are following your title. If you are thinking that this makes for a waiting audience, you are mistaken and are simple encouraging disappointment.

“Can’t do good by evil means” becomes muddier in Beregond’s case

Is it possible for a Dwarf to procreate with a Man or an Elf? 🤔

Thank you for that Tom Bombadil explanation. Reading the silmarillion now (at the beginning of days) and wondered if he was one of the other spirits that went, not nessisarily classified as anuir.

I would enjoy a reading from Tolkien's Beowulf.

I have to be honest, Fenor seems like he would have needed more than ten thousand years in Mandos to chill enough for this kind of chat with Gimli. Perhaps by the Sixth Age he or something he might start to question his life choices.

Given that Rohan was very much a patriarchal society, why did Helm Hammerhand's sister-son Fréaláf go by his mother's name for his surname (Hildeson; literally, "Son of Hild")? Chris Smith's 'The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim Official Visual Companion (2024; HarperCollins) gives one explanation, but it is definitely not canonical: "Fréaláf Hildeson is the son of Hild, Helm Hammerhand's sister. Little is known about his father, though it is suggested he may not have been one of the Rohirrim, but rather a Gondorian prince from the city of Dol Amroth to Rohan's South." I would not say that Australia was ever a part of Middle-earth. Rather, it might have been a remnant of the continent known as Dark Land, to the south-east of Middle-earth.

That guitar intro is fire btw

Would you say Gil-galad did most of the work in the dual against Sauron? I don't really see how any mortal no matter how mighty, even Hurin Turin or Tuor could feasibly stand up to a Maiar, especially not one as powerful as Sauron and once again especially since he had the ring. Even Gandalf the white, re-embodied Glorfindel or Galadriel would not be able to stand up to him even without the ring after some of his power was diminished. However, I can see how a High-King of the Noldor like Gil-galad could feasibly stand up to Sauron even if he is the underdog going into the dual. I also can't help but think that Gil-galad is the one exception of the diminishment theme as he is incredibly powerful and seems no less powerful than Fingon or Finrod. I find it weird that he's the son of Orodreth who didn't seem very powerful at all compared to most other elf lords of the time and was most certainly an idiot, and there is his son who is one of the most wise, intelligent and powerful elf lords to ever exist. Gil-galad as far as I can tell never saw the two trees and is pretty far down the family tree relative to the other really powerful elf lords. I actually like this as it paints Gil-galad as a bit of an underdog and despite diminishment in most things, somehow just somehow he is able to achieve greatness and power as if he was further up the family tree. And while it can seem inconsistent with Tolkiens theme of diminishment, I actually like that he leaves room for exceptions such as what it seems for Gil-galad But back to the main point, I envision the dual as it mostly being Sauron vs Gil-galad and Elendil mostly hiding behind Gil-galad and sometimes swinging Narsil at Sauron and occasionally providing as a distraction but mostly Gil-galad vs Sauron as it doesn't really seem feasible that a mortal could stand up to Sauron and last longer than a couple of seconds, let alone emerge with a mutual defeat. Another thing about this is as you said Elendil is diminished from Elros who is Elrond's brother, and from I can see Gil-galad is a few tiers above Elrond, and I know this is a very simplistic analysis when it comes to power ranking but I still think that it's a good reason to believe Gil-galad did most of the work. I'm not sure what your thoughts are about this but it's what I think

Will Morgoth come back?

That whole scenario of Gimli and Feanor in the Halls of Mandos was awesome. He also would def brag a bit about his 3 hairs heirloom 🤣

I learn so much from these discussions. Thank you gentlemen ✌️

Did you say that Simone de Beauvoir convinced Tolkien not to rewrite the Hobbit? That seems rather unlikely.

I have a question regarding one thing Kemp mentioned about the elves not living in Valinor per se but in Tol Erresea, but apart from the Teleri that lived in the coasts, do any other elves live near the Valar? (Didn’t the Vanyar live close by?) Did the elves have any restrictions in those lands?

Thanks for the good discussion gentleman. Some feedback if I may. The timers are a nice idea to keep things on track but it would be better to use them as a general guide rather than stopping mid sentence. An extra 30-60 seconds won’t hurt in a 2hr conversation

Good stuff again guys. I’d like to recommend the next reading for the next video! I’m going thru Unfinished Tales for the first time and I thought the dialogue between Morgoth and Hurin defying him was amazing and badass

I liked this council session, tech issues aside. These were all great topics and were well discussed. Thanks for your time gentleman.

Regarding how Orcs are animated and given life (or the facsimile of it,) I wonder if it might have to do with Morgoth’s ring. Since Morgoth poured his essence into the earth at the loss of much of his own power, maybe he recycled some of that essence to animate the Orcs, and maybe even dragons like Glaurung (who does in fact ‘channel’ Morgoth, for lack of a better word, at one point.) If the amount of Morgoth invested in the Orc population never increased, and only got divided more and more as the Orcs reproduced, maybe that’s why many of them started wandering around like broken toys or throwing themselves on their blades once Sauron was no longer there to give them direction. Morgoth’s soul was diluted that much. Off topic, after learning that elves spend decades as a teenager, I understand why Elros chose to become human.

Not sure why but the passage about Saruman being turned away is one of my favorite parts of Return of the King. You almost feel bad for him. I wonder what his thoughts are at the time. Does he not understand why Manwë would do such a thing and feels confused? Or does he feel anger. I like the subtle difference between him and Sauron too. Sauron even in his defeat tries to attack Gandalf and company and likely is not even thinking about trying to return West, but Saruman wants to go home.

I chuckled out loud to "linguistics from linguine" 😂😂

The barrow whites were likely victims of morgel knife wounds.

I don't know why, but I burst out in laughter on the "blip on the radar" comment

My headcanon about Tom Bombadil is that he is Melkor. Or rather Melkor as he should have been. “For nothing is evil in the beginning" wrote Tolkien. He also wrote that Melkor once loved Varda (but ended up hating her). I theorise that once Melkor descended on Arda, he purged all goodness from himself, as he saw goodness as a weakness, and that goodness manifested itself into Tom, a powerful and purely good being, and probably the only powerful being in Arda that never used any form of violent conduct (The Valar did almost destroy Middle Earth during their first war with Melkor). Strengthening my theory is the fact that we've seen both Melkor and Sauron separating part of themselves (e.g. making of the One ring). Obviously I made all that up, and I'm pretty happy with Tolkien's intention to keep Tom a mystery :)

I would think that King Earnur would probably have had the Morgul treatment, I don't know why the Witch King wouldn't

Great vid as usual! Very interesting to hear some of Tolkien’s translations.

Yeah, the ‘wind’ detail was too deliberate to not have been Manwe’s ultimate intervention. Blowing both Sauron and Saruman’s spirits away seems to have been Tolkien’s way of putting an exclamation point to their ultimate sentence by the Lord of Arda, whose province it was to pass such sentences.

Sir Gawain was an original Welsh hero who was sort of incorporated into the Arthurian legends as the celtic tales were absorbed by the various invaders. If you ever get a chance to read The Book of Arthur, there are some of his original stories in it.

I look forward to this every week. I learn so much watching this channel. Thank you John Sierra. Outstanding 🙏

Great video especially the explanation of Galadriel being deceived by the One Ring!

I think calling all critics of rings of power chuds is a bit reductive

disagree that Illuvitar would not have created with out Morgoths rebellion, your augments do not convince me

The comment about the ring being switched to a new chain in Rivendell makes me wonder if some Elf servant of Elrond did that without realizing what the ring was only for Elrond and Gandalf to slap them silly upon learning they handled the One Ring. (Not likely but a funny image)

John I’m currently reading Unfinished Tales (after many many Silmarillion readings), which book should I venture into next? Children of Hurin, Beren & L or The Fall of Gondolin?

What was up with the sapient birds (namely the Thrush and Raven) in the Hobbit? Were they a special breed, or vassals of Manwe like the Eagles, a more covert force maybe?

Green Knight was always a piece of literature that I loved, up there with The Faerie Queene and Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The film was weird and beautiful and I loved it, sort of like the film "Titus," a take on Titus Andronicus with Anthony Hopkins.

Dáin *literally* stonewalled the Messenger of Mordor.

Why did fingolfin fight morgoth if morgoth couldn't be killed?

What gappened to Nazguls and their soul after rhe One Ring's destruction?

you need to get closer to the camera ???????????

QUESTION: Could Caradhras have been sentient? Reading the chapter, it seems like the mountain was written as a hostile entity not willing to let the fellowship pass.

Is the dragon in "Farmer Giles of Ham" one of Melkors dragons or of some other origin? Is Ham in Middle Eartyh or some other location?

Good video, and yeah I feel bad for the ent wives though If I may speak on that Link of Wise guy's question as it's one I've also had in the past. I think he may have been more referring to the physical changes caused by the ring if they'd have their lives extended/become wraiths as opposed to whether they'd fall under Sauron's power. Or if becoming greedier is the only effect as it seems they may not have had the rings for as long as others, at least not before Dragons and Sauron got them

I love The Tolkien Reader and those other stories. The Smith of Wootton Major always felt so dark and full of secret meaning.

yes there is no way you can argue that Fëanor did nothing wrong, I cannot believe anyone would claim that

In Swedish "stor" (pronounced with an elongated o-sound) translated into "big" or "large". It can also mean to be an adult, as a child can say "when I become (stor) a grown up". Do you think this is connected to the name of the somewhat larger Hobbit size with same name?

Wow I remember playing this when I was in like 7th grade Christmas break. Great memories. Christimas in Puerto Rico is amazing it lasts until mid January as we celebrate 3 Kings and then the San Sebastián festivities.

Is there a reason you skipped from "Battlelore" to "Frodos mithril shirt" section?

I have a question, does Glamdring glow pearly white?