Thank you for your labour. I can name off the top of my head at least two different eloquent analogies that have really helped me to signal communication to counterpoint various close family (none of my friends though! Is that weird or what ?! ), who - as it turns out, believe unquestioningly the fact that the universe will cease to exist whenever they eventually do, and that everyone else on the planet should just get used to it. Goddamn their lying eyes, you know what I mean? Anyways.The struggle goes on & I'm still fighting. Pretty sure this won't make sense to anyone else but I'm about to email my brother to tell him why Bigfoot is an Ent. For all that you do, much love & hope. Bella ciao.
I always find it funny that Lord of The Rings is seen as this kitschy, "good guys win" kinda Fantasy when in reality it's this super depressing last farewell of a dying world.
I've always thought the ending for the ents, kind of like the hobbits ending, is Tolkien mouring the loss of a previous iteration of England, in this case the countries ancient oak woods. Sure, they could withstand and even prevail against singular forces of destruction (Christopher Lee and his orcs), but in the face of overwhelming change and destruction, an oak wood cannot hope to survive. And so with their ability to reproduce destroyed by previous conflict, the ents and thier forests are forced to occupy smaller and smaller spaces, becoming more knarled, weather beaten and ugly, until all that remains of this once vast and ancient thing are a few gaint malicious looking trees squatting in the otherwise prefectly manicured landscape of an English (or Shire) village. To me at least that goes a way in explaining why their ending is so bleak and unsatisfying since that was also the state of Britains natural areas after the industrial revolution. Really great essay, I enjoyed it a lot and will likely be rewatching at some later date.
So real, i feel people undermine how good of a writer tolkein was, since most people focus so much on the worldbuilding and such when talking about him
Some years ago a president candidate in my country said that “Nature should pay for its share of the land”, wondering if he would have made Treebeard pay taxes or something?
I got chills at the part of the video with the scene of Treebeard screaing. I also think that the horror elements from the movies add to the experience of reading the books and are hard to separate.
1:39 Why? Ents are awesome. One of the things I really disliked about Jackson's adaptation, is that he just didn't really capture the slow, wise, solemn dignity of Treebeard. I understand not having the screentime for the whole Entmoot, but having Merry and Pippin have to trick him into understanding the scope of the problem with Sauruman was just ...ugh. The film just didn't get the Ents quite right. Also what was up with him calling Gandalf young?
Just wanted to say thank you for all your amazing and thoughtful work. It’s been a while since I found a video essayist of your level of quality. I really hope you explode in popularity soon because you really are one of the best on the site. Your videos have kept me entertained and learning while I recover from a rough surgery. Thank you!
Aule is the God of Smithing. Gandalf is an "ANGEL" (High-Priest to Varda Elentari Lady of the Stars) Illuvatar did NOT accept the Dwarves after the fact ... the text reads..."And the voice of Ilúvatar said to Aulë: "Your offer I accepted, even as it was made." Ulmo answered: 'Truly, Water is become now fairer than my heart imagined, neither had my secret thought conceived the snowflake, nor in all my music was contained the falling of the rain."- none of them were regarded as mistakes.
Exactly! "And thou, Melkor, shalt see that no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite."
Moving that line to galadrial as opening narration? Look. it greatly helps set tone and scope. This is the turning of an age. This is the time of trial. And the associated voice? Yes.
Hearing it shoots me right back to the cinema in 2001, watching it with my sister, her boyfriend, and a friend of his. And it still gives me goosebumps.
@@Paroex My mother constantly retells the story of hearing those lines, and breathing a sigh of relief because she knew it was going to be an actually good adaptation of the books she loved.
Thats the thing diehard fans of Tolkien don't get when people criticize the racism in LOTR. Tolkien is saying that we need to accept the different races, but by doing that he's still separating humans into different races nonetheless. Racism is not just discriminating certain groups of people, it's the mere idea that human beings are separated into different races.
in lotr there are hobbits, men (humans), elves, dwarfs, orcs, trolls, spirits.. etc. each given their traits. is this racism? what kind of racism? what is a die hard fan?
Spot on. Tolkien fans get way too defensive when they see criticism. I remember the outrage when Hayao Miyazaki criticized the violence in Hollywood films, and he brought LOTR as an example. If they weren't quick to get offended on Tolkien behalf, they would see that his problem might have been Peter Jackson's interpretation.
Tolkien didn't separate humans into different races. He created distinct, sapient entities in a fictional setting which he didn't intend as a sociological or biological treatise, but a theological treatise above all. If he's saying anything about differences between humanity, it's meant to provoke people to look inwards at their own personal, moral center, comparing and contrasting the spiritualities presented in the Legendarium with aspects not particular to any one period, culture or region.
What ate you talking about? When Tolkien talks about other race of humans he is talking in the medieval concept of race, which is more about lineage and culture and not biological classifications. The issue is that people want to compare orcs to black people jajajajajajajajajaja when there is no comparison
Some interesting points, but I’d challenge some of the assertions made regarding the horror in Tolkien’s work. I think the section in the Barrow Downs stands as a pure pagan folk horror piece. Much respect for your well cited sources, and obvious love for the source material.
I kind of disagree on the race determinism part. Like Legolas and Gimli. Besides the fun friendship part each of them represents the breadth of their race. The movies leave it but Gimli is often the soft and poetic member of the fellowship. I feel like a lot of the criticisms people bring on that front are tainted by stuff like DnD and the cheap fantasy tolkein inspired. But a lot of the time it's not as simple as "all elves are snobby, all dwarves are greedy"
The “breadth of their race” is the problem, the idea that elves have a certain way of being that is inherent, even if that way is a spectrum, is a problem
Aulé and the gods are not ''basically angels''; they are gods. Iluvatar is indeed the ''creation god'' in a monoistic way, but the gods in Tolkien mythology are much more than angels. I won't go too far into that, but judging by his drawings about creation, it seems that Tolkien was very keen in gnostic and Swedenborg esoterism.
Remember though that there are different branches of thought in theology. Just like physics, we know soke basic workings of reality through observation, but most understandings are theory, and of the few confirmed laws we have, there is a near infititude more about just those laws alone that we could learn. It is just as st augustine said "God, I do not know what you are, so have to test you bit by bit, but I can tell what you are not when I come across it"
Another banger - the way you draw out the inherent contradictions in Tolkien’s work is clear and well-communicated as usual, and it makes me appreciate the work so much more
Ok, notnsure if it was on purpose, but putting the sponsor right after saying that the ents are some of the most disturbing creatures in tolkien's universe is going to make some people ponder about what you could mean before you continue and that's actually kinda cool.
Awesome. I don't remember which of your videos was my entry point (prob sound of freedom), but I've become a huge fan. Always great analysis, and these LOTR videos are no exception. Really good. Like, rewatch and take notes good. Maybe my favorite. I was thinking about orcs and types of evil for weeks after pt 1. Hopefully this one *will* perform well and there will be more entries in the series. Keep up the great work
This reminds me to what Žižek has said, among other things, about modern environmentalism, how we still put ourselves as the protagonist of the universe when we say "we should save the planet" and to even make a clear distinction between "nature" and "us" when the distinction only makes sense to literally nothing else but us. My conclusion from all this is that, the very issue with our relationship with our environment, from capitalism and industrialization to environmentalist efforts that amount to little more than gestures, is that we have at every step of the way we have convinced ourselves that somehow we removed ourselves from it just because we don't have to worry about lions anymore. We didn't escape it, we aren't on top of it and it certainly doesn't want anything from us
There is something to be said about agency and responsibility. It is said that power is the ability to limit another's options. It is also said that he who controls a thing is the one that can destroy it, and by those definitions we have exerted a lot of power over nature. So it follows that if we have the agency to do it, we ought to save it as we were the ones that originally forsaked it. Your conclusion is also a little baffling to me, most environmentalists that aren't secretly shilling for venture capitalists to fund their start-up are quite humble about their place in nature and understand the need for group action. In fact your characterization is more in line with the social darwinists and objectivists, historically the people destroying the environments through their roles as industrialists. Which leads me to ponder: where did you get your views on environmentalisms?
Had me tearing up at the Franciscan conception of the Cosmos part. I grew up Evangelical, which consistently puts human beings as an untethered pinnacle of the Cosmos, and often get frustrated at the carelessness and callousness that breeds. So, it was refreshing to get a little bit of “treat the ground you stand on as holy!!!” today. Would be interested to hear more about the “Jewish” conceptions of the dwarves- I know a point that is often brought up in Tolkien internet discussion is his anti-Nazi sentiments, including using race as a science. But I can’t say I know enough about his anthropological frameworks!
Thanks for the watch ☺️ My understanding is he absolutely hated the nazis and didn’t think the dwarves’ resemblance to Jewishness was a bad thing, because dwarves are awesome (they are). It’s the kind of old guy racism that would have been seen as benign at the time and has just aged poorly.
Thank you for the response! Yeah, that is a fair assessment. Also, I know you’ve already covered a wide breadth of vampire material with your Twilight video, but I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on Werner Harzog’s “Nosferatu: Der Vampyre! I find it to be uniquely unsexy, awkward, and non-bloody, and closer to the existential dread of The Seventh Seal than the taboo romanticism or sanguine blood-feast we usually see in vampire literature. And it features a classical piece that’s used heavily in Kate Bush’s “Hello Earth!” So there’s that.
I find your interpretations of Tolkien's work give me a lot more to appreciate about his writing. I first read the books when I was rather young, but I think I should go back a reread them now.
The existence of the dwarves, and their implications, are slightly more complicated than I think you came off - Tolkien writes earlier in the Silmarillion that even the greatest evils and errors will only add to the final glory of the world in the end - but I agree that there's some Unfortunate Stuff going on with the dwarves as a kind of "imperfect covenant" (akin to the Jews in Tolkien's theology...just another point where the comparison is too close).
When I first read The Lord of the Rings recently I was shocked at how hostile the Middle Earth truly is. Directly by the Shire is this malicious forests that eats hobbits and does battle with a hedge. Not to mention that there is loads of artefacts and ruins about, but they are forgotten. Who built them? What do they mean? The information is just lost, but for a few songs and maybe a book somewhere. Middle Earth is a dangerous wasteland with a few islands of civilisation, even before the shadow from Mordor appeared. That's so sad. Did none of the peoples think of building and maintaining good roads? To invent book printing?
I’m a Pagan who loves the ethos of St. Francis and the Franciscans (to the point where I have effigies of him on one of my otherwise Pagan altars), so thank you for talking about that for a minute!
Girl? I would run on a broken ankle to see new content from you. Loving it. I came here for your horror work (Pain is God), and I'm staying for this kind of excellent analysis!
Honestly, if you just kept doing Lord of the rings content for the rest of your UA-cam career, I’d be happy as a clam in pants. But also everything else you do is Spectacular and broadens my cultural spectrum so thank you morbid zoo for making my weeks when you drop a video 10% better!
The treatment of the ents is easily my least favorite component of the adaptation, mainly because it granted them a type of understandability that felt entirely counter to their role in the books. The Fanghorn forest sections with Merry and Pippin are legitimately my favorite part of the trilogy, and a big part of that is how much it digs into a culture that felt deeply alien to me when I read them 20+ years ago.
Ents were way too dependent on the pipe weed. When the wizards, humans and halflings began harvesting pipe weed, the ents lost access to their energy supply on god fr fr
It's interesting and frustrating to read old SFF that doesn't acknowledge the environment/climate change (Asimov, Wells, etc). Nowadays I expect all SFF to address it in some way. The fact that Tolkien put an above-average amount of thought into it, for the time, is maybe one reason why the hippies liked LotR.
Hella good as always, look forward to Ringwraiths. Was disappointed to see on this that YT auto-subtitles didn't have a go at spelling the Ringwraith noise. (15:33)
Whoa, I was only listening to this vid. Nodding along in recognition to points I hadn't thought before. Forgive my rudeness, but your big, brown eyes really caught me off guard there. Anyway, great vid. Keep it up.
Gonna do the uncomfortable thing and defend the racism, as a part of the setting at least. It's never rewarded to my knowledge, it's always a case of characters being mired in their prejudices, they either get over it or find tragedy. I can't think of a single instance where it isn't petty or ill deserved. The dwarf and elf hate comes down from murder and the inability to let go of grudges and the friendship of Legolas and Gimli is so central because it really is where the healing starts. The elves divide and discriminate between those that have seen the light of the trees and I can't recall a single time where that isn't shown as one of their great failings (the other again being murdering dwarves on their first encounter). To me it's always been a simple acknowledgement of our nature, first impressions are a thing, we're all prejudiced and we should all get over it. I think stories that incorporate that help with that.
It's not about the actual, literal & canonical interactions that the different races have. It's about the assumptions that lead you to write a world in which dwarves and elves, as they are written, exist. Nobody told Tolkien that there had to be a species of perfect, people especially beloved by the gods who live longer and are more beautiful and carry some inherent moral goodness. Nobody told him to write a species of cosmic mistakes who are so biologically and inherently blinded by greed that it consistently drives them to ruin. Nobody directed Tolkien to create a set of human cultures who do not get protagonist roles, and who are so morally inept that they fall for the sway of the dark lord with no reasoning provided and serve as his pawns, and are slaughtered wholesale by the tall, elegant and morally pure protagonists. And who are from the "east" and all described in vaguely foreign ways. Some part of Tolkien was compelled by the idea that some groups of people might carry an inherent moral character alongside and indicated by their physical traits.
@@Lordofrye Your interpretation of the dwarves as "cosmic mistakes" is completely flawed (as it is within this video). Time and time again Tolkien specified Iluvatar's plan is all-encompassing and inescapable (in a very Christian way). So each unexpected element of creation (Orcs, Dwarfs Sauron, Morgoth, etc) is ultimately within his plan, even if it seems a divergence to us.
@@LordofryeI am sorry but you are getting all of that solely from your own mental paradigm, and tolkien came from a totally different worldview from your own. My main issue is the fact you are so quick to dogmatically declare your views as fact, when your only basis for them is from the modern world if I had to gauge. You wish to understand another person? Do a deep dive of their actual experiences. Look into tolkiens understanding of his cathplic faith, look into how he was influenced by childhood fairy tales, but also biblical and spiritual understandings of falls from grace, look into the things he would have read for history to understand his views on way cultures of the east would have fallen under the sway of a dark lord. Sorry for any rudeness, but you sure did got me to be passionate. In all sincerity have a good night.
@@nicovelardita8619yet you are still giving in-universe reasons for authorial decisions, Eru did not make Tolkien write it so, it is completely mutable. And this isn't us removing things from their context, it is simply a fact that all readings of a text will be rooted in our world and not the constructed world of the author. If we can cite real world examples of how his thought describes a good outlook on moral philosphy then there is at least the possibility that he was also falibile or a little prejudiced. You can't have both but raise the shield of in-universe mythology when there was a poor point of execution.
RE: Tolkien's proto-environmentalism. Reminds me of Liu Cixin and _Pan-Species Communism._ A lot of people, including myself, first learned about it from his "The Three Body Problem" book series. How would it work pragmatically? Would it work pragmatically? Idk, but I kinda like having a target so incredibly utopian to aim at. FYI: This is just a random thought key-slingers, I promise you that you don't have to write me an essay about why this wouldn't work and why I am scum just for daring to have an impractical idea. 🙃
Re: There’s very little horror in LOTR, and the Nazgûl scream was an invention of Jackson: “A long, drawn wail…like the cry of some evil and lonely creature. It rose and fell, and ended on a high piercing note.” You don’t think that’s spooky? What about the ghostly wraith forms of the Nazgûl on Weathertop? Or the Barrow-Wight? The Watcher in the Water? Or Shelob? Riddles in the Dark? I think there’s plenty of horror in Tolkien’s writing
Ugh you’re righter about this than I’d like you to be. He was notoriously thin about his description of orcs, though, and I still think it’s of interest that the biggest agents of evil are essentially formless, it’s hard to describe a void and true evil is certainly a void to Tolkien, an absence.
Ugh, you’re righter about this than I’d like you to be. He was notoriously thin in his description of orcs, though, and I still think it’s of interest that the biggest agents of evil are essentially formless. It’s hard to describe a void, and evil was certainly a void to Tolkien, an absence.
Great vid, appreciated especially the insight into the more subtle and insidious problems with Tolkien's conception of race. I think the more overtly malicious tropes are more frequently spotted and washed out by his imitators, but the more fundamental and disturbing assertion that your moral essence is inborn in your race is less often discussed. Do you plan on doing a video on the Ring Wraiths? I hope so. I'd be curious what you have to say about them, the Witch King especially.
Commenting to increase engagement and PROVE YOU WRONG ABOUT THIS VID'S PERFORMANCE! Also when is that friend of yours gonna go public with their covers of Howard Shore? I need that playlist in my life.
Ah I guessed you had read Tom Shippey for these essays when you mentioned Boethian and Manichean morality in the Orc video, so seeing the direct quote from him in this one was cool. I read a lot of his stuff as a teenage Tolkien fan. Keep up the good work! ☀
The Ents just feel like a government to me. They've got unlimited power to fix things in a day but they sit around talking about it instead. Because sitting and talking feels like you're doing something. But then you get to the battlefield and you see how bad it is and that sitting and wishing about what you'd actually do didn't actually accomplish anything.
Go to surfshark.com/morbidzoo for 4 extra months of Surfshark!
Love your material.
What's a cookie..? I'm smart ok just in my own ways..
Thank you for your labour. I can name off the top of my head at least two different eloquent analogies that have really helped me to signal communication to counterpoint various close family (none of my friends though! Is that weird or what ?! ), who - as it turns out, believe unquestioningly the fact that the universe will cease to exist whenever they eventually do, and that everyone else on the planet should just get used to it. Goddamn their lying eyes, you know what I mean?
Anyways.The struggle goes on & I'm still fighting.
Pretty sure this won't make sense to anyone else but I'm about to email my brother to tell him why Bigfoot is an Ent. For all that you do, much love & hope.
Bella ciao.
Don't you dare come for my cookies. They're mine, and mine alone.
Honey, get the kids. We're going to the zoo.
Edit: If we don't get more LOTR analysis you WILL be hearing from my dad's lawyer.
Finally, a version of this meme that doesn't make me gag! 😄
How has UA-cam not recommended this channel to me until now? So much heart and mind in this essay.
Thanks for watching ☺️
my partner and i say aloud every single time “damn morbidzoo is criminally underrated”
I always find it funny that Lord of The Rings is seen as this kitschy, "good guys win" kinda Fantasy when in reality it's this super depressing last farewell of a dying world.
I've rarely been so eager to hear what someone has to say about something
I've always thought the ending for the ents, kind of like the hobbits ending, is Tolkien mouring the loss of a previous iteration of England, in this case the countries ancient oak woods. Sure, they could withstand and even prevail against singular forces of destruction (Christopher Lee and his orcs), but in the face of overwhelming change and destruction, an oak wood cannot hope to survive. And so with their ability to reproduce destroyed by previous conflict, the ents and thier forests are forced to occupy smaller and smaller spaces, becoming more knarled, weather beaten and ugly, until all that remains of this once vast and ancient thing are a few gaint malicious looking trees squatting in the otherwise prefectly manicured landscape of an English (or Shire) village.
To me at least that goes a way in explaining why their ending is so bleak and unsatisfying since that was also the state of Britains natural areas after the industrial revolution.
Really great essay, I enjoyed it a lot and will likely be rewatching at some later date.
9:20 goddamn Tolkien could WRITE
So real, i feel people undermine how good of a writer tolkein was, since most people focus so much on the worldbuilding and such when talking about him
It shows he was an english professor
I am so ready to let this masterpiece destroy my sleep schedule
Some years ago a president candidate in my country said that “Nature should pay for its share of the land”, wondering if he would have made Treebeard pay taxes or something?
I got chills at the part of the video with the scene of Treebeard screaing. I also think that the horror elements from the movies add to the experience of reading the books and are hard to separate.
“this video is probably going to perform poorly” NOT ON MY WATCH!!
Exactly. I was like “Girl, you underestimate my love of you and anything Tolkien-related. I will stream this on repeat if I have to.”
1:39 Why? Ents are awesome. One of the things I really disliked about Jackson's adaptation, is that he just didn't really capture the slow, wise, solemn dignity of Treebeard. I understand not having the screentime for the whole Entmoot, but having Merry and Pippin have to trick him into understanding the scope of the problem with Sauruman was just ...ugh. The film just didn't get the Ents quite right. Also what was up with him calling Gandalf young?
Ents are ancient, and they just assume that any human-looking individual is young in comparison. They don't know the true nature of Gandalf.
Every syllable forces me to face the camera and tearfully proclaim: That's why she's the MVP. That's why she's the GOAT.
Just wanted to say thank you for all your amazing and thoughtful work. It’s been a while since I found a video essayist of your level of quality. I really hope you explode in popularity soon because you really are one of the best on the site. Your videos have kept me entertained and learning while I recover from a rough surgery. Thank you!
Never thought about the similarities between the desolate lands surrounding Mordor and the bombed out, destroyed hellscapes in "No Man's Land" in WWI.
"Things that you only glance at before you lose them again" reminds me of komorebi, which the movie Perfect Days introduced me to. Fantastic analysis.
Aule is the God of Smithing. Gandalf is an "ANGEL" (High-Priest to Varda Elentari Lady of the Stars)
Illuvatar did NOT accept the Dwarves after the fact ... the text reads..."And the voice of Ilúvatar said to Aulë: "Your offer I accepted, even as it was made."
Ulmo answered: 'Truly, Water is become now fairer than my heart imagined, neither had my secret thought conceived the snowflake, nor in all my music was contained the falling of the rain."- none of them were regarded as mistakes.
Exactly! "And thou, Melkor, shalt see that no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite."
@@willowtree7326😢❤
@@willowtree7326 😍
Moving that line to galadrial as opening narration?
Look. it greatly helps set tone and scope. This is the turning of an age. This is the time of trial.
And the associated voice?
Yes.
Hearing it shoots me right back to the cinema in 2001, watching it with my sister, her boyfriend, and a friend of his. And it still gives me goosebumps.
@@Paroex My mother constantly retells the story of hearing those lines, and breathing a sigh of relief because she knew it was going to be an actually good adaptation of the books she loved.
Thats the thing diehard fans of Tolkien don't get when people criticize the racism in LOTR. Tolkien is saying that we need to accept the different races, but by doing that he's still separating humans into different races nonetheless. Racism is not just discriminating certain groups of people, it's the mere idea that human beings are separated into different races.
@@nihk5234 💯
in lotr there are hobbits, men (humans), elves, dwarfs, orcs, trolls, spirits.. etc. each given their traits.
is this racism? what kind of racism? what is a die hard fan?
Spot on. Tolkien fans get way too defensive when they see criticism. I remember the outrage when Hayao Miyazaki criticized the violence in Hollywood films, and he brought LOTR as an example. If they weren't quick to get offended on Tolkien behalf, they would see that his problem might have been Peter Jackson's interpretation.
Tolkien didn't separate humans into different races. He created distinct, sapient entities in a fictional setting which he didn't intend as a sociological or biological treatise, but a theological treatise above all. If he's saying anything about differences between humanity, it's meant to provoke people to look inwards at their own personal, moral center, comparing and contrasting the spiritualities presented in the Legendarium with aspects not particular to any one period, culture or region.
What ate you talking about? When Tolkien talks about other race of humans he is talking in the medieval concept of race, which is more about lineage and culture and not biological classifications. The issue is that people want to compare orcs to black people jajajajajajajajajaja when there is no comparison
Ents : Is their bark worse than their bite ? ... Not sorry .
*their, otherwise no notes, 10/10
@@MyScorpion42 Their is no they're there ... jk. Thanks for spotting it .
This series fully has its hooks in me. Deeply looking forward to seeing more!
(But do take your time)
Liking preemptively bc I really enjoyed your orc analysis and figure this’ll be on par with that at least. 👍
Fun -fact- opinion: it's even better.
the early bird catches the worm but the late worm doesnt get eaten yeah baby thats me the late worm im late and im a worm oh baby thats me
Some interesting points, but I’d challenge some of the assertions made regarding the horror in Tolkien’s work. I think the section in the Barrow Downs stands as a pure pagan folk horror piece.
Much respect for your well cited sources, and obvious love for the source material.
You’re making me want to dig into more Tolkien lore and I will never EVER forgive you for that.
I kind of disagree on the race determinism part. Like Legolas and Gimli. Besides the fun friendship part each of them represents the breadth of their race. The movies leave it but Gimli is often the soft and poetic member of the fellowship.
I feel like a lot of the criticisms people bring on that front are tainted by stuff like DnD and the cheap fantasy tolkein inspired. But a lot of the time it's not as simple as "all elves are snobby, all dwarves are greedy"
Though I do understand what you mean, and it's definitely not perfect with the way each race is portrayed
The “breadth of their race” is the problem, the idea that elves have a certain way of being that is inherent, even if that way is a spectrum, is a problem
Morbidify me... NOW >:(
It's Morbid Time 😤
Miyazaki implied something similar in the ending of Princess Mononoke.
I have always adored your content but HELL'S BELLS you are COOKING with this series. Thank you so much for everything you do.
Aulé and the gods are not ''basically angels''; they are gods. Iluvatar is indeed the ''creation god'' in a monoistic way, but the gods in Tolkien mythology are much more than angels. I won't go too far into that, but judging by his drawings about creation, it seems that Tolkien was very keen in gnostic and Swedenborg esoterism.
Remember though that there are different branches of thought in theology. Just like physics, we know soke basic workings of reality through observation, but most understandings are theory, and of the few confirmed laws we have, there is a near infititude more about just those laws alone that we could learn. It is just as st augustine said "God, I do not know what you are, so have to test you bit by bit, but I can tell what you are not when I come across it"
Was so stoked for this after LOTR Monsters Pt. 1 and I am NOT disappointed. More of this!
Another banger - the way you draw out the inherent contradictions in Tolkien’s work is clear and well-communicated as usual, and it makes me appreciate the work so much more
Ok, notnsure if it was on purpose, but putting the sponsor right after saying that the ents are some of the most disturbing creatures in tolkien's universe is going to make some people ponder about what you could mean before you continue and that's actually kinda cool.
Awesome. I don't remember which of your videos was my entry point (prob sound of freedom), but I've become a huge fan. Always great analysis, and these LOTR videos are no exception. Really good. Like, rewatch and take notes good. Maybe my favorite. I was thinking about orcs and types of evil for weeks after pt 1.
Hopefully this one *will* perform well and there will be more entries in the series. Keep up the great work
Wow, never expected to see the bear dance from my country referenced on Morbid Zoo.
You are my favorite video essayist right now. Fantastic work as always :)
We bought a zoo (the good version)
This reminds me to what Žižek has said, among other things, about modern environmentalism, how we still put ourselves as the protagonist of the universe when we say "we should save the planet" and to even make a clear distinction between "nature" and "us" when the distinction only makes sense to literally nothing else but us.
My conclusion from all this is that, the very issue with our relationship with our environment, from capitalism and industrialization to environmentalist efforts that amount to little more than gestures, is that we have at every step of the way we have convinced ourselves that somehow we removed ourselves from it just because we don't have to worry about lions anymore. We didn't escape it, we aren't on top of it and it certainly doesn't want anything from us
There is something to be said about agency and responsibility. It is said that power is the ability to limit another's options. It is also said that he who controls a thing is the one that can destroy it, and by those definitions we have exerted a lot of power over nature. So it follows that if we have the agency to do it, we ought to save it as we were the ones that originally forsaked it. Your conclusion is also a little baffling to me, most environmentalists that aren't secretly shilling for venture capitalists to fund their start-up are quite humble about their place in nature and understand the need for group action. In fact your characterization is more in line with the social darwinists and objectivists, historically the people destroying the environments through their roles as industrialists. Which leads me to ponder: where did you get your views on environmentalisms?
Had me tearing up at the Franciscan conception of the Cosmos part. I grew up Evangelical, which consistently puts human beings as an untethered pinnacle of the Cosmos, and often get frustrated at the carelessness and callousness that breeds. So, it was refreshing to get a little bit of “treat the ground you stand on as holy!!!” today.
Would be interested to hear more about the “Jewish” conceptions of the dwarves- I know a point that is often brought up in Tolkien internet discussion is his anti-Nazi sentiments, including using race as a science. But I can’t say I know enough about his anthropological frameworks!
Look up the video "why tolkien hated the roman empire". Take care and God bless
Thanks for the watch ☺️ My understanding is he absolutely hated the nazis and didn’t think the dwarves’ resemblance to Jewishness was a bad thing, because dwarves are awesome (they are). It’s the kind of old guy racism that would have been seen as benign at the time and has just aged poorly.
Thank you for the response! Yeah, that is a fair assessment.
Also, I know you’ve already covered a wide breadth of vampire material with your Twilight video, but I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on Werner Harzog’s “Nosferatu: Der Vampyre! I find it to be uniquely unsexy, awkward, and non-bloody, and closer to the existential dread of The Seventh Seal than the taboo romanticism or sanguine blood-feast we usually see in vampire literature.
And it features a classical piece that’s used heavily in Kate Bush’s “Hello Earth!” So there’s that.
I find your interpretations of Tolkien's work give me a lot more to appreciate about his writing. I first read the books when I was rather young, but I think I should go back a reread them now.
The existence of the dwarves, and their implications, are slightly more complicated than I think you came off - Tolkien writes earlier in the Silmarillion that even the greatest evils and errors will only add to the final glory of the world in the end - but I agree that there's some Unfortunate Stuff going on with the dwarves as a kind of "imperfect covenant" (akin to the Jews in Tolkien's theology...just another point where the comparison is too close).
Aule: Creates Dwarves
Yavana:.....hol up
Can't wait to watch this one 19 more times
When I first read The Lord of the Rings recently I was shocked at how hostile the Middle Earth truly is. Directly by the Shire is this malicious forests that eats hobbits and does battle with a hedge. Not to mention that there is loads of artefacts and ruins about, but they are forgotten. Who built them? What do they mean? The information is just lost, but for a few songs and maybe a book somewhere. Middle Earth is a dangerous wasteland with a few islands of civilisation, even before the shadow from Mordor appeared.
That's so sad. Did none of the peoples think of building and maintaining good roads? To invent book printing?
I’m a Pagan who loves the ethos of St. Francis and the Franciscans (to the point where I have effigies of him on one of my otherwise Pagan altars), so thank you for talking about that for a minute!
We're finally branching out to the Ents. This entire video I was rooted to the spot, you did a great job.
❤ Thank you for your thoughts. I always enjoy hearing them.
Girl? I would run on a broken ankle to see new content from you. Loving it. I came here for your horror work (Pain is God), and I'm staying for this kind of excellent analysis!
This is first channel i ahve to listen to in 0.75x speed I normally listen to most videos in 1.25x.
This series is so good
Honestly, if you just kept doing Lord of the rings content for the rest of your UA-cam career, I’d be happy as a clam in pants. But also everything else you do is Spectacular and broadens my cultural spectrum so thank you morbid zoo for making my weeks when you drop a video 10% better!
The treatment of the ents is easily my least favorite component of the adaptation, mainly because it granted them a type of understandability that felt entirely counter to their role in the books. The Fanghorn forest sections with Merry and Pippin are legitimately my favorite part of the trilogy, and a big part of that is how much it digs into a culture that felt deeply alien to me when I read them 20+ years ago.
Ngl kinda hope we get one of these on dwarves, then you'll have run the full gambit of my favorite lotr cultures/races
‘I don’t expect this video to do well.’ Yeah well too bad
10:31: There is a name for it: it’s called biggering!
Ents were way too dependent on the pipe weed. When the wizards, humans and halflings began harvesting pipe weed, the ents lost access to their energy supply on god fr fr
"the crunchy granola monster" lmao 🤣
It's interesting and frustrating to read old SFF that doesn't acknowledge the environment/climate change (Asimov, Wells, etc). Nowadays I expect all SFF to address it in some way. The fact that Tolkien put an above-average amount of thought into it, for the time, is maybe one reason why the hippies liked LotR.
You have officially become my favorite content creator. No one tell Exurb1a.
Hella good as always, look forward to Ringwraiths. Was disappointed to see on this that YT auto-subtitles didn't have a go at spelling the Ringwraith noise. (15:33)
Frank Herbert and Tolkien: two wildly successful authors whose conservatism gets swept under the rug.
nice choice of setting for this. enjoying the bird calls in the background.
Whoa, I was only listening to this vid. Nodding along in recognition to points I hadn't thought before. Forgive my rudeness, but your big, brown eyes really caught me off guard there. Anyway, great vid. Keep it up.
Great series so far, I've shown it to my friends. Hope to see more!
Gonna do the uncomfortable thing and defend the racism, as a part of the setting at least. It's never rewarded to my knowledge, it's always a case of characters being mired in their prejudices, they either get over it or find tragedy. I can't think of a single instance where it isn't petty or ill deserved. The dwarf and elf hate comes down from murder and the inability to let go of grudges and the friendship of Legolas and Gimli is so central because it really is where the healing starts. The elves divide and discriminate between those that have seen the light of the trees and I can't recall a single time where that isn't shown as one of their great failings (the other again being murdering dwarves on their first encounter).
To me it's always been a simple acknowledgement of our nature, first impressions are a thing, we're all prejudiced and we should all get over it. I think stories that incorporate that help with that.
It's not about the actual, literal & canonical interactions that the different races have. It's about the assumptions that lead you to write a world in which dwarves and elves, as they are written, exist. Nobody told Tolkien that there had to be a species of perfect, people especially beloved by the gods who live longer and are more beautiful and carry some inherent moral goodness. Nobody told him to write a species of cosmic mistakes who are so biologically and inherently blinded by greed that it consistently drives them to ruin. Nobody directed Tolkien to create a set of human cultures who do not get protagonist roles, and who are so morally inept that they fall for the sway of the dark lord with no reasoning provided and serve as his pawns, and are slaughtered wholesale by the tall, elegant and morally pure protagonists. And who are from the "east" and all described in vaguely foreign ways. Some part of Tolkien was compelled by the idea that some groups of people might carry an inherent moral character alongside and indicated by their physical traits.
I also can't get the "elves are perfect for Tolkien" thing. The whole trilogy spawns from their hybris in making the rings
@@Lordofrye Your interpretation of the dwarves as "cosmic mistakes" is completely flawed (as it is within this video). Time and time again Tolkien specified Iluvatar's plan is all-encompassing and inescapable (in a very Christian way). So each unexpected element of creation (Orcs, Dwarfs Sauron, Morgoth, etc) is ultimately within his plan, even if it seems a divergence to us.
@@LordofryeI am sorry but you are getting all of that solely from your own mental paradigm, and tolkien came from a totally different worldview from your own. My main issue is the fact you are so quick to dogmatically declare your views as fact, when your only basis for them is from the modern world if I had to gauge.
You wish to understand another person? Do a deep dive of their actual experiences. Look into tolkiens understanding of his cathplic faith, look into how he was influenced by childhood fairy tales, but also biblical and spiritual understandings of falls from grace, look into the things he would have read for history to understand his views on way cultures of the east would have fallen under the sway of a dark lord. Sorry for any rudeness, but you sure did got me to be passionate. In all sincerity have a good night.
@@nicovelardita8619yet you are still giving in-universe reasons for authorial decisions, Eru did not make Tolkien write it so, it is completely mutable. And this isn't us removing things from their context, it is simply a fact that all readings of a text will be rooted in our world and not the constructed world of the author. If we can cite real world examples of how his thought describes a good outlook on moral philosphy then there is at least the possibility that he was also falibile or a little prejudiced. You can't have both but raise the shield of in-universe mythology when there was a poor point of execution.
i love the outdoor filming location !!
This was beautiful.
Saving to watch tomorrow and commenting for engagement, really excited for this one!
Ooh, class is outside today. Sweet.
RE: Tolkien's proto-environmentalism.
Reminds me of Liu Cixin and _Pan-Species Communism._
A lot of people, including myself, first learned about it from his "The Three Body Problem" book series.
How would it work pragmatically? Would it work pragmatically? Idk, but I kinda like having a target so incredibly utopian to aim at.
FYI: This is just a random thought key-slingers, I promise you that you don't have to write me an essay about why this wouldn't work and why I am scum just for daring to have an impractical idea. 🙃
Re: There’s very little horror in LOTR, and the Nazgûl scream was an invention of Jackson:
“A long, drawn wail…like the cry of some evil and lonely creature. It rose and fell, and ended on a high piercing note.”
You don’t think that’s spooky?
What about the ghostly wraith forms of the Nazgûl on Weathertop? Or the Barrow-Wight? The Watcher in the Water? Or Shelob? Riddles in the Dark?
I think there’s plenty of horror in Tolkien’s writing
Ugh you’re righter about this than I’d like you to be. He was notoriously thin about his description of orcs, though, and I still think it’s of interest that the biggest agents of evil are essentially formless, it’s hard to describe a void and true evil is certainly a void to Tolkien, an absence.
Ugh, you’re righter about this than I’d like you to be. He was notoriously thin in his description of orcs, though, and I still think it’s of interest that the biggest agents of evil are essentially formless. It’s hard to describe a void, and evil was certainly a void to Tolkien, an absence.
Great vid, appreciated especially the insight into the more subtle and insidious problems with Tolkien's conception of race. I think the more overtly malicious tropes are more frequently spotted and washed out by his imitators, but the more fundamental and disturbing assertion that your moral essence is inborn in your race is less often discussed.
Do you plan on doing a video on the Ring Wraiths? I hope so. I'd be curious what you have to say about them, the Witch King especially.
Ringwraiths are next :)
@@themorbidzoo Nice!
Commenting to increase engagement and PROVE YOU WRONG ABOUT THIS VID'S PERFORMANCE!
Also when is that friend of yours gonna go public with their covers of Howard Shore? I need that playlist in my life.
I would have to watch the video for one more time, got lost in background, memorizing.
Ah I guessed you had read Tom Shippey for these essays when you mentioned Boethian and Manichean morality in the Orc video, so seeing the direct quote from him in this one was cool. I read a lot of his stuff as a teenage Tolkien fan. Keep up the good work! ☀
Just recently found you, and very happy for that. What a brilliant interpretation! And what a refreshingly unique view on Tolkien's work.
Excelente trabajo!
I'm doing my part!
Incredible video
You have an unsettling gaze.
Love your work. Keep it up!
Ooh, are we gonna talk about Yavanna?
Why must you tease me so
7:28 that's the right time to show the patreon link :D
Orcas and Boars look at Ents and be like: "Pussy ass!"
Commenting because this video should perform better than Mariana's expectations.
The Ents just feel like a government to me. They've got unlimited power to fix things in a day but they sit around talking about it instead. Because sitting and talking feels like you're doing something.
But then you get to the battlefield and you see how bad it is and that sitting and wishing about what you'd actually do didn't actually accomplish anything.
2 hours left!
Jfc this was SO good, can’t wait for the next installment
Excellent, can't wait
Wow I liked your analysis a lot. You are building a great channel
Entish = I am Groot ❤
Excellent
Great video! Can't wait for the next one already 🥰
Im favouriting and liking this before I watch it because I am subscribed here for many reasons including yes
Tree
Love this stuff. Sooo excited
Sweet! I’ve been looking forward to this
Interesting. Subscribed
5:18 Princess Mononoke vibes