Yes dakota!! The Man is the Wizard in a tweed coat!! Tolkien was so unappreciated by the critics and those of that ilk. But us geeks( not really geeks) know the value of Tolkien.
Tolkien was so immersed in his own lore that he spoke of his own elvish writing "as inferior to the elves," as if they were a real race that actually existed. That's so badass. I love this man.
@@josephjoe4180 Well, things have got to a point that it seems that it is Tolkien’s world the one that really existed and exists, and ours is make believe
Exactly, and I think it’s because he believed the elves actually did exist at one point, and maybe still do but hidden from men. I read somewhere that he wrote down the general premise of what he really thought the world was once like, not like exactly word for word there was an Aragorn there was a Gandalf, but a story that is an “application😂” of what once was. Or something like that, I’m not quite sure. This man is pure genius.
Yes Creepy! Man does talk fast, his mouth is trying to keep pace with his thoughts. Not very clear as a speaker, which is ironic, as he was a professor and spoke for hours at a time. I guess you get used to it after a bit. The man was an absolute genius. He gave us so much, and I never tire of his works.
For some reason it was more common in those days (early to mid-20th century) more common for English speaking people to speak very fast like that. Whether it was before I don't know, since there were scarcely any recordings of people before then. Probably has something to do with not being dumbed down by television and other media.
@@LonersGuide yeah, you had to get your thoughts out quickly. You could hand write it but that was kind of slow. There were typewriters, but you couldn’t really rely on that on the go.
To hear Tolkien himself speak out loud one of his own beautiful languages is such an indescribable feeling. There will truly never EVER be another writer like him.
Yes! I was thinking the same. Sometimes he seems almost uncanny to Bilbo, both in the books and the movies. And of course, the wisdom and comfort of Gandalf. Such a blessing to read his works and see his interviews
You know it wasn’t actually Mozart writing in Amadeus? It’s just a film he was an actor. It would have been equally amazing to see those masters at their craft though we are very lucky to be able to have had video for the best writer of all time
Lots of people have plenty of negatives to say about technology, but it's moments like this that you realise, we are truly blessed to have items like this to refer to, hopefully forever.
"No, I don't desire to go and have afternoons talking Elvish to chaps." 😂 Thank you so much for all your time and effort in putting these clips together and for writing out the transcript. It's wonderful!
When one wants Tolkein, only Tolkein will do. Not philosophy, commentary or imitation ie that series (mockery) let's pretend to be Elves 😅. What makes it stand out, is that because he was so meticulous, it makes it very hard to impose values on it, or subvert what is already there. That's why it took so long to get anything close to a good adaption because they cannot corrupt it to suit their ends.
His brand of escapism is, as he confirms, an escape from our mechanised, stultifying prison of post industrial living where we are obsessed with Things and not Life in all its facets. Tolkien's greatest gift to us is to help us to become restored to be able to seeithe world as a wonder and a gift
Then comes The Rings Of Power makers. When they think it best to make it as relatable as possible. Completely misunderstood the source material and the Author
"I'm very fond of beer" ---- LOL what an amazing and wonderful man he was. I first discovered "The Hobbit" and "Lord Of The Rings" as a teenager back in the '60s and I've loved and admired JRR Tolkien ever since.
It's crazy to think that all through this time he was sitting on most of the Silmarillion and he never got a chance to see all the wonder and lore that unfolded after it was published. Imagine all the questions we could ask him.
The work of Christopher Tolkien to edit, compile and publish The Silmarillion, the Unfinished Tales and so much more after his father's death is accordingly valuable as an attempt to provide answers. No less a labour of love.
@@ilokivi A lot of people seem to forget this when talking about Christopher Tolkien's work on this. It isn't perfect but I don't think anyone could of done it "perfectly" outside of JRR himself, and even he was constantly revising as he worked.
You could tell his intellect was leagues beyond that interviewer, whose mind was blown at the remark. A pity that better men weren't able to record conversations with him.
Tolkien: "I now wanted to try my hand at writing a really stupendously long narrative." Also Tolkien: Goes on to write one of, if not the best, fantasy novels of all time.
@@lisazkc256 In the sense of LOTR, yes. Countless authors have followed in his footsteps, or deliberately subverted his tropes, which is itself a comment on his influence, with varying degrees of success, in telling a narrative as complex and dense as LOTR. There are some truly great fantasy authors out there who've made statements as profound as Tolkien's in LOTR, with as much skill in language and elements of narrative structure like pacing. In the sense of the Simarillion, no. The Silmarillion is a friggin Bible of a world from its beginning to its end, and afterwards, loaded with philosophy and theology and incredible storytelling. It's certainly not to everyone's tase, "a phonebook written in Elvish", as one commenter hilariously put it. But if you get it, you understand that nobody has come close to it. The Silmarillion is a truly unique work in fantasy.
Can you imagine the things we wouldn't have if this man died in WW1? Now go figure what all those men who died in the World Wars could've done for this world if they hadn't died.
War, for whatever reason, is pure destruction. There are no victories--only losses. And as you just wrote, we don't even know the potential of those who were lost. War is anti-spirit.
I read The Hobbit in 1970..took it to school and hid it in my class books and read it non-stop..move on to The Rings...got an A in Tolkien..not so high marks in classes ..it was such a place to go for a boy so unhappy at home, school and tragedy... reading always took me away
The Hobbit was required reading as part of the English class curriculum in around Grade 7 or 8 where I went to school in Canada. This was early 90's, but definitely started before that.
So disrespectful, how many people wouldn't give their left hand to have one talk with Tolkein and he goes on trying to manipulate Tolkein's words like he's examining a captured enemy. . . .
I think it's an adversarial style interview (very common in the UK against politicians). Here it comes across as distasteful because it's employed against an artist rather than a politician, but it must be said that this interview was by far the most interesting footage of the lot, so there is something to be said for the style. One must bear in mind that the interviewer is not necessarily advancing their own viewpoint but giving voice to critics and providing the interviewee the opportunity to respond.
I might be reading into this: when he mentioned the Tempest having more allegorical elements than the other Shakespeare plays, it seemed he was struck with a certain sadness. His best friend, C.S. Lewis, was a professor of medieval and renaissance literature. This is the sort of thing they would've talked about. And then he mentions the inevitability of death.
Both Lewis and Tolkien fought in WWI, they were quite familiar with death. Interesting to imagine that this might’ve come up in a conversation they shared.
@@jonahnolastnameneeded3130 That's for sure. Tolkien's entire unit was wiped out, while he was in hospital. But I did look this up, when the interview took place. 1968, so that was five years after "Jack" passed away. Charles Williams died in the early 1940s.
@@jonahnolastnameneeded3130 lol ok... no, I didn't mean death as the subject of conversation, but rather the Tempest. Thinking of the Tempest might've reminded him of Lewis.
Imagine being the student who left that page of the exam paper blank that Tolkien out of boredom decided to write the whimsical sentence “In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit.”
Just his way of speech and body language is almost exactly how I imagined Gandalf to be before the movies even came about. Easy going, but knowledge of things few ever knew. If he lived a thousand years I don't think he would run out of stories.
At 8:32, you can see the universal rawness of war in a man’s soul that knows he will never ever be able to forget how it touched his life. Being a Marine, I connected with this moment.
Interviews were so much more substantive back then. It was intelligent. It asked deeper questions. I shudder to think just how shallow the interviews would have been if Tolkien had been interviewed today.
Hearing The Master quote the dark speech of Mordor used in the writing on the One ring was new to me. I have a box set of J.R.R. and Christopher reading from the Hobbit, the Lord of the Rings and the Silmarillion on C D`s. But he does not ever speak the tongue of Mordor. The way he pronounced " nazg" (ring) is a suprise to me. It sounds like he is saying " nazga" almost. Wow, this was a treat for me! I thank you for the posting of this video. Tolkien has been with me since 1977, when I first read the Hobbit in 5th grade. Lord of the Rings in middle school, and the Silmarillion in H.S. I am such a JRRT fanatic/geek, that I have everything ever published by the Tolkien estate, and quite a few books by Humphry Carpenter, and others. I never get tired of Tolkien and his wide world of beings and monsters, and the most epic of all quest tales, up there with Homer and the Illiad. Even better in my eyes and mind.
🦘... Greetings friend...it's a very healthy sign, to be inspired by Tolkien. 👌 Your reflections have taken me back to 1971...final year High School English exam looming...teacher saw me reading a book during class. What are you reading? Lord of the Rings... Sir ! Yes excellent, but we are studying Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy which is in the exam, and LoR isn't ! Yes Sir, but I prefer Tolkien. Teacher with a respectful grin, "Alright just sit at the back of the class and don't disturb anyone." Couldn't stop reading Tolkien, never finished Hardy,passed the exam ! 😂🤣🤫
@@sheerluckholmes7720 Nice!! Sounds like your teacher was indeed familiar with Tolkien, and thought you were not wasting your time. But you did pass at least, so you made out pretty good in the end! People who I grew up with did not know anything about Tolkien, but for about three of my friends. Now you see all these video`s about his works, and it is all from the movies. I am happy that they are now into Tolkien , but sad at the same time, because so many of them wait for a new video to pop up and teach them. WTH is that. That is lazy , or something I don`t understand. I do not see Gimli with a hemet , bumbling around and joking. Gimli never laughed once even. He was a hardcore dude. I do not see Viggo Mortisson`s face when I think of Aragorn. I see him as I have always seen him, in my minds eye. Same with all of the characters. They did a great job, and I appreciate them, but I know Tolkien would not have let them make movies out of his work. He had a hard time with the fame that the books brought him. He just did not understand the whole thing. Anyway, I am sorry for chewing your ear off. But I always like to speak with a true Tolkien fan, such as you!! Cheers!!
@@pphedup Now YOU have got the right attitude. You have the characters in your head as you imagine them. Not an actor but JRR`s people places and things. I salute you my fellow geek!!!
it's a strange but sweet feeling that tickles our minds as we listen to John Ronald respond mysteriously to those journalists from 1968. An insider's feeling. We know what they didn't know at the time. Thanks to Christopher, we know the history of the Silmarils, we know the captivating beauty of the forests of Doriath, of the willows of Nan-Thatren bathed by the waters of Sirion. We have all imagined the mountainous walls of the Crissaegrim protecting Gondolin. We all wept for the outrages suffered by Hurin and his children, and by so many other children of Illuvatar. So many legendary stories, so many mythical landscapes are discovered with each word written by Tolkien. Hearing the master speak to people who knew nothing about Beleriand and the splendors and miseries that took place there gives me a selfish feeling of love for the spirit of this man. We feel close to him, because, thanks to the colossal work of his son, the history of Middle Earth is part of our lives. Love you John and Christopher!!!
I'm a Tolkien fan since my early childhood. My mom bought me a book every year. And later in my teens all the christopher books came out and I was even more in love with this world. I've read every Middle-earth related book many times over by now (I'm 33 now) and still are amazed and captured by his work. Absolutely amazing man. Amazing work. Amazing life.
7:20 - "Hobbits? Well, when you meet them, you know. There's hobbits by nature and there's hobbits by stature and there's hobbits who happen to be both, yeah..." It is expressing a lot. The look right after the laugh, says even more.
And Bilbo. His light stammering and putting his waistcoat in his pocket. Tolkien did that when he was talking about the inevitability of death and I wonder if that was self-soothing gesture
At 17:58, during the BBC interview, it is incorrectly transscribed in the subtitles that Tolkien said "ethological", when he in actuality, as with this entire part of this interview, is talking about ætiology, namely the matter of how things are created, or caused, or otherwise come about. It certainly might be related to matters of what ought be, or ought be done, (as is also prevalent theme throughout the interview in its whole,) but here, specifically, Tolkien seems to talk about the matter of which how his Arda came about to him, which is an ætiological matter altogether.
Such a blunt yet profound thing to say - Death! That’s what it’s all about. I love his words about beer, hobbits having no king, and that it was intentionally free from specific religiosity. Language, trees, and a good pipe smoke. Just priceless footage.
I learned a new word today, "trencherman". And it seems like a perfect description of a hobbit... Also Tolkien seems like such a nice, down-to-earth chap. I always had this image of him being a very stern, classical figure, almost a bit larger than life... Probably because of the lack of interview-footage like this in the past
Wow! Those black and white silent sections, his expressions and gestures - all I could see was Ian McKellen as Gandalf! I'd never realised he was putting Tolkien in there but it's uncanny!
God, seeing Tolkien drink a beer out of a regular beer mug makes him so humble yet distinguished. I wish i lived in the same time as him to share a mug or two.
Thanks so much for uploading this. I've loved Tolkien's legendarium since coming across The Hobbit, LOTR, and The Silmarillion in late primary school and have read and re-read his works and that by Christopher Tolkien ever since, and owe them both a great deal for creating and preserving, respectively, wondrous worlds so many of us enjoy dwelling in.
You can see some of the old Tolkien manuscripts at the Raynor library at the University of Marquette in Wisconsin. I highly recommend it. It’s awesome to to see such a marvelous body of work being developed through Tolkien’s notes and drafts. You don’t write something that large without a large degree of outlining which is clearly what Tolkien did; it wasn’t all stream-of-consciousness. You can tell how intentional he was about everything from the dialogue to the smallest descriptions of the environments that the events took place in. Truly a marvelous writer.
Listening to Tolkien it's clear that Sir Ian McKellen derived so much of his inspiration for playing Gandalf from Tolkien's accent, pattern and timbre of speech.
Reminds me of my dad. He was born in Warwick before moving moving around various parts of that area. He had been moved up a couple of years in school as he was quite smart and went on to study English at Leeds in the early 60s, for some reason finishing off at Cardiff. I know his English degree had something to do with Anglo-Saxon and the likes of Beowulf and all the names you hear when you learn about Tolkien’s favourites. Went on to be an English teacher but never displayed any intention of writing his own material. Once, I asked him why and he said it had all been done and by better minds so he didn’t see the point. Nowadays he still enjoys a pipe and speaking in the odd riddle whilst generally living a Hobbit life.
One of my personal heroes. Im very proud that he served in the Lancashire Fusiliers, im from Lancashire. His son also studied at Stonyhurst College near me. A great Englishman. 🏴
Interviewer: "Would you rather be remembered as a man who has said something or as a man who has made something?" Tolkien: "I don't think you can distinguish. The made thing, unless it says something, won't be remembered".
THANK YOU FOR POSTING THIS SEMINAL INTERVIEW! 'We' began reading Lord of the Rings in our College years--so long ago. This interview means so much to those of us who pored over those pages...and who have revisited them ever since!
@@samuelleask1132 It's impossible for every film to be 100% loyal to the source material and you know what in the case of The Lord Of The Rings that is highlighted to the highest of extents than any other book work transferred to the big screen.Once somebody watches the films first he or she is amazed at all the detail captured in every frame and how deep the story really is.And then if they decide to give the books a go they find out the books are even deeper than that as Tolkien traverses through all the wars and battles with his experiences and his feelings and his heart beats at the times he had fought in the trenches of World War 1. So Tolkien definitely devotes more pages to explaining the philosophy of the war and why it shouldn't really be happening at all.Some of the sweet moments between the characters in Jackson's films can be illustrated in your mind once you encounter their corresponding parts in Tolkien's books even though they're not too much.Peter Jackson did certainly an amazing job with the Lord of The Rings and definitely the best adaptation this story will ever get.Combining the clues i mentioned earlier one can deduce that should a certain individual read the books at first and watch the movies afterwards , some moments might seem too vanilla amd a bit foreign and that is acceptable and understood.Anyways , since Tolkien had also proposed Christopher Lee to play Gandalf i believe his opinion on film adaptations would be the most general a writer's thought , that is they cannot give you more than the book but if done right you might be in for an entertaining experience.Still though , Lord Of The Rings has one of the highest percentages of precision when it comes to tranferring a book work to the big screen , most films that walk the same path roughly reach 15%.Finally to add a bit about myself , i too lile most people out there watched the films at first and then read the books.Return Of The King is my favourite movie of all time , the book is definitely on my top 5 books of all time in mankind's history and my take on Lord Of The Rings doesn't differ not one bit from everything i've mentioned above.Hope you doing well!!!
If there is one thing in all my years since childhood that surprised me it was this interview. Since I have first readed his autobiography I thought I will never see or hear him talk since he was avid hater of modern technology's and that he had never given to be recorded or interviewed something like this. But thank goodness I was wrong. Thank you for sharing this, because it shows that he wasn't very closed person to the public. Edit: After researching little bit more about this footage, I found out the original BBC edit, and thank you for removing those bits from those students that sound same as today's "Tolkien schoolers" that are actively destroying and humiliating this mans wonderful legacy.
Idiots and fools cant destroy greatness. Out of their mocking jealousy and twisted morality they only annihilate themselves in the end. Which is exactly what theyre doing. Allowing themselves to be programmed to destroy themselves. If anyone is to be mocked its them. And they are. By their own indoctrinators. Communism and islam.
A man after my own heart, very fond of a beer. Watching him write and speak an Elvish dialect he constructed from Welsh and Finnish, just amazing. Thanks for uploading this.
Having been a great fan of Tolkien since the 60’s, I find these interviews absolutely fascinating. How a man, under all the triumphs and tragedies, in his life, using his imagination, could so effectively create such a detailed world of hobbits, wizards, orcs, and dark forces, is beyond me…. Thanks for this compilation.
I went to the Eagle and Child Pub a number of what’s ago. It was a really moving experience for me. To stand in the room, where he and C. S. Lewis (among others) would sit, smoke and read each others works is difficult to describe.
I choose to believe that the fiction we invent, books, video games, are real in some universe. We tap into it when we display the creative impulse. Let me have my dreams.
He has always been such an inspiration to me. I find his stories to be among my favorites, and his works have moved me to create my own mythology. Thank You!
I love how he admires the elves’ language as if he’s NOT the one who created it himself!! It was so real to him and his devotion to his craft made it real for me and millions of others as well. What an honor it is to have his books in my possession.
I remember seeing footage of the opening interview earlier in my life and it was incomprehensible due to the quality. Great job on the restoration to whoever handled it, I could actually understand what he was saying.
At 19:33 I know those are encoded subs from the source video, but I believe he said "auctorial" (he pronounced it like "auctora") not "of Torah." Auctorial meaning "of or relating to the author." I get why the original subtitler thought that was correct (because Tolkien wanted to maintain the idea of most Europeans not having a Judaic style religion before the coming of Christ, with only the Elves and those close to them knowing the full truth of Creation and having their own unique form of religion), but I've listen to that clip many times and don't believe he was referencing the Torah.
00:00 Hobbits
00:45 LOTR
01:07 Elvish
01:27 Allegory
02:02 Reviewer
02:10 Death
03:16 Fan mail
03:28 Escapist
03:38 When was 13
03:46 Writes Elvish
04:45 FOOD?!
05:01 Beer
05:21 Smoking
05:38 Invented Ring inscription/Black Speech
05:55 Black Speech
06:07 Cult
--- B&W ---
06:42 (no audio) pipe w/glasses
07:01 (no audio) takes off glasses
07:20 Hobbits
07:37 Roos, memory
08:04 Life after WW2
09:30 Manor Road
10:35 Recollection
11:03 Elves Dwarves Men
13:12 Silm
13:50 Silm
14:16 BBC 1962
--- Oxford Tour ---
20:45 Walks into house
21:10 Tour#1 better quality
23:30 Tour#2 low quality
25:35 Fireworks
25:45 Claps/Yeah
26:05 Aerial view
26:33 In a field
This is very helpful indeed. Thank you!
Thank you
That black speech though. Absolutely amazing
Wow, thank you!
Thanks.
"Oh Lord, I've made a mistake, haven't I." The sheer WEIGHT of that statement shows just how much love and devotion this man poured into his work.
It's at 4:19 for those who are curious
He's exactly as I imagined him, Gandalf incarnate with those sly little smiles and quick bright eyes
Yes dakota!! The Man is the Wizard in a tweed coat!! Tolkien was so unappreciated by the critics and those of that ilk. But us geeks( not really geeks) know the value of Tolkien.
Exactly as you'd imagine him yup. In his tweed suit with a pipe. And next to a fireplace so charming
Ian McKellen based Gandalfs voice from Tolkiens.
He's like that but with a hint of everyone else, a little Bilbo in there for sure
I see more Bilbo than Gandalf honestly. You can tell he’s a bit grumpier in everyday life than he lets on lol
Tolkien was so immersed in his own lore that he spoke of his own elvish writing "as inferior to the elves," as if they were a real race that actually existed. That's so badass. I love this man.
That is a charming remark and I could not agree more
Great remark. I thought the same. 🙏🏽
@@josephjoe4180 Well, things have got to a point that it seems that it is Tolkien’s world the one that really existed and exists, and ours is make believe
Exactly, and I think it’s because he believed the elves actually did exist at one point, and maybe still do but hidden from men. I read somewhere that he wrote down the general premise of what he really thought the world was once like, not like exactly word for word there was an Aragorn there was a Gandalf, but a story that is an “application😂” of what once was. Or something like that, I’m not quite sure. This man is pure genius.
you can really tell how fast his mind worked. its like constantly bubbleing up with thought
Yes Creepy! Man does talk fast, his mouth is trying to keep pace with his thoughts. Not very clear as a speaker, which is ironic, as he was a professor and spoke for hours at a time. I guess you get used to it after a bit. The man was an absolute genius. He gave us so much, and I never tire of his works.
@@gib59er56 LOL i thought you were calling his mind creepy lololololol
For some reason it was more common in those days (early to mid-20th century) more common for English speaking people to speak very fast like that. Whether it was before I don't know, since there were scarcely any recordings of people before then. Probably has something to do with not being dumbed down by television and other media.
@@LonersGuide yeah, you had to get your thoughts out quickly. You could hand write it but that was kind of slow. There were typewriters, but you couldn’t really rely on that on the go.
To hear Tolkien himself speak out loud one of his own beautiful languages is such an indescribable feeling. There will truly never EVER be another writer like him.
I think his personality is kind of a mix between Gandalf and Bilbo. Such a brilliant and nice man.
Yes! I was thinking the same. Sometimes he seems almost uncanny to Bilbo, both in the books and the movies. And of course, the wisdom and comfort of Gandalf. Such a blessing to read his works and see his interviews
Ian McKellen did consciously base his performance of Gandalf on interviews like these.
Gandalf,Bilbo, Fangorn, and Bombidel it seems
@@romulomontes8884 Right on, and if I were a little child, I would go running to him to hug the old «rascal»
God, seeing Tolkien write in Elvish himself is like watching Mozart write music, or MIchelangelo making sketches!
One of the statements made in this world filled with more truth that can fit within the words.
You know it wasn’t actually Mozart writing in Amadeus? It’s just a film he was an actor. It would have been equally amazing to see those masters at their craft though we are very lucky to be able to have had video for the best writer of all time
@@lukeluke7082 I'm very sure he was speaking figuratively and it had nothing to do with the film. Nice comment.
And speaking the languages he invented. He was going off on some forbidden language of Mordor in there.
Lots of people have plenty of negatives to say about technology, but it's moments like this that you realise, we are truly blessed to have items like this to refer to, hopefully forever.
"No, I don't desire to go and have afternoons talking Elvish to chaps." 😂
Thank you so much for all your time and effort in putting these clips together and for writing out the transcript. It's wonderful!
When one wants Tolkein, only Tolkein will do. Not philosophy, commentary or imitation ie that series (mockery) let's pretend to be Elves 😅.
What makes it stand out, is that because he was so meticulous, it makes it very hard to impose values on it, or subvert what is already there. That's why it took so long to get anything close to a good adaption because they cannot corrupt it to suit their ends.
How much pleasure, joy and escapism from the mundane has this man given the world.
Magnificent to see.
exactly
Wonderfully put :-)
His brand of escapism is, as he confirms, an escape from our mechanised, stultifying prison of post industrial living where we are obsessed with Things and not Life in all its facets. Tolkien's greatest gift to us is to help us to become restored to be able to seeithe world as a wonder and a gift
Then comes The Rings Of Power makers. When they think it best to make it as relatable as possible. Completely misunderstood the source material and the Author
"I'm very fond of beer" ---- LOL what an amazing and wonderful man he was. I first discovered "The Hobbit" and "Lord Of The Rings" as a teenager back in the '60s and I've loved and admired JRR Tolkien ever since.
I like to be rlevated...ha!
This man was such a precious gift to humanity
Our... Precious 🧟♂️
It's crazy to think that all through this time he was sitting on most of the Silmarillion and he never got a chance to see all the wonder and lore that unfolded after it was published. Imagine all the questions we could ask him.
The work of Christopher Tolkien to edit, compile and publish The Silmarillion, the Unfinished Tales and so much more after his father's death is accordingly valuable as an attempt to provide answers. No less a labour of love.
@@ilokivi A lot of people seem to forget this when talking about Christopher Tolkien's work on this. It isn't perfect but I don't think anyone could of done it "perfectly" outside of JRR himself, and even he was constantly revising as he worked.
He already answered them in his writings
I wish he got to see it published, he worked on it for so long!
@@Swarm509exactly. It took him 11 years to write LOTR. And he almost scrapped it again, near the end, and started over.
His reply to the bbc interviewer around 20:30 was so profound :'D
"The made thing, unless it says something, won't be remembered."
I love his smile at the end😁
You could tell his intellect was leagues beyond that interviewer, whose mind was blown at the remark. A pity that better men weren't able to record conversations with him.
A very Elvish reply....
Not to mention the instinctive, nearly instant speed he returned it with
Tolkien: "I now wanted to try my hand at writing a really stupendously long narrative."
Also Tolkien: Goes on to write one of, if not the best, fantasy novels of all time.
It is the best, second only to the Silmarilion.
No other fantasy author has ever come even close to Tolkien.
@@lisazkc256Challenge accepted.
:P
@@lisazkc256 In the sense of LOTR, yes. Countless authors have followed in his footsteps, or deliberately subverted his tropes, which is itself a comment on his influence, with varying degrees of success, in telling a narrative as complex and dense as LOTR. There are some truly great fantasy authors out there who've made statements as profound as Tolkien's in LOTR, with as much skill in language and elements of narrative structure like pacing.
In the sense of the Simarillion, no. The Silmarillion is a friggin Bible of a world from its beginning to its end, and afterwards, loaded with philosophy and theology and incredible storytelling. It's certainly not to everyone's tase, "a phonebook written in Elvish", as one commenter hilariously put it. But if you get it, you understand that nobody has come close to it. The Silmarillion is a truly unique work in fantasy.
The best fictional story written in prose (mostly). Except....there's The Silmarillion.
@@squamish4244 The Silmarillion is Tolkein's bible of Middle Earth.
Can you imagine the things we wouldn't have if this man died in WW1?
Now go figure what all those men who died in the World Wars could've done for this world if they hadn't died.
War, for whatever reason, is pure destruction. There are no victories--only losses. And as you just wrote, we don't even know the potential of those who were lost. War is anti-spirit.
I think about this all the time. We lost a civilisation's worth of young men and the cost has been civilisation.
So... We have a student who left a blank page to thank for The Hobbit
I read The Hobbit in 1970..took it to school and hid it in my class books and read it non-stop..move on to The Rings...got an A in Tolkien..not so high marks in classes ..it was such a place to go for a boy so unhappy at home, school and tragedy... reading always took me away
Damn ❤
The Hobbit was required reading as part of the English class curriculum in around Grade 7 or 8 where I went to school in Canada. This was early 90's, but definitely started before that.
Journalists always try to trick people on their own words, but how wonderfully Tolkien outsmart that young man there; he was awesome.
I just witnessed Tolkien writing Elvish with a fountain pen... magic
They say don't meet your heroes, but 'meeting' Tolkien here, he exceeds my expectations, lovely man
He has such an infectious smile.
It’s like meeting an actual visitor from Middle Earth.
It’s meeting Eru Ilúvatar
Tolkien’s ability to take the pseudo-intellectual jibber-jabber of the pretentious interviewer and give genuinely intriguing answers is great talent.
My god, that reporter was nasty... Why did he treat him like that?
So disrespectful, how many people wouldn't give their left hand to have one talk with Tolkein and he goes on trying to manipulate Tolkein's words like he's examining a captured enemy. . . .
I think it's an adversarial style interview (very common in the UK against politicians). Here it comes across as distasteful because it's employed against an artist rather than a politician, but it must be said that this interview was by far the most interesting footage of the lot, so there is something to be said for the style.
One must bear in mind that the interviewer is not necessarily advancing their own viewpoint but giving voice to critics and providing the interviewee the opportunity to respond.
I might be reading into this: when he mentioned the Tempest having more allegorical elements than the other Shakespeare plays, it seemed he was struck with a certain sadness. His best friend, C.S. Lewis, was a professor of medieval and renaissance literature. This is the sort of thing they would've talked about. And then he mentions the inevitability of death.
Both Lewis and Tolkien fought in WWI, they were quite familiar with death. Interesting to imagine that this might’ve come up in a conversation they shared.
@@jonahnolastnameneeded3130 That's for sure. Tolkien's entire unit was wiped out, while he was in hospital. But I did look this up, when the interview took place. 1968, so that was five years after "Jack" passed away. Charles Williams died in the early 1940s.
@@jonahnolastnameneeded3130 lol ok... no, I didn't mean death as the subject of conversation, but rather the Tempest. Thinking of the Tempest might've reminded him of Lewis.
Imagine being the student who left that page of the exam paper blank that Tolkien out of boredom decided to write the whimsical sentence “In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit.”
A canon event
I wonder if that page still exists somewhere?...
@@akamucrimsidae Maybe its buried somewhere in a mountain of Tolkien's work.
Just his way of speech and body language is almost exactly how I imagined Gandalf to be before the movies even came about.
Easy going, but knowledge of things few ever knew. If he lived a thousand years I don't think he would run out of stories.
The actor actually based his voice off of Tolkiens
@@carloscontrerass4418 yep Ian Mckellen indeed did that
At 8:32, you can see the universal rawness of war in a man’s soul that knows he will never ever be able to forget how it touched his life. Being a Marine, I connected with this moment.
In spite of all the horrors he bore witness to, he didn't let it consume him and became one of the greatest writers in history.
@@concept5631LOTR was about WW1 and evil in this world.
He knew the answer - new life in Jesus Christ.
Interviews were so much more substantive back then. It was intelligent. It asked deeper questions.
I shudder to think just how shallow the interviews would have been if Tolkien had been interviewed today.
This is the most English sounding man I have ever heard
Most middle class people South of Birmingham sounded like him until the 90s.
@@realMaverickBuckleyprovided they were Oxbridge types.
What a truly wonderful man he was, rest in beautiful peace Mr Tolkien.
Insane to think this legend created a whole new world, a world we all fell in love with
Hearing The Master quote the dark speech of Mordor used in the writing on the One ring was new to me. I have a box set of J.R.R. and Christopher reading from the Hobbit, the Lord of the Rings and the Silmarillion on C D`s. But he does not ever speak the tongue of Mordor. The way he pronounced " nazg" (ring) is a suprise to me. It sounds like he is saying " nazga" almost. Wow, this was a treat for me! I thank you for the posting of this video. Tolkien has been with me since 1977, when I first read the Hobbit in 5th grade. Lord of the Rings in middle school, and the Silmarillion in H.S. I am such a JRRT fanatic/geek, that I have everything ever published by the Tolkien estate, and quite a few books by Humphry Carpenter, and others. I never get tired of Tolkien and his wide world of beings and monsters, and the most epic of all quest tales, up there with Homer and the Illiad. Even better in my eyes and mind.
🦘... Greetings friend...it's a very healthy sign, to be inspired by Tolkien. 👌
Your reflections have taken me back to 1971...final year High School English exam looming...teacher saw me reading a book during class. What are you reading? Lord of the Rings... Sir ! Yes excellent, but we are studying Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy which is in the exam, and LoR isn't ! Yes Sir, but I prefer Tolkien. Teacher with a respectful grin, "Alright just sit at the back of the class and don't disturb anyone." Couldn't stop reading Tolkien, never finished Hardy,passed the exam ! 😂🤣🤫
@@sheerluckholmes7720 Nice!! Sounds like your teacher was indeed familiar with Tolkien, and thought you were not wasting your time. But you did pass at least, so you made out pretty good in the end! People who I grew up with did not know anything about Tolkien, but for about three of my friends. Now you see all these video`s about his works, and it is all from the movies. I am happy that they are now into Tolkien , but sad at the same time, because so many of them wait for a new video to pop up and teach them. WTH is that. That is lazy , or something I don`t understand. I do not see Gimli with a hemet , bumbling around and joking. Gimli never laughed once even. He was a hardcore dude. I do not see Viggo Mortisson`s face when I think of Aragorn. I see him as I have always seen him, in my minds eye. Same with all of the characters. They did a great job, and I appreciate them, but I know Tolkien would not have let them make movies out of his work. He had a hard time with the fame that the books brought him. He just did not understand the whole thing. Anyway, I am sorry for chewing your ear off. But I always like to speak with a true Tolkien fan, such as you!! Cheers!!
@@gib59er56I wish I could still see them all like when I was 15, but Peter Jackson's actors keep stepping in front of my screen.
@@pphedup Now YOU have got the right attitude. You have the characters in your head as you imagine them. Not an actor but JRR`s people places and things. I salute you my fellow geek!!!
What a wonderful mind.
Just imagine all the stories and details that were never noted down and died with him.
Thank You for posting and creating such a fine historical document. “Work is love made manifest.” -K.Gibran -
🎯
it's a strange but sweet feeling that tickles our minds as we listen to John Ronald respond mysteriously to those journalists from 1968.
An insider's feeling.
We know what they didn't know at the time.
Thanks to Christopher, we know the history of the Silmarils, we know the captivating beauty of the forests of Doriath, of the willows of Nan-Thatren bathed by the waters of Sirion. We have all imagined the mountainous walls of the Crissaegrim protecting Gondolin. We all wept for the outrages suffered by Hurin and his children, and by so many other children of Illuvatar.
So many legendary stories, so many mythical landscapes are discovered with each word written by Tolkien. Hearing the master speak to people who knew nothing about Beleriand and the splendors and miseries that took place there gives me a selfish feeling of love for the spirit of this man. We feel close to him, because, thanks to the colossal work of his son, the history of Middle Earth is part of our lives.
Love you John and Christopher!!!
I'm a Tolkien fan since my early childhood. My mom bought me a book every year. And later in my teens all the christopher books came out and I was even more in love with this world.
I've read every Middle-earth related book many times over by now (I'm 33 now) and still are amazed and captured by his work.
Absolutely amazing man. Amazing work. Amazing life.
7:20 - "Hobbits? Well, when you meet them, you know. There's hobbits by nature and there's hobbits by stature and there's hobbits who happen to be both, yeah..." It is expressing a lot. The look right after the laugh, says even more.
I can see some of the things Ian McKellen incorporated into his portrayal.
And Bilbo. His light stammering and putting his waistcoat in his pocket. Tolkien did that when he was talking about the inevitability of death and I wonder if that was self-soothing gesture
Thank you God for JRR Tolkien.
0:21 "very laborious", "long", "through" -progression
1:27 "understand"
03:28 "Escapism"
4:48 "Admire"
7:56, 9:47, 14:11, 23:25 "connect"
14:14 "obligation"
17:24 "it grew into it" -progression
19:32, 23:05 "reason"
19:43 "explain"
20:44 "Basic"
At 17:58, during the BBC interview, it is incorrectly transscribed in the subtitles that Tolkien said "ethological", when he in actuality, as with this entire part of this interview, is talking about ætiology, namely the matter of how things are created, or caused, or otherwise come about. It certainly might be related to matters of what ought be, or ought be done, (as is also prevalent theme throughout the interview in its whole,) but here, specifically, Tolkien seems to talk about the matter of which how his Arda came about to him, which is an ætiological matter altogether.
Thank you very much for this!
Thank you.
astounding that I have read this man's books for nearly 30 years, but it is only here and now that I have heard him speak
60 yrs. I'm reading it now for almost the 10th time.
"I like feeling elevated. I'm very fond of beer". Me too bud
Such a blunt yet profound thing to say - Death! That’s what it’s all about. I love his words about beer, hobbits having no king, and that it was intentionally free from specific religiosity. Language, trees, and a good pipe smoke. Just priceless footage.
It's like the way to worship for real is to live in harmony with life.
@@hellomate639 Yes!! He is Bilbo.
I learned a new word today, "trencherman". And it seems like a perfect description of a hobbit...
Also Tolkien seems like such a nice, down-to-earth chap. I always had this image of him being a very stern, classical figure, almost a bit larger than life... Probably because of the lack of interview-footage like this in the past
Well...he is larger then life (as a creator of the World and Work larger then life.
Wow! Those black and white silent sections, his expressions and gestures - all I could see was Ian McKellen as Gandalf! I'd never realised he was putting Tolkien in there but it's uncanny!
He is so relaxed and happy.
While he seems to talk like Gandalf, he himself always compared himself to a hobbit.
Just happy to tend his garden, go to bad late, and wake up late
@@HansHammertime hobbits are funnier than minions for me 😂
God, seeing Tolkien drink a beer out of a regular beer mug makes him so humble yet distinguished. I wish i lived in the same time as him to share a mug or two.
Thank you for your great gift to us, JRR.
Thanks so much for uploading this. I've loved Tolkien's legendarium since coming across The Hobbit, LOTR, and The Silmarillion in late primary school and have read and re-read his works and that by Christopher Tolkien ever since, and owe them both a great deal for creating and preserving, respectively, wondrous worlds so many of us enjoy dwelling in.
I'm getting emotional watching this. He died way before I was born, but I love his creation so much
You can see some of the old Tolkien manuscripts at the Raynor library at the University of Marquette in Wisconsin. I highly recommend it. It’s awesome to to see such a marvelous body of work being developed through Tolkien’s notes and drafts. You don’t write something that large without a large degree of outlining which is clearly what Tolkien did; it wasn’t all stream-of-consciousness. You can tell how intentional he was about everything from the dialogue to the smallest descriptions of the environments that the events took place in. Truly a marvelous writer.
This man is a legend. Rest in peace MASTER!!!!!
Listening to Tolkien it's clear that Sir Ian McKellen derived so much of his inspiration for playing Gandalf from Tolkien's accent, pattern and timbre of speech.
The greatest writer of all time...such a tale....deeply moving,soul stirring...the entirety of fantasy today evolved from this brilliant mind.
he reminds me of Gandalf. the way he speaks, the extra words he lets out. and that smile is so comforting. i wish i met him.
He was so well spoken that he made the word ”eloquent” look like clumsily stuttered slang.
Reminds me of my dad. He was born in Warwick before moving moving around various parts of that area. He had been moved up a couple of years in school as he was quite smart and went on to study English at Leeds in the early 60s, for some reason finishing off at Cardiff. I know his English degree had something to do with Anglo-Saxon and the likes of Beowulf and all the names you hear when you learn about Tolkien’s favourites. Went on to be an English teacher but never displayed any intention of writing his own material. Once, I asked him why and he said it had all been done and by better minds so he didn’t see the point. Nowadays he still enjoys a pipe and speaking in the odd riddle whilst generally living a Hobbit life.
One of my personal heroes. Im very proud that he served in the Lancashire Fusiliers, im from Lancashire. His son also studied at Stonyhurst College near me. A great Englishman. 🏴
"All stories are about one thing, the inevitability of death."
Interviewer: "Would you rather be remembered as a man who has said something or as a man who has made something?"
Tolkien: "I don't think you can distinguish. The made thing, unless it says something, won't be remembered".
THANK YOU FOR POSTING THIS SEMINAL INTERVIEW! 'We' began reading Lord of the Rings in our College years--so long ago. This interview means so much to those of us who pored over those pages...and who have revisited them ever since!
I just want to say thank you for your hard work putting this video together, it is appreciated!
I think he’d really hate what Amazon have done with his lore
No one considers Amazons adaptation to be canon
@@davidhimmelfahrt3732 because they’re not. Same with all the other movies and videogames and stage plays and songs based upon Tolkien’s works
@@samuelleask1132 Yes
@@samuelleask1132 It's impossible for every film to be 100% loyal to the source material and you know what in the case of The Lord Of The Rings that is highlighted to the highest of extents than any other book work transferred to the big screen.Once somebody watches the films first he or she is amazed at all the detail captured in every frame and how deep the story really is.And then if they decide to give the books a go they find out the books are even deeper than that as Tolkien traverses through all the wars and battles with his experiences and his feelings and his heart beats at the times he had fought in the trenches of World War 1. So Tolkien definitely devotes more pages to explaining the philosophy of the war and why it shouldn't really be happening at all.Some of the sweet moments between the characters in Jackson's films can be illustrated in your mind once you encounter their corresponding parts in Tolkien's books even though they're not too much.Peter Jackson did certainly an amazing job with the Lord of The Rings and definitely the best adaptation this story will ever get.Combining the clues i mentioned earlier one can deduce that should a certain individual read the books at first and watch the movies afterwards , some moments might seem too vanilla amd a bit foreign and that is acceptable and understood.Anyways , since Tolkien had also proposed Christopher Lee to play Gandalf i believe his opinion on film adaptations would be the most general a writer's thought , that is they cannot give you more than the book but if done right you might be in for an entertaining experience.Still though , Lord Of The Rings has one of the highest percentages of precision when it comes to tranferring a book work to the big screen , most films that walk the same path roughly reach 15%.Finally to add a bit about myself , i too lile most people out there watched the films at first and then read the books.Return Of The King is my favourite movie of all time , the book is definitely on my top 5 books of all time in mankind's history and my take on Lord Of The Rings doesn't differ not one bit from everything i've mentioned above.Hope you doing well!!!
Is there anybody who doesn't hate it? xD
Absolutely. Watching him write is enough to bring me to tears, it’s so completely beautiful and captivating.
What a brilliant and lovely chap, thanks for compiling and sharing!
Merci Monsieur Tolkien. Je vous dois beaucoup.
Incredible human being
If there is one thing in all my years since childhood that surprised me it was this interview. Since I have first readed his autobiography I thought I will never see or hear him talk since he was avid hater of modern technology's and that he had never given to be recorded or interviewed something like this. But thank goodness I was wrong. Thank you for sharing this, because it shows that he wasn't very closed person to the public.
Edit: After researching little bit more about this footage, I found out the original BBC edit, and thank you for removing those bits from those students that sound same as today's "Tolkien schoolers" that are actively destroying and humiliating this mans wonderful legacy.
Idiots and fools cant destroy greatness. Out of their mocking jealousy and twisted morality they only annihilate themselves in the end. Which is exactly what theyre doing. Allowing themselves to be programmed to destroy themselves. If anyone is to be mocked its them. And they are. By their own indoctrinators. Communism and islam.
Thank you very much to whoever took the time to make the transcription so accurate. Very helpful!
2:49 what has it got in its pocketses
😂
The Legend. Creator of the best trilogy fantasy author ever
RIP Tolkien xx
A man after my own heart, very fond of a beer. Watching him write and speak an Elvish dialect he constructed from Welsh and Finnish, just amazing. Thanks for uploading this.
Having been a great fan of Tolkien since the 60’s, I find these interviews absolutely fascinating. How a man, under all the triumphs and tragedies, in his life, using his imagination, could so effectively create such a detailed world of hobbits, wizards, orcs, and dark forces, is beyond me…. Thanks for this compilation.
A big thank you sir for what you have contributed to the world
I went to the Eagle and Child Pub a number of what’s ago. It was a really moving experience for me. To stand in the room, where he and C. S. Lewis (among others) would sit, smoke and read each others works is difficult to describe.
Those experiences are always special. To be able to somehow take in the aura of those departed from us, we always build off the past
I choose to believe that the fiction we invent, books, video games, are real in some universe. We tap into it when we display the creative impulse.
Let me have my dreams.
He has always been such an inspiration to me. I find his stories to be among my favorites, and his works have moved me to create my own mythology. Thank You!
I love how he admires the elves’ language as if he’s NOT the one who created it himself!! It was so real to him and his devotion to his craft made it real for me and millions of others as well. What an honor it is to have his books in my possession.
Him talking in the dark tongue of Mordor was great, simply great
Thank you for collating this! So great to have them all in one place in their best quality. A trove.
A true genius. Nothing describes this man better
Wow thanks for this dude. Great contribution.
I remember seeing footage of the opening interview earlier in my life and it was incomprehensible due to the quality. Great job on the restoration to whoever handled it, I could actually understand what he was saying.
He appears to be such a kind-hearted and honest man fully without guile.
Ian McKellen has said he based his voice as Gandalf on Tolkien's voice and it shows
adding the subtitles must have taken some time, many thanks for the effort.
Excellent compilation! Thank you for putting it all in one place. Have to say that BBC interviewer had me rolling my eyes though 🙄
And Tolkein didn't look too impressed by him either!
I did not expect to hear Tolkien quote Simone de Beauvoir, very interesting.
"I'm a meticulous sort of bloke " amen to that
15:05
The questions that were asked during interviews in those times are baffling to me.
Incredibly deep and insightful.
At 19:33 I know those are encoded subs from the source video, but I believe he said "auctorial" (he pronounced it like "auctora") not "of Torah." Auctorial meaning "of or relating to the author." I get why the original subtitler thought that was correct (because Tolkien wanted to maintain the idea of most Europeans not having a Judaic style religion before the coming of Christ, with only the Elves and those close to them knowing the full truth of Creation and having their own unique form of religion), but I've listen to that clip many times and don't believe he was referencing the Torah.
Wow. Thank you for putting this together. What a gem
This is magnificent. I didn’t even know video of Tolkien existed.
The man who single-handedly wrote the fantasy genre. Modern fantasy writers have him for inspiration.
Very nice work, thank you!
Wonderful. Thank you for posting.
Thank you for compiling this.
He seems like a mixture of Bilbo and Gandalf. :)