All Rings Considered: A Tolkien Podcast

In this special episode, Charlie and Pip reach the end of Book IV and The Two Towers. Join them for a discussion on grief, tonal shifts, and their final conclusions on the relationship between Books III and IV. Plus, stay tuned after the discussion for some on-location podcasting from Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland, a place that served as an inspiration for Tolkien... Pictures from the trip to Lauterbrunnen can be found on Charlie's Instagram, @leinphotography, or on his Flickr page at https://www.flickr.com/photos/leinphotography/33844691318/in/dateposted-public/lightbox/

"Giant spider? That's cool and all, but more importantly, let's do a deep dive on all the definitions of the word 'own.'" --Pip and Charlie

Stories! Laughter! Scenery descriptions! Winnie-the-Pooh! All of your favorite topics appear on this week's episode of ARC.

Pip and Charlie inch closer to uncovering Book 4's main theme and also answer a listener-submitted question as they look at Book 4, Chapter 7, "Journey to the Cross-Roads."

Charlie and Pip celebrate the anniversary of the podcast, look at some medieval law influences in The Lord of the Rings, and take a listener-submitted question in this episode of ARC!

Pip and Charlie talk about time, the relationship between Rohan and Gondor, and the 'Tolkien' movie teaser as they look at Book 4, Chapter 5, "The Window on the West."

Book 4, Chapter 4 gets Charlie and Pip talking about nuances and contradictions within texts, while reader-submitted questions cover topics such as Gandalf's increase in power and the identity of the book's narrator.

Book 4, Chapter 3 prompts Pip and Charlie to discuss the aesthetic of Mordor, the power of laughter, and one of the more problematic aspects of Tolkien's work. Plus, they answer more reader-submitted questions!

The parallel relationship between between Books 3 and 4, Tolkien's First World War influences, and our first listener-submitted question--all this and more on episode 35 of ARC's Lord of the Rings Read-Through.

Pip and Charlie kick off Book 4 by discussing Gollum, faulty memories, and some more Shit Said about Tolkien.

Charlie and Pip take a look back at Book 3 as a whole, and also listen to the voices of the people and their take on The Lord of the Rings...

Pip and Charlie do a deep dive into Saruman's campaign to Make Middle-earth Great Again in Book 3, Chapter 10, "The Voice of Saruman."

Tune in to hear Charlie and Pip's thoughts on stories-within-stories and the secret connection between the Ents and Barrow-wights in Book 3, Chapter 9, "Flotsam and Jetsam."

Humor and death make good company, apparently, since "The Road to Isengard" is full of both.

"Helm's Deep" is, uh, a chapter in The Lord of the Rings. Yup. (We're not gaining any new subscribers from this episode.)

Pip and Charlie tackle one of their favorite chapters by (you're going to want to sit down for this) starting at the beginning, looking at the middle, then moving on to the end. Along the way, they look at how Tolkien gave the Rohirrim a tragic feel in Book 3, Chapter 6, "The King of the Golden Hall."

It's Charlie's and Pip's favorite chapter! ...or not... Still, it's here, and we have to find something to talk about for Book 3, Chapter 5, "The White Rider."

Pip and Charlie talk a little about trees, a little about beards, a lot about Treebeard, and just a tiny bit about Manbeard in this episode of ARC.

Charlie and Pip look at evil as self-defeating, events as echoes, and the problem with orcs in Book 3, Chapter 3, "The Uruk-Hai."

Did you know that Tolkien kinda loved landscape descriptions? The shocking details in this episode of ARC covering Book 3, Chapter 2, "The Riders of Rohan."