52. This Weird Paranoia Paradise Vibe.

Tolkien’s posthumous collection The Fall of Númenor.

Jared, Oriana and Ned discuss Ned’s choice of topic: The Fall of Númenor.
Published in fall of 2022, The Fall of Númenor is the most recent posthumously
published collection of Middle-earth writings, acting as an overall guide to
the Second Age of Middle-earth, with its key defining moments in Tolkien’s
legendarium being the fall of the titular kingdom of the Dúnedain and the
subsequent Last Alliance’s temporary defeat of Sauron. Given that most of the
material the book draws on comes from a wide variety of other posthumous
Tolkien publications, it can serve as a guide and introduction for those
unaware of this deeper history to get a sense of how Tolkien envisioned,
however haltingly in some cases, this particular era of his creation. But at
the same time, since there is no new material presented in the first place, it
can be argued in turn that there is little more here for some readers to learn
about, while the fact that it was published in tandem with Amazon’s Rings of
Power series while not specifically calling attention to the general
connection with that series’s setting raises further overall questions. Does
the book do a service in bringing the story of Aldarion and Erendis back to
the fore after some decades, given its particular detail in comparison with
the rest of the material presented? Is the choice of Alan Lee to present more
illustrations as with other posthumous collections an understandable point of
continuity or a sign of relying too much on one particular artistic vision of
Middle-earth? Are there any particular details or points of interest that have
sometimes been overlooked in Tolkien’s conception of his world that come back
to the fore more here as a result? And really…just what IS it with Elendil’s
description of his son at a couple of points?

Jared’s
doodle. Those
birds have to be at least a little distressed.

News of the expanded edition of The Letters of J. R. R.
Tolkien. 700 pages? Why not?

A detailed report on The War
of the Rohirrim’s event at Annecy. Enjoy a separate
interview as well.

The Fall of Númenor. It fell indeed.

Our episode on Aldarion and
Erendis. Give it a listen, it’s one
of our favorites.

Brian Sibley’s done a lot.

The Lost Road and Other
Writings
does have quite a lot to delve into.

C. S. Lewis’s space
trilogy. It…goes places.

The New Shadow and The
Notion Club Papers
are indeed very unusual and interesting.

Nope, we’re still not over The Rings of
Power.

Lebensraum, hoo boy. (We do not
approve of the idea at all.)

Mary Renault is
truly a vibe and we appreciate her. And we love that she loved Tolkien’s work
in turn!

Strictly speaking California doesn’t have private beaches full on…but boy
some try.

Further discussion of the physical body in Tolkien can be found in the essay
collection The Body in Tolkien’s
Legendarium.

Alan Lee’s illustrations of Sauron’s
Temple and
Moria from the book.

Mike Mignola would have been a
fine addition for del Toro’s planned Hobbit films. (And indeed, episode
50 is there for you.)

Ah, David Brent.

Our episode on orcs.

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