6. “Strider! What’s Up, Man?”

On friendship in Tolkien.

Jared, Oriana and Ned discuss Jared’s choice of topic: friendship!
Friendship in Middle-earth is a key part of many different characters’ lives,
and how it both plays out in stories and simply exists in its own right is
well worth considering, from the primary friendship of Frodo and Sam to many
other examples throughout the legendarium. How does Tolkien’s own
socialization in Edwardian England shape both the friendships of his own life
and his portrayals of it in his writing? Is his near-exclusive focus on male-to-male friendships potentially alienating? What are some counterexamples of
the strong friendships he portrays—friendships that end in disaster, or false
friendships that never were? Perhaps above all else, what makes Tolkien so
open to portraying deep visible emotions in his male friendships, and how does
that contrast with how male friendships are often shown in modern American
creative arts?

Jared’s
doodle for
the episode showcases what he considers to be the apex of Frodo and Sam’s
friendship, one of the most famed moments in all of Tolkien’s creative work.

Go see Jared at GeekGirlCon in Seattle in mid-November! You’ll be glad you did.

Indeed, we thank everyone again for all their lovely comments so far, and we
do want to especially note Karin Kross’s
reaction to
Oriana’s talking about Celeborn as a purse.

You don’t know John Mulaney’s work? You’re
missing out.

Variety broke the news of Will Poulter’s casting in the Amazon
production. And beyond that...not much is known.

There’s a lot of academic work out there on male relationships in Edwardian
England, though much of it is paywalled. Sarah Cole’s Modernism, Male
Friendship, and the First World
War
is mostly on Google Books, at least!

When it comes to Tolkien’s own deep male friendships in real life and
comparative examples in his work, “Tolkien, Friendship and the Four
Loves” at the Council of Elrond site provides a reasonable overview that
acknowledges the complex social differences and perception between then and
now. Meantime, Anna Smol’s “Male Friendship in The Lord of the Rings:
Medievalism, the First World War, and Contemporary
Rewritings,”
while paywalled, has an extensive abstract.

Homosociality! It’s an
important term.

To say that there’s a lot out there on the
Holmes/Watson
relationship is to understate.

Beregond and Bergil make
for a really enjoyable father/son portrayal in The Lord of the Rings—one could
easily imagine their own story in the larger epic on its own.

Kaila Hale-Stern’s “Let’s Talk About That Queer Subtext in
Tolkien” for the Mary Sue
delves into the portrayal of Tolkien and Smith’s relationship in the 2019
biopic, contrasting it against what we know of the actual friendship.

A Spring Harvest by Geoffrey Bache
Smith, one of Tolkien’s close friends
who died in the war, is available for free reading on Gutenberg.org, including
Tolkien’s preface.

“Dulce Et Decorum Est” by
Wilfred Owen may be the paradigmatic English language poem about World War I
by a poet who perished in the conflict, but of course it is far from the only
one.

You can get the story of Turin and Beleg in The Silmarillion, but the
standalone version The Children of
Húrin with Alan
Lee’s illustrations is even more detailed and deeper.

Gretchen Felker-Martin’s essay in
question is “I Would Have Followed You: Masculine Love and Devotion in
Jackson’s Lord of the Rings.”

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