By-The-Bywater: A Podcast about All Things J.R.R. Tolkien

Jared, Oriana and Ned talk about Jared’s choice of topic: Donald Swann’s song cycle The Road Goes Ever On. A member of the hit comic song duo Flanders and Swann in post-WWII Britain and beyond, including the US, Swann’s own interest in The Lord of the Rings, encouraged by his equally interested wife, resulted in a short song cycle for voice and piano drawing on various shorter poems from that text. But this wasn’t a simple example of early fanwork – this ended up being a full collaboration with Tolkien himself, who approved of most of Swann’s work except one song he suggested his own melody for, along with contributing calligraphy, art and short essays to the published songbook of the cycle. Further, Swann’s own recording of the cycle with singer William Elvin on the album Poems and Songs of Middle-earth was itself accompanied by Tolkien’s own readings of his poetry – in all, a demonstration of Tolkien’s own enthusiasm for this extremely rare artistic collaboration based on his work. Yet The Road Goes Ever On has only had extremely low-key interest from even dedicated readers or listeners since, seen as a very strange curio now completely overshadowed by Howard Shore’s majestic work for the Jackson films. What were the circumstances that brought Swann to fame and his ultimate connection with Tolkien? How was it that Tolkien found a resonance in Swann’s work as a whole, and how does this square with wider perceptions of what his work was meant to ‘sound’ like to readers? Is there something ultimately to both the cycle and the published book as a whole that has value even beyond the music itself? And do any of your hosts actually like this at all? (Spoiler: …not really.) Show Notes. Jared’s doodle. It’s worth the read, of course. There was indeed a lot of snow going on over in New York City! No Drag Race Wetwang yet, but Tolkien in the wider franchise and beyond? It’s out there! McKellen on Colbert did indeed have some Hunt for Gollum news. As such. Yeah that whole Palantir and DHS and ‘committed hobbits’ thing…garbage. And then there’s the nicotine patches. Again, our Silicon Valley episode. Nazgul the dog! Clearly the greatest good boy of the year. The Road Goes Ever On! And, relatedly, Poems and Songs of Middle-earth. The famed Milton Waldman letter. Donald Swann! He did a lot in his field, really, most famously Flanders & Swann.  William Elvin, the singer on the Poems album. Honestly there’s not much out there about him, but he had a career. The France Musique webcast of Le Royal Gondor Orchestre performing Christophe Dilys’s arrangement of the song cycle. Separately, a short profile and interview with Dilys on this; please note it is entirely in French. Light entertainment – it’s a term! In the UK at least. Beyond the Fringe, the Goon Show, there’s a whole history of UK comedy backstory there. One of Fry and Laurie’s regular show closing bits. Caedmon Audio is indeed still around, as a HarperCollins imprint. The report from last year about Tolkien’s letters to Swann. Mary, Star of the Sea. Swann’s performance of “I Sit Beside The Fire” from the 1967 CBS studio broadcast of a Flanders & Swann review. Heavy mithril, indeed. Our episode on the 1981 BBC radio version of The Lord of the Rings. James Partridge’s podcast episode on The Road Goes Ever On. The Oh Hellos, and their albums Dear Wormwood and their Christmas efforts.** Support By-The-Bywater (and our network) on Patreon, and you can hang out with us in a friendly Discord.

Jared, Oriana and Ned talk about Oriana’s choice of topic: warriors. As we all know, one way or another, war has been an ever present part of human societies over the millennia, and so there are warriors, fighters, soldiers, whatever term suits. Add in Tolkien’s own experience as an officer in World War I and little surprise that his legendarium from the start has armed conflict and battle as part of the overall arc of their many stories, published or not. But while war is present, at the same time it’s notable how Tolkien does or more often does not tell what are often seen as ‘typical’ stories of war, whether in terms of old folk tales and myths or more modern portrayals and considerations of what it means to fight and how. How do the books differ from the Jackson adaptations in terms of centering war and warriors, and how are parts of the book transformed as a result? What ultimately are the vocations of people seen to be warriors in The Lord of the Rings in particular, or in contrast are those who find themselves in war, and how do they conceive or process what they experience or do? Are there particular patterns over the legendarium’s historical time cycles as to how war and warriors ends up being part of seemingly ideal societies? And what is Tolkien’s ultimate message to those who find themselves as warriors and how to consider what they experienced? Show Notes. Jared’s doodle. Make sure you have all parts to claim a warranty. Jared’s Patreon, which we all encourage you to sign up for for his Lord of the Rings reread and much more! The Patriots won, BTW. You might have heard about that. Bill Belichick, in contrast, did not. TheOneRing with various hoo and hah on Aragorn recasting rumors. Stuart Townsend on Shetland? Not bad, really. Chalamet and his Christmas movie power. It’s there, it seems. War! It sucks but it exists, so there are warriors. The opening essay of Bret Devereaux’s series on ‘the universal warrior’ and differing definitions of what a warrior can be. There’s no exact central web page about Ned’s dad’s service but there is this… Faramir’s quote about not loving the sword for its sharpness. Our orc episode. Our Aldarion and Erendis episode. Mablung and Damrod, the two Gondorian soldiers Frodo ends up in conversation with. (In slight contrast, Beregond.) The quote about Sam and the dead Haradrim soldier; in the movie, it was given to Faramir. Robert E. Howard and E. R. Eddison were all about warriors. To a fault. Our episodes on the Rohirrim and Ghân-buri-Ghân.  Our episodes on the Noldor and the dwarves.  Michael Drout’s new book The Tower And The Ruin. Our episode on the Silver Call Duology. Support By-The-Bywater (and our network) on Patreon, and you can hang out with us in a friendly Discord.

Jared, Oriana and Ned discuss Ned’s choice of topic: The Bovadium Fragments and Tolkien as environmentalist. Published in November 2025, The Bovadium Fragments are a short, academically-minded collection of comedic observations on a then-current civic-planning debate in Oxford revolving around car routes through and around the city. Tolkien, never one for cars in general, used it as the basis for something along the lines of the linguistic history jokes in Farmer Giles of Ham but in a much different context – and honestly with much less interesting results, however one might agree with his larger points. But besides being the final posthumous project that Christopher Tolkien edited before his own passing, The Bovadium Fragments also raises the larger question of Tolkien as an environmentalist as such – or at least one seen to be an environmentalist given his well known love for trees in particular. But in terms of his own general work and writing, calling him an environmentalist writer and thinker in both a past and current sense might not be the best framing for what he does. What elements of Tolkien’s personal and academic history fed into the creation of The Bovadium Fragments? How ‘on the ground’ is Tolkien’s own perceived environmentalism in general, or is it something more seen at a remove? What elements of industrial culture overall shaped Tolkien’s experiences – even those seemingly closest to his own most profound encounters with nature? And how much Latin do you have to know to deal with the fragments anyway? Show Notes. Jared’s doodle. Charon’s got a sweet ride for himself there. The Lord of the Rings is back in theaters! If you want to go! You don’t have to! Netflix, Warner Bros., etc etc. Tolkien’s desk selling for crazy money is…strange. The Bovadium Fragments, if you’d like.  Our Farmer Giles of Ham episode. (And our Mr. Bliss one.) The Tolkien trees quote and its proper origins. Our Silicon Valley episode. Clyde Kilby’s entry in Tolkien Gateway. David Macaulay and his Motel of the Mysteries. All his work is well worth your time. Northwestern! It’s a school, you see. Inspector Morse and Lewis (not C.S.) – and remember, “It’s a rave, Lewis!” Robert Moses is, how to put it, well known in history. (And it was indeed Wadham.) “Town and gown” has probably always been around in history. (As has “NIMBY.”) Our episode on The Fall of Númenor. The extinct British megafauna via the University of London. Our episode on the Ents. Indigenous North American agriculture, as discussed by the National Farmer’s Union. Our episode on Ghân-buri-Ghân. Our episode on Tom Bombadil. Our episode on Lothlórien. A short piece discussing Romantic/19th century ‘back to nature’ impulses. A good Reddit thread (really) on 19th century nature tourism. Recent Seattle flooding – not good, on many different levels. Charon’s obol. The original Futurama riff. Support By-The-Bywater (and our network) on Patreon, and you can hang out with us in a friendly Discord.

Jared, Oriana and Ned discuss Jared’s choice of topic: the journey. Both The Hobbit and more specifically and thoroughly The Lord of the Rings, referencing quite well established tropes about quests and more, are centered around months-long journeys by many characters, through a physical landscape as much as a mental and emotional one in turn. But there’s been some random responses in recent years from newer readers encountering Tolkien’s work that find that maybe those journeys are a little too long as if they’re getting in the way of the story. Needless to say, we don’t agree at all – and we’re sick to death of the ‘why don’t the Eagles fly them everywhere’ question – but it’s worth delving into why the idea of the journey is such a compelling as well as common one in fantasy thanks in large part to Tolkien, and what may have changed in turn since. What role do journeys have in the realm of human folklore, and what might they represent for people and cultures, whether wandering or sedentary? How has technological advances in transportation in the past two centuries made the sense of what a journey is change in the wider imagination, and how does that affect what people might see when they think of what a long journey is supposed to be like? How has fantasy itself evolved from a post-Tolkien time to a more varied and potentially surprising way around whether journeys are necessary in recent novels and stories? And were you at all thinking of a certain band by this point? (Honestly, we weren’t. Well we suppose Jared was.) Show Notes. Jared’s doodle. You might recognize those silhouettes… Zohran Mamdani! Katie Wilson! Then there’s that whole thing with Daniel Lurie and the one-week city councilwoman. Read this for more on all that. The Bovadium Fragments – it’s out there! Adam Serwer’s “Why Elon Musk Needs Dungeons and Dragons To Be Racist” and John Semley’s “Elon Musk Really Doesn’t Get The Lord Of The Rings.” (Again, our episode on Silicon Valley.) Elijah Wood crashes a hobbit wedding. We all know what journeys are. But Merriam-Webster is there for you too. We have already talked about the eagles. We’re not going there again. The Persian Empire didn’t actually call it their Pony Express of course – so let us introduce you to the Chapar Khaneh. Oriana’s 2018 piece “I Went To All 50 States To Find America’s Heart.” Mapquest! And Thomas Bros aka the Thomas Guide too. Gilgamesh sure did wander around some. Our Beowulf episode. Shane’s impact is arguably still playing out. The Pilgrim’s Progress is rather notable, to say the least. Our episode on allegory and applicability. The Argonautica, it’s one of the big ones! Our Sword of Shannara episode – and yay the Tough Guide to Fantasyland! Watership Down, still great. Critical Role – it’s very well known! It’s true that you might have heard us talk about The West Passage. The Tombs of Atuan, heck yeah. Rakesfall – check it out! That “someday love will find you” reference. And yes…it’s incredibly cheesy. The Glee “Don’t Stop Believing.” The Sopranos “Don’t Stop Believing.” Etc. Support By-The-Bywater (and our network) on Patreon, and you can hang out with us in a friendly Discord.

Jared, Oriana and Ned discuss Oriana’s choice of topic: Beren and Lúthien. One of what Tolkien considered his three ‘Great Tales’ at the heart of the legendarium material that eventually formed versions of The Silmarillion, the story of a man and an elf princess falling in love and going through many adventures of high peril, is arguably Tolkien at his most sweepingly romantic. Openly claimed by Tolkien to have elements inspired by his own courtship of his wife Edith, to the point where their gravestone features the names of the characters on it, it started in the early versions almost as a heightened fairy tale before steadily transforming into the even more epochal version in the final published form of the book. The tale is directly referenced by Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings and his own story of love with Arwen is clearly seen – by many of the characters, not necessarily first time readers – as an afterecho of that romance. What makes the early versions of the story so very fairytale-like, and how much of that can be ascribed to the presence of Tevildo, the Prince of Cats? How much did Tolkien’s valuing of the story as a connection to his own life get matched by Edith’s feelings, as much as we know them at all? When does Tolkien’s own somewhat uneven poetic gift really connect in this story, and how remarkable is it that the story went through various written forms? And just how awesome is Huan? (Answer: very.) Show Notes. Jared’s doodle. A little extra spooky season for everyone… Sight Unseen can always be followed on Instagram! The Le Guin Prize was won by Rakesfall, but it is awesome, check it out! Here’s Ebon Moss-Bachrach doing the honors (and he pronounced Jared’s name right). Ned’s most recent big piece, on David Bowie and Scott Walker. That stupid Erebor crypto thing. (And yes, we heard about Earendil as well.) That stupid Ellison Eagle and Child thing. The stupid right wing whining about a course discussing Tolkien’s racial tropes thing…isn’t worth directly linking because all the sites talking about it are clearly just whining in bad faith. So why not just read the course description? Or a much more even-handed description of what it’s about than you’ll get from the whiners? (Relatedly, our orcs episode.) That Rings of Power spy report. Have fun there. Beren and Lúthien, specifically the book collecting and analyzing all the versions. Our episodes on the other Great Tales, Túrin Turambar and the Fall of Gondolin. Our Melian episode…way way long ago. Tevildo! Truly a feline. (In terms of whether Tolkien liked cats, this is as close as it gets in terms of direct evidence.) Moulin Rouge! Maybe it shaped you too. Orpheus and Eurydice, a very foundational myth indeed. (And shoutout to D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths.) Lord Dunsany, one of the greats. (Check out The King of Elfland’s Daughter.) Rizzoli! Can’t go wrong with a great bookstore. The Finrod and Sauron song conflict (play the snippet of Christopher Tolkien reading it). Relatedly, The Rap Battle. (Trust us, you’ll know the moment when they hit it.) Our Inklings episode. Huan! The ultimate good boy. The Tolkiens’ gravestone, and the names are there… Our episode on The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien. Relatedly, here’s the letter to Christopher, after Edith’s death, where he says ‘she was my Lúthien (and she knew it).’ Christopher Tolkien’s reading of the story, as initially released on Caedmon. Support By-The-Bywater (and our network) on Patreon, and you can hang out with us in a friendly Discord.

Jared, Oriana and Ned discuss Ned’s choice of topic: marriage. Tolkien himself was the child of an apparently happy marriage, though one that met with tragedy when first his father and then some years later his mother died while he was still a boy. His own marriage to Edith Bratt lasted for decades until her passing some years before his, bolstered in turn by his strong Catholic faith. When it comes to how he portrayed marriage in both his Middle-earth and other work, there’s a wide range of depictions of what marriage can be, but at the same time it’s fairly notable that very few seemingly happy portrayals of such partnerships exist across the board – and when it comes to his most notable protagonists, Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, neither are married at any point before their journey to Valinor, raising questions about what Tolkien might have thought an ideal state of being was in the end. What does Tolkien say about elf marriages in particular in his work, especially in recent formerly unpublished material, and how does that tie in with the examples of human/elf partnerships across the legendarium? Why is the division between the Ents and the Entwives so seemingly thorough and absolute, but at the same time is it something that might seem as dramatic as portrayed? Would Bilbo and Frodo’s adventures, especially the scarring results of the latter’s, have meant that portraying potential relationships of any kind would have meant grappling with the impact of PTSD on those close to survivors? And why is it that maybe the happiest marriage shown throughout The Lord of the Rings itself may in fact be that of Farmer Maggot and his wife? Show Notes. Jared’s doodle. If only the Purse had realized… If you’re in or new New York City, take the chance to see Sight Unseen at the Chelsea Film Festival on October 16th! The Curtis Brown Heritage/Tolkien Estate news via TheOneRing.net  Past episodes of ours with marriage mentions or examples: Melian, Galadriel, Eowyn and Faramir, Aragorn, Sam Gamgee, Hurin and Turin, death, Farmer Giles of Ham, Smith of Wootton Major, the Valar, Tom Bombadil, the Ents and of course Aldarion and Erendis. (Plus Niggle as an example without marriage and friendship as its own subject.) Tolkien Gateway’s brief summary of elvish wedding customs, what we know of them. Tolkien’s letter to his son Michael on men and women and things. It’s…a product of his time. Our episode on The Nature of Middle-earth, where elvish relationships are discussed in more detail. Wells for Boys, once again! Farmer Maggot, what a guy!  To reconfirm, Aldarion did have two sisters, so not an only kid, but an only son. The whole Age of Scorpius thing. Support By-The-Bywater (and our network) on Patreon, and you can hang out with us in a friendly Discord.

Jared, Oriana and Ned discuss Jared’s choice of topic: the Inklings. Growing out of an undergraduate discussion group of that name in early 1930s Oxford, J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis helped form the initial core of a further regular group that met in Lewis’s college rooms and at a favored local pub through the late 1940s. Members included Lewis’s brother Warnie, a great friend of Lewis in turn, Owen Barfield, at a later date Tolkien’s son Christopher and most notably a transplanted London writer who Lewis became a massive supporter of, Charles Williams. Tolkien, Lewis and Williams remain the perceived shining lights of the group thanks to their impact on imaginative fantasy writing that followed, Tolkien and Lewis in particular, but in retrospect, it can just as easily be argued that what seems from the outside like a colloquy of notable authors helping determine such a future course might simply be more of a cul-de-sac of far narrower attitudes and efforts than attention warrants from later generations. What were the exact connections between its key members, as detailed in later writings about them, and how equitable and participatory were they all in the meetings? What was the relative importance of Lewis to Tolkien and vice versa at the start of their friendship, and how did that change over the years? Does Lewis’s particular high profile in mid-20th century English intellectual life hold up under later scrutiny? Is Williams truly all that major a figure, beyond the fact that he clearly had an impact on Lewis’s own seemingly impressionable psyche? And is there something to the fact that in the end Tolkien, for all his own evident biases and damage done in the real world, might really have been the most grounded and normal member of them all? Show Notes. Jared’s doodle. Imagine the shocked looks and pregnant pauses in the action-as-such. The Washington State Book Award! The Endeavour Award! Jared: keeping busy. Deep Cuts: The Game! Give an ear to Oriana’s appearance… That whole Ian McKellen/Hunt for Gollum/Frodo thing. Well. That Hobbit first edition news was kinda fun! C. S. Lewis: you might have heard of him. Charles Williams? You might not. The Inklings in general? They’ve been talked about. Women Among The Inklings by Candace Frederick Humphrey Carpenter’s Inklings book and, separately, the Zaleskis’ more recent The Fellowship. The Mythopoeic Society – still going! The 1979 animated The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (by noted Peanuts animator Bill Melendez) – as different from the late 1980s BBC live action version. The Three-Headed Dragon Ghidorah meme. William T. Kirkpatrick, the tutor of teenage Lewis.  Elizabeth Anscombe was indeed quite a noted figure in her own right, but to be fair to both her and Lewis, she herself apparently thought the results of her debate with Lewis were blown out of proportion by later writers, per the extended quote here.  Graham Greene – pretty well known, that guy! Owen Barfield and his own deal: Anthroposophy. “Mother Stands For Comfort” indeed. (We trust you are all well aware of Kate Bush.) C.S. Lewis and Arthur Greeves did indeed have a friendship that lasted to Lewis’s death. (But that linked piece, like others, does underplay Greeves’s own identity.) It’s not perfect (to say the least) but Williams’s All Hallows Eve is still intriguing. Till We Have Faces, unquestionably Lewis’s fictional highlight. The good ol’ Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. E. R. Eddison and Jared’s podcast appearance on him. Our Notion Club Papers episode. Joy Davidman! Quite a remarkable soul. Support By-The-Bywater (and our network) on Patreon, and you can hang out with us in a friendly Discord.

Jared, Oriana and Ned discuss Oriana’s choice of topic: dragons. Thanks to the appearance of Smaug in the book that first brought Tolkien to wider fame, dragons haven’t merely been associated with him in general but have found their way into wider modern fantasy as a whole, especially in the European tradition of the mythical beasts that he was deeply familiar with. Later writings further fleshed out the sense of how dragons operated in Middle-earth, especially via the cruel Glaurung in the stories that made up The Silmarillion, as well as providing an amusing counterexample outside the legendarium in the form of Chrysophylax Dives, the haughty but conniving dragon encountered by Farmer Giles of Ham. How exactly all these dragons found their place in his work and where Tolkien gathered inspiration from for them can vary, but there’s little question they hold a particular place worth considering. What does it say about Smaug that at the time of The Lord of the Rings there doesn’t seem to be any other dragon around – much less many other fearsome creatures of old? How do the destructive cruelties of Smaug and Glaurung in particular vary, and what are their particular overriding goals in service to others – if they serve others at all? What can be considered about the societies that aim to thrive and exist even under the seeming shadow of a destructive force like Smaug nearby, or is his presence considered much of a shadow at all in terms of the day to day? And just why is it that the one Pauline Baynes drawing of Chrysophylax sitting upright and looking like he’s trying to sell you term insurance rules so hard? Show Notes. Jared’s doodle. Keeping an eye on things, as it were. Ned’s appearance on the Hyphenate podcast. (Or maybe more a monologue…) One More Tune, and Ned’s Patreon post on it. TheOneRing’s report on The Bovadium Fragments.  Collider’s piece on the animated adaptation of The Mythmakers. Richard Ovenden’s Wikipedia…and Ned’s old one. Dragons! They’re a thing! (And as Oriana notes, it’s important to distinguish between European and Asian dragons.) Our Farmer Giles of Ham episode. Kenneth Grahame’s “The Reluctant Dragon” The Dragonriders of Pern – there’s a lot of that. Our Beowulf episode, where some dragon talk can be found. Illuyanka! Gotta love some Hittites. The Colchian Dragon who guarded the Golden Fleece. Tolkien’s famed Hobbit illustration “Conversation With Smaug.” Our episode on The Children of Húrin, which has all the Glaurung. Mount Rainier? Pretty…but keep an eye on it. Support By-The-Bywater (and our network) on Patreon, and you can hang out with us in a friendly Discord.

Jared, Oriana and Ned discuss Ned’s choice of topic: Arnor and Angmar. Only half-referenced in the Jackson adaptations, the long-gone realms of Arnor and Angmar don’t have much place in the original Lord of the Rings text itself – in fact, Tolkien didn’t fully introduce either of them by time and set a firm sense of what exactly they were until much later in the overall revision process, including the development of the appendices. Arnor was the northern equivalent of Gondor, a realm in exile founded by Númenor’s refugees, but one that slowly fractured and then faded away or was conquered bit by bit. Angmar was the realm doing most of the conquering, set up and ruled over by the Lord of the Nazgûl in the guise of the Witch-king, though after his final conquest of the remains of Arnor, Angmar itself was soon after destroyed via an invasion from Gondor. But while centuries have passed since both their ends, the realms have a strange, at times unsettling impact on the characters and situations in the main text. What was the legacy of both kingdoms as it affected Aragorn in particular, as well as the remnant of peoples he found himself leading, even at times at a great distance? How did the sense of history in England itself in terms of lost kingdoms and mysterious ruins play into what Tolkien imagined for both realms? Was the nature of Angmar always just a matter of convenience, and what does it mean that it seems to be drawing on numerous different peoples and species? And if nature abhors a vacuum, how much did the nature of fandom contribute in terms of fan work talking about both of them? (Answer: quite a bit.) Show Notes. Jared’s doodle. (And be sure to check the follow-up post on part of the inspiration.) The Ursula K Le Guin 2025 Prize! And indeed Jared is among the nominees. (Per his suggestion, check out Rakesfall.) The Maine International Film Festival is about here and here’s the Sight Unseen screening information. (Plus check out Oriana’s article in MovieMaker cowritten with her husband and creative partner on the film!) Meantime, Ned and his musical side turn up in podcast episodes on Suede and Oasis (for the latter, the segment he’s in starts around forty minutes in, and here’s the segment’s host and producer Melissa Locker’s book on Oasis fans including him, And After All). The Rings of Power casting news du jour.  Embracer now calls itself Fellowship Entertainment. Of course. Alex Scopic’s article for Current Affairs, “How The Right Abuses Tolkien.” (And as ever check out our Silicon Valley episode.) Simon Tolkien’s article “Finding Your Way Into Writing Fiction As J. R. R. Tolkien’s Grandson,” as shared via LitHub. Arnor and Angmar – they’re places both! It’s true there’s not as much pre-Columbian architecture in the US, but it’s worth noting what remains – here’s a useful initial guide. Fanwork on these places? Consider Annúminas and Carn Dûm… Plus, our Karen Wynn Fonstad/Atlas of Middle-earth episode. The Sceptre of Annúminas – more important than the city itself. The Chieftains of the Dúnedain in Arnor, ruling over…something. But what, exactly, is unclear. (Though per this note, some scattered information emerged in some of the posthumous publications.) Gilraen? She’s awesome.  If you REALLY want to get into some fanfic on Aragorn’s family background, there’s this… Ah yes, Tora Bora. Great. Our episode on allegory and applicability. Witches and ducks. Look, you know the scene. (We assume.) Support By-The-Bywater (and our network) on Patreon, and you can hang out with us in a friendly Discord.

Jared, Oriana and Ned discuss Jared’s choice of topic: The Atlas of Middle-earth, created by Karen Wynn Fonstad. First published in 1981 and then in a revised edition later as more posthumous material was released in The History of Middle-earth series, Fonstad’s detailed and extremely well thought out depiction of Middle-earth across eras became something of a definitive work over time. Combining Fonstad’s own academic and technical training as a cartographer with her own deep appreciation and love of Tolkien’s work, it sought to cover everything from the climates and geology of Middle-earth to closely-read details of buildings, cities and battles in the legendarium as a whole. At the same time, while Christopher Tolkien openly appreciated the work via comments and testimonials, it perhaps acquired the patina of being an official publication when it is more accurate to consider it as a deep example of fanwork instead, with Fonstad unable to work with the since-deceased Tolkien himself and ultimately creating her own elaborations on the texts at many points throughout. Are her textual essays and summaries the core of the book itself, or would it be the actual maps and charts that define it as an atlas to start with? What other examples of in-depth and notable fanwork from its time, whether regarding Tolkien or other creative endeavours, can be compared to what Fonstad created? Does the atlas in the end fully succeed at its stated brief or can it be seen instead as something that reaches for it but doesn’t quite fully succeed? And are the mountains in California in fact actually purple? (As Timothy Olyphant once said to Oriana, yes, yes they are.) Show Notes. Jared’s doodle. Salut to a dedicated artist’s spirit indeed. The Locus Awards nominations list, including Jared for best first novel. The Hunt for Gollum announcement switching to December 2027. Whatever works for you. The interview with the Rings of Power actors. They try, they do. Our episode on fanwork. The Atlas of Middle-earth! Easily found many different places. The NY Times ‘Overlooked No More’ obituary for Fonstad. The WPR piece about preserving Fonstad’s archive. Karst! It’s out there. Mm, yeah, Mensa and IQ and all. Here’s a piece to consider. Beyond Bree! Still going, good to see it. Other Fonstad atlases for Pern, The Land, Dragonlance and the Forgotten Realms. The Encyclopedia of Arda.  Our episodes on cartography and land. The Civil War history book Ned mentions was The American Heritage Picture History Of The Civil War by Bruce Catton, published in 1960 and still considered a strong overview of the conflict via illustrations and accompanying notes and essays, as well as the maps in question. The Klingon Dictionary by Mark Okrand. Pauline Baynes’s “A Map of Middle-earth.” Journeys of Frodo by Barbara Strachey The Maps of Middle-earth by John Howe and Brian Sibley Our episode on resisting Tolkien and The West Passage. The manuscripts and maps for the Peter Jackson adaptations were done by Daniel Reeve. The artist Ned mentions who did 1980s/90s fanzine illustrations in a style suggesting actual manuscripts from Middle-earth was Tom Loback. His map of the Nirnaeth Arnoediad can be seen in four parts at the bottom of this page featuring some of his work.  You’ve likely heard of Timothy Olyphant. Plan 9! (The group.) Support By-The-Bywater (and our network) on Patreon, and you can hang out with us in a friendly Discord.