cs Lewis tells JRR Tolkien about his new book

[@Alchrat]

I love how C.S. Lewis' portrayal of fantasy is closer to that of a child in an innocent imaginative sort of way -- like the way a child would splay all their toys from the toy bin onto the bedroom floor to make a story involving everyone from everything. Just like the way Father Christmas is in the same universe as a talking Lion, dwarves, talking beavers, and Turkish Delight

[@abeandrews9099]

I'm like C.S. Lewis with worldbuilding (mixing characters like he did) but Tolkien's LOTR inspired my plots--quests, good vs. evil, sacrifice, brotherly love, and other story elements

[@abj136]

Somewhere Lewis mentioned as a child he and his brother would craft fantasy stories. His brother loved India themes, and CS loved talking animals. I think for Narnia he channeled these childhood concepts into the book.

[@Jane-oz7pp]

Yes... innocence... that's what I think of when I think of WWII evacuations that lead to three children dying horribly in a train crash lmao

[@KaiseaWings]

You put it better than I ever could, love the toys analogy!

[@hq3473]

Heavy handed Christian allegory ruins the innocence though.

[@mattkap23]

Very accurate. Those two debated about whether a lamppost was realistic for a fantasy setting. Lewis added one in Narnia just to prove Tolkien wrong.

[@pamelah6431]

It's epic the first time you read The Magician's Nephew & learn its backstory. 😁

[@kellymal3693]

@@pamelah6431 Exactly! I loved the magicians nefew.

[@bellringer53]

Tolkin set the bones and meat of the fantasy genre. Nice good solid foundation with everything making sense. Lewis gave us the bullshit and I wouldnt have it any other way!

[@ogulcanyolcu8714]

to prove what? Oh lord please take him next to you and send me to hell, yes I really want this because I don't wanna be in the same place with him forever.

[@EgoEroTergum]

@@pamelah6431 Charn is still one of my favorite depictions of a dying world; honestly it reminds me a lot now of From Software's worlds like Lothric and Londo - massive impressive cities filled with the dead, and only hints of the complex and storied histories of the people who lived there before it all fell into decay.

[@gabrieladabrowska1691]

"Is this a Christian thing?" YOU'RE THE ONE THAT CONVERTED HIM JOHN

[@EgoEroTergum]

Probably didn't expect him to get so into it. Like when you introduce your friends to MTG and they end up buying a 150-dollar booster box. Still, Lewis did good with it and it brightened his life, so all good.

[@elibryrob]

Yeah, this young lady doesn’t seem to know much about Tolkien and Lewis.

[@pahvi3]

Well yeah sort of, but Lewis went protestant

[@STho205]

Most protestants and atheists in protestant settings miss that LOTR is jammed full of Catholic metaphor, especially medieval Roman Catholic metaphor. You tell them and they say....no, nah, you're daft....you point out the specific examples and they say...oh crap.

[@baerlauchstal]

"... and they say...oh crap." Well, look, I don't want to be rude or owt, but you'd need not only to be a Protestant or an atheist in a Protestant setting, but also someone interested in how much Catholic metaphor there is in Lord Of The Rings, and invested, to boot, in that answer being "Not much". And I'm sure I'm not alone among atheists in mainly Proddy countries in being (a) unsurprised, given that your man was a Catholic, and (b) not that bothered either way, not really being that much of an elves-and-goblins fan. It's just possible some of your interlocutors may be saying "Really? How interesting!" out of politeness.

[@thomasparker6124]

That moment when you realise that your homebrew D&D setting is actually more Lewis than Tolkien.

[@henrypaleveda7760]

well father christmas: (aglosized) germanic, dwarves: germanic, fawns: greek, giants common overlap, Centaurs: greek, dryads: various

[@robertmacneish4470]

Big oof

[@guyver441]

Ouch! ...shots fired 😓

[@jumpwhistlefart]

How dare you say such a hurtful, and true thing to my face

[@illogicerr3769]

@@jumpwhistlefart Precisely!

[@JP-rf8rr]

Tolkien: NO! You can't mix mythology! CS Lewis: ha, writing pen goes brrr

[@hozyaka]

THIS MADE ME SNORT

[@raibeart1955]

It goes BRR Biro penman ship

[@charlesmckinley29]

🤣

[@mikepette4422]

I beg your pardon my pens do not go brrrr and I'd appreciate no further references to noisy writing implements

[@HisameArtwork]

@@hozyaka same XD

[@Pseudowolf]

That grin after “Jack, is this a Christian thing?” slayed me.

[@WinryRockbellElric]

Tolkien actually brought lewis to Christ--- so.

[@saskoilersfan]

No. It's a Kennedy thing. Jack and Jackie...

[@saskoilersfan]

@@WinryRockbellElric that's a lie. I don't believe in any religions but I believe humans are liars.

[@faiththatseeksunderstanding]

It’s actually true. Tolkien helped convince Lewis to become a Christian.

[@josephstarkey8183]

@@saskoilersfan I mean... it's literally accurate that Tolkien brought Lewis to Christ. Whether or not you believe the religion is true doesn't change the history of this particular event.

[@dakotabragdon3738]

When C.S. Lewis finished reading the manuscript for Fellowship, he wrote a letter to Tolkien about how wonderful it was... at the end, he said: "all those years have finally paid off, but does the Shire have to be so large?" lol. That letter was honestly the purest thing you could possibly read between friends. Lewis had a great respect for Tolkien and he often spoke highly of him to others in letters. Why there isn't a film about their friendship yet is beyond me.

[@pamelah6431]

It's a relief. The film would misportray them and anger people who care.

[@dakotabragdon3738]

@@pamelah6431 depends on the filmmaker and the script.

[@pamelah6431]

@@dakotabragdon3738 please provide one example that didn't totally misportray circumstances &/or character. :(

[@dakotabragdon3738]

@@pamelah6431 Shadowlands (1993) with Anthony Hopkins

[@abispanner3957]

@@dakotabragdon3738 Also Beyond Narnia has a bit about their friendship 😊

[@Digganob590]

Tolkien: *"Who wants allegory in their fantasy story?"* Lewis' Readers: *"Oh boy allegory!"*

[@sk8439]

I like how Father Christmas is in Narnia. The fact that he is known in both our world and in Narnia adds to the whole transcendent dimension to his character. Very Tom Bombadil.

[@Сайтамен]

Well, all other creatures are known in our world too...

[@CrazyGamerDragon64]

CONFIRMED: Tom Bimbadil is Father Christmas 😅 (j/k)

[@guineapigsith699]

Father Christmas in Narnia is the planet Jupiter according to the Narnia Code, have you seen it? It's on youtube

[@amorfati5922]

This!!!!

[@jedinxf7]

lol but tom bombadillo isn't known in our world except as a character in fiction. same as aragorn and bilbo, but less so. and his boots are yellow.

[@JP2GiannaT]

I laughed way too hard at this. Reminder that Tolkien wouldn't let a lady name her breeding bulls after his characters...but he made up a whole bunch of cow -appro name for her in elvish to use instead.

[@elenafriese891]

Oh my heart- That is too adorable for it... H e l p

[@connormclernon26]

Well, Tolkien was nothing if not a perfectionist, hence why the Silmarillon was never finished in his lifetime

[@lauragarnham77]

do you have examples of the elvish cow names please? :)

[@silviasanchez648]

Elvish cow names is something I didn't know it exists but now I need !

[@jedinxf7]

@@lauragarnham77 just do it Hollywood style; give it no thought at all. Moomiel, Milkiel, Udderlas.

[@matthewwilliamlosure]

I am now going to try to put the phrase "Father shitting Christmas" into as many conversations as I can.

[@corrupt1user]

We need more Tolkein the Literary Critic Gary Gygax: "You travel through the Decayed Woods, when suddenly, you are ambushed by a group of vicious kobolds!" Tolkein: "Kobolds? German folklore?! I thought we agreed we were doing a Kamakura era Japanese setting!" Gygax: "There is no 'Japan' in this world, so it has Kobolds" Tolkein: "Oh, so you wouldn't let my Paladin worship an Egyptian goddess but a German monster is ok?" Gygax: "Yes, so the Kobold's wave their halberds and-" Tolkein: "Halberds? A 16h century weapon?! Really committed to the time period are you?"

[@AndyZach]

One of the problems of arguing with a premier genius of Anglo Saxon and mythology.

[@fernandoerbin6751]

It's Tolkien, not Tolkein. You'll notice this if you read the title of this video.

[@ghosty918]

Why wouldn't Gygax let a guy worship an Egyptian god? Deities and Demigods included the Egyptian pantheon

[@ZemplinTemplar]

Halberds were in use several centuries before the 16th century, but good post. ;-)

[@Funinightmare]

"Talking beavers?!?! You have talking animals in your story?!" Says the man who has talking trees, talking eagles, talking wargs and talking spiders in his stories

[@StarryEyed0590]

A whole bunch of birds talk in the Hobbit

[@Funinightmare]

@@StarryEyed0590 Yup there's the thrush that speaks to Bard

[@douglasphillips5870]

But, no beavers. That's the line.

[@jakirakumahata5701]

The trouble is mostly getting the talking trees to shut up

[@elibryrob]

“Says the man…” Not exactly, haha. Says this girl who is making up a dialog between two authors she apparently doesn’t understand.

[@frogpaintartist]

I can't decide whose side I'm on, but I'm just glad they both exist...

[@user-ft3jq5vi2l]

Lewis is better for a more childish, slightly goofy story, while Tolkien is better for alternate history/mythology of epic proportions.

[@richardenglish2195]

@@user-ft3jq5vi2l Have you read Till We Have Faces? I wouldn't call that childish or goofy.

[@user-ft3jq5vi2l]

@@richardenglish2195 ...no...

[@melanie62954]

@@richardenglish2195 Lewis's best novel, hands down. I wish more people knew of it.

[@donsurlylyte]

@@user-ft3jq5vi2l tolkein is , as you say, epic. lewis is just a candy coated sunday school lesson.

[@Mario_Angel_Medina]

C. S. Lewis's contribution to the Kitchen-Sink Fantasy genre is as remarkable as it is often overlooked by scholars

[@fernandoerbin6751]

If it's overlooked, it's because it requires no skill whatsoever and the only remarkable thing about it is how much nonsense it is (but not in a good way like Lewis Carroll's).

[@Chierushi]

Kitchen sink fantasy, that’s so cool, I just learned a new term. And it sounds so delightful, perfect vibe for Lewis’ work.

[@Mario_Angel_Medina]

@@Chierushi thanks, its a term I learned on TVtropes

[@DavidPhilipNorris]

"He's a magical lion who lives over the SEAAAAA!" And I am dead. 🤣

[@Lazamattaz]

"they are crowned king/queen sister/brothers, which is a thing" took me tf OUT

[@IndigoIndustrial]

It was in Egypt.

[@SiiriCressey]

@@IndigoIndustrial Not THAT kind.

[@QueenMegaera]

"Good God man, I thought you went to university!" had me laughing out loud. Also the dig at Mervyn Peake, much as I love his weird brain. Will he ever make an appearance or is he just the poor subject of a running joke?

[@markmccoy3369]

Ugh, after hearing what a masterpiece Ghormenghast was for decades, I finally gave Titus Groan a try and just couldn’t make it through.

[@helenas7948]

@@markmccoy3369 I struggled for the big part of the book and then suddenly something clicked and I devoured the rest of it. It really is a bloody masterpiece, but it takes time to get used to the weirdness and get into the story.

[@LordJazzly]

You know, I'd never _thought_ that Narnia having all those things in one place was silly, but now that you say it out _loud_ ...

[@Obi-Wan_Kenobi]

JRR Tolkien seems to by the type of guy who believes in a strict canon *and I respect that.*

[@mormacil]

Shame he forgot fauns aren't a Greek thing but Roman 🙄

[@EgoEroTergum]

@@mormacil Bruh, where did the Romans get them from? Lil empire of myth-borrowers went and OC DO NOT STEALed their entire pantheon of gods, wouldn't suprise me they did the same for horney goat people. 😁

[@mormacil]

@@EgoEroTergum Actually no, Fauns are myths native to Italy. In fact it was Greek contact with stories of fauns that gave Satyrs their goatlike traits. Prior their traits were horse like. The idea that the Roman's stole all their gods is a meme, not a historical fact. Romans certainly incorporated Greek believes but their was a distinct Roman pantheon they were incorporated into. Faunus for example has no Greek counterpart.

[@polyhistorphilomath]

@@mormacil plus the borrowing of an Etruscan substrate (or in Roman terms, the innovations of Numa Pompilius).

[@mormacil]

@@polyhistorphilomath Yeah people always forget the Etruscans and the Sabine. Rome wasn't a single culture but a melting of many local ones.

[@blameless_hyperborean8638]

'You can't have Father Christmas'. 'Well you can't have potatoes and tobacco because they didn't come to Europe until the 16th century.' 'That's completely different, Jack'

[@ledeyabaklykova]

Ha! Just showed this to a Medieval Lit prof right now and she laughed heartily…at one point she said she swallowed the gum she was chewing! Gained a follower, you !

[@the_major]

As someone who has watched every Tolkien interview I can get my hands on, your Tolkien impression is SPOT ON! Well done!

[@clockworkkirlia7475]

I love CS Lewis' enthusiasm in this!

[@TheLepke2011]

"You can't have Father 'Shitting' Christmas"! I love her!

[@millennialcaveman8383]

I get the sense that in this skit Lewis is relishing the trolling of his friend.

[@BrunoEwok]

The wonderful thing about their letters and recorded conversations is that there is always a familiarity that I'm not sure I'd call trolling, but is definitely teasing. ("Not another God-damned elf.")

[@matthewgrayden4526]

this is bloody hilarious, and the imaginary pipe is just the cherry on top :)

[@MajesticDemonLord]

I just stumbled across this. The Imaginary Pipe really does the heavy lifting in this scene :D

[@stephaniecarrow4898]

"You can't have Father-sh**ing-Christmas in the same story as a faun! Good god, man! I thought you went to University." Ah, yes, the benefits of higher education. Just brilliant.

... Now I want to see this Mervyn Peake Tolkien convo.

[@AndyZach]

Just read through Peake's Wikipedia entry. It mentioned correspondence with C.S. Lewis, but not J.R.R. Tolkein.

[@joesmith942]

Father-shitting-Christmas is about the best line ever.

[@stellarshakes]

The pipe miming was so good that I didn't even notice u weren't holding anything until the very last clip 😅

[@netomorgan7991]

The names in Gormenghast are all SO good. Good luck Mervyn

[@unclvinny]

Lord Sepulchrave needs no sniff of approval from old J.

[@LindyLime]

You had me giggling. I'm a huge fan of both authors.

[@MrPGC137]

I get the feeling at one point that "The Professor" is thinking: "Go on then... Pull the other one... You're making this up as you go along, aren't you? Good one... Really had me going there..." 🤣

[@JasonGabler]

"I thought you went to university!" hahah. This is the best one of this series by far!

[@sirtrently77]

I absolutely loved it. That grin from Lewis at the end just makes it!

[@moonlightrobbery]

This is almost exactly how I tell my bff my story ideas. She is just as amused as Tolkien is.

[@spillitnow]

The CS Lewis JRR Tolkien ones are my favorite. Please do more.

[@SibylVerchCymru]

Nearly fell off my chair at Tolkien’s silent angry face while Lewis is listing his mixed mythology magical creatures. 🤣

[@robertwilliams450]

Ah, it'll never catch on just like indoor plumbing🤣

[@brianhenry7348]

can't dislike anything that references Mervyn Peake and his character names no less. well done, all around!

[@Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

I think my mind is fixated on _"talking beavers."_ 😊😊😊

[@belljo]

amazing! the coughing... lololol

[@AndyZach]

Each video of yours is precious. I love JRR & Jack and their worlds. Tolkein has a Nordic mythology with Christian sensibilities. Lewis has a Christian parable, taking everything from our modern world's viewpoint.

[@BFIrrera]

I've watched this three times already and I'm laughing so hard I've got tears coming down my face right now. This is so great and utterly charming!

[@ericofthewest24]

I love how at 1:21 Lewis starts sounding more and more like an 8 year old spewing off random animals and fantasy creatures.

[@isaackellogg3493]

Axe Cop. Animated by grownups, written by five-year-olds!

[@GraceKugrena]

Your portrayal of CS Lewis makes me love him even more 😂😂😂

[@JaeStories87]

"Father Shitting Christmas" Aaaaand subscribed.

[@ToshMatsum]

I'm have thrown "Good God, man! I thought you went to university!" with the 1:33 face at two people this week and I'm going to continue doling it out untill the end of my time. Thank you, Miss Morton.

[@VieneLea]

I absolutely love your Tolkien mannerisms :)

[@karolinakuc4783]

That's fun. It seems like the kind of conversation those two would have

[@cincinnatusrex8568]

Ha! Yes, accurate so far as their mythological approach. Since both men were devout Christians, I might have had Tolkien say "Jack, is this an Anglican thing?" But in any event, I remember feeling a lot like Tolkien when reading the Narnia books as a kid. Until Michael Ward came along and made sense of Narnia. XD

[@jonandmoni2]

I haven't read Michael Ward, but I'll have to have a look. Taking The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe on its own though, I see it as making sense from the perspective of the children's imagination, where the Greek mythology, fairy tales, Christmas stories, Christian ideas etc. all run together almost in a dreamlike association. At first Lucy meets a faun for a tea party, and there's a lamp post, because why not. As the other children enter and explore, it becomes more involved with darker themes, but ultimately the world is only accessible to younger children. Tolkien's universe is supposed to be more plausible and internally consistent, but they shouldn't be judged by the same standards because they follow different logic.

[@lgmmrm]

@@jonandmoni2 Tolkien's universe is supposed to be logically coherent with our own world (under the catholic worldview of the time). CS Lewis world is intentionally supposed to be inconsistent with ours as it's an alternate world - steeped in allegory and whatnot. *However*, the oft-cited "most obvious" allegory - Aslan to Christ, is actually not allegory at all. Aslan is Christ - not merely a representative in this fiction but in fact the suppositional incarnation of Christ within the universe the fiction provides.

[@jonandmoni2]

@@lgmmrm Honestly, I hated when that became explicit in The Last Battle. That single writing decision made the universe much smaller for me.

[@isaackellogg3493]

@@jonandmoni2 it was made all but explicit in VOTDT. C. S. Lewis wrote to a fan who inquired about what Name Aslan was known by in our world: “Has there never been anyone in this world who (1) Arrived at the same time as Father Christmas (2) Said he was the Son of the Great Emperor (3) Gave himself up for someone else’s fault to be jeered at and killed by wicked people (4) Came to life again (5) Is sometimes spoken of as a Lamb….Don’t you really know His name in this world?”

[@isaackellogg3493]

@@jonandmoni2 for me it rather expanded the world than made it smaller. All those pools in the Wood Netween the Worlds. Each one a whole Universe with (presumably) an inhabited planet just the other side of the portal and (also presumably) some form of Aslan three at some point. For me, that was the start of the Great Book, which no one on Earth has read, in which each chapter was better than the one before.

[@KingOfSpite]

"Father-Shitting-Christmas!" Best line.

[@billlawrence8520]

I love, love this kooky red-headed Scot. Keep ‘em coming E!

[@ALulzyApprentice]

The last lines are mint! I snorted. XD

[@SynthApprentice]

This is an exact word-for-word conversation that the two of them had over tea one afternoon, and you cannot convince me otherwise.

[@zmishiymishi5349]

And here i was, thinking if adding man eating pixies to my comic is too silly

[@martygreenspan3022]

I like the addition of the fake coughs from the fake smoke from the fake pipe.

[@rodshop5897]

I think this is your funniest one of yours I've seen yet! Lovely work, and very clever.

[@CM-pf1xc]

Father Christmas in narnia always confused me! 😂😂😂 He really was kind of all over the place with his world building and storytelling, especially compared to Tolkien. But his analogies were tight!

[@Ize19]

The reason he put Father Cbristmas in the book was because The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe was the book in the CoN that represented Jupiter. It had the return of the rightful King, the coronation of the High King, and the joviality of the return of Christmas to a land that hasn't had it in 100 years. Pretty brilliant, really.

[@selardohr7697]

I have laughed about "father shitting Christmas" for a year now. It just doesn't get old.

[@thomascvelbar9811]

That was stupendous hilarious, thank you verry much, love your work.

[@Сайтамен]

I love Narnia, but even I felt that Santa Claus was out of place when I read the book and I was 6...

[@Ize19]

Check out Michael Ward's: Planet Narnia if you want to see the underlying theme beneath each of the Chronicles of Narnia. There's a video on YT that gives a good summary, but in short, TLTW&TW is Jupiter themed, and as Father Christmas is a classically Jovial character, it makes total sense to have him here.

[@samuelbrock]

"Jack be honest with me is this a Christian thing?" im dead xD

[@jakobmaximilianriedl1013]

In my D&D campaign, I did a "Reverse Tolkien" by (initially) not allowing a player to have his character be an elf, because we were playing in a kind-of Middle Eastern inspired area and "Elves are from Nordic Mythology, it doesn't make any sense lol". I got over it though.

[@dallassukerkin6878]

If I could double-thumbs-up these I would! Most excellent :D.

[@christophermahon1851]

I want that shot of Tolkien's disbelieving disgust of the battlefield description on a tee shirt! Xxl, please.

[@RagenRibbonz]

Every so often I have to come back to this one and watch again before i can go on with my day.

[@lyraofbeleriand]

Oh my god this is the funniest thing i have ever watch--

[@douglasphillips5870]

Tolkien built a world and told stories in it. Lewis told stories and built a world around them.

[@dieucondorimperial2509]

That’s… Surprisingly accurate.

[@jseiter1]

You are hysterical…at least to this literature and history fan…

[@humorlessclown]

This was oddly wholesome, thank you 😊

[@wellesradio]

Oh god I would love you to do a Mervyn Peake video!

[@Zenbuck2]

Oh my GOD a reference to Peake! You are a gem!

[@freddypowell7292]

I do like this. Obviously, Peake's character names are fairly easy to justify, seeing that the tone of his work is very often comedic.

[@Minotauronabike]

When I visited Oxford, I had lunch at the eagle and child pub where Tolkien and Lewis used to hang out. I was sitting at the very back of the original pub, in the doorway to the addition, new since the Inklings’ days. This is supposedly where the lads would hang out. I could hear the voices of their ghosts still arguing over their stories. You must have had lunch there too, because this script is word for word what they were saying.

[@JoltNet]

I’ve always thought Lewis a bit flakey, so I was glad to see this!

[@Ize19]

There's actually a lot of hidden depth in Lewis's Chronicles, I highly recommend the book Planet Narnia by Michael Ward. Lewis used the medieval solar system to give each book in the series a cohesive theme, and it's pretty incredible how far down it goes!

[@crimsongirl6080]

I can totally picture these two having this conversation lmao. I really needed to laugh, thank you 🤗

[@chaosdream21]

I've watched this five times in the last two days and made four other people watch it

[@abelanzizar]

I love the little coughs!

[@EternalYorkieMom]

CS Lewis started my “Hmmmm maybe I’m not quite as agnostic as I thought” thing

[@ZenFox0]

Great stuff! And you introduced me to Mervyn Peake. Thank you!!

[@philipmann5317]

you can't have father f33king christmas...! This fantastic!

[@Rhys-jd1kt]

Me in posh accent: "ruined it for me, have you?" 🤣🤣🤣

[@c.g.2057]

I am angry that YT didn't recommend you to me earlier. You are a treasure!

[@mikesnyder1788]

Absolutely love this sketch! My sound is broken on this darn computer but that fact has not stopped me from enjoying this classic one more time. You are just so talented, my good young friend! Regards from across the Big Pond!

[@gregoryvn3]

This is delightful and also is now canon.

[@drbooks]

All of Eleanor's bits are great - but this one I've watched at least 5 times!

[@JavertRA]

Just imagining Tolkien saying "Father sh*tting Christmas" for real is enough for me!

[@jenmorricone4014]

Eleanor, you're a gem for making me laugh while Arctic is melting.

[@Zimisce85]

Oh, I would love to go to a pub and nerd out on books, mythology and history with you, miss Morton!

[@majorpayne8373]

Eleanor - Gee, I think you're swell!!

[@WSCLATER]

Very funny. Can watch over and over again, just as with the other JRR videos. Excellent.

[@konnosx1213]

1:33 this expression made my day

[@Raecaw]

every good D&D sessions starts as a tolkein and ends as a lewis

[@sebastianmelmoth9100]

This is high order stuff. I laughed almost as hard as I laughed at Jane Mollywaddles. Tolkien’s pipe seals it.

[@jeffreysommer3292]

Endlessly brilliant! Please do more!

[@Danka42]

He'd lose his mind over Discworld 😂