J.R.R. Tolkien on Creating Fictional Worlds

[@patbau96]

Bowen: So that you had invented, literally invented the world before you even wrote the Hobbit? Tolkien: Oh yes indeed. Bowen: Why? Tolkien: Because it's so much fun, Bowen!

[@reydar1178]

I get the reference 🤣

[@juancruzmarquez9084]

J. R. R. Tarantino. 🤣

[@stopculture]

GET IT

[@Rtombooksart]

😂😂tarantolkien

[@gingerbaker_toad696]

Perfect in every way ❤ Like the dead baby brother in Mad Max

[@gavenace3667]

“I don’t believe in absolute evil but I do believe in absolute good” That is bafflingly powerful.

[@83j049733rfe4]

I think I have to remember something very much in the same vein...

[@jackbeckett2838]

Perhaps because evil is a measure of chaos, disorder, entropy, which is hard to define in itself as it doesn't know itself. Goodness on the other hand has a strong sense of knowing. It's like darkness isn't a thing in and of itself, just an absence of light.

[@83j049733rfe4]

​@@jackbeckett2838 ... God bless you, god bless you, you found me, you found the younger me I've been tryna find for myself god fucking bless you, you reminded me! It's not disorder, but order, not chaos but stability is what the immoral and amoral is, for it can know itself, but never feel, feeling is higher and greater than knowing and logic has failed us emotional beings... Oh hell, I will share everything I deleted from my last comment before posting: "I truly believe we are at our best when we are irrational, because selfless action, sacrifice, perhaps for someone you love or for a complete stranger, you're not thinking when you do that, you're feeling. If you were thinking more than feeling, that's when you see either opportunity or something that doesn't effect your own self interest. You're going back to before civilization when you do that. Because instinct is the purest form of logic. To give yourself up for something greater than you is courageous, and courage is stupid. But that is what makes it beautiful. That's what we spent millions of years developing in nature to do, is to think beyond ourselves or immediate family unit." Look at Lord of The Rings itself: Sauron's ultimate goal was a perfectly deterministic world absolved of all free will. To make all who live and breath serve their one assigned role in his machinations. To be so reliably constant as to serve as jewels, cogs and springs and screws in the clock he sets on his time. And what the fellowship and the free people of middle earth represent, in all their glory, their beauty, their love and courage and sacrifice, in all of their manifestation of their collective will, there it was: The chaos required to unravel a perfectly logical plan for all that would logically, rationally, ultimately lead toward entropy. What can only be felt, against what could only be known.

[@83j049733rfe4]

@jackbeckett2838 ... God bless you, god bless you, you found me, you found the younger me I've been tryna find for myself god bless you, you reminded me! It's not disorder, but order, not chaos but stability is what the immoral and amoral is, for it can know itself, but never feel, feeling is higher and greater than knowing and logic has failed us emotional beings... Oh hell, I will share everything I deleted from my last comment before posting: "I truly believe we are at our best when we are irrational, because selfless action, sacrifice, perhaps for someone you love or for a complete stranger, you're not thinking when you do that, you're feeling. If you were thinking more than feeling, that's when you see either opportunity or something that doesn't effect your own self interest. You're going back to before civilization when you do that. Because instinct is the purest form of logic. To give yourself up for something greater than you is courageous, and courage is stupid. But that is what makes it beautiful. That's what we spent millions of years developing in nature to do, is to think beyond ourselves or immediate family unit." Look at Lord of The Rings itself: Sauron's ultimate goal was a perfectly deterministic world absolved of all free will. To make all who live and breath serve their one assigned role in his machinations. To be so reliably constant as to serve as jewels, cogs and springs and screws in the clock he sets on his time. And what the fellowship and the free people of middle earth represent, in all their glory, their beauty, their love and courage and sacrifice, in all of their manifestation of their collective will, there it was: The chaos required to unravel a perfectly logical plan for all that would logically, rationally, ultimately lead toward entropy. What can only be felt, against what could only be known.

[@83j049733rfe4]

@jackbeckett2838 ... [word] bless you, [word] bless you, you found me, you found the younger me I've been tryna find for myself [word] [word]ing bless you, you reminded me! It's not disorder, but order, not chaos but stability is what the immoral and amoral is, for it can know itself, but never feel, feeling is higher and greater than knowing and logic has failed us emotional beings... Oh [word], I will share everything I deleted from my last comment before posting: "I truly believe we are at our best when we are irrational, because selfless action, sacrifice, perhaps for someone you love or for a complete stranger, you're not thinking when you do that, you're feeling. If you were thinking more than feeling, that's when you see either opportunity or something that doesn't effect your own self interest. You're going back to before civilization when you do that. Because instinct is the purest form of logic. To give yourself up for something greater than you is courageous, and courage is stupid. But that is what makes it beautiful. That's what we spent millions of years developing in nature to do, is to think beyond ourselves or immediate family unit." Look at Lord of The Rings itself: Sauron's ultimate goal was a perfectly deterministic world absolved of all free will. To make all who live and breath serve their one assigned role in his machinations. To be so reliably constant as to serve as jewels, cogs and springs and screws in the clock he sets on his time. And what the fellowship and the free people of middle earth represent, in all their glory, their beauty, their love and courage and sacrifice, in all of their manifestation of their collective will, there it was: The chaos required to unravel a perfectly logical plan for all that would logically, rationally, ultimately lead toward entropy. What can only be felt, against what could only be known. [this is the third time I have tried to say this]

[@tSp289]

"The made thing, unless it says something, won't be remembered". I am deeply impressed. An off-the-cuff remark that explains how craft becomes art.

[@buytheartist]

This is probably the most important thing ever said about art.

[@jakobnilsson679]

I love that Sir Ian McKellen took some of Tolkien’s spoken mannerisms and applied to Gandalf. We can really hear Tolkien in how Gandalf talks in the Jackson trilogy.❤

[@lucabestea6844]

For real, the subtle shrug Gandalf gives to Galadriel when she realised he knew the dwarves were leaving in the Hobbit movie has to be inspired by Tolkien's shrug here! Two treasures of people.

[@juliagustafsson2895]

I thought the exact same about Ian Holmeses Bilbo. just look at how the professor looks while pondering the harder questions

[@brianconnor5977]

"Would you rather be remembered as a man who has said something or as a man who has made something?" "I don't think you can distinguish. The made thing unless it says something won't be remembered."

[@rikk319]

I love the Professor's pause and consideration before answering. He knew the question was meaningful, and desired to make a meaningful response.

[@GeneralStriker]

So wise

[@ito2789]

Fucking brilliant statement he made here. I love it.❤

[@chrisstorrer]

This is why Harry Potter is shite

[@niladrighosh9903]

​@@chrisstorrer listen motherfcuking bastard, JRRT and middle earth are legendary but you dont fuckig dare insult HP. Bastard son of an incest dog.

[@sleigh54.]

It’s fascinating watching Tolkien try to explain modern fantasy and secondary worlds to a society and time that was completely confused yet curious to what it was.

[@WillyWobbles-u7q]

Oh, not at all; fantasy was already an established and respected genre at the time with authors like Dunsany, Mirlees, Ashton Smith, Eddison, Peake, Howard, etc. It's just that the genre has grown stale and dull as a consequence of Tolkien's LoTR, which inspired lesser authors to write more 'worldbuilding' into their already unoriginal stories, which is just an euphimism for all details that don't add anything to the story, characters, tone, etc., resulting in badly written, unnecessarily long volumes. I would even go as far as to say that people understood fantasy better back then than now.

[@LordVader1094]

@@WillyWobbles-u7q Not the kind of fantasy Tolkien was making, it was rather niche to the public at large, even Dunsany though he was quite popular. To most people at the time, fantasy meant children's fairy tales.

[@WillyWobbles-u7q]

@@LordVader1094 No, pulp fantasy for example was very popular at the time as it was often reached millions of people. Fantasy was also a rather respected literary genre, without the dreary escapism that spoils the fantasy shelves nowadays. Lovecraft, Burroughs and Leiber were already writing very popular fantasy, and the genre would have boomed without the Tolkien-explosion in the middle of the 1960's. If you look at how Tolkien inspired so many bland rewrites and unoriginal, dull monsterously big volumes, because he inspired lesser writers to use his meticulous but essentially meaningless and time wasting 'worldbuilding' techniques, which resulted only in more pages, you come to realize that the genre could have done very well without Tolkien.

[@matthewstokes1608]

The great writers of fantasy were Charles Kingsley, Lewis Carrol, James Barrie, A A Milne, Kenneth Grahame… C. S. Lewis. None of them could rank alongside Tolkien for rounded genius - except for, perhaps, Lewis … And yet they were also giants and some of these artists created worlds, if less rounded and full, of equal power and magical allure. There is a fabulous book on the mastery of imagination and fantastical invention of these literary giants called ‘Secret Gardens’ by Humphrey Carpenter, which is a trip back into these mystic gardens of potent childhood nostalgia. Nothing written since has ever matched the potency of the spells cast in that last golden era.

[@WillyWobbles-u7q]

@@matthewstokes1608 Tolkien doesn't really match that, does he? Tolkien's writing is rather dull, conformist, allegorical, simplistic and convoluted. He did spend a lot of time on it to gather details that wouldn't add anything, and they didn't. I like JG Keely's review and articles on the subject, and would definitely suggest them. PS: the authors you name wrote primarily children's literature, making the list quite incomplete without names as Dunsany or Eddison (or Peake in that regard).

[@tkdwar76]

“I’m a meticulous sort of bloke” - one of the most profound understatements I have ever heard.

[@aldunlop4622]

And yet he relies on Deus Ex Machina quite a lot in his stories. Eagles saving the day, Ents saving the day, the Army of the Dead saving the day etc.

[@tkdwar76]

@@aldunlop4622 even if I agreed with you, that doesn't take anything away from the scale or level detail of the world he created.

[@aldunlop4622]

@ Oh absolutely not, I'm not putting him or his works down, they're fantastic, just pointing out that he uses that literary mechanism quite a bit to get our heroes out of trouble. In fact, it never really occurred to me until I watched the PJ movies, when you get the story so quickly. Taking time to read the books it's not as obvious. It would have been nice if the heroes saved the day without external help at times in retrospect.

[@ethanwelch3235]

“You invented this World before you invented the Hobbit. Why?” Tolkien: “Why not.”

[@simonyoung6815]

I know I sound foolish, but in 2024, even beyond the subject of discussion, it's just refreshing to hear two intelligent people having a conversation. I'm a huge fan of Tolkien's work and the content they're discussing is also fascinating, but it reminds me how simplified discourse has become in media.

[@SleepParty30]

People are absolutely retarrded nowadays. Interviews like these will sound like gibberish to most. I think that is why they dumbed down media.

[@blastard8980]

I came to post almost the same thing verbatim. If this had taken place around current times there would have been at least 10 jokes, 3 drum solos, 1 commercial break, and 5000 twitter (sorry, X) comments before the damn thing had finished. It's apparently a falacy to state that olde times were better, but sometimes we must come to terms with reality, and I, for one, wish we could go back to 90s. Silly, yes, but better overall (for the 1st world at least).

[@chrissi3193]

Agree with every word you're saying. So rare to hear two people talking so well about a deeply complex theology and fictional wonder.

[@bgl00ney]

@@blastard8980 Absolutely. I do feel some hope that things will reach a point where people are ready to listen and not feel the absurd necessity to constantly interject themselves into a conversation that they're not a part of.

[@eugenesnow]

​@@blastard8980while I can be sympathetic to this view, I'm of the belief that looking backward with rose tinted glasses is the first step toward dying, really. One must look ever ahead or be doomed to the perceptions of a reality that never truly existed in the first place. Sure our time has many problems, but there is a great opportunity in the present to influence the future

[@thegreenthunder5416]

I do not think I’ve ever seen Tolkien speaking before, and certainly not for this long. I’ve know he was a professor and extraordinarily intelligent, but it’s a giddy pleasure to hear him speak and see him talk with such thoughtfulness, composure, and sharpness. And his answers are so earnest and quick that I’m flabbergasted. This was so cool to see

[@HumbleBooks]

So glad you enjoyed it!

[@TomorrowWeLive]

I so wish we had more Tolkien interviews. I could listen to him endlessly.

[@Sam.Reeves]

Agreed! This is the first time I remember hearing his voice.

[@neilf6782]

Genius... And one with a kind and resilient heart. We are very lucky.

[@skatemetrix]

Bowen: So that you had invented literally invented the world before you even wrote the Hobbit. Tolkien: Oh yes indeed. Bowen: Why? What a legend!

[@Link2edition]

"Felt cute, Might revolutionize an entire genre later, idk"

[@random22026]

@@Link2edition 😆

[@genius.cockobiggo]

an absolute badass

[@jamesclarkmaxwell-v2n]

[@chrislee3861]

“I don’t think you can distinguish the made thing, unless it says something, it won’t be remembered.” No wonder he ended the interview there. Professor’s on another level.

[@Grancigul]

Man the interviewers back then were far superior to the ones we have today, there are of course exceptions and we deeply appreciate them

[@baronnashor158]

everything was better back then , Only technology progressed

[@Steinmetal4]

Certainly high level communicator but a bit unecessarily pushy. He interviews like a former interrogator.

[@reinotsurugi]

@@Steinmetal4 It's offputting to be sure, but it seems almost standard for British interviewers. Not the first time I've seen this.

[@capitalcitygiant]

I'd much rather listen to a modern day podcast than this interviewer with his silly, affected accent and his smug sense of public-schoolboy superiority.

[@YouCanCallMeReTro]

All he really did was ask questions from an adversarial perspective. Its not good journalism, there's no need to attack an author like that. I do agree though in the sense that the conversations are more intelligent and not "dumbing down" to reach a mass audience.

[@julianbryant2471]

It’s just fucking insane to drop one of the most iconic and legendary quotes of all time right there at the end as a quick retort to a closing question.

[@grim-vale]

We don't have journalists that ask questions of this quality anymore

[@Amy-jn7oi]

Tolkien seems so incredibly kind and intelligent! the way the interviewer asked his questions - so forcefully - was wild to me. a different time perhaps.

[@MrJimeih]

Wonderful to hear Tolkien speak of his creative projects and a little frustrating to hear this journalist not seem to understand it.

[@alkair422]

The dude drops epic quotes effortless during a random interview......what a Legend

[@Mikael1828-e7s]

"Let's avoid the word lecture for a moment because it suggests a propagandist work" -Bowen. If only writers today could take this to heart.

[@ShainIva]

And if journalists would do, what a world it could be.

[@lethargicastengah572]

Well who is going to hold a journalist to it, back then and now?

[@Erinya558]

Bowen: Is this another word for what Freud would call the unconscious? Tolkien: No. Bowen: No I didn't think it was. A+ pivot there, modern journalists would be proud XD

[@saelind73]

😄

[@ColinBroderickMaths]

Yeah, so transparent. Meanwhile people here are salivating over the genius of this interviewer, not realizing that they're just being tricked by the accent and the vocabulary and the particular mode of speech, all of which are typical of the time and not at all indicative of any kind of genius.

[@DavidRoberts]

Correction: "partly Torah" in the subtitles should be "partly auctorial'.

[@RAtMW88]

That threw me off, too.

[@sofialanfranco4988]

@@RAtMW88 came to see if someone else in the comments could explain what the Torah had to do with this lol

[@CreativeIsolation]

Watching this it becomes overwhelmingly evident that the level of discourse in our society today grossly underserves our population. What an elevated discussion. Carried out in a matter of minutes: no pointless pleasantries, no thoughtless questions, but real, substantive discussion aimed at understanding.

[@HansHammertime]

“The made thing won’t be remembered unless it says something” is such a good line

[@TheGrindelwald]

An interview with intellectual questions. Nothing about his favourite colour or if he identifies with his characters. Someone actually discussing his work on an existential and philosophical level.

[@talstory]

I agree. Somehow this rather over intellectual interview manages to push JRR into one of the most interesting interviews I've seen on youtube

[@HumbleBooks]

Agreed. Bowen's thoughtful engagement with Tolkien's work has been an inspiration for how we ask questions in our forthcoming podcast series. Props to Bowen!

[@breeinatree4811]

Old time journalism. Just the facts.

[@MsSarahJosephine]

...dammit now I want to know what Tolkien's favourite colour was and a five minute psychoanalyitical discussion as to why.

[@rottensquid]

And yet, he seems baffled at the notion that Tolkien would invent a fictional world for his own amusement. It's hard to tell if he's just posing the question to get the best answer out of Tolkien, or if he's genuinely confused. At first, he seems to assume Middle-Earth was created as the way Tolkien thought the world ought to be, somehow, as though it's a sort of moralistic landscape or something. He seems unable to fathom the very concept of a fantasy world, or what it's for. And Tolkien's easy, delighted answers make it so obvious.

[@Whyexes]

"The made thing unless it says something won't be remembered." Dang thats a good quote.

[@festerbestertester1284]

This is terrific. Thank you.

[@Henbot]

Fascinating interview. I also find it amazingly informative that he doesn’t believe in absolute evil but he does believe in absolute good.

[@byrnhard]

This seems like a sorrowful relic from a bygone era; when a creator and an interviewer were both on a vastly higher intellectual plane than any and all media nowadays. (Sorry for the hyperboly.) And what is most surprising: The creation - the Middle Earth mythos with its centerpiece being the Lord of the Rings - STILL holds up in the face of intense intellectual scrutiny - even when compared to what came after it in popular culture. In the era of Fast Food Media like Marvel and Harry Potter, this truly shines a light on the greatness of Tolkien and his peers. (Edit: Spelling errors corrected. Yes, I'm aware of the irony. 😉)

[@pvb3562]

Exactly. Imagine these type of sentences on news nowadays. (btw: Hyperbole. Not hyperboly.)

[@ChadKakashi]

I don’t think it qualifies as hyperbole if it’s literally true. Books, shows and movies have devolved massively.

[@MarkHogan994]

@@ChadKakashi They said this was on a vastly higher intellectual plane than "any and all" media today. That is absolutely hyperbole, and it betrays the commenter's own lack of engagement with intellectual content.

[@sneezydeezymcdeluxe7015]

It's not hyperbole. It's actually true. Modern interviewers and journalists are utter trash.

[@shahidabegum4195]

LOTR, is of course, first & foremost. However, leave Harry Potter [the books] alone. Say what you will about the movies, couldn't care less about 'em, but the books are a treasure.

[@peterdickens2832]

Excellent, my favourite author being interviewed by a competent journalist. A rare thing in this modern age.

[@DECODEDVFX]

This is a great video.

[@ScooterDoge]

0:42 that face lol.

[@GhostRiley713]

That’s what you call a skin changer

[@anthonycunningham8116]

Interviewer. "is this another word for what Freud would call the unconscious?" Tolkien. "No!" Interviewer. "No i didnt think it was". He clearly did.

[@ianmorris5501]

This man was the epitome, of Intelligence and interlect. His voice, actually makes me feel proud to be British. Utterly charming.📚📚📚

[@C_Owl]

3:13 is the look of someone who has a world in their head fuled by a non stop imagination. Such a good interview

[@casualhistory1353]

That interviewer was asking some crazy intelligent questions, fair play to him 👏👏

[@KootFloris]

No, didn't like him at all. He spoke from Christian bias, he scrutinised him as if he had to detect something wrong in this weird man, fellow 'civilised' Brits would need to be warned against. That was his undertone I felt.

[@breeinatree4811]

​@KootFloris 🎉 I see where you're coming from, but remember that Tolkien was a very devout christian, and his books are allegory for the struggle between good and evil. I think that's what slanted the interviewers questions. That and, at that time, most people wouldnt admit they weren't a christian.

[@KootFloris]

@@breeinatree4811 Interesting as I think for a moment the interviewer also seems to think he's defending Christianity and wonders if Tolkien is on God's side. 4:07

[@platypipope328]

@@breeinatree4811 he didn't say it was allegory since he disliked the concept of allegory.

[@breeinatree4811]

@platypipope328 True, he didn't. However, in a sense, it is.

[@williamburroughs5474]

This interview is a real treasure with all the inane rubbish flooding the digital world. Tolkien reveals his pure joy in applying his deep learning and intelligence in creating wonderful tales. Was fortunate enough to have an English master for the last two years of high school in Sydney who had studied philology under Tolkien. Bob was a great teacher and man who obviously remembered his time learning from Tolkien with great fondness.

[@paulrath7764]

I think its impossible that such an interview or TV program could be conducted in 2024.

[@Falconhoof_]

Yes, I think it would be difficult to get Tolkien to agree to an interview

[@nucleardragons]

Why? There are many interviews with very intelligent and well educated people; my favourite is one with Stephan Fry This interview is special, because Tolkien was special; however at that time they couldn't know what impact his writing would have on the future generations We cant know which modern authors will be consider great in the future

[@Norsilca]

You're watching the wrong things then. There are far more in-depth, thoughtful interviews now than at any other point in history! Just by the sheer volume of things out there. Plenty of it is superficial but lots of people are interested in this depth.

[@whocares_bear]

This is the most philosophical interview I've heard!

[@suecondon1685]

Tolkien ' That's because I'm a meticulous sort of bloke".

[@CHRB-nn6qp]

I love how Middle Earth was literally just Tolkien's personal hobby. He wasn't even going to publish The Hobbit initially; just keep it as a self-enclosed story for his children, until one of his friends read it and suggested that he publish it.

[@jmace2424]

You can feel just how much Tolkien despises allegory the minute the interviewer uses the word.

[@Psylove17]

Wow, compared to many journalist when they make this interview, the way the interviwer conducts himself in this video is amazing, courteous, on point, interested in the matter at hand, and determined to explore the subject matter in a careful and thoughtful way

[@kasimirdenhertog3516]

Back when authors were taken seriously and back when broadcast time came at a premium

[@lucabestea6844]

And you took 14 years to make this story." "Quite so, yeah." "And this was a story-" "But that is partly out of the fact that I'm a meticulous sort of bloke." My face was a wicked grin almost every second of the interview. Tolkien is the perfect amalagam of wisdom, experience, passion, creativity, love, with a hint of childish innocence and joy. He could so well fashion an answer while subtly sharing a joke. Honestly, this is pretty much how I imagine his talk with Sir Christopher Lee in the bar when they met. A most polite introduction, then referencing, debating and enjoying themselves while doing so to the max.

[@mundomanual7308]

"We are not like the Creator, but we are co-creators" Tolkien really understand the message of God

[@gch5559]

This interview is like a battle between the old world and the new.

[@Kino_pup]

I love that we need to have captions to understand Big T.

[@harveysengersmusic247]

Tolkien in general is to often forgotten as one of the most greatest contributers to our collective understanding of art of all time. He is right up there with Shakespeare

[@Patrix8558]

how is Tolkien forgotten? He is pretty much everywhere you can look, even another show based on his world is coming out soon

[@AaronTheGreat________]

Glazing is off the charts

[@JMDewald]

TOO

[@DanIel-fl1vc]

He made sure they were good questions before attempting to answer them.

[@Outis402]

Why don't people talk like this anymore? 😢😢. It's so beautiful and eloquent.

[@Mario543212]

such a humble man. such intelligent eye expression.

[@gfin4576]

"A made thing, unless it says something, won't be remembered" amazing.

[@Jarppispecial]

Only the mental capacity of John Ronald. Tolkien was simply amazing, I am glad to be even born close to that same century that this fantasy legend master was born too.

[@TruthStalker93]

In reading his work (LOTR) in particular; Tolkien was very deliberate in every word he wrote.

[@mriepi]

I wish he ran a D&D campaign.

[@drewbiscardi840]

He made the blueprint for every DM!

[@rottensquid]

It's so interesting, and rather tiresome, how academics struggle to imagine the purpose of story beyond moral instruction. Bowen's first assumption is that Middle-Earth must have been dreamed up as world as it "ought to be." What does that even mean? He can't fathom why Tolkien would invent a world just because it seems like a fun thing to do. He's determined to see it as allegory for Christian morality, as allegory for recent history, etc. No wonder Tolkien included that introduction in the paperback edition of Lord of the Rings when it officially came to America, condemning allegory or any allegorical reading of the book. People keep insisting he's written some kind of moral treatise, and really, he just wrote a story. That it contains morality isn't so unusual, is it? Perhaps it's just because it's such an effective story, that accomplishes the rare trick of putting its whole world at peril without such enormous stakes feeling over-blown or unearned. Maybe such enormous stakes were more unusual, so the book felt like an ultimate battle between good and evil. These days, ultimate battles between good and evil are a dime a dozen. But it might have been different then. It's always a delight to hear Tolkien talk, and get a sense of the cadence of his speech. I think it helps with the reading of the books to learn his particular rhythm and turns of phrase, attitudes, warm demeanor.

[@JonStallings]

Only if we could all be a meticulous bloke. The Interviewer tried very hard to find a formula Tolkien used. But none was to be found.

[@HumbleBooks]

Jon, excellent observation!

[@aldunlop4622]

Well, he told him; he got it from his Stock. The combined total of experience, memory and imagination. Tolkien was very interested in creating an Anglo-Saxon mythology and spent his life reading other myths and legends in preparation. I think he created the world out of intellectual curiosity - to see if he could do it.

[@stephennoonan8417]

The interviewer - of whom other commenters here have mixed opinions - is John Bowen, writer of some of the most imaginative, bizarre and unsettling television drama of the 1960s and 70s.

[@ovskii96]

That little shrug after 3:09 is clearly Tolkien thinking "Why not?"

[@FuryOfCalderon]

I wish I could have had conversations with this man. About anything.

[@quickattackfilms7923]

"You literally invented the world before you wrote the hobbit?" "Oh yes, indeed." "Why???" ... I feel like you could tell Tolkien wanted to just say "Because it's fun." But I guess that wasn't sophisticated enough lol

[@not.supermario]

I love how a majority of the people who made these wild universes are always the calm spoken ones. J.R.R. Tolkien, J.K. Rowling, George Lucas, Gerry Anderson, etc. I'm sure there are more out there. But Sir Tolkien wins this. I didn't get into the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings until I was much older and it's still one of the most fascinating universes ever created.

[@wilhufftarkin8543]

Find me a modern interviewer who knows and uses words like apotheosis. This is another example of how much the quality of media has been degrading for decades.

[@blackburn1111]

truly... I was watching Dick Cavett interviews the other day and was really impressed by his maturity and sensibility. That, and the intelligent academic sort of interviewer in this video are opposites of the babbling clowns on tv today

[@drworm5007]

He knows them he's just not allowed to use them. Soon he won't know them.

[@raantas946]

Using recondite words doesn't make you sound intelligent. It's because of the quality of questions that the interview is good not because of the words used per se.

[@MarkHogan994]

If you watch scholarly discussions and debates you'll find plenty of moderators and interviewers who know such words. Obviously you won't find it by watching random celebrity interviews.

[@flame_of_the_west8909]

ΑΠΟΘΕΩΣΙΣ - In its mother language.

[@al_temuri]

Truly an amazing man way ahead of his time. A freaking genius

[@blackstonepros]

Evil isn’t the absence of good. It’s the jealousy of good. Just as a lie is mostly truth, evil is an attempt to make itself appear good so that people are deceived into doing it.

[@yxx_chris_xxy]

Interviewer: "So here is something about Freud and the unconscious that I thought up that will make me sound really intellectual. Is it that?" Tolkien: "No." Interviewer: "No, no i didn't think it was."

[@Sarx88]

This man was smart AF

[@Babyjteehee]

“The made thing has to have said something or it won’t be remembered”

[@ethanstrong]

Personal hero of mine

[@tiffles3890]

I really "get" the aesthetic aspect behind wanting to conjure up fantasy worlds in your head, that Tolkien is talking about here.

[@Mallarkey]

Puts today's interviewers to shame. Man I miss the old days sometimes.

[@davidgray3321]

Gosh our society and our people have changed, I was born in 1961 I caught the tail end of the old Britain, now gone for ever.

[@worker-wf2em]

Great interview. Hilarious seeing all the comments of people who think interviews should be asinine chatter about the latest TikTok trend. Two gentlemen clearly enjoying a meaningful conversation

[@turkN9NE]

the guy that played radagast seems like he took a lot of inspiration from tolkiens own mannerisms

[@EricTitterud]

amazing to think conversations that sounded like that used to be on TV. we have jimmy fallon and CNN megapanel chatter

[@robinrehlinghaus1944]

This is very helpful

[@HerrscherOfChaos]

I love the way he just shrugged his shoulders when asked why he made the world first 😂 you don't always have a reason to start. Most often i just do things and also don't know why exactly

[@heatrayzvideo3007]

I would love to have talked Tolkien

[@Ludiotic]

Marvellous to watch.

[@thatsjustmyoppinion7004]

The greatest legend of all time , thank god he didnt have to see this AI robery charade thats happening right now in 2024

[@whocares_bear]

Absolutely love how Tolkien dissed Freud 👏😎

[@johnrockyryan]

This dude was so smart that he invented his own language how fucking crazy is that 😂

[@AmishThursday]

Absolutely. He created several actually

[@dspencer1969]

Wow, his cadence in speaking throws me for a loop.

[@EugenethePhilostopher]

The dude is so unapologetic. I love it.

[@AaronTheGreat________]

Unapologetic about what stupid comment

[@bentons647]

The made thing unless it says something won’t be remembered

[@joshkresnik6402]

I think it can be widely understood, if not objectively acknowledged that Tolkien gave birth to what is known today as high fantasy. many authors of the past had done similar work in creating a landscape that their work work take place in like CS Lewis, and Lewis, Carroll and Dante Alighieri. But Tolkien Is attributed to having laid out the blueprints and the groundwork not only for middle earth, but what would it inevitably Become the grand landscape of all high fantasy and epic fantasy for generations. because every time you read about a landscape in epic fantasy with its own nature and its own identity, it can be traced back to this gentleman who started it all. one of the many tragic things about high fantasy is it has agency of its own, you can dance with it and play with it as you write it in your work but in a weird way, it really does have its own agency with its own speed and its own will and tragically these worlds outlive a lot of of the authors that Pen them to paper, which is the reason why writing takes so much time, especially epic fantasy.

[@PumpkinMozie]

Tolkien was such a nerd and I love it

[@fugazzidatroll]

Anybody get Gandalf vibes from Tolkien in this? His intelligence, deep thought out answers, delivered cleverly and in few words.

[@Mystic_Christopher]

The level of intelligence in this conversation is something I wish we had in the modern world today.

[@MarkHogan994]

We do have it. Plenty of intellectual conversations are had every day. You just have to seek them out. It's not like intellectual authors no longer exist.

[@you8just]

And now we have rings of power, shitting on this brilliant man's dream

[@JMDewald]

It's not him

[@vineetamendiratta5121]

You are underrated

[@NiceDiggz]

Talk about intelligence something we miss today

[@ShilohWalker-o7y]

Rather an unpleasant interviewer, but Tolkien’s responses were great!

[@juliagustafsson2895]

we need an old man tolkien movie played by anthony hopkins stat. Idk what it would be about. but I would just love to see him do it

[@mitchellslate1249]

Familiarity of the process of creation...feel this.

[@Novouto]

That shrug 🤣

[@saladinbob]

If only we had this kind of intellectualism in today's writers, not only would entertainment be better off, the world would be a better place for it.

[@MarkHogan994]

Plenty of writers today are serious intellectuals. Just because you don't know about them or don't engage with them does not mean they don't exist.

[@blackstonepros]

The interviewer was simply trying to see to what extent that Tolkien can or was willing to admit which metaphors paralleled our world. This was a moot point to make because obviously the entire middle earth and every character in it is a metaphor for our world.

[@DartagnanMagic]

That last line nobody understands anymore. Most "storytelling" just vacous "entertainment" without the important part.

[@1JOE1channel]

This interviewer exists in a time when the utmost in being pretentious was not yet pretentious