Middle-Earth's Secrets: Tolkien's Lord of the Rings- The Fellowship of the Ring

[@LukesEnglishPodcast]

I love the caption at 3:06 "Father John Tolkein - Son"

[@twmbarlwmstar]

Who had a number of allegations of child abuse levelled at him which the Church paid off to avoid police investigations.

[@joedemelfie5509]

@@twmbarlwmstar probably a lot less that the church or Mormon ism or scientology if we are being honest. No better than the awful things others do but then point the finger at others to avoid them. At least these guys try to live better. Take a hint maybe. But sure I get the joke but poor taste. It's not that true hardly an issue. But yes sadly it has happened but this stuff keeps it going. Gossip really. Propaganda.

[@Sirchud68]

I can't stop watching this series. I love it.

[@marklee1194]

Thanks for uploading the documentary trilogy.

[@BranakinSkywalker]

The Brothers Hildebrandt artwork is phenomenal

[@Angenga]

It's Dwalin! Graham McTavish is a fucking legend

[@TomLWaters]

+yourenotinthecircle Although why he's stuck here reading cue cards in 2000 is a mystery that might drive one to drink.

[@Angenga]

Tom Waters Lol i dont understand what youre getting at, maybe he just loves tolkien ;)

[@TomLWaters]

don't know - can't find any connection with Tolkien before the Hobbit movies - maybe just shlepping around for work... ;)

[@Angenga]

Tom Waters possibly, but hey, i'm a george rr martin fan but i dont work on a game of thrones or edit his books :)

[@amandafalcon1344]

I loved this! terrific analysis!

[@abbagailmarie9874]

I don't know about you guys but I watch this just for the graphics. So life-like. So realistic.

[@petesampson4273]

I'm not so sure. There are times when I think the Brothers Hildebrand have never seen a genuine human hand. I have seen thousands of examples of their artwork and I can't think of one where i didn't think "there's something wrong about that hand."

[@sybghostdog]

really enjoy the content, thank you. without the visuals of the movies, i am reminded of how my imagination of this world was originally built and the effect it had on me. i knew maybe 75% of the info, but the analysis and depth is great (original and enchanting music too)! as a fan of A Song of Fire and Ice, The Kingkiller Chronicle and Brandon Sanderson's work, I still feel that the mastery and depth of Tolkien's work is unfathomable, but so valuable to us as readers/imagineers! I personally like the Taoist qualities I find in the trilogy, of balance, humility and compassion. :)

[@RatelHBadger]

Really enjoyed this. I feel I would really enjoy an Audio Book of the Rings Trilogy read by McTavish

[@Owen-wh7of]

My guy Dwalin 👌 cool to see Peter casts guys who love Tolkien.

[@Etheldreda-]

That was really interesting, thank you.

[@carpetfarmer]

@ 16:25 ...Sam voluntarily relinquished the ring back to Frodo in Return of the King.

[@iasimov5960]

Actually, no. Frodo snatched the Ring from him.

[@REDGOATcomicbooks.13]

I love this artwork in this documentary.

[@renent81]

Holy moly, that's Dwalin!!! WTF!!!

[@Gentamoru]

The Saint of Killers

[@joedemelfie5509]

Where ?

[@MartinIDavies]

nice documentary... thanks for posting

[@benhuether5474]

This is almost as entertaining as the movies because it goes over all the details in Tolkien's masterpiece.

[@crinoid1919]

until you read The Silmarillion you only know a fraction of the story

[@VMARCHIVE]

very true

[@tylergammell4319]

But a specifically interesting piece.

[@KamenSentaiMetalHero]

In my opinion, I think The Silmarillion is better than both The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings(especially The Hobbit). It's a darker and more complex epic that dives deep into the history and mythology of Middle-Earth.

[@joedemelfie5509]

I just watch you tube videos on it. I'm good. Test me.

[@KateLove21]

Tom Bombadil should have been included in the Fellowship movie, he was one of the best characters.

[@gentlebabarian]

I hope in a few years they make a series from the lord of the rings. It will alow more details from the story to be in scene.

[@Frogwai]

Well what do ya know!

[@TheClassicWorld]

Literally impossible to do a good TV of The Lord of the Rings. You would need 10-20 years and 500 million+ dollars to do a good job in England or Hollywood. The Lord of the Rings (extended) is about 11 hours long and took Peter 8 years to make with about 50,000 people. One season of 40 minutes each episode would make it a few hours longer (which is really all you need, unless you want to do the entire book). Is it worth 10-20 years and countless money for Hollywood to add a few more hours across one season/series and ruin it? In fact, a TV show made even by the same Weta Workshop in NZ would ruin it and be fairly impossible. Peter himself would most likely think it's a completely stupid idea. And Tolkien would 100% hate it. Tolkien didn't even like the idea of splitting it into three novels or having the final one called 'The Return of the King'.

[@matthewlucas4142]

Devin Reese I think he’s an avatar of Tolkien himself

[@qurantino3624]

If he was in the movie it would probably slowed down the pacing and be unfocused

[@billneice3747]

I don't know how many times over the years I've gone back and read The Hobbit and the 3 books of the trilogy. I've read the Silmarillion but I lost my copy of it. The story has never grown old and I keep finding myself returning to reread the entire series.

[@Muchowski_B]

wow this was randomly recommended to me. how awesome is that!!

[@CTFlink]

youtube works by algorythms. None of those suggestions it gives you are random anymore. It's picked from your behaviour around the net, including google web searches (KZbin is now owned by google)

[@MarkArandjus]

I really like the 'fuckyeah' attitude of the Hildebrandt brothers, haha. "You wanna do this, bro?" "Let's do it, bro!"

[@Woodchuckk]

I have one of their signed Lithographs of Boba Fett. Its cool to see them in this setting.

[@TomLWaters]

+Mark Arandjus Yeah, that was fun. Never cared for their interpretation of Tolkien though - much prefer Alan Lee. Why must everyone have pointy ears and huge bulbous noses? Leave them for Terry Brooks, so both the writing and the art can be tacky together.

[@TomLWaters]

+Mark Arandjus Yeah, that was fun. Never cared for their interpretation of Tolkien though - much prefer Alan Lee. Why must everyone have pointy ears and huge bulbous noses? Leave them for Terry Brooks, so both the writing and the art can be tacky together.

[@AD65]

@@TomLWaters agree

[@pspboy7]

Sorry, but Alan Lee and John Howe are my favorite Tolkien artists by far!

[@timothy-mcgaw]

It seems this came out around the time just after The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. What a coincidence that it is presented by Graham McTavish who would go on to play Dwalin in The Hobbit!

[@timlamiam]

nah it's definitely before. To think that they wouldn't mention the movies once despite their influence and popularity for a new generation of casual fans?

[@timothy-mcgaw]

According to imdb it came out in 2003, which is the year Return of the King came out in cinemas. They obviously didn't have the rights to mention the films. But they were allowed to discuss Tolkien's books.

[@TenderTrap86]

He looks like that guy from Cash Cab.

[@VincentMusolino]

Timothy McGaw A McTavish fan site has 2000 as the production year. Amazon has the (not so well rated) boxset DVD out in November 2003. Weird.

[@TomLWaters]

+Timothy McGaw 2003 was the DVD release, not the making of the documentaries, which was completed in 2000. Graham McTavish was not even a sparkle in Peter Jackson's eye at the time.

[@sandiehiti5008]

Fascinating

[@karinanalbandyan3009]

The work of Tolkien comes from his myth inspiriting mystical experiences. He was experiencing this for nearly 30 years, and most people don't know about this. He was a translator of dead languages. The books "Lord Of The Rings" & "Hobbit" were channeled through Tolkien. He was receiving bits and pieces of full, complete mythologies, and he writes about it in his "Westmarch" book, which was his Red Book. Yes just like the Red Book of Carl Jung. In fact there's much similarity between the red book of Tolkien, and the red book of Jung. Jung's subconscious was Tolkien's faerie realm. People should learn about this, because it's very important

[@johnusher1232]

nice upload

[@rgaleny]

The weapon that helps to defeat the leader of the Nazguls is found in the barrow downs. Tom is the way they are saved from them.

[@BrooklynRedLeg]

Hmmm...McTavish says that Isildur was killed before he could return to Gondor. That's about as wrong as you can get. He was returning north to The Kingdom of Arnor where he was taking up the High-Kingship of the Numenorean Exiles. It doesn't help that Arnor isn't even referenced in The Lord of the Rings movies......

[@Sirchud68]

Six years later, still watching

[@phoule76]

Frodo: I wish Bilbo had killed Gollum when he had the chance! Sauron: ikr, lol.

[@DankoMe]

did anyone realize that the Graham Mctavish ( actor playing Dwalin in P.jackson trilogy) is actualy reding the story line??? :-D

[@diggy2016]

2:20 that totally looks like ian mckellen

[@cymaddux31]

Diggy not at all

[@superstacker6736]

Tolkien's way of writing isn't hard as it is so sharp that you can't just breeze through it. Just 10 pages at a time if you aren't so mentally sharp at the time can be slow because it's so thick in detail. But it's written well though, describes the world perfectly. He creates a huge well connected world with a lot of depth through his writing. You get the full picture of what's going on and you get a lot out of it every time.

[@sirmonkeys422]

skyloop true, although he did have a habit of going into too much detail, about say the color of the sky

[@bboylilizzi]

can anyone tell me who did the illustrations shown? They look great!

[@theGhoulman]

That would be The Brothers Hildebrandt, Greg and Tim. They were terrific artists back in the day and their work was sported in early LoTR editions and many other books, such as the Sword of Shannara series. I believe they are retired these days.

[@bboylilizzi]

Thank you so much! I know their work well, specially LoTR, which is embarrassing I didn't recognise it! Thank for your help! :)

[@Alejojojo6]

Tolkien also spoke Spanish... It was one of the first languages he learnt (His tutor, who he appreciated much, was spanish) and even used the language to make his first made-up language. He also wanted to help on the translation of the book into Spanish and Considered spanish to be the most beautifull of all Romance languages according to him. He took Finnish and Latin to make Quenya.... so I wonder how come they forgot to mention this language that was so important in his devellopment... Ah is maybe not nordic enough I guess,... lol He did not spoke Norwegian and Danish or Swedish, but he knew old Norse so out of that he had notions of Danish and Norwegian but they barely influence his made-up languages for middle earth, far less than Greek, Latin, Finnish and Welsh. He used Old norse to read the sagas and used them as inspiration for LOTR etc... but never actually used nordic derived languages for his Middle earth made-up languages, as people usually believe.

[@jimmyfingaz1123]

Kind of funny McTavish would go on to play Dwalin in The Hobbit trilogy.

[@KingOIdiots]

Thank you so much for uploading this. For whatever reason, all the libraries and such near me only have the Hobbit, the Two Towers, and the Return of the King parts anymore. It never feels right to watch the Hobbit then skip over to the Two Towers.

[@alton.erobertson7713]

+Nicholas, you've done that? Skipped the Fellowship of the Ring after reading The Hobbit?

[@SamiP-ik7vj]

Tom Bombadil knows all of Arda's history, he was among the first ones to enter it and the Ring has no power over him.

[@J1J7W]

Dwalin!

[@manlyduckling]

'Nature is red in tooth and claw'. Ted Hughes is quoting Tennyson.

[@redlights9991]

somebody please tell me the name of the music at 9:10

[@The_Wandering_Nerd]

Excellent documentary, but the opening theme music sounds way more JRPG than JRRT :)

[@twmbarlwmstar]

Today we learn that Tolkien was very interested in different ways of Talking. By people who have learned how to talk in a manner designed to send you to sleep.

[@AKhiimme]

16:30 Not sure if its a movie inaccuracy, haven't read the books, but Sam gave up the ring in the movie.

[@xassassinghost2576]

A) Read the books, their genius. B) Yes. In the book Sam gives up the Ring because it's Frodo's burden, not Sam's.

[@MartinIDavies]

Bilbo the only one to give up the ring voluntariy? suely not. what about Sam didn't he give up the ring cheerfully? Sam, of course the real hero of the tale :-)

[@MartinIDavies]

Josh, I know I am splitting hairs here… and not just Galadriel but all 3 Elvin Ring bearers essentially had ‘possession’ of the ring.. in the sense that Frodo was helpless to prevent any of then taking them ring either by force of gift by Frodo… but as you point out non actually take physical possession and so did not have to make the decision that Bilbo and Sam did.. which was to give it up voluntarily

[@NixOfArden]

+MartinIDavies Also, Tom Bombadil

[@MartinIDavies]

Mark Green yes indeed.. great catch.. and thanks for refreshing my memory.. so easy to forget Tom :-)

[@jacklabite]

yes Bilbo is the only one who give up the ring voluntary. Refusing the ring , or holding it for few hours is quite different to actually have the ring for years and years and abandoned it.

[@MartinIDavies]

" holding it for few hours is quite different." and yet teh Valor did not think so because also went into the west many years after Frodo and Bilbo

[@MrKirby2367]

The last scene on the credits page Frodo's profile looks like Malcolm McDowell.

[@frankiefaithful]

No way! I knew I've seen the presenter somewhere before. That's Graham Mctavish, He plays Lewis in the movie Rambo. EDIT: I just found out he also plays Dwalin in the Hobbit. I never knew that.

[@EddieHypemanHearn]

"Who are you boatman?"

[@frankiefaithful]

"Boat man stays with the boat!"

[@TheClassicWorld]

You're a Hobbit fan who didn't know he was a Hobbit... that means you didn't watch any of the extras, making ofs, or interviews, etc. In fact, if you're a fan of The Hobbit films, I have no idea how you didn't know that. I know almost every actor for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, along with all the creators and a lot of the crew. But, then again, I'm a bit of a cinephile...

[@mandolingrass]

Warhammer Workshop he wasn't a Hobbit he was a dwarf!

[@KamenSentaiMetalHero]

I saw him in a Black Sabbath documentary. He sure seems to like doing documentaries.

[@da_ghoul9432]

12 years to write? Why rush it? -George Martin

[@alton.erobertson7713]

What are you talking about, +sin

[@AudieHolland]

Narration. +sin

[@alkashirthedragon3596]

Martin always has tried to one up Tolkien, but could never do it

[@Owen-wh7of]

Martin is seriously a wannabe. A song of Ice and Fire doesn’t even come close to the eloquence, economy of words, imagery, and poetry found in Tolkien’s work.

[@04hutchn]

@@Owen-wh7of he isnt trying to be better than tolkien he just wants to write a fantasy series that he wants to

[@justinah7400]

They forgot to mention the world was flat in the first age until the destruction of Numenor in the 2nd age when Eru turned it into a globe. Numenor was not near the equator because there was no equator until after Numenor's destruction.

[@countvlad8984]

McTavish sounds like he's narrating an IRA documentary. :D

[@AudieHolland]

Funny thing, I always imagined the party of dwarves led by Thorin as a grim bunch of mercenary types.

[@KamenSentaiMetalHero]

I love his narration, makes things seem more epic than it is. I saw him in a Black Sabbath documentary.

[@MrROTD]

Lol Bob Caruthers, I remember him from a WW 2 tank documentary

[@MoPower2112]

By my beard! Dwalin

[@beaverones3935]

Graham Mctavish plays a dwarf in The Hobbit:D

[@dlwatib]

Painful cymbals. What did you do to the music?

[@McClenaghanSR]

The best part of Tolkien's books are the concepts you form in your mind of what the characters and settings look like. Of course, this only applies to those who read the books first before seeing someone's else's ideas. Viewing the movies carries the disappointments of what these scenes are compared to your concepts.

[@NPHfann]

+Whynot Whynot having seen the movies before reading the books I found the two constantly battling in my mind but always the book won out. Tolkien's imagery dwarfs the interpretation in the movie and through the reader creates something completely authentic and real; something a movie could never spout.

[@CLBOO6]

Addicted to Tolkien's? That's me alright.

[@FrancisMaxino]

Point of interest: Graham McTavish plays the dwarf Dwalin in Jackson's ridiculously bad version of "The Hobbit". EXACTLY ! It is indeed truly VERY bad.

[@tense99]

Yea, the films sucked. I didn't even finish the last Hobbit movie.

[@pspboy7]

You know a book is special when it has appendices...

[@henrikbendiksen2529]

Point of interest: Graham McTavish plays the dwarf Dwalin in Jackson's ridiculously bad version of "The Hobbit" ? WTF is this? The hobbit films are great and are very true to the book, but with added info from the appendix and silmarillion

[@jimbobfreddiewilson1]

Plus lots of made up and unnecessary crap. Tauriel's existence is offensive to me.

[@siblilngs101]

Callum A the character was created to placate to those who felt a lack of a female role in the movie... I mean I don't mind an added character but I find the love story between her and Kili to be too much.... I want an adventure movie not some love story. Im not offended (yet) but I will be highly upset if Kili doesn't die in the Battle of the 5 Armies simply to keep him alive for the love story. Overall I like what Jackson is doing but that's my opinion and it could change.

[@henrikbendiksen2529]

i liked the first one, loved the 2'nd one. The last one i thought was really bad. They just reused everything from the previous films and the acting (especially Bard & kinds) were fucking awful. What the fuck happened?!

[@henrikbendiksen2529]

But let me rephrase, the reason why the film was bad was not because i love the books or anything, cause i really liked the previous 2 (especially the seacond one) the reason is that the film itself was bad. Examples of reused material: The last fight with THorin was basiccly the same fight we see between the witch king and eowyn in return of the king (just on ice) the antagonist even had the same fucking sledge weapond. The Grima wormtongue ripoff character. Don't need to explain why, he was just a ripoff with no character other than being slimy. that character fucking sucked, Grima at least had some 'reasons' for being evil and whatnot. The scene when all the laketown people wants to kill the Grima ripoff character is basiccly the exact same scene as the one in two towers when king Theoden wants to kill Grima. Aragorn jumps in between them and says that enough blood has been shed etc. And ofc Bard the bowman (who suddenly has become Aragorn 2.0) does the exact same thing!! Enough blood has been shed :P just to top it off, the laketwon people even hails him as a king.. The eagles are coming (like a hundred times) + the acting towards the end became really bad. 'it hurts beacuse it's real' ?! they have an even lesser reason to be in love than Anakin and fucking Padme in the star wars prequels :P I can name more stuff but I think i have made some of my points clear xD

[@SonGara]

Yes they sure do stay true to the source material, why I remember reading all 3 Hobbit books back in the day and really enjoyed reading about characters that were in those books like Radagash and his bunny sled or events that happened in those books like the magic spell-off between Gandalf and Sauron. Good times indeed!

[@Wyrmshadow]

wait, is the Narrator Dwalin????

[@jonte6661]

indeed he is

[@tr7zg.v69]

DWALINNN!!!

[@matthewmann8969]

All The Lord Of The Rings movies where great and the books where even better they both got lots of acclaim and the movies also got lots of awards changed the way block busters where made many of them. The Hobbit Trilogy while good should have only been One Or Two Movies hopefully in the future they can bring Tolkien's works back to life with The Simirillion in the form of a Television Show like they did with The Game Of Thrones. The Fellowship Of The Ring was a great way to start off the story and journey of young Frodo Baggins with the help of Sam, Merry, and Pippin, as well as Gandalf, Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, Borimir, and plenty more to help out even Smeagol/Gollum for a time was helpful even though Gollum overcame Smeagol in the end sadly I think that was the last of Smeagol and Gollum was the one to get the last laugh and words in.

[@steerpike1359]

I like this comment, you sound lile a very nice young man. I hope your life has gone well in the last 4 years !

[@hglundahl]

18:41 Not IZ-il-door, but ee-SILD-oor.

[@hglundahl]

34:35 sth in same vein not GLOR-fin-DELL, but glor-FINN-del.

[@williamarthurfenton1496]

Well I know plenty of wooden characters in real life. Why people complain about them in books baffles me. It's just realistic in that some people are very simple with very simple goals.

[@dastardlyman]

was this recorded before all the peter jackson films?

[@altair8514]

A game of thrones ad popped up on this

[@williamarthurfenton1496]

So Gandalf is Dwight Eisenhower?

[@AdventuresWest]

Why is it that people insist that Bilbo was the only person to voluntarily give up The Ring? How long did Deagol have possession of The Ring before he was murdered because he wouldn't hand it over? How long did Samwise Gamgee possess The Ring before he gave it up? More freely than Bilbo did, no less.

[@dpotter4963]

Don't forget Boromir

[@joedemelfie5509]

J. R. R. Tolkien's son reminds me of a character from lotr. Lol too funny. Wait no he is the grumpy neighbor hobbit of frodo yes! That's is. He also sounds like a character in the movies too. I know it. He has to be.

[@DRock1042]

anyone think Tolkien modeled Bilbo after himself?

[@Strideo1]

DRock1042 I believe he said Bilbo was the character he most identified with. Bilbo and the hobbits in the Shire are culturally like the English generation that Tolkien knew growing up himself.

[@AudieHolland]

I don't mind illustrations. Bad nor good. Because I have always believed that a narration without pictures is the greatest motivator for one's own imagination. For this reason, I have never bought illustrated works about Middle Earth. After the movies came out, of course I saw a lot more but in the end, all those illustrations are just optional. Aragorn does not look like Viggo Mortensen, even though Mortensen did a damned fine job. The only illustration that really struck a nerve with me was the painting by Alan Lee, of Gandalf marching through the rain in his weathered gray wizard's robes, looking more like a traveller than a user of magic. I believe it was the cover illustration for the single volume "The Lord of the Rings" somewhere in the early 1990s.

[@jimbombadill]

i simply dont like Hildebrandts drawings...they have some kind of cartoonish over them...hard to put my finger or words on it...Alan Lee has always been my favorite...and Ted Namsmit has done some great works to

[@jimbombadill]

James Duffy checked donanto out....and definetly better...i still hold alan lee as my favorite...but yes hildebrant i dont know what to say...it have a strange..."americaniced" feeling over them or children fable or even like the drawings in the folders the jehovas witness will leave at your door :) there is no question they can draw...i just dont like the way they do it

[@AntPDC]

sejdaren Ilmarinen Yes, the Hildebrants' works are rather cutesy and Disneyesque, especially when compared with Nasmith and Lee.

[@geoffbroad]

I like all the artists mentioned here.I think they all contribute their own vision.

[@BunnyHatJ]

Jim Bro But the drawings of LOTR made by Tolkien himself are also very colorful and transmit a feeling of joy, maybe he'd have preferred the ones that look like works for fable books.

[@jimbombadill]

i actually higly doubt that...first tolkien wasnt a very good painter and he was simply not really able to draw as he might have pictured it...and i think u refear to the paintings he did to the hobbit whish in many ways are a childrens book ...and that is not lord of the rings at all...hildebrants pictures lack all darkness...the absence of darkness in them are almost redicules...like the paintings u see in the jehovas witness folders they hand out on the street...there is plenty of darkness in tolkiens world...but each are entitled to their preference and opinion..this is just mine

[@hglundahl]

11:22 "NW of the Old World" does not describe Middle Earth as a whole, but places where hobbits are found. Shire and Bree are NW of the OW. Middle Earth is more like the OW at a stage before there was any Mediterranean between Europe and Africa.

[@niallowens6312]

Aren't Robin Hood and Ivanhoe English, Anglo-Saxon legends? Then there's Beowulf which is a West Saxon poem.

[@runcibusarse-weasel964]

I think, perhaps, the crucial differences between the legends you mention and what Tolkien wanted was that both Robin Hood and Ivanhoe are firmly post-Norman in their themes as well as their setting. Both tend to look to pre-Norman, Anglo-Saxon England as a kind of bygone era to which the characters, and the reader, look back as a "golden age", where life was more heroic and less bogged down with the sordid issues of taxation and oppression found in feudal system of Norman England. Beowulf, on the other hand, while being of English origin, has a Scandinavian setting and is not about "Englishness" as such, except, perhaps, in the sense of it being the world from which the English were, at the time of writing, just a few generations removed. None of these works really represent what Tolkien envisioned as legends which capture the nature of England and Englishness in its heyday, so to speak. To draw parallels with the Celtic world, it's like comparing the Arthurian legends, which depict a time of Celtic decline, in the face of Anglo-Saxon invasion, coloured by post-Norman themes, with the Ultonian cycle of Irish myth, in which the stories are set in a fully flourishing and vibrant Celtic world. Tolkien, I think, wanted something like an English counterpart to the Ultonian or Ossianic cycles, rather than the Arthurian cycles.

[@HALOBOY305]

Graham Mctavish is in the Hobbit movies!!

[@paulrevere2379]

If anyone in the current era has any hope to come anywhere close to producing an epic in the same class as Tolkein's works, such a person would have to live a life unplugged from the degrading effects of contemporary online culture.

[@JohnsRoses]

Gandalf for president!

[@jacklabite]

The ' problem ' (which is not but is in a way) is that the english used is very difficult for non english speaker. I mean there are countless old words or words you never use. It's quite difficult to read and they didnt made any bilingual edition : original text on one page and a translation on the other page..(like they do for Twain, Dickens, Shakespeare etc) So it requires you to have another edition of your own language at hand . or google translation ( though 'attacop' for instance, google translation doesnt know what it means so you have to research and all) . quite not easy. and reading a translation without having a look at the original text is soooo bad ! With modern children's tales like HP the english is very easy and accessible to anyone who just learned it in school.

[@alton.erobertson7713]

That Tolkien's "olde words" may be a challenge to understand is a fault of education systems that don't do a very good job of teaching modern English, never mind teaching the English of the Middle Ages, any point and time in the Middle Ages. But no worries, most of the words are in the OED. Also, context helps. Atacop (actually, "attercop") is used when Bilbo is taunting the spiders in Mirkwood.

[@geofry03]

Omg he played dwalin

[@mineduck3050]

Love this art. It's a real shame in my opinion that the majority of Tolkien fans will have the imagery of Peter Jackson's antique space marine, and cheesy renaissance fair middle earth in their heads.

[@jocelynrodriguez6681]

Toilken was born in south Africa!

[@joedemelfie5509]

Awful childhood he had. Amazing how he persevered through it all. Must have been guided. Epic life he lived. People helping him out. Making a difference forever through his education. Fun fact. He could read at the age of 4.

[@paulrevere2379]

I question the observations that emphasize the tragedy of life which Tolkein was very aware of, as if safety, security and comfort in life are entitled norms. imo, they are NOT. It's the predominant mindset of contemporary entitlement culture which is as odds with reality.

[@phoreman88]

I knew that was Dwalin. Weird

[@gonzalovazquezavila535]

Who would've thought he would be casted in the hobbit

[@deathguise01]

thx4share :-) ;-) ;-) np lol

[@seanb3226]

Why does the one guy pronounce Isildur "Izzledur"? Isn't it "Ih-sihl-dur"?

[@jtrinidad9625]

It's Dwalin, Dwalin!

[@Mymloch]

"ridiculously bad version of "The Hobbit"" ? There's just no pleasings some people. Good documentary, though.

[@Smoug]

who can possibly be pleased with that?

[@haggis0breath]

Doug, you were probably also pleased with episodes 1,2,3, and 8

[@hindsightpov4218]

I enjoyed Jackson’s Hobbit films.

[@mitchellsmith4690]

The hobbit films weren't the hobbit, they were hackjobs by a horror auteur with delusions of granduer..

[@Spiritof48]

They just had to make the Nazi analogy even though Tolkien wrote that the story have nothing to do with that.

[@WiqedWhiteGorilla]

***** it's our base survival instincts to look at our environment to apply meaning and purpose . "Art", in all its forms, allows us to see beyond our immediate problem reaction solution mental patterns into other worlds and universes where naturally we do the same. For these stories to become as popular as they are, then to persist so strongly for as long as they have, obviously there is something in there hacking into things that some people are metaphorically relating to. Either if he ment to or not is of little consequence

[@RapaciousUT]

Great video, but your comment about the movie at the end of the blurb is psychotic. Seek professional help. Fast.

[@alton.erobertson7713]

The movies desecrated the books. They were wholly unholy

[@bantubeoprah]

The movies were good, but if they went according to the books it would have been AMAZING..... and more than 6 movies long lol

[@berendharmsen]

Was this captured by pointing a camera at a tv?

[@doubled1094]

as a hobbit fan I approve of this video

[@joeyroni3858]

second only to Homer

[@dlwatib]

Where's the secrets? It's just an academic retelling of the story.

[@whatupfam5712]

27:30

[@Catonius]

Orbo!

[@commonce420]

How is it that most works, as well as their authors are subjected to discrimination ex. boasting tools of nationalism or individual glorification. We don't know more about JRR Tolkien's inspiration any more than the thoughts of Sophocles. Personally, I simply "love" all those lectures by top Professors of every respected university ... or not.

[@HisMajestyWalrus]

That pissed my off so much when he pronounced Isildur "Izlduur".

[@philasyr]

Damn, I'm 15 minutes in, and I'm gonna stop. I feel like if I watch this whole thing, I'll pass some sort of nerd Rubicon.

[@RAndrewKReed]

+philasyr Haha..The River Dweeb!

[@ulmo5536]

We're all nerds here you know ;P

[@ishmaelforester9825]

If you got here, the die is kind of already cast, lol. Welcome to nerdom.

[@paulopinzon]

Hahahahah!

[@Smoug]

if you can reference the rubicon crossing ur probably already a nerd

[@oystein18]

Tolkien kunne snakke norsk :D

[@ulmo5536]

Och svenska ;)

[@Carnifindion]

Oh really? I heard elvish is based around Finnish

[@fictionfanatic5009]

+John Smith It is, but that doesn't limit him from speaking other languages

[@primus7776]

No. It's Welsh.

[@Nastgardaren]

Primus 777 sindarin is based on Welsh, quenya is based on finnish