Smith of Wootton Major

We all know Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings, and many of us are familiar with the Silmarillion and perhaps the fact that he was a philologist by profession. But did you know he wrote several other pieces of fiction? This video explores one of them, "Smith of Wootton Major," which lies somewhere near the epicenter of Tolkien's work in the sense that it incorporates some of his personal views on "Faerie story". I definitely suggest you read it, and a good compilation containing it can be found here: www.amazon.com... For the essay "On Fairy Stories," see this compilation: www.amazon.com...

[@peytonlee7311]

I love people talking about things they are passionate about

[@thinkfirstt]

It's such a delightful story and one theme is that influences and faerie folk could be inhabiting our world at any random moment. And that if I want to embody and express the star on my own brow, it is done by the magic, love and enthusiasm I put into every little menial task.

[@MrYTGuy1]

I read this as part of a collection called tales from the perilous realm. It was pretty decent. It also had the leaf story and one about a magic dog that goes to the Moon. It's a good intro to the less tangible parts of Tolkien story telling. It's not about a dark lord or a dangerous journey to save the world. It's just a slice of life that we by chance get to see. This slice just happens to have a magic star in it

[@TolkienLorePodcast]

I imagine the story about the dog you’re referring to is Roverandom?

[@DeepDiveAnalysis]

Hi Tolkien Lore! Didn't see an email address on your channel, so I thought I'd leave my message as a comment on one of your older videos. I'm a big fan of your content, and I have my own channel currently at 2k subs (albeit it on a very different subject), so I was wondering if you might be interested in doing some sort of collaboration LOTR / Star Wars analysis video together sometime. If you're interested, just let me know. And keep up the great work! Your LOTR analysis is always fantastic

[@TolkienLorePodcast]

It’s funny you ask because someone once suggested I do a video comparing Star Wars and LOTR, though I’ve never done it. I’ll check out your channel and let you know if I’m interested. :)

[@edwardliu4819]

What is the theme of the story?

[@TolkienLorePodcast]

If I had to boil it down, I’d say it’s that the ability to see things through the lens of Fairy is a precious gift. But honestly there’s so much under the surface that I don’t claim a full understanding.

[@edwardliu4819]

@@TolkienLorePodcast Thank you my man, still reading it for school. Appreciated

[@jameswootton1162]

yo thats my name

[@akostarkanyi825]

I think that Snokes the cook - one of the main characters of this story - might be Tolkien's "bad self" he tried to overcome in himself.

[@donaldcreech7782]

Do you recommend reading Unfinished Tales or Tales from the Perilous Realm first? Or does it matter?

[@TolkienLorePodcast]

Depends on what you want. TftPR has little to do with Middle Earth so if you want to get more info connected to the Hobbit and LOTR saga then I’d go for UT first. But if you’re looking to expand your knowledge of Tolkien beyond Middle Earth (with easier but not necessarily less rich stories), then TftPR is your best bet. Both are definitely must haves, IMO.

[@donaldcreech7782]

@@TolkienLorePodcast Cool thank you so much! They both sound awesome!!

[@adammoscow]

Was hoping to hear some interpretive insight - virtually nothing there. Maybe you intended a plot summary only. Why did you make this video?

[@TolkienLorePodcast]

Basically an intro to the story. I have a more recent video that goes a bit more into interpretation.

[@phoule76]

this sounds like a Marvel origin story