Types of Lord of the Rings Fans

#lordoftherings #tolkien #booktube
Featuring Sarah Beardsley (‪@sarahbeardsley‬) and Samantha Nicholakis (‪@samanthanicholakis‬).
Well, this video ended up being a lot longer than I anticipated. Just couldn't stop coming up with ideas, I guess. Oh, well. The LOTR fandom is a complex and multifaceted place and I needed to capture every angle of it.
00:00 Didn't like the books that much
01:10: Refuses to read anything but Tolkien
02:30 The Philologist
03:31 The Military Historian
04:37 Obsessed with Aragorn
06:33 The "Nationalist"
07:24: The Inklings Enthusiast
07:52: "All adaptations are equal!"

[@6ixpoint5ive]

"What are you 'Tolkien' about?" --- he thought we wouldn't notice ;P

[@mariapazgonzalezlesme]

That's one bad hobbit you have there.

[@genericallyentertaining]

You have to wonder if Tolkien himself ever had people say that to him.

[@reneedesoet7309]

That's a really fun lotr podcast btw

[@poopyman961]

That joke made me cross my arms under my breasts

[@Hyperfixations_here]

@@reneedesoet7309 that’s the best idea I’ve heard in a while

[@bsmith3506]

This is only missing the fan that HAS to point out every bit of trivia while watching the movies - "Did you know that when Aragorn kicked that helmet-"

[@genericallyentertaining]

Honestly, I had a bunch of other ideas - including this. Might need to make a part two...

[@desinteresado125]

to be fair, the helmet thing is one of the things that does deserve to be said, if the person being told doesn't know.

[@generallee1863]

"-he broke 2 toes."

[@marcusfridh8489]

And did you know than Sean Astin cut his foot on a piece of glass when doing the scene in Amon hen?

[@bsmith3506]

ummmm AKCHUALLY amon hen is the name of the watch tower. the area by the shore where they moored the boats was called parth galen @@marcusfridh8489

[@theentmarch]

There are your surface level fans, and then theres the Tom Bombadil fanatics

[@marcusfridh8489]

Allways wondered who would have played Tom Bombadil and Goldberry

[@poopenfarten800]

Hey, ho, merry dal ! ring a dong dillo !!!

[@imenlazovic7820]

@@poopenfarten800 Ring a dong! hop along! Fal lal the willow! Tom Bom, jolly Tom, Tom Bombadillo!

[@bigcat4117]

How humbling for the hobbits to need to be saved from a tree.

[@fifthhoven]

There is no such thing, but apparently there are douches who always want to bring him up and "why is he even in there" and then maybe someone has to write up a perspective. There is basically no one who thinks about him independently, that's just a fiction of those who are obsessed with him negatively.

[@lesacapatate2949]

"If he’s your baseline for men, you’re gonna be deeply disappointed" bruh, she said the hurting truth

[@jamesdaniels8007]

The "yet again" was just salt in the wound 😂

[@Tacticslion]

My wife had a crush on him growing up (long before the movies). So glad she settled for me! 😂

[@jamesdaniels8007]

@@Tacticslion to be fair, Aragorn is tough competition.

[@auriprimrose]

TT - TT

[@i_do_stuff_ig]

All the Aragorn fans are gonna have to acknowledge someday that we need to lower our standards

[@olgagicala7886]

Actually, Nerdanel calling Maedhros "well-shaped" is not that weird because Tolkien said that the Elven women often had moments of precognition that gave them insight into their children's future. ... though trying to imagine Nerdanel seeing the image of her son as an adult and thinking "wow, that's hot" is actually pretty weird now that I think about it. ... I will excuse myself now.

[@catnaut9035]

sweet home alabama

[@lamascararota666]

@@catnaut9035 No, no, no... that is the Children of Hurin

[@catnaut9035]

@@lamascararota666 Turin was a certified resident of alabama

[@sarahbreisch4750]

​@@lamascararota666ño no that's too harsh!

[@simbelmyne7767]

As fun as this is, I feel like everyone is missing the fact that "well shaped" does not have to be even remotely sexual. A mother can look at her child and be like "aw hell yeah his bones look really healthy he's gonna grow strong--look everyone my baby is the best baby" y'know?

[@MarcyPeska]

You missed the “Samwise is the ideal man/actual hero” and the “Stop everything, it’s time for second breakfast” fans. There are a lot of us. 😊 Oh, and the “I was so sad when the first movie didn’t include Tom Bombadil. He & Goldberry are my favorites!”

[@cailin5301]

You can NOT say Samwise was the actual hero. Imagine if Sam himself heard you say that lol. Sacrilege. No, Frodo and Sam were two halves of a hero (or both heroes, if you prefer). Neither of them could have done it without the other.

[@Eagle-eye-pie]

@@cailin5301you absolutely can and many do.

[@AudioEpics]

Oh, yeah, the opposite of the "everything that has Rings in it breathes the spirit of Tolkien" is just as annoying: the "All adaptations suck because they are not 100 % word for word exaclty literally in the bible that is The Lord of the Rings".

[@freddovich7925]

The military historian one is off. The Uruk Hai didn't march there in one day, but they do march way faster than human armies. Elves march even faster. The Elves could've set off earlier and only arrived at Helms Deep on time by coincidence. Asking Gondor for help, even though it'd take a week, would still be a good call because at the time, people didn't know how long the war with Isengard would last yet. Help might arrive during a prolonged siege. Gandalf rides away saying "I'll be back in 3 days" and this happens, so we can assume the time between Theoden leaving Edoras and the battle of Helm's Deep is three days. At that point, Grima is already in Isengard. Merry and Pippin see the Uruk Hai leaving Isengard, and this is already after the Entmoot in the movie but before it in the books (seeing Saruman's deforestation policies is what motivates the Entmoot and the Ents agree pretty quickly to attack Saruman - this still takes them about 2 days). In the book it makes more sense, but it doesn't conflict with the timeline too much to have the Ents chilling in Isengard for a while and the trees stalking the Uruk Hai to Helm's Deep to gobble them up after the battle. So really there are multiple days for the Uruk Hai to cross the 120 miles, especially given that they walk day and night and much faster than human armies. Don't forget, Aragorn on horseback for a whole day only managed to outrun the entire army by a few hours. Say 30 miles a day over relatively good terrain (planes ideal for horses). With 2 days and nights that comes to 120 miles. He should've asked why the Uruk Hai bring pikes to a siege battle and then fail to use them effectively against 25 horsemen charging their army for a good 5 minutes.

[@coltaine503]

Uh, my guy, you are seriously coming close to being the type of reader/watcher this guy is talking about. Not disputing what you are saying and certainly appreciating it though.

[@sebastianzuzi311]

basically the answer is magic but it's completely valid given the rules of the world.

[@AverageCommentor]

However, what definitely does not make sense is (a) the way the timeline fits with Frodo's journey. Multiple extra days are added in Rohan in the movies but Frodo's journey is not given such treatment, and (b) the fact that it took a whole entmoot to decide not to fight in Isengard, and then Treebeard just growls and suddenly the decision is instantly overruled. The entmoot seems rather unnecessary if Treebeard could just call them to war with a growl.

[@freddovich7925]

@@AverageCommentor very good points, but it could be argued that in the movie, not all of Frodo's days are shown. In the Two Towers he gets from the Marshes to just past Ithilien, with some days of lost wandering before catching Gollum sets them on the right path again. That's quite a distance and an extra day squeezed in here or there doesn't disrupt his story too much. Granted, in the book he reaches Cirith Ungol already so really even more days are missing from Frodo's story. The entmoot being instantly overruled by mad tree scream is a weird plot device, true enough. Why all the ents followed Treebeard to Isengard is also a bit strange if they had decided not to fight. But I'm still sticking with Uruk Hai running 3 days straight with pikes to a siege and then not using them against horsemen

[@_Fornad]

If you’re interested in the differences between book and film here, the Roman military historian Bret Devereaux did a write up of the military realism of both the siege of Helm’s Deep and Minas Tirith. They’re recorded on KZbin too. The books are much better on this because Tolkien had a good understanding of military history and logistics.

[@diegoborges3716]

You forgot the catholic type. "You know, Eru is God and Melkor is Lucifer, right? The eagles represent the Providence. And the lessons of virtue, forgiveness, etc, etc."

[@AlesdairProductions]

Isn't Eru literally God tho?

[@AdamVill]

Was going to leave a comment along these lines if no one else had!

[@dodie-poopsco.6893]

thats my brother

[@lamascararota666]

Even as a Catholic I find those people annoying. Instead of deeper analysis they read Tolkien as if he was writing another Narnia

[@lamascararota666]

@@OldPirate1718 Oh, don't get me wrong, Tolkien was very much a Catholic and his work is very much Christian in character. However this is mostly in its themes, not so much in the more literal aspects of the story, which some christians try to link desperately to Christianity, which makes for a very lousy analysis of the story. I have seen more christians obsessing about the literal identity between Tolkien's characters to the Bible, than, say, what does Frodo's failure at the end tell us about Tolkiens concept of Grace. What I am saying, basically is that I hate it when people try to narnianize Tolkien

[@reca2489]

It would have been hilarious if after the girl obsessed with Aragorn, you showed the straight guy obsessed with Aragorn Great video, loved it

[@denisel1553]

The straight guy who has DEFINITELY not even the SLIGHTEST inkling of a gay thought in the history of his entire life 😆

[@marcusfridh8489]

I missed the Samewise obsession

[@danielzhou9431]

More like the straight guy obsessed with Legolas.

[@WhiteScorpio2]

Aragorn was one of the fictional characters that helped me to accept that I wasn't straight.

[@denisel1553]

@@WhiteScorpio2 Aragorn being a bro as always 👍 If Arwen & Eowyn had more screen time (or if I had access to extended editions back in the day)... I'd have realized I was bi a lot sooner, lol

[@commonshoes]

Obsessed with Aragorn is so based though.

[@smartsmartie7142]

Isn't Aragon over 100 years old and very wise? He wouldn't be interested in normal humans romantically.

[@smartsmartie7142]

Isn't Aragon over 100 years old and very wise? He wouldn't be interested in normal humans romantically.

[@smartsmartie7142]

Isn't Aragon over 100 years old and very wise? He wouldn't be interested in normal humans romantically.

[@smartsmartie7142]

Isn't Aragon over 100 years old and very wise? He wouldn't be interested in normal humans romantically.

[@smartsmartie7142]

Isn't Aragon over 100 years old and very wise? He wouldn't be interested in normal humans romantically.

[@gamingchinchilla7323]

the second type... Tolkien himself would smack that boy silly and start listing all other great authors he should read besides himself. Tolkien was a man who embraced many a mythos and lore. A well read man indeed!

[@gracchus7782]

He also kept his negative review of Dune private because he didn't want to hurt someone who was working in the same field

[@jodofe4879]

Tolkien was very well read indeed. And not just old myths and legends either. Tolkien loved to read modern fiction. In fact, people have written entire books about what books Tolkien read (check out Tolkien's Modern Reading). He still hated Dune though.

[@tj-co9go]

​@@jodofe4879 to me his hatred of dune seems to be "okay, this is not my type of book but I don't want to get too critical on why I don't like it, I clearly value different things than what the author wanted tell here". (My own interpretation)

[@visisius9339]

​@@tj-co9godune is fundamentally antichristian. I'm not familiar with how Tolkien considered other secular works that could potentially receive the same label, but I imagine he would see the philosophy and potential effects of dune as almost evil. Not a polite thing to accuse another author of, best left unpublished

[@zinkheroofyoutube8004]

He'd also definitely smack the last one as well

[@switch4342]

“Borderline fluent in quenya” called me out bc who else violently flinched at that pronunciation of “maitimo” and “maedhros” 😭

[@iwatchtoomuchtwoset]

didn't even notice at first but i went back and almost had a heart attack.

[@honoramongassasins8056]

I absolutely did, but I also discovered that I'd been pronouncing "Nelyafinwë" wrong for something like 5 years and this has gone unnoticed because everyone I try to tell about him has the reaction of the guy in the video. ALSO HIM CALLING "MAITIMO" SINDARIN WHEN IT'S CLEARLY QUENYA- (this is legally a joke, it's not clearly quenya because it has no umlauts)

[@amer6706]

“Why is there no humor in the books?” SEETHING

[@lukesams3349]

The first type is just your average Marvel fan

[@cameronleonard2451]

There is one responce. "There was, but Tolkien didn't speak stupid" Said with vitriol of course.

[@senorbolainas2991]

There are enough funny parts in the books. Like Bilbo and his goodbye speech, or Merry awaking after being unconcious and saying "i want some breakfast", Pippin and Merry being bored during the Entmoot, all the times Gandalf is gets mad at Pippin, when Sam throws an apple at Bill Ferny, When they mention Bilbo using the ring to avoid The Sackville-Bagginses

[@katerrinah5442]

I cackle loudly on each read I don't know what people are on about 😂. Bilbo's will was amazing

[@spambaconeggspamspam]

"Also Tauriel is just as good a character as Eowyn." Them's fighting words, son!

[@emkalina]

am I the only one that likes Tauriel?

[@SpeiAuream]

I like her too!​@@emkalina

[@Ale-dd3ek]

I'd take her over Everything Rings of power came up with

[@isabelklingenberg2673]

Who would simp all day for Aragorn when we’ve got good ol’ Sam Gamgee? Sam is even more awesome than Aragorn

[@Xob_Driesestig]

4:40 Wow, props to your hair and makeup department, you look like a totally different person.

[@joshuagrahm3607]

Honestly, the sincerity of the books was kinda shocking when I read them. A lot of media today is made with cynical undertones and after a while you kinda get used to a background level of it, so the honesty on display with committing to characters and plot points in the books was a startling and welcome change of pace.

[@katherinec6031]

Sincerity has looped back to being considered fresh again. In hindsight, it was always beautiful, even when unfashionable. It is nice to go back to it.

[@Reidak12]

You forgot the guy who’s only seen the movies but somehow knows all the lore and he just couldn’t get past Tom Bombadil.

[@LordRevan-vi2op]

@Reidak12 I feel called out because that’s literally me

[@l.franciscobattista2559]

I remember when I joined my local chapter of the Tolkien Society. I swear there are people around who treat the Silmarillion like an actual Bible.

[@fredreindljr1996]

That's most LOTR KZbinrs these days.

[@ckvanniekerk1527]

Spoken like a blaspheming sycophant of Melkor

[@aldiascholarofthefirstsin1051]

You sound like a heretic!

[@elanor-zhang]

3:05 Celebribor is Maedhros's nephew. that's how the topic changed.

[@ricardoandre7049]

It was Celeborn, not Celebrimbor. They went from Galadriels husband to Maedhros, which 2 avenues. Either we dound ourselves in Doriath, or most likely the House of Finwe fanily dynamic

[@rolebo1]

@@ricardoandre7049 nah, it was definitely from pointing out that Celeborn's other name is Teleporno, which led to explaining why some elves have multiple names. Using Maedhros as an example.

[@AudioEpics]

The linguist is a cool type, but only if he doesn't consistently mispronounce Tolkien's name. ;-)

[@calculuscondensed812]

As a a bit of a military historian myself, my counterpart is of course correct to only criticise the films, as the books are pretty much flawless in this regard.

[@LovePikaMusic]

Oh, they are? That's amazing! I'm not exactly a military historian but there are certain weird parts in the movies that bother me from this aspect. Helm's deep. In the movies portrayed as a place for the citizens to hide. Nevermind that it's actually way closer to the enemy than Edoras, and already on the frontline. Then the part where Theoden is saying homes can be rebuilt and crops resown and Aragorn is like but saruman wants to kill the people! Like sheesh the king is trying to build up morale in his people before a fight and you're there to ruin it?? Then in RotK, the scene where Gandalf says the enemy is regrouping in Mordor and Gimli goes, "let him stay there, let him rot" like were you even listening? REGROUPING! If you just "let him stay there", he's not going to "rot" he's going to recover and hit back! Pretending the war has been won and relaxing is the WORST thing to do in this situation

[@ailon92]

Aragorn didn't expect help from Gondor to arive that night I think. He knew it would take days, but they thought they could hold Helm's Deep longer, because they didn't know about bombs!

[@genericallyentertaining]

Yeah, that's a good point. I still think they suspected Saruman wouldn't want to settle in for a long siege, since Saruman was ambitious and his entire goal was to destroy Rohan as quickly as possible to prove his worth to Sauron, so to speak, then probably send his armies into Gondor - but to be fair, the protagonists didn't know about Sauron's plans for Gondor until Pippin looked into the Palantir, so yeah, maybe they really did expect a long siege. (Although I wonder how long their provisions would have lasted, since they didn't have much time to prepare?)

[@dudethedude1220]

Calling the Wheel of Time a Tolkien rip off is like calling Lord of the Rings a rip off of Authorian legends

[@d.n5287]

Tbf Tolkien was definitely ripping more off from Norse Mythology than Arthurian Legend.

[@georgekatkus5162]

Incorrect, he was ripping off Lord Dunsany

[@Hero_Of_Old]

Authorian?

[@dudethedude1220]

@@Hero_Of_Old It's a typo. I meant "Arturian".

[@halcyoncaduceus3711]

Yeah but Robert Jordan literally says the Wheel of time is the spiritual continuation of lotr.

[@_mkhaiti_8942]

Man that inkling chap seems like a fun guy to hang out with

[@moonboots1003]

"The Nationalist" was so good I wanted to hit you XD

[@GeorgeKinsill]

Unfortunately far too real. Also, I unfortunately teach a number of students that are like that.

[@wilhufftarkin5852]

especially considering Tolkien dispised the nazis and mocked them in a letter.

[@amandathewolf]

I paused after the military one to think about it but then saw what the next one was and went "oh shoot not me" But hey, I don't talk about Aragorn EVERY day, I have other fictional men who get some of my brainpower too

[@smartsmartie7142]

Also isn't Aragon over 100 years old and very wise? He wouldn't be interested in normal humans.

[@smartsmartie7142]

Also isn't Aragon over 100 years old and very wise? He wouldn't be interested in normal humans.

[@smartsmartie7142]

Also isn't Aragon over 100 years old and very wise? He wouldn't be interested in normal humans.

[@smartsmartie7142]

Also isn't Aragon over 100 years old and very wise? He wouldn't be interested in normal humans.

[@smartsmartie7142]

Also isn't Aragon over 100 years old and very wise? He wouldn't be interested in normal humans.

[@curtis5799]

Im the "ok, so this is how galadriel ended up in middle-earth." *starts talking about the oath of faenor Guy

[@cryptgrrrl]

"I'm going to choose to be delusional" I've never related to anything more in my life. 😭😭😭

[@KanonHara]

NOOOOOOO! DONT YOU UNDERSTAND THAT SHE WAS MARRIED TO FLIMBLEFLOMBLE SON OF TRIMBLETROMBLE IN YEAR 3434 OF THE FIRST AGE???

[@Eagle-eye-pie]

That made me chuckle

[@QueenoftheBlackCoast]

Well done! 👏 I'm the girl in the gray hoodie for sure. That other girl did her job well. She drove me crazy with all the 'like'. I really cannot stand it when people do that.

[@bsmith3506]

Lmao I am definitely the other girl and I'm not even ashamed of it 🤣

[@QueenoftheBlackCoast]

@@bsmith3506 Perfectly fine. You're upfront about it and that's great

[@AudioEpics]

Sure, she was annoying and came across as shallow, but if I look at modern fantasy I kind of understand this craving for virtuous male heroes and themes like unconditional love, deep bonds of friendship and sacrifice for the greater good. LOTR simply could not have been written in our times. It would probably feature a lot of Aragorn and Arwen getting it on in the woods with Gollum watching them. I don't think there will ever be anything like it anymore...

[@garmadonthesensei59]

The Aragorn girl is so iconic Lmao 😂 love this video!

[@snowdrop9810]

Maedhros as hot ginger is so funny LMAOO

[@Florkl]

Nazi Germany certainly was a looming darkness from the East (at least for an Englishman).

[@music79075]

Given that elves language and appearance is germanic, that orcs are warped elves and that Tolkien was a staunch lover of German culture and history l would not be surprised if he found the parallels between Morgoth, Sauron and the Orcs and Nazism, Hitler and the Germans.

[@ovrair6340]

​@@music79075but elves language was based off of Welsh, the phonetics are practically copy pasted from the Welsh language, although you do raise a good point about the elves and orcs and the Nazis

[@music79075]

@ovrair6340 I was wrong about the language. Sindarin was Welsh and Quenya was Latin/Greek .

[@BOOMCHAKALAKAKAPOW]

the Nazis literally wanted Britain's help against the looming shadow of the East under the cruel rule of Stalinron threatening the West and the whole world with his unlimited minions, but were betrayed by their own kin

[@lamogio7938]

⁠​⁠@@music79075I highly doubt that was his point. If anything Mordor was inspired from the Huns. Which is also a reason as to why other factions under Sauron in the east such as Khand never got developed that much since their purpose was already filled by the orcs of Mordor. Sauron and Morgoth too would probably not have anything to do nazism since we never see them treating having mixed blood as a bad thing. If anything they kinda support it so that the races under them can expand.

[@mompernl]

lol, the nerd one mispronounced “Maedhros” I feel underrepresented

[@Malgarroth]

"If Aragorn is your baseline for men, you're going to be deeply disappointed" Never has a truer word been said

[@GreatGreebo]

This is brilliant! I couldn’t stop laughing. (there is also the dreaded “fan” who talks through the ENTIRE show to point out all the trivia or lore they *assume* went over your head 🤦🏻‍♀️)

[@jacobzanardi1930]

The girl obsessed with Aragorn just needs to understand that Aragorn is the embodiment of the Office of Christ the King

[@marianat4677]

Philologist here and yes, I am just like that and I feel really bad for my family and close friends who have to put up with all my over the top Tolkien fanaticism...

[@AudioEpics]

I love fanaticism. Still, you would think they knew the correct pronunciation of 'Tolkien'. This would be the character who did it right.

[@ellanenish5999]

Being a Tolkien fan you absolutely caught me by suprise with the subscribe request which is simply the will of Ilúvatar and I had to agree to the terms you bastard 😂

[@AudioEpics]

Same here. That's just devious. ;-)

[@vampiresquid2635]

You forgot about the hobbit shippers on Bit of Earth who started a cult about channelling various actors, faked their death in order to be “reincarnated as elijah wood”??? And got sean astin involved in their terribly planned charity project :D (That was like five people but hobbit shipping is a decently sized group of fans lol)

[@irangel1958]

Great and fun as usual...with added guests this time. Love your channel

[@easolinas1233]

You forgot: "Terminally online 'fan' that considers the books deeply problematic and wants them changed."

[@maxthepaladin2147]

Basically believes the same interpretation that the nationalist does, but is from from the opposing political camp

[@xXx_Regulus_xXx]

​​@@maxthepaladin2147I'm not some perfectly impartial centrist but it does give me pause that there's this dipolar mass of people who both see the world this way and make the opposite value judgement of each other on everything.

[@jables9229]

Aka the Amazon producer

[@michaelmartin9022]

​@@xXx_Regulus_xXxEven if making the opposite value judgement is completely illogical and contradictory to their other beleifs. IE everytime people who use "libertarians and nazis" in a sentence suddenly say "businesses can do what they want" when somebody they don't like gets kicked off Twitter. Or on the other side, people who want businesses to be able to do what they like getting bent out of shape because that business says "please put a piece of paper on your face".

[@stowlicters8362]

​@@maxthepaladin2147it isn't the same if they want to fundamentally change the work, while the traditionalist nationalist doesn't want it changed.

[@He.knows.nothing]

"the atheist who was traumatized by his religious upbringing and loves lord of the rings because it contains all of the beauty in the myths condensed into more relatable characters without the need to demand submission to a dogma."

[@ryancruz1876]

“…And then gets mad all over again when people point out the fact that Tolkien and his work are Catholic”.

[@He.knows.nothing]

@@ryancruz1876 that's an awful thing to say. Tolkien took the best parts of the Christian mythos and compiled them into his fantasies in a way that I could interact with as someone who was struggling with deconstructing Christianity. LOTR, but more specifically the Silmarillion, are stories I love precisely for their exploration of religious ideas, packaged into a format that isn't full of hate and disgust towards others. Tolkien helped me heal those traumas and I'm aware he probably wouldn't have appreciated that as much as myself but that's precisely what's beautiful about fantasy, it's myth unbound by dogma.

[@orangmawas3858]

​@@He.knows.nothingYour feelings doesn't change the fact that Tolkien was a devout traditionalist Catholic & his works are inherently rooted in European traditionalism & christianity. What you're getting out of Tolkien's works isn't what he intended for readers to get out of it.

[@He.knows.nothing]

@@orangmawas3858 I've read Tolkien's essay on Fairy stories. What he intended was to exact what he saw as natural developmental powers in the use of language and imagination to incite joy in the reader. Christianity certainly influenced him, he thinks the resurrection is the greatest possible "eucatastrophe" where joy triumphs over seemingly inevitable doom, but nowhere are my feelings at odds with what he was trying to accomplish. First, I agree that the resurrection is the greatest use of fairy stories to bring about eucatastrophe, I just don't participate in it or believe that the story is true but that doesn't mean that I also think it's somehow deprived of the virtues and truths about human nature it intended to communicate. Second, despite his religious beliefs, this isn't a foundationally Christian narrative. Nowhere in his book is he smuggling in lines that necessitate a Christian worldview or lead in any way to Christian conversions. Unless I misunderstood your argument, I don't see how anything in his books is incompatible with my feelings.

[@aldiascholarofthefirstsin1051]

@@orangmawas3858 You should reply with the words "I'm wrong." now.

[@nathanbeer3338]

My LotR quirk I do in parties (kidding I never go to parties) is reciting "Ash nazg durbatuluk ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatuluk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul" in an orc accent. I must be the coolest guy around.

[@Shaddiewolf]

LMAO I would immediately befriend anyone I saw who did this.

[@dubitataugustinus]

My type of fan is The Shipper. We say things like "The love between Sam and Frodo trascends the power of evil and was the thing that made it possible to save Middle Earth; a reading of the narrative can be made where Sam brings Frodo back from his own inner darkness in a metaphor for depression and how the power of love binds us to life regardless of the circumstances. Also they were totally fucking"

[@devildante9]

Lewis would literally strangle you, please read the four loves

[@orangmawas3858]

The plague of deep male friendships being subject to homosexual suspicion hermeneutics strikes yet again. Please take a long work off a short pier. We normal people are sick of it.

[@aldiascholarofthefirstsin1051]

I hate Sam X Frodo ships because in today's society two men are no longer allowed to be friends, they must always be gay instead, friendship between the same sex is not allowed and that pisses me off.

[@dubitataugustinus]

@@aldiascholarofthefirstsin1051 what are you talking about?! xD nobody is forcing anyone. Some people thinking "X" doesn't mean that "Y" isn't "allowed." We can all believe whatever we want.

[@aldiascholarofthefirstsin1051]

@@dubitataugustinus You really enjoy lying huh.

[@lovejoy1311]

Then there are those of us who just see LOTR as the greatest hiking story ever told.

[@jaytwokay3265]

I feel called out in the best way possible.

[@FannomacritaireSuomi]

It's way better to be archaic and outdated than modern and cold.

[@zacattack8123]

This was very generically entertaining :)

[@purpleporygon]

"No, I'm not just gonna 'read' books. Do I look like a girl?" Classic line haha

[@t3chkn1ght]

I'm hesitant to believe people like that even know how to read.

[@robertusaugustus2003]

That “armies DO NOT move like that” really hit me hard

[@pypermzmimicx]

I had to pause and laugh out loud for a bit after watching the part about Maedhros' names cuz that's so me 😂 Listen, the nerdy linguistic stuff in the Shibboleth of Fëanor is PEAK Tolkien imho

[@countspyder4769]

Not gonna lie, I spent half my last viewing of Helms Deep with friends bringing up mistakes in their military tactics (like not having murderholes or a secondary gate to defend the only hole in their wall or having their archers charge into melee with heavy infantry, that and the orcs completely forgoing siege towers even though they would basically instantly achieve victory instead of a ton of ladders and a ram, as well as…..well you get the idea) I didn’t even THINK about the distances though! I’m never gonna be able to not think about that watching that scene. At least I was able to enjoy it without being the definition of the historian the first few times.

[@fredreindljr1996]

Could be worse. In Bakshi's showing of Helm's Deep, the idiots don't even move when the Uruk-Hai release a volley of arrows.

[@nyxshadowhawk]

LotR actually does have some Old English in it! Tolkien didn't even bother to give the Rohirrim thier own in-universe language, he just rendered it as Old English. "Theoden" (þeoden) literally means "lord" or "ruler" so "Theoden King" means "king king."

[@om3g4z3r0]

I love lord of the rings movies so much because everything about it is perfect, it made me feel hopeless, just to save me again at the end.

[@nrgentertainmentartist8668]

That girl talks as if all of us wouldn't want to be Aragorn lol But that would be the same as if you were a metal trying to become Adamantium.

[@whiterussian4498]

3:40 they hated him because he told them the truth

[@oIJustForFunIo]

"So I choose to be delusional." I fucking cracked up in tears hearing this oh my god this is too good!! xD

[@warmth9140]

Gondor and Rohan having an expensive and very quick doomsday relay signals system and not using them pissed Theoden off. Tensions were high and makes me believe he wasn't expecting them that night but for years.

[@lanthanum1232]

I feel so called out right now! I am the one who has memorized the family trees (well working on it, I've gotten the house of Finwe done but I still want to do more work on Celeborn's ancestors.) and knows some of the etymology. I also talk about the Nazgul, Sauron, and Maeglin every single day though I would be concerned if all people started emulating them...

[@ViolettaEcho]

I am definitely the second type, right down to the "Tolkien hated Dune therefore so do I" 😭 (And also thank you for the Tauriel diss at the end, my soul is soothed)

[@michelhv]

Terminally nerdy English major who studied Beowulf in Old English just to catch a few more puns in LoTR…

[@analmeida8492]

1:16 Basically an average Tolkien fan

[@kennethwoody5897]

I can damn near guarantee that I'm the philologist and military historian of my friend group. Because those sketches just resonate with me on an insanely deep level.

[@lightworker2956]

You might enjoy the blog "A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry". That's a blog where, among other things, a historian goes into huge depth about things like logistics in fantasy novels.

[@kennethwoody5897]

@@lightworker2956 I've not checked their stuff out but I'm definitely going to make a point to do so in the future. Thanks for the suggestion! Shalom.

[@bronwynecg]

4:05 is *definitely* me 😂😂😂 my personality is also the girl in the grey hoodie ☺️☺️😂😂😂👍🏽

[@J0yB0mbad1l]

This is great! I'm the fan that says, "That wasn't in the books!", the whole time I watch Lord of the Rings. But I still watch the movies over and over!😄🤩 And on the ROP subject: My Mom said she liked Rings of Power. Hated the books, didn't get with the movies. That told me eveything I need to know 😆

[@zacattack8123]

I feel like i have been a lot of these at different times lol

[@zaidlacksalastname4905]

Logistics guy had a point about gondor, but helm's deep was supposed to be a seige. Theoden himself said "we will outlast them", so he probably had much more than a week's worth of food. The idea of the wall being blown up wasn't on the table, so it would've been a good strategy in normal circumstances

[@jayoungr]

I strongly suspect Fran Walsh and/or Philippa Boyens are examples of "girl who's unhealthily obsessed with Aragorn."

[@JessTK22]

I'm the CS Lewis/Inklings fan and only read LOTR because I learned about Tolkien and Lewis's friendship, so I was BRACING myself to get roasted and was so pleasantly surprised

[@ladyethyme]

I have a nuanced opinion…..the world building is epic. Nobody can deny it. The languages, the history, it’s undeniably……god level worshipful creativity. The actual writing, though…………….. um…………..yeeeeeeeeah. Using ‘peeped, peeps, peeping’ and ‘sprung, sprang, sprung, springing’ EVERY PARAGRAPH kinda drove me a bit nuts….as it’s lack of more emotionally descriptive writing; it’s very…..’go here, do thing, go here, do thing’. Hate me, I know..🤷🏻‍♀️ Oh and TOTALLY not weird for mothers to squee over their newborns and how ‘perfect’ they are in every physical way. 😜 Girl’s not wrong, either. Being on social media as a woman for five minutes with guys calling you ‘female’ and sending you dick picks you’d start longing for Aragorn too😂😂 Addon: you have great eyelashes. Bastard. 😂😜

[@etsequentia6765]

Bad experience online with random men you'll never have contact with is enough of a justification to think and talk about all male humans as though they were sacks of meat existing only to fulfill your desires, massage your womanly ego and entertain you, and they BETTER live up to your expectations or else you judge them "awful". That's not a joke. That is entitled hypocrisy and female chauvinism on full display. We all know what we would call men who thought about women that way, or men who had bad experience with women and now resent women or treat women with suspicion, don't we?

[@genericallyentertaining]

Yeah, Tolkien's word choices can definitely be funny sometimes. I think there are plenty of passages with astoundingly great prose by modern standards, but mostly when the characters aren't actively doing stuff (e.g. springing and peeping.) Although it's been ages since I've actually read the books; I really need to reread them and then update my opinion on this.

[@katie7748]

​@@genericallyentertainingI remember using the word "stuff" in Freshman English. I thought it'd be OK since Tolkien used it. Nope!! Big red note in the margin. LOL

[@grantbartley483]

Can't go to the Eagle and Child atm unfortunately. It's been shut since Covid. But if you go to the Lewis Society in Oxford you can hear talks on the sort of stuff the Inklings fan talks about. Term time only, though.

[@jacksontaylor290]

The 2nd one had me in tears! In my Political Philosophy class I pulled out my copy of the Wheel of Time and asked my TA his thoughts, and that's exactly what he said. Homie even had Middle Earth as his screensaver.

[@user-sb5fm1gk7l]

You so missed out on the low hanging fruit of the poopy war.

[@ZalkarGorm]

But where's the Catholic Tolkien theology connections nerd. There are tons of those.

[@stowlicters8362]

They're at church

[@kartezhnay]

When I was in a high school my best friend was obsessed with Aragorn 😂 I had similar conversation maaaany times

[@VTPPGLVR]

1:49 Kinda disappointed you didn’t go with “The Poopy War” 😆

[@purplelibraryguy8729]

The armchair strategist--In terms of time before help could arrive from Gondor, I think everyone was expecting a somewhat more extended siege of Helm's Deep, which was after all a pretty strong defensive point. The Lorien thing--well, that wasn't part of the books, to start with, and I don't think the movie makes clear just when they set out. Still, even in the books elves seem to be capable of traveling ridiculously fast when they want to. How do we know just when the Uruk-hai set out from Isengard, either? Sequence of showing movie scenes in totally different places does not necessarily imply temporal sequence.

[@TheLastAxeman]

I am the third type with genealogy and linguistic stuff and I love it.

[@legion999]

Where's the guy who hates the movies for the changes they made? Because I'm that guy

[@Pk-glitch]

The "Guy who just really likes Oxford and the Inklings" one is basically ceave gaming in a nutshell

[@Will_Forge]

Listen, I get that the 3:30 military historian is actively meant to be annoying in how hyper specific he's being, but he's annoying me for a different reason. Gandalf leaves the group saying "Look to my coming on the first light of the fifth day, at dawn look to the east." The battle takes one night. The travel to the keep is vague as it's just a travel montage. Gandalf has the fastest horse to ever exist which is also the first horse to ever exist and I believe can cross all of Middle Earth in a day or something like that. It took him 5 days to gather the scattered Rohirrim. As for the Elves they can magically see the future, and were already wise to Saruman's actions, so they could have mobilized their army three weeks ago and stopped for snacks and we wouldn't have known. So no, it took Isenguard far more than just 24 hours to get there, and the other stuff also all makes perfect sense. Anyway, he was meant to be annoying because he's overly precise and knowledgeable about medieval warfare but instead he was annoying because he assumed it was a 24 hour window when Gandalf specifically said it was 5 for him, so just over 4 days for the Urukhai... So yeah, just had to clear all that up.

[@littlezombie9621]

Who am I to refuse the will of Eru Ilúvatar?

[@ElderEagle42]

You should have mentioned the guy that only ever watched the movies

[@birdwatching_u_back]

This channel is like Man Carrying Think: The Movie

[@stowlicters8362]

It is Nationalist literature, it doesn't have to be intentionally or explicitly written that way in order for it to have the idealism and the spirit of nationalism. But to be fair, Tolkien did have the intention of making a mythology for the English, borrowing from English Folklore and mythology.

[@_Fornad]

He had that intention early on, but admits in the same letter that he gave up on the idea and that the legendarium went down a different path.

[@biancaverdeschi880]

Someone who finally says it 👏🏻. True! This video portrays a caricature, but the fact underneath is true. Even if he didn't manage to make it a mythos for the English in the end, it's still a work of a Traditional mind and this is obvious to everyone in that sphere, British or otherwise

[@ryancruz1876]

Tolkien abandoned the whole “mythology for England” thing in the 1920s as is well documented in the HoMe.

[@stowlicters8362]

@@_Fornad It basically ened up that way anyways.

[@stowlicters8362]

@@ryancruz1876 Nah. The early intentions live in the works. Are you anti White or something?

[@tjzambonischwartz]

I fall into a bizarre subcategory of the philologist in that I have an encyclopedic knowledge but I'm not even really that big of a fan. Basically between the film releases of Two Towers and Return of the King in 2003, I binged through all Tolkien books. The histories and the Silmarillion and everything "edited by Christopher Tolkien." All of it. Over a couple of months. And I'm an autistic weirdo with eidetic memory who remembers every bit of bullshit nonsense I read. So cut to fifteen years later I'm having lunch with a bunch of dudes, the topic goes around to Lord of the Rings, and all of them are hardcore Tolkien fans. They ask if I'm a fan and I say "I read all the books and I enjoyed them fine, but that was about it." A little later one of the dudes mispronounces a character's name and I correct him saying "No, CELEBORN, with a HARD C. Remember, there's no soft C sounds in any of the elvish languages." Everybody just turns and looks at me like I stepped out of a goddamn UFO.

[@BillyCobbOfficial]

And there’s me who’s only seen the movies lol. Still the best film trilogy ever made 💯

[@JoseMora-wc5zz]

The first guy actually pissed me off. This was hilarious as shit 🤣

[@Gaara-oy5kv]

Last clip ruined my day. Fun video though.

[@shadypotato750]

I’m the fan that when watching the movies with someone, and they ask a question, I have to expel ALL the lore and history because I don’t think they would understand what’s happening if they didnt

[@Icetea-2000]

I think the skit with the girls would’ve been much more effective if she just said "girl, just admit you simply like how hot he is" "well… yeah"

[@m.s.brandan2428]

I love Tolkien, but before him there were Lord Dunsany and George Macdonald, founders of the Western fantasy genre, but at the end of the day it's all about advertising, which is why almost no one talks about them. Regarding the video and the Nazi character, it must be admitted that there is some truth to it when you see the aesthetic similarities that the armies that support Mordor have with the Muslims and the Hindus. They even ride elephants, lol

[@lynxie2598]

As a very annoying philologist I have to point out that Maitimo is a Quenya word, not Sindarin. The Noldor elves in Valinor didn't even speak Sindarin at the time Maedhros was born. Sorry for being annoying, I'll see myself out

[@madshorse275]

Ya I’m the girl who likes Aragorn.. but also I just love lotr and the hobbit they are great books/movies. Can’t forget Viggo breaking his toe btw! And love literally all the characters

[@reallyidrathernot.134]

nar thinking your kid is "Well formed" is exactly cool and rad for real. It sounds like I'm sarcastic? I'm not sarcastic. Ask a parent, they will gush.

[@JrodP7]

First video I’ve seen of you. Instantly subscribed, you made me genuinely laugh. Well done I’ll check out more of your videos now

[@JamesHock]

I feel called out by the military history guy

[@miniyodadude6604]

As a guy, am i crazy for not thinking aragorn is too high of a standard? Maybe im missing something, lol

[@TheZetaKai]

I was thoroughly expecting the girls to be played by GE wearing a wig and using a high-pitched voice.