WANDERER | The Profound Anglo-Saxon Poem that Tolkien Used in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

[@viewfromthehillswift6979]

As a now retired professor of Old and Middle English, who in old age returns to the Wanderer, let me say "well done".

[@EmpireoftheMind]

That is high praise indeed. Thank you so much for the kind words.

[@ep103103]

"The wanderer wants above all to swear fealty... it is a desperate desire... The wanderer is very important I think, because it provides us with a historical artifact... Kings are not always tyrants, submission is not always oppression, liberalism is not a requirement for happiness, and feudalism may be a very upsetting thing to lose." It seems to me that the wanderer wants what all people want, things like peace, stability, happiness, competence and meaning for themselves, their loved ones, economic prosperity for them and their people (both in the familial and societal sense). I have to imagine in the 400-500s AD, this would have been synonymous with having a body politic that is defined by a unified people swearing fealty to a single, good, lord? Liberalism is not a requirement for happiness, because it doesn't exist yet popularly as a concept. Feudalism may be an upsetting thing to lose, because its loss is perceived (correctly, for the time period) as a loss of political stability, safety, peace, social competence, and ultimately happiness. This is because during this time period, the only system of governance known to be capable of delivering these things, is when a people are able to swear fealty to a good lord. There are no known alternatives. An inability to do such a thing, implies the protagonist lives in a society that does not have these desired traits. It is not necessarily that the protagonist wishes to swear themselves to submission. Though they may. It is that they believe that it is only by doing so that their people can be made better. I know nothing of the time period though, so no idea if the above could be construed as a correct interpretation. What do you think @viewfromthehillswift? Anyway, great video : )

[@EmpireoftheMind]

@@ep103103 Excellent points! As someone who loves liberal democracy, I do tend to think it is the much better alternative, and that most people would be unhappy to ‘go back’ to feudalism. (Although I do see the possibility of a dystopian future where people once again embrace allegiance to a few powerful people.) I do think the Middle Ages are demonized by modern people as being nasty, brutish, miserable, and tyrannical. One of my goals is to show that the Middle Ages were far from simple, and not nearly as hellish (or anti-intellectual for that matter) as post-enlightenment demagogues would have us believe. And I do still often wonder whether people in the Middle Ages weren’t in fact happier at times (or had a greater sense of the ‘meaningfulness’ of things) than modern people in modern democracies. It’s something I’m still investigating.

[@joesouthborn2960]

@@EmpireoftheMind it is great to see you seeking the truth... and an absolute pleasure to witness how you unravel the past. Are you interested un the concept of the holy grail? Keep up the great work!

[@EmpireoftheMind]

@@joesouthborn2960 Thank you so much! I’m definitely interested in the Holy Grail, especially in connection with Arthurian legend. I’m currently working my way (very slowly) through Thomas Malory & Chretien de Troyes’s Perceval.

[@erikkaye1114]

My favorite line in all of Lord of the Rings speaks to the wisdom of the medieval wanderer. They were the dying words of Theoden, King of Rohan, killed by the Witch King of Angmar after he led the charge on the siege of Minas Tirith: I go now to the halls of my forebears, in whose presence I shall no longer be ashamed.

[@erikkaye1114]

@Emperor AlHasan Exactly!

[@markuhler2664]

That last phrase, no longer feeling ashamed, always hits me like a ton of bricks.

[@igorspitz]

Care to explain? Why is that sentence important to you?

[@erikkaye1114]

@@igorspitz who doesn't feel intimidated by their ancestors? They call my father's generation, who lived through World War II, the Greatest Generation!. My scoutmaster was a motorcycle courier who drove a BMW behind enemy lines across Germany for 3 days without sleep to deliver special orders to a group of inglorious bastards in Dresden at the onset of the fire bombings. He is hardly of the same species that' I am!

[@jordanthibodeau8618]

@@markuhler2664 agreed. He now feels he's worthy, he sacrificed for his people and he is now worthy of being in the presence of his ancestors. Beautiful.

[@Agonis100]

"His books were a thousand years deep the very moment he drafted them." Chills. Truly. A statement that will occupy my thoughts this night, and when I again read Tolkien's works. Thank you for this superb video!

[@stevek7699]

Agreed. What many of his imitators miss is that the key to Tolkien's work is not its breadth, but its depth.

[@Eric-lw8te]

Indeed, a profound, beautiful, and foundational truism. It stirs the very something of ours that too is old and "untouched by the frost" of this mundane so named modern time.

[@devildante9]

There is a phrase mister Michael Drout said during his "Lord of the Rings: How To Read J.R.R. Tolkien" lecture (available here in youtube), "It's not memetic of real life, but memetic of literary tradition" (of course referring to the psychological phenomena, not a funny image). Very apt.

[@johnsanko4136]

"Grief is a twisted emotion, twisted into the shape of a question..." Beautifully written.

[@teeheeteeheeish]

The Wanderers longing for a Lord is his longing for purpose-driven service.

[@Tommy1977777]

There is nothing worse than to tell a man that he has no purpose.

[@teeheeteeheeish]

Edward Hines my grandpa said, when he’s useless just put him down. He’s still alive importing wisdom to us young men.

[@Rinka277]

Yes. A man with no purpose is a dead man.

[@davereckoning9530]

Yes, that's true, thank you for clarifying! I think there's also something (in the image of the Wanderer kneeling before his Lord) about the son's need and love for a good father. A good father who shows him, through his actions, how to lead such a life as you describe, one of purpose-driven service, and who sets the son up to do so in his turn. Best wishes.

[@matthewterry9413]

Bingo. That’s exactly it.

[@nicholasscholl8215]

A wise man must be patient, He must never be too impulsive nor too hasty of speech, nor too weak a warrior, nor too reckless, nor too fearful, nor too cheerful, nor too greedy for goods, nor ever too eager for boasts, before he sees clearly. -The Wanderer

[@Amdgomer]

You just nailed this. I'm going through a miscarriage and the questions the Wanderer asks at the end and that Tolkien takes up and weaves into his books just hit me. I keep asking questions with this longing for some resolution, but the answer is not coming. There is no return. There is no going back and "fixing" everything. There is just the grief and the silence and the questioning. Thank you. Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us.

[@EmpireoftheMind]

I’m so sorry my friend. This world is not as it should be.

[@Gilnar13]

I pray for you.

[@LilyGazou]

“ never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection or sought thy help was left unaided. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, in thy mercy, hear and answer me.” I return to the prayer I learned as a child when I’m facing the worst. May your grief be lessened in time.

[@dannny_macdee1015]

I feel for you, brother, and the child's mother. My own mom lost 4 of my siblings that way, and my cousin's daughter lost two. It's a hollow longing that will not be quenched fully in this world; like what a mother who aborted her child goes through, but with one very BIG difference; the lack of guilt, at least it ought to be so. There is no guilt here for anyone, and all the more joy will be present to all when you finally meet him or her on the other side of the vail! You guys also have a way of helping with the grief; ask your child to pray for you both, and know that soul will, beyond a doubt! And of course as you have alluded to, our Blessed Mother will surely be a comforting mother to you as well. Pray your rosary daily my friend, and may the Triune God bless you greatly!

[@toosiyabrandt8676]

HI Only Jesus intercedes for us. ' For there is one that intercedes between man and YHWH, the man Christ Jesus/ Yeshua. Trust Him. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain' But behold I live forever more' Shalom to us only in Christ Yeshua. All else are Nephilim.

[@Perdixx]

The more I think about Lord of the Rings the more I think it was Tolkien's way of sneaking in medieval culture back into modernity.

[@Galenus1234]

At 7:50 in this video I immediately had to think of Theoden before teh Battle of Helm's Deep: kzbin.info/www/bejne/roeoipaKrs9ketE

[@audreydimmel6674]

Agreed. And I love him all the more for it.

[@jakemitchell7786]

Didn't he say one of the reasons for his books was to replace the old Anglo-Saxon myths lost after 1066?

[@AJearth]

And yet to some people Anglo Saxon anything is just evil and shouldn't exist

[@SlyBlu7]

​@@AJearth Not the case. The problem is that there are some who use Anglo Saxon "anything" as an excuse to claim superiority and to exclude others who are not of their race. White supremacy notions have always used Anglo-Saxon heritage as a cornerstone of their racist ideologies. Even Benjamin Franklin writing prior to the formation of the United States wrote that the only "true" whites were those of English (Anglo) descent, and those Germans from the region of Saxony. The rest - the Irish, the wider Germans, Eastern Europeans, even those from France, Spain, Italy, and so on - they were not "white" enough. It's cool to be proud of your heritage - but racists ruin everything.

[@tando6266]

I always imagined that Tolkien found his own journey after the war in this work. Rebuilding a life is no easy thing, you are forever trying to fill a hole in you that you never can. When I read his works, I can feel that he has suffered and truly knows what the bottom of the well is. I feel that is what is missing from most authors of the genre, they just don't have the lived experience to fully grasp what in their writing is truly genuine.

[@Calatriste54]

Bang! Flash!

[@alexanderg1935]

I agree with this completely.

[@iangoodwin4275]

I concur that his world War 1 experience was immense in his work and his view of life. The hell of that futile war made his visions of Mordor, and Frodo's acceptance of fate very believable. That experience would have made him able to relate to the morbid medieval literature, when life was intertwined with death. The historical context of his existence needs to be considered as well. Sam was a faithful batman, and class distinctions were prevalent in England at the time. There was also a resentment of the industrial revolution. Industry was filthy and common. There was much longing for the good old rural days of the yeomanry. Bit like Gone with the Wind.

[@runningfromabear8354]

@@iangoodwin4275 You don't need to have experienced a war to reach the bottom. Going through grief, I've come to realize that when people ask 'how are you really?' and think they honestly want to know, they quickly backpedal when you give an honest answer because they don't understand that space. They backpedal and they say: 'Are you seeing a grief counsellor?' 'Yeah, everyone's feeling crappy at the moment.' 'At least you had X number of years with X.' 'I'll pray for you.' 'X has moved onto a better place.' 'X is still with you and hold X in your memories.' People think they know. They think they have some understanding. But you quickly learn to shut up because people don't actually want to know. Telling someone that things will get better or that someone is still 'there' when they are gone and you can't interact with them is cruel. If I punch you in the throat, can I console you with the knowledge that oxygen is still with you and all around you? You don't have to serve in war to be slammed by reality.

[@iangoodwin4275]

@@runningfromabear8354 you missed my point. My great grandfather survived all four years of WW1. Probably one of a handful to manage that. Fortunately he was only on the Western Front for 1914 and 1918. The other 2 years he fought the Turks. I am not belittling anyone, but emphasizing the absolute horror of that war. WW1 was absolutely brutal. Horrendous living conditions, a much larger casualty rate, being shelled and gassed continually. It should have been the war to end all wars. It deserves a lot more prominence on History in my opinion.

[@royalirishranger1931]

My Grandfather served with Tolkien in the Trenches in the Lancaster Fusiliers, my grandfather was Irish Rifles but his Battalion was wiped out on the first day of the Somme and he was posted to Tolkien’s Battalion. That is where he was taught about life , death , war and comradeship. The Wanderer is a truly moving poem , as I too am an old Soldier I can strongly relate to its meaning.

[@epiphanyx3705]

Precious blood you Carry my brother.

[@rongill2442]

I read Tolkien in my 20s and came upon The Wanderer in my 50s, but had not tied them together until now. Duncan Spaith wrote that The Wanderer had a great deal of personal authentisity. For me, every line is a page from my "many winters".

[@EmpireoftheMind]

It deserves to accompany us on our journey through life, as it no doubt accompanied the people who passed it down orally from generation to generation!

[@where_is_walther4473]

There is no unhealthy degree in being obsessed with Tolkiens work. I hated English lessons in school, (I´m from Germany), and I only know Tolkiens Books in German Language. But I more and more want to learn English, so I will be able to understand Tolkien how he wrote. I got goose bumps from watching this video, thank you.

[@arno_nuehm_1]

Tolkien war an den Übersetzungen beteiligt, soweit ich weiß. Natürlich ist das englische Original wichtig, aber auch die deutsche Übersetzung trägt Tolkiens Stempel.

[@Quincy_Morris]

DISREGARD ENGLISH AQUIRE ELVEN

[@markprice1121]

Yes. Good insight. Understanding the original text.

[@Anglisc1682]

@@jannguerrero It's a beautiful language. Makes me proud to be English

[@hohetannen4703]

Well knowing it in German is perhaps one stem better, and far more ancient. Ancient even to the Anglo saxons were the old warriors of Germany. Clad in iron and bronze, smelling of pine, blood and sweat. Those men reshaped Europe and led to the creation of English.

[@trevor2572]

The artwork used throughout the video is: 1:08 Viktor Vasnetsov - A Knight at the Crossroads (1878) 2:13 Student/Circle of Rembrandt - The Man with the Golden Helmet (1650) 2:56 Luca Giordano - The Dream of Solomon (1693) 3:45 Rembrandt - History Painting (1626) 6:40 Rembrandt - Man in Armour (1655) 7:10 TaleWorlds - Mount and Blade Warband main screen art. 7:21 David Friedrich - The Abbey in Oakwood (1810) 8:20 Edvard Munch - Self-Portrait with Burning Cigarette (1895) 9:10 Edvard Munch - Anxiety (1894) 11:55 Anthony van Dyck - Commander in Armour, with a Red Scarf (1625-1627) 12:15 Caspar David Friedrich - Wanderer above the Sea of Fog (1818)

[@geertensing6406]

Thank you for the list! However, I think "Wanderer above the Sea of Fog" is Caspar David Frederich.

[@trevor2572]

@@geertensing6406 ah yep. Fixed

[@BobSmith-dk8nw]

Thanks. .

[@ShotDownInFlames2]

Thanks for listing

[@dudleybarker2273]

my gran had Man with the Golden Helmet on her wall, and i have looked at it so often, but only now seen the depth of sorrow on his face.

[@liammurphy2725]

As an old man with winter set firm around my heart, I thank you for this. Bereft, dumb and never far from tears this was a joy to hear. Thank you so much for this. L/s.

[@sirjared21]

I was lucky to have read the Lord of the Rings at a time when I did. Its fabric of adventure, companionship, courage, sorrow, with mythologic weavings saved me in a time I was bullied and neglected.

[@MitchBoucherComposer]

I think it's lovely that a poem written hundreds of years ago can still have as much relevance to the modern day. More than I thought possible.

[@voborny]

Truth is timeless

[@MitchBoucherComposer]

@@voborny I like that a lot.

[@Globovoyeur]

"The old that is strong does not wither..."

[@Residentgnome]

Thanks. This level of profundity is rather rare in KZbin videos dealing with phenomena like the Lord of the Rings which have made it into pop culture.

[@EmpireoftheMind]

Thank you so much!

[@Residentgnome]

@@EmpireoftheMind Honour where honour is due

[@greggeverman5578]

@@Residentgnome Hear hear.

[@joshfoster9832]

The longing grief Tolkien channels is not for Rohan, but for England. It's identity, pride and culture robbed by the forces of evil, so that an empty and forlorn people remain, aware of the void left behind but unable reconcile it with their heart or mind.

[@marichristian1072]

Very moving indeed. Tolkien had a prodigious mind. Anyone who's struggled through Anglo Saxon or even Middle English courses knows how unlike modern English they are. It's a revelation that Tolkien used that ancient poem "The Wanderer" as a basis for his own fiction.

[@davidbellamy2612]

I recall reading that the Dark Ages/Anglo-Saxon mindset involved honoring and valuing someone who died a good death even if the battle is lost [and how Galadriel spoke of this when she used the phrase 'the long defeat' to describe what the elves had been doing for millennia]. Fight on even if you know that you are going to lose because dying with your sword in hand is good [one could even call it being selfish but honest]. This was very different from the Medieval post 1066 mindset that involved more Christian-like principles of chivalry and saving maidens; sacrifice for others because they are more important than you [that could in contrast be described as humble but also quite arrogant]

[@jacklang3314]

@@davidbellamy2612 the Battle of Maldon is a good example.

[@haldorasgirson9463]

His tribe is dead. His lord is a symbol for his family. And being in submission also means being in your place. Having a place in a chaotic world is everything. "Bare is a brother-less back."

[@sillyquiet]

This video deserves more views.

[@EmpireoftheMind]

Thanks! I hope more people will find it.

[@mpetersen6]

Views hell, this channel needs more subscribers

[@Moneyalmenial]

I have liked, commented, subscribed. I hope it helps!

[@EmpireoftheMind]

@@Moneyalmenial It absolutely does help. Thank you so much for the support!

[@alexcourlanderwhelan1784]

just stumbled on to this but could not agree more, serious video

[@Magnus689]

First time I've heard of Wanderer and it gave Me shivers, cause I can relate to it on core level, as my people, culture and mother language, which all can count millenias, are dying out and fading away in history.

[@sarasho6098]

Are you Syriac? Either way I can relate.

[@Magnus689]

@@sarasho6098 I'm from Svaneti, one of three ethnic groups which created Georgia, we have our own language, which is part of Georgian family of languages, but it's much older than Georgian, we have our own culture, whic has lot in common with Sumerian, mentality and history, but our population is decreasing and our language is part of dying languages. I'm living in times, when my culture is dying.

[@Sup3rD4ve]

@@Magnus689 I'm sad to say that that happens to all languages and cultures, eventually. Once upon a time, Latin was spoken from the British Isles to your own homeland; now it's a dead language, spoken only by scholars and clergymen. It doesn't change your situation, but at least you can take some comfort in knowing that your culture isn't being singled out: this is just how Time and Entropy work.

[@Magnus689]

@@Sup3rD4ve You're right, but witnessing its death, isn't easy

[@Sup3rD4ve]

@@Magnus689 No, I'm sure it isn't. All you can do - all any of us can do - is try to rise to meet this changing world with as much grace and compassion as we can muster.

[@shaneb13]

I've ways noticed a deeper connection to the words in Tolkien's works and now I understand why. There's 1000 years of human depth and feeling on every page of his literature. Awesome video.

[@LucidWanderer]

Where now the Horse and the Rider Where is the Horn that was Blowing Where now the Helm and the Hauberk And the Bright Hair Flowing? They have passed like Rain on the Mountain Like a Wind in the Meadow The Sun has gone down in the West Behind the Hills, into Shadow.

[@ithinknot6833]

Hwær nu ðæt Hors and se Ridend Hwær is se Horn Blowende Hwær is se Helm and seo Byrne And ðæt Beorhte Hær Flowende? Þæs oferreode eall swa swa Regn on þæm Beorge Swa swa Wind on þære Mædwe Seo Sunne is gesigen West Behindan Hyllum, into Sceadu.

[@LucidWanderer]

@@ithinknot6833 Excellent, I only wish I could hear it spoken true.

[@tannerbourgeois7571]

I love when Theoden says that line in the second LOTR movie

[@julianhuitema7133]

@@ithinknot6833 anglo-saxon looks looks like frisian. Damn

[@holdyourbeak8644]

@@julianhuitema7133 looks most like Modern English to me

[@audreydimmel6674]

This video is so profound. As an aspiring writer, a person who loves Anglo-Saxon poetry, and a proud Tolkien nerd, this was fascinating on so many levels and actually made me just a bit teary (something no other KZbin video has made me do!) I've never actually read this poem but I am definitely going to now! Thanks Empire of the Mind! You have my fealty ⚔

[@Hail_Full_of_Grace]

As an ex British infantryman i can relate to the feeling of being lost and useless when you no longer have comrades to fight for or anything to serve. It was very difficult for me to adjust to civilian life.

[@Abjiba]

As a former American Marine Infantryman I too feel this woe my brother

[@epiphanyx3705]

Thankyou for your service. Now your tribe needs you.

[@athenassigil5820]

One of my favorite poems from the Anglo-Saxon canon...and honestly, one of the best in eternity. I really have enjoyed watching your musings on life through the art of the past. Excellent stuff!

[@EmpireoftheMind]

Thanks! Glad you enjoy it!

[@chewy9625]

This is the first time I've admitted something like this, but your video has changed my life. It's not just the rich content of the video, but the way you presented it. I come back to this every time life takes a vicious swing, and it helps me back to my feet everytime Thank you.

[@boyobane1590]

My first instinct is the dreams are hinting at a deep love and intimacy that men feel but cannot show. It's not unusual in history to see men entirely heartbroken by the death of the man they have sworn to serve, but it is unusual for it to be written so vividly and uncomfortably. I think the poet wanted to highlight the depth of the grief.

[@stantrien8106]

It is only uncomfortable to our modern minds because we have been taught that all intimacy must be sexual. "Wow those two soldiers in that film sure do sacrifice a lot for each other, they must be secretly boning each other!" This is actually relatively very new, go look at photos of brothers/close friends from the early days of photography in the 1860's and you'll find them sitting in laps and holding hands, because they knew that those actions didn't signify Eros. The overly openness our society has allowed sexuality has irreparably harmed our psyches.

[@jayman4569]

@@stantrien8106 You have hit that nail square on the head so to speak! Very well put sir.

[@pplelo9364]

@@stantrien8106 If you are sexually open then the situation won't be uncomfortable, I solved the problem.

[@rustybayonette6641]

@@pplelo9364 yeah then you get BDSM gay pride parades. Not the most comfortable

[@pplelo9364]

@@rustybayonette6641 You had to make that far a stretch to make your point, I win again.

[@Darth_Insidious]

The Dunedain were wanderers of the destroyed kingdom of Arnor.

[@KingBobXVI]

Which gave me a thought about the world and the poem - Middle Earth was kind of intended as a sort of pseudo-mythology of England, since Tolkien was upset that England really didn't have its own cultural mythology (even King Arthur and the round table are rooted in French mythology and Charlemagne). Perhaps the variant of the poem we get in the books is the "original", as sang by Aragorn, and passed down and tweaked and modified through the ages in oral tradition, until it's translated by and inspires a young Tolkien.

[@callumwilliams1449]

@@KingBobXVI King Arthur is certainly not French. It's largely based on Saxon invasions of Britain told in the view of the Brithonic people. That's why it's largely associated with Cornwall and Wales. Also there is actually a mythology of Britain. I suggest you search "The Matter of Britain".

[@willek1335]

@@callumwilliams1449 Perhaps he means that we lack an Old English view.. The Matter of seem to seem to be written in Old French, Old Norman, and Middle English.

[@christianwithers7335]

Brythonic. Certainly not French

[@adagietto2523]

Superb analysis of this wonderful poem. Anglo-Saxon poetry has a particular quality of its own, a bracing bleakness, such a shame that so little has survived.

[@EmpireoftheMind]

Thank you so much! It’s heartbreaking to think how much art and beauty has been lost to time.

[@maxion5109]

@@EmpireoftheMind In that Tolkien documentary a scholar was talking about how England was demythologized after the norman invasion when the anglo-saxon literary class was disposessed. And then also in the industrial revolution which had the effect of taking peoples interest away from folktales and such. So this was something Tolkien decided to remedy!

[@1kenneth1985]

@@EmpireoftheMind Quite! - Thank you so very very much for this composition and narration. LOTR and other Tolkien writings are treasures on paper. Conveying so much more of what can't be spoken of. MANY thanks indeed.

[@WowUsernameAvailable]

For those of you unaware of Clamavi de Profundis, they have a recording of The Lament referred to in the video, and I personally love their rendition, so be sure to look it up.

[@bjh3661]

A man cannot become wise before he has a portion of winters in the kingdom of the world.

[@XavierXonora]

Boomers be sitting there in the eternal summer they created for themselves are proof of this.

[@winstonpoplin]

@@XavierXonora damn dog, this comment is deep.

[@dljordan]

@@XavierXonora And how wise are you?

[@akiram6609]

@@XavierXonora You talk as if Baby Boomers were all white heterosexual males born into wealth. Imagine being born black and poor in the 50s in the segregated South. Eternal summer? I think not. Now before you say “Ok boomer”, let me say I’m not a boomer.

[@yonisali3879]

It is not often I get lost for words. But I am... winter the greatest teacher of them all Humans and their pens and the things the sums they conjure up survives while everything else turns to dust. A circle that is never new But always old a offspring Of the sun which never sets a son of the moon That keeps on coming back like the waves that hits the daughters on the cliffs and on the shore that give birth to ships of man majestic as they seem babies they are For they have yet to figure the sum of it all it is brief period till the circle seems new again but It is just being improved Nothing new under the sun. I always knew there was something I liked about tolkien good to know it wasn't just about the my precious thingy. Humans and their pens I guess. very British yet very relatable at the same time same things and the same characters keep on wandering back How wonderful when one can see it .

[@sintenal4078]

Your presentation was hypnotic and haunting. Well done. Tolkien reaches back and, with seeming ease, coaxes the fingers of history to shape the world he created. I believe this is why so many for so long have found a home in Middle Earth.

[@Rinka277]

The frikin ads ruin the emotional moment. I can totally feel the poem in my bones!!! There's a deep truth. A wise note that hit the right chord in my heart. Thank you!

[@georgiarasmussen8343]

I'd be okay with having to watch a certain amount of ads to unlock content, or just pay a little outright, but ads in the middle of content (especially music or poetry) drive most of us insane. U tube has become evil in more ways than just censorship.

[@craigwood2155]

Lancelot also speaks of his search for a worthy lord to follow and fight for. As if he is not complete, without purpose.

[@ramonalejandrosuare]

Sounds more like Sir Bedivere after the Fall of Camelot.

[@Jacob-qz9fo]

Because in this life as a human being suffering in the pursuit of betterment and the righteous light is more fulfilling than slow decay in contented stasis. I'm a true believer that we live this life to have our minds and hearts opened for what comes next.

[@HeidiSue60]

This is beautiful. I have had LOTR in the back of my mind, for my first fiction of 2023. And now I will go get The Fellowship off the shelf and start. Just like my dad’s best friend told me when I first read the trilogy in my Sophomore year: you’ll read this many times, and each time you read it, you’ll find something new. This poem sets the stage for me discovering even more beauty in Tolkien’s world

[@awakenedwarriors2337]

Great work! I’m drawn to deep thinking, pondering. I’m also a Tolkien fan and have always loved that line, “Where is the horse, and the rider...” I think it all awakens something within us, even if we are not consciously aware of it. Something deep within all of humanity, veiled in forgetting, but still lingering on. It calls to us in many voices, many names, and from many places.

[@PleaseNThankYou]

I listened to you and thought of how this explains what is going on with my son. He is 41, has lost his family whom he loved and worked so hard to provide for. A difficult upbringing and many mistakes of his youth inspired him to prove he was capable of the good inside him. His desire to do better in life was challenged by a wife, much younger than him, who was not happy with anything. His inexperience with life at that pace caused him to run off the rails, make bad choices like he's done in the past. Those choices, like a bad battle plan, caused him to fail his mission, lose everything he was fighting for. He wandered about for a few years before coming home and... Well, in his heart and his head, continues to wander. I don't see here what the ending is to the poem. I don't know if I want to know the ending.

[@anderslind8422]

All things come to an end

[@PleaseNThankYou]

@@anderslind8422 😔

[@PleaseNThankYou]

@Emperor AlHasan Thank you

[@anon2427]

I hope your son is able to find himself, he’s around my brothers age and I can still see him, and my father, wandering

[@PleaseNThankYou]

@@anon2427 Thank you. Its hard to watch it drag on day after day...for years. God bless you and your family.

[@crimsonpiratess]

I just assisted in a Unitarian Church Service that explored The Lord of the Rings and why it has been especially meaningful during the Covid epidemic. KZbin put this in my path and I wish I had watched it before I wrote my reflection. But I now have something to put at the top of my summer reading. Thank you for this post, i was quite moved by it.

[@rebeccagardner1616]

Wow that made me really emotional, the beauty of Tolkien’s words and the depth of his understanding.

[@scarrowman6642]

"Upon a dais of many steps was set a high throne under a canopy of marble shaped like a crowned helm; behind it was carved upon the wall and set within gems an image of a tree in flower. But the throne was empty."

[@Gala-yp8nx]

Most modern writers would follow up that sense of intransigence of Middle-Earth with revanche, or a reclamation of the lost glories of the world. The Wanderer really fits into a view common medieval Christian mindset. That everything gets worse and fades until the day of Judgement.

[@mariadocarmosobreira8323]

And that's where George Martin gets it wrong. Not wrong per se, but wrong in believing he's better than Tolkien. That was also Tolkien's worldview. That's why evil in his books is not a positive attribute, but rather a decay from the perfect state God designed for the world and everything in it. It's always a Fall. Incidentally, that's also why Evil cannot be vanquished by Men (or Elves), but only resisted against. That's why Frodo failed to destroy the ring and Gollum had to enter as the unwitting agent of Fate.

[@markuhler2664]

@@mariadocarmosobreira8323 We are still falling, and haven't crashed against the earth yet?

[@alnotbiggaytho7124]

@@mariadocarmosobreira8323 he doesn't think he's better he just thinks that in worldbuilding Tolkien often chooses themes over realism and thinks its wrong to do so.

[@samuelleandro2275]

@@markuhler2664 It seems that God makes the hole we are falling in deeper every time we get closer to it. If that's mercy or punishment, only the Judgement Day will say it.

[@johnpulliam395]

Thank you for sharing The Wanderer. I heard in its five compartments not stages of medieval grief, but the stages of life. Here, I'll link your descriptions to what I felt in each: Stage 1 - isolation and repression - birth (inability to communicate, to understand) Stage 2 - dreams - childhood (a world of imagination) Stage 3 - sadness, depression - teen angst, loss of childish innocence Stage 4 - acceptance, wisdom - mature adulthood Stage 5 - disorientation, confusion - old age, perhaps dimentia Perhaps the Wanderer, having lost his lord, which one might think of as his father, and his homeland, which might be akin to his mother, is born again. Must go through, and is describing the stages of his new life. It's like a matryoshka doll, with a life nestled inside a life. Anyway, that's how it seemed to me. Thank you again, @Empire of the Mind.

[@shawnleek4970]

I, myself, have been a lover of J.R.R. Tolkeins works since I was a young boy. I will enjoy and love re-reading his works for many year to come.

[@mjhickson4339]

I am the wanderer, this poem literally describes my reality...it is strangely...comforting

[@thomervin7450]

Yes, this idea of the wanderer wanting to submit to a lord describes my situation. I've always enjoyed work more when working directly under a manager, and since my manager lately has thrown me under the bus, I've felt adrift at work.

[@abbyw8113]

I remembered! Tacitus said "The fault is not in the stars, it is within us"

[@darrellkohr6198]

In the 1970's, I was fascinated by the earliest lore about King Arthur. I was trying to understand the writings of Gildas and Nennius to help me understand the world and language this lore came from and I kept being referred to Professor Tolkien for background information. I found the professor's writing hard to read and so, I kept turning to interpreters who left me unsatisfied only to be referred back to the professor once again. I got from this just how universally respected in this area and how he was the ultimate authority for what I was seeking. At this time, I met someone who tried to convince me that someone with that name wrote about elves and magic. I thought that was preposterous. Someone else must be running around with that unusual name, maybe a distant relative. When I became jaded with King Arthur, I turned to read Professor Tolkien's fantasy knowing him first as a respected historian and only later as a writer of fantasy. And so, I had certain expectations about depth of background and none of these expectations were disappointed. I have not talked to anyone in depth who came to Tolkien's books expecting only lyrical fantasy from them, a retreat from the real world. I would wonder if these people would be led down unexpected riverbeds into the depths or if they would be blinded by their expectations and never see what lay beneath.

[@alanparsonsfan]

The voice, reading these words, combined with seeing them in Gothic text, were a moving combination that spoke gravitas and authority. Much to think on, thank you. I have traveled around this country myself for seven years, and I feel this.

[@christopherkraemer4023]

this is a masterpiece and i have no clue why it doesn't have more views

[@caiorezende1653]

Man what a masterpiece of interpretation! I'm glad that popped up on my recommended, deserves way more views and appreciation! Astonishing work, voice and text reading mate. Huge thanks from Brazil and Tolkien fan

[@darkduck-qg2so]

Wow, this is a high quality channel that deserves more recognition. Glad to have stumbled on it

[@EmpireoftheMind]

Thanks!

[@joshuafischlin4734]

This is my favourite video on KZbin... I come back to it every now and again and it always hits home. Thank you for doing this.

[@skellorelli2515]

Asking emotional questions to yourself that you already know the answer to. Longing for something or someone that has been lost and can never return. Damn, that hits me hard.

[@epiendless1128]

It just struck me that this perfectly describes Poe's The Raven as well. It echoes down the ages. "Tell this soul with sorrow laden if, within the distant Aidenn, It shall clasp a sainted maiden whom the angels name Lenore"

[@RedDove91]

'a thousand years deep' as a line bloomed beautifully. Keep your poetry close my dude. Keep going. Subscribed about a minute or two in. Got me picking up my anglo-saxon readings again!

[@timsisco3742]

Not often does a youtube video bring me to tears. Thanks. This was beautiful.

[@townbythetown]

So glad this was recommended to me, I recently was left by my wife of seven years. My woman my plans for the future my place my dog all gone instantly. Foundation and roots shattered. I’m still in the silence phase I suppose, but coming across this poem makes me feel like this stuff is at least a universal human situation. No home to return to and no future to take for granted. Everywhere I go makes me claustrophobic after a little while being there, seeing the rhythms. No choice for now but to wander

[@NAR-wv3sl]

Amazing. I studied - to an extent - Anglo Saxon literature and language at university - many moons ago. . This has inspired me to return to those wonderful texts.

[@EmpireoftheMind]

I’m jealous. I’ll bet that’s an amazing field to study!

[@StailH]

I see a lot of "refrences" that translated to LOTR like: 1:55 "There is none now living..." with Galadriel at the start "for none now live who remember it" The Middle-Earth term 7:50"Where is the horse gone? Where is the rider?" with King Theoden in Helm's Deep " Where is the horse and the rider? Where is the horn the was blowing?" This is an amazing video!

[@mikepowell2776]

Thank you for this. At last, a KZbin channel requiring actual thought. I am reminded of the opening of the last book of Tennyson’s ‘Idylls of the King’: That story which the bold Sir Bedevere, First made and latest left of all the knights, Told when the man was but a voice in the white winter of his age, To those with whom he dwelt, New faces, other minds. I wonder if he might also have accessed this poem.

[@EmpireoftheMind]

You’re welcome! Beautiful. Also love Tennyson’s ‘Ulysses.’ Different subject matter, but still an aching, dissatisfied, homeless feeling. Not sure what the status of Anglo-Saxon literature was in the 18th century, but that’s a good question...

[@thethreeedgedsword7253]

You just helped sow a field of meditation on the loss of my dad. I thought of him the entire time, listening to your video. I’m short on words because I’m emotional now, but thank you, from what’s left of my heart...thank you

[@michaelbolland9212]

This is one of the most meaningful things I have ever seen on youtube

[@Andrew87394]

This commentary has enormous depth,profundity and significance:an occasion of grace.

[@proburtsev]

Bravo, sir. Excellent analysis and masterful narration. It's only a matter of time your work receives all the recognition it deserves.

[@EmpireoftheMind]

Thank you so much!

[@guillermomelendez7950]

Unfettered libertinage is often more oppressing than measured restraint, the former lacks the purpose the latter affords the man who serves others, fulfilment is unattainable for the libertine while the purposeful man strives in labor and is content in his service. Loyalty is it's own reward.

[@johnnyunderhillproductions8346]

Tolkien’s Catholic and Medieval influences make his work feel so, real, middle Earth feels like a real world of moral gravity and meaning. Edit: I think both the Anglo Saxon influence and Catholic influence are equally important. Anglo Saxon culture defines the human kingdoms, but Catholic theology defines the mystical history and themes.

[@kayharker712]

- I prayed to the most Holy Tongue & Jaw of Saint Anthony of Padua & Saint Clare of Montefalco’s Fingernails And Hair Clippings that we would accept The Pope into our life - and my prayers were efficaciously boosted by these powerful relics, I think you'll agree !!

[@audreydimmel6674]

Agreed. He held his faith close to him and it bled through into everything he wrote. We can never, under any circumstances, cut that away without destroying the whole.

[@Westyrulz]

Catholic Anglo-Saxon England bought forth great works of art and literature comparable to anything produce on the continent.

[@ortho4252]

@@kayharker712 your comment is filled full of ignorance and hate. Your distaste for things you don't understand keep you from educating yourself

[@kayharker712]

@@ortho4252 Hey - I was being serious. We need more Principled Anti-Hate Catholic Doctrine like the Papal Bull "Cum nimis absurdum" issued by Pope Paul IV in 1555 to ensure all jews in Rome were walled up in the Roman Ghetto. It takes its name from the Bull’s first words: "Since it is absurd and utterly inconvenient that the Jews, who through their own fault were condemned by God to eternal slavery..." Under the Papal Bull, Jewish males were required to wear a pointed yellow hat, and Jewish females a yellow kerchief and were confined to a ghetto and their livelihood limited to dealing in second hand clothes - up until 1870 when the Italian risorgimento abolished Papal rule in Italy. (The creation of Vatican City and a yearly massive cash donative was later agreed upon by Mussolini and Pius XI in 1929) Mmmm ... sounds familiar ....reminds me of the actions of a certain Austrian Catholic ruler in the 1930s and 40s who resurrected the 3rd Holy Roman Empire, 10,000 of whose followers ‘miraculously’ managed to get to Argentina a bit later with the help of the Vatican..... errr....where the Pope is from….errrr….which is obviously a total coincidence. Nothing to see here. Let’s move on. Ehrrmmmm…..as I was saying - let us continue to adore the One Holy Apostolic Church - that made Bolivia, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala and Paraguay into those ‘shining cities on a hill’ and inspired the youthful morality of Rodrigo Borgia, Dr. Joe Mengele, Joe Biden, Hugo Chavez, John Brennan, Tony Fauci, Samantha Power, Carlos The Jackal, Kat Timpf, Heinrich Himmler, Mel Gibson, Adolf Hitler and Che Guevara. Bravo !!

[@curberybible3823]

Your videos immerse us in a bath of impossibly beautiful poetry, while we draft from the wine, love, music and fable.

[@Anthony-pq4vr]

Not only are WANDERER and LOTR masterpieces, this video is as well. Thank you.

[@gardener5857]

When a man doesn't have control over himself, he has the capability of becoming a dangerous animal. The most dangerous animal on the planet. That is why traditionally young men were taught how to fight & how to control themselves. Self discipline is something that is lacking in modern society. To our peril.

[@savethefantasticfour292]

It seems to me knowing what I know about Tolkien that the poem has a double meaning or at least a double meaning for him. The "Lord" can be a man but could also be Jesus. The poem works well as a description of the Catholic idea of loss/fall but yearning for redemption/reunification with God. I loved the video, thanks.

[@epps8686]

I legitimately believe this is one of your better videos, i keep finding myself back to remind and contemplate it. fantastic work.

[@guybezant9009]

From one Tolkien nut to another, this is a masterpiece as well.

[@xensonar9652]

I love the Lord of the Rings more each time I read it. There's no other book like that for me, except perhaps Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

[@ahadpezeshkpoor1042]

This is one of the most touching videos I watched on KZbin. Thank you.

[@lauriecroad3186]

I found the depth of your narrative astonishing - as an "Older" (75), living just a mile or so from where Tolkein lived, I read his books in a frantic excitement as an older teenager, shunning C.S.Lewis's and Verne's fantasies as shallow... but the depth of story, as told in the Films of Lord of the Rings reminded me that the Tale's meaning is in the mind of the Narrator, and a tale told from different angles, over and over, leads more to truth than the first telling. Such is the Power of "Story". Each time I read the story, see the film, or the Play, the nuances of my memory of my own life interfere and form the basis of the story as I see it as a... Truth, for me. Thankyou for your enlightening tale, it added another framework to make the story tell a different ...truth.

[@mranderson9813]

To think, I nearly kept on scrolling missing out on this unbelievably beautiful part of human history

[@lostdawg67]

I first read the works of Tolkien over forty years ago. Thank you for this. I have bored many over the years expressing, less eloquently than you, what I felt their true worth was. You have done so better than any film could...so again...thank you.

[@wtk6069]

I wonder if The Wanderer also influenced Robert E. Howard on his creation of Solomon Kane. Reading through the poem, it definitively reminded me of Howard's Kane work, especially the poetic ones.

[@Auraelius]

Just discovered this. It is good to hear your voice again and the writing is as good as ever. I had never heard of the poem before but I will study it now since I am on a similar journey, having lost my wife over many years to a horrible disease, and my house to the american medical system to pay for her care, my children gone on to their own lives. My dreams haunt me. From time to time I muse about getting in the car and driving.... in search of a purpose, in search of meaning.

[@patrickholt2270]

I wonder if the origin was about the wiping out of the Jutes on Vectis (the Isle of Wight) by the Suth Saexe. Also of course an outlaw could obtain sanctuary by giving his oath to a distant Thegn or Eorl, to join a new master's heorthwerod (hearth ward/guard). It's worth saying, as CS Lewis did in various places, that the people in the past could not hide from pain and grief in the way that modern people can. They didn't have anaesthetics or analgesics except alcohol, and Marx's opiate for coping with pain. Pre-industrial writers wrote extensively about suffering in ways modern readers refuse to spare the time for. What they wrote about was precisely dignity, endurance, the courage of putting on a brave face, and acceptance, since modern forms of self-medicating weren't available. And of course theological contextualisation of pain, to understand it as meaningful not random, as having a purpose and a necessity, and patience with pain as duty, as well as treating pain as a form of admonition to correct wrong thoughts or wrong ways of relating to others, to make your confessions, apologies, and your due sacrifices to the gods or God.

[@Raelven]

This is a beautiful summary of a masterpiece of literature. True story: I first read LOTR when I was 12, and I began the trilogy on Thanksgiving Day, and finished it in Christmas Day. I've kept that tradition for 50 years, come Thanksgiving 2021.

[@EarthsunMedia]

The channel Clamavi de Profundis takes alot of Tolkiens written poems and performs them amazingly including the Lament for the Rohirrim 😩🙏

[@JonatasMonte]

As someone who lost someone in the family, and was and is in great tribulations, I can somewhat relate to what is being said. I did not watch this video before but youtube has recommended me it again and this time I've decided to see it. I'm glad I am doing it on this specific time.

[@sp10sn]

Tolkien was once asked during an interview (that I can't reference but impressed me very much) whether he would have preferred to be remembered for his scholarship rather than writing 'children's stories.' His answer revealed the awareness and integrity of the man. I'll let you find it for yourself.

[@datuputi777]

4:40 - 5:15 Hits hard. It basically questions what we have accomplished with said "Freedom" and whether what cost us our humanity was even worth it.

[@ManveruT]

How the world has changed in just a matter of decades. Yes, back then was a harder and more brutal age to live in, but at least there was honour, there was respect. One would even respect a worthy enemy. We now live in an era where all that once was good is now gone. I cannot imagine where this is leading us. Maybe I prefer not to know...

[@EmpireoftheMind]

Sometimes evil can be defeated by a small Fellowship that accepts responsibility for the world. There’s always hope.

[@LilyGazou]

I read The Benedict Option- I’m thinking a parallel economy is the answer.

[@pplelo9364]

"Lord" from old english "hläfweard". The "ä" sound is the modern english /aʊ/ so the first half translates to "loaf" and the second half, "weard", is ward/guardian. Guardian of the loaf, the one that ensures everyone's food is protected, the most important role for the man these feudal communities revoved around but food is not all he gave to these people, he also gave them a purpose greater than whatever they were able to find outside of the community. (I'm getting really into my "introduction to english literature" lectures, we're just now about to work on "The Wanderer".)

[@SG-js2qn]

This poem makes me wonder if possibly the centuries preceding the poem were especially difficult, with many tribes relocating or wiped out. It doesn't sound like a singular experience, but more like a shared, familiar story for the time.

[@Secretrectumraisin]

It’s unknown exactly when the poem was composed but the final collapse of the western Roman Empire was 476AD. It was a very drawn out decline. After Rome fell, people in Europe got taller and taller but the hallmarks of civilisation like advanced craftsmanship, scholarship, large-scale organisation, etc. basically all vanished. Every territory, free of centralised rule, was now up for contest. So yes there was a violent lurch back to the old ways of hunting and raiding, not working, to live. People grew bigger and stronger than they’d been for centuries by eating lots of boar and deer again, spending lots of time relaxing instead of labouring, with an upbringing that was full of athleticism & adventures on hunts.

[@MasslessWave]

I came across this video on a day when I truly needed to here it. The past can seem like a lost country; a homeland to which there is no return. There is pain on this road without direction. However, its use is not in showing us what we could have again. It is a place that can we can journey from to arrive, as you so rightly said, at wisdom. I am passing this on to some of my friends who are English teachers. Thank you.

[@St-lucifer-96]

I'm proud to be a Anglo Saxon descendant English till I die 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿❤️⚔️

[@tamerofhorses2200]

The position of the wanderer towards his lord can be interpretted on the basis of the parallels that can be found between lordship and fatherhood. Often, we the moderns tend to equate the positions we find the 21st century with their barely similar ancient counterparts. So often, a lord becomes and seems to us as nothing but an employer, a leader, who the average medieval person would follow. But we ought to remember that the relationships in ancient times were much more intimate, especially in a society based around fealty and kinship like that of the Anglo-Saxons. A lord is therefore much more than just a person of high status to follow and a person from whom the warrior receives benefits. A lord is a father and a shepherd to his own people. Putting one's head in another's lap can be seen in this instance as an expression of a quasi father-son relationship between the ruler and his follower.

[@sperestillan]

The Wanderer has, for quite some years, been my favourite Anglo-Saxon writing. This is a wonderful video.

[@fredbeach2085]

Tolkien`s service as a Subaltern in WW1 seems to have influenced Lord of the Rings and he did take part in the Battle of the Somme and lived to tell the tale too.

[@ianpage2509]

He only survived because he got sick. His friends were killed when he was at a rest camp. It’s why the Rings story ends the way it does.

[@seanmoran2743]

@@ianpage2509 He got sick in the later half of that tragedy I believe

[@erikstewart5499]

I've been a Tolkien fan for 20 years, but as I prepared to begin the Silmarillion/Hobbit/LotR journey again, I decided to start with some of Tolkien's translations/adaptations. Story of Kullervo, Sir Gawain, Fall of Arthur, and now Beowulf, sign Sigurd and Gundrun to follow. Through this process, but especially with Beowulf and seeing how a lot of the Old English words directly connected to Rohan, and separately learning about "The Wanderer", all led me to much the same conclusion as your video. Tolkien's world building isn't amazing solely because of his creativity, but because of the 1000+ years of European language and history that informed it all. Additionally, I believe his experience in the war, and especially his faith, also go a long way towards the enduring feeling of truth that his stories have.

[@ianian4162]

I actually wrote an essay on this poem for a class last semester. I knew there was a connection, for Tolkien was directly inspired by The Wanderer.

[@bettygilliland456]

As a recently-made widow, these stages of grief fit better than the ones we are told of now. Thanks

[@briansinger5258]

And now Of the death of Arthur I shall sing The once and future king

[@samallen261]

What resonated with me was the love of the lord/Lord. It reminded me of Nick Cave's phrase in Bright Horses (also about grief and loss) - "Horses are just horses and their manes aren't full of fire / and the fields are just fields, and there ain't no Lord." ---- That line is devastating to me, and your video gave me a deeper context for what I feel when I hear it. Thank you!

[@superkang7448]

One of the things that always puzzled me about Tolkien is the fact that his stories seem to be incredibly allegorical but in one of the Prefaces, he talks about how much he hates allegory. So, I've always struggled to understand the depth of the story beyond just being an alternate mythical history of England. Still trying to unpack exactly all that you've said here but I think it really connects the dots between the alternate history take and the "not allegory". Well... Now I guess I have to read them all over again for the 10,000th time. Well done sir!

[@EmpireoftheMind]

Glad I could help to give another perspective. Tolkien can be a tough nut to crack at times. I’m currently re-reading the books now and still finding new things. Thanks for watching!

[@pchabanowich]

Poignant, like the Heart’s sought dagger, viewing neverlands strewn like chimerical memories to ache in a grieving present... you’ve told this well, dear fellow. These be, often silent and still, the preoccupations of a soul weathered by many winters.🙏