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Episode Three of The Rings of Power Offers Hints of Events to Come
After its sluggish start, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power has given us a strong third episode with only a few missteps along the way, and the themes of cooperation and fellowship in the face...
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Concerning Harfoots (And Elves, Men, Dwarves, and Orcs): Delving Deep Into...
Do I love The Rings of Power? Go not to me for a final opinion, for I will answer both “definitely” and “not wholly.” We’re three episodes in now, out of eight for the season. Am I enjoying it?...
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The Rings of Power Shows Us the Tears of the Valar and a Face of the Enemy in...
This week on The Rings of Power, the plotlines finally start to become clear, the story of Númenor captures our attention, and Arondir gets to meet Daddy. It’s the strongest episode yet, despite a...
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The Rings of Power Makes Us Cry With a Wandering Song in Episode Five:...
A lot happens in this week’s episode of The Rings of Power. Some of it is redundant, but all in all the show continues to gather steam, and does a particularly good job in “Partings” with developing...
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A Conspiracy Still Masked: Delving Deep Into The Rings of Power Episodes 4–5
These last two episodes of The Rings of Power sure did some things, didn’t they? Have they changed my overall opinion of the show? Only a little, because I’m still compartmentalizing this thing. Have...
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Dark Plans Are Revealed in The Rings of Power’s “New Life”
This week in episode six of The Rings of Power, Arondir and Bronwyn fight back against the orcs, and we learn the truth about Adar and what the evil blade is for. Also, the Númenóreans spend a lot of...
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Everything Is Burning in The Rings of Power: “The Eye”
In “The Eye,” episode seven of The Rings of Power, the show tackles themes of sacrifice and risk, of being separated from loved ones and of laying down guilt. But whether it executes these themes well...
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A Wife in the Dark: Delving Deep (But Not Balrog Deep) Into The Rings of...
Looks like orc-origins are back on the menu, boys! Thanks a lot, Adar, “Lord-father.” Well, these last two episodes didn’t lack for big movement and bigger drama. Battles, volcanos, tears, way more...
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Sacrifices Must Be Made in The Rings of Power Finale, “Alloyed”
Well my dear Harfoots and elf-friends, we have made it to Episode Eight, and the season finale of The Rings of Power. “Alloyed” is a bit all over the place, which is par for the course with this show....
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The Unexpected Horse Girls of Fantasy
Usually when I’m discussing core concepts, I try to be gender-neutral. It is true that horse kids of all ages also come in all genders. But a particular subspecies has surfaced lately in both fact and...
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What Do We Want From Prequels?
A story describes a world. Of necessity, it can only describe part of that world—but we can see the rest of it out there, full of sights and scents and scenery not entirely like but not entirely...
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Some Thoughts on Tolkien’s Elf-Horses
Finding sources and scholarship on Tolkien’s Elf-Horses is surprisingly not easy. There’s ample discussion of the horses of Rohan, and with the first season of Rings of Power in the can, the horses of...
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We’re Getting More Lord of the Rings Movies, Whether You Want Them or Not
Warner Bros. Discovery is getting back in the Ring business. Yesterday, during the company’s investor call, we found out that they struck a deal to make more films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of...
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Five Fantastical Musical Experiences You Can Find in the Real World
I’m no stranger to exploring the unique intersections of fantasy books and music. I’ve extolled the virtues of books that make great use of music. I’ve offered soundtracks to amp up your reading...
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Sympathy for the Devil: 5 SFF Books About Dark Lords
As an English major a Catholic liberal arts school, I was required to take a semester-long class on John Milton, in which we read the entirety of Paradise Lost as well as its less well known sequel,...
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Getting to the Heart of SFF’s Most-Tear Inducing Moments
When we watch movies, my mother always cries at goodbyes. Me, I cry at arrivals. This is just one of the many things that separate us. She cries in the moments you might expect someone to cry: the...
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Théoden Has the Best Dialogue in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings
When you think of The Lord of the Rings, what comes to mind first? For me, it’s always been the people. Tolkien’s series abounds with meaningful and memorable characters, one of the many features that...
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“The Long Defeat”: Reading Tolkien in the Time of Climate Change
Allegorical readings of The Lord of the Rings vexed Tolkien. In the Foreword to the second edition of the books, he wrote of his distaste for allegory altogether: “I much prefer history, true or...
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Eärendil, Éowyn, and Prancing Ponies: Why Shawn Marchese Loves Middle-earth...
In 2017, when I considered pitching a series for Tor.com focused on The Silmarillion, and was wondering whether there would be sufficient interest—given that it lies deep in the shadow of both The Lord...
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12 Male Role Models From Science Fiction and Fantasy
Lately I feel like everyone is talking about masculinity and what it means to be a good dude. Last month, I was on a panel at the Pride on the Page book festival with Jacob Tobia (Sissy) who was saying...
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