In which co-hosts Kenny and Sam discuss chapter 19 of the Quenta Silmarillion, the incredible story of Beren and Luthien. Included is also a discussion of current events affecting Sam as a resident of Washington DC -- listeners with an allergy to that sort of thing can skip to 17:25 to get to "the good stuff."

Primary sources:

The Silmarillion | The Lord of the Rings | Beren and Luthien | The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien

Leave us a review! Send us an email at entmootpod@gmail.com!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which co-hosts Kenny and Sam talk to Professor Bret Devereaux about the Siege of Gondor and the Battle of Helm's Deep, including discussions of pre-modern logistics, cavalry charges, flails, command structures, battle speeches, and much more.

Bret Devereaux is an ancient and military historian who currently teaches as a Teaching Assistant Professor at North Carolina State University. You can find him on Twitter and Bluesky, or at his blog A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry.

More Bret:

Blog series on Siege of Gondor

Blog series on Helm's Deep

Blog series on logistics

Interview with Patrick Wyman on the Punic Wars

Leave us a review! Send us an email at entmootpod@gmail.com!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In which co-hosts Kenny and Sam talk to Ali Mirzabayati about death and mourning in Tolkien's work. Ali published his thesis Death as a Gift: A Heroic Celebration of Life in The Lord of the Rings in December 2024.

Ali Mirzabayati is a scholar of medieval literature and modern fantasy, including Tolkien's legendarium.

More Ali:

Mourning and Melancholia in The Lord of the Rings

Sounds of Battle and Battle of Sounds: Belliphonic in Tolkien

Beowulf and Théoden: Differing Teaching Methods of Hrothgar and Gandalf

Further reading/listening:

Amendt-Raduege - The Sweet and the Bitter: Death and Dying in JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings

Vaninskaya - Fantasies of Time and Death

Freud - On Murder, Mourning and Melancholia

Leave us a review! Send us an email at entmootpod@gmail.com!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.