The History of Middle-earth and the History of the Lord of the Rings are all incredibly dry, they are not easy to read, they are exhaustive, archival books written by someone who felt they had a responsibility to posterity to present his father's work. But, if you can get through it, there is a ton of dope shit in there, including cut scenes that never made it into the final work.

This could also be a big reason why The Scouring Of The Shire happens in the book. It steals away from this idealistic world that the books start in and shows that no matter how much you can hide or pretend the “real world” doesn’t exist it always catches up to you.

This might be among my favourite discussions you've ever done. "A far green country under a swift sunrise" hits me like Lewis described being hit by the title of 'Siegried and the Twilight of the Gods' for the first time. "There arose at once, almost like heartbreak, the memory of Joy itself". It's this sudden, intense, affective response he calls "northernness", all tied up in memory and loss and desire and the unattainable, even in connection with something you're encountering for the very first time; "it eluded me at the very moment when I could first say /It is/". It could be my mother's influence but I feel like I'm always chasing that northernness in fantasy. Doesn't feel like real magic if the magic doesn't break my heart a little.

That after-peaceout scene affected me a lot more than I thought it would.

Never expected so many Bombadil fans ... wow this comment section is so consistently non-toxic

"Eldest, that's what I am. Mark my words my friends: Tom was here before the rivers and the trees" Absolutely love this part. I don't get why so many dislike Tom Bombadil. He is the probably the most powerful living Entity, but doesn't rule over kingdoms. He just chills at home with goldberry and sings alot of songs

This is a thoughtful, well-researched reflection on Tolkien's legendarium. I'm an academic who publishes about and teaches Tolkien, and I will use this video (with appropriate citation) in my next course. Tolkien uses his painterly text (craft) as an essential element of his enchantment, which is a portal to his secondary world (he was also a competent artist who wrote through the eyes of a painter). Again, this video is inspiring! I'm already a backer of Strongholds & Followers and I'll buy any book Matt publishes just in the hope of keeping this channel going (I also value his contribution to D&D).

Stick around until the end. Enjoyed the insight at the end about Tolkien and his friends being the hobbits and what he was doing with that.

I always understood Tom Bombadil as Father Time and his wife Mother Nature. With the Shire being this place out of time, this perfect island untouched by the dangers of the world. Like a Fairy Realm full of innocence. Surrounded by the Twilight in which Father Time and Mother Nature reside, where darkness is slowly creeping in... It represents the Threshold.

I personally love Tolkien's overwriting and extensive detail. It was shat drew me in as a child, and it really just paints the picture in your imagination. I think many modern writers lack the ability to really set the scene and make you feel like you are there with the characters.

As an adult I love all the Hobbit stuff in the beginning. How comfortable and easy Frodo's life is until he finds out about the ring. Even then he does not run off immediately like in the books. He wanders around the Shire because he loves it. He is understanding that he must leave and for that reason he is delaying his departure. He LOVES this land and through his love we sort of learn to love it too. The food and the gifts are great too, and how Frodo did not offer Lobelia any tea because she was so impolite. This is the gesture of a high society with strict social etiquette and Frodo goes out of his way to do this minor deliberate thing to be extra rude to a very rude person. The people who complain about Tom Bombadil don't seem to mention the Old Forest, but I think it is VERY important. The forest is this wild part that this ordered Hobbit society has been unable to tame in centuries. It's dangerous and mischievous, it's hostile to those who wander in. It leads the Hobbits into a trap and tries to kill them, this forest is a monster all on its own. And then in that forest is this happy-go-lucky guy who sings at it and makes it calm. It speaks of his immense power, that his mere song calms this murderous forest with such ease. The Hobbits spend days in Tom's house recovering from the Black Riders' horror and from their fright when Old Man Willow tried to murder them. Then they go near the Barrowdowns and are almost IMMEADIETLY assaulted by the evil spirits in the barrows. It is like telling the audience that this world is full of dangers that the Hobbits have no idea about because they lived in their comfortable Shire. The Barrows also have history, that we are told much later (in the appendixes if I recall correctly) but their ruins tell us enough: there was a civilization of people here that built these tombs and gathered this treasure and now they are gone. It gives us an idea of the scope of Middle Earth as a world, that this backwater that nobody knows about had this ancient civilization there. It's all just so great.

I'm a skimmer. I too used to think LOTR was overlong; but then I began sounding every syllabus of every word in my head, and realized the enormous beauty of his prose. The meter and rhythm flow like beautiful music from outside of time. JRR is not only the greatest world-builder, but he is the greatest master of English language to have ever put pen to paper. Everytime you re-read LOTR you discover a new world of meaning you never saw before, and I've read it 8 times. It's completely new every time. Like magic.

I love your view of the Old Forest as a liminal (transitional) space between an Edenic Shire and the fallen world of men! I have often thought, the farther East the hobbits travel, the further into the past they go. They leave the Shire with its clocks and buttons -- a place very similar to a familiar, and comfortably modern-ish 1800 England --and proceed back in time, in a way, to regions of "Once upon a time". Into a mythic history of Europe they go, into lands like Rohan, where the epic Anglo-Saxon poetry of Tolkien's life work is the common mode, appropriate to the larger-than-life personalities and situations they encounter in that region -- thus enabling him to write in the style he researched so passionately. (until Aragorn eventually ends up in the Necropolis that is the halls of the dead ancestors themselves, in a paleolithic sort of land populated by the Neanderthal-like Pukel-men. And as Aragorn is empowered to command the army of the dead -- *history itself* -- he is proven capable of the rule of the nation ...) BUT I had never considered how much like an Eden the Shire is. That is so interesting, because Tolkien's stories so often warn against attempts to arrest the passage of time, as the Elves do. Either way, though, that does make the Old Forest the first big step out of a familiar and comfy but knowledge-less mode, and into the mythic territory of Story, as you suggest. ----- Now, if you don't mind me sharing a small dissent, I don't perceive Tom as a representation of Knowledge, exactly. There are a few clues -- Gandalf says if they gave the Ring to Tom he would just forget where he put it! So to me, it's not lore and knowledge that Tom embodies -- it's something more like Wisdom. And Wisdom of a particular joyful kind: (I know everyone has their own ideas about of this wonderfully ambiguous figure, and in my opinion -- ) ... Tom is protective, cheerful, carefree, he enables adventure. I can only see Tom as the embodiment of a mood of beautiful nostalgia that was very personal for JRRT. Tom is Tolkien's happy place: *specifically* I see Tom as the personification of the character of the beautiful countryside around Birmingham itself, as explored by JRRT as an adventurous boy -- the happiest time in the man's life. I think, to JRRT, Tom is something like the actual spirit of rural England, so beloved by Tolkien and so inspirational to him that he couldn't resist bringing it to life so his proxy characters could have a chat with it. -- Not to mention making Tom larger and more eternal than the oldest powers of his own imaginary Middle-Earth! Tom is older and greater than the land of Middle Earth because he is the fount of inspiration from which Middle Earth springs. Tom is the nature spirit of the earth and breath and freedom of England's countryside, and Goldberry, the water nymph, another nature spirit, is the river -- his beautiful eternal companion. Thanks so much for sharing this video, Mr. Colville. I am a big fan of yours.

The ending of the video hit me right in the feels. Merry christmas everybody.

"Peace. Out." *Three minutes left in the video* Yep, this is Matt alright.

One thing you said is really important I think from a storytellers point of view: 18.15 "he used it, he doubled down on it". For me this exemplifies a lot how my campaigns come to be. I tend to sow all kinds of plot-hooks throughout the game. Some the players pick up on, most are forgotten. In most cases I haven't got a clue where each hook leads. When I prepare my later sessions I mine the plot-hooks my players picked up on and one or two I figured might be nice to elaborate on and start weaving them into a story intro. Some stories are followed by the players others are discarded and new plot-hooks are found. I keep going this way until after a whole number of sessions we actually have a whole story. The fun thing is that the players can trace down what happened to some of the earliest plot-hooks which were dropped. They feel I'm awesome for planning this far in advance while all I've done is simply double down on some of the things they've encountered without even knowing what exactly it was at the time I put it there. The story grown was reaped from the hooks sowed at the very start without any of us entirely knowing where things would lead.

I love Tom Bombadil's song so much: "Hey dol, merry dol, ring a dong dillo! Ring a dong, hop along, fal lal the willow! Tom Bom, jolly Tom, Tom Bombadillo! Hey, come merry dol, derry dol, my darling! Light goes the weather-wind and the feathered starling! Down along under Hill, shining in the sunlight, Waiting on the doorstep for the cold starlight! There my pretty lady is, River-woman's daughter. Slender as the willow-wand, clearer than the water. Old Tom Bombadil, water-lilies bringing, Comes hopping home again, can you hear him singing? Hey, come merry dol, derry dol and merry-o! Goldberry, Goldberry, merry yellow berry-o! Poor old Willow-man, you tuck your roots away! Tom's in a hurry now. Evening will follow day. Tom's going home again water-lilies bringing. Hey, come derry dol, can you hear me singing?"

Ursula le Guin wrote a really interesting essay on Tom Bombadil. How that segment is vital to the pacing of 'Fellowship'. How an ever longer pendulum swings between feast and famine. Pleasure and pain. Silly and serious. Happy, jolly feasts and deathly, damning danger. It is the transition from 'the Hobbit' to 'the Lord of the Rings. From escaping annoying relatives to escaping undying evil.

I really like your framing of the Old Forest as a liminal space, a boundary or threshold between the childlike Eden of the Shire and the wider adult world, where evil and death are ubiquitous and everyone is preoccupied with them. You suggested that Tom Bombadil sort of represents Knowledge, that his knowledge is needed to navigate the hobbits through that space. I'd be more specific: Tom Bombadil has knowledge of Songs. He knows the song that puts Old Willow to sleep, he knows the song that shrivels the Barrow-wight in his lair, and he teaches the hobbits the song they need to call for aid. It's really due to Music that the hobbits survive the steep learning curve of reaching maturity, of departing Eden and entering reality. Also, when we read the very first chapter of the Silmarillion, we learn that Eru, the One, communicated his vision of the world with the Ainur, his first holy offspring, through music. In fact, the whole world was created by song. Music is the means or the conduit by which the very power of creation is expressed. Since Tom's power lies in his song, it is logical that he would have Mastery over the natural world around him which is originally the product of music. As an aside, I'd be interested in an analysis of the importance of music and songs in the various Middle-Earth cultures: hobbit-lore, elven epics, the beautiful war and grief songs of the Rohirrim, dwarf marching songs, even the songs of orcs. It is no coincidence that Tokien pays a great deal of attention to songs in a world itself created by music.

I'm not convinced that LoTR is an intentional reflection of his experience in WW I. I definitely think Tolkien's experiences *heavily* influenced his writings. The Siege of Gondor always made me think of the Trenches of WW I. I think LoTR was, in part at least, and maybe very unconsciously, Tolkien working through his own trauma and experiences.

I remember almost none of the Lord of the Ring books. But I remember loving Tom Bombadil because things actually happened, there was magic and fun and excitement that had been missing up to that point in the books for me. Always felt bad he got dropped by the adaptations, though I suspect he's the easiest part to cut out without losing from the primary story. Always loved that he was the only person who picked up the ring to not be tempted by it's powers, and Gandelf's assertions that should the rest of the world fall to Sarumon's powers the forest would be the last free place standing.

When I first got into Lord of the Rings, I was in college and had a tumultuous house life. My parents were going through a nasty divorce, a few friends had died because of drug deals gone bad and my cousin (who was like a brother to me) was dying of cancer. My cousin died and subsequently my parents divorced right before Return of the King came out. I always have to choke back tears at the end, especially during the song. Even tho Tolkein and I had radically different upbringings, the last bit you said makes sense to me and I understand him better. I believe you are right.

I always loved Tom Bombadil. Never understood the hate that section of the book got.

I agree with your end statement, the descriptions of the travel through Mordor is definitely a memory of the battlefield, and also that love for his friends that he fought through appalling struggles with, is mirrored in the relationship between Sam and Frodo. Also there is very definite changes in tone throughout the book that almost seem like remembering something rather than creating something, hard to describe

"No hobbit women in the Shire" seems to ignore Farmer Maggot's wife 🤭

I just realized that Gandalf's speech to Pippin at Minas Tirith (in the movies) was Frodo's dream, slightly paraphrased. I love Lord of the Rings

OMG! As much as I love Tolkien and have read and researched, I never made the connection between the possible deeper metaphor of the hobbits and his companionship with his friends when they separated. Think about it...At the end of the first book, the hobbits are split apart into two groups. After which, they have completely separate adventures (not to mention that Merry and Pippin are kidnapped/stolen and carried away while Frodo and Sam march on their own, alone). Frodo and Sam taking the road quite literally through hell, while Merry and Peregrin go on more fantastical/fantasy adventure (not without their own perils and hardships)...and at the end, how Frodo and Sam, both being ring bearers, carry something that will stay with them forever and won't find true rest and healing until they make it to Tol Eressea, while Pippin and Merry return to Gondor and upon their passing are laid to rest in Rath Dinen (tomb of the Kings of Gondor and their Stewards) and then later re-interred alongside with Argorn upon his passing.

30 minutes ago, I had the sudden urge to re-watch LotR and turned on Fellowship. 7 minutes ago, Colville releases this video.... Stop watching me Matt

As a fellow Tolkien fanatic I applaud this analysis. While I’ve always had a sense of what Tolkien intended with the Old Forest and Tom Bombadil, your mapping of the Shire, the Old Forest and Bree as Eden, a borderland and reality crystallizes what I had been subconsciously felt. I understand the “borderland” trope and tool as a writer, and now that you’ve called it to the forefront it all makes sense. Thank you for this.

11:30pm and there's a Colville video? Well, I can put off a half hour of sleep.

The moment I finish watching an old Matthew Colville video, another is released. It's a good day.

The BBC radio production of LotR is something I had as a set of audio tapes as a kid and I literally wore them out. It's incredibly well done and also a great way to experience the story.

Videos like these--and your community's responses to them--make my heart ache for people in my own life with whom I can have conversations like the ones you have with your community. I joined the Navy a little under 5 years ago now, and took an oath to sacrifice for my country. I had no idea at the time that the biggest sacrifice I would make was human connection. Everyone always talks about the sense of camaraderie that you get from being a part of an organization like mine, but all I've ever felt is increasing isolation and withdrawal into myself. All that is to say that someday I hope to have the opportunity to have these discussions with somebody--discussions about life, loss, and yearnings like the ones which compelled Tolkien to write. Thanks for your content, and giving me a glimpse into a future I might have.

If you liked the BBC Radio of LOTR, try out the BBC Radio Days on the first three Star Wars. There is more than 45 minutes added before the opening scene in the original Star Wars that include Leia's reasons for joining the rebel alliance, Luke listening to imperial recruitment videos and hanging out with his buddies, there is also an extension of the training of Luke by Obi-Wan as they journey to Alderaan, and a lot more. Love the video. My 9 yr old just finished the Hobbit and Fellowship, and from talking to him about the books, I have also started reading them again.

I loved Tom when I finally read the book after loving the movies for years. I also played the MMORPG and loved Tom there too. I was so upset after watching the movie again and they didn't have him. It even explains why the Witch King dies when he was stabbed by the magic knife from the Barrow Downs

Oh wow I'm early. Looking forwards to this. Sidenote: My Mage's tower is almost a third of the way to complete in my current campaign and I can't wait to have an Abjuration Tower ready to go

Yay! Bombadil, one of my favorite characters for no good reason.

While I understand why you would say that the whole Shire section of the book is overwritten, I disagree. For once because I kind of like slightly overindulgent descriptions, but also because it perfectly sets the tone for the Shire and the Old Forest. These locations are larger than life if you will, literally fantastical, perfect landscapes, so idyllic that it's almost annoying. The same goes for the people there It's not so much that the writing is indulgent, but life and nature is in these places. Everything is so god damned scenic I could probably not stand it for longer than a few minutes at a time without screaming. (The same goes for Aman at the end of the series.) And I think Tolkien intentionally really hammers that home with these descriptions.

Tom Bombadil is my favorite character...was extremely disappointed when I saw Fellowship in the theater at release and they completely skipped over that entire part of the story.

I came here to have a good, nerdy time with the Lord of the Rings and instead you end it with FEELINGS! Who do you think you are, Colville!? All of this was a very interesting analysis, and I do like the points you make, although I personally like how overwritten the books are, but seriously I was not expecting that punch in the gut at the end.... how dare you... :P

Hey Matt, great video. I just want you to know I appreciate you and all you do. Cheers!

Almost 500 thumbs up and none down. No trolls in this shire as it should be!

oh my gosh, my little English major heart is singing. The language in Frodo's dream and crossing over into the West is so telling, to me, of Tolkien's perspective. He's evoking something medieval and epic in his flowery (over-written) language that echoes a time long past, before the Ring and the world of men. As much as Tolkien despised allegory, I can see where the sadness for nature and innocence destroyed by war is present in Frodo's dream, and by extension his passage into heaven. Man, I need to reread LOTR.

I think the last bit hit me the hardest. As someone that had great expectations earlier on with his best friends, several of which are now dead even before the age of 20, I also wish we had the opportunity to experience this grand adventure we all imagined playing a part in.

Fascinating and great insight into Tolkien's writing. I especially love your attention to the words as Tolkien was huge philophile and had such a love for language. I like your interpretation of Bombadil and think it fits very much to an ideology and concept Tolkien weaves throughout his book. My own interpretation is that unlike your thought on Goldberry being representation of the land, Bombadil himself is the physical embodiment of the land, alive and animated, and that Goldberry is the embodiment/representations of the seasons giving us the physical relationship between changing seasons and nature. This interpretation also fills in a lot of things for me as well, such as why he could just speak and have old man tree open back up its roots to release the hobbits as well as explaining why the ring had no effect or power over him as the ring allows one to rule over the land...but if Tom is the embodiment of the land already, then there's nothing for him to want or lord over, the ring cannot affect him. A great video and wonderful discussion. Thank you, Matt!

I love this book review style of video, and your analysis is so articulate! Well done, sir.

I really enjoyed this video. It was an interesting look into The Lord of the Rings and the author. I got quite emotional with the final thoughts on Tolkien and his three friends who fought in WWI. It reminded me of my grandfather whose older brother, who was just 18, went off to fight in the Great War and was killed very soon after arriving in France. My Grandfather never set foot in a church again. Not even for the weddings of his children. He would dress up, take photos in front of his house with them but he would not go to the church. An entire generation was affected like this and many who had served, much more badly. I have always felt that the Lord of the Rings was a tome that amongst other things, expressed Tolkien's regret of the Industrial revolution, mechanization and the horrors that brought into the world. Killing on an industrial scale where individual heroism counted for nothing and killing became both easy and random. There was nothing heroic about mowing down soldiers with a machine gun. Glory and heroism, if they ever existed, were gone forever. Individuality was being destroyed.

Mr. Coville, you may or may not be familiar with him, but there's a fantastic podcast called The Tolkien Professor, where a thoughtful and engaging professor of Tolkien studies has been uploading everything from in-class lectures to listener questions about everything Tolkien in the context of people who want to understand the man and his works.

This was one of the most insightful analyses of a fantasy story I've had the pleasure of watching. Please do more, Matt. :)

I thought when I read it he & Goldberry were some of the most powerful in the story.

There are a few books that I've read with about 10 years between readings, and they usually hit me in much different ways. The Hobbit is definitely one, as are the Chronicles of Narnia. Lewis and Tolkien shared so much gravitas in what they could invoke. They did love to describe and overwrite, but I forgive them (I'm sure they would be relieved...) because of the feeling that they were so desperately trying to get to the reader. They were describing the indescribable beauty of their childhood memories. A new and bright world that is a golden chain wrapped around your heart. As your heart grows, the chain bites not in spite of its beauty, but because of it.

The first time I picked up The Fellowship of the Ring at age 11, I wasn't able to get through to the point where the hobbits even reached the Old Forest. I tried again the next year, and found it similarly wearying, but I did manage to continue on, and once I had reached that point, the story picked up momentum, and I was enthralled ever after. It occurred to me years later that this was actually a good representation of the hobbits' point of view, as they were not widely traveled, and simply reaching the edge of the Shire itself was a journey that must have seemed monumental from their perspective. After reaching Bree, the dangers they faced, the wonders they experienced, and the significance of their task were so engaging that the contrast of the seemingly interminable trek out of the Shire actually made more sense.

I'd love to hear further analyses of Tolkien and other fantasy writing.

I’ve said this many times before, but it’s worth repeating. The Lord of the Rings bounces off so many people today because it lacks direct relevance in the world and its problems now. Its beauty consists of perfectly illustrating the human condition, not a social problem. Lord of the Rings doesn’t laugh, or cry, or shout angrily. It aches and yearns, and ultimately resigns quietly into the West- the sunset.

I listened to that radio production several times as a child. I would literally just sit on the floor and listen to it on my older brothers stereo for hours at a time.

I too am currently in process of a re-read of The Hobbit and the LotR. I am part way through TTT at the moment. I have not done the extensive research that Matt has done. But for the first time I did actually read the Forward of TFotR, something I normally skip. In it is where Tolkien talks about his experience in WW1 and dismisses claims of his work being allegory, and how he dislikes allegory. (Which Matt talks about at the end of the video)In that Forward Tolkien mentions that the tale was originally written in serial form to his son who was away in Africa during WW2. He also mentioned that there was a pause due to the War as well as rewrites. Because of this my personal theory is that just as The Hobbit was a fairy tale that was born from the stories he told his children when they were young, so too the LotR was an epic born from the series of short stories he was mailing to his adult son, away in war. In the begin he was trying to build upon what he had established with his son as a child. And so it started out light hearted and whimsical. But as he received letters back from his son, who was now going through what JRR had gone through in WW1 his tales took a more serious direction. Perhaps his son's experiences were recalling JRR's own memories of 'great' wars. As for allegory, as a younger man I used to think that LotR was allegory for WW2 or even Biblical themes. But after The Hobbit and reading the Forward to TFotR I think Tolkien was telling the truth when he said he wasn't putting allegory in his writing, allegory being a direct symbolism. Rather Tolkien's writings have remained classics and relevant because he infused it with universal symbolisms and themes. Friendship, Hope, Nature vs Machine, Courage, Mercy, Life and Death, ect. That IS the purpose of Fairy Stories.

Matt, I really love you, man. After every video you do, you make me a better writer, dungeon master and story teller. Happy holidays, I hope you will continue making videos in the future. I already brought your books, your Stronghold rules are next :)

"Overwritten" is totally subjective, so I'm not going to say Matt is wrong to characterize the early _Fellowship,_ and the Goldberry passage in particular, as overwritten. I'm just going to say I love Tolkien's rich, lilting prose. I love content like this, too!

Tom Bombadil is the living embodiment of Thorin’s last words to Bilbo about the world being a happier place if more people valued food and song over hoarded gold.

For anyone interested, in WWI they were called 'pals battalions', because the men signed up together all from the same communities. They were even designated that way on the patches on their uniforms. This actually proved really useful for when Peter Jackson made his We Shall Not Grow Old documentary restoring silent footage of the war and adding colour and sound - They painstakingly even made sure the soldiers talking had the right accents for their battalion!

Liking the video before I watch because unlike many things in life, I can be certain about Colville Content. And what I'm sure of, is that it is good.

Christmas came two days early!

I re-read the trilogy once every ten or fifteen years, and generally discover something new every time I do. Like you, I used to skip over the "boring bits," but now they're some of my favourites. Back when Peter Jackson was working on the movies and word first came out that Tom Bombadil wasn't going to make the cut, I remember thinking that was a good idea because he struck me as a trickster figure entirely tangential to the main plot. But on my next re-read a couple of years later, I ended up liking him a whole lot more, and coming around to a view similar to the one you present - he's a figure of knowledge and wisdom with his own place in the narrative that now seems much more important to me. Loved your video essay, hope to see more.

Excellent video. A few things, as a long time reader and someone who is now reading this for my son. Tolkien's world is a character. It is more than the setting, it is a living embodiment of those that dwell within it. It has a personality, and the personality of the land is beholden and influenced by those that walk upon it. The beginning chapters also set the stakes of the rest of the novel. We need to know that the land is idyllic without merely being told so. JRRT imparts the beauty, the serenity of the shire keenly so that the stakes are real. The people, the place, are all at risk. Being told that there are stakes is not as poignant. The shire and the hobbits will all be lost if Sauron regains the ring. So this in turn gives meaning to why the hobbits on the journey fight as they do. They know what is to be lost and they will give their all to ensure that it is not. As to Bombadil, he is important to the narrative, but not necessarily the story - this is one reason why I feel he is oft overlooked. As well as mystery unsolved, which is important and allows the reader to think and interpret the characters as they will, Bombadil also shows that there are powers great and old in the world. That the darkness has no power over. The ring is simply a band of gold to him, and nothing important. This is old magic, old power. Tom saw the first rain drop and the first acorn as he tells the Hobbits. And whilst darkness has no power, we are told later in the Council of Elrond, that even his power would fail eventually if so pressed. More stakes. More loss. More to fight for. As to the overblown writing of Goldberry's introduction, also consider a few things. This is the Hobbits view of her. She is beautiful beyond what the Hobbits have seen before, especially Frodo. He is completely enthralled by her, as evidenced when they are leaving the House of Tom Bombadil and Frodo cries out that he hadn't said farewell to Goldberry. The introduction is through their eyes, it is overblown because they are overawed. She is a spirit of nature, she is the River Daughter and her very presence overwhelms the Hobbits senses. Also, JRRT uses language a lot of which is now lost in modern contemporary speech. As such, to the less patient, the instant gratification culture we live in, his flowery speech does seem indulgent, but this kind of writing was once common place, because that was how authors wrote.

I just love anytime Matt takes the time to share something with us that strikes an emotional chord with him, because it usually rings true with us (or at least me). Genuine emotion is hard to find in a many mediums these days and even then doesn't always land. Keep it up, sir. You have my ears, mind, and heart.

Love this kind of content. More Middle Earth will be greatly appreciated.

Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow!

oh man, so i'm a long-time listener but first-time poster. basically i love your DnD videos but don't have a current playgroup, but i'm so inspired to write about this video, and it's eventually turned into a massive TL;DR haha. i remember reading some letter that Tolkien wrote about Bombadil where he said that he never would have included anything that didn't have a particular purpose and said something to the effect of having a really strong character who was capable of snapping his fingers and solving the problems in the story, but was a devout pacifist. i really liked this video and how it really fleshed out my understanding of that letter. i agree with you that The Shire was intended to be his idealic utopia/heaven/garden of edenish place, and Bombadil is just someone who helps to preserve that idealic place. also, the bit at the end just speaks to me so much. i've had SO many conversations where i say something like 'hmm, melkor/morgoth seems like an allusion to lucifer/satan,' and some tolkien fanatic goes on a huge rant how 'NO, THERE WAS NO ALLEGORY' there is a (quite subtle at times, but very distinct) difference between allegory and allusion, but also i agree with you that he was probably annoyed at the wrong conclusions people came to, trying to relate his story to all of these things when they were actually influenced by something else in his life. as a writer, i think it's absolutely impossible to not be inspired by things of your own experiences. given more modern terminology, i'm sure he'd admit to things were references or homages to things, easter eggs if you will also, on the topic of lord of the rings card games. have you played the co-operative one by Fantasy Flight? it's been going for close to 7 years now and still going. it has some flaws but can be quite immersive.

Bombadil is one of my favorites from tokiens work. So mysterious and powerful. Matt since you like the LOTR CCG have you checked out fantasy flight games LOTR living card game? Its a lot of fun!!

I reread both LOTR and Dune most years , really enjoyable to go back to them

Well done. Your comments about the hobbits being representations of his friends is probably true. At the same time, Tolkien did much to write the story around the language he invented, and part of what resonates is the mythic qualities of the tale. Something to think about, though is this: there is a joy in creating an image, in crafting the language to set a scene. What you call over-written is part of the flowery poetry of the romantics and the older style of writing; where you write not just to convey a point, but to show erudition and impress by a masterful command of language to set a scene. The echoes of that type of writing are further away from us, so the ripples that reach our shores are more muted, and often there is less tolerance for. Many young people will watch Jackson's interpretation and never bother to read the book because "it takes too long" to get to the point. Modern often writing is very direct, and we mentally fill in details by references and implications. A generation or two later, and those reference might change, or more likely vanish, lessening the overall the impact. Have you seen the video of teenagers trying to figure out how to use a rotary phone? The flowery "overblown" language may be likened to the difference between a modern song, over in five minutes and rarely longer versus a concerto or symphony or suite -- which a theme-album can come close to matching, but doesn't quite have the same seamlessness. What may at times seem self-indulgent in an earlier, less-hurried society would tantalize the reader with its additional permutations and variations, like Bach coming back to revisit a fugue again and again in ever slightly-changing auditory expressions, coming back to the original while echoed with the new themes resonating in the background. A modern writer could have told the tale in two or three hundred pages; it would have been forgotten in a year or less. Because there is so much imagery in the story, some of it is bound to personally resonate with the reader, thereby creating a deeper, lasting impact. Just my opinion. And I'm stickin' to it.

This is the best explanation of Tom Bombadil, hands down. I love it. Awesome video.

Oh boy, this title has me already. Love lotr, LOVE bombadil Edit. Wow, interesting. I always liked the early part of the fellowship. It has drama, just the scale of the drama is much smaller. Is Bilbo leaving, what is up with the ring, are his relatives going to steal his silverware. Anyways, drama or not I enjoy it.

Should I go to sleep or stay up and play a little bit more Skyrim while listening to Matt...

That makes the scene with the rabbit make so much more sense now. Thanks Matt. The rabbit always felt such an odd moment with the rest of the book. But I was trying to put the rabbit interaction in the real world and not in between Shire and Real World.

The concepts described about the shire, the forest, and the real world, and Gandalf trespassing into eden really reminded me of ocarina of time. I'm guessing there are a lot of parallels between these stories that I haven't considered before today.

Nope, didn't really need to go to bed yet ... there's a video to watch!

I like all your videos, Matt, they are fantastic. Just to be different (antagonistic?) though, I don't agree that the writing in the chapter of the House of Tom Bombadil was over-written. It made me feel like I was there. There's lots of styles of candles, haha. Tolkien wanted us to have a detailed idea of what he had in mind. My two cents. Have a wonderful, white, snowy, merry, cheerful Christmas.

Matt, you made me think I was losing my mind for a minute when you said Bombadil wasn’t in the radio play. I have such a clear memory of him calling out to Goldberry in it. Had to go get out my CDs to make sure. The Old Forest, Bombadil, and the Barrows are all there

As thoughtful as ever, Matt. Allegory seeps out of Tolkien, despite his protestations to the contrary. He may not have set out to express his story that way, or even believed he was, but I think we all have unexpected journeys through the creative things we do.

Colville's alive!!!!

In the movies, doesn't Gandalf use almost the exact same words to describe his 'death' after the fight with with Balrog?

Great video that I am just now finding. I bought all those Christopher Tolkien books when I was younger ... back when they came out mostly because the name "Tolkien" was on them and I wanted more. I never read them and soured on the idea as I got older because I thought that surely, CT was just cashing in on his dad's name. Thankfully I stuck them all in a box and still have them today. This video has inspired me to pull them out and finally read them.

Hmm. I tried to read tlotr years ago but I quit after the Barrow wight. After being bored to death by Tolkien's extensive history of the Hobbit and confused by Tom Bombadil I just lost the will to continue. Now I want to give it another shot

Tom Bombadil is my favorite character.

As a watcher of content for specifically d&d purpose, I think these analysis are great at throwing out wonderful pieces of inspiration where I would not find it due to lack of time.

When you read the scene from the book at about 14:00 it strongly reminded me of some different writing, Thomas Mann, Karl May and even other much more "modern" authors like Sybille Berg. My point is that, on one hand, we who grew up with the adventurous, fantastical books that were written from the mid-70s up to today are used to a very different writing style. A shorter form of descriptions, primarily utilizing far fewer adjectives, taking far less care to be precise in the description because we have seen so many things via TV or travel. It is not necessary for an author today to describe something as much, because it is likely that the reader already has a solid knowledge of what an item might look like. i.e. Think about needing to describe St. Peter's in Rome to someone who has never seen it or something fairly similar. All the authors "of old" had to describe so full of words to bring a picture to the readers' mind. Today we do not need that to the same extend. And that is it what makes such literature feel overwritten to us. On the other hand, people who are studying Literature are considering exactly such fanciful descriptions and those "older" forms of writing to be worthy, sophisticated and good while the stuff that seems more readable to the modern generations is often considered not worthy of being called Literature at all.

it begins

Did anyone else notice how Ian McKellen was doing a blatant Michael Hordern impersonation for the role of Gandalf for the entire film trilogy? I hope it wasn't just me who noticed. It's okay because sir Michael Hordern was perfect for the role.

Great insight, Matt. Bombadil also serves as an important device by which Tolkien establishes what sort of person is impervious to the Ring’s corrupting influence: someone who lives in utter simplicity and harmony with nature, whose desires have little to do with accumulation or coercion (Tolkien’s cardinal vices).

I'm so glad I didn't click away or close my KZfaq app after you signed off. The post-video talk on the significance of the four hobbits going on an adventure contrasting Tolkien and his friends' experience in WWI got me all teary-eyed. Well done, Matt.

I love that take you did on the end about Tolkien’s unintentional allegory. Like it or not, the things in our lives affect us and that is reflected in our writing. A popular biblical theory that I actually subscribe to is that the Book of Revelations is a book written during the fall of Rome, about the fall of Rome, an apocalypse in its own right. I’m sure the person who had that dream thought they were writing about something in the distant future, but like I said before, we can’t help what affects us, and we don’t always realize how deeply our history embeds itself into our psyche.

I think establishing the Shire in great detail also has the purpose of showing the readers what exactly the heroes are trying to protect and preserve. It shows us what they're fighting for.

I hope you've had a chance to see the Tolkien exhibit at the Morgan Library. Amazing glimpses at the creative process.

Please in the name of Bombadil and everything good in this world, continue diving into threads like this. Loved the video, thanks!

I'm so happy you make videos on whatever you want to make videos about. reviews, histories, game mechanics... it's all awesome. Thank you!

Tom Bombadil is Springtime. He's the Master and the Singer, the Dancer and the Host. He's life and living and sight and seeing. He's a gladdened heart, a sharp eye, and a ear to the water-ways. He's many things in my opinion, and there is an answer to who he is. The answer is simply knotted, tangled, and perfectly up to your interpretation.

There was an offhand mention of the ring wraiths and that brought back a lot of childhood memories of reading this. Though quite tangential, the idea of a real danger was very uncomfortable and frightening (see Neil Gaiman's "The Graveyard Book" and Nancy Farmer's works for more), but looking back it was important, not just for me but probably for many others reading this. Thank you for making this video.

Can we have videos like this all the time? This is now a Tolkien channel and I love it!

I absolutely love Tolkien's use of language. Reading his work at such an early age dramatically expanded my vocabulary. His glossary of archaic words was a special treat, and influences the way I write (and in some cases speak) to this very day. As for the overwriting critique, I'm more than willing to accept that not everyone shares my appreciation for the way that Tolkien wrote. The man had a love of poetry, and there is a very noticeable poetic feel to much of his prose. Having said that, let me throw out this thought. How much of that belief comes from the fact that we've read so many books and stories that were inspired by Tolkien's work? It's less of an issue for me, as I first read The Hobbit in 2nd grade, and immediately followed it up with The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. In fact, it was Tolkien's work that got me interested in the fantasy genre. For many, however, that's not the case. Many people (probably most) have read works by authors inspired by Tolkien before they read Tolkien's works. So, even if those authors aren't straight out copying Tolkien, Tolkien's world will still feel somewhat familiar, even on the first read. Tolkien's hyper descriptive style could very well seem excessive in that case. When Tolkien was writing these stories, however, that simply wasn't the case. Tolkien was creating a completely new world, and wanted to bring it to life in his readers' minds. Tolkien couldn't count on his readers having a general understanding of his world, so he described things so vividly and so in depth that they couldn't help but create images of his world and its inhabitants in their minds. One could argue that all of the work that Tolkien put into world building made it possible for future authors to take some short cuts in their own work. Any holes in their worlds would just be filled in with the readers' understanding of similar literary worlds. Just a thought.