Tolkien
Rings of Power Season 2: 1-3
Despite improvements in writing and longer story segments, this series struggles to overcome its inherited plot issues. While not as bad as feared, it remains slow and unengaging. Poor lighting in dark scenes further detracts from the experience. Overall, it’s hardly compelling, but curiosity may keep some viewers watching.
Rings of Power – Not The Immediate Disaster I Expected
Amazon’s Tolkien series initially looked dreadful in trailers, but won me over with stunning visuals, excellent dialogue, and first-rate acting. The epic dwarf mines and elvish scenes felt authentically Middle-earth. While the diverse casting works well, the Harfoots (hobbits) feel out of place and annoying. Early promise exists, but success depends on maintaining quality and delivering a satisfying conclusion.
The Letters of J.R.R.Tolkien
Tolkien’s Letters Reveal a Cantankerous Conservative at Odds with His Own Work
Tolkien’s correspondence shows an erudite but misanthropic author who was perpetually behind on commitments and harsh toward translators, publishers, and fellow humans. Politically, he favored hereditary monarchy over democracy and supported Franco’s regime in Spain. His reactionary views clash ironically with readers who found progressive themes in Middle-earth, revealing the gap between author and interpretation.
Orwell, Tolkien, C.S.Lewis and the Nazis
Orwell easily opposed the Nazis as a socialist modernist, using his writing for propaganda and later warning against totalitarianism. But Tolkien and Lewis faced a dilemma: both medievalists interested in paganism and mythology—the same sources the Nazis were exploiting. This forced them to retreat into coded fantasy worlds, possibly harboring syncretist beliefs they couldn’t openly express.