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Today's Tolkien Times

The Prancing Pony Podcasttolkientimes.com
Get your Tolkien every day by subscribing to Today’s Tolkien Times! Alan Sisto, host of the award-winning Prancing Pony Podcast and Rings of Power Wrap-up, hosts a new short-format daily podcast available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever else you get your podcasts! Listeners get answers on Mailbag Mondays; discover more about the Professor on Tolkien Tuesdays; indulge your inner philologist on Word-nerd Wednesdays; learn more about the familiar stories of Middle-earth on Third Age Thursdays; hear from Tolkien fans around the world on Fandom Fridays; and dive deep into Middle-earth history on Silmarillion Saturdays! And on Sundays? That’s what The Prancing Pony Podcast is for! So subscribe to Today’s Tolkien Times and follow us on all our social media channels!
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Episodes

Week 038 - Second Age Saturday: Amid the Coldness of Others

It’s time for the continuing adventures of Aldarion as he finally has eyes for Erendis. As he sails off for distant shores. Plus, the Green Bough of Return and more beautiful names of trees! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 13, 202410 minSeason 5Ep. 228

Week 038 - First Age Friday: Or Flee the Land of Barahir

Beren is really good at killing Orcs and other bad guys; maybe too good. Join The Man of the West for his continued readings through The Lay of Leithian, as Beren finally heads south. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 12, 20249 minSeason 5Ep. 227

Week 038 - Third Age Thursday: The Art of Gandalf Improved With Age

Let us all hope that the art of The Man of the West does the same. Join him today for our continuing read through A Long-Expected Party, this time with fireworks and even more food! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 11, 202411 minSeason 5Ep. 226

Week 038 - Tolkien Tuesday: Frightful 18th Century!!!

Don’t blame me: the punctuation is in the original. Time for another close look at the budding friendship between C.S. Lewis and Tolkien; so long as the former doesn’t keep making terrible poetry suggestions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 09, 20249 minSeason 5Ep. 224

Week 037 - First Age Friday: Of Will Defeated, Broken Faith

We return to the tale of Beren as Gorlim visits him in a dream, and he returns to utter devastation. A vow of vengeance follows, and one bad guy definitely gets what’s coming to him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 05, 202410 minSeason 5Ep. 221

Week 037 - Third Age Thursday: Stop Even Pretending, Gaffer

We return to Hobbiton just as preparations for a massive party are underway: we’re reminded of how important the postal service is, and get a glimpse of hobbit birthday traditions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 04, 202410 minSeason 5Ep. 220

Week 037 - Word-nerd Wednesday: What’s With the Fat Jokes, Ronald?

We take a closer look at nine different Shire family names in this week’s Word-nerd Wednesday and learn that the majority of them are based on hobbits ummm… enjoying their food. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 03, 20248 minSeason 5Ep. 219

Week 037 - Tolkien Tuesday: Chiefly As a Poet

We return to learn more about Tolkien’s fellow Inkling, C.S. Lewis, and their mutual admiration for “Northernness”. Also, dragons can spoil commutes: just ask Eärendil. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apr 02, 20248 minSeason 5Ep. 218

Week 036 - Second Age Saturday: Sowed the Seeds of Restlessness

Tar-Meneldur’s concerns were well-founded, as it turns out. Join The Man of the West for another reading in the tale of Aldarion and Erendis. Also: we finally, and briefly, meet Erendis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 30, 202410 minSeason 5Ep. 216

Week 036 - First Age Friday: Have Thy Pay!

If you ever wondered just how cruel Sauron could be, today’s reading in The Lay of Leithian will answer that question. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 29, 202410 minSeason 5Ep. 215

Week 036 - Third Age Thursday: We Could Do With a Bit More Queerness

The Gaffer has words for Sandyman yet again, while outlandish folk pull into town — including one rather familiar old man with a long white beard and bushy eyebrows. No, not The Man of the West. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 28, 20249 minSeason 5Ep. 214

Week 036 - Word-nerd Wednesday: Rebuking His Impertinence

Sometimes, the Man of the West imagines his own impertinence would be rebuked, should the Professor be alive to do so. Fortunately, this was just a pedantic proof-reader who didn’t like Tolkien’s spelling. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 27, 20248 minSeason 5Ep. 213

Week 036 - Tolkien Tuesday: I Thought I Was the Only One

Step into a meeting of the Kolbítar and learn why Lewis found it so invigorating. Also, talking about the gods and giants of Asgard until 2:30 in the morning… best college days ever. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 26, 20247 minSeason 5Ep. 212

Week 036 - Mailbag Monday: Short-lived and Weaker Race

Join The Man of the West for a speculative question about Fëanor and what he might have thought about the race of Men — if he bothered to think about them at all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 25, 20248 minSeason 5Ep. 211

Week 035 - Second Age Saturday: But They Looked Far Away

Aldarion sails on his first voyage, and it changes his life — and the lives of people he hasn’t met yet. Meneldur observes the beginning of a problem, while Vëantur becomes an enabler. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 23, 202410 minSeason 5Ep. 210

Week 035 - First Age Friday: Of Land Bereaved and Lordship Shorn

We return to the beautiful verses of the Lay of Leithian, only to be reminded that they do not always describing things of beauty. Also: a glimpse of the First Age Dirty Dozen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 22, 20248 minSeason 5Ep. 209

Week 035 - Tolkien Tuesday: Beer & Beowulf

We continue our chat about the Inklings and the “literature v. language” divide at Oxford. We ask Professor Tolkien how 1830 hurt his feelings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 19, 20248 minSeason 5Ep. 206

Week 034 - Second Age Saturday: Ready to Mirth, and Generous

It’s a series filled with long tales, as The Man of the West shifts gears with the first series of Second Age Saturdays. Get your sea-legs on and prepare to set sail as we explore Aldarion & Erendis! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 16, 202410 minSeason 5Ep. 204

Week 034 - First Age Friday: Laughter Merry as the Spring

The Man of the West begins an epic series for this inaugural incarnation of First Age Fridays with a dive into The Lay of Leithian. Can you believe it’s not alliterative? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 15, 20249 minSeason 5Ep. 203

Week 034 - Third Age Thursday: Like Coming Home

A long-expected run through a long-expected chapter begins today as tongues begin to wag in Hobbiton and Bywater. Which would you rather have: (apparently) perpetual youth, or (reputedly) inexhaustible wealth? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 14, 202410 minSeason 5Ep. 202

Week 034 - Word-nerd Wednesday: Running Private Jokes

For today’s word-nerdery, the Man of the West brings in some of Dr. Tom Shippey’s finest, including an observation that Gandalf repeatedly ignores the social code. Also, Tolkien regrets French. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 13, 20249 minSeason 5Ep. 201

Week 034 - Tolkien Tuesday: Liberal Studies Majors, Beware

We take a break from the Letters in Series 5 of the TTT to spend some time at the Bird & Baby with Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and more as we learn about the Inklings. Also, 200 episodes of the TTT! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 12, 20248 minSeason 5Ep. 200

Week 034 - Mailbag Monday: Maybe He Left the Oven On?

Join The Man of the West as he starts out Series 5 of Today’s Tolkien Times with a Mailbag Monday asking a question we honestly haven’t heard before. Also, a reminder of Fëanor being Fëanor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 11, 202410 minSeason 5Ep. 199
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