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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 073 - Silmarillion Saturday: The Yearning of Exile

Join The Man of the West as we read a summary of the early years of the Kingdoms of Arnor and Gondor, and their ‘many treasures and great heirlooms of virtue and wonder’. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 22, 202511 minSeason 9Ep. 438

Week 073 - First-Age Friday: Ecstasy Enchanted

We promised it would get better after last week’s visions of Morgoth’s dark heart; but Beren and Lúthien are still, essentially, in hell — so keep your expectations reasonable. Also, a special day for the PPP! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 21, 202513 minSeason 9Ep. 437

Week 073 - Third Age Thursday: More Than My Desire

Join The Man of the West for a closer look at Treebeard’s wanderings through the lands of Beleriand in the First Age. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 20, 202511 minSeason 9Ep. 436

Week 073 - Word-nerd Wednesday: Place of Starlight

The Man of the West moves on from the names of the Valar and begins an in-depth look at the names of some of the Maiar, including the handmaid of Varda and the herald of Manwë. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 19, 202510 minSeason 9Ep. 435

Week 073 - Tolkien Tuesday: Horrified the Shire-folk

What in Middle-earth could do such a thing to the doughty hobbits? You’ll have to listen to The Man of the West as he continues looking at Tolkien’s Letter #214 on Tolkien Tuesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 18, 202511 minSeason 9Ep. 434

Week 073 - Middle-earth Map Monday: Burned and Uprooted

Join The Man of the West for another week of Today’s Tolkien Times, starting with a ride down the Anduin as we look at the Brown Lands and the Undeeps along the Great River. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 17, 202511 minSeason 9Ep. 433

Week 072 - Silmarillion Saturday: The Voices of Death

Join The Man of the West for another reading in Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age as we see the fates of the Seven and the Nine, and get a recap of what happened to Sauron when he fled Númenor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 15, 202511 minSeason 9Ep. 432

Week 072 - First-Age Friday: A Pretty Toy For Idle Hour

Also quite clearly not The Man of the West, but join him as he walks through a genuinely hellish moment for Lúthien as she endures the lustful stares of Morgoth. Uh, happy Valentine’s Day, everybody? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 14, 202512 minSeason 9Ep. 431

Week 072 - Third Age Thursday: The Lore of Living Creatures

Aragorn longs for Gondor and a crown buried for a thousand years; Merry and Pippin long to be included in a list of people who don’t get squished by Ents. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 13, 202512 minSeason 9Ep. 430

Week 072 - Word-nerd Wednesday: An Actual Perfect 10

Join The Man of the West as we look at more names of the Valier, running down quite the list today including Nienna, Estë, Vairë, Vána, and Nessa. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 12, 202511 minSeason 9Ep. 429

Week 072 - Tolkien Tuesday: Considerable Social Importance

You don’t need me to tell you that today’s title has nothing to do with The Man of the West. Rather, it’s about hobbit birthdays in a letter Tolkien wrote to someone who tried to out-pedant the Professor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 11, 202511 minSeason 9Ep. 428

Week 072 - Middle-earth Map Monday: And the Land Was Silent

Join The Man of the West for the third and final episode on the land of Lórien as we learn all about its time under the leadership of not-King Celeborn and not-Queen Galadriel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 10, 202511 minSeason 9Ep. 427

Week 071 - First-Age Friday: Thy Name, Thou Shrieking Waif, Thy Name!

“I’ll take ‘Pickup Lines That Result in Failure’ for $500, Alex.” Join The Man of the West for suggestions on what not to say when talking to… well, anyone. Beren and Lúthien descend to the pits of hell itself in today’s First Age Friday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 07, 202512 minSeason 9Ep. 425

Week 071 - Word-nerd Wednesday: Lady of the West and Mother Earth

We continue looking at names of the Valar in this series’ Word-nerd Wednesdays, today diving into the names of two of the Queens of the Valar, or the Valier. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 05, 202512 minSeason 9Ep. 423

Week 071 - Tolkien Tuesday: Juicy Details

Join The Man of the West as we look at Tolkien’s response to a letter asking him for ‘facts’ about himself, and discover that while he doesn’t like giving them, he certainly seems quite willing to do so. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 04, 202510 minSeason 9Ep. 422

Week 071 - Middle-earth Map Monday: Long Years of Peace and Obscurity

No, that doesn’t describe the tenure of The Man of the West at The Prancing Pony Podcast — although it certainly could. Join Alan as he continues his look at the land of Lórien. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 03, 202511 minSeason 9Ep. 421

Week 070 - Silmarillion Saturday: Back Into Evil

Repent? Sure! Oh, on second thought. Join The Man of the West as Sauron waffles in our first reading in Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age (or OtRoPatTA as we call it here). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 01, 202511 minSeason 9Ep. 420

Week 070 - First-Age Friday: Immortal Flowers

Sometimes, having a strong perfume isn’t such a good idea. Join The Man of the West as he accompanies Beren and Lúthien to the very gates of Angband — and a confrontation with the Red Maw himself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 31, 202512 minSeason 9Ep. 419

Week 070 - Third Age Thursday: More Quenya!

The Man of the West is in his happy place, reading the longest piece of Quenya text in The Lord of the Rings as we look at Galadriel’s Lament. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 30, 202512 minSeason 9Ep. 418

Week 070 - Word-nerd Wednesday: Tulk Smash

Join The Man of the West for a look at the captain of the Valar football team, Tulkas Astaldo. And because we don’t get to ignore him, Melkor also makes an appearance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 29, 20259 minSeason 9Ep. 417

Week 070 - Tolkien Tuesday: Sufferers Please Note

The Professor laments the process of getting work done at the house, and dispenses great medical advice to his cousin, and to us as well, on this week’s Tolkien Tuesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 28, 20258 minSeason 9Ep. 416

Week 070 - Middle-earth Map Monday: Greatly At Variance

Join The Man of the West as he tries to untangle the knots Tolkien gave us in The History of Galadriel and Celeborn as he begins his look at Lothlórien on Middle-earth Map Mondays! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 27, 202511 minSeason 9Ep. 415

Week 069 - Silmarillion Saturday: All Roads Are Now Bent

It’s a busy time for cartographers after the Downfall of Númenor, as we read about the aftermath of Atalantë in the last reading of the Akallabêth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 25, 202511 minSeason 9Ep. 414

Week 069 - First-Age Friday: Fight With Thine Own Hand and Sword

Join The Man of the West for a First Age Flashback in The Lay of Leithian as Fingolfin squares off against the mighty Morgoth, who would prefer to not to risk his undefeated record. Also, a huge bird! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 24, 202512 minSeason 9Ep. 413

Week 069 - Third Age Thursday: Sad and Sweet Was the Sound

We continue our journey through the songs and poems in The Lord of the Rings as we listen to Galadriel’s Song and her bittersweet memories of Eldamar, as she wonders what ship would ever bear her across so wide a Sea. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 23, 20259 minSeason 9Ep. 412

Week 069 - Word-nerd Wednesday: My Brother’s Office is So Much Nicer

Join The Man of the West in his continued effort to uncover more about the names of the Valar: in today’s episode, we chat with the Masters of Spirits: Námo and his little brother, Irmo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 22, 202510 minSeason 9Ep. 411

Week 069 - Tolkien Tuesday: The Laughter of Ilúvatar

Tolkien presents two important stories from The Silmarillion 20 years before the book is published, as he explains in Letter 212 the tale of Míriel and of the Creation of the Dwarves by Aulë. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 21, 202511 minSeason 9Ep. 410

Week 069 - Middle-earth Map Monday: Too Numerous and Valiant

Join The Man of the West as he ends his three-week look at the Dwarven kingdom of Khazad-dûm! From Galadriel’s far-sightedness and the innocence of the Dwarves of Belegost, we move deep into the Third Age and the fall of Moria. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jan 20, 202511 minSeason 9Ep. 409
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