In which co-hosts Kenny and Sam look back at the year that was, look ahead to the year that's to come, and answer (excellent!) listener questions. Topics include the status of democracy in absolute monarchies like Gondor, connections between Tolkien and Lovecraft, the history of Galadriel, our favorite movies of 2025, Reddit comments about the podcast, and our predictions for 2026 elections in the US and abroad. Further reading/listening:<a href="https://shows.acast.com/entmootpod/episodes/the-mismeasure-of-orcs" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Our episode with Rob Tally</a><a href="https://shows.acast.com/entmootpod/episodes/mythic-capital" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Our episode with Lee Konstantinou</a><a href="https://shows.acast.com/entmootpod/episodes/the-gift-of-men" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Our episode with Ali Mirzabayati</a> Konstantinou - <a href="https://arcmag.org/mythic-capital/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mythic Capital: How Tolkien is Whispering in the Ears of America's Most Powerful Men</a>Semley (Wired, 10/25) - <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-and-the-trump-administration-really-dont-get-tolkien/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Elon Musk Really Doesn't Get The Lord of the Rings</a>Pagliarini (Dissent, Fall 25) - <a href="https://dissentmagazine.org/article/lulas-unfinished-democracy/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Lula's Unfinished Democracy</a>Hartrich (Journal of Social History, Fall 24) - <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jsh/article/58/1/27/7731678" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Boundaries of Popular Control in Late Medieval English Towns</a> Hill - <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-century-of-revolution-1603-1714-christopher-hill/ce0bc0d5d19e0d98" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Century of Revolution: 1603-1714</a>Livingston - <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/bloody-crowns-a-new-history-of-the-hundred-years-war-michael-livingston/b88ab521da3d344d" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bloody Crowns: A New History of the Hundred Years War</a>Tooze - <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-wages-of-destruction-the-making-and-breaking-of-the-nazi-economy-adam-tooze/af1c436304267fd9" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Wages of Destruction</a> <a href="https://boxd.it/5Fiar" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Kenny's Letterboxd</a> | <a href="https://boxd.it/2TCvZ" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sam's Letterboxd</a> Leave us a review! Send us an email at entmootpod@gmail.com!

2025 Wrap-Up and Listener Questions

In which co-hosts Kenny and Sam talk to William Fliss about Tolkien's manuscripts and life as an archivist. Bill Fliss is the Manuscripts Archivist at Marquette University, which places him among the foremost authorities in the world on Tolkien's manuscripts for The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. He runs the <a href="https://anduin.marquette.edu/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Anduin Project</a> at Marquette which is an invaluable tool for Tolkien researchers. Add your voice to the <a href="https://www.marquette.edu/library/archives/Mss/JRRT/fandomoh.php" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Tolkien Fandom Oral History Collection</a> and tell Bill we sent you! More Bill:<a href="https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol36/iss1/3/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">“Things That Were, and Things That Are, and Things That Yet May Be”: The J.R.R. Tolkien Manuscript Collection at Marquette University</a>(Documentary) <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC-JkWDq7dk&amp;" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Muster At Marquette: Preserving 6,000 Fan Voices</a> Leave us a review! Send us an email at entmootpod@gmail.com!

To The Archives! (w/ William Fliss)

In which co-hosts Kenny and Sam talk to Professor Jyrki Korpua about the Kalevala and the inspiration that Tolkien drew from it. This episode is a companion piece to our previous episode on chapter 21 of The Silmarillion, which you can find <a href="https://shows.acast.com/entmootpod/episodes/turin" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>. Jyrki Korpua is a researcher and lecturer of literature at the University of Oulu in Finland. He has published extensively on both the Kalevala and Tolkien, and we are here primarily discussing his 2024 book <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tolkien-and-the-kalevala-jyrki-korpua/1145539465?ean=9781040151617" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Tolkien and the Kalevala</a>. More Jyrki:<a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-mythopoeic-code-of-tolkien-a-christian-platonic-reading-of-the-legendarium-jyrki-korpua/828258f55778783b" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Mythopoeic Code of Tolkien: A Christian Platonic Reading of the Legendarium</a><a href="https://oulurepo.oulu.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/45036/nbnfi-fe2023020325707.pdf?sequence=1&amp;isAllowed=y" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">“Master of Fate, yet by fate mastered” – Tolkien’s Túrin Turambar and Kalevala’s Kullervo</a> Also mentioned:Lönnrot (Bosley translation) - <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-kalevala-elias-l-nnrot/947c37601f95e7b7" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Kalevala</a> Leave us a review! Send us an email at entmootpod@gmail.com!

Tolkien's Kalevala (w/ Jyrki Korpua)

In which co-hosts Kenny and Sam discuss chapters 20 and 21 of the Quenta Silmarillion, which include an account of the Fifth Battle and the tragic tale of Turin Turambar. Primary sources: <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/the-silmarillion/9780544338012" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Silmarillion</a> | <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/the-lord-of-the-rings/9780544003415" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Lord of the Rings</a> | <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/the-letters-of-j-r-r-tolkien/9780618056996" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien</a> Books we've been reading:<a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-wages-of-destruction-the-making-and-breaking-of-the-nazi-economy-adam-tooze/af1c436304267fd9?ean=9780143113201" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Wages of Destruction</a><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/ride-the-pink-horse-dorothy-b-hughes/36677025fc577343?ean=9781613162026" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ride The Pink Horse</a><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-long-goodbye-raymond-chandler/f0ff68c20db760bf?ean=9780394757681&amp;next=t" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Long Goodbye</a><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/gilead-oprah-s-book-club-a-novel-marilynne-robinson/dc7fc1517e05ef88?ean=9781250784018&amp;next=t" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Gilead</a><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/sot-weed-factor-john-barth/0cc665c2eb7cc561?ean=9781628973945&amp;next=t" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Sot-Weed Factor</a><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-fort-bragg-cartel-drug-trafficking-and-murder-in-the-special-forces-seth-harp/0513ebce197f159f?ean=9780593655085&amp;next=t" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Fort Bragg Cartel</a><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-age-of-empire-1875-1914-eric-hobsbawm/e3e8f0698a6a136c?ean=9780679721758&amp;next=t" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Age of Empire</a> Leave us a review! Send us an email at entmootpod@gmail.com!

The Cursed, Son of Pain

In which co-hosts Kenny and Sam joined friend of the show Ethan Colburn for an episode of the <a href="https://cineflekpod.wordpress.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Cineflek Podcast</a> about Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings. For a great documentary with more information on the making of the movie, check out "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cr_rb_pitHk&amp;pp=ygUYYmFrc2hpIGxvcmQgb2YgdGhlIHJpbmdz" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">An Exhaustive History of Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings</a>" from Folding Ideas on YouTube. For more on adaptation rights to Tolkien's work, listen to our episode from earlier this year "<a href="https://shows.acast.com/entmootpod/episodes/state-of-the-estate" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">State of the Estate</a>." For more of our opinions on movies, you can follow each of us on Letterboxd: <a href="https://letterboxd.com/cineflek/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ethan</a> (an actual Letterboxd influencer), <a href="https://boxd.it/5Fiar" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Kenny</a>, <a href="https://boxd.it/2TCvZ" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sam</a>. Leave us a review! Send us an email at entmootpod@gmail.com!

Ralph Bakshi's "The Lord of the Rings" (w/ Ethan Colburn)

In which co-hosts Kenny and Sam talk to Professor Cami Agan about the 2018 volume <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/beren-and-l-thien-j-r-r-tolkien/1a84ee4ea617395d" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Beren and Luthien</a> and about the textual history of the tale. This episode is a companion piece to our previous episode on chapter 19 of The Silmarillion, which you can find <a href="https://shows.acast.com/entmootpod/we-are-all-ensnared" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>. Cami Agan is the Distinguished Professor of Language and Literature at Oklahoma Christian University and a prominent scholar of Tolkien's First Age. More Cami:<a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/perilous-and-fair-women-in-the-works-and-life-of-j-r-r-tolkien/6c7d6df9b772ba3c" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Lúthien Tinúviel and Bodily Desire in the Lay of Leithian</a><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Cities-Strongholds-Middle-earth-Habitations-Legendarium/dp/1887726306/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Cities and Strongholds of Middle-earth</a><a href="https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol34/iss1/10/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Hearkening to the Other: A Certeauvian Reading of the Ainulindale</a> Also mentioned:Moore - <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/48650601" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">A Song of Greater Power: Tolkien's Construction of Lúthien Tinúviel</a>Whitaker - <a href="https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol29/iss1/5/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Corrupting Beauty: Rape Narrative in The Silmarillion</a> Leave us a review! Send us an email at entmootpod@gmail.com!

The Tale of Tinuviel (w/ Cami Agan)

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: <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/the-silmarillion/9780544338012" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Silmarillion</a> | <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/the-lord-of-the-rings/9780544003415" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Lord of the Rings</a> | <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/beren-and-luthien/9781328915337" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Beren and Luthien</a> | <a href="https://bookshop.org/books/the-letters-of-j-r-r-tolkien/9780618056996" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien</a> Leave us a review! Send us an email at entmootpod@gmail.com!

We Are All Ensnared

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 <a href="https://x.com/BretDevereaux" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Twitter</a> and <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/bretdevereaux.bsky.social" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bluesky</a>, or at his blog <a href="https://acoup.blog/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry</a>. More Bret:<a href="https://acoup.blog/2019/05/10/collections-the-siege-of-gondor/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Blog series on Siege of Gondor</a><a href="https://acoup.blog/2020/05/01/collections-the-battle-of-helms-deep-part-i-bargaining-for-goods-at-helms-gate/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Blog series on Helm's Deep</a><a href="https://acoup.blog/2022/07/15/collections-logistics-how-did-they-do-it-part-i-the-problem/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Blog series on logistics</a><a href="https://wondery.com/shows/tides-of-history/episode/5629-rome-carthage-and-the-punic-wars-interview-with-dr-bret-devereaux/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Interview with Patrick Wyman on the Punic Wars</a> Leave us a review! Send us an email at entmootpod@gmail.com!

Forth Eorlingas! (w/ Bret Devereaux)

In which co-hosts Kenny and Sam talk to Ali Mirzabayati about death and mourning in Tolkien's work. Ali published his thesis <a href="https://open.library.ubc.ca/soa/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/24/items/1.0447596" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Death as a Gift: A Heroic Celebration of Life in The Lord of the Rings</a> in December 2024. Ali Mirzabayati is a scholar of medieval literature and modern fantasy, including Tolkien's legendarium. More Ali:<a href="https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol21/iss2/8/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mourning and Melancholia in The Lord of the Rings</a><a href="https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol21/iss1/5/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sounds of Battle and Battle of Sounds: Belliphonic in Tolkien</a><a href="https://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/vol22/iss1/7/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Beowulf and Théoden: Differing Teaching Methods of Hrothgar and Gandalf</a> Further reading/listening:Amendt-Raduege - <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-sweet-and-the-bitter-death-and-dying-in-j-r-r-tolkien-s-the-lord-of-the-rings-amy-amendt-raduege/8782511" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Sweet and the Bitter: Death and Dying in JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings</a>Vaninskaya - <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/fantasies-of-time-and-death-dunsany-eddison-tolkien-anna-vaninskaya/14364896" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Fantasies of Time and Death</a>Freud - <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Classics-Mourning-Melancholia-Penguin/dp/0141183799" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">On Murder, Mourning and Melancholia</a> Leave us a review! Send us an email at entmootpod@gmail.com!

The Gift of Men (w/ Ali Mirzabayati)

Co-hosts Kenny Talarico and Sam Lieberman discuss the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and what they tell us about politics, philosophy, religion, and life.

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