Reverend Dr. Malcolm Guite

So I hated this boarding school. I was very homesick. But I opened the Lord of the Rings and suddenly I was in Lothlorien or Rivendell. You know, I could be there. And so I was about 16 when I went like full fanboy totally into it. Right. Now, I am 67. So I've had 51 years.

So I hated this boarding school. I was very homesick. But I opened the Lord of the Rings and suddenly I was in Lothlorien or Rivendell. You know, I could be there. And so I was about 16 when I went like full fanboy totally into it. Right. Now, I am 67. So I've had 51 years.

hearing Tolkien tell me this story over and over again and at 67 I'm still drawing from it I'm still finding stuff in it I'm still being now that's what great art is you know there's I've read a bunch of sword and sorcery books but there's only so much squash buckling and be beheading monsters you can take you know you need something deeper and there's way more deeper stuff there

hearing Tolkien tell me this story over and over again and at 67 I'm still drawing from it I'm still finding stuff in it I'm still being now that's what great art is you know there's I've read a bunch of sword and sorcery books but there's only so much squash buckling and be beheading monsters you can take you know you need something deeper and there's way more deeper stuff there

hearing Tolkien tell me this story over and over again and at 67 I'm still drawing from it I'm still finding stuff in it I'm still being now that's what great art is you know there's I've read a bunch of sword and sorcery books but there's only so much squash buckling and be beheading monsters you can take you know you need something deeper and there's way more deeper stuff there

You got a very slight hint of it in the movie in Galadriel's mirror. When I forget whether in the movie, whether it's either Sam or Frodo looks in and sees all kinds of bad things going on in the Shire. And in the book, it's Sam who looks in the mirror as well, which doesn't happen in the movie. And he suddenly sees that bad things are happening at home. And they're cutting the bad thing.

You got a very slight hint of it in the movie in Galadriel's mirror. When I forget whether in the movie, whether it's either Sam or Frodo looks in and sees all kinds of bad things going on in the Shire. And in the book, it's Sam who looks in the mirror as well, which doesn't happen in the movie. And he suddenly sees that bad things are happening at home. And they're cutting the bad thing.

You got a very slight hint of it in the movie in Galadriel's mirror. When I forget whether in the movie, whether it's either Sam or Frodo looks in and sees all kinds of bad things going on in the Shire. And in the book, it's Sam who looks in the mirror as well, which doesn't happen in the movie. And he suddenly sees that bad things are happening at home. And they're cutting the bad thing.

One of the worst things you can possibly do from the Tolkien worldview is cut down trees unnecessarily. And Sam sees these people unnecessarily felling the trees on the Bywater Road. And instinctively wants to run home and sort it out. But then he realizes, no, his duty is here. And he has a great saying. He says, I'll go home by the long road or not at all.

One of the worst things you can possibly do from the Tolkien worldview is cut down trees unnecessarily. And Sam sees these people unnecessarily felling the trees on the Bywater Road. And instinctively wants to run home and sort it out. But then he realizes, no, his duty is here. And he has a great saying. He says, I'll go home by the long road or not at all.

One of the worst things you can possibly do from the Tolkien worldview is cut down trees unnecessarily. And Sam sees these people unnecessarily felling the trees on the Bywater Road. And instinctively wants to run home and sort it out. But then he realizes, no, his duty is here. And he has a great saying. He says, I'll go home by the long road or not at all.

So anyway, just to tell you what happens in the book. Saruman and his odious, traitorous advisor Grima Wormtongue escape from Orthanc, where they'd been holed up, and really, just as an act of spite, Saruman goes to the Shire and manages to set himself up as some sort of proto-ruler, and starts wantonly destroying

So anyway, just to tell you what happens in the book. Saruman and his odious, traitorous advisor Grima Wormtongue escape from Orthanc, where they'd been holed up, and really, just as an act of spite, Saruman goes to the Shire and manages to set himself up as some sort of proto-ruler, and starts wantonly destroying

So anyway, just to tell you what happens in the book. Saruman and his odious, traitorous advisor Grima Wormtongue escape from Orthanc, where they'd been holed up, and really, just as an act of spite, Saruman goes to the Shire and manages to set himself up as some sort of proto-ruler, and starts wantonly destroying

know he basically kind of quasi-industrializes it he introduces you know but he also takes away the sort of freedoms of the hobbits who are obviously all there's the hobbits obviously live in a sort of fairly agrarian way it's kind of like three acres and a cow you know so he's trying to turn them into workers and he has a set of things called gathering and sharing

know he basically kind of quasi-industrializes it he introduces you know but he also takes away the sort of freedoms of the hobbits who are obviously all there's the hobbits obviously live in a sort of fairly agrarian way it's kind of like three acres and a cow you know so he's trying to turn them into workers and he has a set of things called gathering and sharing

know he basically kind of quasi-industrializes it he introduces you know but he also takes away the sort of freedoms of the hobbits who are obviously all there's the hobbits obviously live in a sort of fairly agrarian way it's kind of like three acres and a cow you know so he's trying to turn them into workers and he has a set of things called gathering and sharing

And I mean, again, I don't think he's doing direct political allegory, but I think this may have been Tolkien's feeling about what was going on in communism and particularly what Stalin was doing with the kulaks, with the peasants. And again, very presently for modern politics, as you know, Ukraine was originally and could still be the breadbasket of Europe.

And I mean, again, I don't think he's doing direct political allegory, but I think this may have been Tolkien's feeling about what was going on in communism and particularly what Stalin was doing with the kulaks, with the peasants. And again, very presently for modern politics, as you know, Ukraine was originally and could still be the breadbasket of Europe.

And I mean, again, I don't think he's doing direct political allegory, but I think this may have been Tolkien's feeling about what was going on in communism and particularly what Stalin was doing with the kulaks, with the peasants. And again, very presently for modern politics, as you know, Ukraine was originally and could still be the breadbasket of Europe.