New subscriber here as well. Congrats to breaking the 1k!

Hello my good sir, i'm a new subscriber, and I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed your content. I appreciate your knowledge and look forward to learning more. Thank you for your time.

@John-Sierra

27 күн бұрын

Thanks and welcome

As a subscriber from a few months ago, I am both exited for you to hit 1k, and also dreading the day we start getting ads on your videos 🤣

@John-Sierra

27 күн бұрын

I will try to put them in good places, and not obtrusive. If I could make enough off of memberships I wouldn't need to, but you know how youtube is, if I was eligible for ads and refused to put them on, they'd drop me in the algo.

@Pyraliis

27 күн бұрын

@@John-Sierra We all totally understand 🙏 no worries

I'm subscriber 927. I wish you many more.

@John-Sierra

27 күн бұрын

Thanks! May the Valar bless your wishes!

I think pipping using the Palantir falls into the category of "bad things that end in a net good", which is one of my favorite things of Tolkien's legendarium. It's an assurance that the providence of Eru is guiding the events of Arda WITHOUT taking away moral culpability from individual actors. What Pippin did was wrong, but it led to good... that doesn't make it any LESS wrong (although you could say he had some level of responsibility taken away due to the Palantir's ring-like temptation), Pippin is just lucky he lives in a universe that is guided by a divinity that guides things toward the good. Tolkien's nuanced writing on the relationship between fate and free-will is honestly some of the best out there, like during the council of Elrond when Frodo volunteers to take the ring and Elrond tells him that while he does have the choice to say yes, if he does say yes he thinks it was because it was ordained. It's one of the Christian-like themes in Middle-Earth that make it such a special place.

@John-Sierra

Ай бұрын

I think we very much must forgive pippin, he was only a boy, and in over his head, and these balls had driven both Denethor and Saruman mad.

@ZephyrOptional

Ай бұрын

Great comment! Tolkien’s Catholicism was core to his moral compass when creating his legends. It’s also fair to say that virtue & morality in pagan & non Christian stories were just as important. It’s also fair to say that Tolkien “corrects” (my word) many, let’s say, issues with Judeo-Christian myths like Woman being punished to serve man, death as a punishment, and makes it sparklingly clear that Eru created evil so he can make evil observe how he makes it good. My opinion, Tolkiens creation myth is a 1000 times more beautiful than the screwball crime & punishment story found in Genesis. Tolkien’s creation myth is also very scientific suggesting the universe is a sound vibration made physical by the sacred fire of the spirt.

@NecroVMX

Ай бұрын

@@ZephyrOptional My good friend and fellow Tolkien Scholar Sid Kemp said that while he knows Tolkien's books are mythology, and while he is a practicing Buddhist, he strives to live his life as if Tolkien's words were true.

Always willing to stand up for the Dunlending: I don’t think it’s fair to say they were just joining the winning side. Their land was stolen by the Rohan and Gondor, and their original forests & homes were destroyed and were enslaved and butchered by Numenorians. In the PJ films, I wonder if Lee made the choice to point this out when Saruman was rallying up his Dunlending toops by mentioning the crimes and hardships they have suffered the hands of the horse men. Most would think Saruman was lying to them but he wasn’t. Many like to think Tolkien is only black & white. Those who read deep, know that’s not the case. You are one of my top 5 Tolkien scholars! Thank you for your work and congratulations on your recent subscription boost!

Hey John, just checking I put my question in correctly on Quora? Been awhile and no response! Love your work.

@John-Sierra

Ай бұрын

It's possible I missed it. If you link me to it in a reply, i'll have a look when I get a chance.

If Sauron won the war of the ring and reclaimed the one, Would the Valar I.e Tulkas, Orome be forced into action like they did with Melkor. I know the story was fated to end the way it did in Erus plan and vision but would be a great hypothetical situation.

@John-Sierra

27 күн бұрын

I think they'd have to intervene in a greater fashion, though I don't think they'd come to Middle-Earth. They'd probably send Eönwë over.

@FrankDan-bh2dx

26 күн бұрын

@@John-Sierra Yeah Eönwë would have got the job done in truth, I do think it’s a great hypothetical I’d love to hear your thoughts in depth in a future video. Also a sidebar do you think the presence of a valar or Eonwe in full glory in the eyes of a man would be too much to handle if they were to meet, much like exposure to the light of the two trees?

@John-Sierra

25 күн бұрын

No, Tuor met Ulmo who was a full blown Vala and had no issues, so I don't think that would be a problem.

So the dark lord lost basically do to the fool of a Took.

@John-Sierra

27 күн бұрын

Hobbits were his undoing, not just Pippin, but Frodo and Sam and Gollum and Merry and even Fatty.

What elements of Tolkien's works, if any, inspired Chronicles of a Dark Lord?

@John-Sierra

25 күн бұрын

Tanya didn't have influences, she just copied things, and I didn't notice anything that she specifically copied from The Lord of the Rings, other than Mithril, which she probably didn't know was from Tolkien. When I was writing the prequel story that never got told, I was going with the idea that Valkar was the Morgoth figure in the world, and that Dor'ah was the Manwë figure, with the gods being akin to the Valar, but it wouldn't have been very obvious. The ending would have had Valkar sealed away, but with the land broken apart by a meteor - sort of a mixture of the War of Wrath and FF7, but Tanya basically wasn't interested in any writing that wasn't hers, and hated it when people praised the writing that she didn't actually do.

@tenchy88

25 күн бұрын

@@John-Sierra Wow, I never realized those kinds of complications arose with the creation of COADL. Iys been too long since I last listened to The List Critics so don't know if that ever came up when Tanya was on the show. But yeah, that's a shame that story never got told; sounds epic

You said that the three rings protected Boromir from the influence of the one. But how could they possibly counteract it when they were subordinate to it?

@Rednax1984

Ай бұрын

The nature of those rings was to protect and preserve, so the effect they were having was on the individual, empowering them (Boromir in this case) enhancing his own resilience rather than directly countering the One's power

@tomasxsmith

Ай бұрын

The 3 rings were only subordinate to the One Ring when the One was being wielded by Sauron.

@John-Sierra

27 күн бұрын

The One Ring was their master, but it was not mastered - Sauron could use it to overpower those rings, but not Frodo - that's what Galadriel explained to him that he could only use the ring if he trained his mind and became powerful. As it is, The One Ring was just evil and malice, which the three were made to counteract.

Do you think the hobbits were right to kill worm tongue after he stabbed sauroman

@John-Sierra

27 күн бұрын

I sympathize with them, they wanted their "pound of flesh" for all that died and suffered, and they were robbed of that. i think some of them believed what Saruman said about Gríma (which was surely a lie) but they were in the heat of the moment, and acted without thinking. It was still wrong, htough, which is why it upset Frodo so badly.

Just a heads up I can’t join ur. Chanel for some reason it’s not coming up to be a member ??

@John-Sierra

25 күн бұрын

That's odd, I would suggest doing a full refresh of the browser and see if the button shows up. There may have been a glitch when you tried. Will be happy to have you on board!

@lukebailey2004

25 күн бұрын

@@John-Sierra yeah, this has been a persistent problem. I’ve been wanting to become a member for awhile.

@John-Sierra

11 күн бұрын

Have you had no luck? I'm going to start including a membership link also in the description that may help, if you check the most recent video it should be there.