Discussion of The Two Towers, Book Three, Chapter Nine

Join Cam and Maggie for the show’s One Year Anniversary. Tolkien got us a very special present (another mediocre chapter) but as always, we make the best of it. If the last chapter was a strange, depersonalized “history” of the events it described, then this chapter is a character-focused oral history of the assault on Isengard. Pippin dominates the conversation (oh how things have changed since Rivendell) but the real star of this chapter is the many echoes it teases. Deceased characters and classic scenes are conjured in the reader’s mind as what remains of the Fellowship gathers to plan their next move. The Hall of Fire returns, Boromir is briefly resurrected, Saruman reverts to his original characterization, and even Gandalf the Grey seems to make an appearance. There are also a number of new magical objects that build on the strange mist introduced in the last chapter to form a water-based magic system that we contrast with Saruman’s “devilry”. The group discusses the magical creatures of Middle-earth and Aragorn sorts them into a surprising hierarchy. There’s also a strange undercurrent of hypnotic or hallucinogenic magic that we investigate, taking particular interest in the Ent’s mysterious drafts and the Shire pipeweed that the Fellowship unexpectedly finds within Isengard. Cam has a brutally dark theory about this last magical device that we’re both glad not to see actually happen.

In our Second Breakfast, we discuss the death of the artist and its effect on their art – and more specifically, how their art is viewed and experienced. Examples include: Kentaro Miura’s Berserk, Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Michelle McNamara’s I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, all three Nirvana albums, the comedy of Patrice O’Neal, and the comparative careers / receptions of Paul McCartney and John Lennon. We consider the effect of intentional, creator-designed endings on a work’s legacy, the vastly different experience of starting a series after the creator has died, the inflationary effect of grief upon critical reception, and the implication that works only become “classics” after the artist dies. In a challenging tangent to our main discussion, we also consider works of art that were designed to be an artist’s final statement and directly deal with their impending death. Examples include David Bowie’s Blackstar and Christopher Hitchens’ Mortality. At the end, the discussion ties back to Tolkien and we come to a difficult conclusion about the forthcoming version of Lord of the Rings featuring Tolkien’s private illustrations.

Thank you for the support this past year. It has meant the world to us, and we have so much more planned for this show going forward. Lots of love, and we’ll see you next week!

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