r Five

Join Cam and Maggie in saying goodbye to Gandalf the Grey. The Balrog has arrived, and with it, Tolkien has delivered his best chapter yet. Fellowship is a horror book again, and Cam is seeing ghosts everywhere. Ballin’s last words and echoes of The Hobbit radiate through these pages. Maggie worries about Frodo’s prospects as the hero of Middle-earth, and wonders how effective Gandalf’s death would be if you hadn’t read The Hobbit. The wizard’s death brings us to a crossroads in our longstanding “Who’s the Narrator?” discussion, but with a touch of theology we think we can keep the conversation going. Cam and Maggie reflect on the fellowship’s grief and its wonderful representation of trauma bonding and masculinity. Cam gets to talk about Macbeth.

In our Second Breakfast, Maggie lightens things up a little with a Middle-earth Valentine’s Day Match Game Spectacular. Does any character in any fictional universe deserve Aragorn? Probably not, but we try them all anyway. Maggie finds a disturbing match for Gimli.

Have an observation, comment or theory on this episode? Email us at secondbreakfastpod@gmail.com

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Discussion of Fellowship of the Ring, Book Two, Chapter Five