Exploring Tolkien

About Exploring Tolkien

The bi-weekly podcast for serious Tolkien fans. Hosts Jonathan Watson and Michael Grumbine of TheOneRing.com (the internet’s longest Tolkien community since 1999) read through The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and every Age of Middle-earth — chapter by chapter. Plus conversations with artists, creators, and scholars–and honest commentary on what Hollywood keeps getting wrong about Tolkien’s legacy. 160+ episodes.

Publisher

TheOneRing.com

Category

arts · news · tv & film

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

25 May 2022

Latest episode

14 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

16 of 177 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   14 Oct 2026TRANSCRIPT

   173. Tolkien’s Collected Poems and Tolkiens Letters (replay)

   Host [Host Name] explores J.R.R. Tolkien's "Collected Poems" and "Letters" with renowned scholars Christian Scull and Wayne Hammond, offering new insights into Tolkien's work.

2. 

   29 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT

   172. Morgoth’s Curse was the FIRST Ring of Power : Children of Húrin #9

   Host [Host Name] and Guest [Guest Name] explore how Morgoth's curse manipulates Túrin's pride, mirroring the One Ring's power in this interview.

3. 

   17 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT

   171. Forsaking Elves for Outlaws : Children of Húrin #8

   Host [Host Name] explores Túrin Turambar's tragic descent into outlawry and his defiance of fate in "Children of Húrin #8."

Inside a recent episode

173. Tolkien’s Collected Poems and Tolkiens Letters (replay)

Published 14 Oct 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] It's kind of like the word doom. It doesn't mean death, destruction, the end of everything, or you're doomed to do it. It means a pronouncement of judgment. it has a different meaning then than it does really now when it's used colloquially so i love that they're going to be not just giving us the poems but talking about them and having some editorial content around it describing it and helping us understand what it is that he wrote because you know the goal in a book like this is to really understand tolkien better um unlike some others who who try to write the novel tolkien never wrote amazon Here they're actually publishing his real words 50 years later, spending the time doing the scholarly work necessary to recreate what was hard to read into a format that we can easily digest. […]

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

1,806,478

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.6 / 5

40 ratings

Spotify

4.7 / 5

32 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 60 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

50

Social presence

0

YouTube

93

Engagement

85

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